The Shaktra

  At the store she had bought plenty of stuff for Paddy and herself: beef jerky, cans of nuts and tuna fish, chocolate bars, trail mix, cereal, and batteries for her flashlights. But Paddy looked so sad as he watched her packing that she felt she had to say something to soften the blow of his leaving her house. So she sat him down and told him that she was going to accompany him and Farble into the elemental realm. To her surprise, he did not look too happy at the news.

  “Missy should stay in her own world,” Paddy said.

  “Why is that?”

  Perhaps to taunt her, he paraphrased her earlier remarks. “That world is not your world, it’s not your home.” He added, “There are dangers there, Missy.”

  “Such as?”

  He shook his head. “You do not know the place.”

  “Don’t you want my company?”

  “Paddy is only concerned that Missy might get hurt.”

  She saw he was being sincere. “I have to go, Paddy. My mother is there.”

  He hesitated. “Does Missy know that, or does Missy wish that to be true?”

  Ali stiffened. “I know what I know.”

  Paddy lowered his head. “Missy is a high fairy.”

  Softening her tone, she pulled out a wad of cash and handed it to him. “Before we leave, go to the liquor store and buy yourself six bottles of whiskey. You know where it is. Be sure to make up your face before you go. Don’t skip any green spots. If you have any money left, you can get some tobacco for your pipe. Does that sound good to you?”

  He brightened. “Does Missy mind how large the bottles are?”

  “Missy does not. Buy what you can carry. But for heaven’s sake, don’t get in an argument with the guy at the store, like you did last time. And if he asks for photo ID, tell him you don’t have any and come back here and I’ll take you to another store.”

  Paddy pocketed the cash, then stared at her a moment, uncertain what to say next. “Paddy knows Missy is a friend,” he said quietly.

  Ali leaned over and hugged him. “Missy knows Paddy is a great leprechaun.”

  Paddy was gone over half an hour, which made Ali nervous, but by the time he returned she was done packing. Farble did not seem to mind having a hundred pounds of meat stuffed in his pack. Her only fear was that he would eat it while they hiked. She explained to him that the food had to last, but the troll just nodded and stared at the steak. Ali suspected that troll brains lacked long term—planning ability.

  It had been raining earlier, then sunny; now the clouds had returned and covered Breakwater in a sober gray light. The dim was actually an advantage. Farble’s skin only hurt when exposed to direct sunlight. The clouds gave them an extra two hours. They did not have to wait for dark to set out.

  However, as she loaded up her father’s truck, she buried Farble under a bedsheet and ordered him to remain still until they were high on the mountain. But she let Paddy sit up front beside her. As they pulled out of the garage, he already had a bottle of whiskey open and was drinking heavily.

  “Does Missy know how to drive this thing?” he asked.

  “Sure.” The word was no sooner out of her mouth when she backed into their trash can and spewed garbage onto the street. She dared not stop to pick it up. She added, “I just need a little practice is all.”

  “I saw Missy out practicing many times.”

  “You did not!”

  “Aye. Late at night, swerving all over the road.”

  “You think you could do better?”

  “Aye. Paddy should drive.”

  “You know nothing about driving!”

  “Paddy knows. Took the truck out a few times when Missy was gone.”

  Ali was stunned. “You did not!”

  “Aye. Let Paddy drive.”

  She shook her head. “Your feet won’t reach the pedals.”

  Paddy glanced down at her legs. Even with the seat pushed all the way forward, her feet barely reached the gas and brake. “We could drive together,” he said.

  “Hardly,” she replied.

  Her skills improved the farther they went up the mountain. She kept their speed down, her eyes locked on the dark road. They didn’t pass another vehicle, which was a good thing. The truck strained under Farble’s weight—the sunken rear made them look as if they were towing a granite statue. The troll fell asleep under the sheet and his snores sent the material billowing into the air. Farble’s weight forced her to keep her foot on the gas. The fuel gauge sunk rapidly.

  Ali had not been far up the mountain since their big adventure. As they wound through the trees, they passed the spot where she had first hid her bike and tried to hike across the forest to the logging site. It was on that particular hike that she had run into Farble and his friends—before they were friends—and had almost been buried alive. Driving farther, they also passed the logging site itself, which had yet to reopen since Ted Wilson’s accident. The local loggers still got spooked when Ted described the creature that had attacked him, which by no coincidence sounded a lot like Farble, although Ali was pretty sure it had been one of Farble’s pals who had done the dirty work.

  After thirty minutes, the road ended and they were in the same spot they had been when they had started their last journey—except last time Karl had been acting like their leader, while all the time he had been planning to steal the Yanti and kill them. Parking, Ali climbed out and woke up Farble and sucked in a deep breath of fresh air. Previously, their initial goal had been a spot called Overhang, a rocky formation twelve miles distant. But if everything went as she hoped, they would reach Overhang with the night only half over. They had better! The cave that held the seven doors was at least another ten miles beyond Overhang. The total distances didn’t sound that impressive to the uninitiated but the trail also included a two-mile rise in elevation and Ali was never going to forget how thin the air got on top of the mountain.

