On this day, a storm belted them with snow and wind, forcing the travelers to flee the sky as soon as possible. They took refuge from the sky upon a wide expanse of white, and began to slowly trudge through the foot of snow that covered the ground. Their sight was obscured by the storm, and they worried they might not find adequate shelter before the storm became a real danger to them.
“What are we supposed to do?” yelled Annie against the wind and snow. “We’ll freeze in this.”
“Get closer to me,” counseled Evercloud. When the two women were within his reach, he increased his body temperature enough to warm them with the heat he was giving off, even the snow melted around his feet. “We have to find shelter soon. I won’t be able to keep this up forever.”
And so they walked on, not knowing if the direction they took held any good fortune at all. One hour passed, then two. Evercloud shook his head, frustrated with their luck, knowing he could not protect them from the cold forever. But he was quickly relieved of his frustration when Annie pointed at the horizon.
“Look.”
In the infinite white of the storm, the path in front of them began to gray and the tops of large, pine trees could be seen as faint silhouettes. The travelers brightened slightly, hoping that trees could provide the shelter they needed, and they walked on with a bit of renewed vigor. It was not long before they reached the tree line of what turned out to be a dense forest that shielded them from the wind. Evercloud immediately found a thicket with a low-hanging canopy, and using his speed, claw and fire, created a dry hollow to use as shelter. The women were more than happy to follow Evercloud inside, but before they could even thank him, he had laid himself upon the ground and fallen asleep. The women shrugged, knowing how exhausted he must have been from keeping the three of them warm. So, they found their own spot in the shelter of pines, and rested peacefully in silence.
•••
The world was dark when Evercloud awoke. His heart was in his throat and he fought hard to contain his excitement. He had seen the face in his dream. He created a dull flame in the palm of his hand and turned it to cast light around him. He saw both Annie and Iolana, sleeping in the hollow he had made, only feet from where he sat. He did everything he could not to yell with excitement.
I have to tell Iolana. I have to wake her.
Evercloud shifted his weight and moved over to Iolana as quietly as he could. Kneeling down, he gently touched her shoulder and tried to shake her.
“Iolana,” he whispered. “Iolana.”
Iolana woke with wide eyes, startled, and Evercloud quickly placed his hand over her mouth so she would not speak. Once she recognized him, he removed his hand and raised one finger to his lips. Iolana nodded that she understood, and then, Evercloud stood up and motioned for Iolana to follow him. The two travelers tiptoed out of the shelter, where Annie still slept, and into the dark forest. The storm had stopped and the woods were quiet, but the large trees let in very little moonlight.
“What’s wrong?” asked Iolana when she was sure they would not disturb Annie’s sleep.
“I’m sorry,” said Evercloud. “I had to tell someone.”
“What?” demanded Iolana.
“I had the dream again. The dream where I’m tied to the trees.” Evercloud tried to calm himself and communicate more clearly. “I saw the face of the man who left me in the woods as a child. I know who it is… I recognized him.”
Iolana’s eyes widened with suspense and she grabbed Evercloud’s arm. “Was it…?”
“Padre Esteban,” said Evercloud with excitement. “Esteban Floyd left me in the forests surrounding Gray Mountain.”
Iolana’s jaw dropped. “I wondered if it might have been,” said Iolana. “Evercloud, I didn’t say anything after we had met Harena, but a realization came to me during our conversation with her. Long ago, after the Tyrant had cast his spell of confusion upon me, it was Esteban Floyd who found me. My memories of that time are very blurred, I can only assume that is due to the Tyrant’s spell, I only remember bits and pieces, but it was him… After hearing the story of the Wind, I knew it was he that found me and left me in the care of his family. I had wondered if it was also he who left you in the forests… but I still don’t believe it… What do you think this means?”
“I think,” began Evercloud, “that this means I’m a Floyd. I think it means that Esteban Floyd is… my father.”
