one of the wood-folk, in this case a large, buck-toothed rabbit, bathed in the last of the magical purple light, leap with fright and bound off. Ja'Nil blinked in surprise and slowly looked around her.
The moon was setting, the purple deepening into darkness. All around her, dark shadows swayed and moved with the wind that had sprung up. She wrapped her arms around herself and planted her feet more firmly on the ground. Her head was no longer floating as light as a feather, instead it had settled with painful vengeance into a headache. Her stomach roiled. With a gasp, she leaned over and was thoroughly sick. Ugh!
Still on her knees, she spat and spat trying to clear her mouth of the horrible taste. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move and spun around. Bad move. Empty stomach or no, she gagged again. There was something moving out there! Something with glowing eyes. She staggered to her feet, grabbed up a fallen branch, and turned to face whatever it was. Had she really seen something? She was dizzy again. She staggered away into the forest. The branch that she held was rotted through and it broke into pieces, as it banged against trees. A line of a song that a traveling Player had once sung kept repeating itself in her head. “Something wondrous, this way comes. Something wondrously wicked.”
Was it just her imagination, or was she really was being followed? Overhead a large shadowy figure glided past. The air, disturbed by its passing, brushed against her skin. She ducked. Behind her, she heard an animal scream as flying death caught it up.
“It’s just an owl,” she told herself. “Nothing is following you. Get a grip.” That’s what her mother always used to say to her father, get a grip. But her mother always laughed when she said it, and Daddy always winked back at her. Ja'Nil couldn’t find anything laughable about her situation. She plunged further into the forest.
It wasn’t bravery that finally stopped her flight. She was in the middle of a forest. Purple Moon was down. Every step she took was a step into pure darkness. Trees banged into her, vines caught at her, holes tripped her. For all she knew she was traveling in circles. Maybe she was even returning to the inn! Exhausted, she sank down cross-legged and leaned against the rough bark of a tree to await First Sun’s rise.
Still leaning against the tree, she straightened her legs and turned on her side, slowly slipping down until she was stretched out, full length on the thin grass. Making a mumbling irritated sound, she swept away some pebbles that lay under her cheek. With a sigh, she turned halfway onto her stomach and cradled her head on her hands. She slept.
***
White Moon rose. It shed its pale light down through the trees onto the clearing in which Ja'Nil slept. Into the clearing walked a great wolf.
His coloring was silvered, and disguised by the moonlight, but his eyes were a piercing yellow. Carefully, he moved within an arm’s length of the sleeping human and studied her intently. The two cuts she had sustained climbing out of the window were still seeping blood. Involuntarily, he licked his lips. Saliva dripped from his jaws. He moved closer. His paws were bigger than both her hands. He opened his mouth wide and stretched his long body from his rear to his head, closing his mouth with a wolfish grin. His nose almost touched her face. He sniffed her sweat-dried hair, the dusty attic smell on her torn tunic, the dew soaked leather of her worn boots, the child-woman odor of her. Of a sudden, there was the sound of crunching leaves. The wolf whirled, his lips drawing back in a silent snarl. Without another look at the sleeping Ja’Nil, he melted back into the forest.
CHAPTER 7
Unaware of the wolf, Ja'Nil slept on. She is back on her father’s boat again. She finally reaches her little brother, Yonny. He clings to her, sobbing,
The moon was setting, the purple deepening into darkness. All around her, dark shadows swayed and moved with the wind that had sprung up. She wrapped her arms around herself and planted her feet more firmly on the ground. Her head was no longer floating as light as a feather, instead it had settled with painful vengeance into a headache. Her stomach roiled. With a gasp, she leaned over and was thoroughly sick. Ugh!
Still on her knees, she spat and spat trying to clear her mouth of the horrible taste. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move and spun around. Bad move. Empty stomach or no, she gagged again. There was something moving out there! Something with glowing eyes. She staggered to her feet, grabbed up a fallen branch, and turned to face whatever it was. Had she really seen something? She was dizzy again. She staggered away into the forest. The branch that she held was rotted through and it broke into pieces, as it banged against trees. A line of a song that a traveling Player had once sung kept repeating itself in her head. “Something wondrous, this way comes. Something wondrously wicked.”
Was it just her imagination, or was she really was being followed? Overhead a large shadowy figure glided past. The air, disturbed by its passing, brushed against her skin. She ducked. Behind her, she heard an animal scream as flying death caught it up.
“It’s just an owl,” she told herself. “Nothing is following you. Get a grip.” That’s what her mother always used to say to her father, get a grip. But her mother always laughed when she said it, and Daddy always winked back at her. Ja'Nil couldn’t find anything laughable about her situation. She plunged further into the forest.
It wasn’t bravery that finally stopped her flight. She was in the middle of a forest. Purple Moon was down. Every step she took was a step into pure darkness. Trees banged into her, vines caught at her, holes tripped her. For all she knew she was traveling in circles. Maybe she was even returning to the inn! Exhausted, she sank down cross-legged and leaned against the rough bark of a tree to await First Sun’s rise.
Still leaning against the tree, she straightened her legs and turned on her side, slowly slipping down until she was stretched out, full length on the thin grass. Making a mumbling irritated sound, she swept away some pebbles that lay under her cheek. With a sigh, she turned halfway onto her stomach and cradled her head on her hands. She slept.
***
White Moon rose. It shed its pale light down through the trees onto the clearing in which Ja'Nil slept. Into the clearing walked a great wolf.
His coloring was silvered, and disguised by the moonlight, but his eyes were a piercing yellow. Carefully, he moved within an arm’s length of the sleeping human and studied her intently. The two cuts she had sustained climbing out of the window were still seeping blood. Involuntarily, he licked his lips. Saliva dripped from his jaws. He moved closer. His paws were bigger than both her hands. He opened his mouth wide and stretched his long body from his rear to his head, closing his mouth with a wolfish grin. His nose almost touched her face. He sniffed her sweat-dried hair, the dusty attic smell on her torn tunic, the dew soaked leather of her worn boots, the child-woman odor of her. Of a sudden, there was the sound of crunching leaves. The wolf whirled, his lips drawing back in a silent snarl. Without another look at the sleeping Ja’Nil, he melted back into the forest.
CHAPTER 7
Unaware of the wolf, Ja'Nil slept on. She is back on her father’s boat again. She finally reaches her little brother, Yonny. He clings to her, sobbing,
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