by Willow Rose
Manolo cleared his throat.
“We are going to find Sensisaron and look into her crystal ball.”
The king stopped and looked at him.
“You must be either very brave or very stupid,” the king said, lifting the cane with the glass diamond up in the air.
Manolo looked at Sara.
“Maybe we are a little of both,” he said.
“Good answer, my friend,” he said and started walking again mumbling, “Very good answer indeed.”
“Why stupid?” Sara asked.
”Oh,” he sighed. ”You don’t know what is waiting for you, do you, dear?”
“I am afraid not.”
“Let me try and explain. Sensisaron used to be a beautiful woman, a Romani, traveling around like you two helping people by telling them their future. And she was very good at it, indeed, she was. But not at telling her own future. If so, she would have acted differently knowing what was to come. One day, she found a ring at one of the markets and she couldn’t stop looking at it. It was like she was drawn to it, like they were connected and meant for each other or something. She just had to have it. So she bought it and put it on her finger. What she didn’t know was that the red ruby in the ring had a will of its own. It just needed a human to put it on his or her finger and then the ring would have that person totally in control. The ruby turned the beautiful young woman into an old witch. Overnight she grew gray, almost white hair and wrinkles as deep as canyons. Terrified of what was happening to her, the woman tried to pull the ring off her finger, but it was impossible. The ring had her under control now and she had to obey its will. So she moved deep into the mountains and had a castle built. It is supposed to be like a fortress to protect her and the ring from the outside world. She has been living there for the last three hundred years and anyone that comes near that castle and looks into the red ruby will have to obey to her will. She has a whole forest of creatures that will try and kill you if you go there. It is like a great army. And even if you get past them, which is highly unlikely, you will have to face the red ruby ring.”
“Can’t we just avoid looking into the ring?”
“But see, my dear, that is impossible. Anyone in the presence of the red ruby must look at it. You can’t help it. It has that power over people. And furthermore it can help the witch turn her invisible and walk wherever she wants in her valley or in the forest surrounding us. She amuses herself by putting curses on the animals transforming them into strange creatures.”
Sara thought about Abigail the small snail that Sensisaron had made big as a house.
“So maybe you’d be better off just going back home,” the king said. “There is no way you can get out of there alive.”
“Do you know anything about The Eye of the Crystal Ball?” Manolo asked.
The king turned to look at him.
“Just that no one has ever looked into it without losing their mind. Only a person true to his heart can survive a meeting with himself. See, the eye looks straight into your heart. There is an old saying that says: As a man thinks in his heart so does he become.”
“What does that mean?”
“That means is that the eye looks straight into your heart and shows you who you really think you are. That, my friends, can be very frightening.”
“I am not afraid of that,” Sara said. She didn’t get it. What could be so frightening as to discover who she thought she was? She didn’t think she was anything but Sara, did she?
“But you should be,” the king said shaking his apple-sized head. “The bravest knights and kings have succumbed to the sight of what is in their heart.”
Well I will not, Sara thought to herself.
“Where is she hiding the crystal ball?” Manolo asked.
“The only thing I heard is that she has it in her castle covered up so the eye can’t look at her. The great Sensisaron fears nothing in the world but to see her true self.”
“How is the easiest way to get to her castle from here?” Manolo asked. “We had a cloud that led us here, but we seemed to have lost it in the bog’s mist.”
The king sighed and looked at him with a worried look.
“You won’t give up, do you?”
“No,” Sara said. “We won’t.”
The king shook his head slowly.
“Well, if you must know. You will have to climb the mountaintop of Montañas Pesadilla, Nightmare Mountain, which is entirely in her control as well. There you must find a mountain stream and follow that until it leads you to the valley. There you will find the old witch’s marshland of La Tierra Muerta—the dead land. That is where her army is. You have to get by them and cross the valley to get to the house at the foot of Torre Cerredo, the highest mountain in all of the Cantabrian Mountains. If you ever get that far then remember to keep an eye out for Satali. It will be guarding her.”
“And what is that?”
“That, my friend, is her cat.”
“Her cat?”
“A big black cat. But it is not an ordinary cat,” he said while pointing at them with his cane, “and it won’t let you go through without you killing it first.”
The king sighed again while shaking his head.
“It is just not possible.”
That night they got to sleep in one of the king’s chambers in the City of Lights. But Sara didn’t get much sleep. The light from the city was so bright even at nighttime that she had a hard time falling asleep. Instead, her thoughts were fixated on the things the king had told them. He had called it impossible, that she would be unable to save her little brother.
Well, the thing was, she refused to give up, but she did find it difficult to find the courage to move on. They had already gone through so much just to get here and still there was such a long way to go. She sighed and went to look out the window. The glass city was all asleep. Not a clinking sound, not a voice to be heard.
“Having trouble sleeping?”
It was Manolo. He had woken up and was sitting up in bed.
Sara nodded.