“No, it can’t be,” said Iolana. “You don’t look anything like the Floyd’s… but… I suppose it could still be possible that Esteban is your father.”
“This is incredible,” said Evercloud. “I never thought I would know where I came from, and now… Now, I will never know, not for certain. Esteban is dead. He must have left me knowing the bears would find me. He knew that his life was too dangerous for a child. I… I wish I had known when I met him in the Glass Desert. I wish he had told me.”
Iolana stared at Evercloud, wishing she could help him with his internal struggle, but not knowing how to comfort him. She felt awkward doing nothing, so she walked to the man and embraced him. Evercloud immediately responded to the woman’s touch and held Iolana close.
“I’m a Floyd,” he said in a confused tone, not sure if he should be happy or sad. Evercloud had no idea what being a Floyd would mean for his future.
“We should go to sleep,” said Iolana. “I don’t know what this means, but only time can answer our questions. Let’s go back to sleep.”
Evercloud nodded solemnly and followed Iolana into their forest shelter.
•••
Morning came and Evercloud rose with an energy that surprised him. He walked out of the shelter he had created, took a deep breath of the forest air and found himself unable to exhale without choking.
Was that there yesterday? he asked himself. How could we not have noticed that?
Standing fifty yards in front of Evercloud, and extending as far to the right, to the left and to the sky as he could see was the sheer face of a rock wall. The rock was dark gray and rough in texture. There was a door in the rock face directly across from the entrance to the traveler’s shelter, and on either side of the door stood five evergreen pines, roughly twenty feet tall. Evercloud stood in wonder and confusion, and was soon joined by Annie and Iolana. Their shock was immediate and the two women turned to Evercloud, hoping for answers.
“What in the world?” asked Annie.
“That wasn’t there yesterday,” said Iolana. “Was it?”
“I don’t think so,” said Evercloud, never taking his eyes away from the wall. “The question is, did we move in the night… or did it?”
“A rock wall the size of a mountain doesn’t move,” pointed out Iolana.
“I know,” said Evercloud with his jaw still agape, “but how could this have happened?”
“It looks like something is written on the door,” said Annie, squinting.
Annie began to walk in the snow toward the door in the rock face and the other two followed close behind. As they walked, they realized that the tree line stopped where the entrance to their shelter had been made and extended parallel to the rock wall. It was as if a fifty-yard path had been cleared between the trees and the wall. The travelers were nervous and the world was eerily silent. All they heard was the crunch of snow underneath their feet. They approached the door and Annie read:
“Fox for vine.
Use no inset given.
I hew the tree.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” said Evercloud.
He walked directly up to the door. It was arched just above his head, and was built with dark-brown boards. Evercloud grabbed the iron ring to the left side of the inscription and pulled, but the door did not budge. He tried to push, but met the same resistance.
“It must be a riddle,” guessed Iolana. “Maybe if we can solve it, we’ll figure out how to open the door.”
“Well, the first two lines don’t make sense to me,” said Evercloud as he began to strap on hi
s golden claw. “But we can start with the third line. That seems straight forward.”
“Evercloud,” warned Annie. “I don’t think you should do that.”
“It shouldn’t be a problem,” said Evercloud, walking over to the evergreen just left of the door. “I hew the tree. It’s a simple direction.” Evercloud bent and looked at the exposed trunk of the tree. “I can probably fell it with one cut.”
“Evercloud, don’t,” yelled Annie, but she was too late.
With one flaming swipe, Evercloud had hewn the tree and the women watched as it fell to the snowy ground. Suddenly, the trunk of the tree shot upward, and before the travelers could blink, another tree stood in place of where the cut tree trunk had just been. Evercloud raised an eyebrow in confusion, and then, Annie let out a terrifying scream. Evercloud spun to see that the tree he had just felled was twitching and moving. It slowly rose upon its branches, taking the form of a gigantic spider, bristling with bark and pine needles. Evercloud wasted no time and flung himself at the creature’s bark-covered legs. The monstrous tree spider swung its body at Evercloud, knocking him to the ground. He rolled in the snow, narrowly avoiding one of the creature’s legs, as it tried to crush him. The man quickly got to his feet as the creature charged, and he leapt onto the spider’s back, sending pine needles falling to the snow. Hacking at the monster over and over again, Evercloud sent chunks of wood and bark flying into the air, but the beast was not slowed at all.
