Everflame (24 page)

The group continued down the passageway for a long time. More than once did they question if there might have been a fork in the tunnel that they had missed. However, every time the question was raised, it brought about the sam
e conclusion. It did not matter, they wouldn’t be able to find it in the darkness, keep moving. They had no idea for how long they had been walking or even what time of day it was. All that they knew was that they were tired and they wouldn’t be able to continue much longer without rest. They walked and walked for what felt like hours and finally, Ben called for a halt.

“We need to rest. We have no idea how much further this goes. We should sleep.”

Nobody argued with Ben. They were all tired. As they lay down, Evercloud remembered something he had been meaning to tell the bears. He took his opportunity now, figuring a little levity may help their sleep.

“Uncle, do you remember when you told me to use a human name while in the village?”

“Yes,” said Whiteclaw.

“Well, the name I chose was John. John Ball.”

The bears began to laugh heartily, the echo carrying down the passageway.

“I don’t understand,” whispered Tomas to Ben. “The Balls are a very nice family.”

“I assume, Tomas, that there are some things that we are better off not knowing,” replied Ben. “Have a good sleep.”

Once the laughter died down, everyone fell happily to sleep.

• • •

No light came to wake the weary travelers. Riverpaw was the first to rise. He had no idea what time it was or for how long he had been asleep. One hour? Possibly ten? His body was a little sore, but he felt ready to conti
nue, so he called to the others.

“Breakfast time. Get up and get your food.”

The rest of the party lazily opened their eyes. Tomas lifted his head up.

“I’m starving,” he said. “What’s for breakfast?”

Riverpaw chuckled. “Nothing. I just knew that would get you up.”

“That’s a lousy joke,” whined Tomas. He rubbed his belly and pouted in the darkness, not understanding why all of the jokes seemed to be confusing or at his expense.

They all took out some stale bread that they had in their packs and munched on it, washing it down with water from their skins.

“Ugh. I think that Esteban’s delicious food and drink may have spoiled us,” said Ben, choking down his bread.

After they had eaten, they wasted no time in continuing the journey.

“Pray for light, everyone,” called Ben.

“Pray it doesn’t blind us when we finally see it again,” muttered Tomas.

The fates seemed to be shining on them this day, for it wasn’t long before they saw a dull light in the distance. They now moved forward more rapidly, eager to see the end of the passageway.

“There are two torches,” said Ben. “Looks like they are on the walls. They must be in front of a door. We’re almost there.”

Able to see more and more with every step, the travelers rushed forward in excitement. But as they reached the torches, shoulders and spirits fell once again.

“Some great sign these torches turned out to be,” said Riverpaw.

There was no door in front of the torches, no break in the passageway at all. Merely a change in direction as the path turned into a flight of st
airs, going up as far as they could see.

“Do you think we’ve reached the mountains?” asked Evercloud.

“Only one way to find out,” said Ben, and the group began to climb the staircase.

Their path was no longer impeded by darkness, as torches lined the walls intermittently. This gave the group hope that they were close and morale rose a little higher. Tomas figured he’d break the monotonous silence with a song:

“Oh
, there once was a girl who enchanted my world,

And her eyes were as bright as the sea.

If I could’ve, I swear, I’d have married her there.

But her waves, they weren’t crashing on me.”

At this point, Ben decided to join in for the chorus:

“Oh Delilah, Delilah, what can I do?

I’m lost in the ocean alone.

And I pray for the waves, that one of these days,

Will deliver me onto your shore.”

Riverpaw turned to Evercloud. “Want to dance?”

Evercloud shook his head. “Between their depressing songs and your bad jokes, I think I may have been better off staying at the cave with Iolana.” Evercloud’s face went red.
Why did I say that?
he thought. The brothers Floyd had stopped singing now, and Evercloud hoped that it didn’t have to do with what he had said. He looked over to find Riverpaw, laughing quietly. Evercloud hit Riverpaw on the shoulder. “Stop laughing at me,” he whispered.

“Then stop making a fool of yourself,” replied Riverpaw.

Evercloud frowned and continued to climb the endless staircase.

Hours went by and still the travelers climbed. Short breaks were taken far more often as the climb was proving to be quite arduous. The bears and Evercloud were doing far better than the brothers Floyd, having lived on a mountain and having dealt with inclines. However, no one was fi
nding the climb to be pleasant.

“We have to be close,” said Ben, breathing heavily. “The desert is not that large. Even walking through the sand, we would have been well into the White Mountains hours ago.”

As if on cue, Tomas looked up. “I think I see the end of the stairs.”

And indeed he did. The party had reached the top of the staircase and it had brought them to a short corridor with large red double doors at its end. Everyone smiled as their spirits soared, though smiling was all they had the energy to do. They reached the doors and Ben knocked upon them.

Slowly, the doors began to open away from them. Orange light poured over their faces and it seemed as if it was the brightest light any of them had seen in their lives. It was the light of the sun. They walked into a large room with a table placed in its center. Many ornate chairs lined the sides of the table and it seemed quite awkward, alone in such a large room.  As their eyes adjusted to the light, they looked toward where it came from and noticed that the room they were in was open to the sky at one end, as if an entire wall had been forgotten in the planning. The sun played along the line of the mountain range, glowing in its heavenly perch. They had, in fact, been climbing through a mountain as Evercloud had guessed. Now, they stood in some sort of room, dug out of the side of a mountain, looking out upon the range. The scene in front of them was inspiring and the air was crisp and fresh, filling their weary muscles with renewed energy.

