Coyote's Daughter Page 11

  Jack growled, and Bear Girl took a step back. I thought of the clay figure in my pack. I still didn't know how to beat him, and wasn't ready for him at all.

  "Little girl, you have something I want. I have something you want." From behind his back he brought forth a cage woven of thin branches. Inside, a large bird hurled itself at the bars; its bloody wings littered the ground below it with feathers.

  Ash. It couldn't be anyone else. My throat closed up, and I wanted to yell, but couldn't get the words out.

  "Trade me, and it will be over. What do you care about these people and their problems? Don't you just want to go home?"

  Home. I could go home, and this whole thing would be over. The offer made me think of my parents, and the words coaxed me to step towards that future without thinking. I took half a step forward before I realized what I was doing.

  A sharp pain stopped me.

  "Hey!" I reached to rub my ankle, and realized that Jack had nipped me. He stood in front of me now, growling.

  "Its okay, Jack." I reached forward and stroked his head. "I'm not going there. You're right, as always." Unlike me, Jack had seen Shriveled Corn Man trying to soothe me with his voice, until I crossed the river to his side, where he'd have the figurine, Ash—everything.

  I started to turn away.

  "Wait!" Shriveled Corn Man's voice sang over the water. "If you won't trade, what about a game? If you win, you get this," and he shook the cage. "If I win, I get the statue."

  I thought about Bear Girl's stories. Maybe there was a way to win; maybe I could do this after all. Maybe.

  "I don't know any of your games. So I guess we can't play."

  Bear Girl came towards me. "Maggie, I don't think you should even speak with him. We should wait until you meet with Spider Old Woman."

  I shook her paw off my shoulder. "Isn't this what you were telling me? That I could challenge him, and win?"

  "Yes, but, you need to have a plan first. This is his challenge, his game."

  "It's a chance to get Ash back. How can I not take it?"

  I turned back to Shriveled Corn Man who waited across the stream with a smirk on his face. "So, what game do you propose?"

  "Simple, little girl." He brought forward a wooden hoop, about the size of a Frisbee. "Catch the hoop. If I throw, and you catch it, you've won a round. If you throw, and I miss it, you've won another round. We will play for three rounds, or until one of us calls the game a draw."

  A game of catch against an old man who looked like he could barely totter along the stream bank. How could I lose?

  "Fine. Go ahead and make your first throw."

  Bear Girl sighed and shuffled back.

  Shriveled Corn Man flew the hoop over the water with a flick of his wrist. I watched it soar for a moment, then raced towards it and jumped, arms outstretched. My fingers brushed it, and I was knocked aside by the fuzzy bulk of Jack.

  Oh, I should have known he couldn't resist a thrown hoop. Too much like the endless games of fetch back home. Then I saw Jack wasn't sitting proudly, displaying his prize, but lay on his side, whimpering in distress.

  "Jack, Jack what is it?" He looked at me, and shuddered. I could feel his ribs heaving.

  "What have you done?" I screamed across the water.

  Shriveled Corn Man was bent double, laughing. "It would have been better if it was you, but this will do, this will do." He gathered up Ash's cage, and walked away through the trees. "I withdraw from the game now. We will play another time, girl. It looks like you will be busy for a while." His hoots of laughter faded as he disappeared from sight.

  Chapter Eleven

  I whirled back to where Jack lay, and fell to my knees, gasping. Jack was nowhere to be seen. On the ground lay a naked boy, a little younger than me, curled tightly into a ball, with fair skin and long dark hair cast over his face. I looked about wildly, searching for Jack.

  Bear Girl reached the boy first, and put out a careful paw to his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

  The strange boy said nothing, but moaned.

  My ears twitched when I heard that sound. I knew the pitch and tone of that groan as well as that of my own voice.

  "Jack. Oh Jack, what has he done to you?" I stumbled to where he lay, and wrapped myself around him, conscious of his new body, and just not caring. "It'll be okay, it'll be fine. I'll take care of you."

  Bear Girl sat back on her heels. "There are stories about ensorcelled hoops created to change humans into animals. No doubt Shriveled Corn Man expected you to catch it, change into a beast, and then he'd have everything—you, the sculpture, Ash. He would have won, right here."

