The Tree Shepherd's Daughter (15 page)

Something scratched at her legs as she ran. She only
knew one thing: Get out of the forest. Green ropy fingers
with sharp pointy nails snagged her skirt. She saw briars
and thorns, but she thought she saw eyes and limbs tangled in the mess.

Keelie ran up to a beech tree and wrapped herself
around it. She pressed her face into the smooth bark. Its
life-giving sap pumped through its trunk like the red blood
that flowed through Keelie's body. A branch touched her
hair with sticklike fingers in a comforting gesture, sort
of like Mom use to do when Keelie was upset. Raw grief
burst forth. Unbidden tears flowed down her face, but it
washed away the fear, revealing a hollow hole inside her
heart.

She said in a soft whisper, "Mom, where are you? Which
way to the Faire?" As if in answer, Keelie heard water flowing nearby. It had to be the stream. She lifted her head up
toward the branch, and for a second she swore she thought
she'd seen some primitive puppets made of sticks, grass, and
leaves way high in the uppermost branches of the tree. She
shook her head. Ever since she'd arrived here at the Faire,
she'd seen things that she'd sworn were there, and when she
looked they weren't. It was like the lines between reality and
pretend had blurred. Did she really want to see stick men?

No.

Keelie stepped away from the tree and brushed away
her tears. If Raven were here, she would have marched over
the bridge and all the way back to New York. But what
if Keelie heard the eerie voice again? Taking a cue from
Raven's example, Keelie summoned her bravado, what was
left of it, and marched with determination. What was another weird voice in her head? She was going to get back
to the Faire, and she was going to get back to California
ASAP

She started to touch the redwood handrail but pulled
her hand back. Enough. Her wood-channeling days were
over. From the corner of her eye, she saw a small shape run
in and between the trees. It was too fast to be a raccoon, and
it didn't move like anything from Animal Planet. She shuddered. No. She wasn't going to let her boundaries between
reality and imagination blend like two primary colors.

She just had to get over the bridge and get her ass back
to the Faire. "Over the stream, through the woods, back to
Daddy's bungalow, I go." Her whispered song faded as she
heard the watery voice from under the bridge.

"Keliel. Danger."

She stopped.

Twigs snapped in the woods. In between gathering
dark clouds, the moon silvered the forest as the red blur
streaked through the trees. From the distance, thunder
rumbled. Adrenalin pumped through Keelie as she ran
across the bridge.

On the opposite side she tripped over a rock, tumbled
down the bank, and landed face-first in the shallow water. As she pushed up on her hands, something heavy and solid
landed on her back. Whatever was on her pushed Keelie's
head back underwater.

Water filled her nose, her mouth. She couldn't breathe.
She kicked her legs as she tried to roll over to get the thing
off of her. She opened her eyes, but she couldn't see anything. The eerie voice that she'd heard under the bridge
was clearer, sharper. "Touch the bridge."

Keelie searched frantically for the bridge. Inches from
her head was the bridge post, but she couldn't reach it. She
forced her way over to it, using her elbows in the sandy
bottom as the heavy thing on her back pushed her head
farther down into the water. The tips of her fingers scraped
the wood. Energy flowed through her. The solid weight
on her back was suddenly gone. Keelie flung her head up,
gasping for breath.

Rivulets of water streamed down her face and over her
body as, teeth chattering, Keelie rose to her knees.

Shock and cold coursed through her. Someone had
tried to kill her. Or something, she thought as she stared at
a pruny-faced little man with a red cap and pointed teeth,
gesticulating wildly at her with his hands as he danced a jig
on the other side of the stream. He looked like a Christmas elf gone bad.

"Death to the daughter. And grief to the father," he
sang in a tinny, singsong voice. The Twilight Zone moment
was interrupted by a bundle of orange fur that landed in
front of the repulsive Rumpelstiltskin.

Knot hissed as he swished his tail back and forth like a deadly whip. Teeth bared and ears flat against his head, a
deep growl rumbled from his throat.

"Get him, Knot," Keelie yelled, then stopped. What if
the hideous thing hurt Knot?

The little man growled back, snapping his teeth together. The cat crouched lower, his bottom moving back
and forth, ready to attack. Keelie held her breath, unsure
how this would end. She crouched, too, and felt for a
stick. If Knot needed her, she'd play Whac-A-Mole with
the little creep.

The red-capped man reached down to the ground and
pulled up a black, decayed mushroom. A horrid stench
filled the air as it disintegrated. The little man danced a jig,
and more rancid mushrooms popped up from the ground.
Old autumn leaves from the forest floor swirled around
the hideous creature in a leafy tornado, hiding him.

Knot attacked, but when he landed there were only old
dried leaves and mushroom goo. He waggled his left front
leg and then his right front one to dislodge the fungus
yuck from his paw pads. The smell was outrageous.

He meowed and turned his head toward Keelie. His
swampy green eyes glowed like two full green moons. He
headed away from the stream and through the woods, with
his tail swishing back and forth. His orange fur gleamed
with phosphorus luminosity.

"You know this place better than me, old cat." She followed him. He was hateful and obnoxious, but he'd come
to her rescue. She glanced once more toward the bridge,
but saw only darkness.

Neither the little red-capped fiend or the owner of the voice under the bridge was visible. She shivered and
raced to catch up, shoes squishing loudly in the otherwise
quiet forest. Only thunder pierced the strange quiet of the
woods and the moon had disappeared behind a coverlet of
clouds.

Lighting forked in the sky, and in its momentary
brightness, she saw the path. She sighed with relief.

From a distance, she heard her father calling.

