Clouds shifted and began to chase one another with mad enthusiasm across the heavens. Light pulsed into darkness and gleamed again. The mare"s tails thickened into a mackerel sky, ridge after ridge of gray-white against pale blue; but that cleared with a rush eastward toward the foot of the valley, leaving the air with a sheen as smooth as that of a knifeblade when the racing images darkened again.
Old Nathan rubbed his thumb across the lichen, eliminating the character. The sky reverted to the bright afternoon normalcy from which the cunning man"s art had dragged it briefly.
"Thet"s t"day and t"morry," Old Nathan said. "Don"t reckon we need fear a storm fer thet while."
"You know what you know, Nathan," the old woman said. She shivered again. Her hand rested on the rock as she gazed out over the valley.
Old Nathan settled his broad-brimmed hat. "Waal . . ." he said.
Sarah looked at him sharply. "Ye needn"t t" go, Nathan Ridgeway," she said. "I jest cloomb up t" look from a high place. Hit"s a thing I do . . . but I don"t see you here, ez a rule."
The cunning man shrugged. The cardinals had resumed their feeding, commenting in griping tones on the quality of the late pokeberries. The humans had shown themselves to be no threat, and therefore of no interest. . . .
"Sometimes," Old Nathan said in the direction of the far horizon, "I think I might move on west. No pertikaler cause. Don"t reckon I"ll iver do it."
"Thet girl you had back along b"fore ye went off t" the war," Sarah said, also facing the western end of the valley. "Slowly, her name was. Ye think on her, iver?"
"Mebbe," said Old Nathan. "Sometimes, I reckon. But thet"s over and done long since."
The sun was still near zenith, but its rays had little warmth now in late fall. When Old Nathan left the shelter of the outcrop to walk back to his cabin-he hadn"t saddled the mule, hadn"t wanted the beast"s company or any company-the trail would be chilly.
Darkness would not be long in coming.
"My datter-in-law, Ellie . . ." Sarah Ransden said. She glanced at Old Nathan. "I b"lieve ye"ve met her?"
Old Nathan nodded toward the horizon. "I hev."
"Ellie reminds me a powerful lot uv Slowly," Sarah continued. Her tones were flat.
She turned her head away. "I don"t see Ellie much." Bitterness tinged her voice. "Nor my son neither, not since he moved out. He allus figgered I should uv left Chance Ransden myse"f, "stid uv waitin" till Cullen druv him out with an axe handle an" him jest a boy. Cull don"t understand what hit is fer a woman married to a feller like Chance Ransden-"
She turned to meet Old Nathan"s eyes, for the cunning man had turned also. "-and it could be thet I did do wrong, fer Cull and myse"f both. The good Lord knows I hain"t been lucky with men, Nathan Ridgeway."
Old Nathan snorted. "I hain"t been lucky with people, Sary," he said. "But I reckon the most of thet"s my own doing."
His thumb had rubbed a patch of limestone free of lichen. He wanted to leave, but that would mean moving past the woman and he didn"t much care to do that either. In the forest above, a squirrel berated a crow for startling him, and the crow offered to s.h.i.t in the squirrel"s mouth if the critter didn"t shut it. Life went on.
"Chance warn"t a bad man," Sarah Ransden said in a tone that reminded Old Nathan of the days when they had been children together. "Only thar was a divil in him. I thought I was blest ez an angel that he picked me, him so handsome and a sight younger. But the divil rode Chance Ransden, harder an" harder iver" day till the last time he tried t" take a strap t" Cull . . ."
She stiffened. In a flat, age-cracked voice she concluded, "Thet war the last I saw Chance Ransden, ten year since. Figgered he run off t" the Neills, he were thick ez thieves with thim. But I niver heard word one uv him agin. Nowadays, I don"t reckon I will."
"I reckon I"ll be movin" on now," Old Nathan said. He paused to clear his throat. "Good t" see you agin, Sary."
He stepped toward the woman. Instead of edging back to let him by, she put a hand on Old Nathan"s arm. Her fingers, tanned and sinewy, stood out against his faded homespun shirt like tree roots crawling over gray rock.
"You don"t need a young gal, Nathan Ridgeway," she said. "Ye need an old one what"s worn inter the same ruts ez you."
"I don"t need airy woman, Miz Ransden," the cunning man said harshly. He lifted her hand away from his arm. Their fingers were much of a kind, dark-tanned and k.n.o.bby at the joints. "You know thet."
"Thar"s companionship," Sarah said. "Thar"s hevin" somebody t" say howdy to in the mornin"!"
Old Nathan pushed past her. His boots scuffed bits of stone down the slope until they pattered to a halt among the fallen leaves and pine straw.
"I niver figgered thet was enough t" offer airy soul, Sary," he said gruffly. "Thet"s why I sint Slowly away whin I come back from King"s Mountain."
He paused and looked westward again. "Thet"s as fur as I"ve been, King"s Mountain. Reckon the way thet turned out, I kin see why I hain"t been travelin" since. . . . But I should hev gone, Sary. Comin" back here t" lick myse"f where iverbody knew me, thet was wrong. I should hev gone."
