Everflame (30 page)

“Then you do know how I feel, Tomas.”

“I wish that we had something like the Everflame,” said Tomas.

“The Everflame is a symbol, Tomas. It has no power. It’s just a re
minder of something we all have, our spirit. And it is to this spirit that we are accountable, not to an all-powerful tyrant, not even to ancient creators, simply to ourselves. By making an oath to the Everflame, I am merely making an oath to all that I am. If I break that oath, it is I who suffer the greatest loss, and nothing can change that. All these men who barter with their Holy for forgiveness should ask themselves, first, for this forgiveness. They would not find it so easy to come by. We all have the ability to judge our own hearts, and we should all have the courage to do so.”

“Then I think that I have sworn on the Everflame. I think all of us Floyds have.” Tomas turned around and looked at his brother. He knew that Ben could hear what they were saying. He wasn’t far enough away not to. But Ben still had an absence to him. He was somewhere else right now. Tomas turned back to the night sky and to Whiteclaw. “Do you regret not going with Evercloud?”

“Would I have felt better if I were the one to go? Yes. But I don’t regret it. It was the right decision. We bears have a saying, ‘a tree will not grow tall in the shadows.’ This was Evercloud and Riverpaw’s time to grow tall.” Tomas nodded, silently staring out into the distance. It seemed as though all of his questions had finally run out. “Maybe it would be better to get some rest than to stay up, wondering.” Whiteclaw stood up and walked toward the inside of the room. Tomas followed and took a seat at the table. Whiteclaw looked and Ben, now noticing the man’s conflicted visage. “Ben,” he said. “Stop worrying yourself and get some sleep.” Whiteclaw continued walking to the back of the room, where he planned on curling up in a corner.

“Whiteclaw.”

Whiteclaw turned back around to see Ben, standing from his chair and staring at him with what seemed to be shame in his eyes.

“Yes?” Whiteclaw said with a hint of concern.

“There is something that I,” and then he looked at his brother, “that we, need to tell you.” Tomas looked at his brother, wide-eyed. “It has been tearing me apart, knowing that there are things we are keeping from you, things that we have sworn to keep from you, and anyone else. But I cannot do it any longer, because I don’t believe that it is right to keep it from you. Especially now.”

“Ben,” said Tomas. “I don’t–”

“Please, Tomas. It will be easier if I do this.”

Whiteclaw looked at the two men very sternly, worried what surprises this conversation would hold. Just then, a flash of light enveloped the room. Whiteclaw, Ben and Tomas spun around to see Riverpaw and Evercloud, covered from head to toe in some sort of black goo, clinging to each other.

They looked around and realized that they had made it back. They looked down at themselves and began feeling their bodies to make sure that all of their parts were still there. Riverpaw, still holding the hammer in his mouth, dropped it to the floor and looked at Evercloud.

“We did it. We made it.”

The two cousins flung themselves at each other in exhilaration and relief, barely noticing the others in the room. But it wasn’t long before those others made their presence known. Whiteclaw barreled into the two of them, knocking them to the floor. Unable to contain his excitement at their return, he began laughing and pawing at them. They all laughed and then got back to their feet.

“We did it,” said Evercloud. “The apple and the hammer.”

Now Ben and Tomas were there to meet them with handshakes that quickly turned into embraces. No one was able to contain their elation.

“Tell us everything,” said Ben. “All of the details.”

So they all sat down at the table and Evercloud began to relate the story of their time in Oldham’s Bog while Riverpaw stuffed himself with food and drink. After a while, Riverpaw took the telling of the story over and Evercloud was free to gorge himself.

“I would have killed that vulture,” said Tomas.

“I wanted to,” replied Riverpaw.

Everyone took turns asking questions
, and Evercloud and Riverpaw answered them all in full, relishing the role of heroes, now that they had returned safe.

“Who do you think it was, whispering in the fog?” asked Tomas.

“Probably the souls of the people who never found their way out,” said Evercloud.

“You must have b
een petrified,” said Ben.

“Of course not,” said Riverpaw. “We had a job to do, didn’t we?”

Once they had all finished asking their questions, Evercloud put the apple and the hammer on the table for everyone to see. The hammer looked rather ordinary, with the exception of the head being made of what looked like bone. From what creature it had been derived, it was impossible to tell. What really captured everyone’s attention was the apple. They all took turns holding it, mesmerized by its glow.

“One taste will kill you,” said Riverpaw.

“I’m just happy to see you two back, safe,” said Whiteclaw. “Wasn’t the same without you.”

The two cousins beamed.

“Did anything interesting happen here?” asked Evercloud.

The room became dreadfully silent and it was apparent that something had. Ben looked
into his brother’s eyes.

“Let me do this, Tomas.” Ben stared Tomas down until he agreed and then Ben addressed Whiteclaw, Riverpaw and Evercloud. “I actually feel better about this, now that you two are back. I feared that Whiteclaw may kill me while you were gone.” Ben tried to smile, indicating his joke, but it quickly faded in the face of cold gazes. “Before I say what I need to say, the three of you need to understand that our intentions have always been good. Our mission, like yours, has always been to find the Ancients. It has been passed down in our family for more generations than we know. We never lied to you about that. But when this mission was passed down, a prophecy came along with it. It was a simple prophecy, really. It basically says that ‘an unlikely pair’ will free the Ancients and defeat the Great Tyrant. We think that Evercloud and Riverpaw are that unlikely pair.”

“Why don’t you tell us what this prophecy says, exactly?” said Whiteclaw. Ben thought about it, trying to recollect the exact words. When he seemed to have got them, he began:

“In the world’s most desperate hour of need,

Earthly elements shall be set free
.

