The Nexus Ring (7 page)

“But what about Aleena, and the troll? Won’t they try to follow us?”

“Aleena expects us to stay here. And we’ll bring a torch, to fight her off.”

“And the troll?”

“I don’t know. Maybe we can go really fast, so he can’t keep up.”

Maddy didn’t look convinced, and I didn’t feel it, but I couldn’t think of another plan, so we set to ­work.

We built up the fire and put the end of a thick branch in the flames. Then we stripped down to our underwear. I stuffed our clothes and runners into my hoodie, then we walked down to the lake. We found a log floating near the shore. I held it steady while Maddy scrambled on. When I let go, the log rolled, dumping Maddy into the ­water.

“I guess you can’t carry the clothes,” I said.

“No kidding,” she muttered, wiping water from her ­eyes.

I found a second log, and tied them together with our pants. Then Maddy climbed on top. She held the rest of our clothes in my hoodie, and waved the burning stick in the air. “Let’s go,” she said, pigtails ­dripping.

“Easy for you to say,” I grumbled as I swam, pushing the raft ahead of me. Every time something brushed against my legs, I thought it was Aleena. I’d surge forward, then tire and rest. Then something else would brush past me and I’d be off again, struggling to push the raft as fast as my racing heart would let me. By the time we reached the shore of the lake, I was ­exhausted.

Maddy untied our pants and wrung them out, then put her own clothes back on. I pulled on my dry ­t-­shirt and hoodie, then struggled into wet ­jeans.

I picked up the smouldering torch and we set off. We oozed through mud to the edge of a stream, then waded across. The water washed off the worst of the mud, but soon we were walking through more on the other ­side.

Squelch, ooze. Squelch, ­ooze.

Finally the ground rose, and we found a fallen tree to perch on. We tried to bang off the mud, but it just splattered up our legs and onto our hands. We wiped our hands on some leaves and kept walking. It had to get better after ­this.

It didn’t. Maddy wanted to follow the creek, but I insisted we walk along the flank of the mountain, so I could spot the tunnel. Except that took us straight into dense forest. We pushed our way through the trees, getting scratched and tired and more and more confused. I longed for Dad, or at least for his compass, a map and a lesson on how to use them. Finally, we sat on a boulder to ­rest.

“I don’t know where we are,” I said. “I can’t see anything from here. Maybe I should climb those rocks, so I can look around.”

Maddy looked at the rock face I was pointing to, then at me. “Josh, you don’t know how to rock climb.”

“I can try,” I said. I handed Maddy the torch, then started climbing. The rock face was like a little cliff in the middle of the forest. I climbed quickly at first, then, when I realized how high I was, more carefully. Somehow I managed to pull myself high enough to see above the trees. To my right, the forest opened into sunshine, and I could see a mountain across the valley. I grinned. That must be where the second tunnel spiralled. Now I knew where we were! But as I looked to the left my grin faded. I started sliding down the rock ­face.

“Maddy, the troll is coming,” I whispered. “Run, through there.” I pointed to the right, into the forest. “Get into sunlight.”

Maddy stood, waiting for ­me.

“Run!” I said. “I’ll be right behind you.”

She dashed off as I clambered down the rocks. Soon I was pounding along behind her. I could hear the troll cursing as he crashed through the forest. And then I heard Maddy ­scream.

“Maddy, where are you?”

I burst out of the trees, then slid to a stop, teetering on the edge of a cliff. I peered down. Maddy was clinging to a ledge partway down the cliff, her legs ­dangling.

“Hang on, Maddy, I’m coming!” She twisted around to look up, but I shouted, “Don’t move. Just hang on. I’ll be right there.”

The cliff was steep, but not vertical. And it was in the sun, so the troll couldn’t reach us. I could hear him, though, cursing at the edge of the ­forest.

