The Woods Out Back

Chapter 10 Winter Frolics

 

  "We shall stay to the lower trails," Kelsey insisted, leading them on stubbornly against the gathering storm.

  Mickey and Geno exchanged looks that did not comfort Gary Leger. He thought he had heard of the Blue Hag before, in a fairy tale, perhaps, and he vaguely remembered that what he had heard had not been pleasant.

  The temperature continued to plummet. Kelsey took them down to the lower trails, but even there, the snow was fast piling. They plodded and struggled, slipped on ice-covered stones, and fought hard against the stiff and freezing wind. Finally even the elf realized that he could not keep to his determined course.

  "We're getting deeper into her storm," Mickey remarked. "Even if the Cailleac is out on a confused wander, ye're taking us right to her killing feet!

  "And Kelsey," the leprechaun added ominously, "we're both knowing that she's not out on any confused wander. "

  Kelsey turned to Geno. "Get us back to the west," he instructed. "Through the swiftest trails you know. "

  "You go beyond the bounds of my indenture," the dwarf replied, somewhat hiding his relief.

  "To save us is to save yourself," Kelsey promptly reminded him. "Dwarfs fare no better than elves in the Cailleac's wake. "

  Geno's grunt was filled with hatred, but the dwarf rushed back to the end of the line and turned them about. Geno moved along at a tremendous, rolling pace, and once again, poor Gary found himself hard-pressed to keep up. Mickey perched upon his shoulder and whispered grim reminders of what would happen to him if he lagged too far behind.

  At first, the small party seemed to be outrunning the storm, for the trails were flat and smooth. But then as they began to tire and cross rougher ground, the winds caught up to them, nipping at their backsides, howling like a pack of hungry wolves, and promising doom. Snow swirled all about them, limiting their vision to onlya few feet. At one point, they came sliding and slipping down a steep and narrow decline, the stones slick with ice and a sheer drop to their right.

  Kelsey shouted warnings, Gary screamed, and the leprechaun, holding on for all his life, nearly choked the young man, as they neared the bottom, for the trail took a sharp right turn that seemed as if it would leave them flying headlong over the drop.

  Geno knew the area well, though, and he listened to the promises of the stones rather than depending on his vision. The dwarf called to the mountain, and a curving and smooth slab rose up from the lip at the turn, blocking the fall and deflecting the out-of-control companions safely along the trail. Every time the trail wound sharply, dwarven magic lifted a stone banking to guide them along.

  Their pace continued to slow, though, as the snow deepened. Gary's feet and legs went numb and many times he thought he would simply fall down and wait for the blizzard to bury him.

  Then Geno made a most welcomed announcement.

  "Cave!" the dwarf shouted, and he slipped around a boulder and into a narrow opening.

  "We can only rest for a moment," Kelsey said.

  "My legs are numb," Gary retorted. "I won't make it if we go back out there. "

  "I, too, would prefer to rest," the elf replied. "To build a fire and sit in here until the storm abates. " He looked at Mickey, who nodded his agreement. "But the Cailleac is out with a purpose, I fear. The trails this deep in the mountains will be blocked before nightfall and then we will have nowhere to go. "

  "We cannot stay and wait," Mickey agreed.

  "Who said we would?" Geno, who had been sniffing around the back of the cave, huffed. "But I'll not go back out there," he declared, pointing to the whiteness beyond the cave entrance.

  All three looked at him curiously.

  "Get a fire going," Geno commanded. He walked to the back of the shallow cave again, braced his shoulder against a rocky spur, and heaved with all his strength. To the amazement, and relief, of his companions, the rock slid away, revealing a dark tunnel winding down into the west. "You might as well warm yourselves while we rest," Geno said nonchalantly.

  Kelsey always kept some kindling in his pack, and he soon had a small fire burning. It wouldn't last long, they all knew, so they huddled about it, stealing every bit of warmth they possibly could.

  "How far does the tunnel go?" Kelsey asked. With the immediate danger passed, the elf was more concerned with what the future might hold. This would be a temporary stay indeed if they came out still many miles from the edge of Dvergamal with the Cailleac's storm deep about them.

  "Long way," Geno replied.

