Into The Wildewood Part 27

"Don't listen to the trees, Dad. They're awful gossips."

He smiled and grabbed the tree root to pull himself up. It lifted, helping him. Keelie put her shoulder under his other arm and steadied him.

"Elianard?"

"I don't know. Last I saw, he was booking it down the mountain. Tavak came to the rescue."

You are the rescuer, Tree Shepherdess, the Old One said above them. Keelie could see that Dad heard it, too.

As a sign of our trust in you, we give you a great honor and a great responsibility. We offer you a treeling of our forest to root in your Dread Forest.

Dad seemed moved. He was actually showing a little eye leakage. Keelie wondered what the trees were talking about. A treeling. Sounded like some sort of Arbor Day project.

I accept, and thank you. If the trees wanted to give her a souvenir, why not?

The earth at her feet moved, and she stepped back, alarmed. A huge acorn popped out of the ground and rolled, b.u.mping to a stop at her tennis shoe. Its cap was banded in worked gold.

"Pretty," Keelie said. She bent over and picked it up. It was heavy.

Dad stood over her and touched the gold ring with a fingertip. Welcome to our family, Princess Alora. Welcome to our family, Princess Alora. Princess Alora. The nut had a name. She smiled as she Princess Alora. The nut had a name. She smiled as she Princess Alora. The nut had a name. She smiled as she realized that she'd heard Dad's greeting in her mind.

As they walked back to find the others, Keelie realized that she'd chased Knot through the forest in pitch blackness, using the magic sight to find her way. Raven and Laurie must have turned back. They found them back on the ridge, by the battered Swiss Miss Chalet. Dad insisted that they leave it there and walk down the mountain. By the time they reached the stream, the sun was rising.

Sir Davey was waiting for them on the other bank. He held his lantern aloft and shouted, "They're over here. Janice. Tell the others."

Keelie was the first to wade across. She felt fingers around her ankles as she forded the stream, and heard the silvery laugh of a water sprite. "If you knock me in the water, I'll bring beavers here to dam up your stream." The fingers withdrew quickly. "Just kidding."

Sir Davey met her, his expression grave. "Keelie, there's no easy way to put this. Your father is missing from the lodge."

"No, he's not. He's right over there." She pointed back across the stream, where Dad was helping Raven down the slippery side. As they watched, he staggered to one side, still weak.

Sir Davey's eyes brightened and he breathed a big sigh of relief. "La.s.s, you've got a story to tell me, but the Emergency Response Team from Oregon is here, and they'll tend to your father now."

Janice arrived, worry lines wrinkling her forehead, her bracelets jangling on her wrist as she draped blankets over Raven, Laurie, and Keelie. "Girls, I'll get you something hot, and then all three of you need to get into bed and sleep."

Keelie didn't feel like sleeping. She watched Janice and her friends take the path that led back to the Faire, with Laurie quizzing Raven about skinny-dipping.

Several elves appeared, carrying a stretcher. "Where's the Tree Shepherd?" one asked.

Keelie pointed to the stream, where Dad was telling Sir Davey about the night's adventures, and Sir Davey was filling him in on what had happened at the Faire.

The elves pa.s.sed her, mostly dressed in hiking boots and dark green cargo pants, with thermal T-s.h.i.+rts sporting the golden tree logo she'd seen on Dad's elven correspondence. One hung back, an elderly woman whose gray hair was pinned back in a severe bun. She was wearing a long embroidered gown, which reminded Keelie of something from the Middle Ages although she got the feeling this was not a costume. The woman stopped and looked at Keelie.

"Keliel Heartwood, come to me."

One of the elves leaned over to Keelie. "That's Etilafael. She's on the Council."

Keelie walked over to the elf woman.

The woman lifted Keelie's chin up, and turned her head to the right and to the left. "The blessings of the trees are upon you, child. I expect great things from you."

With that, she walked away.

Puzzled, Keelie turned to the enclosure the Emergency Response Team had set up. She couldn't wait to see the Response Team's faces when they saw that Dad was totally okay. They had set up barriers around a tent and the entrance was guarded.

Just as she was about to step through, an elven woman blocked Keelie's way. "You are not allowed."

"I am, too."

"Humans aren't allowed."

Keelie stood open-mouthed. "That's my dad in there."

"You are human. Entrance is denied." The woman closed the gate to the barriers, and turned away.

