Last Wild Boy (9 page)

Nora picked up Adam's basket and followed Mabon deeper into the woods.

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r 14

“You're much too young. I won't hear of it.”

Alice had never seen her mother so angry. The stress of the past few days was obviously grating on her.

“I'm sorry, Mother. But I know my rights. I turned eighteen today. The law says that I am ready. It's my choice, not yours.”

“That may be true,” said Blanchefleur, “but there are other factors to consider. You know that the law exists to encourage insiders to bear children. It was never intended to be used by spoiled children to threaten their parents. You are free to make your own decision, but I am under no obligation to continue my support for you if I disagree with your choice.”

“You could never throw me out, Mother,” Alice said, taking her mother's hand. “I know you better than that.” She looked up at her mother with wide blue eyes, eyes that could conquer a world. “Come on. This is important to me.”

They were standing in the huge washroom adjoining Blanchefleur's bedroom. Alice sat down on the closed seat of the sculpted toilet and watched as her mother carefully removed the makeup from her eyes.

“I don't want to fight, Mother,” she continued. “My life has been empty since Nora disappeared. Now that she's gone I need someone of my very own to love.”

“Now isn't that just the point? Without Nora, you have no one to share the difficult job of parenting.” Blanchefleur turned and looked her daughter square in the eyes. “You are aware that partnership is one of the main elements of the temple ceremony?”

“You never had a partner.”

“I had my reasons. In a position like mine, partners who will be a support and not a burden are difficult to find. And even the most supportive of partners can be a drain on one's resources at certain times.” Blanchefleur shifted uncomfortably on the bench of the marble vanity that spanned almost the full length of the wall.

Blanchefleur's fury failed to intimidate Alice as she knew it ought. When she was little, Alice had loved to sit in this washroom and watch her mother put on her face. Now, years later, she was still her mother's girl, and the pleasant scent of the perfumes and powders lined up on the vanity still made her feel secure and happy.

Sometimes, when she was younger, Alice would say that she wanted to live with the mayor as her companion always. When her friends spoke of their mothers' partners, Alice had told them that she was the only partner her mother would ever need. It never occurred to her that Blanchefleur might be lonely. Blanchefleur had never expressed even a hint that she was missing anything
as she'd raised her child. It really hadn't been until Alice had met Nora that she'd begun to understand there was another
sort of love.

“I have my own reasons for doing what I do, too, Mother…”

“All right, Darling, let me ask you just one question.” Blanchefleur paused while she patted her face with a towel.

“What?” asked Alice, looking up impatiently. She had her foot propped up on the edge of the big tub and was applying a soft pink polish.

“My question is one directed to your heart,” she said. “Does this have anything to do with Nora's sudden disappearance?”

“Of course not, Mother. I just want a baby. That's all.” Alice put the put the lid back on her nail polish, placed it in the drawer of their vanity, and closed the drawer firmly.

Blanchefleur turned and put a hand on her daughter's shoulder. She focused intently on Alice's almond-shaped eyes. She spoke slowly and deliberately. “Nora disappears. A woman dies after giving birth to a child, possibly an outsider, who also disappears — from right near the summer home. And suddenly my daughter is feeling maternal urges. Forgive me if I sound paranoid.” She looked at her daughter long and hard. “Even before I heard about the dead woman or about Nora's disappearance, I began to have a sense that something bad was afoot in Aahimsa,” she continued. “My intuition was sounding the alarm. It has never failed me in the past, and I've never felt it so strongly.

Alice tried to move away, but Blanchefleur grabbed her other shoulder and held her fast. “Something tells me that this time, the problem will not be solved easily. When a mother tries to tell her daughter not to make stupid mistakes based on impulse, it is my experience that the daughter doesn't often listen. But maybe this time will be different. I hope so.”

She turned around and looked at their two faces side by side in the mirror. “Oh, Alice, you know how much I love you. But what if something happens to me? Will you be ready to fill my shoes? Soon you may discover the terrible burden that power brings. You'll also discover how something very small — a foolish decision, perhaps — can do great damage.”

