by E E Rawls
Her webbed hand hovered just above the surface, her large eyes turned up to the ceiling. Without looking, she let her hand move across the lands, towns and mountains, feeling for something.
“Yesss, here.”
Her hand drew to a halt. Madnes squinted at the village it hovered above.
“This crowv village...somewhere in or somewhere nearby it lay one crystal you looking for. It’s closest one, I think.”
“Good.” Madnes adjusted his hat. “The sooner we destroy it, the quicker that spell will be weakened. Let’s go!” He grabbed Pelur’s gauntleted wrist, dragging him out with him and away from the curtains.
“Madnes!” Cheshire ran after him, stopping at the oyster door. “You can’t be rude! You should at least thank the duchess, first—” But Harrey, Alice and the kids brushed past him, following after. “Oh, honestly! What sort of people is Earth raising you to be? Barbarians?”
Oz lightly dipped his head to the duchess before silently sweeping past the cat, black frock swishing.
“Dash it all!” Cheshire grumbled, and gave a deep bow to the duchess. Her fish lips held amusement. “Time is of the essence, I suppose.”
“Is true. Safe quest I hope you have.” She waved her white webbed fingers.
PELUR, IN GRAND DRAGON form, carried the motley group from the archipelago across to Wonderland mainland. His keen dragon eyes followed the landscape, pinpointing the hilly rainforest and its hidden crowv village which the White Duchess had marked out on the map for them.
Bird calls and monkey howls echoed the trees as the dragon descended into pines and mist. The passengers slid off Pelur’s scaly back to the spongy floor.
Alice shook her head of golden hair, shaking off pine needles. Drisel spotted an orange, fluffy squirrel and scampered after it down an overgrown path.
“Wait, Drisel!” Alice moved to chase after, but Madnes motioned that he would get her.
His footsteps muffled by the loamy ground, Madnes caught up and snatched Drisel by the shoulders. She dangled her feet in the air, pleading and giggling as he swung her around. “Stay with the group, you rascal,” he said, and plopped her down.
She grinned and pointed an excited finger up ahead to where rows of thatch houses and tents made up a village in the middle of the forest.
“The crowv!”
Chapter 38:
Village in the Forest
“THE CRYSTAL MUST BE somewhere nearby,” Madnes spoke once the rest of the group had caught up and gathered round.
Alice nodded. “Right. But will they tell us where it is?”
“If they know, they’ll tell me.” Oz swept past them, gliding down the narrow path leading into the village. Black wings materialized from his back, making him look every inch a dark prince.
Not to be left behind, Madnes grunted and hurried after him.
With no fence or guards to halt them, they strode easily past several thatch and tent structures. The villagers paused in their chores when they caught sight of the strangers.
Madnes swallowed. They looked almost human, as Oz did, except for black wings sprouting out of their backs, and some had black feathers mixed in with their hair.
Madnes also noted how frail and gaunt most of them appeared, malnourished compared to Oz. They watched their group like stunned deer at first; one crowv stirring the contents of a boiling cauldron paused, the spoon half raised.
Oz came to a halt at the village center, near the heating cauldron and a central stone well. He turned with a flourish of his long coat to face the gathering crowd of crowv.
“It has been too long since my last visit,” Oz spoke. “How do I find you?”
One crowv ventured to step forward, an elderly man with graying frayed wings. “You find us well, Prince Oz.” He wobbly bowed a knee, using a staff. “You honor us with your presence and your concern.”
It was strange to see Oz treated as a prince—the once normal child who loved books and used to laugh at his jokes.
Madnes wanted to add some words of his own, but felt a burly hand on his arm, Uncle Cosmic motioning that he keep quiet. "This is Oz's territory," he whispered, "Leave the talkin’ to him."
Madnes grumbled but complied.
“And what of the illness?” questioned Oz. “How has the village’s health been?”
The elder wet his lips. “Come to the head house, Your Highness. I think it best we speak there.”
THE HEAD HOUSE WAS a thatch-and-mud piece of work, with a fire pit at the center and small window holes letting in air. The elder, Morak, motioned them to sit on a ring of pillows surrounding the pit, a kettle heating above the ashes.
