A Gypsy Song (The Eye of the Crystal Ball - The Wolfboy Chronicles) (21 page)

And she was determined that he would live even if it meant that she had to die. She had, therefore, made a pact with Manolo. Whoever of them survived—if either one did—that one would bring the cure to Marius. That was the goal. That was what they had been fighting for.

Manolo had agreed without hesitation. She even made him promise to leave her at the castle if that was necessary.

“I want to hear you say you promise,” she said.

“Okay, I do …”

“Do what?”

“I promise to bring the cure to Marius whatever it takes even if it means leaving you here.”

Now as they sat on the back of the wolf riding towards the goal of their quest Sara felt more confident than ever. Afraid or not, she was going to make it.

By midnight the rebels had reached the foot of the black castle. Still there seemed to be no sight of the either the Sombras or the cat. Marland the Mole had told Sara that the Sombras were like living dead souls, that they guarded the castle and the witch day and night and that they were not, like the animals, dependent on whether she was asleep or not, since they were already dead and therefore had no will of their own.

Sara slid off the wolf’s back and stood at the great gate leading to the big black castle.

“Behind the gate you will find the Labyrinth of Darkness that you have to pass to get to the stairs leading to the castle,” Marland the Mole told her. “The labyrinth is made of tall brick walls. Many have been lost in it and few have reached the other side.”

Sara looked at the army of creatures.

“We cannot all go in there and get lost,” she said. “I suggest that we take a small group and walk through. The rest of you will wait here and keep guard.”

So they took off and left the rest of the army behind. They being: three of the deer that went by the names Devin, Ceren and Ayala (the female one that was supposedly the best shooter among them). The big wolf, William; Marland the Mole; the bat with the face of a cat, who called himself Nibbles; the human-sized hedgehog that walked on two legs having the face and the beak of a crow, called Grover; two mice named Angel and Apollo (a female and a male, naturally); and then there was Sara and Manolo. And, oh yes, of course, the giant eagle in the sky called Arnaldo.

 Together they set off to find the one and only way through the labyrinth. Sara took the lead and the rest followed not looking back at the ones they left behind.

She began to wander through the labyrinth, encountering several dead ends and blind alleys, then turned around, tried another way while the others followed her in silence. No one spoke, no one made a sound. They were too close to the castle now.

A few corners later they encountered a thick mist that made them unable to see the ground below them and no more than a few feet ahead of them. Sara stepped very carefully, but even though she did, she occasionally stumbled over an unseen rock. As they walked, the mist seemed to grow, soon exceeding their heads. They could no longer see the path or even each other.

Marland the Mole spoke from within the mist:

“Let me lead you through, my hawk-vision can see through everything. I used to be able to spot an insect in the grass below me when I still could fly. A little mist won’t stop me.”

So they grabbed each other’s hands and let Marland pull them through the thick mist.

Soon it was gone and they came to a circle-shaped clearing. From it they could choose between seven roads to take—seven roads leading in seven totally different directions.

Sara sighed. Then she looked up in the sky at Arnaldo. Now it was his turn. From where he was, he was bound to be able to see which way they should choose.

She lifted her arm and signaled at him. The big bird dived and flew towards her. Then it circled a couple of times before it entered the path right in front of them. The one in the middle. Sara signaled the rest to follow her and they went in.

Sara sped up. The path they had chosen seemed completely deserted. She turned right and hurried. She kept looking in the sky to follow Arnaldo’s directions. It seemed to be working. She encountered no more dead ends or blind alleys. But they walked for long time and still there was nothing in sight and no signs that they were nearing the exit. The labyrinth grew taller and darker with every passing minute. Then they reached a second clearing this time with only three possible paths to choose.

Sara looked up.

“Direct us,” she whispered.

As if he heard her Arnaldo dived again and pointed towards her right, where there was no path, only a solid wall.

“This can’t be right,” she whispered.

