The Wolf Tree (15 page)

“Suspect I’m a-seeing ye right, Nel?” Mother Salagi cocked a black-button eye to Nel’s leg. “You’re a-walking as a Rambler once more.”

Buck and Si stood aside and took off their coats as Nel approached Mother Salagi.

“Ye’ll have to tell us the particulars,” she said, reaching out for Nel’s hand with her gnarled fingers.

“I will,” Nel said, squeezing her hands warmly.

“Sorry I ain’t made your party, Nel,” she added. “But ye know I ain’t got no stomach for crowds.”

“You were missed.” Nel smiled.

Mother Salagi grunted before saying, “Ye turned eighty-one. Nine nines. Right potent number it is. For our likes.” Then she gestured to the other two women. “Don’t expect y’all know Joe Nelson, do ye?”

The first seer, a tall woman half Mother Salagi’s age with long silver hair and sun-flecked cheeks, greeted Nel first. “I do in fact. We met long ago, Nel. I was a friend of Polly Ann’s.”

“Yes, yes,” Nel said. “It has been many years then. Of
course, Josara. You’ve had a long journey to be here. Do you still live on Plum Island?”

“It’s not so isolated as it once was. I’m rarely there anymore.”

Nel nodded, then turned to the other seer. Sally guessed she was in her twenties, maybe no older than Shacks Everett. The seer’s skin was smooth and black. Unlike Josara, who was dressed in a simple cotton dress and rugged boots, this young woman wore a gown of white linen with ornate gold jewelry on her wrists, fingers, and ears. And unlike the friendly Josara, she wore a cool, narrow-eyed expression.

“This here’s Vastapol,” Mother Salagi said.

Vastapol reached out a hand to Nel. “Your reputation is well known to me.”

“It’s a pleasure,” Nel said.

“Who’s your young friend here?” Mother Josara asked, beaming at Sally.

Sally grew shy in the presence of the extraordinary women and wanted to hide behind Nel. She said in a quiet voice, “I’m Sally Cobb.”

“Nice to meet you,” Mother Josara said.

“Ye Ray’s sister, ain’t ye?” Mother Salagi asked, her button-black eye piercing Sally.

“Yes, ma’am,” Sally gulped.

“The child should not be here for our discussion, Salagi,” Mother Vastapol said. “We have grave matters to consider. And Nel must explain to us how he has had his leg returned.”

“It is the child who has returned my powers,” Nel said.

Mother Vastapol’s eyes grew wide.

Mother Josara pulled back the chairs from the table. “Come, let us all sit while you tell us what’s taken place.”

As Sally sat down between Si and Buck, Mother Salagi made a pine-needle-scented tea and took down wooden mugs from the jumbled shelves covering the walls of her cabin. Nel began explaining about the Elemental Rose. Partway through he asked Sally to show them
The Incunabula of Wandering
. She took out the book and slid it across the table, the pages marked for the Verse of the Lost and the Elemental Rose. Sally felt shy and nervous as the others listened to Nel and she watched the seers reading over the pages.

As Nel concluded, Mother Josara asked, “Where did this book come from?”

“Aye, Ray told it belonged to his pappy,” Mother Salagi said. “The Rambler Li’l Bill Cobb.”

“You trusted her to perform the spell on you?” Mother Vastapol asked. “You trusted her to have the wisdom to understand all the implications of this kind of hoodoo?”

Sally sat up straighter, her heart beginning to pound. Mother Vastapol did not meet Sally’s eye, but Nel cast a quick glance at Sally before facing again the young seer.

“She has extraordinary powers,” Nel said.

“She has knowledge from the book,” Mother Vastapol said. “But do not mistake that for wisdom.”

“Aye. Vastapol is right,” Mother Salagi said. “Young Sally’s a-showing a right fair aptitude, but she ain’t got experience to shepherd her actions.”

Sally’s cheeks got hot, and she squirmed in her seat.

Nel said, “She returned my leg!”

“But at what cost?” Mother Josara asked. The seer looked over at Sally and gave a gentle smile. “The Verse itself warns of a cost. Hoodoo of this magnitude is not given so easily.”

“Let’s us look to ye, Nel,” Mother Salagi said. “See if we can glean what might be and might not be.” The ancient seer pointed a crooked finger at Sally. “Let me spy on yond Elemental Rose. Have ye the charms?”