  "But he didn't count on Jack, brave Jack." I reached to scratch behind his ears, to comfort him, and stared at the small, pink lumps that had replaced his shiny black ones. Human ears had never looked so alien.

  "Maggie." A whisper. "I'm so cold."

  "Of course you are." I thought for a moment. "Bear Girl, there's an extra shirt in my pack. Would you get it?"

  She stood, and rather than head toward my pack, she swept her arms from her head towards her feet, and stepped out of her bear coat.

  "Right, I didn't think. The zipper on the backpack would probably be tough to open with claws."

  "No." She bent over us, and draped the coat over Jack.

  "But, won't that, will he . . . What if he doesn't want to be a bear!" I blurted out.

  Bear Girl snorted. "The coat itself will not make him turn into a bear; however, it will keep him warm."

  Jack sat up, and pulled the robe tightly over his lap. "Thank you." He looked at me. "Maggie, I think I'm alright. We should keep going." He looked with dismay at his harness and saddlebags.

  "Don't worry; I can carry them." I scooped up the harness and wrapped the whole mess around my pack. I pulled out the extra shirt and handed it to him. "Put this on under the coat."

  Jack looked puzzled. "Why? The coat is plenty warm."

  "Um. You're a boy now. If we keep the coat open, you need something on under it."

  He thought for a moment. "Oh."

  Bear Girl and I turned around to give him a moment of privacy. I needed to ask her about the rest of the trip, anyway. "How much longer?"

  Bear Girl looked at the mountains and then the sun. "Less than an hour. The sorcerer was arrogant to come this close to her home."

  I helped Bear Girl get the straps of the basket re-adjusted for her new size, then we both turned back to Jack, who crouched on the ground, huddled into the robe.

  "Maggie. I can't figure out how to stand up."

  Bear Girl put her face in her hands. "Walking. Your balance is different from two legs to four. Took me most of my childhood to be able to go from one shape to the other easily."

  We stood on either side of Jack and pulled him to his feet. He teetered for a moment, then the three of us staggered down the trail.

  "Maggie? Make that closer to two hours."

  I grunted, and focused on keeping Jack upright.

  * * *

  The sun was almost down before we spied Spider Old Woman's house. Made of layers of thin stone stacked on each other, the circular building had a thatch roof, and a thin trail of smoke spiraled out the chimney. What I guessed to be herb gardens lay to either side of the door, and I recognized the tall woman who stood in the entrance.

  She saw us carrying Jack, and hurried up the path.

  "You took your time getting here, girl. What foolishness have you gotten yourselves into now?"

  My heart sank. I had hoped when we found her, the real world Spider Old Woman would be gentler than her dream self, but her words crushed that.

  She took Jack away from us, and bent over him, guiding him down the path to her home, while Bear Girl and I followed, exchanging nervous glances.

  When we entered the cottage, Spider Old Woman had already seated Jack on a bench, with his back resting against the wall, and had turned to stoke up the fire. In the flickering light I could see her long black hair, with one sil
ver streak, as it flowed down her back. She wore the same long black dress with a wide white sash I had seen her in before, and low-cut slippers.

  "Don't just stand there, girls; sit down, clear out of the way."

  We tucked ourselves into a corner while she attended to Jack. He looked more comfortable, but my heart ached to see him in a human shape.

  "Excuse me. Ma'am?"

  She stared at me, then turned back to the herbs she was crushing.

  "Can you change him back? Please?"

  She snorted. "If I changed him back, it wouldn't be for your asking, now would it?"

  I took three deep breaths to try to calm down. I failed miserably. "Ma'am. I'm not sure why you're angry with me, but Jack hasn't done anything wrong. And he's good and brave and he's my best friend in the whole world. So if you're going to be mad at me, fine. But don't take it out on him." I stopped, appalled at my outburst. "Please?"

  She looked at me with one eyebrow arched. I was sure she was going to kick us out of the house, that the entire mission to see her was ruined. That we had come all this way for nothing. Then she laughed.

