By Pfantazm

	Shea found Magnus in the library again. He was back at the lectern and back to being a bear again. He was reading one of the many books. "Magnus?" The beast raised a claw at Shea while he continued to read. The farmboy chewed his lip and waited. After a minute or two the bear turned his way. "Good morrow, Shea," he said warmly. "That was... you... last night, wasn't it?" The bear paused for a moment, then nodded once, as though granting a fact reluctantly. "How is it that you're an animal again when--" "Shea," Magnus interrupted, "please don't ask me that. They are answers I cannot give you." It was like that for every day that week. It seemed that any time Shea asked about Magnus, or the fortress, or why he was there, the bear said the same things. "Please don't ask me. I cannot tell you the answer." Sometimes Magnus would spend the afternoon with Shea, but more often he would spend all day long in the library, reading and practicing magic. He never seemed to eat, at least not in the dining room and he never came to the kitchen Shea had found. Perhaps there was another, but in exploring the fortress, Shea had not stumbled upon it. In the evenings Shea would dine alone, then prepare for bed. This was only thing Shea had to look forward to. Before they went to sleep, the human Magnus would show Shea the pleasures of lovemaking. Shea never saw Magnus as a man, though. When Shea asked why he appeared after the lights were put out, Magnus only said, "I cannot say. Please do not ask me." Shea was very lonely. Finally, one day, Shea interrupted Magnus in his studies. "Magnus, when I came here, you told me that I could visit my family for the day. I think I would like to." This got Magnus' attention. Shea continued, "Because, well, I've already explored everywhere in this fortress I can find to go, and you're always busy, and, and, there is no one else..." Under Magnus' gaze, he began to feel like he'd made a dangerous mistake. "If that is what you wish, then so it shall be," said the bear sadly. "I will take the rest of the day to prepare, and I will take you to your family tomorrow. Now, if you would, I need solitude to make ready." Shea muttered a thank-you, and left Magnus to work his magic. Disconsolate, Shea returned to the bedroom where he and Magnus slept. He knew his way around the place well enough by now that he could walk there, rather than rely on the bell. In fact, he went to the bedroom to fetch the bell that he left on the nightstand. Something was wrong. He held the little silver bell in his hand, wondering what to do. It had caused trouble before, by giving him more than he wished for. On the other hand, there had been enough of a change in Magnus' behaviour that it frightened him. He wanted to know what was going on. He rang the bell. Everything went black again, though his eyes stayed open, and when Shea could see again, he was in the sitting room where Magnus had kept him entertained with stories. He looked around. The bell's magic was subtle, he noticed. You could never see it happen. Things happened only when you weren't looking. The soap had appeared in the bathroom so that Shea hadn't been sure it hadn't been there all along. Similarly, his clothes had disappeared some time after he'd stopped keeping an eye on them. If the answer he wanted was here, he'd have to find out what had now changed in the room. It didn't take long. Where the fireplace had been, there was now an image of Magnus in his library. Shea could watch what his bear friend was doing. He sat at a table before a crystal ball. Shea saw his lips moving, though he could hear nothing. The crystal glowed. Magnus gazed into its depths, as intently as Shea stared at him. What Shea saw next broke his heart. He did not know that bears could weep. The image faded. The ritual of the night changed only at bedtime. When Shea was joined by Magnus after the lights were out, he only spoke. "Your mother will want to get you alone. Take nothing from her, or you will bring a great misery down on both of us." "Magnus, what--?" "Please do not ask anything more. I have told you all that I can." Magnus rolled away from Shea and remained silent. Breakfast was waiting for him when he awoke. He sat on one of the couches to eat, then dressed. He wore some of the finer clothes from the wardrobe, but still not anything too fancy. Magnus was waiting in the hallway for him when he emerged. The bear wore what Shea had thought of as his travelling cloak. "Are you ready, Shea?" The young man nodded, and followed the bear out to the parapets where they had originally landed. She climbed onto Magnus' back and gripped the cloak. Magnus ran, and they took off. Shea saw a white house in the middle of a large farm from the air. As they descended, Shea saw two of his sisters run inside. Was this where his family was living now? Magnus hit the ground at the same moment his mother ran out of the door. Shea dismounted and jumped into her arms. "I will go in search of supplies," the bear said. "We must be home before the setting of the sun. When I return for you at midday, you must