  Before they hit the trail, Ali stopped to phone Steve. He answered on the first ring and assured her that they were on the bus on their way back to Breakwater.

  “Rose picked up Nira?” she asked.

  “We didn’t kidnap her, if that’s what you mean,” he said.

  “Did Rose explain why she was not at the hospital?”

  “As a matter of fact she did. Before they could even leave for the hospital, a friend called Freddy’s mother and told her that her son was dead. The poor woman fainted right away, and Rose had to stay with her until another ambulance came.” Steve added, “Rose might be working for a monster, but you have to understand what a sweet woman she is. She really does take good care of Nira.”

  “I’ll be happy to have my opinion about her changed.” Ali added, “Remember what I said about not going back there. Not everything is as it seems in Toule.”

  “I hear you. Where are you now?”

  “About to start up the trail. If you want, I can call you before we enter the cave. You know after that my cell phone won’t work.”

  “Sure. Call me then.” Steve hesitated. “Best of luck, Ali.”

  “Thanks,” she said.

  Next she called her father, who was halfway to Miami with a load of freight. He sounded good. They talked a few minutes and she assured him that she was staying at Cindy’s house. It bothered her to lie to him, but she felt none of it would matter if she brought his wife home to him.

  His wife! As she said goodbye to her father, it hit her that she was finally on the road to saving her mother. Searching for Karl’s whereabouts for the last four weeks had worn on her nerves. Now she was taking charge of the situation and it felt great. She chided herself that she had taken so long to make up her mind what to do.

  They fastened on their respective backpacks—she forced Paddy to wear one as well, to carry his whiskey bottles—and set off at a stride so quick it was closer to a jog than a walk. The first part of the journey was through a tunnel of thick-branched pines and ferns that completely cut off the sky. Ali reached for her flashlight, only to discover that on
ce her eyes had adapted to the gloom, she could see fine. She was relieved. She could save the batteries for when they entered the cave.

  Paddy drank as they hiked, and finished an entire bottle, and started on a second, and sang loudly, and badly, but she did not care as long as he kept moving. His short legs belied his stout heart. He was able to match her step for step, and she could only pray his endurance kept up. Farble, of course, loped easily along; it seemed as if he hardly took a deep breath.

  Ali could not help but reflect on their last hike through these woods, when Steve and Cindy had struggled from the beginning. She had been smart to leave them behind, but she had been an idiot to bring them with her to Toule. Steve had acknowledged he had heard her when she had told him to stay away from there.

  But he had not said he would stay away from the town.

  The branch-tunnel ended and they came to the open woods, and Ali pushed them hard. A huge moon had risen—its bewitching light shone through the silent trees like the ghostly rays given off by a haunted castle. Ali sensed a mysterious waiting in the forest, as if it remembered the previous month and the opening of the Yanti, and was preparing for another brush with magic. Or perhaps the woods were just happy to see her, as she was to see them. She felt more at home in the forest than she did in her own house.

  Four hours of hiking brought them to the spot where they had camped last time and been attacked by the dark fairies. Already they were high up on the mountain, and Breakwater was but a toy village beside a silver sea. On their right, the moon had risen above the eastern ridge, and although it was a day short of being full—contrary to what Cindy had told Steve on the bus—in the clear thin air it looked as bright as a searchlight. She felt as if she could see as easily with the moon as with the sun.

  The old campsite still bore the scars of the dark fairies’ attack. There were plenty of fallen trees and burnt bark, and the odor of ash remained. Yet as she reached out with her mind, she did not sense any of the creatures in the area, and it made her wonder. Why had they returned behind the red door? Were they afraid to attack without the support of Lord Vak’s army? Were they afraid of her? She stopped to reflect on Radrine’s exact words to her.

  “You are mistaken, the end will not come in days. The war will be long and bloody. Humanity has physical weapons, true, but lacks magical powers. Both sides are equally matched. But in the end we want the dwarves and elves to be destroyed, as much as we want humanity wiped out. Did you not know? The whole world can glow with radioactive dust and we will be happy. Because it is then we will move fully into the third dimension, and take over, and make all who have survived our slaves.”

  The dark fairies were spoilers, cowards. They only liked to attack when they were sure of winning. They were waiting for the Shaktra to once more push the elementals into the human kingdom. However, it was possible they might emerge from their painful realm, from time to time, before the war started and cause mischief. For that reason, it was her intention to lock the red door before she went in search of her mother.

  How she planned to accomplish these amazing feats remained to be seen.

  Near the old campsite, down in the ravine, they took water from the Mercer River, before resuming their hike. The farther they went up the mountain, the stronger she felt. Soon she was running, with Farble beside her, and the thin air felt fine in her lungs and the moonlight lit her red hair. But her enthusiasm took its toll on Paddy. When she paused to get her bearings, she saw that the leprechaun had fallen behind, and they had to wait while he staggered up beside them. Of course, he was well into his second bottle, and he had lit his pipe and was blowing smoke rings. She tried to explain that such things did not make for good hiking, but he just waved his hand.