“You know what they say about courage, don’t you?”
She smiled and looked at him. She knew he would tell her something to make her feel better.
“No, I don’t.”
He got up and walked to her and stood close to her looking out the window.
“They say that courage is not the absence of fear, but is the actually forward motion in the presence of fear.”
Sara smiled at him while he put his arm around her shoulder.
“I say let us just put one foot in front of the other and see what happens,” he continued.
“What would I ever do without you?” she asked, smiling.
“You wouldn’t … do without me…” he said and squeezed her shoulder.
15
THE DARK JOURNEY
The very next morning while most of the Will-o’-the-wisps in the City of Lights were finishing their breakfast, Manolo and Sara left the beautiful city leaving behind them all of its bright lights. As they came closer to the big dark Montañas Pesadilla they began to feel just how mighty a giant they were about to climb. Its sides were dark and sullen, and its head was in a gray cloud. Manolo stopped and looked at the sky.
“The weather is not going to help us,” he said. “It looks like snow may come. We must go with all the speed that we can. Even so, it will take us more than two days before we reach the top.”
He looked at Sara and her worn out clothes.
“I have traveled in mountains as a child, but you haven’t. We will meet cold so bitter we might freeze to death.”
He took off his bag and handed Sara a long red jacket.
“Here, I got this from the king. He had it from another human traveler who also spent the night in his city many years ago.”
The jacket was warm and fuzzy and fit Sara perfectly. She especially loved the hood.
“But what about you?” she asked.
“I got one as well,” he said and too
k another out of his bag. As he did, Sara spotted the Beads of Souls. Their faces were still screaming from the inside.
“What are we going to do with those?” she asked and pointed.
Manolo closed the bag.
“We will need them for later. Just trust me.”
“Okay.”
“We need to bring some wood with us to make a fire. Take as many branches and carry them with you on your back.”
The travelers set out again with good speed at first. But soon their way became steep and difficult. The twisting and climbing road had in many places almost disappeared and was blocked by fallen rocks. The day grew dark under the heavy gray clouds. A freezing wind swirled among the rocks. By noon they had climbed to the knees of the great mountain. The path had become narrower. On their right they had the walls of cliffs above which the flanks of Montañas Pesadilla towered up still hiding its face in the clouds. On their right was a canyon of darkness. One wrong step would be the end of them.
They climbed a sharp slope and took a lunch break. While eating, Sara felt something soft on her cheek and looked up. She stretched out her hand and saw the dim white flakes landing in her palm.
They hurried and went on. But before long the snow was falling everywhere and fast. It swirled in Sara’s eyes as she looked up and it covered the path they were following. Soon the dark contour of Manolo’s back could hardly be seen anymore.
Sara had a hard time keeping up with him. Snow was thick on her shoulders and hood. It soon became ankle-deep. And they weren’t even high up in the mountain yet.
“It is worse than I thought,” Manolo yelled to her. “Normally it only snows up high in the mountain, not as far south as this. I wonder if it is the work of the witch.”
“I think we need to take a break,” Sara said as they passed a small cave in the cliffs. It was just big enough to fit them both so they could be sheltered from the snow.
While they waited, the wind died. Soon after, the snow slowed down and after a while it ceased. They were ready to continue again. They tramped in the newly fallen snow making creaking sounds as they walked. Still, the clouds were heavy over their heads and soon the wind returned, this time with even more strength than the last time. It seemed almost to be angry at them. In no time, the blinding blizzard was back, making their journey dark and difficult.
Soon, even Manolo found it hard to continue. He looked at Sara. It was obvious that if the snow continued, she couldn’t walk much longer.
They both stopped. They looked at each other and came to an agreement without even speaking. They both knew they could only survive if they went back to the small cave and stayed there until the storm was gone.
As they did, Sara was sure she heard eerie noises in the darkness around them. It might only have been the wind going through the cracks of the rocky walls, but it sounded to Sara like cries or howling of laughter.
Manolo heard it too.
“Do you think that was Sensisaron?” Sara yelled trying to talk through the strong wind.
“Whatever it was, we better hide from it,” he said. “We can’t beat the wind, so we wait here till it is gone.”
They sat huddled down with their backs against the cliff in the small cave and stayed close to one another to keep warm. It was just enough protection against the wind while they watched the snow flow down from the clouds outside like water in a waterfall.
It kept on for hours and hours and while Manolo made a fire for them, the sky turned darker and darker outside. Soon Sara felt sleepy and felt herself doze off in a warm heavy dream. In it, her mother came to her. She was wearing the most beautiful light blue dress and her face shone like a light in the dark.
“Remember to always follow your heart,” she said.
Sara reached out for her but she was too far away. Then her little brother appeared. He was sleeping in his crib. Sara touched him. He was still feverishly warm.
“He is waiting on you, Sara,” her mother’s voice said. “His life is in your hands now.”
