Crow Boy (10 page)

Chapter 10

Into the Earth

M
oving down, against the flow of
the sap, was almost impossible.
The sap was a thick syrup, sticky and dense. I imagined being water, as tiny as possible, tightly attached to the other drops of Maddy and Aleena, and it became a little easier to move, to ease around and through the sap.

We moved deeper into the bark, where the sap was thinner, more like water. Still it tried to pull us upwards. But I was stronger, and slowly we flowed down the trunk of the tree while it groaned and shifted around us.

I wanted to travel through the ends of the roots into the soil near the surface, but I discovered that the cedar spirit’s roots stretch far into the earth. We travelled deeper and deeper before reaching the tip of a root and then into the finest root hair. Finally, we slipped beyond the roots into damp soil.

As soon as we were free of the cedar tree, we were pulled into the earth, caught in a current of magic. We fought and tried to swim against it, but we didn’t dare let go of one another. We were pulled deeper and deeper, down into the earth into old, thick magic.

Finally we slipped free of the earth and stopped in a long, narrow rock cavern. It was warm and dry and very dark.

As we reached air we began to grow, slowly, as the sap covering us contained us, clinging, stretching and finally breaking, leaving little pockets of sap all over us.

Maddy reached up to push her hair out of her face.

“No, don’t touch,” I cried, but I was too slow to stop her.

Her hands and her hair clung to each other, connected by sap. Maddy pulled her hands free, leaving her hair a tangled, sticky mess.

In all the growing and stretching, I didn’t feel my normal size. I glanced at Maddy and Aleena and realized we were all the wrong sizes.

I was the tallest and the strongest. Maddy was the smallest as usual, but Aleena wasn’t much taller than Maddy. She was oddly diminished here.

Light glowed off the walls, an eerie blue-green – the rocks themselves were glowing. I could see patterns in the rocks, layers that shone more brightly than others. Our faces were lit by the pale light, making Maddy and Aleena look sick.

When I checked on them, I realized they really were sick. Maddy was struggling to breathe, her chest heaving in and out as she strained to draw in enough air. Aleena’s skin was thin and dry, her eyes dull, her cheeks sunken. She looked gaunt and old.

I felt wonderful, strong and powerful. Magic flowed through me, filling me, making me part of the stone surrounding us. When I stood still, I could feel the earth breathing.

“We have to get out of here,” gasped Aleena. “I am a water woman. Without water, I will die. We will both die. First me. Then Maddy.” She touched Maddy’s chest with a thin, dry hand.

I remembered how she’d described herself to me once, born of raindrops on moss. And I knew she spoke the truth, that she and Maddy would die here.

While Maddy and Aleena rested, I explored the cavern. It was large, long and narrow. The ceiling rose and fell, sometimes close enough for me to touch, sometimes rising high above us.

I searched for water, knowing we all needed to drink, and that Aleena especially needed water, but there was none.

There was a tunnel at each end of the cavern. One sloped gently down: it was dark, and the magic thick.

The other curved up quickly, with steps cut into the steep slope. When I tried to climb the steps, I couldn’t. My knees moved, but my feet wouldn’t lift, as if they were glued to the ground. I could step away from the tunnel, but not into it. I tried sneaking at it, sideways and backwards, but whatever I tried, my knees could not lift my feet off the ground.

I walked back to Maddy and Aleena, hoping they were feeling better. If anything, they looked worse, Aleena slumped and thin, Maddy gasping.

I had to do something. I stepped into the lower tunnel and breathed in the thick magic. Using it, I sketched in the air, searching for an answer. Suddenly I felt an aliveness, a presence. I continued sketching until I had a name. Then I called out, “Earth, may we speak with you?”

Maddy and Aleena stared at me like I was nuts.

But the earth answered.

A low, husky voice resonated from the rocks all around us. “Human children and a water woman and the nexus ring. How very interesting.” I heard a smile in the voice.

Maddy slipped her hand into mine. Aleena shivered, and drew closer to us.

“Maddy and Aleena are sick,” I said. “They can’t stay here.”

“The nexus ring must go deeper,” the voice answered. “It is safer here than above, and safer below than here.”

“We can’t,” I said. “Maddy and Aleena need to get to the surface.”

The voice was silent. I waited. I was about to speak again when the voice said, “The water woman and the human girl? They are sick here?”

“Yes,” I said. “I think your magic is too powerful for them.”

“But not for you?”

“No,” I said. “I love it.”

The voice chuckled. “Yes. I can see that. You have – you have a great potential. To be what, I do not know. It will be interesting to see what you become.” The voice sighed. “Very well. You shall take the ring as deep as you can, and they may walk to the surface.”

Split up? Me, go deeper? Maddy and Aleena walk all the way back? I didn’t know which I should be more upset about. Then Maddy bent over, struggling for air. She had to come first.

“It’s too far for them to walk,” I said. “It will take too long! Can’t you send them back the way you brought us here?”

“No,” the voice said, flatly. “You must take the ring deeper. You must take the ring to a safer place, where the shifting of rock and magma cannot bring it back to Gronvald. For every step you take deeper into the earth, they may take one step to the surface.” The voice
smiled. “This is more than fair, four feet up for two feet down.”

I glanced at my feet and swallowed. That sounded pretty harsh to me. But when I looked at Maddy and Aleena I knew there was nothing else I could do. If I didn’t start immediately, they wouldn’t have the strength to walk out.

