Dormia (30 page)

Alfonso could think of nothing to say, and stared awkwardly at his feet.

"Hey!" said Resuza suddenly. "Look at that."

Resuza pointed up to a large, perfectly square-shaped opening or cave that had been exposed during the avalanche. Steam was pouring out of the cave. The sight of the steam against the snow reminded Alfonso of a hot spring in wintertime.

"That's so weird," said Resuza. "That cave looks perfectly square."

"Yeah," said Alfonso. "And what's with all that steam? Let's go check it out."

It took them several minutes of climbing to reach the spot. The mouth of the cave was indeed shaped like a perfect square, although it didn't appear to be man-made. The rock had simply broken off in this manner. The truly amazing thing, however, was that the cave turned into a kind of square-shaped tunnel, which was at least thirty feet in height and width. Both Alfonso and Resuza peered into it. The tunnel burrowed down into the mountain at a steep angle. The walls of the tunnel were dark green and soft to the touch, as if covered with moss. The floor was dotted with chunks of rapidly melting ice. The melt from these ice chunks was draining down the tunnel and into the depths of the mountain.

"What on earth do you suppose this is?" asked Resuza.

"I don't know," said Alfonso. "It looks like a giant pipe of some kind—only the walls appear to be covered with algae or moss. Maybe it's a Uralian hot spring! I'm going to check—"

"For heaven's sakes, no!" said Resuza. She clutched his shoulder to hold him back. "It doesn't look safe."

"I'll just take a peek," he said as he shrugged off her hand and stepped deeper into the cave. A moment later, however, his feet slipped on the water and he began sliding down. Alfonso struck frantically at the wall to try to grab hold of something. At last, his feet stopped at a tiny ledge.

"ALFONSO! Are you all right?" yelled Resuza.

"Yes," yelled Alfonso. He looked back up at Resuza. He had slipped about twenty feet. "I'm on a little ledge but I don't know how stable it is," he yelled. "Can you get some rope?"

"There's some in the sled," yelled Resuza. "Hold on, I'll be right back!"

"Hurry!" he yelled to her. Alfonso felt his grip slipping, while small pieces of ice slid down and hit his head. Finally, Resuza reappeared at the mouth of the cave. "The rope!" she yelled. "Climb up—the rope is tied to the sled."

She tossed the rope down to Alfonso. He grabbed it with his free hand and began to pull himself up. Resuza saw that he was holding on, and she commanded the huskies to pull. They strained forward and slowly lifted up Alfonso. He emerged covered in snow and ice-cold water. Resuza's face had gone white.

"That was incredibly stupid!" she said angrily. "Who knows where you could have fallen! These mountains are no place for childish games."

"I know," said Alfonso bashfully. "I'm sorry."

They stood there, staring at each other. "What do you suppose it is?" Resuza eventually asked. "I've never seen anything like it."

"I don't know," said Alfonso. His voice was still trembling. "But it looks like it just keeps going down forever and ever."

"Perhaps Masha or Rosalina will know what this is," said Resuza.

"We can't tell them or anyone else about this!" blurted out Alfonso. "Uncle Hill would kill me if he hears what I did."

Resuza nodded.

"Okay," she said, "I'll keep your secret if you keep a secret of mine."

"What's your secret?" asked Alfonso.

"Well, it's not exactly a secret, it's more like something I overheard," said Resuza. "It's really quite silly—"

"What is it?" asked Alfonso impatiently.

"Last night, before I left to sleep outside, do you remember how the sisters were playing a game of cards?"

Alfonso nodded.

"Well they weren't actually playing a game," said Resuza. "They were reading tarot cards and talking in their village dialect, Tagolosh, which is quite similar to my native tongue. Anyway, do you remember how they kept on mumbling and acting strange? It was because Rosalina kept on drawing the death card. They said that when we cross the forest, one of us will die."

T
HE FOLLOWING
day there was nothing to do but wait. Everyone in the little stone house was thinking the same thing: would Hill reemerge from the woods at the end of the day? To be sure, Hill was in excellent shape. Throughout the entire journey he had never complained of getting tired or sore. But the trail through the forest was long and Hill had to finish it twice in two consecutive days. And then, of course, there was the added challenge of not looking backwards. This sounded easy enough, but in practice, it was actually quite tricky. Alfonso knew full well that when a branch cracks behind you, it is only natural to glance backwards. When he was tramping around in the pine forests near World's End, Minnesota, he
looked around all the time without even thinking. Just one such glance would ensure Hill's doom.

