A Disturbance Before Sunrise

 

            One morning that summer something woke Ralph before sunrise. Lying in the dark, he could hear Ramona breathing beside himself, plus the slight sounds of Cherry and the Puma bros and Blue sleeping quietly. So, he knew it wasn’t a sound that woke him.
            It wasn’t Maeve either. It was something else. Maeve was probably still asleep up in the rocks on the mountain side.
            In fact, it wasn’t a sound at all. It was something else. More like a tickle, or an itch, but it was in his thoughts, not really even in his head. It was really weird, and new. This had not happened to him before. It was impossible to sleep with this going on. So, before he disturbed Ramona with his awakened state, he got out of the big quilt, put his feet on the floor, and decided to go outside into the still dark morning and try to figure out what was happening to him.
            Ralph isn’t a worrier, but he does take care of business in a timely manner.
            Without making a sound he slipped out of the green door, shut it carefully behind himself, and came out sniffing the air carefully. He could smell the coals of Ramona’s fire, but that was all. This wasn’t really a smell thing, but he had to check.
            He sat beside the still visible winks of firelight in the coals, studying them and trying to place the disturbance he was feeling. The more he thought about it, the less he liked it.
            A chill little pre-dawn wind blew through the Home Clearing. It got Ralph’s attention because it was so directional. The tossed tips of fir branches, barely visible to us, but visible to Ralph all seemed to point toward the meadow and the Alder Tree House.         
            “Oh!” thought Ralph. His eyes opened wide and his breath quickened. This didn’t seem good at all. The disturbance in his mind was stronger too.
            He stood and went back to the green door, placing his hand on it, and saying, “Keep them!” He knew that it would be so. Then he started walking up toward the meadow which held so much that he loved.
            A dark mind tried to enter his, but he threw it off and kept walking as quickly as he could. Ralph decerned that it was searching for the Star Child, Koba. As he walked, Maeve found him. She flew beside him matching his speed.
            “Boss, something is in the air above us,” she said.
            “You saw it?” he said rapidly.
            “Yes. Very far up,” said Maeve. “It’s not a creature. It’s a machine of some kind.”
            “Koba is in peril,” said Ralph. “But I don’t know how yet.”
            When they hurried out into the open of the still dark meadow the machine was visible in the middle air between the tree tops and the low cloud layer. It was round on top and flat on the bottom. There were some dim orange lights around the outer edge. They barely showed. If you didn’t know it was there you might not have seen it.
            To Ralph it was confusing. It sent mixed messages. It looked like a space vehicle, true, but it didn’t taste like one. The sense of it was of human and danger. It was nothing like Mak’s silver ship.
            “What do you think, Birdy,” whispered Ralph.
            “I think that if they want Koba, then they are evil indeed, Boss,” said Maeve quietly as they stood there watching. Maeve was on his shoulder so he could hear her well. “Only the Maker knows what plans they might have for him, or maybe they only want his death!”
            Knowledge rose up in Ralph’s heart.
            “It shall not be, Madam,” he said to Maeve.
            A mighty song was given to Ralph. He was done whispering and being afraid. He sang it loudly and it rang over the meadow, and indeed over the whole Great Forest. The power of it was peace and hope to any who heard it and knew from the song that Ralph was about.
            The effect was entirely different on the dark ship hovering there over the Alder Tree House. It shuddered, and as the sky began to lighten, its orange lights winked out. Then the darkened ship vanished completely, and the sky was clean again.
            The clouds remaining from the night past drifted away, the sky was pale blue, and the sun became visible far to the east. There was peace as far as Ralph could see.
            “That was quite a song, Boss,” said Maeve. “What was it called?”
            “You are forbidden and destruction is upon you,” said Ralph. “Kind of a long name!”
            “Will you tell Twigg and Leely?” said Maeve.
            “Yeah, some day I will. Maybe not today,” said Ralph. “Let’s not disturb them. Today they are going to go introduce Koba to Enid and Arthur. That’s probably enough excitement for one day, eh, Birdy?”
            “I won’t say it, but you know it, Boss,” said Maeve, indulging in a small chuckle.
            “Let’s go home and tell Mona. She should know and she will be glad Koba is safe,” said Ralph. He faced the rising sun, and it shone off of his deep brown glossy hair, and was reflected in his  happy brown eyes. Then he turned, and with Maeve in her accustomed place, set off for the Home Clearing.
            He was starting to feel a little hungry, and wouldn’t mind a cup of coffee either.

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