The
Crossing

After an ample breakfast of honey and dwarf cakes, the friends set out to cross Calix Stay. It was hidden by a high curtain of silver mist that rose into the farthest regions of the sky.

Bear’s heart had been drumming for quite some time, and he frequently twitched his tail, or bared his teeth, or simply reared up on his hind paws to try to get a better look at what they were ap proaching. Dwarf’s own heart was pounding, and he was beginning to fear he would become flustered and misspeak the words, sending them all down into Calix Stay for who knows how long, only to have to begin over again with the entire business. Otter, walking on Dwarf’s left, whistled and chirped low in his throat, and at last reached up a paw and clasped Dwarf’s hand firmly. Dwarf looked down sharply, intending to scold the little gray fellow, but upon seeing the complete trust, and that it was meant to reassure, Dwarf, too, gave a friendly squeeze and began concentrating on the words.

From the last hills that skirted the Meadows of the Sun, they paused to look at the mighty spectacle before them. The low hills ran to left and right of them, covered with oak and elm and berry thickets, all in a perfect summer coat of deep green. The trees were tall and stout. A great, lush carpet of grass lay at their feet, inviting all who passed to lie down for shade and rest. Berries as big as Otter’s paw clung to the low, thick branches of the bushes, giving him no end of temptation, for he began dunking how jolly it would be if they would all sit down in the shade and talk the entire affair out, while of course having their fill of the huge ripe berries, and maybe a short nap before going on, if they did indeed have to go on. Looking away down the slope at the silver mane of angry mist around Calix Stay, Otter whimpered and threw himself to the ground, his Small, powerful body convulsed in tremors of fright.

“Oh, Dwarf, this is silly. Whatever are we going there for? I haven’t been afraid in ages, and I’m all upset and tingly, and I’m sure we could have a much better time staying on here.”

“I’m afraid I have to agree with the dear fellow, Dwarf,” said Bear, sitting down beside Otter, crossing one great hind leg over the other, and glad Otter had spoken first.

“There’s no real sense in all this hurry.” Bear looked back toward the forest where he’d camped, thinking of the honey tree he’d found there, with almost all the sweet nectar still in it.

Dwarf sat dejected beside Bear and Otter, taking out his dragon stone and rubbing it with almost one motion.

“I know how you feel, dear friends. I’m not so sure myself now that we’re actually here, but something tells me we’re doing the right thing, and that we must cross.”

Otter, turned on his back in the grass with his paws in the air, raised his head to look at Dwarf.

“It might be, Dwarf, that we were a little overanxious to be on our way. Don’t you think we could stay just a while longer? I’m sure we must go and all, but won’t tomorrow or the next day do just as well?” The little gray form had found a small rock, smooth and white and round, and began rolling it across his broad velvet stomach, moving it from paw to paw, then dribbling it up deftly to balance it on the end of his nose.

Dwarf sighed and looked away toward the Great River. He could barely remember his crossing. All the time before that was faint and dim—the dragons, and moving about in the time of trouble, when the World Before Time was filled with armies, men and elves, and dwarfs, and animals warring against the dragon hordes. Those memories drifted on in their cloaks, lingering only long enough to dim Dwarf’s vision for a moment or two, then passing into the light of the Meadows of the Sun.

Bear broke the silence that had fallen over the friends with a slight hissing snarl. His ears were straight back, his hackles rising and his great body raised to strike.

“What is it, Bear?” cried Dwarf.

“I’m not sure. Something has been here before us. I thought I picked up the scent before, but I wasn’t sure. Now I know something crossed, went a little way, then returned, or was destroyed.”

“Whatever was it, I wonder? Man?” asked Otter.

“This was nothing from Mankind. I don’t know what, but it stinks of something that means danger.”

Otter picked up his nose to the wind, shuffled and searched, but could only barely pick up the faintest trace of anything out of the ordinary. He had long been in the Meadows of the Sun, and nothing there had ever had the least unpleasant thing about it, so quite naturally he was the longest in finding truth to what Bear had scented out.

Finally Bear lowered himself to all fours, shuffled this way and that over the ground where he’d found the scent, laid back one ear, then the other, wagged his tail once, raised himself to his full height, low ered himself again in confusion, and announced, “I think I’m right, but I can’t say as I’ve ever run across this particular scent.”

“It’s not man,” affirmed Otter, poking his head up suddenly from a nearby patch of wild flowers. Poof, the little gray head with its twitching whiskers was gone.

“No, it’s certainly not man,” said Bear, looking to where Otter had been.

“And it’s nothing else I’ve ever known,” came the voice again, this time from a berry patch. Otter scampered out with fresh blueberry juice dripping from his chin. Carefully wiping it with his tongue, he went on. “What do you think, Dwarf?”

“I’m not sure what to make of it, but whatever it was was bad. Most unusual for this part of the world. It reminds me of before, when the stench of the dragon was heavy on us, even to the very edge of the River. If that’s so, we have no time to lose.”

“I think you’re right, friend Dwarf, and I think we’d best move on now.”

