Crow Boy (7 page)

I knew the highway to Radium followed this valley in the human world; here it seemed darker and more wild. I could feel magic deep in the mountains, and could feel more of it in me, like it had been soaking in while I slept.

“Why did you bring us here?” Maddy asked. I couldn’t tell from her voice if she was just interested, or warming up for another lecture.

“Well, it’s not far from the Banff Springs,” Aleena said, “and we can walk up to the glacier.” She glanced down at me. “Humans call it Stanley Glacier.”

A glacier?
I thought. Why would she be interested in
glaciers? Of course! Glaciers are made of ice – of water –
and Aleena loved anything to do with water.

Maddy didn’t ask any more questions, but I could see her thinking, planning, trying to figure out how to get the nexus ring back.

As soon as we’d eaten and washed, Aleena was eager to hike up to the glacier. I wanted to linger, to study the colours of the wildflowers in the meadow and to memorize the shape of the mountains. But Aleena was restless, and Maddy and I needed to keep Aleena happy.

I thought about Keeper as we walked, how he felt he’d failed because Aleena had the nexus ring again, how Maddy and I needed to get it back for him. But how? I couldn’t see a way.

I could feel magic all around us, in the trees and the milky blue creek and the mountains, each with its own flavour. The creek was light and playful, the trees strong, and the mountains deeply powerful. As we walked I focused on first one magic and then another, getting to know each one.

We followed the creek up a wide valley. Sometimes, as the path twisted, we could see Stanley Glacier gleaming above us. Finally we reached a plateau close to the glacier. The ice looked as if it had poured off the mountain behind it, filling the valley with white. Below the glacier the slopes were covered in small rocks – scree, Aleena called it.

Trees and bushes covered the plateau where we stood, with small purple flowers blooming in patches. A stream wound past, icy with glacial meltwater.

I stared above us at the glacier. It was fascinating, white with shades of blue and grey. It felt alive, almost pulsing. I stood totally still and listened; I could hear creaking. I remembered that glaciers are not unmoving lumps – the ice flows like a river, only very, very slowly. As I watched the glacier I started to feel it, a deep, old magic.

Aleena stood staring, like she was filling herself with it. She smiled softly and turned to us. “This is so beautiful – much better than in the human world.”

“What’s different?” Maddy asked.

Aleena thought about it. “Well, the magic here is very powerful, and of course the glacier is much larger.”

“Why?” I asked.

Maddy shook her head. “Josh, you should remember. Glaciers are melting in the human world. But not here, because of the veil.” Maddy looked at Aleena, making sure she didn’t miss the point.

Aleena sighed. “They’re still melting. Not as quickly, but still melting.” She made a face and muttered, “Humans!”

“Not just humans,” Maddy snapped. “You’re damaging the glaciers, too. As magic leaks out, the glaciers will melt faster. Just like in the human world.”

Aleena lowered her head, and sighed. Then she slowly nodded, as if she was beginning to understand. But all she said was, “Let’s walk up to the glacier.”

I was eager to see the glacier up close, to figure out all the shadings of colour and to absorb the magic, but Maddy stopped me.

“Look,” she said, pointing down to the scree. Two furry creatures were wrestling, tumbling across the rocks. “What are they?” she asked.

“Marmots,” said Aleena. “Squeaky furballs. They love it up here – those things are all over the place.”

Maddy was delighted. She knelt down to watch them.

Aleena sighed. “Can we go? I want to get onto the glacier, not watch furballs tumble over each other.”

Maddy was too absorbed to hear her.

“Go ahead,” I said to Aleena. “We’ll follow in a bit.”

As Aleena walked away, I heard cawing. Three crows flew up the valley and landed directly in front of Aleena. One was Corvus. Another was the rumpled white-tipped crow from the Banff Springs. They walked in front of Aleena, scolding with short harsh caws.

I called out, “Corvus, leave her alone.” We were just starting to convince her. This was not the time to make her mad.

Corvus cawed to the others. The white-tipped crow cawed back, head bobbing. Corvus flapped his wings with a long rant of caws, and the white-tipped crow backed off. All three flew to a nearby branch, the white-tipped crow sitting furthest from the others.

Aleena raised her hand to thank me, and walked up the scree slope towards Stanley Glacier.

I turned back to Maddy. She was squatting on the ground, staring intently at the marmots. They were small, furry mammals, like overgrown gophers, silver-grey with dark patches on their heads. Their tails were large and bushy.

I was better at drawing mountains and trees than animals, but I studied the marmots carefully, doing quick sketches on my leg as they played. After a while, Maddy pulled out her ring to watch them. She let me look – the marmots were bright with magic. Then I turned and saw the glacier. It was magnificent, magic flowing as I supposed the ice itself flowed, but cycling back and around, contained and huge.

I could see where the glacier had shrunk and left behind a ridge of small rocks. The marmots scampered all over it as they played. When I looked through Maddy’s ring I could see why. It had a magic too, different from the glacier, a little darker and more settled. The marmots were bright sparks of magic against the darker magic of the rocks.

As I watched the marmots and the magic flowing through the glacier, I felt my determination grow. I had to get the nexus ring back to Keeper. Maddy and I had to convince Aleena.