“But what if I don’t make it …?” Sara yelled with an effort, but then she felt like her whole body started shaking. She came back to painful awareness of where she was. It was Manolo who had woken her up. Outside the cave everything was black and quiet.
“The storm has been gone for a long time now. I don’t think it will be back. I think it is time to move on,” Manolo said.
“But it is night …”
“Then no one will see us.”
They moved on. The snow was now many feet deep and they had to struggle to get through. But, as they did, the stars shone bright above them and the moon lit their way. Finally they saw the top of the mountain in the distance. The clouds had gone. It was like they had all dissolved.
“He is still alive,” Sara murmured as they walked in the deep snow.
Manolo turned and looked at her.
“What?”
Sara smiled.
“That is what she was telling me. That Marius is still alive. She wanted to encourage me.”
The very thought gave Sara new hope and vigor. In it she found strength and it made her steps fierce and brave.
They walked all night and as the daylight came the sky became dark and heavy with clouds again. Soon the storm was back. The clouds lowered and the flakes streamed down again.
They kept walking for an hour, maybe even longer, before the storm got so bad they had to stop again. The peaks above were now hidden in great clouds, still heavy with the promise of much more snow.
Manolo looked for another shelter. A cliff was leaning out enough for them to be protected against the strong wind and snow. They huddled up together and stayed like that all day. It didn’t take long before Sara fell into another deep sleep, dreaming of her mother once again.
This time she started by asking her the question.
“What if I fail?”
Her mother smiled and gently touched her cheek. A warmth poured inside of her and gave her a new strength of heart.
“You won’t,” she said. “I know you won’t.”
Sara enjoyed her mother’s gentle touch when a voice interrupted them. She tried to ignore it but in vain.
“Sara! Sara!” the voice called.
Once again it was Manolo who brought her back to reality. Her mother disappeared and she opened her eyes.
“The clouds are gone. It is night and we can continue.”
Much lighter in her heart, Sara defied the deep and heavy snow and by midnight they finally reached the top.
It was as if the stars and the moon were dancing in the clear sky above them, like they were celebrating their victory along with them. At least that was how it felt. They stopped for a while and ate at the top, before they would begin looking for the mountain stream that was supposed to lead them to the valley.
Sara’s feet were hurting by the very thought of the climb downhill that was awaiting them. She was hungry to the bone and feeling weary from the long walk in the snow. The air on the mountaintop was freezing cold. When they had eaten, Manolo spoke.
“It seems that we can only travel at night on this mountain,” he said. “So we have to walk until dawn breaks and then find another place to sleep.”
“But we are so tired now,” she almost cried. “Can’t we rest for a while and then continue?”
“There is no time. We have no choice but to go on.”
Sara got up with a sigh.
“Then we must go.”
As Sara said those words they heard a wind hissing among the rocks and there was a howling around them in the emptiness of the night.
“Wolves,” Manolo said.
“There is no time to waste.”
In the dead of the night many shining eyes were seen peering behind rocks, and shadows of big animals were seen on top of hills in the distance. The howling was all around them, sometimes nearer sometimes farther off.
The travelers searched for the mountain stream while a dark wolf-shape gazed at them from a
rock. It was howling as if it was gathering its pack. Manolo blew fire at it and a hideous shriek filled the air as the wolf fled.
The mountain stream was supposed to run out from the foot of some cliffs but nowhere could they find any gleam of water or hear any sound of it. It made their hearts weary.
Suddenly Manolo, who had pressed on ahead, called for her. He was standing on a rock and pointing. Below him Sara saw a deep and narrow channel. From there she heard a trickle of water flowing among the cliffs and rocks. And on its right side there was a path.
She ran to it yelling:
“Come on! We must hurry!”
The two travelers were tired and sore. But they pressed on along the rough and winding track for many miles. The moon shone on their path making it easier to follow.
After a while they came to a sharp bend. There the road turned and went east. Rounding the corner they saw before them a low cliff. Over it, water poured through a wide crevasse. On its left they found stairs cut in the rocks and they descended them swiftly.
As they saw the sun casting its long arms of bright orange light behind the mountains, they agreed to start looking for shelter. Even though they had hiked a long way down the mountain and the snow had disappeared from the ground, they were no longer willing to take chances. Furthermore, they needed the rest that a long sleep would give them. They found shelter between a pile of rocks that lay on top of each other forming a big cave. They had hardly sat down and started a fire with the few branches they had managed to gather before they heard a rumble from the sky above. Heavy clouds had once again gathered over their heads and this time it produced thunder and lightning. The wind picked up in the trees outside and hard rain and even hail started flowing from the clouds.
They took turns at sleeping; Manolo went first. Sara felt drowsy after a couple of hours but managed to stay awake until it was her turn.
Again she dreamt of her mother in the light blue dress. This time she didn’t speak at first but only held Marius in her arms. He was all pale and white and looked almost dead, but he was still breathing.
