Chapter 17: Alfred is Missing (Revised)

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[This is a revision of this earlier post and contains some revisions inspired by the Gemini Storybook version and this Gemini Chat.]

Chapter 17: Alfred is Missing

Catherine slept soundly, only waking at dawn when the wolves began to stir.  As they stretched, yawning and barking at the first rays of the rising sun, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

“Good morning,” said Branoc, shifting his feathers..  “You have slept well.”

“I did,” she admitted.  

“And it was just as well,” said Branoc.  “For there was no reason for you to be awake.  The night has passed completely without incident.”

“No one attempted to enter the cave?” Catherine asked.

“No one.  None of the robbers tried to attack you.  And none of the other monsters from the mountains approached either.”

“Yes, it sounds like the robbers have been paying them off,” said Catherine.  “That probably explains why they don’t get bothered.  Okay, let me wake Alfred up then, and we’ll see about making some breakfast.”

But when Catherine went to the back of the cave, Alfred was nowhere to be seen.

“Did Alfred already go out?” Catherine asked the ravens.

“Nobody has gone in or out of the caves,” Baldrick replied.  

“Then where did he go?” Catherine asked.

“He should still be back there,” Bettina replied.  “He never left the cave.”

Catherine thought for a moment, while the wolves and ravens watched her.  Then, she said, “Fetch me the king of the robbers.”

Baldrick, Balsamer and Branoc flew off, and a couple of the wolves ran after them.  Bettina was going to join them, but Catherine stopped her.  “Bettina, wait,” Catherine said.  “I have another job for you.  Fly around the mountain quickly. See if you can spot any signs of Alfred anywhere.”  Bettina nodded and flew off.

Catherine went out of the cave into the morning sun.  Then she saw Carlyle coming up the mountain . Shawn, Kevin, Molly and Lucinda were with him. 

Catherine strode down to meet them.  As she approached, Carlyle opened his mouth to voice a greeting, but before he could say anything, Catherine blurted out, “Alfred’s missing.”

Carlyle stopped dead, his mouth still half-open. He blinked, the greeting dying on his tongue. “What? What happened?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Catherine answered.  “We went to sleep in the caves.  Then, when I woke up, he was gone.”

“Did the robbers come in and get him?”

“They couldn’t have.  The ravens were keeping watch at the cave entrance all night.  No one came in.”

“Then what happened?” asked Shawn.

“I don’t know,” Catherine said.  “But there’s something that the robbers aren’t telling us.  And I’m going to find out what it is.  We need to talk to the robber king.”

Verus, the robber king, was aroused from his sleep by cawing ravens and growling wolves, and he came out to meet Catherine and Carlyle.  He walked out calmly, grinning wickedly.  “Hello my children,” he purred.  “And what can I do for you today?”

“What happened to Alfred?” Catherine asked.

The robber king just grinned more.  “And who is Alfred?” he asked.

“The boy who was sleeping in the cave with me,” said Catherine.  “He disappeared in the middle of the night.”

“And what makes you think I had anything to do with it?” asked the robber king.

“I don’t think you’re directly responsible,” said Catherine.  “But you know something about these caves which we don’t.”

“Indeed, I do,” Verus answered.  “I suspect I know many things about these caves which you do not.  But then, there are many things that you never bothered to ask about.”

“We’re asking now,” said Carlyle.

“And we won’t ask you again,” said Catherine.  “Tell us, what happened to Alfred?” 

Catherine started humming, and her hands glowed with the electric power.  But Verus merely chuckled. “I don’t know for sure,” he said, “but I suspect the goblins took him.  That cave in which you slept is connected to the goblin tunnels.  They have a secret door.”

“Show us where the door is,” said Carlyle.

“I would,” Verus said, “But I actually don’t know where it is myself.  All I know is that there is a door in that cave somewhere.  That’s why we usually don’t sleep in it ourselves.  We leave some of our treasures there, and the goblins take what they want, and in return, they leave us alone.”

“Why did the goblins take Alfred?” Catherine asked.

“Who can say? One hears stories sometimes of the goblins abducting children.  Your friend Alfred isn’t quite a child, but he’s not a full grown man yet either.  Perhaps he was young enough to be of interest to the goblins.”

“But what did they want him for?” Catherine persisted.

“No one knows,” Versus said.  “Goblins abduct children.  This is all we know.  If you want to find out what happens to the children after the goblins abduct them, you’d have to ask the goblins.”