Knot yowled in return and then disappeared into the
woods in the direction of her father's voice. Just like that
cat to come to her rescue, then get her into trouble. Despite nearly being drowned by a manic midget in a really
bad elf suit, Keelie knew her butt was about to be barbecued, parent-style. She wrapped her arms around herself in
attempt to shield her body from the cold, from the woods,
and from whatever creepy stuff was happening around the
Faire.

As Zeke walked quickly toward her, Knot accompanied him, meowing like he was telling Zeke what had happened. Her father nodded as if he understood him and
walked faster. The snot cat was ratting her out.

He stopped, inhaled, and then he reached for her and
hugged her close to him. "By all that is blessed in the Great
Silvus, you're safe."

Keelie stepped back from his fatherly embrace.

Lowering his hands, Zeke clenched them into fists.
"Half the Faire's been looking for you. You've been in great
danger."

Keelie's teeth started to chatter, but she wasn't about to confirm or deny. He'd left her almost fourteen years ago.
Mom and Dad were never divorced.

"Were you at the Shire? That place is off-limits, Keelie.
I thought you understood that. You were in great danger."

"I know. I was there."

"And you're grounded. And you are not to walk by
yourself-ever. Sir Davey or myself will accompany you."

Fabulous. A new level of lame.

"I'm not in nursery school, Zeke. I can take care of
myself."

A glow from nearby made her glance away from her
father's angry face. Was it that tiny dude, come back to
finish the job? This could turn out like that horror movie
about the evil leprechaun she'd seen late one night on the
SciFi channel. Mom hated the SciFi channel.

The glow got closer. It was a lamp, held up by Sean.
How embarrassing. She scarcely heard her father's angry
words as she thought of the extreme humiliation of being
reamed out on the path while the Faire's number-one hottie could hear. Where was he ten minutes ago when she
needed to be rescued?

"The regular rules don't apply here. I should have
warned you, but you've only been here one day and already
you've disobeyed me. I can't trust you. I was going to allow
you to use the telephone to call your friends in California,
but that's out now until I see that you can obey my rules."

Grounded? What could be worse? She saw Sean, who'd
overheard everything, turn to someone, and the person
stepped into the light. Elia. Elia, grinning broadly. If that
manic midget needed a victim, Keelie had a recommenda tion for him. After she kicked his butt for trying to drown
her.

Time to turn the tables on dear old dad. A little sympathy play might get her sentence reduced.

She summoned a sniffle, a convincing one since she'd
probably caught pneumonia. "I got lost in the woods and
found Elia's father. Elianard frightened me."

"Where did you meet Elianard?"

"At his place. Gotta say, they live much better than you
do. How does he rate the stone tower? Kind of fairy tale,
but cool."

Zeke stared at her as if he'd just noticed that she was
soaked. He picked a thorn out of her sleeve. "What happened, exactly?"

"I fell into the stream and got attacked by a grumpy
yard gnome with pointy teeth. Knot rescued me." She
tried to make light of it, but her muscles tightened and she
started to shiver. The gnome had really tried to kill her.

She stared at the cat. So awful to be indebted to the
beast that had ruined her clothes. "We need to call the police so they can arrest that demented gnome, lock him up,
and throw away the key."

"This gnome, did he have a red cap?"

"Yeah, do you know him?"

"No." Zeke sounded offended that she would even ask
the question. "But this confirms what we suspected. It's not
a gnome. I'll have to notify the others."

"Hey, how about some justice for me? I want to file
a police report. I want to see his butt hauled off to jail. I
want Rumpelstiltskin in a lineup."

Zeke sighed wearily. "This is a Faire problem. We'll
handle it."

"What? You haven't been down to the Shire, have you?"
She leaned closer to get a whiff of his breath. He smelled
like cinnamon.

Raven came running down the path, holding a blanket
over her arm.

Janice was close behind her. "Keelie, are you okay? I
heard you got wet."

"Been talking to Knot? He's such a chatterbox."

Raven snorted. "Okay, long evening, tired kid. You
need to get dry, 0 delusional one." She unfurled the blanket. It was a wool cape with a hood. She settled it on Keelie's shoulders and put the hood up.

Keelie thought she probably looked just like she feltlike Death.

"I can't believe you let her stand out here, freezing to
death, Zeke." Janice fussed over her, twisting the cloak
closed. "She needs dry clothes."

"These are my only clothes." Keelie sniffed for effect.

Both women turned to Zeke, openmouthed.

"I don't have any underwear, either. Knot peed on them.
In my suitcase." Keelie sniffed again.

"That's it. We're taking you shopping tomorrow." Janice looked determined.

Zeke threw his arms in the air. "I was going to. She's
only been here one day."

"Let's go to the mall." Raven grinned at Keelie.

"I told her I would take her shopping. We'll go to the
mall tomorrow," Zeke said. He sounded defeated.

"You?" Raven looked at her mother, who returned her
disbelieving stare. "You've never been to a mall."

Raven laughed. "This I will have to see. Zeke Heartwood in the mall. This is High Mountain Renaissance
History in the making. I can't wait to see her reaction
when she sees what you drive. I'm coming with the two of
you. Keelie will need the moral support."

"Fine, do you want to drive?" Zeke raised an eyebrow.

"No, that's fine," Raven said hastily. "I'll ride."

Keelie hadn't thought of what kind of car her father
might drive. "What is it, a Gremlin?" She snorted.

Raven shook her head. "You'll never believe it."

"You'll see," her father said. Thunder rumbled ominously overhead.

It wasn't until much later, when she was in bed, that
she realized she hadn't asked her father what Elianard had
meant by "little human half-breed."

Keelie ran down the path to the parking lot ahead of her
father. She'd spent the morning doing her laundry with
Dad's herbal soap. Now her panties smelled like cat pee
and lavender.

She'd tried to use the washers and dryers, but had
stopped dead ten feet away and out of sight of the occupants.