They were sitting in the kitchen, just before sunset, when Bilblox called for Alfonso, who came over to his blind friend. Bilblox asked if they could go outside for a second.

Alfonso nodded, grabbed his jacket, and led his friend out into the cold.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I'm worried," Bilblox replied softly. His white eyes gleamed. "I ain't been able to see more than shadows for almost two days. How am I gonna make it through the forest?"

"Everything will be fine," Alfonso replied reassuringly. "The path through the forest seems to be easy—you just have to go straight. Plus, it looks like there are stones or some kind of gravel on the path. If you veer off, you'll feel the ground change under your feet. And we'll make it as easy as possible for you. Maybe you shouldn't carry anything."

"Maybe," replied Bilblox doubtfully. "But I still gotta carry the bloom! Ya know how heavy that thing has gotten?"

Alfonso frowned. Bilblox was right. The plant had been growing at an astounding rate. Earlier in the day, Rosalina had given him a large terracotta pot, and then, with Bilblox's help, he had re-potted the bloom into it. The whole thing weighed close to fifty pounds, and the only person who could carry it with any ease was Bilblox. But could they really trust him to carry the bloom?

"Come on," said Alfonso. "We'll figure all of this out when Hill returns. Let's go to the edge of the woods and wait for him."

The two of them walked down to the spot where the three boulders sat by the edge of the woods. The sun was dropping
rapidly now. Alfonso fixed his eyes on the opening. He could still see Hill's footprints in the snow from the day before. A stiff gust of wind blasted through the woods, pushing loose bits of snow this way and that. The sky darkened to a deep sapphire blue. And then, quite suddenly, Hill appeared. He was walking briskly, his spine ramrod straight, and whistling a tune. He walked up to the spot where Alfonso was standing and embraced him tiredly. "My dear nephew," he said. "It is so good to see you again."

Alfonso hugged him back. "How was the journey?" he asked.

"Long," said Hill. "But I'm confident it can be done by any of us."

"Any problems with the Straszydlo?" asked Bilblox.

"None at all," said Hill. "Once I heard something walking behind me, but that was it. I went quickly and certainly never glanced backwards. Maybe the old ladies are exaggerating."

That night, over dinner, Hill recounted his journey. The path itself, Hill confirmed, was perfectly straight. Midway down the trail, there was a stream but the water was frozen solid and easy to cross. At the far end of the woods, Hill had found a small cave where he built a fire and slept very well. That cave would be their meeting point on the other side. Taking the dogs was impossible, so they made arrangements to leave them with Rosalina and Masha. The two sisters were very pleased with this arrangement, since the dogs would make excellent companions for Sam.

Next, they discussed the order in which they would make the journey. They soon decided that Resuza would go first, since she had already proven that she knew how to sleep out in the wild at this time of year. Next would be Bilblox, then Alfonso,
then Hill, and—finally—Spack. This order would give Hill time to rest and Spack time to get in shape. If all went well, they would all be on the other side of the forest in five days' time.

"So," said Hill happily, "the only matter left to decide is who will carry the Dormian bloom. Obviously, in his state, Bilblox cannot do it. So I will volunteer for the task."

"Wait a minute," said Bilblox indignantly. "I've been doin' a pretty good job so far!"

"You misunderstood me," said Hill. "We all know that you have done an excellent job of carrying the bloom—and we are deeply indebted to you—but you
are
blind and it will be hard enough to cross the forest on your own, let alone cross it with a very heavy plant."

"Maybe I could do it," said Alfonso hopefully. "There's a wheelbarrow in the front yard. Maybe we could put the bloom in the wheelbarrow and I could push the thing across the forest?"

"Hmm," said Hill. "I don't know."

"It's a complete mystery to me why you're lugging that odd-looking plant through the forest," said Rosalina with a slight chuckle. "Who ever heard of such a thing? Where are you taking it anyway? And why?"

"Yes," chimed in Masha. "I'd like to know that as well."

