Page 37 of Hollow Valley

“What are you doing here, Alphie?”Dusty asked.“I thought you didn’t want to be friends with us no more.”

“We’re only passing through,” Alphie said, and there was a nervous tremor to her voice.“We won’t be any bother, and we won’t even have a rest on your land.”

Dusty leaned forward on his horse and his gaze hardened as he glowered down at Alphie.“You know damn well that Nell is gonna wanna see you, and she wouldloveto meet your little friends.”

“Maybe we can just talk – ” Boden started to say, and then Benedict’s musket pointed straight at him.

A loud shot cracked like thunder, and the ground directly in front of Boden’s feet erupted mud and grass in a small circle.Fae immediately started crying at the sound, a frightened wailing, and she put her chubby hands to her ears as I held her tightly to me.

“I think it’s best if you save the talking until you meet with Nell,” Dusty said, his rifle trained on us while his cohort reloaded his own.When he finished, he said, “Benedict, make sure they don’t got anything that’ll be a problem for us.”

Benedict dismounted and as he swaggered over to us on gangly, long legs, he demanded all our belongings.With a few grumbles, we complied and dropped our bags and supplies on the ground.He scooped them all up and loaded them onto the horses.Afterward, he came back and patted us down to make sure we didn’t have any weapons.

It was when Benedict confiscated Dougal’s walking stick that it finally got to be too much.

Fergus asked him, “Going after the sick lad now, are you?Big man altogether.”

Benedict stepped up to Fergus and smiled at him, a wide, cold thing, like an icicle sliced across his face.Then, without warning, he used the walking stick to clock Fergus right in the face.Dougal cried out and tried to catch his younger brother, so they both fell back in the mud.Boden moved forward, like he meant to do something, but Edie put a hand on his arm to stop him.

With the smug smile still in place, Benedict picked up the rest of our bags and sauntered back over to his fellow Revver.Fergus was bleeding from his lip, but he kept assuring us he was okay.

“They’ve got nothing left but the baby,” Benedict told Dusty as he walked back over to his horse.

“You’re not touching the baby,” Boden snapped, and both Boden and Edie moved in closer to me and Fae.

“Well, we’re done here.It’s time to get you to the Fort.”Dusty grinned down at us, then he waved the rifle at us, motioning for us to move.“Come on, Alphie, you still know the way.Follow her, and anybody that steps out of line will end up with a bullet in their head.Yes, even the baby.”

Reluctantly, we began our slow walk forward, with Alphie leading the way, her shoulders tense and head lowered.Every few steps, I glanced down at Fae, holding her close, and tried to steady my breath.

Much too soon, we rounded a thicket of trees and the fortress at the top of the hill came into view.In the middle of the Canadian wilderness, it was a concrete behemoth, with bastions jutting out at sharp points.

Yet it held a bright touch of whimsy.All of the walls had been painted in vibrant colors – mostly reds and oranges, but purples, blues, and greens, too.From far away, it looked like swirls and blotches, but as we grew closer, I could see flowers, trees, a purple elk, and a blue moose.

But in every mural, no matter the landscape, there would be skeletons dancing through it.Sometimes together, arms entwined in a waltz, and other times side-by-side with their legs flung this way and that.

Fae squealed in delight when she saw the paintings, and at any other time, I would’ve relished the chance to show them all to her.But now I could only hold her close and try to quell her excitement.

At the top of the hill, we reached the iron door into the fortress.Above it, the wordsReverence of the Revenantshad been written in a swirling script.

Dusty barked out a command to open the gates, and a large arched door slowly groaned outward.Beyond it was a dark tunnel through the thick walls, and Benedict commanded us to march forward into the darkness.

23

Stella

The tunnel was cold and dank without the warmth of the sun, and Fae fussed in my arms.All of us were huddled together, shuffling forward in the darkness, so close that I bumped into Boden or Leandro or Edie with every step.

Then the metal door on the other side finally opened, and for a moment, we were nearly blinded by the bright light.

“Get going,” Benedict commanded behind us.

Boden moved right in front of me, shielding Fae and me from whatever laid ahead, but even before we emerged from the tunnel, my curiosity was nearly overwhelming my fear.

It was the sounds and the smells first.People laughing and singing, chickens and goats, savory meats and sugary sweets, flowers and hay.

I peered around Boden’s shoulder and saw the sunlight spilling over a lively, bustling town square set inside the walls.Little homes and cottages were along the edges with gravel pathways woven between barns, gardens, and market stalls.Vibrant colors danced everywhere.In the banners strung overhead, the planters overflowing with wildflowers, and the bold clothing adornments of the people moving about.

It was if we’d stumbled into a street fair instead of being taken hostage from the wilderness.