be ready to leave." "Midday?" cried Shea's mother. "So soon? That hardly seems fair." "It is out of my control, good woman. Enjoy the time you have." The bear ambled off into the woods. "Come inside, Shea, and see the house. Richard, call your brothers and sisters and your papa. Shea won't be here long." The young boy ran off. Shea's mother rushed him through a tour of the house which ended in her bedroom. His family's new home was the sort he'd always dreamed about, spacious enough for all his siblings, no drafts in the wind or freezing- cold corners, and the roof didn't leak. Every room was furnished handsomely, and his mother was wearing a dress he'd never seen before. Magnus had certainly kept his promise. The farmwife sat her son on the bed and closed the door. "Now," she said, "tell me all about where you've been." Shea described the fortress and its lack of people, and the silver bell and what it could do. "It sounds to me like he's taken you to The Kingdom in the Clouds. I've been sending some of the farm hands out to find some clue to where you might have gone. That was one name that we heard again and again. Now, what about this bear? What do you know about him?" "His name is Magnus and he does magic. He's told me stories and he's been my friend. He always disappears around sunset and comes back when I've gone to bed. When he does, he's not a bear anymore. He turns back into a man! He's trying to--" "Wait, Shea, what do you mean he turns into a man? Have you seen him?" "Well, no, mama," Shea said, "but even in the dark, I can tell the difference between a bear and a man. They're not the same shape, and he's hairy, but it's not like fur." "He's hairy?" she asked. "One of the things I've heard is that the trolls are moving south toward us, and that they've already passed The Kingdom in the Clouds. I think this Magnus is a troll, Shea! That's why he doesn't let you see him." Shea was struck dumb. His mother took his hands in hers. "Shea, you can't go back with him." "You're wrong. He's only trying to help the people who live in the fortress. I trust him." "Shea," his mother argued, "you don't know what he could do to you! The things I've heard--" "Magnus isn't a troll. You just don't want me to leave again." They heard Shea's family come into the house. "I don't want to spend the time you're here arguing," said Shea's mother. She reached behind her and took a candle end. She pressed it into Shea's palm. "Please promise me you'll find out." Magnus' words from last night echoed in his ears. He shouldn't take anything from her now. "Mama," came a small voice from beyond the door, "are you and Shea in there?" "Shea, please," she insisted. "I will, Mama." Relieved, Shea's mother gave him a hug and a kiss and they greeted the whole family. Shea spent the morning playing with his family. Colin had lost another tooth. Dru was making doe-eyes at one of the new farm hands. Tiercel admired his older brother for striking out on his own and wanted to do the same. When Magnus arrived at noon, he was ready to go. He said goodbye, climbed onto Magnus' back and they departed. On the trip back to the fortress, Shea thought about the situation he was in. Magnus was unnaturally reluctant to talk about where the people of the fortress had gone, why he was a bear during the daylight, and why he, Shea, was there at all. Perhaps it was all to hide the fact that he was a troll. On the other hand, if Magnus was going to do something horrible to him, wouldn't he have done so by now? What could he be waiting for? Magnus had been perfectly pleasant so far. When they landed nigh sundown and Magnus ran off into the shadows, Shea still had not decided who to believe. That night, Shea lit the candle and hid it under the large bed. He stuffed his towel from that evening and some of the clothes from the wardrobe around the bed so that the light wouldn't show. When it grew dark, Shea waited. Magnus climbed into the bed as usual but did not touch Shea. "Did you have a good time with your family?" "Yes. It was good to see them again." "I'm glad to hear it," Magnus said, with a sadness that belied his words. "Excuse me," said Shea, and he trotted into the bathroom. He sat on the edge of the bath. `Should I go through with this?' he asked himself. `Is he lying to hide the fact that he's a troll? Is that why he won't answer my questions?' Shea needed to know. What harm could it do? He crept toward the bed, crouched down to get the tiny candle, and whipped it out. "No!!" Magnus cried. He pulled the covers up over his head, but it was too late. Shea had seen his face. Magnus was human. "I knew you wouldn't listen! You needed only to wait one year and my people would have been free!" Shea heard Magnus scramble to get free of the covers and off the bed. Magnus was groaning and screaming as if in pain. The farmboy had blown out the candle when Magnus panicked, and he could not find the flint to light it again. When the noise from Magnus stopped, Shea circled the bed and felt his way toward him, speaking his name. His hand touched something furry and he jumped back tripping