A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle

Author:Madeleine L'Engle [L'Engle, Madeleine]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf, mobi
Tags: Fantasy, Young Adult, Science Fiction, Childrens
ISBN: 9780440401582
Goodreads: 77276
Publisher: Laurel-Leaf Books
Published: 1978-07-01T00:00:00+00:00

On the eve, Brandon went late to bring the cow in from the pasture, in order to

avoid the others. When he got to the barn, Maddok was waiting there in the

shadows.

"My father wants to see you."

"When?" Bran asked.

"Tonight. After the others are asleep, can you slip away without being seen?"

Bran nodded. "You have taught me how to do that. I will come. It has meant much

to me to know that you have been with me."

"We are friends," Maddok said without a smile.

"Is it going to rain soon?" Brandon asked.

140

"No. Not unless prayer changes things." "You pray every night. So do we." "Yes.

We pray," Maddok said, and slipped silently into the woods.

In the small hours of the morning, before dawn, when he was sure everybody in

the settlement would be asleep, Brandon left the cabin and ran swiftly as a

young deer into the protecting shadows of the woods.

Maddok was standing at the edge of the forest, waiting. "Come. I know the way in

the dark more easily than you."

"Zillo knows everything? You've told him?"

"Yes. But he wants to meet with you."

"Why? I'm still only a child."

"You have the gift of seeing."

Brandon shivered.

"Come," Maddok urged. "My father is waiting."

They traveled swiftly, Brandon following Maddok as he led the way, over the

brook, through the dark shadows of the forest.

At the edge of the Indian clearing, Zillo stood. Maddok nodded at his father,

then vanished into the shadows.

"You won't let it happen?" Brandon begged. "If Zylle is harmed, Ritchie will

kill."

"We will not let it happen."

"The men of the settlement expect the Indians to come. They have guns. They are

out of their right minds, and they will not hesitate to shoot."

141 The lightning with its rapid wrath141

"They must be prevented. Have you seen anything in a vision lately?"

"I have tried not to. I am afraid."

"No one knows you are here?"

"Only Maddok."

Zillo pulled a polished metal sphere from a small pouch and held it out to catch

the light of the late moon. "What do you see?"

Brandon hesitantly looked into it. "This is right for me to do, when my father .

. . ?"

Zillo's eyes were expressionless. "I have held this action in prayer all day. It

is not your father's wish to deny a gift of the gods, and at this time we have

no one in the tribe with the gift of seeing."

As Brandon looked, the light in the metal sphere shifted, and he saw clouds

moving swiftly across the sky, clouds reflected in water. Not taking his eyes

from the scrying metal he said, "I see a lake where the valley should be, a lake

I have seen before in a picture. It is beautiful."

Zillo nodded. "It is said there was a lake here in long-gone days. In the valley

people have found stones with the bones of fish in them."

"The sky is clouding up," Brandon reported. "Rain is starting to fall,

spattering into the water of the lake."

"You see no fire?"

"Before, I saw fire, and I was afraid. Now there is only rain."

The severity of Zillo's face lifted barely perceptibly.

142

"That is good, that picture.

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