Crow Boy (2 page)

“Yes,” said Keeper, his voice low and rumbly.

“How could he do it so easily?” I asked, as he strutted around us.

Keeper paused to think. “As Corvus, he is all crows. All crows, together, have much magic.” He nodded, agreeing with himself.

Corvus kept eyeing my ball cap, intent on the blue jay on the front. After his third fly-by, I snatched it off and stuffed it into my backpack.

Maddy pointed to where the doorway had been, where the mist was slowly dissolving. “Our parents will be there soon. They’ll be worried if they don’t find us.”

Keeper nodded. “Later, I will take you back to them. First, we will visit.”

Keeper had brought us back in time once before, so we just nodded.

Maddy and Keeper talked, Keeper leaning down, Maddy looking tiny as she craned her neck to look up at him. I relaxed as I listened to Keeper’s deep, deliberate voice. When I first met him, once I had gotten over being really, really scared, I’d wondered if he was slow and stupid. He’s not. He just thinks slowly, and speaks thoughtfully.

I turned and looked all around. From this high on Castle Mountain, I could see right across to the mountains on the other side of the Bow Valley. There were fewer clouds here, just scattered white puffs making the blue of the sky more vivid. A brisk west wind pulled at the clouds and kept us cool.

Far below, there was no TransCanada highway running up the valley, no railway line parallel to it, no highway winding past Storm Mountain south to
Radium. Sounds were clearer, colours richer, and everything shimmered ever so slightly, radiant with magic. I could feel it seeping into me; I sighed, loving being back.

Chapter 2

Is The Ring Safe
?

“C
an we visit your cave?”
Maddy
asked. “We didn’t get to stay long last time.” “Of course,” said Keeper. He leaned down and lifted Maddy up to his shoulder. Then he peered down at me.

“I’ll walk,” I said, remembering how uncomfortable I’d been high on his shoulder last time.

He headed east, above the tree line just below where the turrets and vertical crevices began, following a narrow path with a steep drop below. He walked slowly but steadily, with long strides in spite of the rough path.

I gazed around as we walked, across the Bow Valley and up at the mountain looming above us. From below, Castle Mountain looked mostly grey. Close up, I could see more colours: dark mustard yellow, muted reds, blue-grey.

Keeper’s long strides quickly carried him far ahead of me. I had to run to keep up. Soon I was panting and in pain, but I wasn’t going to ask him to carry me. “How far do we have to go?” I gasped.

Keeper glanced back and slowed a little. “The back door is near.”

He had a back door into Castle Mountain? I grinned and hurried on.

Corvus flew with us, along with a growing collection of other crows. They surged ahead and then circled back, cawing to each other.

Maddy, Keeper and I talked, too.

“Why did my magic go away when I went home?” I asked.

“Magic weakens in the human world,” Keeper said. “It grows in our world. Your magic will grow again.”

“Magic doesn’t grow in Maddy when she’s here.”

“Maddy does not need magic,” Keeper said.

Maddy looked down at me and grinned.

I made a face at her, but I understood what he meant. Maddy just seemed to fit in here naturally, like she was one of the magic folk, even though she had no magic.

“Josh is the weird one,” Maddy said.

Keeper nodded, agreeing. “Josh has a special way with magic.”

“I’m glad you sent Corvus to us,” I said. “I couldn’t open the doorway, not like last time.”

“The human world sucks out magic; the magic world builds it.” Keeper settled Maddy higher on his shoulder. “First, there was one world, magic and human together. Then humans learned to change the world and magic weakened. The Ancient Ones wove the veil of magic to separate the worlds, to protect magic from humans.”

He sighed.

“Now human changes reach into our world, draining our magic. It hurts some magic folk more than others – maybe those who are least like humans. I am not sure. The otter-people are sensitive, especially their babies.” His chest rumbled in another deep sigh.

“What’s wrong with their babies?” Maddy asked, sounding worried.

I worried too. We’d met some otter-people in July, when Maddy and I had helped rescue an otter-baby trapped in an avalanche. After, they had helped us get the nexus ring back to Keeper.

“When magic is weak and otter-babies get sick or hurt, they are less likely to recover.”

“What about Godren?” Maddy asked. He was the otter-baby Maddy and I had helped rescue.

“He was not badly injured. He is fine. But even Godren is not thriving as he should. Otter-babies are usually very healthy.”

“Is there anything we can do?” I asked.

Keeper shook his head. “You brought the nexus ring back to me. That is enough.”

We walked in silence after that, each of us worrying about otter-babies and magic folk and the magic world.

~

Soon we were stepping into a deep crack in the face of Castle Mountain. Keeper lowered Maddy to the ground, picked up a torch leaning in a corner, and gently blew on it. Immediately flames leapt up. Keeper led us down a tunnel, the torch lighting his way, but his body created such a huge shadow that Maddy and I were mostly walking in the dark. We struggled to keep up, running our hands along the stone walls, stumbling on the uneven ground, until we emerged into a large cave.

I recognized it right away. Keeper had brought us here in July. We hadn’t had time to explore it then, and I hadn’t seen enough to be able to draw it from memory. Today I was determined to see it all.

The cave was huge and only dimly lit by the torch, but light was coming in from somewhere. I kept looking until I spotted a hole in the centre of the ceiling, tunnelled through glittering rock. Sunlight at the top of the tunnel was reflected through the crystals all the way down, into the cave. The light was slightly amber, soft and warm. When I stood below the light tunnel, staring up at the crystals, I could feel fresh air drifting down, as if somehow the light was pulling air with it.

