Lyla rolled the parchment up. She knew she should say something about how happy she felt that they actually had parents, just like the characters in their books. Or how awful it was that such a terribly scary and sinister thing had happened to their parents. She really should say something - anything - that would reassure Chad and Swift who were staring at her with big questioning eyes but she had no idea how to begin.
`Well, that answers a lot of the questions we've been asking,' said Lem.
`And what we are going to do tomorrow,' added Celeste.
Chad moved closer to his sister. `What's that?'
`Go and find them of course.' Then biting her lip, she smiled weakly at Lyla. `I always knew we had parents. It just worried me that I couldn't remember what they looked like or that I never dreamed about them.'
Three spine-chilling howls suddenly pierced the night air on the other side of the ox-hide curtain. That night the children took turns guarding the cave's entrance while outside the wolves padded back and forth sniffing and growling.
When it was Lyla and Celeste's turn they huddled together, blonde hair mixed with black, whispering about the letter and whether the ox-hide door was strong enough to keep the wolves from attacking them.
`Do you think our mothers did the right thing, locking us away in this Forest with no way of remembering them?' whispered Celeste.
Tightening her grip on her spear, Lyla pursed her lips thoughtfully. `I can't see what else they could do. They wanted to protect us from Prince Yor.'
`But wouldn't it have been better to have kept us with them? I mean...' Celeste sighed. `I would like to have known my mother when I was little. And I am sure Chad would've loved it too.'
Lyla nodded. `We all would, but what if they disappeared along with our fathers? What if we'd disappeared too?'
`Or,' yawned a sleepy Lem, `because they didn't expect us to discover the truth until we were adults, maybe they were counting on us saving them from whatever happened.' Then he stretched and felt for his sword. `It's my turn to sit guard. Are the wolves still out there?'
Lyla nodded.
Next morning Celeste woke, for the first time ever with all her recent memories intact. It was a truly wonderful feeling.
She pushed aside the ox-hide to find Lem sitting on a rock outside. He told her that there had been six wolves in the clearing during the night but they had all gone.
She held her sword ready and cautiously checked the clearing that was full of broken branches and leaves from the storm.
`How do you know there were six, Lem? And if there where that many why didn't they attack? They could easily have bitten through the ox-hide'
`I told them not to.'
An incredulous Lyla looked up from preparing a fire. `You what?'
`The leader stuck his nose through a split in the ox-hide and I told him that he should not hurt us because we would not hurt him. Then I pushed our smoked meat outside to show him that we were his friends.'
Lyla rolled her eyes in disbelief. `And he wagged his tail and thanked you I suppose. That's crazy!'
`No it's not! He said that they wouldn't hurt us this time but, as they were servants of the Sender of Storms, he couldn't promise that they wouldn't attack next time. He also told me that the Sender of Storms has released other more fearful creatures into the Forest; creatures that even the wolves were afraid of.'
Lyla gave up trying to light the fire, as the wood was too wet. `You're making this up! Since when have you been able to understand wolves?'
Swift, ever loyal to his older brother, stepped up beside him. `If Lem says he can understand wolves then I believe he can.'
Lem smiled a `thank you' at him before answering his sister. `It's not only wolves, Lyla. This morning I heard Celeste's snake complaining that she was squashing him.'
Celeste felt for the green diamond snake that she wore looped around her neck like a necklace. `Now you are making it up! Splash is a girl snake and if she could speak she would speak to me.'
`Splash is a boy and he does speak to you. You just don't understand him.'
Lyla twisted a strand of her black hair behind her ear and eyed her brother suspiciously. `So when did you start understanding snakes and wolves?'
`Since I sat on the moon dial. I can understand all the Forest animals. They speak to me in my head.'
`What are they saying?'
`That they're afraid and they are leaving the Forest.'
Lyla looked surprised. `All of them? The squirrels, the possums, the wild pigs, the ox-peckers and the blue-tails?'
`I can't talk to birds but the animals are leaving.'
`Maybe understanding animals is Lem's magical gift,'said Chad, scratching one of his four braids. `You know, the one given to him by Queen Ona and Queen Hail. I mean by our mother and aunt. Maybe we all have our gifts now that the moon dial is broken.'
Then his eyes lit up. `Heh! I can remember what we did yesterday.'
`Me too,' Celeste said. `And Lem remembers the wolves. Can you remember anything before yesterday Chad?'
Her brother put on his thinking-hard face and then relaxed. `No, just yesterday. What about you, Celeste? Can you remember what we did yesterday?'
`We went swimming and ate peaches.'
`Lem?'
`We chased the ponies and Swift almost caught one.'
`I did catch it. By its tail,' argued Swift.
`So we remember yesterday but no further back,' concluded Lyla. `It must have something to do with the magic spell that our mothers put on the Forest. Do you think it's been broken?'
The others looked at each other and shrugged.
`So what about our gifts?' asked Chad. `I don't think I can do anything that I couldn't do yesterday. Can anyone else?'
They stared at each other as if their gifts would show on their tanned faces. When they didn't, Lyla spoke up.
`It's not magical and it's not a gift, it's just odd, but last night I had a dream and I never dream, never! I dreamt I was flying over a white and gold palace. Inside was a throne room hung with red and gold curtains and on a royal dais were five golden thrones. One was empty. On the others sat two queens and two kings.'
Celeste edged closer. `What did they look like?'
`They had no faces and their arms and feet were chained to their thrones.'
`That's awful!'
Lem, who loved listening to stories as much as telling them, edged closer. `What happened next?'
`I woke up.'
`Did