Alice paused a few moments, and then stood up. “I'm going to have the baby,” she announced.

Blanchefleur sighed. “Then there's nothing I can do. You know the law well.”

“Thank you, Mother.”

“I'm not sure I was complimenting you.”

“One more thing, Mother.”

“Yes…”

“I want my baby to live here with us right from the start. I don't wish for her to be sent to the Palace of the Caretakers. I want her nearby so I can watch her and hold her and take care of her myself.”

Blanchefleur stood up so she was at eye level with her daughter. “I want you to know that I am convinced of two things,” she said. “First, I am certain that I was correct when I told the rangers to search for Nora in the wild. She found the baby and fled with it, didn't she? She couldn't possibly still be inside the city — we've searched every square inch.”

Alice stayed silent.

“What possessed her to do such a thing?” Blanchefleur continued. “Never mind, I already know the answer. The power they hold over us is unending.” She put her hands on Alice's shoulders and squeezed hard. “You had better pray to the Goddess that Nora and the baby are found in time.”

Alice still said nothing. There were no words to describe her feelings. Tears coursed down her cheeks like summer rain painting the windows of her room. Her mind and her heart were running across the wild, frightened and lost. “I don't know where she went,” she finally said. “That's the truth.” She wiped her eyes and wrapped her arms around her mother's neck.

Blanchefleur pulled Alice into a deep embrace. “I'm not sure you would recognize the truth if you saw it. You are aware, I'm certain, that you are somewhat immune to my wrath. Anyone else would suffer for treasonous behaviour like this. I can't believe you could be so selfish as to keep this secret. I fear for the future of Aahimsa unless you learn to control your self-indulgence.”

Alice sniffed. “I'm so sorry, Mother. I just wanted to protect Nora.” She wiped the tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. “If she is in the wild like you think, and the rangers find her, what will they do to her?”

Blanchefleur paused an instant and looked hard at Alice. “If there is a child with Nora, it will be terminated quickly. You understand that?”

“Of course! But what about Nora?”

“I don't know,” Blanchefleur said gravely. “The matter would have to go before Council.” She paused, then released Alice from her grasp. “What would you wish to happen?”

“I would like to have her back,” Alice said matter-of-factly.

“That might not be possible,” said Blanchefleur. “She wouldn't be the same. She might not even wish to return. Something powerful occurred in her mind to allow her to make the decision she did. The moment she decided to flee, she also decided to give up her life with us. The child became more important than you and me and the world we have built.” She brushed a blonde lock from her daughter's tear-stained face. “The bond between woman and child is a powerful one once accepted.”

“I don't care,” said Alice. “I miss her. I may be angry and hurt, but I will forgive her. I know it. I will have my baby and she will come back and help me raise it.”

“Alice, Darling,” Blanchefleur said softly. “The decision concerning Nora's fate is not yours or mine to make. No matter how much we love Nora, if she has gone over to the outside — to the wild — she may no longer be fit to dwell with insiders again. Even worse, she can never be trusted again. When your child is born, she must be taught to follow the way of the insider. If she is to rule her people, like her mother and grandmother before her, she must be raised with the values of our society. Nora's ideas may have been changed by this episode, and it would be dangerous to raise a child with a wrong-minded influence. This is why I believe that Nora must be permanently out of your life, no matter the final outcome.”

Blanchefleur's words only served to deepen Alice's sobs.

Alice cried for a long time. When she finally started to compose herself, she spoke through her tears. “You said you were convinced of two things. What was the second?”

“The second is that you are out of your mind,” Blanchefleur said with a smile. “You have no idea how hard it is to raise a child at home. Nor do you appreciate why the practice is discouraged.”

“And why is it discouraged?” Alice asked.

“You see, my dear,” Blanchefleur said, turning her daughter around to face the mirror. “When you don't give the initial care of your child over to the caregivers, a deep bond forms between you and your child.”

“What's wrong with that?”