  "At least you have spirit, girl. That will do for a start. Now get settled, and let's get something to eat, and we'll see what we can do."

  We gathered around the fire, and laid down our packs, and got comfortable. She checked Jack over, and ended by giving him a pat on the head, just as if he still wore the body of a dog.

  "You'll be fine, young man. But I wouldn't try to walk too far yet."

  Jack laughed. "No, we discovered already my balance is awful." He held out his hand, and opened and closed his fist. "You know, I always wanted thumbs." He looked over at me, and the mischief in his eyes was the same as it had ever been. "Maggie, you know what this means?"

  "No . . ." I said slowly.

  "I can use the can opener myself! And work doorknobs! I've got it made!"

  I fell off the bench laughing. I just couldn't stop. In the middle of planning for battle, it was the funniest thing in the world.

  I hauled myself upright. "Jack, you'll also have to go to school now. Mom and Dad aren't going to let you stay home all day and nap if you're a boy." I wondered how we would break the news to them they now had a half-grown son, and shook the thought out of my head.

  "Actually," Spider Old Woman handed a bowl of soup to Jack, then delivered a sharp rap to his wrist when he lowered his face to it. "Hands, Jack—you have them, use them."

  He looked sheepish.

  "As I was saying, you may not have to worry about that. There's a chance the spell is tied to Shriveled Corn Man, and once he's defeated, Jack will be able to change back to his dog form."

  I glanced at him as he practiced picking up pieces of meat from the bowl. "Jack? Are you okay with that?"

  "Hmmm? Oh, yeah. I'll be fine either way. This is fun. But I'm not so sure about the whole school thing. Later, Maggie. Eating now." He returned his attention to the food and I hid a smile behind my hand. Still my Jack, no matter what the shape.

  Bear Girl brought out her basket. "My mother sent these to you with her greetings." She laid it next to Spider Old Woman, who proceeded to open each little package, and made hmms of pleasure at each one.

  When she had finished, she looked up. "Your mother is a clever one. She knows my help must be traded for. I can't give you something with nothing in exchange."

  I sat up straighter. "I have nothing worth giving you. I'm sorry, I didn't know."

  "Are you so very sure?" Her eyes fixed on mine, and I raised my hand to my throat.

  "This?" I fingered the beads of the necklace Ash had given me.

  She said nothing.

  "But—he gave it to me, it was supposed to protect me."

  Her lips twisted, but she still remained silent.

  I bit my tongue and swallowed. I needed her help, to fight Shriveled Corn Man, and to save Jack. I didn’t have a choice. I slid it over my head. "This is all I can give."

  She took the necklace from my hand and slid it into a pouch at her side. "You will have my help, not only for your friend, but against your enemy."

  She stood up and walked to a shelf set in the far wall. We heard her moving objects around as she muttered to herself.

  When she returned, she held a carved wooden box in the palm of her hand. Dark, the wood shone as if recently oiled.

  I thought she would hand it to me, but instead she sat with it by the fire, gazing at the flames.

  I watched with her, and felt myself almost hypnotized by the flickering lights.

  "Goodnight, children." Her voice startled me, and I realized I had dozed off. Looking around, I saw we all had. Jack had curled up in a nest made of Bear Girl's coat, and she was stretched out on the bench above him.

  I rubbed my eyes. "But, I thought we could plan for tomorrow."

  "Tonight you are going to sleep. Tomorrow will come soon enough, and all the planning in the world will change nothing."

  I rolled back on my side by the fire. Not exactly encouragement, but I slipped back to sleep with her words in my head.

  * * *

  Coyote left my dreams alone that night again, and I woke feeling clear and refreshed, but a little stiff. The fire had long grown cold, and left the morning air nippy. I pulled the long-sleeved shirt out from my backpack, and slipped it on to ward off the chill.

  Jack and Bear Girl still slept, and I tiptoed outside to stretch my cramped limbs without waking them.

  Spider Old Woman sat in the sun as if waiting for me, with a basket woven from twigs filled with balls of yarn next to her. "Come here." She patted the ground.

  I sat. The sun felt good on my skin.

