Friday, August 11, 2006
Chapter 17C-Tobal Tells Ellen
He tried to speak alone with Melanie and Becca but they were so busy chatting with the others that he gave up in frustration. He wanted to know the two girls better but always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He really enjoyed the few trips they had made to sanctuary together. It seemed with all the partnering going on he was feeling lonely and left out much of the time. It didn't help that much of this was his own personal choice.
It was during the party and after the initiations that Tobal, Rafe, and Ellen got together and compared notes.
"I want to check it out myself", Rafe was telling them both.
"It's not a good time right now", Ellen said. "The snow will make it easy to track you to the location and it will no longer be secret. The ice in the pool and the coldness of the water also make it very dangerous. Tobal was lucky he was able to find warm clothes and get a torch going for warmth. He might have died from hypothermia."
"She"s right, Rafe", he said. "I was lucky to get out of there alive. I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn't gotten that fire going."
Ellen continued, "I've been keeping a patrol over that area looking for rogues every couple of days. What is interesting is there always seems to be fresh tracks in the area around the lake but I never see anyone. I am convinced they are looking for some secret location they know is there but can't find. They are looking for the location you found Tobal." She looked at him with a peircing stare. "There is something very important about that location. Are you sure you have told me everything?"
She tried to be polite, but both Tobal and Rafe knew she was serious and she knew they were withholding information from her. They looked at each other and Tobal shrugged uneasily.
"This gets weird", he said a bit lamely.
Ellen was looking at him with a let's get this over with expression. He considered and then gave in. Ellen was someone he trusted even if he didn't know her that well. He had no reason to believe she would turn him in or cause him harm. She had already been very helpful to him.
"It's all confused", he began. "It involves my uncle who used to be the Federation Officer here. He was in charge of the classified work my parents were doing. It involves Sarah's father who has a very strange shop in Old Seattle. That's not all", he said resignedly. "It also involves Crow's grandfather, a shaman named Howling Wolf from the local village and the mass murder of all the people living at the old gathering spot by the waterfall. These deaths include my own parents, Crow's parents, Sarah's mother and two brother's that she doesn't even know she has."
"Damn", Rafe whispered in stunned shock. "Why didn't you tell me any of this?"
Ellen gradually regained her own composure and echoed Rafe's question, "Why didn't you tell me any of this?"
"I've only just learned about some of it myself", Tobal said. "I'm still training Crow and didn't know he was Howling Wolf's grandson until he told me."
"Is there anything else you are not telling me", Ellen persisted. "Do you have any proof what you are saying is true?"
Again Tobal and Rafe looked at each other. Tobal sighed and stood up. "You'd better follow me. We'll go for a walk and I'll show you."
As they walked into the moonlit woods they retraced the steps back to where Tobal had demonstrated the wand to Rafe last month. He showed Ellen the same demonstration he had shown Rafe. There was pure silence as she touched the second hole in the boulder and looked at the steaming circle that seconds ago had been frozen and snow covered. With luck it would be frozen and snow covered again by morning if the wind kept up.
"Let's go back", was all she said. The snow crunched eerily under their boots as they made their way back to the fire circle.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the wand before", Tobal said nervously. "I wanted a chance to examine it first. Everything was so rushed and the rogues were tracing me somehow. Then last circle I tried to meet with you and wasn't able to." He stopped as she waved a weary hand to silence him.
"We can be pretty certain the rogues are able to monitor any of us that are wearing med-alert bracelets", she said finally. "That's why we never see any of them. They know we are coming and hide. We can also be pretty sure they are from the same mountain complex we use as our own base."
Tobal and Rafe looked at each other in puzzlement. Ellen noticed and continued.
"Just like the Journeymen and the Apprentices, the Masters or medics have a secret meeting place. Ours is part of a mountain complex we thought belonged to the city. I am now thinking it is part of a classifed Federation military operation of some type. We are only allowed access to the emergency room in the hospital and one wing where we have our own personal quarters and do rituals. I suppose it makes things much easier for them to keep an eye on us when we live right there with them."
She looked at Rafe, "I've told Tobal this already. The area around the lake by the waterfall and several other locations including the village are forbidden and we have orders to prevent people from going there."
"I didn't realize Crow came from the other village", she said. "That might complicate things if he ever decides to go back and visit."
She put her hands on her temples rubbing them as if she had a massive migraine coming on. "Let's just leave it like this for now", she said at last. "We can talk about it later next month. I really need to think about what you have told me and shown me. This sounds like something very dangerous to be mixed up in."
Rafe interupted, "Can you mark on my map those other forbidden places? I might not be able to check them out but I would like to know where they are."
Ellen stared intently at Rafe a few minutes and then nodded, "Most of them are not accessable on foot though so it won't do you any good. Bring me your map and I will mark it later."
"And you", she turned to Tobal, "What are you planning to do with that device you found? Have you thought about that? It is not safe to have it around or to carry it with you."
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