“Why didn’t you warn us yesterday?” Carlyle demanded.

Verus shrugged.  “We submitted to you yesterday.  I have not raised my hand in violence against you since then.  Isn’t that enough?   We never agreed that I was obliged to help you in any way.  The goblins are not under my control.  I did not command them to take your friend, nor would it have been in my power to forbid them.”

Carlyle moved to take his sword out of his sheath, but Catherine held out her hand to stop him.  “Leave it be, Carlyle,” she said.  “He’s spoken fair enough.”  She turned back to Verus.  “Very well, Robber King,” Catherine said.  “You have not acted as an enemy.  But neither have you acted toward us as a friend.  We will remember this.  If you wish to become our friend, you must do better.”

Verus did not say anything in response, but the smile was fading slightly from his mouth.  Something in Catherine’s tone made him suddenly feel anxious.  

“You may go now,” Catherine said to Verus.  Verus bowed his head slightly and left.  The smile was now completely gone.

“Do you think Alfred is okay?” Carlyle asked Catherine.

Catherine was looking slightly pale.  “I don’t know,” she said.  “We’ve never heard of anyone coming back from the goblins.  Still, we have to try.”

“If we can find the secret door…” Carlyle began.

“…we can go down and get him,” Catherine finished.

“But that’s crazy,” Shawn exclaimed.  “You can’t go down into the goblin caves like that.  The goblins will kill you.”

“We aren’t leaving Alfred,” Catherine said flatly.

“Alfred risked his life to fight with us,” added Carlyle.  “Even when his father tried to stop him.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a new thought struck Carlyle.  “Oh no, his father!  How are we going to tell Alfred’s father about this?  He already wants to kill me.”

“There’s no point in telling him anything now,” Catherine said.  “It would only worry him unnecessarily.  Let’s see if we can get into the goblin caves first.”

“But we don’t know how long that could take us,” said Carlyle.  “And Alfred’s father could come up here at any time demanding to know where Alfred is.”

A soft rustle of wings cut him off. Bettina was returning from her flight around the mountain and dropped down onto Catherine’s shoulder. “I heard what you were just saying,” Bettina said.  “I couldn’t find Alfred anywhere.  But I did see his father, and I wouldn’t worry about his father coming up here anything soon.  Right now, Alfred’s father is actually journeying down the mountain.”

Carlyle and Catherine exchanged a bewildered look.  “What is he going down the mountain for?” Carlyle asked.   

“I don’t know,” Bettina said.  “I only know what I see..”

“Who is he traveling with?” asked Catherine.

“He is by himself,” Bettina said.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” said Carlyle.  “He knows how dangerous it is to travel down the mountain by himself.  Why would he do it?”

“Do you want me to fly down and ask him?” offered Bettina.

“No,” Catherine said quickly.  “Don’t bother him right now.  We need to try to rescue Alfred before he finds out his son is missing.”

“The first thing we need to do is try to find the secret entrance the goblins use,” said Carlyle.  “Let’s see if we can get some torches to light up the cave.”

“There’s no need,” said Catherine.  “I can provide the light.”

  Catherine started humming, and her hands glowed again with the bright yellow energy.

Carlyle watched this with concern.  It had been a few days now since Catherine had first demonstrated this power.  But Carlyle still did not understand what was going on, and he had not had the opportunity of asking about it before now.  “How are you doing that?” Carlyle asked.  Catherine didn’t answer,  so Carlyle asked again, “How are you doing that?”

Catherine stopped humming.  The yellow electricity faded.  She turned and looked at Carlyle with an annoyed expression.  “I can’t keep it going if I have to answer your stupid questions.  It only works if I keep humming.”

“But how are you doing that?” Carlyle asked for the third time.

“I don’t know,” said Catherine.  “Something is wrong with me.  I don’t know what it is.  That’s all I know.  Now come on, let’s find that entrance.”

With Catherine leading the way, they all went back to the cave.  Catherine illuminated the cave with her humming and her electric lights, while they searched along the cave floor and the cave walls.  The ravens helped as well, flying around the cave and checking everywhere.

It was Molly who found it.  “Over here guys,” she said excitedly.  There was a small crack in the cave wall. I can feel the air coming through it.  There must be something on the other side.  Maybe this is the entrance.”  