“Maddy,” I said, “Just keep walking. Whatever happens, just keep walking.”

“Aleena,” I continued, “when you get to the surface, will you promise to take Maddy to Keeper?”

She shook her head, her eyes huge. “Not Keeper,” she said, her voice dry and scratchy.

I remembered how much she feared him. “The otter-people?” I asked.

She nodded.

“Promise?” I demanded. “No matter what happens, no matter how sick you are, how close to death?”

She nodded again. “I promise.” She slipped the nexus ring off her finger and handed it to me. “Thank you,” she said, her voice rough.

She paused. Then she said in a louder voice, “Earth, what will happen to Josh?”

I knew how much that must have cost her, to speak past her fear and desperation to escape, her lips cracked, her throat parched.

When Maddy turned to her, puzzled, Aleena said, “Every one counts, right?”

Maddy smiled and took Aleena’s hand. “Yes. Every one counts.”

“The boy can withstand my magic,” said the voice.

“But will he come back to us?”

“That is up to him.” That’s all the voice would say.

I pulled the firestone out of my pocket. All the threads glowed, even in the stone, bright from the magic surrounding us. I tugged out one thread part way, leaving it half in and half out of the stone. It blazed like a torch, drawing magic out of the air.

I handed it to Maddy; the firestone continued to
blaze. “I think it will get fainter as you go higher,” I said.

Maddy smiled a little. “That’ll mean we’re going in the right direction.”

I touched her chest, heaving as she struggled to breathe. “Your breathing should get easier, too. You’ll need to help Aleena.”

“I know,” she said. “We’ll be fine. And Josh?”

I looked down at her, blinking back tears.

“You’ll be fine, too.” She smiled. “I know I said earlier that I couldn’t trust you with the nexus ring. But I was wrong. You can do this. I know you can.”

I closed my eyes and sighed. “I will do it,” I said. I took another breath. “I will do it. Now go.”

She nodded and helped Aleena to her feet. Then she tucked herself under Aleena’s arm, wrapped an arm around Aleena’s waist, and turned towards the tunnel to the surface. When they got to the tunnel entrance, they stopped. I could see them trying to step forward, their knees straining, but their feet didn’t leave the ground.

Maddy turned back to me. “We can take a step for every step you take.”

“Oh yeah,” I said. I closed my eyes, swallowed my fear, and walked to the other tunnel, sloping down even further into the earth. I took a step, and Maddy and Aleena lurched forward. I took another step down, and they took another up. But they couldn’t get any kind of rhythm at that pace – they’d never make it to the surface before they died – so I squared my shoulders and strode down the tunnel.

Chapter 11

Deep Magic

I
checked behind me occasionally,
seeing
a faint glow and a shadow as they moved. Eventually, even the flickering light vanished. I walked in darkness broken only by the slight luminescence in patches on the walls. I watched the colours shift as I walked deeper, from blue-green to bright blue, and then to a shining yellow.

It was painful to walk without knowing where Maddy and Aleena were. I longed to turn and run to them, but if they were to keep walking, I had to keep walking. I plunged on, down and down and down.

Finally I stopped to rest. I leaned against the rock wall of the tunnel, worrying about them. Without noticing, I started drawing on the rock – Maddy, always Maddy – and soon I could sketch them as they walked, as if I could see them.

I sketched Maddy helping Aleena, staggering up the tunnel. Maddy was still struggling to breathe, but she was determined and immensely stubborn. Aleena was still overwhelmed and dehydrated, but she allowed Maddy to guide her. Then they came to a stop, unable to lift their feet. I realized I had to keep walking.

In a while I checked in again, sketching quietly on my pant leg as I walked. They were moving more quickly. Maddy’s breathing had eased a bit, and Aleena was starting to stand on her own. I could tell by the light cast by the firestone that they were still deep in the earth. So I kept walking, the magic surrounding me growing thicker and thicker.

The next time I checked they’d found a large pool of water. After kneeling and touching a drop of water to her lips, Aleena stood and walked straight into the pool. She swam and floated and drank, letting the water soak in, reviving her. Maddy knelt and drank, washed her face and hands and arms, and took off her runners to soak her feet.

I rested while they did, and realized how thirsty I was, how much my feet hurt, how my stomach growled, how fear ate at me. I was glad when Maddy called to Aleena to continue. I could see Aleena testing to see if she could water travel, but she was still overpowered by the earth magic.

When she stood beside Maddy, Aleena was a little taller and looked much stronger. She and Maddy held hands and walked together, Maddy still taking deep, fast breaths, but moving more easily.

I stood, and continued down.

I walked forever, pushing everything else out of my mind, just walking, walking, walking. The air became so thick with magic it became harder and harder to move. I tried to distract myself by sketching Maddy and Aleena. They were walking side by side, no longer holding each other, and their firestone light was getting dim. They must be getting near the surface.

But as I sketched, I walked more and more slowly, and so did they. The magic was too thick – I couldn’t push through it.

I heard the voice of the earth, for the first time since we’d left the cavern. “Let go of your art.”

Let go of my art? No – I needed it to check on Maddy and Aleena. I loved it. I wanted it.

“You must let go of the art,” said the voice again.
I felt it almost more than I heard it, resonating in the
rocks. “You can no longer use art to get to magic. Let go of the art. Be the magic.” The voice was hypnotic.