Marysvale (19 page)

That doesn’t make sense,
I
thought.
What is she riding? There are only three
horses.

I protested, “We have to move quickly,
and we’re already down a horse….”

Her expression stopped me as her
meaning began to sink in.

“
You don’t mean to come with
us, do you?”

“
No,” she
replied.

“
You must!” I exclaimed,
alarmed at the thought of leaving her.

“
You must what?” interrupted
Jane as she entered the barn with Hannah in tow; both were carrying
armloads of supplies.

“
Have you guessed what
happened to me in my room?” I asked.

Hannah replied, as if she was revealing
some great secret. “A Brean tried to attack you!”

“
Not just any Brean,” I
said. “It was the same one who attacked Sarah when she tried
leaving the territory.”

“
No!” exclaimed Jane. “How
do you know?”

I told them about the scar and what
Sarah had just told me.

“
And she says she isn’t
coming with us,” I added.

Both the girls erupted in protest at
the same time.

Sarah, who had been quietly packing the
third horse, stopped, and with a long sigh explained, “It won’t
work. For one, there aren’t enough horses…”

“
Nonsense,” I cut in. “Smoke
is strong enough to carry both the girls, and we can ride the other
two.”

Looking tired and stressed she
continued, “I’m counting on Smoke carrying the girls. Now if you’ll
please stop interrupting me, we really don’t have time. I’m sure
that Brean went to get more of its kind and will be returning soon.
Now girls, you’ll ride Smoke, and John can ride the mare. This
other horse,” she said, gesturing to the unsaddled bay, “is only
good for packing. He doesn’t have the heart nor stamina to run fast
nor far. He’ll fall behind quickly in a chase. If that happens,
you’ll just have to abandon him—which you won’t do if I’m riding
him. I’ll have a better chance here anyway. I can’t go into town,
and camping outside it would be suicide. Jane can explain more
about this to you later, John.”

I glanced at Jane and Hannah; both
seemed to accept this explanation, for they both had tears in their
eyes and offered up no more protests. With the argument over, Sarah
finished packing our supplies. Taking the horses by the reins, she
handed them to the girls and asked them to wait outside, explaining
that she needed to talk to me alone. The girls obeyed.

When they had gone, she turned to me
and said, “I need you to do something.”

“
Go on.”

“
I want you to convince
their father to leave Marysvale and come back here.”

“
But it’s not safe,” I
protested.

“
We’re not staying; but
don’t tell him that. And when you return, try to bring more horses
if you can.”

She slipped me a small pouch with a few
gold pieces in it.

“
And if he doesn’t want to?”
I asked.

She looked steadily into my eyes and
said, “Find a way—by force if you have to.”

“
I don’t know about forcing
a man from his home,” I said, debating if I really had it in me to
do something like that.

“
I don’t think it will come
to that. I believe he will come willingly. However, if he’s
stubborn, tell him this will be the last shipment of
food.”

“
And will it?”

“
Yes, but not by choice. For
better or worse, things are going to change…they already have.”
Then, with a distant look, she quietly added, “Your presence
changes everything.”

“
Are you sure you don’t want
to explain more about that?” I inquired.

“
No,” she sighed. “I’m not
sure. But I’m hoping if things go wrong, your ignorance will save
you. It’s not by accident you came to me. I believe you were guided
here, and you have a role to play in the events which are sure to
come. I believe I, too, have a role; but I’m afraid I can’t fulfill
it if those I love are at risk.”

The way she was talking made me
uneasy.

“
I’m not looking to cause
any trouble.”

“
No…but it has a way of
finding you doesn’t it, John?”

I didn’t answer. She was right and she
knew it.

“
Please, bring them back,”
she pleaded.

“
I’ll do what I can,” I said
honestly, and vowed I would try everything reasonably possible to
accomplish her wish. “But I won’t force Mr. Wolfe.”

She accepted that. Pulling a pouch full
of cartridges from a sack, she handed them to me.

“
Take the rifle,” she said,
thrusting it into my hand.

She then gave me detailed instructions
about the route to take.

“
And one more thing—then you
really must go, for I’m afraid we’ve taken too much time. Be
careful with your gift. Pulling feelings and emotions from the
surface is harmless; but when you dig down for thoughts, people can
feel that. It’s like a pressure in their head. Most everyone simply
dismisses it as a mild headache or one of those random pains that
just happens…except for those who know better; and I believe there
may be some of those in Marysvale. Unfortunately, I don’t know that
for sure, nor do I know who they would be.”

This opened a flood of questions in my
mind.

She could see the curiosity on my face,
but before I could ask, she hugged me and said, “I wish there was
more time, but we’ve already taken more than we have.”

“
What about you? I can’t
just leave you in this situation.”

“
Don’t worry about me. I
haven’t lived here all this time without preparing for a
possibility like this.”

I did worry.

“
What are you going to
do?”

She took my hand and led me to the
door.

“
I can explain all my plans.
However, the longer you wait, the less time you’ll have to get away
safely; and right now there are others who need your help. Whatever
just happened, I’m convinced that Jane and Hannah won’t make it
back without you. And John, don’t spend any more time than
necessary in Marysvale.”

I stopped.

“
I want to know your plan,”
I said flatly.

“
Please,” she said in a
panicked voice. “Trust me.”

She tugged me along with more strength
than I expected, and reluctantly, I obeyed.

The girls were waiting outside with the
horses. All of them quickly embraced and said their
goodbyes.

I walked Jane over to Smoke and gave
her a leg up.

“
My goodness, he’s a big
fellow,” she observed.