Bear looked to his friends for consent. All agreed they might as well go on now as not, and Dwarf led the way to the raging flow of Calix Stay. They went single file, in animal fashion. Dwarf gave his last in structions, repeated the words they were to say twice, and cautioned them into silence. Then he twirled thrice about himself, rubbed the dragon stone, and called the words forth. The rampaging torrents and tides of Calix Stay held their breath the barest moment, and Otter and Bear called out the words Dwarf had told them. The silver mist receded, the bright fields of the Meadows of the Sun dark ened, a great whooshing darkness engulfed the

friends, and after a ray of brilliant light broke over the waters, all was silence and dark, and they had entered once more the World Before lime. The stillness of their passage echoed in their ears, and the strange new surroundings loomed ominously before them, dark and cold It took another long space of silence to discover that Otter was not with them.

Dwarf’s heart grew bitter and impatient to think that Otter had forgotten the words, and that they might very easily have been with him as he was sucked into Calix Stay’s depths, but that feeling soon passed, and he lamented the little fellow’s disappearance, for that’s all it was. Bear sat staring in stunned disbelief.

“Whatever could have happened, Dwarf? He was right beside me when we left,’! whimpered Bear, dully now and lost.

“I’m not sure, Bear. It may have had something to do with whatever it was you caught scent or there. I’m just not sure.”

“Isn’t there anything to be done?” asked Bear, as perplexed as his friend.

“Nothing, I’m afraid. Calk Stay is powerful, and once there, you’re there. If it was something else, then that’s another question.”

Dwarf paced out into the darkness a few feet; and called Otter’s name softly. Only silence and the distant, almost inaudible rumble of Calix Stay answered.

“Just as I thought,” muttered Dwarf.

“What are we to do now?” groaned Bear, thinking again of his new honey tree, and facing a growing hunger that rumbled in his huge, cavernous belly.

“First we must find shelter, then food, then well make our plans for tomorrow.” Dwarf strode away.

“What if he comes and finds us gone?” pleaded Bear. “Can’t we wait until light just to make sure?”

“Not here,” snapped Dwarf. “If it’s anything at all besides Calix Stay, we won’t be safe here a moment longer. Well wait somewhere downriver, where we can hide if need be.”

The two friends made their way slowly toward the edge of a woods that bordered the other side of Calix Stay, hearts heavy and exhausted, missing greatly the small animal’s companionship and lighthearted chatter.

Bear had just begun to make himself a bed of moss and fir when a tiny voice behind him squeaked,

“Would you like a few berries before you turn in, Bear?”

“Aiiii,” wailed Dwarf, as Bear suddenly held him clasped in a strong bear hug.

“A ghost,” moaned Bear. “I hear his voice.”

Broco spluttered and struggled vainly to free himself.

“It’s only me, Bear,” came Otter’s small voice, chittering from the darkness.

Bear groaned softly, hugging the helpless Dwarf closer.

“Go away, we’ve no use here for spirits.”

His big teeth began to rattle so loudly he imagined dry bones clacking in an invisible wind.

Otter scampered into sight, chin stained bright purple, his paws full of the huge, ripe berries from the bushes across Calix Stay.

“I must say, you two gave me a fright,” he scolded. “I wanted to take just a few more of these wonderful berries with me, when all of a sudden I was in the middle of something I couldn’t make up from down of, and Dwarf was shouting, and there was so much noise, and then I remembered to say the words, and when it all went away, I was tangled all up in a thorn patch. I called and called, but no one answered, so I got out, but there was no one about. And what’s all this about ghosts and such?” Otter crept nearer to Bear, looking over his shoulder. “Are there those kinds of things on this side?”

“Grumplety garrumph,” roared Broco, and managed to free his head from beneath Bear’s great forepaw. “There’s going to be if this fur rug doesn’t let me down.”

Dwarf coughed loudly, then sighed as Bear remembered his prisoner and released him.

‘Tm sorry, Dwarf. It was so frightening, losing him, then hearing him again that way.”

“Losing who? chimed in Otter, unable to see the dark scowl on Broco’s face.

“You, you witless water dog. Picking berries,” bellowed Dwarf, “while we’re stuck in the middle of Calix Stay. You might just as well have brought along a flower or two, since we’re just out for a friendly walk.”

Bear reached down and patted Broco gently. “But he’s not lost after all, Dwarf. And now we’re all together again, and they do look like tasty berries.”

Dwarf started to bluster again, then thought better of it, feeling again the sharp pain he’d felt when he’d thought their little companion lost.

“Well, hurrumph, just be more careful about how you gather your supper in the future,” he said, only half huffed, and he gravely walked over to the little gray fellow and gave him a quick pat.

And Otter, always polite where it concerned someone’s feelings, pretended not to see the two small tears rolling down Dwarf’s cheek.

“But whatever do we do now?” asked Bear, looking about him at the dark, forbidding woods.,

Broco studied the gloomy clearing, then spoke.

“First we’ll have that supper Otter brought, then well sleep.”

Bear woefully eyed the few small berries in Otter’s paw. “Is this the usual fare this side of the River?”

“Better than nothing, my friend, and unless I’m far wrong, more than we’ll have until I can get my bearings and find help.”

Bear took one of the purple berries and sucked it ruefully.

“I suppose it’s meant to be, but I can’t help wondering what the rest of this dreary place is like if a fellow can’t get a decent supper or a bed for himself.”

He munched silently for a while, trying to make his meager supper last, then looked to his two companions, both fallen exhausted and sleeping by his aide.

Bear forgot his supper then, remembering how tired he was, and the weariness of crossing Galix Stay descended upon him, and he, too, fell finally asleep, on this, the first night again in the World Before Time.