“Why don’t you take care of that while I see what’s beyond the gate,” replied Childheart.
~four~
Each holding tightly with one hand to the ground grub, Elli and Beatríz held tightly to each other with their free hands. The startling acceleration of Aneht’s legs caused them to gasp and reach for air, but soon they were trailing the ground grub like two tails on a single kite, the scent of freshly burrowed ground enveloping them. In the soft glow of the lantern Elli saw the sides of the tunnel whizzing past them. They had just begun to relax enough to wonder where they were going when Aneht decelerated hard and quickly stopped. Elli and Beatríz stood behind Aneht in the tunnel, their hands still tied to the grub and to each other. Aneht’s head was poking itself into a large opening in the ceiling.
“Yes, yes! Here we are!” proclaimed Aneht; then, the girls still attached, she jumped up and through the hole, landing softly in the daylight on a carpet of dry leaves. There she promptly sat, pulling the girls down next to her, one on each side.
“Yes, yes! Well, here we are!” Aneht announced again, glancing first at Beatríz and then at Elli, as if awaiting some proper reply.
Utterly exhausted, and their minds already filled with a host of unanswered questions, Elli blurted out, “But, please, Aneht, where is ‘here?’” It was then that Elli realized that Beatríz and she were sitting in the midst of something familiar—or so it seemed.
“Well,” said Aneht quietly, “someplace you need to be right now—Sanctuary, of course!”
Beatríz, feeling dapples of sunlight on her face, asked, “Miss Aneht—what is ‘Sanctuary,’ and—Elli—what does it look like?”
The ground grub seemed content to sit there, looking all about and smiling slightly, feeling no sense of urgency to speak just yet.
Elli squeezed her friend’s hand happily. “We are once again outside, Beatríz, on the ground, in a small clearing—and among the tallest of trees! As tall as the ones in the Forest of Giant Trees, but they are further apart from one another, and there is bright sunlight everywhere! And,” she added, squealing pure delight, “I just saw a squirrel—a pretty big one—dart across the grass!”
Beatríz released her hand from Aneht’s loose grip and stood, reaching her arms toward the sky. “It feels so wonderful, Elli—so wonderful, Aneht! It’s almost like one can forget about all of one’s troubles for a while, and feel good again, despite everything! Like, well . . . like they are not so horrible remembering them any longer—right now, I mean—right here, I mean!”
Elli thought she had never seen such a wide smile on Beatríz’s face before—or one that seemed to come from so deep within her. Elli, her voice rich with gratitude, again asked, “But, please, Aneht, where are we? I mean, where is ‘Sanctuary?’ And what is it? And who are you? And how do you know we need Sanctuary—or anything else? You don’t know anything about us really!” insisted Elli. And then she paused and added, “Do you?”
“Yes, yes, need to explain! Answer your questions. But, no, no, I don’t need to tell you where Sanctuary is, because you already know! Already said so! Yes, yes! Seen the light! Followed the light! To The Forest of Giant Trees! But in the light of Sanctuary!”
Aneht held up her lantern—and the light of it became so suddenly brilliant that it reminded Elli of the white light that was rushing fiercely toward her from the dragon’s black flames. Elli turned away and caught a glimpse of the sun, the very light of which seemed to have dimmed, encircled by a ring of deep, dark purple. (She wondered whether the purple ring was actually around the sun, or in her mind—or even both, and whether it mattered.)
“Aneht, I am so confused—and I have so many questions—but . . . ” said Elli, her voice caught luxuriously somewhere between weeping and weariness.
“But, yes, yes, first we must eat and drink! Eat and drink and be merry! And then we will talk!” And with that, Aneht stood, pulling the two girls to their feet, and rather bounced as she began to walk, leading the girls through the trees.
“Elli?” Beatríz asked, searchingly.
“Right here, Beatríz,” Elli replied.
The three of them walked on in happy silence, Elli and Beatríz each wondering why—given all that had transpired up to that moment, and fearing the worst for their companions—they were feeling so light, so unburdened, so simply joyful. And they even wondered why they were not feeling guilty about it—or feeling guilty about not feeling guilty about it all. To be sure, they were relieved: relieved that their encounter with Kahner was over, at least for the time being; relieved that they were not dead—that they were still with each other, still had each other; relieved that they were not buried alive—and out of the tomb; relieved that they felt safe with Aneht, though they knew practically nothing about her, and that they seemed genuinely to be safe, at least for the time being; and, finally, relieved that, at least for a while, they could relax and not have to worry about what was going to happen next.
But it was more than that. They were happy. Happy to be in this place called Sanctuary—that seemed like a happier (almost dreamlike) version of the Forest of Giant Trees. Happy to be right here, where all their memories seemed more present, and all that they remembered seemed more real and more fully remembered, but which at the same time seemed to be somehow charmed, as if this place called Sanctuary, whatever it really was, if anything at all (to echo the words of Aneht), was a larger existence within which everything else existed and that this place was controlling it all.
It was as if all was well—not that it would be well, but was well; and well not just here, but well elsewhere, too! And well inside them, with each able to feel and think the same thing, and actually feel and think the other feeling and thinking! Elli recalled what Childheart said about being in Bairnmoor in better times, and whether that wasn’t what this right now was all about: where here, too, Beatríz and Elli could not only think and feel the other’s thoughts and feelings, but also feel the other feeling and think the other thinking, as well as having the same thoughts and feelings that they seemed to be somehow sharing with everything else in Sanctuary!
And yet, they knew implicitly, even if in fact they were not at that point actually feeling it, that here they could still feel sad—and angry, and scared—and more genuinely so than ever before; and yet it would also be more bearable, as if here in Sanctuary a delicate loveliness coated every feeling and thought, regardless of what it was.
The three of them walked hand-in-hand among the trees for a short while, turned sharply, and then were gone.
~five~
There was no more fight in either Alex or Jamie. They had struck with their knives a multitude of times “in the will of the Good,” and had killed or critically injured dozens of Wolfmen and Unpersons, but they had lost the battle’s endgame. No amount of will, be it their own or even the will of the Good, could marshal enough strength in their bodies to strike once more, and they were now surrounded. They stood, arms and weapons to their sides, waiting for the onslaught that would send them into oblivion in this world called Bairnmoor—and into nonexistence in their own. The loud creatures, dancing in vile relish, closed in with weapons raised, and the boys bowed their heads to receive the blows.
Instead, they felt the sharp claws of several Wolfmen grabbing their limbs and hoisting them atop the shoulders of other Wolfmen, not even bothering to disarm their passive captives. Far from feeling any degree of relief Jamie and Alex shuddered at the thought of what was likely to ensue once they had been delivered to Santanya. The battle for Taralina’s castle still raged in the distance, and the boys wondered how many of their party remained to fight. Among them was not Thorn; they didn’t know what had happened to him, but they knew he was down—and either dead or critically wounded, and if wounded also likely captured. Thorn had fallen swiftly to the enemy when he stumbled carrying the girls; fortunately,