VAGABONDS: An American Fantasy

Valley of Waters

Galen huddled in a small crevice between stones and crunched a beetle. Ugh. It was a stink beetle, which tasted as bad as it smelled. He was so worried about his brother, he hadn't noticed what he was eating. He spit out the bits of beetle shell and beetle legs.

Galen's throat was thick from calling continuously for Rafael for the past hour. He stared at the still pool. Galen remembered swimming for the first time with Felix, Rafael, and Garcia. The creek near their childhood den was usually shallow, but a spring storm had filled it from bank to bank. Father made them wait a day until the water started to recede, which made it calmer. He pushed them into the water, then stood on the bank and sang his favorite ballad, "The Crossing of the Rio Grande," while they learned to swim. Galen and Rafael had instinctively known how to swim. They paddled around Felix and Garcia, teasing and laughing. At last Father came in and taught them to paddle. Galen ached to hear his parent's ballads, his brothers' laughter.

If Rafael was hurt-or even worse, dead-Galen would find out. Full of foreboding, Galen rose and started a methodical search. Starting on the north side, he looked behind each stone and slowly moved southward. He no longer called for Rafael, no longer had much hope of finding him alive, but he would not stop.

So thorough was his search, that an hour later, he had only made it through half the stones in the small valley. Burning with frustration, Galen paused and watched the near-quarter moon rising over the waterfall. Pale silver light streamed like a waterfall itself into the valley, deepening the shadows under the limestone boulders. Galen ran a tongue over his teeth, trying to dispel the lingering bitter aftertaste of the stink beetle. Where was his brother? He breathed deep, searching for Rafael's familiar scent. There was the smell of recently disturbed earth and exposed roots, but no armadillo.

Suddenly, Galen sneezed.

"There you are," a voice drawled from behind him.

Instinctively, Galen jumped sideways and twisted around, trying to avoid an attack. He landed facing the voice. Victor! Corrie was right behind him. Galen sagged in relief.

Before Galen could speak, though, Victor demanded, "What have you found?"

At Victor's hostile tone, Galen rose wearily to his fullest height, dug his claws into the soft earth, and stood there, rigid. "Rafael won't answer me."

"No," Victor said. "All this digging. What did you find?"

"Where is Rafael?" Corrie asked.

Galen let himself collapse back to all fours and clawed the mound of dirt around a hole. He didn't want to answer Corrie. "I found rocks," he said to Victor's question. "What do you think?"

Victor growled. "You know what I mean."

Galen didn't want to explain about his brother. "Rocks. I found rocks."

Victor's teeth ground together, and he jabbed his pointy face toward the waterfall. "You fool! Is that Faralone Falls? Are there clues in this valley?"

That's what Victor was worried about! Corrie shrugged up her armor, as is to say, "Victor was at it again."

Galen lifted his nose and sniffed. Victor smelled of sour fear. Let him be afraid.

Restlessly, Galen shoved the next stone and looked behind it. No one. He moved to the next rock, but found Victor blocking his way.

Victor thrust his square chest against Galen's nose. "What did you find?"

Galen shoved past Victor, but barely: Galen had forgotten Victor was a head taller and much heavier. "Rocks," Galen repeated. "Why are there just rocks here?"