But then his brain did catch up, and the freshness of his feet was suddenly the last thing on his mind.
Because, beyond the average-level weirdness of this woman claiming to own some random water in the woods, there was a whole lot more high-level weirdness going on. Like the fact that she seemed to be silvery, and, well,glowing.
Yeah. That’s weird, all right.
But Calvin had been raised to question everything, even within the context of being a mythical shape-shifting being himself, and it had served him pretty well in life so far. A healthy dose of skepticism had saved his bacon in a bunch of situations, and he wasn’t about to go making assumptions about things that may or may not be happening after he’d spent hours hiking through the forest. It could be as simple as someone playing an elaborate prank, or perhaps he just hadn’t had enough water to drink and was now dangerously dehydrated.
Calvin was a rational kind of guy who operated within the bounds of the real world, and whackadoos in the woods were a dime a dozen. If the woman looked like she was glowing, then perhaps it was because it was sunny out today and therewas glare coming off the pond. If she’d seemed to appear out of nowhere, maybe it was because he hadn’t seen her standing behind one of the massive trees of the forest. And if she was calling the pondherwaters –
“Look,” Calvin told her, raising his hands. “Sorry – I didn’t realize there was anyone else here, let alone someone who’d already claimed this camping spot. I can move on if I’m bothering you.”
Mainly, he was just relieved the woman had shown herself before he’d shifted. He would have had amuchbigger problem on his hands than a territorial camper if she’d seen him in his wyvern form.
The woman simply stared at him – and Calvindidkind of notice her pale silver hair was floating around her head like a halo as she did so – so he was just planning on putting his shoes back on and moving off, vowing to be more careful at the next spot he came to, when she spoke again.
“I can forgive this intrusion,” she said, and once again her voice sounded almost like music dancing on the wind, “if, of course, you have brought me my proper tribute. I haven’t had a tribute in years – you have perhaps returned to bring me one?”
A tribute?
“Uh, sorry,” Calvin replied, unsure what else to say.
Well, this was weird, but as long as he got away quick he didn’t think there’d be trouble. “I don’t have a tribute, but I won’t be disturbing your peace. I’ll be on my way now.”
That should have been the end of it.
But instead…
“No tribute?!”
The woman looked aghast, as if it was unfathomable that someone would even conceive of entering the woods without bringing a tribute for whichever weird woman should happen to pop up.
With what was apparently great magnanimity on her part, she visibly composed herself. “As you have not brought me a tribute, I may consider forgiving you if you solve my riddle.”
Consider… forgiving me?
It was becoming pretty obvious that he wasn’t going to get out of this situation without at least somewhat playing along with this lady’s sense of humor, or whatever was going on here.
A cameraman will probably pop out of the forest at any moment and tell me I’ve been pranked,he thought, suppressing a grimace.Or a kid with a cell phone. They put these joke videos up online now, don’t they?
In that case, he supposed the best he could hope for was not making a complete idiot out of himself.
But… solving a riddle?
Calvin’s heart sank like a stone. Hehatedriddles.
He was pretty much doomed.
In rich, measured tones, the woman began to recite: “I am mother and father, but never birth or nurse. I have a bark, but no bite. I'm rarely still, but I never wander. What am I?”
Calvin stared at her. “Uh… could you say that one more time?”
The woman looked at him with supreme contempt, speaking slowly, as if to a small child.
“I am mother and father, but never birth or nurse. I have a bark, but no bite. I'm rarely still, but I never wander. What am I?”
“Can I get a hint?” he asked weakly.
Unsurprisingly, this was apparentlynotthe answer she’d been looking for.
