For their part, Helga and her parents rejoiced in the end of their long separation, and enjoyed their many new friends. In particular, Helbara and Breister observed the new friendship between Helga and Christer with their own happy smiles, seeing in the young beast’s faces a look of affection that they well understood. The happiness of their family’s reunion, however, also emphasized the continuing absence of Emil. There would be no comfortable settling into a new home until her son was reunited with them.
Facing this uncertain future, the Wood Cows were glad for BorMane’s promise to provide them company and help. The brave and worldly-wise old Coyote, deciding at last to retire from the sea, pledged to remain with the Wood Cow clan wherever they went.
“But first we have to visit the Rounds,” Helga reminded her parents. “I want us all to know Elbin and Sareth and all the rest of my ‘other’ family!” Anticipating the joyous welcome that Helga would receive on her return to the Rounds, Toshty insisted that such a special occasion should be shared by Helga and her parents alone. It was agreed that BorMane and Christer would first accompany Toshty and Annie to Toshty’s cabin, before going on to meet the others in the Rounds.
To everyone’s delight that evening, BorMane said farewell to his seafaring days by telling endless stories about his travels and adventures. Entertaining and full of adventure, the stories proved to everyone’s satisfaction that the world was one globe, with a single immense sea beckoning all beasts to find one another. Red Whale, memorizing BorMane’s stories as he heard them yet again, was confident that he was bringing back more than enough information for Lord Farseeker to offset the loss of Daring Dream—plus the even grander Daring Dream II and its worthy captain and crew.
With a starry night sky blazing above the happy feast and the ship’s band playing, there was little reason to wonder about the fate of other characters that had played a role in bringing all these beasts together.
It would not be fair, however, to end this account without paying some attention to a lone figure who, some days later, hurried along a twisted old road leading up into the mountains not far from Norder Crossings. The narrow, abandoned pathway, unused since a more direct route was built, passed through an ugly and forsaken land of badly eroded slopes, scraggly bushes, and dark, muddy streams. Scattered here and there, small, dirty houses fell down into piles of rubble, their past inhabitants fleeing long ago to more prosperous areas.
Colonel Snart’s disguise fit well with these surroundings: A rough filthy cloak, pulled tight around his neck, had a large hood hanging far forward over his head, completely hiding his face. Wearing cheap traveler’s boots and threadbare cotton pants and shirt, a common peddler’s satchel hung from his shoulder. He made his way along the rough track, muttering to himself.
“Ha! Nobody interested in a poor old peddler, more ragged than the riff-raff I send off to Tilk Duraow! And this old road can’t take a proper wagon anymore, and the land’s ruined, so no one likes to be comin’ up here. Ha! Why, I can just slip into one of these tottering old houses and lie low just as long as I like.”
Keeping on a bit longer, the Monopole finally picked out a collapsing house with its fallen chimney nearly blocking the door, and climbed over the piles of rubble to get inside. “Ha! Just the sort of perfect neglect and decay that I need for my temporary abode! Not a beast anywhere that would likely take interest in a place like this. Looking with approval at the filthy, broken windows and nearly destroyed roof, the Colonel chuckled with pleasure, “The rains are over so don’t need a good roof—and the more wrecked the place is, the less likely I’ll have company coming to visit. I could probably live here for years and no one would notice. Yes, this place is perfect.”
Alas for the Colonel, however, he was overheard by a young Wolf working behind the house. It was, in fact, the very Wolf cursed by the Monopole a few days before in Norder Crossings! Hearing the Colonel’s words, the young Wolf thought, with a glow of good humor, of his encounter with the Monopole a few days earlier. He had heard that things had not gone well for Colonel Snart since that time. Outraged Norder Crossings merchants, ruined by the loss of the caravan to the Godgie Stomp, had forced the Monopole to flee in order to save his skin. Not satisfied to run the Monopole of Caravans out of Norder Crossings, the merchants had hired a Wild-Vile Cat bounty hunter and two Skull Buzzards to hunt the Monopole down and return him for punishment. Rumor had it that the slave traders in Port Newolf also were so furious over the Monopole’s recent role in the loss of a large and valuable lot of slaves that they were also after the Colonel with torches and swords. Even the High One was whispered to have denounced his brother over the losses he had caused. The young Wolf instantly understood why the Monopole might be traveling in abandoned country seeking a place to hide out.