  "You saved us all," Gary remarked honestly.

  "Shut your mouth!" the dwarf snapped back. "I saved myself. "

  "We just happened to be along to get saved with ye," Mickey added, understanding the dwarf's feelings.

  Geno briskly rubbed his thick hands together, brushed his hair from in front of his face, and stormed away from the fire.

  "Keep quiet, lad," the leprechaun whispered to Gary. "Ye'll find no friendship with that one, and if ye anger him too much, he'll suren leave us lost in the dark. "

  "Time to go," Kelsey said, realizing before the others that Geno had already disappeared into the tunnel. The elf considered the dying fire, wondering if he might salvage a brand large enough to use as a torch. There wasn't much left, though, so Kelsey gave an uncomfortable grimace and a helpless shrug.

  "Just keep close to the dwarf," Mickey reassured him.

  Kelsey looked to his longbow and to the glowing embers.

  "It'd only burn for a few minutes," Mickey quickly reminded him. "Then ye'd be without light and without yer bow. "

  Kelsey shrugged, obviously uncomfortable, and rushed into the darkness.

  "Elfs aren't overly fond of caves," Mickey explained to Gary as he floated to his regular position atop the young man's shoulder.

  "I knew that," Gary replied quietly.

  Deep and dark, so dark that Gary couldn't see his hand if he waggled it just inches in front of his face. Not even a shadow of it.

  Deep and dark.

  Gary's sigh was audible when Mickey, perched upon his shoulder, conjured some light to read by.

  "Put it out!" Geno roared from up ahead.

  "We're not all dwarfs, ye know," Mickey retaliated. "Our eyes don't show us much through the dark. If ye want. . . "

  Geno stormed back, nearly toppling Kelsey, and hopped up on his toes to put his face right up to Mickey's knees. "Put it out," the dwarf growled.

  Kelsey, also very glad for the light, started to interrupt, but Geno would hear none of it.

  "There are dark things sleeping down here," the dwarf warned. "Big and dark. Would you want to wake them?"

  Mickey and Gary looked to Kelsey, who was sweating and obviously uncomfortable in the tunnel. To Gary, this hardly seemed the imposing elf he had come to know. When Geno, too, turned about and snapped a glare on the elf, Kelsey only shrugged and turned away.

  Reluctantly Mickey extinguished his light.

  "Good enough," grumbled Geno. "Now keep close to my back; if you get lost down here, you will never find your way out. "

  They trudged on slowly, Gary, even agile Kelsey, stumbling often. Gary thought that Geno must surely be enjoying all of this. On one occasion, Gary came down an abrupt decline and slammed his helmet into a low-hanging stone. Mickey squeaked and dropped heavily from his shoulder.

  "Duck your head near the bottom," Geno said, a bit late with the warning. Mickey lit another globe, just long enough to find his way back to Gary, and the dwarf, too amused to even scold him, continued on, hardly hiding his snickers.

  Gary had never been this far underground before. He had never suffered claustrophobia of any kind, but every step now came hesitantly to him as he became conscious of the thousands of tons of stone above his head. The air grew comfortably warm again - that was something, at least - but Gary's breathing came in terror-filled gasps; he felt he would just scream out, or plunge blindly into the darkness.

  "Are
ye all right, lad?" Mickey asked, hearing the labored breaths.

  When Gary didn't even respond, Mickey lit a globe of light.

  "Put it out!" came the expected roar from up front.

  "Wait," said Kelsey, who had also seen - or felt - enough of the blackness. "Hold the enchantment. " He turned to Geno. "I would rather awaken a horde of demons than continue on blindly. I do not care much for your dwarven realm, good smithy. "

  "Good enough for you, then," Geno growled back. "And when we do awaken the dark things, I'll gladly step aside that you alone might battle them!"

  "Hold the enchantment," Kelsey said again to Mickey, and the leprechaun shrugged and pulled outThe Hobbit, thinking, as usual, to make the best of the situation.

  As they at last continued on, Gary wasn't certain if he liked the light better or not. Whenever the walls and ceiling came tight about them, he felt as though they would surely be smothered, and whenever the passage opened up wide and high, stalactites leered down at him, and stalagmite mounds resembled those demons that Kelsey had made mention of.