She'd saved the unicorn, the forest had given her a treeling, and she still wasn't considered an elf. If this was a preview of coming attractions, then life was still unfair. Keelie debated stomping back to the campground. No way. Dad owed her some answers.

She vaulted over the gate and marched into the tent where her father lay. The elf guard ran after her. "Stop. You must leave immediately."

Her father was pale, his eyes closed. He still had a blue tint to his skin and was weak from the venumiel.

Then he opened his eyes and saw Keelie. "I'm proud of you. I don't know how you tapped such Earth magic, but you've saved the unicorn, the Wildewood, and the elves. I was wrong when I said you couldn't handle it. But Keelie, I was so afraid, and you could have been killed."

"I think Elianard would have killed me. In case you haven't noticed, the elves don't exactly adore me. That woman wouldn't let me see you. I'm a Round Ear." She spat the word out.

Dad took her hand in his cool one. "Just as there are mean-spirited people, there are mean-spirited elves. Elianard and Elia for example. Don't judge us all by those two."

"I think they're totally evil. Just because Elianard wanted to save the Dread Forest, does that mean he was right to try to kill the unicorn?"

Dad flinched. "What?"

"Elianard said that he was trying to save the elven home forest. He thought that justified killing Einhorn, to take his power."

Dad's expression turned grim. He seemed shocked at her revelation.

"I don't think I can live in the Dread Forest. My human side seems to be the only part of me that they see."

"I need for you to be tough when you get to the elven forest," Dad answered quickly. "You have friends among the elves, but prejudice is in every culture and society, whether it be based on the color of your skin or the shape of your ears." He pointed to her heart. "As long as this guides your life, then you can face anything that is thrown at you, whether it be elf, human, magic, or injustice. You're strong like your mother." He closed his eyes, exhausted.

Keelie kissed his forehead. "Thanks, Dad. I love you." The answers to her questions would have to wait.

twenty-nine.

Dinner the next day was an open-air feast. Because of the three-state blackout caused by the power plant's "inexplicable" failure, all of the Faire's freezers had been emptied, and a vast barbecue had been set up featuring lots of turkey legs and steak on a stake.

Raven had spread out quilts by Davey's RV, the only decent sleeping place around, and Keelie flopped down on one, exhausted. She had spent the day helping to clean up from what the papers were calling a "freak storm." But from the sh.e.l.l-shocked looks on some of the faces around her, everyone remembered the tree rampage and no storm story would convince them otherwise.

Janice's shop would need big repairs, but luckily most of the damage had been to the upstairs living quarters. Lady Annie had moved into Lulu's shop. Lulu had last been seen hanging by her feet from a spruce tree, her mouth sealed with resin.

Elianard's room at the lodge had been empty, and Elia's things were gone as well. Keelie wondered why the elf girl had helped her, and whether she knew what had happened to Einhorn's broken horn. No doubt she would run into her again in the Dread Forest. Keelie was not looking forward to it.

In the parking lot, Finch was in her element, barking orders and shouting at slowpokes. Sir Brine had turned out to be a hero, or at least that's what he told everyone as he recounted his valiant effort to hold back the trees with catapulted pickles. Dad was talking to him, because the little weirdo had his eyes set on the old Lady Annie booth right next door to Heartwood. No way would he set up his perma-pickle stand that close to them.

Keelie looked up at the blue sky, and listened to the sound of the river nearby and the murmur of the trees in the breeze. Gone was the oppressive feeling of the forest. Dad had scheduled a Tree Lorem for later.

Knot ran past, yowling, a bhata bhata riding him like a stick cowboy. riding him like a stick cowboy.

She rolled over onto her stomach and laughed.

"What's so funny?"

Keelie turned over again, and looked up at the figure that was blocking the sun. She brought a hand up to shade her eyes, but he dropped down next to her. He brushed blond hair from his forehead, his blue-green eyes on her.

"Sean." He looked just as handsome as he had when she'd last seem him in Colorado. She sat up, feeling shy and wis.h.i.+ng she knew what had been in those letters. Had they been friendly, kind of "Hey how are you?" or had they been dreamy love letters? She was at a serious disadvantage.

"Your father told me you were coming. I didn't know if you wanted to see me again."

His eyes clouded. "I wasn't too sure myself. Why didn't you answer my letters?"