The eagle kept circling over the wall and even sitting on it, so Sara approached it. She felt it with the palm of her hands. It seemed to be solid enough.

Then she pushed it. With all of her strength she pushed the wall until it started turning. Behind it another path appeared. When they entered, the wall slowly closed behind them.

The path ahead was empty, too, and when Sara reached a right turn she took it and again she found their way unblocked. She felt secure, until she turned the next corner and she saw a hyena blocking the way. Its head was slightly bent, its teeth snapping at them and it was growling making loud noises that Sara suddenly was afraid would wake up the witch. She approached it, but as she did its fur rose on the back. In one giant leap it jumped her knocking her down and causing her to hurt the back of her head as she fell. Its eyes were yellow as neon light in the darkness. It opened its mouth and showed off a set of razor-sharp teeth. Its claws ripped through her clothes. It lifted one of its claws in the air as if it was about to rip her face.

“No, please don’t,” Sara screamed while trying to cover up her face with her hand.

“I will deal with this,” William said and stepped forward. With one hit of the wolf’s paw, the hyena tumbled to the ground.

The hyena whined and, with a little stumbling, it got back on its legs and growled even louder at the sight of the big wolf approaching it. But by the time William had come close to it, it seemed to realize just how big its opponent was and the growling became more of a whining.

Seeing something in its eyes, Sara got back on her feet and then stepped forward.

“Sara be careful,” Manolo yelled.

But it was too late. Sara had made up her mind.

“Hyena, we will spare your life if you will tell us how to get out from here.”

The hyena whined.

“There is no way out. I have wandered these paths for years and years and never seen the exit.”

“You, too, are one of the animals Sensisaron has captured?” Sara said and kneeled in front of it.

“Oh yes,” the hyena replied with a great sigh. “I used to be the most beautiful nightingale, flying high in the sky. One day I was sitting in Sensisaron’s window in the castle, whistling my enchanting song, when I saw the ring. It was on her finger and I couldn’t help staring at it. The last thing I remember hearing was her ugly laughter. Then I woke up looking like this and she threw me in here. Since that I have been wandering trying to find the way out. And I have not been able to sing ever since.”

“Then join us,” Sara said. “For we are on our way to the castle to free all the animals from the spell of the ring. Will you come with us and fight for your freedom?”

The hyena bowed in front of her.

“I shall help you in any way I can.”

Left, right … and then left again. They walked the labyrinth with help from Arnaldo the eagle in the sky. Every now and then Sara was sure she saw the hyena look up at him with envy and a great longing in her eyes. She couldn’t think of a fate worse for a bird than to be bound to the ground, never being able to feel the wind beneath the wings again.

As they turned another corner, Sara was certain she saw a figure at the end of the next turn. It looked like the shape of someone running around the corner just as they entered the path.

“What was that?” she whispered.

“I don’t know,” Manolo said. “I didn’t see anything.” He turned and looked at the others. “Did you?”

They all shook their heads.

Since no one seemed to know or even have seen it, Sara let it go as something she had simply imagined. But as soon as she turned the next corner, there it was again. This time Sara started running towards it. But as she turned the next corner she barely saw it turn right at the end. With great speed she pursued it again just to see it disappear around the next corner. Every time she turned a corner Sara was certain that this time she would be able to catch up with it. She was determined that she would. But she never did. It always seemed to be just enough ahead of her to make her think she could catch it but still exactly far enough for her not to.

So it kept going for a while until Manolo finally grabbed Sara’s shoulder. She stopped and looked at her friends behind her. She realized that she had been so eager to catch this escaping shape that they had lost their way.

Marland the Mole shook his head.

“It is a trick. It is not real. You can never catch it. It is only a spell, meant to trick you to lose your way,” he said looking at her with his small eyes close to each other.

Sara sighed.