I lowered myself over the edge, aiming just to the left of Maddy. Slowly I worked my way down the cliff face. All the while I talked to Maddy, trying to sound like Dad. “Hold tight, Maddy. I’ll be there in a sec.” My foot slipped and I almost fell. I bit my tongue to stop myself from crying out. I could taste ­blood.

Finally I could feel the ledge under my right toe, and I eased down to it. It was barely wide enough to stand on, but it widened towards Maddy. I worked my way along it, then sat with my back braced against the wall and grabbed Maddy. With me pulling and Maddy scrambling, she wiggled up beside ­me.

We just sat there a while, Maddy filthy and scratched and scared, me with torn hands and bleeding tongue, heart thumping. Dark clouds rolled in, blocking the sun. All the time I was climbing, I was focused on getting to Maddy. But now, safe for the moment, words banged around my head like bumper cars.
We’ll never get down ­– the troll will catch us – we’ll never get ­home.

Finally Maddy took a huge breath, blew it out, and said, her voice quavering, “I was so scared. I thought I was going to fall all the way.”

“I know,” I said. “You were really brave. Now you need to be brave again, so we can climb to the bottom.”

Maddy looked way down between her feet, then at me, horrified. “I can’t, Josh. I just can’t!”

“You have to,” I said. “We can’t go back; the troll is up there. So we have to go down. I’ll help you. We’ll do it together.”

Maddy shut her eyes and took another breath. Then she ­nodded.

I tried to sound confident, but I almost threw up when I lowered myself from the ledge and hung, groping for a foothold. Then I had one. I worked my way down to another ledge, then called to Maddy. “C’mon, it’s not so steep.”

Maddy’s pale face peered down at me. She whimpered, then turned and slowly wiggled over the edge. I told her where to put her feet, then reached up to hold an ankle. “That’s it. Now to your left, a little further. Sure you can reach it. C’mon. You can do it.”

And then she was beside me, trembling and looking ­sick.

Slowly we worked our way down the cliff face, from ledge to ledge, until the steepness eased into a gentler ­slope.

We were surrounded by towering mountains, tan and ­red-­brown and grey, with patches of snow near the peaks, and trees covering the slopes. Below us a river carved through the valley floor. It was milky white and roaring. The air was warm, with a cool breeze that smelled of ice and sweet ­spruce.

Even though I was scared and confused, I stood for a moment in awe at the beauty of it. I longed to paint it, to try to capture all the colours of the rocks. I looked carefully, trying to memorize the details. I wanted to draw and paint everything as soon as we got home. If we got ­home.

We found our torch at the bottom of the cliff. The tip had broken off, and the fire gone out, so now we had no protection from Aleena. And I didn’t think the troll was going to stay at the top of the cliff hoping we’d come back. We had to find a doorway ­quickly.

“Remember last year, Maddy, when we stopped near here and Dad explained about the Spiral Tunnels?”

Maddy shrugged. “I just remember being disappointed because there was no train.”

I grabbed a stick and drew a long line, from west to east. “This is the railway line from Vancouver to Calgary.” Then I drew a figure eight, pointing north. “The track makes a figure eight pattern, curving first through that mountain,” I pointed to our right, “that’s north of the rail line, then across the valley to the mountain on the south side,” I pointed to the left, “where it curves through another tunnel. And all along the way, the track gets higher and higher.”

“But why?” asked ­Maddy.

“The mountain pass is really, really steep. This is a train’s way of zigzagging up a hill too steep to run straight up.” I scanned the mountain across from us. “There must be tunnel openings in this world,” I said, trying to guess where they might be. Then I spotted ­one.

“Maddy, see that dark hole?” I pointed across the valley. “That’s the entrance to one of the spiral tunnels. The other end is…” I scanned the mountainside, “there, higher up the slope. And there’s another tunnel on this side of the valley, in the mountain behind us.”

We turned and searched. I knew roughly where the openings had to be, but could we find ­one?

“Do you really think we can find a doorway in one of the tunnels?” Maddy ­asked.

“We’d better – before the troll or Aleena catch us!”