  They made better progress, though, not having to shuffle blindly, not stubbing their toes every other step. Even Geno grew more at ease, particularly when the tunnel at last began to slope upwards once more.

  How many miles they walked as the hours slipped by only the dwarf knew for certain, but the passage was almost arrow-straight and all of them, except for Geno, were quite surprised when they finally saw the waning light of day up ahead and came out on the western fringes of Dvergamal, not too far from the foothills.

  "We've covered near to two days of trail walking in half a day," Mickey remarked with obvious admiration.

  The leprechaun's claims proved true enough, but the danger was not completely behind them. The leading edge of the Blue Hag's storm had passed even this point and the snow lay deep about the tunnel exit, and still more tumbled down from the thick gray sky.

  "We'll gain nothing by waiting," Kelsey said. "Move ahead and quickly, before the cold weakens us once more. " Unfamiliar with their exact location, the elf let Geno continue in the lead.

  The new-fallen snow was no match for the heavy footsteps of Geno Hammerthrower. The dwarf put a hammer in each hand and plowed ahead wildly, bursting through drifts more than twice his height and smashing away patches of ice wherever he found them. In his wake, the others had an easier time of it, though the blizzard grew stronger and the wind bit at them and forced lithe Kelsey to take a step to the side for every one he took forward. Mickey prudently put the book away (the pages would have gotten soaked anyway) and clamped both his hands around Gary's helmet.

  With the lower foothills in sight and Geno cutting a path for them, the group made great progress and their hopes soared. Perhaps it was that strong pace and budding confidence that made Gary a bit less cautious, and on one slick descending trail, disaster struck.

  Sheltered by a high mountain wall from the brunt of the wind, the trail was not so deep with snow. The companions trotted along anxiously, Geno leading, then Kelsey, then Gary, with Mickey more relaxed on his shoulder.

  The leprechaun regretted loosening his grip when Gary slipped to his back and skidded down the slope, gaining momentum. Like a turtle on its shell, the young armored man flailed helplessly. Kelsey nimbly hopped out of harm's way; Geno, busily calling up a blocking stone, as he had done on the earlier winding trails, noticed Gary only at the last moment.

  The dwarf swung about and braced himself, his muscles snapping taut as Gary barreled into him. The force of the impact sent Mickey head over heels. They all came to a skidding stop, Mickey atop Geno now, and Geno's heels hanging out over a deep ravine.

  "You nearly killed us both!" the dwarf roared at Gary.

  "All three, ye mean," Mickey quickly added. He started to say something else, but his words turned into a shriek as a gust of wind slammed him and knocked him from Geno's back.

  "Mickey!" Gary cried, rolling about to get his head over the lip of the ravine. He saw the leprechaun spinning down, his tam-o'-shanter flying away, and then an umbrella opened, offering some hope.

  But the wind whipped and swirled in the narrow ravine, and Mickey's umbrella twisted and turned, then folded up on itself. The sound of a renewed shriek and the image of plummeting Mickey died away, buried in the wind-whipped, deadening snow.

  "Mickey," Gary whispered again.

  "The leprechaun has many tricks," Kelsey offered, though there was little confidence in his tone.

  Gary just continued to stare blankly into the chasm.

  "How can we get down there?" Kelsey asked Geno.

  The dwarf pointed across the narrow ravine. The path continued on after the ten-foot expanse; the ravine was really just a sharp crack where the ancient mountain had split apart.

  Without saying a word, the dwarf coiled his bowed legs under his boulder-like torso and leaped out. He slammed face-first into the cliff across the way, but found a solid grip with his powerful hands and easily scrambled back up to the path.

  Kelsey went next - two short strides and a graceful leap that cleared the ravine with several feet to spare.

  Gary looked at them in wonderment, then turned his gaze back to the deep fall. He knew that the expanse was barely ten feet across, but he was amazed at how far that distance appeared with a drop of several hundred feet between the ledges. Without the snow, and without the armor, he probably could have made the jump - if he could have summoned the courage to even make the attempt.