“I am sorry. I just thought it might have been one of the Sombras. I was so curious. I wanted to see what it looked like. I thought maybe if we could catch it we would have an advantage. ”

“Let’s go back a little to the clearing we passed earlier. From there Arnaldo can show us the way,” Manolo said and turned.

They walked for a while but never found the clearing again. It was as if it had vanished. Now they kept running into dead ends. Sara tried to see Arnaldo in the sky, but the walls had gotten so high it was impossible to see anything. It was as if the walls grew into the sky. They could only see a fracture of the black sky and in that there was no Arnaldo. Nipples tried to fly up and find him, but the walls were too high for him. With his cat face and tail he was a heavy bat and was unable to fly very far or very high. So he stayed just above their heads resting now and then on someone’s shoulder.

“How are we ever going to get out of here?” Sara asked. She sat down with her back against the wall. She closed her eyes. Suddenly it was like she heard her mother’s gentle voice in her head.

“It isn’t magic. It is logic,” she whispered.

She repeated it a few times before it was gone. Sara sat for awhile trying to hear her mother’s voice again, but nothing came. Then she opened her eyes and looked at Manolo before she rose and got up from the ground.

“I know which way to go,” she said and pressed on. “I really do,” she said again. “I know which way to go.” Then she started running as fast as she could.

The others were still grounded and didn’t move since they had no idea what was going on. The deer held their heads high while their eyes gazed from one to another, Grover the hedgehog stood with spiky fur, next to Henrietta the hyena. Apollo and Angel were sticking their heads out from Manolo’s pocket. Meanwhile, Nipples the bat stared at Sara with its yellow cat-eyes from Grover’s shoulder, while Marland and William were dumbfounded.

“Well, come on!” she yelled after them.

Manolo caught up with her. The rest followed a little reluctantly. (You couldn’t really blame them for it after Sara’s last run-away.)

“How do you suddenly know which way to go?” Manolo asked.

“It isn’t magic. It is logic.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It is getting darker, right?”

“Yes.”

“Because the walls are getting taller.”

“Yes, that is right, but…”

She pushed him to the right.

“Turn here,” she said and they did. “The closer you are to the exit the harder Sensisaron wants it to be, right? The more scary, the more impossible it will seem.”

“Probably, but…”

“So, we just follow the paths where the walls are getting higher and the darkness is increasing.”

Sara stopped at a fork and looked at the three paths in front of her. “We take the one on the left here,” she said and went on.

From thereon they met no more dead ends and no more obstacles, so little by little Manolo and the rest of the creatures were convinced by her theory which was quite simple if you think of it, but that is often the way with magic stuff and riddles like this.

All they had to do was to keep taking the path that seemed to be the most dark and difficult. The walls grew sky-high and the darkness almost swallowed them. They had to stick close together to not lose anyone behind. But soon as they turned that last corner they saw the long awaited entrance of the black castle right in front of them. Thirteen steps led to the tall black wooden door.

Behind it was everything that Sara desired.

18

ENTERING THE BLACK CASTLE

They walked the
stairs with caution, examining every step for traps, animals, plants or whatever might try and stop them. The three deer had their bows and arrows strapped, ready to shoot at whatever might come against them. If the doors opened they would shoot first and ask afterwards. Angel and Apollo, the two mice, had crept into Manolo’s pockets when they were still in the labyrinth. This way they were sure not to lose any of them. Now they were peeking out.

“How do we open it?” Apollo asked with a low voice.

Sara looked at the small mouse and then back at the door. A small crack over it had caught her attention.

“We don’t,” she whispered and looked back at the mouse. “You do.”

She opened her hand and put it next to Manolo’s pocket so Apollo could climb on to it. Then she lifted it towards the crack in the wall.

“Try and climb through,” she whispered. “Maybe it is a way in.”

Then she asked Nipples to grab Apollo and lift him all the way to the crack so the mouse could climb in.

When Apollo reached the crack he wiggled his nose and tried to come through, but halfway he couldn’t move anymore.