Sally nodded nervously. She took out the four objects and placed them on the table. Mother Salagi spread the objects to their cardinal points—spiderweb north, feather east, brimstone south, and root west. She walked over to a shelf and took down a yellow tallow candle. Placing it in the center of the objects, she lit a stove match and held it to the wick.

When the candle was glowing, Mother Salagi cupped her hands around the flame and squinted her black eye at the bright light. Buck shifted in his seat, and Nel leaned closer, resting his clenched fists on the table. Si squeezed Sally’s arm. Sally peered at Mother Salagi, desperate to read something from the strange expression on her deeply creviced face.

“Aye, danger,” she croaked at last. “Young Sally done good restoring your powers, Nel. But the leg returned anew is a-bringing peril.”

“What sort of peril?” he asked.

“It ain’t clear to me. Shrouded. But some danger from abroad seeks ye.”

Nel closed his eyes. Sally felt her stomach churn. But as Nel opened his eyes again and smiled at Sally, he said, “It’s
okay, dear girl. I am grateful to you for what you’ve done. As long as you children are safe and I can protect you all, what does an old man have to fear in premonitions of doom?”

Sally winced worriedly, but returned Nel’s smile.

Mother Vastapol said, “Before we continue, let us speak on what brought Josara and me to the Clingman’s Dome. We each received a vision of the Darkness forming in the western plains. We understand that you had a visitor who escaped from the Dark.”

“It would not seem he was able to escape it.” Nel explained about Mister Bradshaw. The seers were particularly interested in the man’s blood, which had turned to oil.

“It is certainly the work of the Machine,” Mother Josara said.

“I’ve been reluctant to accept it, but it must be,” Nel said, wringing his hands together. “Somehow the Machine continues to grow in strength even with the Gog dead.”

“Yes, a troublesome mystery,” Mother Vastapol said. “Let us look to you next, Buck. Your path might illuminate our understanding of the events to come. Are you ready?”

“What are you going to do?” Buck asked, slivers of white showing from his cracked eyelids.

Mother Vastapol stood, taking a small box from the folds of her dress. She set the box on the table and opened the lid. “The raccoon has special eyes. Eyes ringed in shadow. I cast with his bones to see into the past.”

Sally watched curiously as Mother Vastapol tipped the box, scattering bleached bones over the table. The room was quiet as the young seer considered the bones.

“You’re a gunslinger,” Vastapol said flatly.

“I spent a time with outlaws,” Buck said. “I used my guns, but I’m no assassin.”

Mother Vastapol touched one of the bones. “But you’ve killed men.”

“Not without a reason.”

“The bones say you’ve taken innocent lives.”

Buck’s breath caught.

“Your brother?” Mother Vastapol cocked an eyebrow at Buck.

“It was an accident,” Buck snapped. “A horrible accident long ago.”

“I do not doubt you.” The seer scooped the bones up into the box and cast them on the table again. She traced her finger around a pair with a knowing nod. Sally could see no pattern or image from the bones, but Mother Vastapol said, “You’ve slain others.”

“The policeman.” Si came quickly to his defense. “He was trying to protect me.”

“Is this necessary?” Nel interrupted, holding a hand out to Mother Salagi. “We know all this. It does no good to dredge up what’s past.”

Mother Salagi nodded reassuringly to Nel, and Vastapol cast the bones once more.

“See this pattern in the bones,” she said, tapping what could have been ribs or leg bones. “A train. A boy with a sword.”

“Yes!” Buck growled. “Seth was trying to kill Ray. I shot at him but I didn’t—”

“The bones show us. Killing Ray was not his intent. He was guarding Ray from … a devil. Was it the Gog?”

“Seth betrayed us to the Gog,” Nel said.

“I see that here. But his loyalty returned. He was trying to protect Ray from the Gog when he was shot. By your bullet.”

“No!” Buck shouted. “This can’t be true. The Hoarhound killed him.”

“The bones do not lie,” Vastapol said.

Buck flew up from his chair, knocking it backward across the floor. Sally jerked closer to Si. Buck’s face was trembling, his teeth and eyes gleaming white against his ragged face. Nel took Buck around the shoulder, soothing his friend.

Mother Josara’s face was gentle and sympathetic as she spoke. “You could not have known, Buck. You thought you were doing what was right. It was a terrible, terrible mistake.”

Buck roared over and over, “I didn’t kill Seth! It was the Gog’s Hound!”

The sound of Buck shouting made Sally cold, and she looked away from him.