“Use your fire,” called Iolana. “Use fire.”
Gritting his teeth, the man from Gray Mountain held onto the tree spider and burst into an inferno. The giant spider shrieked as the fire tore over its entire body. Mere seconds passed and the wooden monster fell to the ground, a pile of ash and cinder. Evercloud stood, covered in black soot and smiled bashfully.
“Sorry,” he said. The women merely glared at him, and after a moment, Annie turned back to the riddle.
“Fox for vine,” she said. “I don’t think it means fox as in the animal. That doesn’t make sense.”
“Maybe the vine wants us to give it a fox,” suggested Evercloud. Again, the women glared at him silently. “I should just… stop… talking.”
“The vine seems to be the key here,” continued Annie. “I think fox means to be cunning. We have to be cunning for the vine, or we have to be cunning to see the vine.” Annie stared at the inscription upon the door while the other two watched her. “But I can’t figure out how we should be cunning.”
“What about the second two lines?” asked Iolana. “Use no inset given, I hew the tree.”
“Oddly enough,” said Annie. “I don’t think Evercloud was completely wrong. I do think we will have to cut down one of the trees. We just need to figure out the whole riddle before we rush into anything.”
“At least I didn’t hew all ten of the trees,” mumbled Evercloud.
Annie cocked her head to the side, as if something had just occurred to her, and then quickly turned back to the inscription. She studied it for a minute, while Iolana and Evercloud watched her, then she shouted, “That’s it!”
Annie walked to an open patch of snow and began dragging her finger through the white fluff. When she was done, she beckoned the other two to her side. Evercloud and Iolana looked down at the snow to see that Annie had spelled the numbers one through nine in the snow.
“I don’t understand,” said Evercloud.
“The riddle is an anagram,” said Annie brightly.
“A what?”
“An anagram,” repeated Annie. “All the letters used in the spelling of the numbers one through nine are used in the spelling of the riddle. Watch. Fox for vine.”
Annie began stomping on the letters she had written in the snow as she spelled the words from the riddle. When she completed spelling the entire riddle, she had stomped on every single letter she had written in the snow.
“That’s amazing,” said Iolana.
“Did you see this in a vision?” asked Evercloud.
“I can’t control my visions,” said Annie. “I just like anagrams. They’re fun.”
“Fun?” questioned Evercloud.
“Yeah,” smiled Annie. “Did you know that an anagram for your name is Crude Love?”
Evercloud looked at Annie as if she were a strange mold he had never seen before and Iolana began laughing.
“You are very strange,” said Evercloud to Annie.
“I know,” she said with a shy smile.
“But what does it mean that the riddle is an anagram?” asked Iolana, trying to regain focus.
“When Evercloud said that at least he didn’t cut down all ten trees, I realized that the letters for ten were missing from the anagram. It’s only one through nine. So I think the riddle is telling us to cut down the tenth tree.”
“All right,” said Evercloud, “but I don’t want any more nasty looks if the tree attacks us again.”
Evercloud walked over to the evergreen tree furthest to the right, and squatted down by the trunk. He gave the trunk a quick swipe that just scratched the surface of the bark, and then jumped backward. Everyone remained still, but nothing happened to the tree. Walking tentatively back up to the evergreen, Evercloud again squatted by the trunk, and this time, he ignited his claw with flame and gave one powerful stroke that felled the tree. Again, Evercloud retreated quickly, ready for the hewn tree to come to life. The fallen tree never budged, but instead, the cleaved trunk began to erupt with a green fluid. With an unnatural quickness, a thick, green vine began to grow from the tree trunk. It stretched against the rock wall, fanning out like a net, and continued to grow into the air, until the travelers could see it no more. Just as the vine grew out of sight, the dark, wooden door flung itself inward, revealing a black opening into the wall of stone.