Old Nathan started up the trail. Nuthatches disputed sharply over a pine cone. The birds were not so much angry as a.s.serting their kinship and mutual interests.
"Thar"s a storm comin", Nathan Ridgeway," the old woman called from the overlook. "You know what you know . . . but my bones tell me thar"s a storm coming."
"Cullen, honey?" Ellie said in a plaintive voice. "Hain"t ye comin" to bed, sweetest?"
Bully Ransden sat at the table with his shoulders hunched. Though he faced in her direction, he didn"t bother to look up to where his wife lay under the quilt"s protection.
The threat of the season"s first snow hung in the chilly night, but it was more than the temperature that caused Ellie to shiver.
"G"wan t" sleep," Bully said. He held the simple box he had purchased at the auction. His fingers moved over its surface like the blunt, questing heads of serpents. The fire had sunk to a glow, but an alcohol lamp on the table threw its pale, clean light over Bully"s face and the object in his hands.
"Cull . . . ?"
"Shet it, will ye?" Ransden snarled. "Or I"ll shet it fer ye!"
Three nights before, a strip along the bottom of the box had slipped sideways to display a hollow base.
Inside was a key, shaped from apple wood instead of metal and so cunningly fashioned that it hadn"t rattled against its compartment when Ransden shook the box.
The key sat on the table beside him. He had still not found any sign of a keyhole.
Ellie began to cry softly.
Bully Ransden put the box down and pressed the knuckles of his two great fists together. "Ellie, honey,"
he muttered to his hands, "I"m right sorry I spoke t" ye thet way. But you jest get t" sleep "n leave me be fer the while."
"Cull," the woman said, "why don"t ye jest break hit open and come hold me? Hit"s only a sc.r.a.p uv wood."
"Hit"s the only thing I"ve got uv my Pappy"s, girl!" the Bully snapped in a barely controlled voice. "I hain"t a-goin" t" smash it t" flinders!"
Ellie Ransden sat up in the simple bed and shrugged the quilt aside. She wore only a linen shift, but she had let her hair down for the night. It hung across her shoulders and bosom in a l.u.s.trous black veil. "Cull,"
she said, "you hated Chance Ransden, an" you were right t" hate him. You oughter take thet box and throw hit right straight into the hearth."
Bully looked up with anger bright in his eyes. His mouth formed into a snarl. The woman faced him, seated like a queen on her couch and for the moment as proud and fearless.
"Ye know what I"m sayin"s no more thin the truth," she added in a tone of trembling calm.
He gave a shudder and looked at his hands again. "Tarnation, Ellie," he said. "Hit"s jest a puzzle. Whin I figger it, I"ll be over "n done with the blame thing."
He spoke without conviction. Ellie"s upper lip trembled minutely, though for the moment she retained her regal pose.
"I thought Ma, she hed done jest thet," Bully said softly. His fingers began playing again with the box.
"Throwed hit int" the fire, "long with airy other thing thet was Pappy"s whin I druv him out. Cain"t figger how the Neills got aholt uv it. Pappy didn"t have it whin . . ."
The young man swallowed. "Whin he left, thet is. And n.o.body seed him since."
Ellie got up from the bed and stepped toward her man.
"This box, hit set on the fireboard," Ransden murmured. "Time t" time, Pappy took it down and looked inside, but he niver let me nor Ma see what hit was there. . . ."
"Cull, honey-"
The upper portion of the box slipped smoothly for a quarter inch across the hollow base. As if a voice had whispered the secret to him, Bully thumbed down one of the half-round ornamentations now that it could clear the base.
Beneath the ornament was a keyhole.
"Oh, hon," Ellie Ransden whispered. She reached out as if to touch the box or the man; withdrew her arm and wrung her hands together instead. "Oh, Cull, don"t do thet. . . ."
Bully Ransden inserted the key and turned it. As he did so, a gust of cold air raked through the cabin without disturbing the dim fire. The alcohol lamp flared wildly. The flame touched the thin gla.s.s chimney and shattered it an instant before the light blew out.
Silver radiance flooded across Bully Ransden as he lifted the lid of the puzzle box. It was gone in an instant.
Ellie screamed and tossed a knot of lightwood onto the hearth. The pitchy wood crackled into an honest yellow glare.
The box lay open on the table. It was empty. But when the man turned to look at her, Ellie saw a glint of cold light in his eyes.
Old Nathan woke up when his roan heifer bawled, but he didn"t catch the words. A moment later the cat yowled at the cabin"s front door, "Hey old man! Ye got somebody messin" round yer shed with a gun!"
Old Nathan swung out of bed. He was wearing his breeches and a shirt. The quilt on his bed with its gorgeous Tree of Life pattern was down-filled and thick, but on a cold night a thin old man didn"t generate enough heat to adequately warm the cavity his body tented within the cover.
His breath hung in the air. He stepped silently to the flintlock rifle on pegs above the fireboard.
"I don"t think thet feller oughter be here," the black-patterned heifer called, speaking to her roan-patterned partner but in a voice loud enough for all the world to hear.