  She pointed to a spot behind her home. "Do you see that mountain range?"

  I squinted, and saw a hazy line in the distance. A flock of black birds flew by, and I thought of the villagers, trapped by the sorcerer, then pulled my attention back to the task at hand. "Yes, I think so."

  "Best to know so. That's where you're going. Head for that, and you'll come to the base of a cliff. Turn to your right, and you'll find him. You'll be able to make the walk in half a day, especially with a light pack."

  "What?"

  "Leave what's in your bag, all but the statue and some water. You won't need anything else where you're going, and the weight will only slow you down. You travel like a turtle, girl, with all your things on your back."

  I glanced at her from the corner of my eye. Did she just make a joke?

  "I don't know." I hated to argue with her, but I didn't feel comfortable emptying my pack out. If I didn't have something, I'm sure I'd need it.

  "As you wish," she sniffed. "You'll also need this." She handed me the box. "Open it."

  Inside was a gray wisp of cloth, light as down, soft as fluff.

  "What is it?" I ran my fingers over the cloth. The fabric was smoother than any of Mom's silk scarves, and felt utterly alien. The fabric wound itself around my fingers, making me think of a kitten.

  "That, my girl, is what you came here for. Put it in your pocket, child. Time you left."

  "This, this is what I came for?" I couldn't believe it. All of this, for a scarf?

  "You need to trap Shriveled Corn Man, don't you? Throw the cloth over him. It is my finest, my strongest of weavings. Try as he might, struggle as he will, he will not be able to break free."

  I looked at the scrap of fabric in my hands. How on earth would I be able to trap him with this?

  "Can't you tell me how to trap him? I don't suppose he'll stay still while I wrap it around him."

  She stood and brushed the dust off her skirt. "No; you'll manage fine on your own. You have all the tools you need to defeat him now."

  I stuffed the cloth into the pocket of my shirt and scrambled to my feet, protesting. "No, no, I don't. I don't know what I'm supposed to do, how I'm supposed to beat him, anything."

  Hot tears burned my eyes, and I barely choked them back. At the end, was I being abandoned? After all I'd come through, wo
uld I be left alone, with no answers?

  Spider Old Woman stopped as she was about to step back into the house, and came back to me. She laid her hand against my cheek, and for a moment I could imagine her as someone who cared, someone who was worried about me.

  "Maggie. I know this is hard. Your weapons are your heart, your head, and your tongue." She laughed dryly. "I've been watching you, child, even if you haven't known it. If nothing else, you can talk him to death."

  "I have one more gift for you." She held out her closed hand. I reached out, and jumped to hear the click of beads as Ash’s necklace slide into my palm.

  "But, the payment?" I shook my head, confused.

  "You paid what I asked, as is required. It is within my rights to give you what gifts I choose." Her lips turned up, in what might have been a smile.

  I smiled a little with her, and tried my best to shake off my dark mood as I saw Jack stumbling to the door.

  "Maggie, look, I'm walking by myself. I'll be ready to go with you in just a few minutes, I'm sure. Isn't that great?"

  I shot a look at Spider Old Woman, and saw the minuscule shake of her head.

  "Jack, it's wonderful that you're getting the hang of walking on two feet. I'm so proud of you for learning so fast; I'm sure I wouldn't manage it so quickly. But," I looked into his eyes, the same eyes I'd never been able to deny, "Jack, you can't go with me. I need you to stay here. It's important. You have to be my anchor to come back. It's a part of the magic. Isn't it?" I looked at Spider Old Woman, and willed the prickly old lady to go along with my fib.

  She rolled her eyes at me, but gave in. "Oh yes, Jack. You have to stay here, so that she can find her way back again. It will be the hardest job of all, and without you waiting for her, she might not make it home."

  "But, Maggie, I have to go with you. I always go with you."

  The tears I had fought back earlier threatened to overwhelm me again. "Jack, I know. But you have to let me do this. You let me go to school by myself, right? Well, except for that one time you chased the bus all the way there and Mom had to come get you. But I always come home, right?" I reached out and stroked his hair. "This will be just like that. I'll be gone for the day, and then you'll be here, waiting for me."