Chapter 3, Part iii

“Hello there,” said the man with the bandana around his neck. He waved limply in Hector's direction, then continued wheezing. His Tovish companion sagged against a tree and breathed heavily through his nose.

Out of the shock of it all, nobody said anything for some time. After a moment the shaman called for Lilly's help to gather some loose branches and with her Gyre she lit a glowing flame to see by. They heard voices from the direction of the village, and soon the grove was filled with curious and frightened Toves. They kept a great distance from the blackened corpse and the humans, and their glassy eyes reflected the flickering light of the fire.

One emerged from the crowd and embraced Lilly, fawning over her and running his pawlike hands through her hair and over her ears. “Are you all right?” River fussed. “What happened? I came as soon as I heard what was happening. Oh, I'm so mortified that you were put in danger...”

“That's enough, River,” Lilly said curtly. She shook him off with trembling arms. “Just give me some space. I need to breathe.”

Some of the Toves approached the shaman with wide eyes, giving Hector a wide berth. Again, he could guess what they were saying: “What happened?” The shaman said something. Then they continued, “What are we going to do now?” or perhaps “How could this happen here in Noosta?” or maybe even “Is no place safe?”

Hector's curiosity overcame his trauma, and he stumbled over to the man with the sword – now sheathed, its glow hidden in the black scabbard – and his prickly-furred Tovish companion. “Hey, um, I just wanted to say thanks for, you know, saving my life. I have no idea what just happened, but thank you.”

The human nodded, panting as if he were about to die with exhaustion. He probably was. “No problem... What's your name, librarian?”

“Hector Blithe... hey, how did you know I was a librarian?”

The human paused and surveyed the murmuring crowd of worried natives with suspicious interest. “This... thing... was sent to kill you, Hector. You're lucky we got here in time.” Hector swallowed painfully and glanced at the smoldering body on the ground. The folds of its robe were charred black, obscuring its face and splayed limbs. Smoke rose lazily from a blackened hole in its chest.

“He was after me? But what have I got to do with anything?”

“More than you know,” said the stranger, who was still bent over with his hands on his knees. He raked his sweaty hair from his eyes, and the prickly Tove observed them both in silence.

“Forgive my lack of etiquette,” he continued, and extended his hand toward Hector. “I didn't even introduce myself. I'm Aric.”

“Nice to meet you, and thanks again.” Hector was surprised at the strength of Aric's grip. He then extended his hand toward the Tove. “What's your name?”

The Tove delegated the answer to Aric with a glance. “Oh,” said Aric, “His name is Burr. He's not very talkative, but he's a nice enough fellow. Seems trustworthy enough.” This apparently was a joke, for both Aric and Burr grinned at each other. The man Aric forced a laugh and stretched his back. “Ah, this is the life, isn't it? Adventuring nonstop through the wilderness for two days straight, confronting evil, tackling the bad guys. Getting problems solved. Nothing better.”

Hector took an immediate liking to this man. His eyes were bright, he was quick to smile and he felt comfortable around him. Plus, he had just saved his life.

The shaman appeared by them as the chatter and noise increased. “You, Hictar! Man and Tove! Come with me. We have things to talk, then I have place for you to sleep.”

“Sleep!” gasped Aric with delight. “Oh, my togom, I couldn't love you any more if you were my own mother.”

Lilly called out to them, and River came close behind her. “Togom, will we have more use for the Gimble?” she asked.

The shaman examined all five of them seriously, then declared her verdict. “No. And I have better idea. You are all going to fall over. You sleep first, and then we talk in the morning.” Hector felt like weeping with gratitude.

“There's just one more thing,” added Aric. “I'm going to drag this body somewhere nobody's going to touch it. I'll just handle this myself real quick.” He quickly squatted and lifted the body by the armpits and wordlessly dragged it somewhere into the dark forest.

Hector stared after him for a bit. Then he felt somebody touch his arm, and he turned to see Lilly looking at him with concern. “Are you feeling all right?” she asked. He shrugged and laughed weakly.

“Well, considering the day's events, I'd say I'm doing remarkably well. Thanks for asking.”

Lilly looked relieved. She actually smiled, though Hector knew that she was tired and stressed as well. “Good. And before the togom sends us to bed, I just wanted to thank you.”

“For what?”

“For freeing me from the prison, of course. I know you had little reason for letting me out, but I would have been dead by now, or worse, if you hadn't rescued me.”

Hector blushed a little. “Aw, it was nothing. Don't worry about it.”

She looked at him intently. “I owe you my life. I will repay you one day. I was not able to do so today, but you have my promise.”