  “Paddy can out-hike you both any day of the week,” he said.

  “If you don’t keep up, Farble’s going to have to carry you.”

  The leprechaun looked disgusted. “He might eat me!”

  “Stop drinking, stop smoking, stop singing. We have lots of ground to cover.”

  Paddy was hurt. “Missy doesn’t like me songs?”

  “Missy doesn’t want the whole world to know we’re coming.”

  However, when they started off again, Ali stayed behind with Paddy, while Farble went ahead. Once more she tried to question the leprechaun about what they could expect to find in the elemental kingdom.

  “I need to know what we’ll see when we first come out on the other side.”

  Paddy acted confused. “A mountain.”

  “A mountain like we have on this side?”

  “Aye. The same but different.”

  “Where does this mountain reside in the elemental kingdom? Is it where the fairies live? Is it where the elves live? The dwarves?”

  “It is in the south, Missy, not far from the sea.”

  “Who lives there?”

  “Not sure, Missy. Lord Vak claimed it when he marched his army to the mountain. The dwarves did, too. But now they have gone back to their own places. Maybe another has claimed it by now.”

  “You mention south, and you mention the sea. How far is the mountain from the sea? Is it closer than our mountain is to our sea?”

  “Aye. It is not such a pretty mountain. It has no trees.”

  “No trees?” The remark surprised her. And here she had thought the elemental kingdom was completely green. “Why are there no trees?”

  “The mountain is in the south, near the desert.”

  “Who lives in the desert?”

  Paddy looked away. “No one.”

  “Paddy?”

  “No people, Missy. Paddy promises. No reason to go there.”

  “But is there something dangerous in the desert?”

  “No!”

  “Paddy?”

  He took forever to answer. “Scabs.”

  “Scabs? What are scabs?”

  “Scabs are scabs. They are dangerous. No reason to go into the desert.”

  “Fine. We will not go into the desert. What lies directly north of the mountain?”

  “Land, rocks, some trees, a wide river.”

  “Who lives there?”

  Paddy paused. “I do, and other leprechauns.”

  Ali had to smile. “Is it a nice place?”

  Paddy shrugged. “It is what it is. It is not as beautiful as Karolee.”

  The word sent a wave of warmth through Ali. “What is that?”

  Paddy looked up at her. “Missy must know.”

  Ali spoke the words as if in a dream. “It’s where the fairies live. And the center of their kingdom is named Uleestar.” She discovered she was shaking. “Is that correct?”

  “Aye. But Paddy has never been to Uleestar, only heard of it.”

  “But you’ve been to Karolee?”

  “Aye. From time to time.”

  “What is it like?”

  “Full of trees, running water, flowers, and fairies.”

  “How do fairies and leprechauns get along?”

  “There are fairies and there are fairies. Some like leprechauns, some do not.”

  “But fairies allow leprechauns to cross their borders?”

  “Aye. They did, Missy, not so much now.”

  “Why?”

  “Things change. Another war comes, leprechauns get pushed aside.”

  “Would you say the fairies guard their borders well?”

  “They guard Uleestar. It is strong.”

  “How long would it take us to hike from the mountain to Uleestar?”

  “Paddy does not know. Never been there.”

  “Guess.”

  “Missy?”

  “I want you to give me your best guess.”

  Paddy looked miserable. “Five days?”

  Ali nodded. “Who lives to the east of Karolee?”

  “Lord Vak and his elves.”

  “And south of him is Lord Balar and the dwarves?”

  “Aye. Dwarves are in the mountains, in their caves.”

  “
Where do the trolls come from?”

  “The far east.”

  “Are there mountains there?”

  “Many mountains, Missy.”

  Ali remembered a dream she’d had before they went up the mountain the first time. In it there had been huge white mountains in the sky, like floating icebergs, and a vast dark shadow on the western horizon. She asked Paddy about what she had seen.

  “You mean the kloudar, aye. They are up in the sky.”

  “Do they float all over the place?”

  “They float around Anglar.”

  “What is Anglar?”

  “The moon.”

  Ali was stunned. “You mean they orbit the moon?”

  He was uncertain. “Paddy sees them near Anglar.”

  “Does anyone live on the kloudar?”

  “Dragons visit.”

  Ali had to laugh. “There are dragons there?”

  “Aye. Missy must know. Dragons visit the kloudar.”

  “So these dragons, they fly?”

  “Aye. The kloudar are high up.”

  “Do fairies fly up to the kloudar?”

  “Aye, the high fairies.”

  “Does anyone else live on the kloudar?”

  The leprechaun hesitated. “Paddy should not say.”

  “Why not?”

  “Paddy does not want to say.”

  “Why don’t you want to say?”

  “It is . . . my pa told Paddy . . . it is . . . too sacred to say.”

  “Sacred?”

  “Aye.”

  “Do you even know what that word means?”

  He just stared at her, didn’t speak.

  Ali tried another tack. “What about in the west? What’s there?”

  “The sea.”

  “Is there something out in the sea? A place you know about?”