But how? I sketched the marmots to quiet my mind, to let the fear and doubt settle for a moment. As I sketched, my mind stilled, and in the silence came a sureness.
There will be a way. I will get the ring back. I have to stay with Aleena.

Then Maddy yelped. “Greyfur. Eneirda!”

Startled, I jumped and turned to see Maddy running, arms outstretched. Two otter-people were stepping out of the trees at the edge of the scree slope.

We’d met them in July – Eneirda, who’d taken us over the glaciers of the Continental Divide to return the nexus ring to Keeper; and Greyfur, older and more serious. They looked like small humans, except they were sleek and covered in soft fur, like otters.

Eneirda was about Maddy’s height but thinner, with auburn fur and soft tan skin on her hands and face. She watched Maddy with large round eyes, fur in a V down her forehead.

Greyfur was taller than me, with rich brown fur turned to grey on his head and across his shoulders, and amber skin on his face and hands.

Maddy ran to Eneirda, her face lit up in a huge smile. Eneirda smiled a little, and reached out her four long fingers to touch Maddy’s.

“I’m so happy to see you,” Maddy said. “You made it home safely?”

“Yes.” Eneirda smiled, and then sighed. “You did not complete your job,
tss
.” Eneirda’s voice was low and purry, with a hiss when she was angry.

“We took the ring back.”

“
Sssst!
Now you have it again.”

“Aleena has it.”

“It does not matter who has it.
Sssst!
What matters is the ring tearing the veil.”

Maddy hung her head. “I know. We are trying. But Aleena is so determined.”

“Aleena is just like humans,” Eneirda said.

I flushed. I’d heard her say “humans” like that before, like it was a swear word. “Why are you here?” I asked.

“We are looking for a new home,” Greyfur said, his voice deep and somber. “Fire burned our valley.
Sssst!
Usually the veil stops fires in one world or the other. This fire leapt through a tear.”

Maddy gasped. “Was anyone hurt?”

“No. We had warning.” He nodded his head towards the crows. “But we cannot live there now. We plan to move here. Our babies cannot live near a tear.
Chrrrr
.”

Maddy’s eyes grew large. “We came through the doorway last night.”

“With the nexus ring?” he said, his voice harsh.

“Josh opened the doorway without the ring, but Aleena walked through wearing it. Josh says that won’t tear the veil, but we don’t know for sure.”

Eneirda’s mouth tightened and she stepped back from us.

“We’re following Aleena,” I said, “well, travelling with her. So we can get the ring back.”

“Sssst!
Keeper let Aleena have the ring?” Greyfur asked.

“No, of course not,” I said. “It was an accident.”

“A crow, a baby crow, grabbed the ring when Josh dropped it,” Maddy added.

“I was just wearing it for a little while. Not using it,” I said.

“Aleena caught the crow and killed it.” Maddy’s voice cracked.

“She took the ring and we’re trying to get it back. For Keeper.”

Greyfur held up a hand to stop us. “Regardless.
Aleena has the nexus ring?” His eyes were dark and stern.

“Yes,” we both said.

“She must be stopped.”

“Yes, yes, we’re trying – that’s what we’re doing – trying to convince her –” we both stammered, interrupting each other.

“Tss
, you have failed! She must be stopped now!” he snapped.

I swallowed.

“Where is she?” he asked.

I pointed up at the glacier. Aleena stood on the edge of it, dark against the white ice.

Greyfur strode off, looking determined. Eneirda glanced at us, her face still, and then she turned and followed Greyfur. Maddy and I trailed along behind.

I felt sick. I’d failed to get the ring back. Maybe Greyfur and Eneirda could, but if they failed, too, and made Aleena angry enough, she’d just leave. Then we’d never get it back. Never!

Chapter 8

Through the Ring

G
reyfur strode up the loose rocks
to the base of the glacier.
“Aleena!” he growled. “You damage our world.
Sssst!
You must give back the nexus ring.”

We raced after him, sliding on the scree.

Aleena turned to him, her face cold and pale as the glacier, her eyes reflecting the blue in the shadows. “I do what I want,” she said.

“Regardless of the consequences?”

“I am not concerned with
consequences!
” She spat it out like it was a swear word.

“
Tss
. Then you are no better than a
human,
” Greyfur spat back, like he was using a swear word, too.

Maddy slipped her hand into mine. I glanced down –
her face was as pale as Aleena’s.

The crows gathered, congregating on the rocks in a mass of black, silent for once. Corvus watched from above, perched on a branch.

Greyfur stepped closer. “
Sssst!
You must not use the ring!”

Aleena peered down her nose at him, “And who exactly is going to stop me?”

Greyfur stepped up to Aleena, shoulders square. “I will stop you.”

Aleena laughed.

Eneirda joined him. “And I will stop you.
Tss
.”

Aleena shrugged.

Then Maddy slipped her hand out of mine and stood on Eneirda’s other side. They made a strange picture, Aleena tall and thin, her dark cloak swirling in the wind; Greyfur, Maddy and Eneirda all so small, clustered in front of her, trying to look intimidating.

I stepped forward. Even though I didn’t want to make Aleena mad, I couldn’t let Maddy stand there without me.

The crows joined me, first Corvus and the white-tipped crow, and then the rest of the flock, all walking forward, facing Aleena in silence.

She just laughed. “Even with all of you together, do you really think you can stop me?”