"Well," began Hill, "I'm afraid we can't—"

"Trust you!" finished Bilblox. "They don't trust anyone—even their own friends!"

Alfonso let out a sigh of frustration, but said nothing.

"Let's sleep on this," said Hill finally. "Hopefully, in the morning, we'll all agree on a solution."

While everyone prepared for bed, Rosalina poured Hill a
steaming cup of finklegrog and asked if he had, by chance, come across the statue of the one-eyed man.

Hill clapped his knees. "Of course!" he said. "I almost forgot about that." He described the statue to the others: "It was most curious. Just after the stream crossing there was a large, stone statue of a man with just one eye. And beneath it, there was an engraving of some kind."

"Yes, yes, yes," squawked Rosalina. "That is the statue of the cyclops. He used to roam these parts, hundreds of years ago, or so the legend goes."

"What does the inscription say?" asked Hill. "I couldn't read whatever language it was in."

"It is written in the ancient language of Mezscrit, which is no longer spoken, of course," said Rosalina. "My grandfather said it was a poem:

This old sphere may be pried.
Many a clever person has tried.
Remember how the cyclops died.
Through the ear and not the eye.

What exactly does the future hold?
Its many secrets remain untold.
Hidden in the burning hot and biting cold.
Is the key to a future foretold.
"

"What does that mean?" asked Alfonso.

"I have no idea," replied Rosalina. "I suppose it is a riddle, but who has time to experiment with such foolishness when crossing through Straszydlo Forest?"

"I bet there are more clues on the statue," said Alfonso eagerly.

"Don't get any ideas, boy," chirped Rosalina. "When you cross the forest you don't dilly-dally for any reason. You just get across."

"Yes," said Hill sternly. "Don't even think about wasting time on that statue."

"Fine," said Alfonso testily. "I won't."

"Good," said Hill. "Now let's all go to bed."

***

Resuza set out for the forest at first light the following morning. Alfonso was there to see her off. She was quiet on the way to the three boulders and at the departure point, she turned and gave Alfonso a firm handshake. "Don't worry," she said confidently. "No matter what, I'll be fine."

"I know," replied Alfonso. "Just go as fast as you can."

With that, she turned and strode into the forest. Within a hundred feet, she had disappeared from view.

After a hearty breakfast of wild-grass bread and freshly churned butter, Alfonso, Hill, Bilblox, and Spack gathered in the front yard to inspect the sisters' wheelbarrow. It was a rickety, old, wooden device with a squeaky metal wheel. For the rest of the morning, Alfonso and Hill practiced rolling the wheelbarrow, which was loaded with both the Dormian bloom and Spack's coffin. The load was extremely top-heavy and neither Alfonso nor Hill could maneuver it with any success. The
wheelbarrow lurched from side to side, and proved extremely difficult to keep balanced.

"I first pushed around a wheelbarrow at the age of five," Bilblox proclaimed. "Ya oughta let me do it."

"By all rights, the Great Sleeper should carry the bloom," said Spack, who up until now had remained silent on this subject. "Especially since Bilblox is blind. I won't ask how it happened, but I have my suspicions..." She stood there awkwardly, her arms folded. "Wanderers must take risks, and for the sake of the group I am willing to make the following gesture: if it's too much trouble, we don't need to take the coffin, especially since it is in such terrible shape."

"Good," said Hill. "That should make the load much easier to push."

They removed the bloom from the coffin, and placed it in one of the large sealskin packs that Hill had bought in Barsh-yin-Binder. They then placed the pack in the wheelbarrow and secured it tightly so it wouldn't move around. Unfortunately, even with the coffin removed, the wheelbarrow was still both heavy and unstable. Alfonso and Hill were able to maneuver it, but neither of them felt confident that they could push it all the way across the forest. Indeed, Alfonso felt exhausted after pushing it for just fifteen minutes, and Hill couldn't go much more than an hour.

"Look," said Bilblox finally. "Whether ya like it or not, yer gonna have to let me push that wheelbarrow."

Alfonso nodded wearily.

"I'm afraid Bilblox is right," said Hill. "That seems to be our only option."

"No!" hissed Spack. "That giant oaf burned a leaf of the bloom, didn't he? Whether or not you admit it, I know that's what happened! He shouldn't even be on this trip, much less anywhere near the bloom."