Kevin and Shawn rushed over, jamming their fingers into the seam, straining until their faces turned red. The stone didn't budge an inch.

“There must be lots of tools here among the thieves’ treasures,” Carlyle suggested.  “Go through all the boxes until we find something we can use.”

Moments later, they returned with heavy iron hammers, chisels, and a thick awl. They threw themselves at the crack, the sound of metal striking stone echoing deafeningly through the cave. But despite their sweat and effort, the hidden door remained stubbornly shut.

“Let me try,” said Catherine.

“It’s no good,” Kevin panted, wiping sweat from his forehead.  “We all tried.  We can’t get it open.”

Catherine ignored him.  She stepped up to the wall, pressing both palms flat against the cold stone, and concentrated as hard as she could. She kept the humming going while she did this, and the energy was flowing through her.  But she tried to focus it this time.  She felt like she was getting better at directing it.  

Under her hands, the stone door began to glow a dull, angry red.

“Catherine, how are you doing that?” asked Kevin.

“Don’t talk to her,” said Carlyle.  “It distracts her.  She needs to keep humming.”

The stone wall kept burning bright red, and then it turned white.  “Stand back,” Shawn advised the others.  “Don’t touch it.”

A sharp CRACK rang out like a thunderclap.

The stone wall spiderwebbed with a hundred brilliant fractures, and then, it shattered inward into a thousand smoking fragments.

As the dust settled, the flickering light of Catherine's hands revealed a yawning, pitch-black void. The goblin tunnels lay open before them.

Chapter 16: In the Goblin Caves (Revised)

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[This is a revision of this earlier post and contains some revisions inspired by the Gemini Storybook version and these Gemini Chats: here, here and here.]

Edits to make:

• In the previous chapter, change it so that only Catherine and Alfred are left in the robber caves

• In previous chapters, change references to fighting goblins (goblins only fight by swarms)

Chapter 16: In the Goblin Caves

The wolves had made themselves thoroughly at home in the largest cave.  They had been used to sleeping out on the cold snowy ground, but the cave offered sufficient protection from the elements.  The stone floor was hard, but Catherine had taken some of the thick quilts and blankets from the robbers’ stolen hoard, and spread them out for the wolves to lie down on.  Seldom had the wild beasts had such luxury, and they stretched out happily on the blankets and went to sleep.

The robbers slept in the other four caves.  But Catherine and Alfred opted to sleep in the same cave as the wolves.  “Shouldn’t you be sleeping in the same caves as the robbers?” Balsamer the raven asked.  “I thought the whole point was to keep an eye on them.” 

“We don’t want to push things too fast just yet,” said Catherine.  “Just being in their camp is enough for the first few nights.  Once they get used to us, then we can start sleeping in their caves.”

“You don’t need to worry about a thing,” Branoc said to Catherine.  “My children and I will keep watch for you all night.  If any danger approaches, we’ll wake you up.”

“You have my gratitude,” said Catherine. 

“My family is forever in your debt,” Branoc said, spreading out his wings and lowering his head, which is a bird’s way of bowing.

“Okay, for the first night then, let’s try it like this,” Catherine said.  “We’ll have the ravens at the entrance of the cave keeping guard.  I’ll sleep just behind them with the wolves.  That way, if the robbers do decide to break their promise and attack in the middle of the night, the ravens can wake me up, and I can gather the wolves and organize a defense.  Alfred, you sleep behind the wolves, towards the back of the cave.  It’ll be safer back there.”

“I should be the one sleeping at the front of the cave,” said Alfred.  “I’m the man.”

“You’re a boy,” Catherine said.  “You’re younger than me.”

The dying light was too dim to see the crimson rush to his cheeks, but Catherine didn't need to. She saw the way his jaw clamped shut and his shoulders went rigid as stone. The barb had hit its mark.

“Besides,” said Catherine, softening her tone just a fraction, “you don’t control the wolves.  They won’t listen to you if you tell them to attack.”

“But I can still sleep up at the front with you.  I don’t need to hide at the back.”

“It’s not hiding.  It’s strategy. If, by some chance, the robbers do manage to rush in and grab me before I have a chance to wake up, then we don’t want them grabbing both of us at once.  We want you further back so you have a chance to wake up before they get to you.  That way you can rescue me.”