  "You must come across," Kelsey yelled to him, the voice seeming distant through the blizzard. "If we are delayed, the Cailleac's storm will bury us. "

  "You forget what I'm wearing," Gary shouted back. "I wouldn't make it halfway!" He heard Geno and Kelsey conversing, though he couldn't make out the words.

  "I will throw you a rope," Kelsey said after what seemed to Gary to be a long, long while. "Tie it about you securely. "

  Gary didn't really see how that would be of much help; if he leaped and came up short, he would just swing down into the side of the cliff, probably breaking every bone in his body.

  "Wait for the wave!" came Geno's gravelly voice.

  "Wave?" The tone of Gary's question did not reflect an abundance of confidence.

  "You will know when to leap!" the dwarf promised, and then Gary heard him chanting softly, as softly as Geno could with his grating, thunder-rumbling voice. The ground came alive under Gary's feet, swaying and rolling like an ocean.

  Gary felt the momentum building, each surge stronger than the last, the ice cracking and sliding away. The stone groaned for the effort and Gary blinked in amazement as he watched one tall wave speeding at him from behind. Understanding now the dwarf's instructions, he waited until it bucked the ground behind him, then, knowing that it would surely toss him into the ravine if he did not act, he summoned his courage and leaped with all his strength.

  His timing was perfect; he sailed high and far, easily clearing the expanse, even clearing Kelsey and Geno. So relieved to be over the chasm, Gary didn't even consider his new problem.

  Landing.

  He came down stumbling and scrambling. Realizing that he could not stay on his feet, he quickly veered for a pillowy-looking snowbank. Appearances can indeed be deceiving, as Gary learned when he crashed through the scant inch of snow covering the boulder.

  He lay very still on the hard ground, not noticing the cold, or even the whiteness of the snow-filled sky.

  Just the stars again.

  After what seemed like an hour, he felt a small hand roughly clasp his arm and he was flying again, back up to his feet. He had no choice but to fight away the dizziness, for by the time he even realized that he was standing, Kelsey and Geno had already started away.

  The three charged along for just a few minutes, then Geno stopped suddenly and put an ear to the mountain wall. The dwarf stepped back, as though he was considering what the mountain had told him. He reached for a loose slab of sto
ne, somewhat bowl-shaped, and hoisted it from its position beside the wall. Gary shook his head at the feat, for though the slab must have weighed several hundred pounds, powerful Geno handled it easily.

  "Get on," the dwarf ordered, laying the slab out before him. "The trail is ice-covered from here on down. "

  Kelsey jumped right aboard, but Gary wasn't so certain about tobogganing down a narrow mountain trail, especially not with a sheer drop looming on one side.

  "Stay if you choose," Geno said, and he started to kick the sled away. "I will not promise that I'll come and retrieve your frozen body when the storm abates. "

  Gary caught him three strides down, diving to the sled and holding on for dear life. They had gone a hundred feet by the time Gary managed to get his whole body on the slab, taking a tight seat between Kelsey and the dwarf.

  Geno remained in the back, hardly able to see over Gary. Since Gary considered the dwarf their pilot, he wasn't too confident of that arrangement, but the dwarf had his eyes closed anyway, concentrating and calling to the mountain to guide them.

  They gained speed with every passing foot, plummeting along the steepening winding trail. They climbed several feet up the mountainside for every right-hand turn, and the trail conveniently (purposefully?) banked upwards to keep them from flying out on the left bends.

  The wind roared inside Gary's loose helmet, and the eye slit did not offer enough protection to stop the windblown tears from flying freely. All the world became a surrealistic blur, mountain peaks blending together and rushing past. Sometimes the trail cut in from the ledge, sending the sledders rushing into darkness between towering walls of stone. Then the light returned in the blink of an eye as the sled zipped back out the other side.

  As they flew through one tumble of boulders, Gary could only imagine that someone had turned a strobe upon them. The light flashed and flickered as they weaved in and out, under a small arching natural bridge and through a short and narrow tunnel.

  "Hold tight!" Geno cried, a perfectly unnecessary order, as they came up on another ravine. Then they were flying in open air; the mountain seemed to disappear behind them. Gary hadn't yet found his stomach when they bounced back to earth, now speeding along an open and smooth rock face. The wind buffeted them fiercely, threatening to flip them right over.

