Part 20

The words rung in David's ears.

Bodies?

But the cemetery was on the other side; there weren't any graves here.

Except... what were those holes he had mistaken for shadows? And where had the stranger gotten that blackened skull.

...that very small skull...

Fear settled around David's chest like a second arm holding him even tighter than the stranger's. His wonder at the stranger's magic dwindled sharply. It was real, yes... but he was in real DANGER as well. A strange man had him caught tight, and was using magic to hide them both while the other adults were discovering graves were there should not BE graves.

Sounds approached from behind.

"DOWN HERE!" Mills shouted. A quartet of men scrambled down from the top of the Hill. David saw and recognized them. But they didn't see him. Two of them passed within a foot of the tree... but both Mills and Groll had been much closer and had failed to detect the stranger and his prize.

Unable to breathe, David began to scrape his feet on the ground.

The stranger shifted his weight, and suddenly David was in the air, feet dangling.

He kicked at the stranger's legs.

"nnn!!!!"

One of the passing men stopped and looked back, but not at them. A fifth man staggered past, almost falling at the stranger's feet.

"SEARCH THE SLOPE FOR PRINTS!" David heard Mills shout. "SOMEBODY RUN BACK AND TELL THE OTHERS TO SPLIT UP AND COME AROUND EACH SIDE OF THE HILL! ANOTHER GROUP START AT THE TOP AND COME ALONG BEHIND US! HE'S DUG UP THE GRAVES! HE'S GOT THE BOY AND HE KNOWS, DAMMIT! HE KNOWS!"

The shapes of the men began to spread out. David watched their lights descend the slope, and listened to their occasional shouts as they got further away.

"PRINTS HERE!"

"THEY'RE HEADED UP... I DON'T SEE A SET OF TRACKS GOIN' DOWN!"

"MAYBE WE PASSED 'EM!"

A pair of the lights milled around for a few moments, then split up. None of them headed back up the Hill.

David felt the stranger relax.

The instant his feet touched the ground, David tried to run. He couldn't get so much as a step away before the man's grip tightened around his shoulder.

"Not that way. We go down behind them. If we move slowly and quietly the prayer of concealment will protect us.

"You dug graves!"

"Did you not hear me-"

David pointed at the skull clutched in the stranger's right hand.

"YOU-"

The stranger leaned down suddenly, bringing his face even with David's. David expected a shout or some sort of rebuke, but what he got instead was-

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......."

The sound filled David's ears and muffled his thoughts. He swooned... not sleepy or even tired, but somehow... calm. Very calm. Very quiet.

"...huh..." he muttered.

"Come. This place is lost to me now, but between this-" The stranger held up the skull. "And you, I will have what I need."

The stranger took his hand and, after a careful look around, walked down the slope at a slight angle to the one the searchers had taken.

David couldn't think of anything better to do than go with him.