Alfred stared at her, his defensive posture melting just a bit as his pride was stroked. “I guess... when you put it that way, it makes sense,” he admitted. With a muttered goodnight, he turned and trudged into the darker recesses of the cavern.

Settling down among the rise and fall of warm fur, Catherine closed her eyes, listening to the wind howl outside.

****************************************************

And so it happened that in the middle of the night, while Alfred slept soundly near the back of the cave, they came for him. A sudden weight crashed onto Alfred’s chest, ripping him from a sound sleep. Before a scream could clear his throat, a foul-smelling cloth was shoved into his mouth, choking out the sound. He lashed out, intending to kick, but he found that his legs had already been bound with ropes.  He squirmed and wriggled against the crushing pressure of dozens of hands, but it was useless. There were too many of them—a swarming mass of at least fifty creatures. Pinioned and helpless, he was dragged down, down into the suffocating dark of the hidden tunnels far below the cave.

***************************************************************

When Alfred next awoke, the world smelled of damp earth, copper, and old rot.

He bolted upright, gasping as his knuckles scraped against rough, freezing stone. His head throbbed in time with a slow, rhythmic pulse. By all rights, he should have been in pitch blackness, but an eerie, milky luminescence washed over the space. Looking up, he saw veins of pale rock embedded in the tunnel walls, bleeding a cold, ghostly light into the dark.

“Alfred, is that you?”

The voice rasped from the shadows behind him. Alfred spun around, his boots skidding on loose gravel.

A boy stood in the dim light, looking about his own age, though it was hard to tell under the grime. His face was streaked with soot, his hair a matted tangle of brown locks, and his clothes hung from his thin frame in ragged, filthy tatters. He was staring at Alfred with a desperate, wide-eyed intensity.  He was staring at Alfred intently.

“Yes,” Alfred breathed, his voice cracking. “My name’s Alfred. But… who are you?”

The boy stepped closer, the pale light catching his features. “Don’t you recognize me?”

Alfred stared, but recognition did not come. In fact, Alfred probably should have recognized the boy at this point.  But sometimes it can be hard to recognize even a familiar face when you are not expecting to see it.  And Alfred had not expected to see this particular face ever again.

“It’s me,” the boy said softly. “Jack.”

The name struck Alfred like a physical blow. “Jack!” he gasped, scrambling to his feet. “Jack, but how? Everyone back home… we thought you were dead!”

“Did they?” Jack’s voice held a strange, hollow lack of surprise.

“You wandered off into the woods and never came back,” Alfred said, the words tumbling out in a breathless rush. “We searched for days. We assumed the mountain beasts had gotten you.”

Jack stared at the floor, processing the words, before giving a slow, weary nod. “Yes. I suppose that makes sense. I’d probably think the same thing if I were them.”

“But you’re not dead,” Alfred said excitedly.  “You’re here.  And…”  He paused, looking past Jack into the yawning, labyrinthine dark of the corridor. “Where is here, anyway?  Where are we?”

“We are underground, in the goblin tunnels,” said Jack sadly.  “I see the goblins have captured you too.”

“I guess so,” said Alfred.  “It was too dark for me to see them.  But something dragged me off.  Somethings, I mean.”

“There were a lot of them, then?” Jack asked.

“Yes.  They had hands and feet just like a human, but they were small, like a little child.”

“Yes, those were the goblins,” Jack said.  

“So how did they catch you?” asked Alfred.

Jack let out a long, heavy sigh, his shoulders slumping.

 “Well, as you know, I decided to take a walk by myself.  I was feeling a little bit sick of the group.  Lucas was being obnoxious, as usual, and Molly was talking a lot of nonsense, as usual, and I thought I’d just take a walk by myself to clear my head.  I knew that I shouldn’t go off by myself, but I told myself that it would only be for a little bit, and besides it was still the middle of the day, so I thought it was safe.” He rubbed a grime-streaked hand across his forehead. “But as I was walking, I saw a little goblin sitting on a tree.  I remember he was sitting there just looking at me.  There was only one of them, so I didn’t think too much of it.  I mean, the goblins are so small that I didn’t think it was frightening when I just saw one of them.  So I kept walking.  But that was my mistake.  I should have ran back the moment I saw him.  The thing about goblins is that there’s never just one of them.  If you see one goblin looking at you, it means that there are fifty more goblins that you can’t see, hiding behind the trees or under the rocks.  And sure enough, as I kept walking, I saw another goblin standing on the ground in front of me, and then a bit further down I saw two more, and by the time I realized I was surrounded, it was too late.  You see, the goblins fight by swarming.”