onto the bed. Shea felt very vulnerable, realizing he was naked in the dark with what could be an angry bear. "I can tell you the whole story now," Magnus said, the growl in his voice once more. "If you could have lived like this, without seeing my true form for a year, the spell on me would have been broken. Now my people will be consigned to slavery forever, and I will be wedded to the Troll Queen." The trolls. His mother had said they'd come as far south as The Kingdom in the Clouds, but Magnus was a victim, not a villain. "You were my one hope, Shea, and now I've let my people down." The room became quiet. Shea fumbled for the light. When he could see again, Magnus was gone. Shea cried himself to sleep that night, and when he awoke, he was no longer in the fortress. He was lying nude in a meadow at the foot of a tall mountain. The candle end his mother had given him was still clutched in his hand, and his original clothes lay nearby. "Magnus?" Shea yelled, but there was no answer. The young man sat there for many hours, weeping at the loss of him, and at the thought that he was responsible for the destruction of an entire kingdom. Hunger got the better of him soon, though. He got dressed in his old rags. In the pocket of the trousers was the bell he'd lost the first night he was in the fortress. He rang it loudly, wishing to be home, wishing for food, wishing hardest of all to have Magnus back. Nothing happened. Shea put the bell away, and set out to try to find his way home. Would his family's new home be gone as well, now that Magnus' spells were broken? Shea hoped not. The young man walked all day until he came to a cottage near the forest. `Perhaps I can get something to eat here, or at least get directions,' Shea thought. He knocked on the door. "Help!" yelled an old woman. "Hello?" said Shea. "Oh, please help me! I'm behind the house!" Shea went through the gate and behind the house, where he found the old woman, her legs trapped under a load of firewood. "The woodpile collapsed on me! Please get me out!" Shea worked to free her, stacking the wood properly, and helped the old woman up. "Oh, bless you, young man! How can I ever thank you?" Shea said that he could use something to eat, and help finding his way home. "Well, now," she said, "if you can help me in the kitchen, I can do the first for you at least." Gertrude was still limping from being trapped, but between the two of them, they put dinner together. "Now, young man," she said after they'd sat down to eat, "what brings you here without you knowing where you are?" Shea told her about Magnus and what he'd done. When he was finished, she said, "Oh, my. And all you want to do is go home?" "I don't know what else to do," said Shea. "I can't climb the mountain, and I don't know where Magnus is." "Well, you're right on one part. No one can climb the mountain to The Kingdom in the Clouds. It's protected. You do know where Magnus is now, though. He told you." "Where?" "In the castle of the Land of the Trolls. That's where the queen would be." "I don't know where that is. I don't even know where I am now." "The Troll Kingdom is east of the sun and west of the moon, very far away. No one could walk to such a place, but I think I know a way you can get there." "How?" "Wait until the morning. It's dangerous to travel around here at night. Trolls." Shea spent the night, and the next day Gertrude instructed Shea to journey to the cave of the North Wind. "If anyone can get you there, the North Wind can. No horse could ever get you to the trolls, but Betsy knows the way to the cave." "But I've never ridden a horse before," said Shea. "Don't worry, dear," Gertrude told him. "Betsy's very gentle. Now, give the North Wind this ring and tell him Gertie sent you. That'll take care of everything. Just give Betsy a slap on the rump and she'll run right home again." Shea gave his thanks, took the food that Gertrude gave him, and set off. Betsy the horse did seem to know just where she was going, and by the afternoon, he came to a cave that angled underground and was covered in frost and ice. "This must be the cave of the North Wind," Shea said to himself, "but how do I get down without slipping and breaking my neck?" Shea sent the horse on her way back to Gertrude's cottage and approached the cave. "Is there anybody here?" he yelled. A chilling gust of wind blew forth from the cave, and a loud voice boomed, "Who dares to disturb the North Wind?" Shea was blown backwards and fell to the ground. He started to get up. "M-my n-name is Shea. Gertrude said you might be able to help me." "If that is true," bellowed the North Wind, sending Shea sprawled on the stony ground once more, "then she would have given you a token as proof." Shea stayed on the ground. "She gave me a ring." "Throw it into the mouth of the cave," When the latest blast of icy wind passed, Shea stood up and threw the ring as hard as he could into the mouth of the cave. He listened to it bounce against the glistening crystalline walls until it was too far to hear. A snow-filled whirlwind came out of the cave, and Shea crouched down