Chapter 15

The hut was empty when Kalen awoke. He could feel the noon sun beating down on him through the doorless entry way. He rolled over with every intention of going back to sleep. The council! Where were Aevin and Eldan? Surely they wouldn't have gone without waking him--that council would decide the fate of his home! His father, Syriel, his cousins, his friends, the neighbors--they wouldn't deny him a say in this choice! They couldn't.
He made the mistake of looking down as he stepped out on the bridge. His dinner briefly felt inclined to reappear, but the feeling passed after a few unsteady steps forward. Looking around, he noticed that that bridge was one of many, strung like vines throughout the treetops, connecting narrow platforms and low, nest-like dwellings similar to the one he had just left. He could not recall having seen any activity in the trees earlier, but the fear of the council taking place without him seemed confirmed. Where in this bird's kingdom would they meet?
He wandered from bridge to bridge, searching for any sign of life. The huts were all empty and virtually unfurnished. He found what seemed to be an armory full of leather and wooden armor with the only metal found on a few pilfered weapons of Fellyrian make.
One hardened leather helm with an intricately carved mask lying in a heap in one corner caught his eye. It seemed strangely out of place amid the simple, utilitarian designs of the rest of the armor and weaponry.  Briefly forgetting about the council, he leaned closer for a better look. It was beautiful--possibly the best craftsmanship he had even seen. Then it moved.

Kalen screamed a full octave higher than his voice should have been. A long, loud laugh met his alarm as a figure stood up from the pile and removed the mask, revealing a thin, lined face fringed with scraggly dark grey hair. The man grinned, revealing two--possibly three--long, crooked teeth. He shot out his hand and seized Kalen's, shaking it vigorously before Kalen could begin to recover from the shock.
"Grevvin--Name's Grevvin! And what might I call you?" He half-shouted.
"K--Kalen."
Grevvin slapped him on the back with a force that nearly sent him sprawling. "I scared you good there, lad--scared you good!"
"Yes--you did. That was--why were--"
"And don't you worry, Kalen. You won't always sound like a ten year old girl!" He burst out laughing again, shaking his head. "Scared you good, scared you good." He muttered happily, patting Kalen's shoulder.
  Kalen stepped back on to the platform in front of the armory, out of reach of Grevvin's excessive friendliness.  With a little more distance between them, he could see the man more clearly. He was not really so very old--perhaps Kalen's father's age, clean shaven (if he had ever grown facial hair, which seemed unlikely). He was shorter than Kalen and muscles clung in knots to his starved limbs. He smelled of months unbathed. And he followed him out and across the next bridge.
"You're new here, aren't you lad? Didn't get an invite to the council, did you?"
Kalen turned abruptly. "The council--where is it? I need to be there."
"Ah! So you just slept in! Oh, lad, that is a habit you need to break yourself of. Oversleeping--shame, shame." He let out another guffaw, clapping his hands together with a violence.
"That doesn't matter--I have to know where it is."
"Then you'll have to follow me, Kalen, boy. No amount of telling and directing will get you there of your own. This here's the forest and it has many a tree, many a tree indeed."
Kalen restrained himself from remarking on the obvious nature of that statement. They walked along in silence, aside from Grevvin's regular mumbling and laughing to himself. He was sure-footed, even if his sanity was questionable.
"So why weren't you at the council?" Kalen asked at length.
Grevvin pulled up abruptly and turned to him. "Because they think I'm crazy." He put his head very close to Kalen's, lowering his voice. "But I have a secret."
"Okay..."
"I'm not!" Grevvin announced and set off again quickly, leaving Kalen none the more enlightened to his new friend's condition. The winding net of bridges and slender support lines finally gave way to one single bridge, so narrow Kalen would have missed it altogether without his guide. The bridge ended in a massive, branchy fir tree, and, without hesitation, Grevvin began swinging down from branch to branch. Kalen followed carefully, picking his way along the prickly branches.When he finally dropped to the ground, he found Grevvin lying on his back with his eyes closed.
"Grevvin?" He leaned over the man. "Are you--"
"Aye, I'm awake!" Grevvin started up so fast that Kalen was nearly knocked over. "Well, lad, I was thinking you'd break your neck climbing down. Never touched a tree before, I warrant!" He hooked an arm around Kalen's shoulders. "If you fell, I was thinking where I'd bury you. That's a pretty place, isn't it?" He pointed to a small bed of blue flowers at the foot of one tree.
"It is indeed, but I don't need burying. Where to now?"
"Ah, this way. And don't worry, my boy, you'll have your burial day yet." A short walk led them to a little, grassy hill that Grevvin circled around. Kalen found himself questioning Grevvin's interest in burial when the old man pointed him to a hole in the side of the hill, just large enough for a man to pass through. "In you go! We're almost there."
"I'd rather you lead."
Grevvin, for once, did not laugh. "Oh, my lad, I daren't. I'm not supposed to be at these meetings. We have laws here and laws are not to be broken. Spying on the council is death."
Kalen hesitated, trying to gauge his sincerity. "That seems an excessive penalty."
"Well, you can argue that with the council! And if you're not supposed to be here either, my boy, you'd better get back where you came from as quick as you can run." Grevvin grinned, "Or you can assume I'm lying and find out for yourself." He pointed to the hole.
"I am supposed to be there. They're discussing the fate of Elni--my home city. No one would contest my right to a place in this council." Kalen ducked inside the entrance. "Where do I go inside?"
"Just follow the tunnel. I'll be digging."
"Digging?"
"Your grave, lad. And thinking up a worthy epitaph to your noble stupidity."
His rattling laughter followed Kalen into the tunnel. Cold air blasted up from some unseen lake as he turned corner after corner, moving slowly in the impenetrable dark. He had made a mistake. He did not see them coming.
His face hit the floor of the cave. Before the shock could give way to pain, he was hauled to his feet. He bent forward as his captor twisted his arms up behind him. He was forced forward down the tunnel in silence.
He could only think one thing: Eldan is going to be so mad.