By Gregg Glory [Gregg G. Brown]
Chapter Seventeen "A Shadow on the Moon"
Sarah's Great Uncle Charlie and her Granny Pansy began to debate intensely the meanings of the various shadow visions the second they faded from the wall. The singing that had wound the three of them together in a complex harmony was replaced by torrent of bickering. Each one had a different point of view on almost every detail of what they had all just seen and conjured. Quite often, both Granny Pansy and Great Uncle Charlie would disagree with themselves about the meaning of what they had just seen, switching from one interpretation to another as if they were shuffling a deck of cards.
The most intense debate of all occurred over the last shadow play. They couldn't even agree if it had been Sarah in the vision or not. Great Uncle Charles and Granny Pansy went round and round. Their voices were as hard a hockey pucks, and neither one of them gave an inch. Sarah knew an argument like that could go on for hours. She'd had plenty of them with her Mother and Bart.
The two oldsters were so busy arguing and debating and disagreeing, that they didn't even look at Sarah to notice the bright tears that still lay on her face. Sarah walked outside quietly to get a breath of fresh air, letting the kitchen door swing shut behind her, softening their voices.
Sarah's throat was tired. She felt as if all the words in the world had passed through her that day. And she was still just as confused as when she had left Eva's dinner table.
The night air moved over her soothingly. She reached absentmindedly for her pendant, and felt a mild distress that it was absent. Well, she would simply have to go on without it. Sarah wondered what, if anything, Granny Pansy and her brother would agree on doing based on the shadows they had conjured. The Gods of Autumn wrecking the equipment at the docks, wreaking sheer havoc in her hometown with what appeared to be a single-minded malice. What could possibly be done about the gods? The strange activities with the Casket of Augersaal and Mr. Plimsoul and Eva. That one at least appeared simple enough. They had been trying to pry open the casket when Barnabas and the girls had spied on them earlier in the day. Obviously, at some point in the future, they were going to succeed. Sarah didn't even want to remember the third vision--all those birds tearing out her throat, and then her limp body being cast in the well. The same well she had sung at all of her life, and loved to sit beside and walk around and look down into to see her tiny reflection in the small circle of water so far away in the dark.
Sarah stood looking moodily at the half moon.
"Some! Moon!"
Sarah snapped around. Dar was standing close beside her. His hand, smeared with drying pudding, innocently wrapped in her skirt. Sarah smiled down at him. I guess all cousins aren't so bad, she thought. Sarah squatted down and gave Dar a long hug, smoothing his hair and taking in the warmth of his skin.
"Oh, you're such a bundle of goodness," she said, holding him at arm's length and looking at him. Dar pointed to the moon. "Moon!" he said. "Shadow!"
Sarah looked up to where Dar was pointing. There was indeed a shadow moving across the moon. It almost looked like a winged person flying or a wisp of cloud, but moving rapidly. A chill seized Sarah's chest, and the blood dropped from her cheeks. Shortly after the figure had moved beyond the circle of the moon and into a greater darkness, it seemed to Sarah that several much larger, but semi-transparent figures were moving through the night sky behind the smaller shadow. Could it be the Gods of Autumn? They did seem to be heading in the direction of the Treashurstaene inlet. Sarah thought Granny Pansy ought to know about something like that. She rushed back inside the kitchen.
"Hello!" said Dar to something emerging from the bushes at the edge of the yard.
* * * *
"Granny, quick, outside, the Gods of Autumn are riding across the moon!"
Sarah had expected to be interrupting an argument, but instead what she saw was Granny Pansy and Great Uncle Charles sharing a steaming pot of well-steeped peppermint tea. They were smiling and chatting amiably about nothing, leaning back in their chairs as if they had all the time in the world.
"Did you hear me? The Gods of Autumn!"
Granny Pansy actually smiled! What was the matter with her? Did she want to see the town of Treashurstaene destroyed?
"Yes, my dear," she reassured Sarah, "I heard you. The Gods of Autumn are riding across the moon. No doubt they are headed to the docks to bust up the town's main source of livelihood more thoroughly than any Nor'easter could manage, and leave nothing but misery and poverty in their wake."
"Exactly! We have to do something! We can't just sit here sipping...sipping peppermint tea!"
Great Uncle Charlie began to chuckle. Sarah shook her head, looking from one to the other. Her eyes registered a monumental incredulity. How could he sit there laughing?
"Please, Great Uncle Charlie. We have to do something. Get in your car and let's at least go down to the waterfront and try and stop them from wrecking all of the equipment on the wharf. Maybe we can get the ships' captains to take their hulls out to sea before the gods get down there."
"Please, for the Gods' sake, Doris, tell your Granddaughter what we've done." Great uncle Charles was as merry as if he were being tickled by midgets. His tall wizard's hat sat on the floor, partially squished, and leaning against the leg of his chair. It came up to his knee even so and jiggled when he laughed.
"All right now, Charlemagne," said Granny Pansy, pointedly using Great Uncle Charlie's full first name to remind him of just exactly who was the older sibling. "Answer me this, Sarah. Did the Gods look as though they were in a terrible hurry to get somewhere? Or did it seem as though they were just taking in the moonlight?"
"Oh, in a terrible hurry, I'd say," Sarah reported.
"Good... good," said her Granny Pansy, nodding pleasantly.