“
Yes, and I should warn you,
he has a tendency to take advantage of weak riders. You’ll have to
show him who’s master, or you’ll forever have difficulty
controlling him.”

I left the part out that Smoke didn’t
really like others riding him, and I couldn’t think of any who had
successfully done so, except Thomas.

I handed her the reins, said a silent
prayer, and hoped for the best. The prayer didn’t work, or so I
thought. Smoke, as if on cue to my silent
Amen
, lunged
forward, nearly toppling Jane off his back. However, he only got in
a few strides before Jane regained control. She halted him sharply,
causing him to rear a little. She then proceeded to scold him
severely, with a rather hard slap on the neck. For a moment, a
small battle raged between them: Smoke trying to run, and Jane
holding firm. Finally, after one last protest, he gave in and
obeyed.

She turned him around and came back.
Hannah took a small step backward and hid behind Sarah. She glanced
longingly at my smaller and visibly more docile mount. She opened
her mouth….

“
No,” I said, answering her
question before she could ask.

I walked over, picked her up, and
tossed her behind Jane. She glared at me.

“
You’ll thank me if we have
to run,” I said. It was probably the wrong thing to say, because
her eyes got wide, and she squeezed Jane so hard that if one fell,
the other would surely follow.

I climbed up into my saddle and,
without any more words, we set off at a canter. Glancing back, I
saw Sarah run into the cabin, as it quickly faded and became
obscured by the thickening fog.

The inky mist made it impossible to see
more than a few feet. Everything visible looked ominous; even
innocent trees appeared menacing. Every so often, I ignored my
natural eyes and used my newfound sight to get our bearings and to
check for Brean.

Not long into our journey, we were
forced to slow our pace down to a mere walk. Sarah had overstated
the bay’s ability, and it tired much sooner than expected. I
wondered if the dog would have been a wiser choice for a pack
animal. On the other hand, the mare I was riding did better than I
had hoped. Smoke grew aggravated at moving so slowly and being
stuck in the rear. He constantly tried to pass the others; but Jane
kept him held back, which irritated him even more. Hannah still
hugged Jane relentlessly, which she didn’t seem to mind.

“
Do you know where we’re
going?” asked Hannah.

“
Yes.”

“
How? You’ve never been to
Marysvale.”

“
I just do.”

Then, for her benefit, I described the
town’s location, or at least where Sarah had told me to
go.

“
This doesn’t look like the
right way,” she wailed. “I think we’re off course; we’re not even
on a path.”

“
No, we’re not. Nor will we
be using any trails; but we will stay as close to the lake as
possible.”

“
But that will take longer!”
she exclaimed.

Jane understood why and explained to
Hannah that it would also be harder for anyone or anything else to
find us.

“
Oh,” said Hannah simply,
and she lapsed into silence.

A few moments later, I discovered my
first mistake. When I checked again for Brean, I saw eight dark
vortexes burst into the edge of my vision, running full speed. The
big, scarred one wasn’t with them, which unfortunately meant it was
still out there. They were coming from the north and were only
about two miles away, which appeared to be the limit of my sight. I
wished my vision could’ve had the distance I experienced during my
last uncontrollable rage. I remembered the Brean I’d seen so far
away then. There was some nagging detail that seemed important at
the time, but now the significance of its actions escaped me.
What was it doing?
I thought. While straining to remember
every detail, Jane’s experience with her Brean popped into my head.
There was something similar between the two.

The Brean drew closer, but we were far
enough away that our paths wouldn’t cross…or would they? Abruptly,
I knew what it was that I had missed. The Brean in the forest had
been sniffing the air. During Jane’s experience with her Brean, it
too was sniffing. It dawned on me that they relied heavily on their
sense of smell. With that understanding came the terrible
realization that our paths would indeed cross. Dismayed, I became
horrifically aware that by hugging close to the lake, we would be
up wind when they passed. Our scent would be carried to them on the
breeze.

Instantly, I knew what needed to be
done. The only question was: did we have enough time?

I turned to Jane and whispered
urgently, “Follow me and do exactly as I do; and don’t talk until I
tell you.”

Hannah started to ask why, but Jane
gave her a stern, “Shhh.”

I turned with the breeze and set off at
a run, with the reluctant packhorse behind me. We desperately
needed to cut across in front of the Brean before they
passed.

This plan presented me with two other
problems. The first being the noise we were making, which wasn’t
much; but under the present circumstances, it felt like we might as
well had been banging pots and pans. Since there wasn’t anything I
could do about it, I hoped that the Brean had poor hearing; or
perhaps they were making enough noise to drown us out. Horses, on
the other hand, did have good hearing, which lead me to my second
problem. I wasn’t worried about Smoke getting scared. With a few
reassuring pats, he could hide like a jackrabbit and would remain
motionless, without panic, as long as I wanted him to. I didn’t
know about the other two horses and could only hope they would stay
still.

It felt like we were on a collision
course, with the Brean drawing dangerously close.
Would we be
seen? Would they smell us?
My heart was pounding and, despite
the cold, I sweated—except for my hands, which felt
numb.

We crossed their path, or where they
would be in a few moments, and kept going. I reined up when the
fear of being overheard overcame the fear of being smelled. Then I
gave the signal to be quiet. We were only a little over fifty yards
away from where the Brean would cross our tracks. The fog obscured
us from view, but doubt gripped me, and I grew unsure of my plan.
Would the breeze clear our scent in time? What about our
tracks? Are they going fast enough to miss them?
I second
guessed myself.
Perhaps we should have stayed the course. At
least we wouldn’t be so close to them; and we’d have had more
distance, giving us a better chance of running or using the lake
for some type of escape.
My internal wrestle was pointless. It
was too late to do anything else.