to keep from falling over. When he looked up, an elderly man stood before him. "You speak the truth, young man. What can I do for you?" "Gertrude said that you might be able to help me get to the Land of the Trolls, east of the sun and west of the moon. I need to find the castle." A small dustdevil sprang up, spinning a leaf above the North Wind's outstretched hand. "I did manage to blow a single leaf that far into the Land of the Trolls, but it took all my strength to do it," he said as the leaf blew away. "Why would you want to go to such a place?" Shea told the North Wind what he'd done, and that he wanted to free Magnus and his people. "For such a cause, I will do what I can, but I must rest for a day before trying it. Even then I cannot guarantee that I will be able to take you all the way there. You are much heavier than a leaf." Shea spent the night bundled up warmly near the cave. It was far too cold in the cave for Shea to stay long, even with the blankets the North Wind provided. Early the next morning, the North Wind woke Shea. After he dressed and ate, the North Wind picked him up and carried him high into the sky. The ride across the lands between the cave and the trolls' castle was rough, as Shea's body was pushed up by gusts of wind. Sometimes the windstorm would forget Shea wasn't a leaf and he would spin through the air, out of control. The closer they get to their destination, the lower Shea got. The North Wind was tiring, as he knew he would, and Shea was afraid he would fall. Soon, the North Wind had to give up, as he could not take Shea any further. He brought the young man down near a deadwood forest. The trees were grey and barren, even though it was spring. He heard a whispering at his ear. "I'm sorry, Shea. I cannot go any further. The castle is on the other side of these woods. I can stay with you and lead you, but I cannot carry you there." Shea was very frightened. Gertrude had said that where she lived was dangerous at night because of the trolls. Here he was in the troll kingdom! The sun was setting. "The cover of the forest will be safer than out in the open," the North Wind whistled. "Fewer creatures live there." Nervously, Shea picked up a fallen branch to use as a walking stick, and maybe a weapon, and ventured into the woods. Shea had walked half a mile at the most when he heard a screeching sound. It could have been some kind of hawk, but Shea had never heard such a call in his life. It sent a shiver right through his bones. As Shea trudged carefully through the dying trees, the bird would shriek again occasionally. It was getting closer. He stopped to pull his blanket further up onto his shoulders, and the North Wind howled, "Look out!" Shea heard wingbeats behind him and he ducked just in time. The creature swooped over his head, and he felt one of its talons scratch him. Shea ran. The bird beast screamed louder than ever and circled a copse of trees. The woods here were rather sparse and the creature could move fairly freely. Shea was trying to find cover. The wind picked up, blowing at his back and to the side. The blanket was falling off so he pulled it from his back and balled it up under his arm as he ran. The cold wind cut through his tattered clothing, now blowing right at his side, pushing him. `It's the North Wind!' Shea realized. `It's leading me to safety.' The farmboy turned so that the wind was at his back. The bird couldn't turn so easily among the trees, and the Wind was making it harder to fly. It was quickly chasing Shea again, though, and it moved faster through the air than Shea could on foot. Shea looked back in the amber light of dusk and saw the black shape of his adversary, claws splayed beneath it. "Let go of the blanket," the wind said. Shea let it fall behind him and continued running toward the denser forest ahead. He heard a muffled cry from behind him and a crash. He turned to look. The North Wind had caught the blanket and sent it at Shea's attacker. It got tangled up, and flew into a tree. Shea saw the thing tumble to the ground out of the blanket, which had caught in the tree. "It's stunned, young man. It won't bother you again," whispered the North Wind. Shea shivered as he crept over to the downed creature. It lay on its back on the forest floor, claws up, wings out, just as he'd seen it over his shoulder. Now that it was still, it seemed smaller. It looked like a hawk, but its feathers were as black as a raven's. Shea had never heard of a bird its size hunting a human. Attacking one, yes, if he was foolish enough to disturb it. It had to have been quite hungry to try something so desperate. "Hurry," the North Wind whispered. "It will be dark soon. You must make shelter for yourself. Take the blanket." Shea pulled it down from the tree, and the wind led him into the dense part of the forest. He covered himself in the blanket, and the North Wind blew leaves onto him so that he could not easily be seen. Shea stayed covered there, trying not to move, for some time before he eventually fell into an uneasy slumber.

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