“Swarming?”

“Yes, you see, if there was just one goblin, you’d be able to fight it pretty easily.  I mean, you’d have to be a little bit careful.  They do have sharp pointy teeth, so they can do some damage if they bite you.  And they have little sharp swords that they carry, so you don’t want to let them stab you.  But generally speaking, assuming the goblin doesn’t sneak up on you from behind or something, if you have a human with a sword fighting against a goblin, the human has a very good chance.  But the problem is they never attack you one on one.  If there’s only one of them, they’ll just run away.  They only attack when there’s about fifty of them together.  And then at that point, you don’t stand a chance.  They just swarm you, and either stab you to death with their short swords, or, in our case, they drag you down into their mines.”

Alfred felt a cold sweat break out on the back of his neck. “Is that what this is? A mine?”

“Yeah,” Jack said. “I’ve been down here for two years. At least, I think it’s been two years. It’s hard to tell time without a sun.”

“And why have they captured us?  What do they want with us?”

“They want to make us dig, of course.”

“Dig for what?”

“For whatever we can find.  Gold, silver, diamonds, jewels.  There’s loads of gold in these mountains.  Did you know that?  I never knew that before.”

“I didn’t know that either,” Alfred replied.

A bitter, humorless smile touched Jack’s lips. “It’s funny when you think about it. All those trips the forest robbers make up here to raid wagons and steal scraps, and the whole time, a fortune is sitting right underneath their boots.”  The smile vanished as quickly as it came. “But someone has to hack it out of the rock. That’s what we’re for.”

“What do you mean?”

“Why do you think the goblins captured us?  It’s because they need children to work in  their mines.  We do the hard work of digging.”

“Who is we?”

“All of us.  All of the children.”

Alfred looked down the tunnel, half-expecting to see a crowd emerging from the gloom.

“They’re not standing just in this spot now,” Jack explained.  “But there are several more children in these caves.  Maybe about twenty of us altogether.”

“Twenty?  But where do they come from? There haven’t been twenty children who have gone missing.  You were the only one who disappeared.”

“Anna is here as well,” Jack said.  “Do you remember  Anna?  I had practically forgotten about her myself until I met her down here.”

“Anna,” Alfred said slowly, trying to remember.

“She disappeared when we were five years old.  At the time, people said the wolves must have gotten her.”

A sudden spark of recognition flashed in Alfred’s mind. “The wolves… yes. I remember the adults talking about it. She’s alive?”

“She’s here,” Jack nodded. “But the rest aren't from our village. They’re from the forest people down below.”

“What are the forest people doing up here in the mountains?”

“The tunnels go everywhere,” Jack explained, pointing deeper into the dark. “They run under the mountains, under the foothills, straight beneath the forest floor. The goblins can snatch a child from the woods down below just as easily as they took us from the peaks.”

Alfred fell silent, listening intently. The cave was suffocatingly quiet, save for the distant, rhythmic drip-drip of water.  “It’s pretty quiet here,” he said.  “And so far, just the two of us.  Where are the other children?  Where are all the goblins?  And why is it light inside these tunnels?”

“The light comes from the moonstones,” said Jack, answering the last question first.

“Moonstones?”

“Yes,” said Jack, pointing to one of the stones that was glowing.  “If you put these stones outside under the sky in the light of a full moon, they’ll absorb the moon’s light, and bleed it out for a full month down here.  Goblins can see perfectly in the dark, so they don’t need them.  But we do.  And the goblins know that it’s no good sending us into the mines to search for gold or diamonds if we can’t see what we’re looking for.  So they keep everything lit up with the moonstones.”

“I see.”

“As for the other children, they’re still eating their breakfast.”

“The goblins feed you?” 

“It’s not great food,” Jack admitted.  “It’s tasteless gruel, but it does give us energy to work in the mines.”

“And why aren’t you eating with them?” Alfred asked.

Jack didn't look away, but his expression hardened into something detached and numb.

“The goblins sent me,” Jack said simply. “They told me they left a new boy lying in the upper tunnel. They told me to go fetch you, and bring you down to work.”

Chapter 15: Carlyle Comes Home (Revised)

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[This is a revision of this earlier post and contains some revisions inspired by the Gemini Storybook version and this Gemini Chat.]