Spanish King was in the far pasture. The great bull bellowed a question that was almost lost in the wind.
There was a full moon this night, but it rode above the overcast. The sash windows were gray rectangles which scarcely illuminated the dusting of snow that had slipped in beneath the cabin doors.
"Come on, old man!" the tomcat demanded. "He"s markin" yer patch!"
The hearth was cold, though the coals banked beneath sloped ashes would bring the fire to life in the morning . . . if there were need for a fire.
Old Nathan loaded his rifle with controlled care. He poured the main charge of powder into the bore and followed it with a ball wrapped in a linen patch to take the shallow rifling. Cold had stiffened the lubricant of beeswax and b.u.t.ter, so the cunning man eased the hickory ramrod home so as not to snap it in his haste to have a weapon in his hands.
He replaced the ramrod in its tubular brackets beneath the barrel instead of dropping the lathe-turned stick on the floor to save time. He might need to reload. . . .
Old Nathan"s final act of the operation was to measure the smaller priming charge into the pan. Now it was ready to flash from the sparks the flint struck from the steel frizzen whenever the cunning man pulled the trigger.
When the task was complete, Old Nathan began to shiver with the cold.
He pulled on his boots one-handed. The cold leather sc.r.a.ped his heel and ankles, but the cunning man was scarcely aware of the contact. He would need the boots if he had to run any distance through the snow, hunting or hunted.
If there was only the one man his animals had warned of, Old Nathan expected to be the hunter.
With the rifle in his hands, c.o.c.ked, and the bullet pouch and powder horn slung over his left shoulder, the old man slipped out by the cabin"s front door to avoid warning the intruder in back. Snow swirled in crystals too tiny to have obvious shape. The cat had gone off into the night, though the marks of his paws remained on the drifted porch.
The night was gray rather than black, but trees were indistinct blurs from only a few feet away. Old Nathan moved away from the cabin so that the prowler would have no clue to the cunning man"s whereabouts should terror cause him to shoot in desperation- As Old Nathan intended that he should.
The gusting wind drowned any sounds the intruder might make in the creak of branches and moaning air.
The heifers continued to complain but in lowered voices, and the mule chose to be silent for reasons of its own.
Old Nathan knelt, murmuring words under his breath. He picked up a pinch of snow between his left thumb and forefinger, spinning it into the air before it could melt. The tiny vortex grew into a loose, twisting funnel of snow. It glowed with the moonlight which would have fallen on it had the night not been overcast.
The ragged cone slid off among the trees. It moved in a pattern of arcs and reverse arcs, like a hound following a scent trail.
Grinning at the proof of his art, the cunning man sent two more snowy will-o"-the-wisps to follow the first. They were man height but as soundless as the transferred light that illuminated them.
Old Nathan squatted among the roots of a century-old oak whose shade had cleared a considerable circle in surrounding woods. Winter had stripped the undergrowth to blackened stems which would not interfere with the cunning man"s shot when his prey came in view. . . .
The intruder"s bawl of fear was as high-pitched as the scream of a rabbit with its hind legs snared. A gun banged an instant later, the sharp crash of a rifle rather than the snap of a pistol"s smaller charge. Even so, the night muted the sound to merely another forest noise.
Wind-whipped snow crystals melted before they reached Old Nathan"s flushing cheeks. Anger and the powers he had summoned warmed the cunning man"s flesh, though he knew there would be a price to pay when the struggle was over. He trembled with antic.i.p.ation.
There was a flicker through the treetrunks. A whorl of moonlit snow reappeared, drifting like a ghost toward its creator. Another funnel glimmered thirty feet to the side, while the third was still hidden deeper in the woods where it prevented the intruder from breaking back.
The will-o"-the-wisps were only patterns of snow and cold light, but the purposeful way they moved regardless of the wind gave them an ambiance still more chilling than the night. They drove their quarry like hounds after a racc.o.o.n; and, as with c.o.o.n hounds, a human gunman waited to finish the job the pack began.
Twenty feet away the prowler crashed through the brittle undergrowth like a panicked doe. His breath wheezed in and out. Old Nathan could still not see him for the gloom.
The cunning man muttered a command. A will-o"-the-wisp drifted directly toward the intruder. The third twist of frozen moonlight was now visible through the trees beyond.
The prowler screamed again and swung his empty rifle like a club. The b.u.t.t slashed through the snow funnel with no more effect than it would have had in a running stream. On the other side of the target, the rifle stock hit a pine and shattered.
The swirl of snow and moonlight quivered closer yet, illuminating its quarry.
Old Nathan sighted across the silver bead of his front sight.
He did not fire. The face of the prowler was that of Bully Ransden, but its b.e.s.t.i.a.l expression was not that of anything human.
Ransden hurled away the remains of his rifle. His eyes were too fear-glazed to take in his surroundings, neither the cunning man nor even the will-o"-the-wisps which had driven him to what a finger"s pressure would have made his last instant of life. The barrel clanged on a tree.
The funnels of snow settled because the cunning man no longer had the will to maintain them. Bully Ransden blundered off in the darkness, bleating with fear every time he collided with a tree trunk.