The Wolf Tree Read Online Free PDF Page B

your party, so I’ll tell you as briefly as I can. I know you’re friends with Water Spider of the Oklahoma Cherokee. I live up in Kansas, but he and I have become acquainted over the years. He says you’re the only one who can help me.”
    “With what?”
    “The Darkness.” At these words, Bradshaw broke again into a terrible, hacking wet cough.
    Something about the way he said the word drenched Ray in iciness.
    Before Nel could continue, Si came down the stairs with the food and cider. Mister Bradshaw, released from the fit, wiped at his mouth and nodded his thanks to Si as he took the plate and mug. For a moment a curious expression passedover his brow as he seemed for the first time to notice the strange group of people all listening expectantly to his story.
    Nel leaned forward from his stool. “What do you mean, the darkness?”
    Mister Bradshaw set the plate on his lap, already forgotten as he collected his thoughts. “Where to begin? I come from Omphalosa, Kansas. Smack in the middle of the state. Came out there with my brothers when it was still just a territory. We made a good life for ourselves. Good, honest people there. Built a respectable town.
    “I reckon we first noticed it around New Year, just over a year ago. With the passing of the winter solstice, days should have been lengthening. On the prairie, you count on the land and the weather for survival. You notice that kind of thing. Each day the sun set a little earlier, when it should have been later. And dawn just extended more and more into the morning.”
    Mister Bradshaw rubbed his clenched fist in his other hand as he continued. “By summer, we knew something was powerful wrong. The sun wouldn’t rise until nearly eleven o’clock. Just pass in a low arc across the horizon and then drop again by two. By October, the Darkness set in for good.”
    Mister Bradshaw gauged the faces around him. Nel chewed on the end of his unlit pipe. Buck cocked his head. Ray, Marisol, and Si frowned.
    “I suspect you take me for a fool or a madman, mayhaps. I ain’t, but I’ve no way to assure you of that except throughmy words. Some from our town traveled out from time to time, visiting acquaintances, trading goods. They found the same. It weren’t near the same complete darkness that had covered Omphalosa, but it settled in bit by bit. A darkness spreading over the towns of the prairies! You head out for a hundred miles any direction of Omphalosa and you’ll see the growing dark.
    “Can you imagine eternal Darkness, sir?” Mister Bradshaw asked, looking at Nel. “And cold. It’s turned our flesh this fearsome shade. I had to leave. Fever took me after I left. No doctor can cure it. It’s a slow, lingering killer. I’m afraid I’ve got it.”
    Nel’s eyes widened with apprehension, and Mister Bradshaw waved a hand. “Don’t worry, sir. It’s not contagious. It comes from being in contact with the Darkness. Your people are safe.
    “As I was saying, Omphalosa ain’t the same town I helped settle years back. People are scared, powerful scared. Preacher says the Darkness and the discoloration of our skins are plagues. A curse laid upon us by God for our wickedness. We are good people, as good as you’ll ever meet. But something about the Darkness, sir, it’s turned us. Family against family. Brother on brother. Fingers pointing. Accusations swirling about what others done to bring the Darkness on us.
    “My brother got shot ’cause some folks said his black dog was seen wandering around the churchyard by his house. A dog! What kind of foolishness is this, I ask?” He spread his hands with the question, then, shaking his head, dropped hisarms to his knees. “Superstitious idiots. I knew it had to be something else, but I weren’t going to stick around to find it out.”
    “You said you knew Water Spider?” Nel asked.
    Bradshaw sat up straighter. “Right. Water Spider. I met him trading horses. We hit it off, you could say. Like to play