Chapter 15: Carlyle Comes Home

  The day had been a long one.  They had spent the day creating an inventory of all the goods, treasures and food that the robbers had stashed away in their caves.  But now it was late in the afternoon, and everyone in the mountains knew the one unbreakable rule: It was deadly to be caught out after the sun goes down.  They had to start thinking about shelter for the night.

“I hope Mother is alright,” Carlyle muttered, kicking a loose pebble. Shame pricked at him; he’d been so caught up in everything  that he’d hardly thought of her at all. “We’ve been away all day.”

“She’s fine,” said Catherine, confidently.

“How do you know?” asked Carlyle.

“I’ve been getting regular reports all day,” said Catherine, gently stroking one of the ravens on her shoulder.

“Oh, of course,” Carlyle said.  “I forgot about those birds.”

“Your father is perfectly safe as well,” Catherine said, turning to Alfred.  “In fact, he’s with our mother now.  They’ve been eating supper together.”

“Is he still angry at me?” Alfred asked.

“My raven friends can’t tell what he is thinking,” Catherine replied.  “They only report to me what his movements are.”

“I bet he’s still angry with me,” Alfred said.  “He was furious when I joined you in the battle yesterday.  We had a huge argument last night.  He was so mad he nearly broke the table. And then this morning, I snuck out before he woke up.”

“You’re welcome to stay in the caves tonight with us,” said Catherine.

“Yeah, thanks.  I think I will,” Alfred responded.

“I’m not sure it’s a smart idea to stay in the caves,” said Carlyle.  “I don’t trust the robbers.”

“Neither do I,” said Catherine.  “That’s why I’m staying here.  We need to keep a close eye on them.  Now that the robbers have surrendered to us, it would be a mistake to go away and leave them by themselves.”

“Fine, keep a close eye on them in the daytime,” said Carlyle.  “If you go to sleep next to them, they’ll cut your throat while you sleep.”

“My wolves will protect me,” Catherine said.

“Will they?” asked Carlyle.  “Or are your wolves just as likely to turn on you once you’re asleep.”

“The wolves are too afraid of me to try anything,” said Catherine.  “And also, right now they’re very pleased with their new den in the caves, and the soft quilts and blankets that they are sleeping on.  And, I might add, they didn’t say no to all the food that was given to them. They often make a big deal of talking about how they like to hunt and catch all their own food, but when the food was placed in front of them, they curled up like lapdogs.  They’re learning my value.  And if they forget, I can at least count on the ravens to keep watch and to alert me before danger arrives.”

“We are delighted to serve,” said Branoc, bowing his head.  “I and my children will keep guard through the night while you sleep.  Ravens can see in the dark much better than humans can, so you’ll be safe with us.”

“I still don’t like it,” said Carlyle.  “But I can see that your mind is made up.  Very well then.”  Carlyle turned to Alfred.  “Alfred, you don’t have to stay here,” he said.  “You can stay at my place if you’re worried about your father.”

Alfred offered a weak, ironic smile.  “Didn’t you hear? “My father’s at your place.”

“He’s probably not going to stay the whole night,” Carlye said.

“I’d rather not chance a run-in,” Alfred said, shaking his head. “Besides, I’d like to stay and help Catherine and the others.”

“Which others are staying?” asked Carlyle.

“Shawn, Gabrielle, Kevin and Stella have agreed to stay with us in the caves for the night,” Catherine said.   

“That leaves Lucas, Marcus, Paul, Lucinda, Molly and Abby,” Carlyle said.  “I’ll see if they’re ready to go.”

Everyone on the mountain understood that they should never walk anywhere alone.  Bad things happened to children who walked off alone, such as Jack, who had once been their playmate, before he had walked off alone one day, and never came back. They had never found so much as a scrap of his coat.

Carlyle walked down with the group until they got near his house, then he said goodbye to them and ran the short distance to his house.

He knocked on the door.  “It’s me,” he yelled through the wood.

He heard someone removing the barriers, but as the door was moved away, Carlyle saw Brian’s bearded face instead of his mother.

Carlyle nodded at Brian, trying to ascertain if he was still mad at him.  “Hello,” Carlyle said.

Brian scowled.  He had evidently still not forgiven Carlyle.  “Where is my son?” asked Brian.

“Alfred’s safe,” Carlyle said.  “He is staying with Catherine at the robbers’ cave.”

