A TAIL OF NINE

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: Penalties and Punishments

I can't see how far the path goes. Instead, with each step I take, I can see a little more. Trusting my instincts, I follow the path as it snakes away from the actual lake. It leads to a bunch of downed trees.

A guy with a gray hood that's been pulled up to cover his head perches on a stump. I can see his mouth, but the rest of his face is lost in shadow. He's definitely the one from what really happened that night.

"You're the Mourner," I say.

"I got me an ear to the songs of the dead so they'll never be forgotten," he replies with a nod. "Dying things ... I know every one of their stories and sing 'em till the frost hits the pun'kins in the Fall and when the blooms open in the Spring. Got an ear for the songs of the livin', too. Every creature's got a hidden tune to it. An' I'm the listenin' kinda sort. Heard yours calling from miles away."

"Do I want to know what it was saying?"

He grins, not answering. Then he says, "I keep my ear to the ground and get to know the skinny on everything. A few days ago, I got word that some Tengu was headed this way real fast, like bats outta hell. I'm guessing they're after you."

I nod.

"A second pack of them Tengu was haulin' ass, headin' north." The Mourner gives me a good, long look. He knows they're after Kon without me saying a word. Then he goes on to tell me something that's news to me. "The funny thing about that pack going north, a few days ago, they turned 'round and are headed this way. Real fast. Either, they decided you're better to hunt ..."

"Or what they're hunting is headed this way now," I finish for him. Kon! Why didn't they make it to Canada??? Why is she headed here now??? Did Mirabelle trick her? No way! Or tell her I was on the run and on my way here?

My stomach drops to my feet.

"What kind of trouble has she done got herself into?" the Mourner says as he jumps down from his perch.

I fill him in on Kon and Mirabelle, and even how the Amarok are helping. The whole time I'm running my mouth, no one says a word.

The Mourner grimaces. "As are we that dwell here. Most of us have heard of Miss Mirabelle an' have no love for her neither. She don't play fair and ain't got no rules. We don't abide that kind of foolishness."

"So you'll help?"

"We don't walk on the good side of things. We got our own justice, our own punishments and penalties. An' they always fit the crime. Miss Mirabelle ain't like that." His frown slices through his face. "My kind enjoys some cruelty here an' there, when it's due. But not for its own sake. It needs to be earned. Now, Miss Mirabelle visits it on anybody. I seen her leavin' good people to wither an' starve, after she bewitched them. All they wanted was to see her. They'd die, wishin' for it, wastin' away to nothin'. We'll help Miss Kon however we can."

"She needs the Tidal Gems ..."

"If Kon was in front of us, then she'd have them. But she ain't the one askin'. You are."

"But you know me!"

"We know it's you. Just like you know us. But we don't owe you, like we do Kon," the Mourner says. "Miss Mirabelle ain't got no rules. But we do."

"What do I need to do, so you'll get the gems and help Kon?"

The Mourner crouches down and rubs his hand through the dirt and weeds at his feet. He pulls out two fiddles and bows that match. "You outplay me and you'll get to pick your prize. If'n I outplay you, I pick mine."