Chapter Seventeen

The girls spent the rest of the day thinking and sometimes talking. As the light grew duller and the shadows began to wax and wane, and as the moon finally took its position in the clear evening sky, casting a silver ribbon through the cell window and lighting up all the dark corners where spiders lurked on silken webs, there came a noise outside. It was quiet at first, but it grew louder and more distinct with every passing minute. It was the slow, steady beat of a drum, accompanied occasionally by a low moan or a high-pitched shriek. The girls covered their ears with their hands in an attempt to block it out. It was eerie and peculiar; it made the hairs on the back of their necks stand on end.

“That noise!” cried Meredith, shouting to be heard above the racket. “That horrible noise... what on earth is it?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t like it!” came Meredith’s reply. “Whatever it is, I wish it would hurry up and stop!”

Just then, the door to their cell burst open,and in ran White Bear, his face as pale as the moonlight.

“They have made their decision,” he told them, speaking quickly. “According to nahkumetekah, you will both be burned at the stake at high noon tomorrow. You have been found guilty of kidnapping the child.”

Meredith stood to her feet, her eyes blazing.

“Found guilty? But how?”

“They have no evidence to prove otherwise,” said White Bear, lowering his gaze. “As I have explained already, they will not believe my word, nor the word of my sister. They are intent on your execution.”

White Bear looked up and his eyes met Katrin’s. A peculiar expression passed across his face. Katrin swallowed; she couldn’t speak.

Meredith felt a lump forming in her throat, also. “Then... then there’s nothing that can be done?”

White Bear looked sadly from Katrin to Meredith, then back at Katrin, whose eyes were brimming with tears. If either girl could have read White Bear’s heart at that moment, they would have seen that it was breaking in two. Instead, they only saw the shaking of his head and then the sudden, peculiar determined look in his eye, the almost-proud tilt of his chin, and the turning of his back towards them as he disappeared out of the door. Unknown to him, he took with him every last ounce of their hope.