Blanchefleur spoke softly into her ear. “It becomes impossible for some of us not to give in to our daughters' foolish ideas.” She kissed her daughter on the cheek.

Alice beamed. “I love you, Mom.”

“I'm sure you do, my dear.”

Blanchefleur glided out of the bathroom, leaving Alice standing alone in front of the mirror. Alice couldn't help smiling at herself in the glass.

C
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r 15

Mabon showed Nora how to find hard ground, bare of plants, in order to leave little sign of their passage. When they walked through grasses, he showed her how to pass so as not to bruise or bend a single stem. He kept his eyes peeled, looking for a hiding place, and eventually he found what he sought — a huge circular stand of prickly ash, amidst which stood several huge spruces with massive drooping branches whose heavy ends rested on the ground. He made his way in through the thorny ash trees and set the sleeping dog on the ground, then came back and helped Nora work her way past.

“Climb in there,” he said, lifting one of the heavy spruce branches inside the thicket.

Nora obeyed, carefully dropping to her knees and pushing Adam's basket along as she dragged herself and the bags under the low-hanging branches. Mabon hauled his gear into a hollow space off to the side before returning outside to clean up any signs that might betray their presence, and then, satisfied, made his way back into the sweet earthly hiding place.

Nora was breathing heavily now, and her face was flushed a bright crimson. She moved the softest of the bags up behind her and, gathering Adam close, lay down and fell asleep almost instantly.

Mabon was concerned about her health. She was rasping heavily, and he could feel the heat of her fever from where he was sitting a few feet away. He rummaged in his bag to see if he had enough water left in his bottle to wet a cloth for her forehead.

Then, ever so faintly at first, he heard the approach of a nearing ranger party. By his estimation there were four of them, with perhaps more in the background observing. It was hard to tell by the sound of their footsteps. He wished they were speaking out loud, but he knew they'd be using inner speak. He could still remember the strange sensation of communicating via inner speak from when he was a ranger — the feeling of a hundred voices in your head at once, and everyone being able to hear your thoughts. At first, it had felt like torture, like being stuck inside a crowded room with the walls closing in. But after he'd learnt to control it, it hadn't been so bad.

The footsteps grew louder. Soon they would get to the prickly ash trees. He hoped the thorns were menacing enough to deter the rangers from trying to pass through.

The dog must have heard the approaching footsteps too, because he stirred and growled softly, deep in his throat. Mabon reached back and clamped the dog's jaws shut.
Had they heard?

If these had been the growls of the entire pack, he knew that the rangers would give them a wide berth. He could recall a few serious incidents between a pack of dogs and the rangers, and no creature on either side had escaped totally unscathed. Yesterday had been a surprise to him. The pack must have really hated the leader to attack him so ferociously when he was down and wounded.

There was the unmistakable sound of someone pushing through the prickly ash, the rasp of thorn on canvas.

“Ouch!” one of the rangers whined aloud, breaking the ban on speaking aloud. Then more sounds of fabric being raked by thorns, leaves, and branches.
Was another ranger coming through to help in the search, or had the first ranger been called back?
Mabon waited for the slash of the machetes against the trees, but there was only deafening silence.

Mabon looked over to Nora and saw that she was awake now, aware of the threat, and frightened. Adam was still sleeping soundly, but she had her hand over his mouth just in case. Mabon gave her a nod and held eye contact with her while they waited to see what the rangers would do.

The long silence was excruciating. After what seemed like forever, Mabon signalled for Nora to remain silent as he slowly lifted his head up among the branches overhead and looked around. His heart leapt with joy as he saw that the area was clear. He hunched back down and smiled.

“We'll wait a while longer, but I think we'll be able to leave soon,” he said.

Nora said nothing but wondered how much farther she could go.

When they decided that they'd waited long enough, Mabon found a solid branch of fallen hardwood and fashioned himself
a club, which he used to break a passage through the ring of
prickly ash trees.

“If the rangers had used their machetes to do this, they could have come through the trees easily,” Mabon told Nora as he thrashed at the thorny branches. “It's a good thing they're trained to fight and not to think.” He grinned boyishly and playfully pushed a red-brown curl out of his eye.