“This must be higher than Gray Mountain,” said Riverpaw
, in awe of the beautiful vista.

“I believe it is,” added Whiteclaw. He turned away from the orange glow of the sun to gaze at the rest of the room. It was a very long room
, with little decoration, save for the table and chairs. Though at the other end of the room seemed to be the statue of a man. Whiteclaw began to walk across the room toward it. The others noticed his departure and began to follow him.

The party reached the statue and looked upon it. It wasn’t especially large for a statue, no bigger than a normal sized man. It seemed to be cast in some polished metal that no one could recognize. The statue stood at attention with its eyes fixed upon the horizon. The group looked around at the rest of the room, hoping to find a clue
, but there was nothing.

“What are we supposed to do now?” asked Riverpaw, rhetorically.

Suddenly, the eyes of the statue began to glow red and a voice emanated from its metal frame.

“Who has passed the test?” asked the voice.

The group looked at Evercloud. He stepped forward, in front of the statue and answered, “I have.”

The statue made a whirring sound and the red glow of the eyes changed to a deep blue. Then a small click was heard and the voice returned.

“Take the parchment and candle. Good luck to you.”

The door of a small compartment in the torso of the statue swung open slowly. Evercloud looked inside to find a small piece of parchment and a candle. He took them out and turned them over in his han
ds. The candle was plain enough, yellow, roughly the length of his hand and not even two fingers thick. The parchment was ordinary as well, yet it was weathered and folded in upon itself. He unfolded it and saw a message had been written in ink. He read it aloud:

Whoever has passed the test must be brave and strong and true,

To travel down to Oldham’s Bog and retrieve these items two
.

An apple from the tree of death, none ever seen so red
,

To poison both the guardians and free the wind again
.

Next the hammer she hath made from oak and steel and bone
,

Nestled tightly underneath the witch’s cursed throne
.

Use the candle for passage quick to the bog and back
,

Two may go and two may come but must stay close at hand
.

The world is old and full of lies but also full of truth
,

And here between the earth and sky the questions fall to you
.

“So we have to travel to a bog?” asked Tomas.

“
We
won’t be doing anything,” said Whiteclaw. “Evercloud passed the test. It is he who must travel to Oldham’s Bog.”

“Well it sounds like I can take someone with me. The parchment says that the candle can take
two there and bring two back.” Evercloud looked at everyone. “So who should I take?”

“That is your decision,” answered Whiteclaw. “We cannot choose for you.”

Evercloud looked around. Who to choose? Should he choose whom he wanted to choose, or whom it made the most sense to choose? As he pondered his decision, Riverpaw stepped forward.

“I don’t care if it is your decision,” he said to Evercloud. “If you think you’re going to leave me here with that creepy statue while you’re off having all the fun, then you’ve lost your mind.”

Evercloud smiled at his cousin. “Well, since you asked so nicely.”

“So
, what are we supposed to do?” asked Tomas. He walked over to the table and had himself a seat. As soon as he sat down, the table was covered with food and drink. His eyes widened as he gazed at the sumptuous dishes before him.

“We eat,” said Ben, his mouth watering.

Evercloud filled his pack with some of the food and then looked at the candle. “I guess this must work once it’s lit.”

“Yes,” said Whiteclaw, “but the parchment seems to suggest that you and Riverpaw must remain in physical contact while it works.”

“Fair enough,” said Evercloud and hoisted himself onto Riverpaw’s back.

“Make sure you two return to us,” said Whiteclaw. “Even if you have not completed the task. We can always try it again. Do not be foolish.”

Riverpaw and Evercloud nodded.

“Here,” said Tomas, handing a lit match to Evercloud. “I took it from the Padre’s place.”

Evercloud took the match in one hand and held the candle out in his other and then looked down at Riverpaw.

“You ready for this?”

“I’ve been waiting my whole life for something like this,” Riverpaw replied with a grin.

Evercloud lit the candle and with a flash
, they were gone, without a trace.

Chapter 22:
Biding Time

The little tavern along the road from Kreskin to Gable wasn’t seeing the business that it used to. This was due to the feud that had been going on, for years now, between the two most powerful families in each village: the Laughlin family of Gable and the Montgomery family of Kreskin. It had all started with a rumor that Lady Montgomery and Lord Laughlin had been having a secret affair. Rumors being what they were, it spread like a plague upon the two villages, reaching the most esteemed doorsteps of the Montgomery’s and Laughlin’s respective estates. Lord Montgomery, being none too pleased with what he was hearing, questioned his wife on the matter. Without hesitation, the Lady denied the accusations and called for retribution against whoever started such a nasty rumor. The tales of her husband’s infidelity also shook Lady Laughlin. In his defense, Lord Laughlin swore that he would find the vile perpetrator.

So
, the search began. The villagers of Kreskin and Gable were all interviewed on the matter, mostly by thugs, working under the command of the effected lords. These thugs, being what they were, were very adept at extracting information from the villagers. However, under the pressures of certain “tactics” used by the thugs, the information being given was not always reliable.

In the end, every
person in both villages had been implicated by someone. Everyone, with the exception for a man by the name of Derrick Kane of Kreskin. After much deliberation, the two lords decided that Derrick Kane of Kreskin was, indeed, the perpetrator, and had, in fact, scared all of the villagers into giving any name but his own. It was decided that Derrick Kane would be hung in Kreskin Square. Derrick Kane’s last words, as he stood with a noose around his neck, were still remembered in both villages to this day.