“Thanks! I'll keep that in mind.”

“Children!” The shaman hissed at the onlookers while shooing them away. “Go to your homes. Go to your beds. We can talk of this tomorrow. But you need to sleep, and they need to sleep as well!” She said some more things in Tovish which effectively dispersed the crowd. Lilly pushed gently on Hector's shoulders.

“Go, Hector, there is a house for you to sleep in. I will show you where. If you do not go the togom will get angry.” She seemed amused at the togom's motherly chastisements. Hector stumbled into walking in the direction of Lilly's push.

“Lilly, can I ask you some questions?” he asked, looking up at her.

“What about? I know little more than you do about the events of tonight. I am as confused and as tired as you are.” She gave an exhausted laugh. “But I will try to answer.”

Hector shook his head. “Oh, it's not about that! You were raised by the shaman, the togom, right?”

“I was.”

“Do you know how to read the Gimble?”

Lilly hesitated before answering. Her eyes stared ahead into the fire-lit shade of the pine trees. “A little. Why do you ask?”

“I just wanted to know.”

They walked along for a bit, his shoes and her pawlike feet crunching on the scattered pine needles.

“I do what the shaman tells me to because I trust her,” Lilly said quietly. “She is like a mother to me. She taught me to use my Gyre. She taught me Humish, though River helped.”

“Did she raise River as well?”

“She did. And many others, though they do not all live here in Noosta.”

“Why didn't your parents raise you?”

Lilly's face was unreadable in the dark. “It is... complicated to explain all at once, especially to an outsider or a human like you. Our cultures are very different, Hector.”

“But are they still alive?”

“Yes.”

“Do they live here in Noosta?”

“Yes.”

“Don't they love you.”

She nodded, but very slowly, as if she were caught up in her own thoughts.

“Well, if they love you, and they still live here, then why didn't they raise you?”

Her ear twitched, then she turned sharply to look at him. “Hector Blithe, do not speak of things you do not understand! My parents love me! Do you think they don't? Do I ask you if your parents love you?” She huffed for a moment. “I have had a very difficult day today. Please do not speak to me of such tender things.”

“I'm sorry,” Hector said quietly.

Then, Lilly acting as if nothing had happened, they walked some more and finally arrived at a small skin-covered hut hidden in the trees, but there was a stiff, awkward silence between them. Lilly came to a stop by the hut door-flap. “You can sleep here,” she said dryly, and gestured toward the door.

Hector shuffled his feet, but didn't enter. “Um...”

She looked at the tent when she spoke. “Yes?”

He twiddled his thumbs. “Lilly, I'm sorry I hurt your feelings. I didn't know, I just... Like you said, I don't know about that kind of tradition. I'm not familiar with your culture. I'm sorry.”

Lilly sighed slowly. “It's all right. I too am sorry. Of course you didn't know. I will explain it to you later, if you like, but it is very late and I am very tired...”

Hector shrugged. “That's okay. One day you can explain it to me. But here comes the shaman, so I guess I should get to bed.”

“Yes, if she finds us out here she will skin us both.” Lilly's tone seemed happier, and it lifted a great weight off of Hector's chest. “I will see you tomorrow. Very early. She will want to explain some things to us. But sleep well, Hector Blithe, and thank you for apologizing.” She quickly turned and silently vanished into the forest, and the shaman arrived just in time to order him to go to sleep.

*

Despite being made only of branches and animal hides, was roomier and warmer than it looked. Hector settled deeper into his bed, which was padded with some sort of fluffy plant material (he made a note to look up the plant later) and pulled the thick hide blanket over himself. He lay flat and stared at the skin roof for about an hour, and finally decided that even after everything that had happened to him in the past two days, he couldn't sleep. He sighed.

“Still awake?”

That was Aric. The two of them shared the hut with Burr, who was lying silent in the corner. He couldn't tell if the Tove was asleep or not in the dark.

“Yeah,” Hector answered.

Aric shuffled on his end of the hut. “Don't blame you. Life gets crazy sometimes.”

Hector nodded, thinking of all the loose ends, the things that he had heard but had not been explained yet. The Jabberwock. The Mome Raths. The Manxor Slithe. The assassin, the rescuers, the golden sword. His head was filled with more questions than there were books in his library, it seemed.

“Hey, Hector?”

“Yes?”

“Are you scared?”

Hector thought for a moment. “No, not really.” He turned onto his side and peered into the darkness. “I don't know why, but I don't feel scared. I feel excited.”

Aric grunted positively. “Good for you. Looks like you've got a talent for that.”