"I never saw them, Sean. Your dad said that you'd written. I thought you'd forgotten me, or that you'd met someone else." The last words faded in volume as he leaned forward, eyes fixed on her lips. This was totally okay. Life had suddenly improved more than one hundred percent. Her heart thudded, feeling as if it was fluttering in her throat. Did he feel the same? Their lips met, his mouth warm and firm on hers. His hand covered hers on the blanket and she felt his pulse, fast against her skin. Okay. That answered that.

Knot streaked by again, and this time ran right over the quilt, making Keelie and Sean pull apart. This was a good thing, since Dad appeared a second later.

"Sean, well met. Your father told me you were coming."

Sean stood and the two men bowed their heads to each other, elf fas.h.i.+on, and then shook hands. From the look on Dad's face, maybe he'd seen too much.

"You should go now. The feast at the lodge is starting soon." Dad looked meaningfully at Sean.

"You are coming, too, are you not?" Sean smiled at Dad, then down at Keelie. His smile warmed.

"I'll make an appearance," Dad said. "Keelie will not attend."

"First I've heard of it," Keelie announced, then shut up, as she realized she'd probably not been invited.

Sean looked from Keelie to her father, and back again. "Not attending? But it's in appreciation of what you did. You saved the forest."

"The dinner is for the Response Team," Dad said.

Keelie shrugged. "The dinner is for the full-blood elves, is what he means. No Round Ears need attend. I don't care. My friends are here."

Sean looked shocked. "If that is so, then I won't go either. I'll stay here with you."

Zeke's smile grew frosty. "Lord Niriel will not be pleased."

Keelie wondered if Dad was being snarky about Lord Niriel just because he was Sean's dad, or if there was another reason. Not that it would help to ask. He never told her anything.

Sean bowed again. "As Keelie said, my friends are here."

His words warmed her. With Sean beside her, the Dread Forest wouldn't be so lonely.

Laurie and Raven came flying up, laden with plates, and stopped, eyes wide at the elf face-off. Keelie patted the quilt beside her.

"Sit down, ladies. Raven, you know Sean o' the Wood. Sean, this is my old friend Laurie."

Dad raised his arms in surrender and headed for the lodge, leaving the girls to admire Sean.

After dinner, they all walked up the trail to an overlook that Raven remembered from previous stays at the Wildewood Faire. They could see down to Rivendell from here, and the lilting strains of Jared playing an instrumental version of The Three Marys The Three Marys floated up to them. They started back down when Rigadoon was tuning up. The dancing was about to begin. floated up to them. They started back down when Rigadoon was tuning up. The dancing was about to begin.

Keelie's eyes caught a glimmer in the forest to their right. "Go on, guys. I want to look at something."

Sean stopped, too. "Need my help?"

"No, you go down. I'll catch up."

She watched Laurie and Raven converge on Sean and laughed. He loved the attention. She walked into the forest.

"Lord Einhorn?"

A beautiful man in a snowy white s.h.i.+rt and pristine white jeans stepped out from behind a great tree. His skin glowed, leaving no doubt that he was the unicorn.

"I didn't know you could be a person, too."

Einhorn smiled, and it was as if a star had kissed her.

He held out a hand. Dangling from his long fingers was the Queen Aspen's charred heart, and also a cord on which hung a silver acorn entwined with thorns. Elianard's amulet.

Keelie took the charred heart, but left the other. "Thank you."

He still held out Elianard's pendant. "This is for you as well." His voice was like chimes in a breeze. "You saved my life, you saved my forest, and you've brought me my mate."

Mate? She didn't remember that part, but she took the necklace and dropped it over her head, hiding it inside her s.h.i.+rt. It felt cold and sharp against her skin.

"Keelie? You here?" Raven's voice came from the path.

"It was my honor to be of service to you." Keelie bowed her head in the elven way. Dad would be so proud of her, even if she wasn't too sure about that mate business. Surely he didn't mean her? Or, worse, Elia?

Underbrush rustled behind her. "Keelie, is that you in here? Who are you talking to?" Raven stepped forward. Keelie looked at her, wondering if she'd still be able to see the unicorn, or if last night had been part of a greater magic.

Einhorn extended a pale, long-fingered hand, and to Keelie's astonishment, Raven took it and went to stand at his side, her darkness striking against his light. He lifted her hand to his lips, and the two stared at each other for a long moment.

Then Einhorn s.h.i.+mmered, and the unicorn stood before them. He bowed low, so that his horn touched Keelie's forehead. It felt as if he were blessing her. Then he reared up, turned, and galloped away.