“You were right, Annie,” smiled Iolana as she began to walk toward the open door. “That was so clever of you.”
“No, Iolana!” shouted Annie.
Evercloud shot forth and pulled Iolana away from the doorway, just as a large blade dropped down from behind the opening. The force of Evercloud pulling Iolana sent the ends of her long, red hair across the doorway as the blade fell, slicing off the tips of her curled locks. Annie rushed forward to meet them.
“The second line of the riddle,” she said. “Use no inset given. We can’t use the door.”
Iolana’s eyes were wide as she looked at the large, metal blade, now imbedded in the ground. “Thank you,” she said to both Annie and Evercloud.
“So, we can’t use the door,” said Evercloud. “Are we meant to climb the vine?”
“I think so,” said Annie.
“We’ll fly,” said Evercloud. “It will be easier.”
Iolana nodded and the three travelers began their ascent upward, following the path of the vine. They did not fly for long before the vine stopped at a snowy plateau. Evercloud, Annie and Iolana landed upon the plateau, and within seconds, Annie had found exactly what they had been looking for. She bent down in the snow and produced a single eagle feather. She lifted it for the other two to see and snow began to fall heavily, all around them. The world became white, as if the travelers were floating on the inside of a cloud. Tiny snowflakes melted as they landed upon their noses and cheeks, and large flakes sat, like flower petals, upon their heads. All the travelers knew was the snow, yet their bodies were filled with warmth, and suddenly, a large owl descended out of the infinite white and landed in front of them.
The owl stood three feet tall in the snow and took two small steps toward the travelers, staring at them with its yellow eyes. The owl shook its brown feathers and clucked its beak twice. Then, it lifted a wing and with a movement swift and fluid, a human arm came out from under the wing and pulled back its owl face to reveal that it had been a mask. The owl, in fact, was a small woman with sparkling, almond-shaped eyes and light-brown skin. The wings and feathers of the owl laid down her back like a cape, and the owl’s head rested atop the woman’s head like the hood of a
robe. The small woman frowned at the travelers.
“You fools seek Nivalia?” she asked.
“Umm… yes,” said Evercloud hesitantly.
“Well, you’re lucky that she was smart enough to pass the test,” said the almond-eyed woman while pointing at Annie.
Annie folded her arms behind her back and smiled.
“So we can see Nivalia?” asked Evercloud.
“Yes,” said the woman.
“Okay… when?”
The tiny woman narrowed her eyes, and suddenly, rushed forward, punching Evercloud in the knee.
“Oww! What was that for?”
“You are stupid,” said the woman.
“Look,” said Evercloud. “We just want to speak with Nivalia.”
Again, the tiny woman rushed forward and punched Evercloud in the knee.
“AAARRGGH!! Stop that!!”
“Then stop being an idiot!” yelled the woman.
“Evercloud,” said Iolana, placing a hand upon his shoulder. “You are speaking to Nivalia.”
“Oh,” said Evercloud shortly, rubbing his knee. “It’s just… well, Harena…”
“Yes, I know,” began the woman while rolling her eyes. “Sister is very pretty-pretty. Likes to put on a big show. We don’t all want to be pretty-pretty, you know.”
“Sorry,” repeated Evercloud.
“So, what do you want?” asked Nivalia, rolling her eyes again.
“Recently, things have been revealed to us that we believe could aid in our quest to defeat an evil we all call the Great Tyrant. We seek the four gifts of the Skyfather. We have come to ask you if you know where we can find them.”
Nivalia looked at the travelers and her jaw dropped slightly, her almond eyes growing wide. She just stared at the three travelers until they felt completely uncomfortable.
Everflame: The Complete Series Page 66