And evil tyrants should beware
,

The coming of an unlikely pair
.

“So, like I said, we believe that Riverpaw and Evercloud are the unlikely pair.”

“That seems like a very small amount of information to go upon,” said Whiteclaw.

“Well, yes,” said Ben, “I understand what you’re saying. But when you also take into consideration the fact that you were the first to answer the call, then–”

“What call?” asked Whiteclaw.

“This is the part that was slightly underhanded on our part. I don’t really know how to say this–”

“Out with it,” growled Whiteclaw.

“It has been our family’s mission to find the Ancients. Given what the prophecy says, we saw that it was also our mission to find the unlikely pair. So we did things that would entice the pair to find us.”

“The foot
print?” asked Whiteclaw.

“A lie,” said Ben.

“The feather?” asked Evercloud.

“A fake,” said Ben.

Whiteclaw stood up and roared at Ben. “I should tear you limb from limb, you stupid man.”

Ben stammered as he backed away. “B-But the mouse. T-The mouse was real. And you’ve seen it twice now.
A-And the statue, and the Padre-”

“Could all be liars like you,” roared Whiteclaw.

Evercloud stepped between Ben and his uncle, and Whiteclaw stopped growling. “We saw him, Uncle. You and Riverpaw and I. We saw him in the sky. We acted to stop him. Ben and Tomas want to help us. They didn’t need to tell us what they just did, but they wanted to. They wanted to make it right. They are on our side.”

Whiteclaw backed off, seeing the truth in what Evercloud sai
d, but as he did, he said to Ben, “Next time there is danger, it better be you risking your neck, Ben Floyd.”

“I think we should all get some rest,” said Riverpaw. “This has been a day I’d very much like to forget.”

They all found a place to lie down. Riverpaw and Evercloud fell asleep first, obviously exhausted, and Whiteclaw was not very far behind. The brothers Floyd, however, did not sleep so easily, having just narrowly missed a bear attack. They both hoped they had not irreparably damaged Whiteclaw’s trust.

Tomas le
aned over to Ben and whispered, “Shouldn’t we also tell them about–”

“No,” Ben cut him off harshly. “No, we should not. Now go to sleep.”

Chapter 28: Light in the Darkness

There wasn’t a lot of talking when they had all woken up in the morning. They avoided each other almost completely, each taking their meal at the table when nobody else happened to be there. Even Riverpaw and Evercloud didn’t say much to each other, both feeling that any conversation started would only bring the issues of the previous night back into focus. Riverpaw looked over at his father who was sitting near the open end of the room, observing the sky.
He’s worried
, thought Riverpaw.
He’s always worried when he sky gazes.
Riverpaw wanted to go over to his father, but he knew that pairing off now could permanently damage the overall group. There were some unwritten rules in life, and Riverpaw understood that the only people who could fix this problem were his father and Ben, no one else.

Ben sat at the table
, but he barely ate anything, nerves sapping his appetite. If he had jeopardized his family’s quest because of his scruples, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself. Ben looked at his brother who was across the room.
Have I failed us?
He tore a small chunk of bread from a loaf and poked it into his mouth. He wanted to say something to Whiteclaw, anything to break the tension, but he thought better of it.
What could I say? We lied, and we still have secrets.

Tomas hadn’t exactly been last night’s target, but Whiteclaw’s reaction had put enough fear into him that he was keeping his mouth shut. He sat on the floor, up against a wall
, and picked at an orange that he had taken from the table. He hadn’t wanted Ben to tell their secrets, but now that he had, he wondered how it was right to divulge some secrets but not all. He was starting to feel the weight of conscience that Ben had been dealing with last night, and he didn’t like it at all.
I know what’s right,
he thought.
It’s right to protect the ones we love.

Whiteclaw was struggling with his own inner turmoil. Was it more important to keep his guard up, ultimately protecting his family and himself, or was it necessary to have allies, even though trust brought risk. He weighed the benefits and disadvantages in his mind
, and as he did so, he began to notice something sobering. Weren’t Ben and Tomas doing the very same thing that he was, protecting the ones that they love, while still trying to gain alliances? He would have never divulged family secrets without first establishing trust. This new revelation softened Whiteclaw, and in a strange way, he almost felt that he could trust Ben and Tomas more because of their loyalty to their family. Not so unlike himself.

Whiteclaw got up and walked over to the table, sitting near Ben. The man looked up at the bear, prepared for the worst, but tried not to show his fear.

“I cannot blame you for acting in the best interest of your family,” said Whiteclaw. “It is no different from what I would do. I should not have overreacted.”

Ben began to respond but found his throat dry. He coughed and grabbed for a cup of water. Th
en, again, he tried to respond.

“
I am sorry that things had to be the way that they were. I appreciate that you understand why we made the decisions that we did.”

“We are much alike, Ben. Hoping for a better future, yet so stubborn in holding on to the ways of the past.”

“But we’re learning, aren’t we?”

“I suppose we are.”

Tomas heard the conversation and walked over to the table, standing next to Whiteclaw. “So we’re okay?”

“We’re okay,” Whiteclaw confirmed.

Tomas nodded and tried to smile, but it still felt awkward and forced. Riverpaw and Evercloud came over and sat at the table with the rest of the group. Evercloud placed the hammer and the apple on the table and raised his eyebrows.

“So, what do we do now?”

“We know from what the parchment says that we need to use the apple to poison the two guardians,” said Riverpaw. “Though where we can find the two guardians is still a mystery.”

“And we still don’t know what the hammer is for,” added Evercloud.

“Well, as far as the apple is concerned,” said Whiteclaw, “it would seem to be a disadvantage that we have only one apple for two guardians.”