“Buck,” Mother Vastapol said, reaching a hand across the table to take his. “I am sorry to bring this devastating news to you. But in knowing the truth, you will gain insight into your future actions. The bones have shown us this past for a reason, but only you will be able to find the meaning. Guilt is natural, but do not be overwhelmed by it. Let it guide your path to a higher purpose.”

Buck calmed as Mother Vastapol held his hand, and after
a moment, he slumped back into his chair. Vastapol collected her bones into her box, her eyes lingering on the old cowboy.

“Best we continue,” Mother Salagi said. “Josara, read your charms for the girl.”

“Si, come stand by me,” Mother Josara said, in her soothing voice. “My curios—stick and water and stone—will provide insight into your future.”

Sally turned from Buck’s pained face to watch Mother Josara pour water from a jug into a glass bowl. She set out a crooked stick, its worn surface polished with use. Beside it she set down an egg-shaped rock, ordinary and dull to Sally’s eye.

Si came around the table to stand beside Josara.

“Reading the future is difficult and much less reliable than seeing what has passed,” Mother Josara said. “Much like the waters in this bowl, what we will see will be murky. You must help me understand what is revealed. Take the stick in your right hand, the stone in your left. Hold them over the water. I will peer into the bowl.”

Si picked up the stick and stone and held them over the water as Mother Josara had instructed. Mother Josara stared into the bowl, leaning closer to it after a moment.

“I see a heart,” she mumbled. “Love. Are you in love, dear?”

“No!” Si said. “I mean, I love Nel and Buck and the others, of course. But ‘in love’ …”

Mother Josara smiled kindly. “It is the future, so maybe it is someone you will fall in love with. He is tall. Very tall. He
holds something in his hand … a tool, maybe. Or a weapon.”

“Could it be a hammer?” Nel asked, leaning his elbows on the table.

“Yes, yes, that is what he carries.”

“Conker!” Nel gasped.

“John and Polly Ann’s son,” Mother Josara said.

“Conker is dead!” Si exclaimed. “This can’t be the future.”

“I don’t claim to fully understand all I see,” Mother Josara said. “These are just images, impressions. You will help determine what they mean.”

She leaned back over the bowl and said, “I see something else. A crossroads.”

“Is it a place where she should go?” Nel interrupted.

“No, I don’t think it is an actual place. It’s not a location but a symbol. A choice that Si will face. Down one path there is darkness. The other, light. The person, your love, he stands at the crossroads. He waits for you, Si. And through him something lost to you will be returned. I’m losing the image…. It’s … gone.”

“What did it mean?” Si asked, lowering the rock and stick back to the table. “I don’t understand. Conker can’t be waiting for me.”

“He might be alive!” Buck said.

“I wish it were true,” Nel said. “But there’s no way Conker could have survived the explosion. Even the Nine Pound Hammer was broken.”

“Only time will reveal who this person is,” Mother Josara said. “I can offer only a possibility to explain the
image. When you encounter your love, Si, you will be faced with a critical choice. Down one path lies salvation. Not just for you, but for mankind. I have seen this image of the crossroads before, but never with the two paths contrasted with such severity. The consequences are enormous and far-reaching. These possibilities are linked to the Gog’s Machine. That is clear from what I saw.”

“What lies down the other path?” Si asked.

“Darkness. Ruin for all humanity. Much weighs on your actions, Si. When the time comes, consider them wisely.”

Si’s voice sounded strangely weak. “I’m frightened.”

“Aye, ye should be,” Mother Salagi said. “But ye got your friends. Ye got Nel returned as a Rambler here. They will be a powerful help.” As Mother Salagi’s eyes settled on her, Sally jerked back in her seat. “Your turn, Sally.”

“Me?” she peeped.

Mother Salagi took her little clay pipe from her pocket and lit it. “Your brother has gone to the West, a-seeking the cause of yond Darkness. What’s he done with the coney foot?”

“He left it with me,” Sally said. “To keep it safe.”

“Aye.” Mother Salagi nodded approvingly. “Have ye got it with ye?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Sally said.

Mother Salagi puffed on her pipe. Then she motioned toward the far wall as she spoke from the corner of her mouth. “Shelf up yonder. Go.”

Sally got up nervously from her chair and went around a straw tick bed to the shadowy corner of the cabin.

“Far end, there’s a jar a-setting with powder in it. Ye see it?”

Bottles and vessels crowded the wide shelf. Some were filled with herbs and the dried organs of animals, others corked with murky liquids. At the far side, Sally saw a small jar with a screw-top lid that had what looked to be gunpowder in it. She brought it back to the seer.