We headed up the mountainside, scrambling through the trees, searching for the nearest tunnel opening. I kept watching for the troll and ­Aleena.

Maddy found the tunnel. She was climbing a bit to the left of me, and walked around a tree growing right in front of it. The opening was tall, round and smooth. We groped our way inside, panting from the climb, and tried to guess where a doorway might be. All I could see of Maddy were huge eyes, white in the darkness, and a bit of light gleaming on the gold in her ­hair.

“Hold out the ring,” I said. I touched it with one finger. “Let’s do what Aleena did – close your eyes, take a deep breath, then exhale.”

I closed both eyes, sucked in a big breath, and tried to imagine mist forming as I blew out. I couldn’t feel any mist; I just felt stupid. I opened my eyes to see Maddy puffing her cheeks, then blowing out in a great whoosh. Rock dust rose from the walls of the tunnel and choked us. That was as misty as it ­got.

“We have to find the doorway,” I said. “The troll could be here any moment.”

“And he is,” a voice ­growled.

Maddy screeched and grabbed my hand. We heard footsteps, then watched a shadow emerging from deep in the ­tunnel.

“And now,” said the troll, “it’s time to give me my ring!” He was bellowing as he ­finished.

“We’re not going to give it to you,” I said, trying to sound brave as I pushed Maddy behind me towards the entrance. “And once we’re outside in the sun, you can’t come near us.”

And then a shadow blocked the entrance to the tunnel, a tall, lean shadow, and Aleena’s voice called out, “The sun doesn’t bother me.”

Maddy moaned and leaned against me. “How could she find us?”

“I followed your scent through water,” she sneered. “I knew the moment you stepped into the lake. It just took a while to track you here.”

Aleena stepped towards us, while the troll screamed from the shadows, “It’s my ring. Don’t give it to her, give it to me!”

Stomach churning, I tried to come up with a plan. If we could get outside, the troll couldn’t follow us, not into sunshine. Then even that hope was snatched away, as the sunlight outside the tunnel vanished behind a ­cloud.

I could feel Maddy moving behind me. Her hand rose, and something flew from it, high into the air, over Aleena’s head. I heard it ping off the roof of the tunnel, then bounce into the shade just outside the ­entrance.

“What was that?” I asked. “Was it the ring?” I could hear panic in my voice. The troll and Aleena heard it ­too.

“Yes, I threw the ring,” Maddy said, with a voice full of determination. “You can have it! All it does is cause trouble.”

Aleena spun around and raced outside. The troll roared past, slamming us against the tunnel wall. He slid to a halt at the entrance of the tunnel, then stepped out into the shade of a dark ­cloud.

Quietly, Maddy and I followed them out of the tunnel, then slipped off to one side. The troll and Aleena searched the ground frantically, both on hands and knees. Maddy and I crept a little further away. Aleena leapt, as she spotted something lying in the grass. The troll was just a step behind. Aleena reached out, closing her hand over it, and the troll’s hand closed over Aleena’s.

Just at that moment, a single ray of sunshine shone through the clouds and touched the troll’s hand. He stared in horror as his hand turned to grey stone. The greyness crept up his arm, then down his body and up to his head. Within moments, the troll was a stone ­statue.

Aleena screamed in rage, her hand caught in his fist of stone. “Look what you’ve done,” she cried. “Help me!”

“Josh,” Maddy said. When I turned to her, she opened her hand, showing me the ring nestled in her ­palm.

“But what did you throw?” I asked, ­astonished.

“The useless piece of junk ­pop-­can ring in my pocket,” she said, with a mischievous ­smile.

“Maddy!” I grabbed her and spun her around. “You’re brilliant! We’re safe for twelve hours!”

Aleena screamed at us, her face distorted. “You’ll never get away with this.”

Maddy smiled as she slipped the ring onto her finger. “Let’s get out of here.”

As we turned our backs, Aleena yelled after us, “Only magic folk can cross the veil. You need me, and I won’t help until I get that ring!”