Outside, an entire orchestra of crickets chirped peacefully, as if the disaster with the assassin hadn't happened just a couple hours earlier.

“Aric?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for saving my life.”

“No problem.”

“Was he really after me, specifically?”

“Indeed he was.”

“That's so cool.”

Hector heard Aric shuffle in his bed, and he saw the man's silhouette sitting upright. “Wait. You think it's cool that somebody wants you dead?”

“I think so!”

Aric grunted in surprise. “Well, whatever floats your boat. Personally, I enjoy quiet walks along the moonlit beach with a bacon sandwich in my hands, but if you get your kicks when people try to assassinate you, I won't rain on your parade.”

They both laughed quietly, so as not to wake Burr.

“Actually, Aric, I had another question.”

“Shoot.”

“Apparently you knew that the assassin was after me. Otherwise you wouldn't have rescued me when you did. Who was trying to kill me?”

Aric didn't say anything for a moment. “You sure ask a lot of questions. Well, Hector... How to explain... It's kind of a long story.”

“That's okay, I'm used to long stories.”

Aric barked a laugh. “Ah, I forgot, you're a librarian. Um. Well, I honestly think that's a subject for another day--”

“Was it the Mome Raths?”

“How do you know about the Mome Raths?” Aric responded instantly. His voice was flat and grave.

Hector swallowed. “Lilly told me about them. Lilly's the girl Tove. She said that the Mome Raths have been outgrabing or kidnapping Toves lately, and they were after a book called the Manxor Slithe which was apparently supposed to be in my library in Dunberg, so Lilly and her friend Meadow had gone there to get to the book first, but Lilly got captured by the townsfolk and Meadow got away, and I let Lilly out of the jail and she took me here and... Well, I guess you know the rest of the story from there. I'm pretty sure I've never seen any book called the Manxor Slithe in my life.”

There was silence for a long time, and Hector wondered if he had made a mistake.

“Aric, are you still there?”

“Yeah, I'm here. Just thinking.”

He waited for what must have been ten minutes or more, but Aric didn't seem to want to explain anything. Finally Hector worked up the courage to ask just one more question.

“Aric, are you still awake?”

“I'm still awake, Hector.”

“Who was my assassin? He didn't seem... well, normal. I mean, I don't meet that many assassins, so I have no idea what a 'normal' assassin is like, but... anyway. Lilly tried using her Gyre on him but he just slapped it away. I also heard you tell Burr not to touch him. And why did you have to use your golden sword to kill him?”

When Aric responded it was in businesslike, no-nonsense tones. “Hector, I'll explain this to you because you were his target. I think you have the right to know. But I'm going to give you the short answer and you'll just have to be satisfied for now. Got it?”

“Got it.”

“He was not 'normal,' that's true. But that's because he wasn't human. He was a Tove.”

“A Tove!”

“Yes, a Tove. But he wasn't even a normal Tove. He had been... He had been, er...”

“Bribed? Coerced? Hypnotized?”

“The official term is de-slithed.”

“So the Mome Raths did that to him?”

Aric grunted, but this time in surprise. “Wait, how did you--”

“Well, the Mome Raths are after a book called the Manxor Slithe. Lilly said that they dealt with the ancient magics, and they kidnap Toves, so I figured that maybe all that's connected. What does slithe mean?”

“The word slithy means full of life or, as a more accurate translation in this case, full of freedom. This word is generally applied to Toves, because of their deep connection with nature. So yes, to answer your next question, the Mome Raths took the slithe from him and he became their slave. I told Burr not to touch him because the ancient magics used to de-slithe someone can be somewhat contagious, among Toves. He had all the agility and strength of a Tove, plus all the extra power that the Mome Raths gave him. You're lucky I got there in time, my friend, because none of you would have been able to stop him if I hadn't showed up.”

“And what's with that sword?” Hector asked excitedly. His mind was on fire. “Why did it glow like that? Why was it the only thing that could stop that Tove? Where did you get it?”

“Good night, Hector,” Aric said smugly, and snuggled back under his blanket. “That's all the answers you get for now. I haven't slept in three days, and if I don't get my beauty sleep I'm gonna wake up real ugly. You should get to sleep too.”

He laughed hopelessly. “I'll try!”

They said nothing more, and soon all Hector heard was the snoring of his companions and the occasional cry of a night-bird. Thinking about the leather canvas and scrawled carvings of the Gimble, he stared at the roof until his eyes drifted shut.

He heard Burr shift and sigh deeply, and Hector's last thought before falling asleep was whether or not Burr had heard their conversation.