"But why is this such good news? Why is it good news at all?"
"Its all right, dear. Its all right. Your Great Uncle Charlie and I have deceived the Gods of Autumn tonight. They're off on a wild goose chase, and no mistake."
"But...how? Where are they going?"
"It might be better to ask," butted in Great Uncle Charlie, "where do they think they're going?"
"Where do they think they're going?" repeated Sarah.
"Excellent question," said Granny Pansy. "They think they are going to complete a service they had promised long long ago in the dim past of the world. And when such service is complete, they will not be just Autumn Gods, but Gods for all the seasons, forever free to roam and make as much mischief as they please--just as it was in the olden days before the more civilized spirits began to have sway in the world. Back when the hills were full of faerie whispers and the constellations danced in the sky, in the long, long ago of time."
"What was this promise that they made, Granny Pansy?"
"Its a long story, my dear. But suffice it to say, that the Gods of Autumn are both reckless and honorable. They may be drawn into foolish adventures for the sheer love of mischief, but once they have laid their bets, they honor their debts. The Gods of Autumn are chaotic and natural, and just like a rainstorm or mighty oak, they must be respected. In and of themselves, their impulses are no different than the rolling of the tide--but sharpened and quickened into personality."
Sarah couldn't follow what Granny Pansy was saying, not exactly. It all sounded so much larger than herself, so ancient and mysterious, like trying to understand why you liked running downhill, or why hot butter on fresh-baked bread was delicious.
"The long and the short of it is we're safe from the Gods of Autumn," said Great Uncle Charlie.
"For a day or two--at most," noted her Granny Pansy, frowning now. "But that should give us time enough to gather our forces and collect some spells and make some phone calls to those who still respect the old ways. Those like our good Mr. Barnabas Burrbuckle. Perhaps he can help to calm the workers down somewhat now that the gods are away. There's many of them that have kept a respect for the old lore that has been spurned or neglected by clerks and the money men."
"So the first shadow story is still going to happen, then?" asked Sarah.
"In a way, yes," replied Granny Pansy. The gods will return to the town, to the well, and cause what harm they may. They may well even be more angry at having been deceived and drawn off on their wild goose chase. That's what the shadow showed--if nothing intervened. That will still be their intent, no doubt goaded on by those who wish us ill."
"And who is that, exactly? And why do they want to do anything bad to us? If the Gods of Autumn ravage the town, what good can that do anyone?"
"I do not know myself, dear one. There are those that think they can play fate false, and bring about that which should not be."
"And that must bring us to the second set of shadows that flitted upon the wall, Sarah." Sarah's Great Uncle Charles stood up from his chair, and clasped his hands behind his back, as though he were reciting a poem for school. "They are the ones who oppose us. They hope to achieve something with what appears to be the Casket of Augersaal. I wasn't sure from your story about spying on this Mr. Plimsoul and this, this woman (although what sort of woman she might be, I'd be hard-pressed to say), but the shadows have removed all doubt. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, you might say." Great Uncle Charlie chortled at his own joke, but then continued quickly when he saw the look on Granny Pansy's face.
"As I was saying, the Casket of Augersaal. This is a powerful object of unfathomable antiquity. And it hasn't been used by anyone, on any side, in living memory. And there are still those about who have some recall of a world before America was discovered. The story is that the casket, once opened, brings about the desires of the opener--the entire desires. This is a dangerous quest. Only someone who knows their heart--well, better than anyone I've ever known or even heard of--can use the Casket of Augersaal safely. It will grant even the desires you do not know you have--your unconscious desires. And in the long ago time, many a wily magician who opened the Casket did so only to disappear in a puff of smoke because he harbored a secret desire for the peace of oblivion."
"The knowledge of how to open the Casket of Augersaal has long been lost, my dear," Granny pansy interjected. "When you told your story before of their failure to open it, I took comfort in the fact, and thought that they would never open it. But now the shadow shows that, clearly, the Casket will be opened, and its power will be released again upon the world. What this means, I sincerely doubt even Mr. Plimsoul or his female cohort has more than an inkling. We have no plan for them, but they must be stopped before they bring ruination upon us all."
"Perhaps some of the others will know what to do, Doris. The Grand Vizier, surely..."
"The Grand Vizier has not been roused from his cave in over a hundred years. He may not even be able to be roused. No, Charles, we cannot put a merry face on this challenge."
Granny Pansy and Great Uncle Charlie started talking softly together about who was available, and what skills might be needed, both to meet the challenge of the Gods of Autumn, and to stop Mr. Plimsoul and Eva.
"But what about me?" asked Sarah. They both turned toward her, saying nothing. "What about what happened to to my shadow?"
Sarah straightened her shoulders and unconsciously touched her neck, thinking about those birds circling and diving until her entire throat had been torn to tiny bits.
"These are only shadows, my dear. We cannot let them rule us. A shadow is not real. Remember that, Sarah." Granny Pansy looked directly at Sarah, as if she could give the girl courage enough just by loving her. When Abbey entered the room, Granny Pansy looked over to her almost with relief.
"Hey," said Abbey, yawning and rubbing her eyes as she came in from the living room, where an unconscious Burrbuckle snored like a lion, with Shelly and Missy curled snugly between his two great paws. "Has anybody seen Dar?"
END OF CHAPTER SEVENTEEN