I walked all around the cave, running my hands over shelves carved into the walls. The shelves were covered in piles of gleaming rocks, scraps of moss of every colour, and bird nests of every size.

Keeper’s bed filled a corner of the cave. It was covered in a huge pile of blankets in shades of cream and orange and yellow, topped by an enormous red wool blanket with wide black stripes near each end. A large wooden table sat under the light tunnel, and around it were chairs in a multitude of sizes. A huge stone fireplace filled one wall, and wood was neatly stacked along a second wall, in a pile higher than my head.

While Maddy gently touched the bird nests, I stood near one wall, silently creating a sketch in my head, working out how to manage the deep shadows.

Keeper selected two long branches and knelt by the fireplace. He laid the wood on a bed of coals, and then thrust in the torch. Flames roared and settled as Keeper rocked back on his heels.

“Come and sit by the fire,” Keeper said. “Even in summer, a little fire is nice.”

It didn’t look like a little fire to me – flames filled the fireplace. I couldn’t imagine how much fuel it would need, but in all the time we sat there, I never saw Keeper add more wood.

Keeper pulled up a little willow rocking chair for Maddy, and sat in his own huge rocking chair near the fire. He gestured for me to choose my own. I dragged over an armchair that was just a little too big for me.

I curled up in my chair, remembering the last time Maddy and I had been here, when Keeper had given Maddy a silver ring in exchange for the nexus ring.

Opening doorways in the veil was hard for magic folk. It drained their magic, exhausting them, so they didn’t cross very often. The nexus ring made it easy, but it also damaged the veil. Now the ring was safely hidden here in Keeper’s cave, so it couldn’t do any more harm.

I thought about how many times we’d used the nexus ring to travel between the human world and the magic world, not knowing that each time the ring tore the veil. Now magic was leaking through the tears, lost into a human world that no longer cared about magic.

I started listening to Maddy and Keeper when I heard Maddy ask, “Is the nexus ring safe?”

“Yes,” said Keeper in his slow voice. “I am Keeper. I keep it safe.”

Maddy leaned forward, an intense look on her face. “Could we see the nexus ring?” She twisted the silver ring around a finger. “Just to make sure?”

Keeper nodded and slowly stood. He blew on the fire and the flames died, as if he’d just put out a candle.

He led us deep into the cave, beyond where I’d explored, past a workshop filled with tools, all made for big hands but some meant for tiny work. I remembered hearing that Keeper had made the nexus ring.

We continued deep into a corner of the cave to a heavy slab of rock. Setting his shoulder against the rock, Keeper pushed, sliding the slab across the cave floor until he’d exposed a hollow underneath. He reached down and pulled out a worn grey cloth.

Laying the cloth across one huge hand, he gently unwrapped the layers until he’d revealed a collection of rings. I remembered Maddy trying them all on, before choosing the engraved silver band she now wore. I hadn’t paid much attention to the individual rings then, but this time we both leaned in, slowly touching each ring, some dark and foreboding, others twinkling with jewels. The nexus ring seemed the least of them, a small jade-green stone ring, plain and dull.

Keeper started to fold the cloth over the rings, but I reached out and stopped him. “Could I look at them a little longer?” I asked. “There’s so much magic here.”

Keeper nodded. “You feel magic. It will grow again.” Then he handed me the cloth. As I sat with it spread across my knees, Maddy slipped her silver ring off her finger.

“Where did my ring come from?” she asked. She held it in her hand, examining the interlocking lines etched into the surface of the silver band.

“Elves made it,” Keeper said.

“Elves? Here?” Maddy asked, excited.

Keeper smiled. “No, the ring came from far away. My rings come from many places, many times.”

I sat examining each ring. Some I slipped on briefly; others I didn’t dare. Finally I picked up the nexus ring and slid it on. It felt good to wear it again. I could feel magic slowly flowing through it into me.

I hadn’t noticed before, but the nexus ring had its own magic. When I wore it, I felt more connected to the magic world, and even, ever so faintly, to the human world.

When I mentioned this to Keeper, he nodded. “You are feeling the power of the nexus stone that forms the ring. Nexus means connection, a link. Nexus stone links our worlds. Now we know that it strives to make the connection stronger by tearing the veil.”

“Is it safe for me to wear it for a minute?” I asked, feeling nervous.

“Of course,” said Keeper. “You will not be opening a doorway in the veil. It is safe to hold.”

I relaxed and leaned back against the cave wall. I closed my eyes and became absorbed in feeling the magic world all around me. I could feel the human world too, oddly connected and present, but distant.

I could hear Maddy softly clinking rings as she looked at them. Then she gasped and must have shivered because Keeper asked, “Are you cold?”

“This ring,” Maddy said. “It makes me cold.”

I opened my eyes to see Maddy putting back a heavily jeweled ring, a cluster of gems surrounding a huge ruby flashing red in the torch light.

“That is the Dragon’s Eye,” Keeper said. “There are few who would dare to wear it.”

Maddy shivered again.

“Come outside and let the sun warm you,” Keeper said.

“Can I stay here a little longer, with the nexus ring?” I asked.

Keeper paused as he studied me. Then he nodded slowly, and said, “Bring the ring. You can sit with it outside while Maddy gets warm.”

We walked out of the dark cave into bright sunshine, and sat in front of the cave looking down over a lake far below. Maddy sighed as the sun warmed her. We watched brown-coated bighorn sheep on the mountainside across the lake, crows chatting and circling lazily nearby, and a dark bear searching for berries on the far shore.