They had only travelled half an hour into the lowering sun when Nora began to cough heavily. She stopped and leaned against a tree for support, and then slipped down to the forest floor. Somehow she'd managed to hold Adam's basket upright as she fell, and it now lay quietly on the needled ground beside her.

Mabon, who had been walking ahead, put down the dog and his kit and moved to her side. He found her lying on the ground, sweating heavily and struggling for breath.

“I can't go on,” she said.

“You can make it,” he said, taking out his water bottle and pouring the last drops into her lips.

“I can't,” she said, closing her eyes. “Just leave me here. Take Adam. Protect him.”

“I'm not leaving you anywhere,” Mabon said. He reached down toward her, then suddenly pulled back. “May I…would you mind if I…carried you?” he asked.

Nora looked up into Mabon's bright blue eyes. There was a softness to them that she hadn't noticed before. It dawned on her that she barely knew him. She'd always been taught to fear outsiders and the violent urges they couldn't control. She'd seen this side of Mabon already, when he'd fought the pack of dogs, and it had scared her. But for some reason — a deep feeling in her heart that she couldn't explain and didn't fully understand — she trusted him. She nodded. “What about Adam?” she asked. “And the dog? And our things?”

“Do you think you could hold onto Adam if I were to carry you?” Mabon asked.

Nora nodded.

Mabon lifted Adam out of his basket and placed him in Nora's arms. “Is it all right if I touch you?” he asked.

She looked him in the eye once more, searching for some hidden malice, but saw nothing to fear. “I guess there's no other way,” she said at last.

Mabon bent his knees and lifted her into his strong arms. He thought of the woman who fell.

Nora rested her head against Mabon's right shoulder. She was close enough to smell his wild animal scent. It was unpleasant, but strangely comforting. She somehow felt safe in the arms of this outsider, the sworn enemy of her city, of all her sisters.

“We won't go far,” he said. “We'll just walk until we find somewhere safe to stop for the night.”

“All right,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.

The feeling of Nora's breath on his ear sent shivers along Mabon's spine. “Hold the boy tight,” he said.

Nora pulled Adam closer to her chest. Her throat burned and her legs ached, especially where they rested against Mabon's arms, but she refused to complain.

Mabon moved cautiously in the dying light as he searched for a safe place to rest for the night. He made his way up a hill and found the easiest paths he could through a dense grove of full-grown giants and then a maze of fallen rocks and crumbled shale. At the end of the rock field, he reached a towering limestone cliff. He skirted its base for a long while before he found what he was looking for: a small cave set into the rocky bluff. He lay Nora and the babe on the cave floor in the darkness and covered them as best he could with his time-worn khaki jacket. Nora stirred as he lay her down.

“I'm going for our things and the dog,” he told her. “Will you be okay until I come back?”

“I hope so,” she said. “I have a flashlight in my pocket. Do you want it?”

“Give it to me for a minute to look around and make sure this place is safe. I won't need it outside. There will plenty of moonlight tonight.”

Nora handed Mabon the flashlight and he turned it on and shone it around the cave. The cave floor was dry, except for a small pool of water upon a natural stone shelf in the rear. There were no animals inside the cave, and no sign of recent usage by any animal or human. He handed the light back to Nora. “Don't waste it,” he said. “I'm going now. I'll be back as soon as I can.”

“You promise you'll come back?” Nora asked weakly.

“What do you think?” Mabon said, smiling down at her. He hated to leave her in such a state, but he needed to get the dog and their supplies before the rangers found them.

“Thank you,” Nora said after a moment of silence.

Mabon gave her a strange look. “Don't thank me. For the first time in years, I'm not alone. I'd be crazy to not come back.” He bounded out of the cave and into the wilderness.

Nora sat in silence, except for the irregular drip, drip, drip of water falling into the pool. The sound comforted her, like the ticking of a tired clock, and in a few minutes she fell into a comfortable sleep.