  "Lean!" Geno roared, and together they put the slab right up on one edge, letting their angled weight fight back against the stubborn wind.

  All the world rushed back up around them as the trail dropped suddenly. With the counterbalancing wind suddenly blocked, their lean sent them along sideways, spinning out of control. Gary slid free, saw Kelsey jump clear, and watched in terror as Geno and the bouncing slab whipped down toward an empty stone wall.

  The dwarf curled and kicked out ferociously, launching the slab into the air.

  Crack!

  The slab hit the wall and broke apart into a thousand pieces. Geno skidded in after it, but hit feetfirst and was back up before Gary or Kelsey had even recovered.

  "A fine ride," Kelsey commented.

  Gary gave him a disbelieving look.

  "How long would it have taken us to walk those icy trails?" the elf asked in reply. "We are near to the bottom now, and soon to be out of Dvergamal. "

  "What about Mickey?" Gary asked, looking at both his companions.

  "The trail doubles back on itself," Geno answered. "We will soon go near to where the leprechaun fell. "

  Kelsey looked up at the gloomy sky and his doubting expression told Gary that he did not think they would have an easy time finding their lost friend. The sun did not set early this time of the year, but so thick was the overcast that the light in late afternoon was growing meager.

  The snow was deeper down here, but the trails were fairly even, and with Geno chopping out a path, the companions made good time. Kelsey found Mickey's tam-o'-shanter after an hour or so, but they saw no other sign of the leprechaun, and their calls were hopelessly buried by the storm.

  A dark twilight fell over them; Gary had almost lost hope. And then they saw a bright glow to the side of the trail - not the flicker of a fire, but the steady glow of a magical light. They rushed over and found a snowdrift - a glowing snowbank with a leprechaun-shaped depression in its side.

  "Mickey!" Gary yelled, and he and Kelsey, though their hands were again numb, began digging furiously at the snow. More than two hours had passed since the leprechaun's fall and they didn't need to voice their concerns that Mickey could not have survived engulfed in snow.

  "Ye think I'd stay in there?" came a voice behind them. In a shallow cubby on the wind-protected side of the mountain wall, the leprechaun came back from invisibility into view. "Suren I'd be a month in the thawing!" He dropped his gaze to Kelsey's belt and smiled widely. "Ah, good, ye found me hat!"

  "Unbelievable" was all that Gary could mutter, and his remark was the only response at all forthcoming from the three amazed companions.

  They soon realized that they had put the worst of the storm behind them. They came out of the foothills a short while later, walking from winter into summer, it seemed, for even the Cailleac had little power over the lowlands in this season. Gary could only equate it to the time he had flown from Boston to Los Angeles on a December day.

  They set a comfortable camp and Kelsey went off with his bow, returning a short time later with several coneys.

  "You saved me up there," Gary mentioned to Geno, looking back to towering Dvergamal.

  Anger flashed in Geno's blue-gray eyes. "I saved myself," the dwarf insisted.

  "No," Gary corrected. "Not at the ravine where Mickey fell. I had no way across, and you could have gone on without me. But you didn't. You used your magic to help me across. "

  Geno mulled over the words for a moment, then spat on Gary's sneaker and stalked away.

  Kelsey came up and glowered at the confused young man. "Take care that you do not release him from too many bonds!" the elf growled right in Gary's face, the words sounding clearly as a threat. And then Kelsey, too, charged off.

  Gary looked helplessly to Mickey, who sat with arms crossed and not looking too pleased.

  "Now ye got yer wish," the leprechaun scolded. "Ye released the dwarf from yer responsibility and he's owing ye nothing. I wouldn't be talking with Geno overly much, lad - he'll likely rip yer tongue from yer mouth. "

  "Why is he so miserable?" Gary snapped back.

  "He's a dwarf," Mickey was quick to answer, as though that explained everything. "Dwarfs don't like peoples who aren't dwarfs!" the leprechaun added, seeing that Gary still did not understand. "Besides, he's been catched, and that's not an agreeable state. "

  Gary silently denied Mickey's claims. For whatever reason, Geno had taken the trouble to save him, to save them all, and the "he's a dwarf" argument simply didn't hold up against that fact.