“What?”

“It’s okay,” Carlyle explained.  “The robbers have surrendered.  Catherine and Alfred and a few others are just staying up there to watch over things.”

Brian reached out his right hand and grabbed Carlyle by the throat.  “If anything happens to my son…,” he yelled.

“Stop it, Brian,” Margaret’s voice said from inside the house.  “Threatening Carlyle won’t help Alfred.”

Brian’s grip tightened for one agonizing second before he shoved Carlyle away. He spun on Margaret, his face purple. “Then you tell him! Control your children before they get the rest of us slaughtered!”

“I can’t control them anymore,” Margaret said. She sounded hollow, completely drained. “They stopped listening to me the day Finn died.”

Carlyle rubbed his bruised neck. “Alfred is safe. He’s with Catherine.”  Carlyle actually wasn’t so sure that Catherine and Alfred were in the safest place right now, but he didn’t want to further upset Brian.  “He’s decided to stay up in the caves because he was afraid you would still be angry at him.”

“So is that what he’s thinking,” Brian said angrily.  “He thinks if he just stays up there in the caves then he won’t have to worry about his father? I’ll go up there myself and drag him down by his hair.”

“Brian, no,” said Margaret, and again Margaret’s voice sounded tired.  “Look outside. The sun is almost down now.  You can’t make it up there and back before dark.”

Brian glared at the doorway, the reality of the mountain rules settling over him. 

“He’s safe for the night,” Carlyle repeated.  “Catherine’s with him.  She can protect him.”

“Catherine!” Brian spat the name like venom. “I’m more terrified of that girl than I am of the bandits. Is she going to burn him alive like she did the others?” 

“She won’t harm him,” said Margaret.  “She’s not like that.”

Brian shook his head in bewilderment.  “I don’t understand any of this,” he said.  “I’m going back home.”  He turned his head and addressed Margaret.  “I’ll be back in the morning,” he said, and he left.

Carlyle came into the house, and helped his mother replace the door, and put the bolts back in place.  

Then, Carlyle turned at last to Margaret.

“Are you alright, Mother?” Carlyle asked.

“No, of course not,” Margaret said walking to the back of the cave.  “I’ve been sick to death with worry all day.  For fifteen years, your father and I have endured all kinds of hardship to keep you two safe on this mountain.  And now you are deliberately putting your lives at risk.”

“But our lives were always at risk,” Carlyle said.  “Father’s death proved that.  Father thought we could just keep to ourselves and the robbers would leave us alone.  But he was wrong.  The robbers attacked us anyway.  Sitting still doesn't make us safe. Striking first does.”

Margaret let out a long, heavy sigh that seemed to rattle her old frame.  “I see that I cannot stop you,” she said.  She walked over and took Carlyle’s hand in hers.  He looked down, struck by how frail and wrinkled her skin looked against his own.   “I only ask one thing.”

“What?”

“You and Catherine shouldn’t make yourselves the leaders.  Let the others lead.”

Carlyle frowned. “The others wouldn’t have done anything unless I convinced them.”

“But now they’re doing something.”

“They still need to be told what to do.”

“Then let Shawn do it,” Margaret pleaded, her grip tightening. “He’s the natural choice. The others love him. He’s popular.”

“He is,” Carlyle admitted. “But—”

“Let him be the leader.  You and Catherine can still tell him what to do in secret, but in front of all the others, you can let him give the orders.”

“But why?” Carlyle asked.

“Because,” Margaret threw her hands up, tears of pure exasperation welling in her eyes. “Because it’s what I want.  Why do you two always have to argue about everything?”

“But I don’t understand,” Carlyle said.

“It’s dangerous to be seen as the leader of anything,” Margaret said.  “You make yourself a target.”

“I don’t mind,” said Carlyle.

“Have you no care for me?” Margaret wailed.

“But it’s not fair to Shawn then,” Carlyle said.  “If being the leader is dangerous, then why put Shawn in danger?”

“Listen to me,” said Margaret.  “Your time has not yet come.  When the time comes, you will become a leader.  But you’re still too young.”

“I’m as old as Shawn is.”

Margaret burst into tears.  Carlyle had never seen his mother cry like this before.  Margaret and Finn had always been so strong.  He didn’t know what to say.  He simply waited until she had stopped crying, and when she had dried her tears, he helped her into bed.