Morak explained to them that an illness without a name had been ravaging the crowv people across Wonderland, in villages such as this one, and though it had slowed for several years, the death toll was once again on the rise. The same illness that had taken the life of Oz’s mother.
“Your mom passed away?” Madnes blurted out, shocked.
Conversation paused, Cheshire, Pelur and the elder glancing at him.
Oz didn’t meet his gaze, instead staring off at nothing, tight-lipped.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Madnes faced Oz anyway. “I knew she was ill, and heard that was the reason why your family had moved away, to find her treatment, but...”
He couldn’t get the rest of the words out.
Oz’s brow furrowed. “Save your pity for yourself.” His voice lowered. “You’re the last person I want remorse from.”
The words stung, but Madnes held his silence.
It was Cheshire who next brought up the topic of the Terraforming spell, and a crystal having been detected somewhere nearby.
The elder scratched the side of his scraggly cheek. “I’ve not heard of any such thing found here...but by all means, you are free to search the village as you please. We will not refuse you anything you wish, Prince Oz.” He dipped his head.
Oz slightly nodded in return, the black feathers in his hair rustling. “We will do just that, and also scour the outer perimeters,” Oz decided.
“The surrounding forest?” Morak’s behavior turned worried, his taloned feet fidgeting. “It is bad luck to go far from the village, Your Highness. Those who do, show signs of the illness very quickly. It lurks out there...” His wrinkly throat rippled as he swallowed.
Oz’s expression hardened, as if changing his mind about something. “I want to find the source,” he said suddenly. “Cheshire, you and your group can search for the crystal as you like, but in the meantime, I am going to hunt down this illness.” His jaw set and he rose from the pillows. “Let me know when the crystal is found.”
Madnes stared after him, lips parted. He could almost see remnants of his former friend there, in that brief instant. Oz cared about his people—as cold and heartless as he’d been towards Madnes and his friends, he was different here among Wonderlanders, if still icy around the edges.
‘It’s just me he hates.’
“No, please, Your Highness! Do not put yourself at risk!” The elder rose and made as if to stop his prince.
“It is my decision to make, Morak,” Oz stated firmly. It was clear he would not be swayed.
“Do not go far, then. You must avoid going too near the river. Those who are dying of the illness go there, never to return.”
“A river? You don’t fish?” Madnes had to ask. “Your people look like they’re starving. I’d think fishing would be a great—”
“No, no,” Morak exclaimed. “Anyone who goes that far will catch death! Instead, we hunt the nearby trees for birds and larva. It is not enough food for us, no,” he admitted grimly, “but better to go hungry than die in such a terrible way.”
Oz hesitated for only a second. “I don’t believe in bad luck. If you say going outside the village perimeters is how crowv have been catching this illness, then there must be a tangible explanation—a source that I can track down.” His gray eyes narrowed. “I’m surprised Father hasn’t sent more peop
le to investigate this matter. I thought it was an inborn illness, something genetic that crowv were susceptible to...but now it sounds nothing of the sort.”
“It’s too dangerous, Your Highness.” Morak pleaded. “And it may pose a threat to non-crowv as well, if any of you should venture too far.”
“Why don’t you just abandon this forest, and move somewhere else?” Harrey suggested, for once sounding logical.
Morak fixed him with a look that said Harrey clearly did not understand. “The bad luck follows with us. It does not matter where we go, Earthian. We cannot escape it.”
“It follows you?” Cheshire’s ears flattened. “How is that possible? If you catch it from your environment, then moving somewhere else should put a stop to it.”
The wheels in Madnes’s mind started turning, eager to solve the mystery. “Something more is going on. But we’ll have to risk going out there to learn what.”
“Stop putting your nose where it doesn’t belong,” growled Oz. “This is my job. Make yourself useful and go find that crystal.”
Madnes stiffened.
The prince glided past his shoulder without so much as a glance.
Madness held in the terse remark waiting on the tip of his tongue.
Chapter 39:
Mystery at the River
“RIGHT, THEN!” CHESHIRE clapped his paws together. “Spread out and search the village for the crystal, but don’t go venturing past the border,” he warned their group. “We don’t know if the illness poses a threat to non-crowv or not.”
As the motley group dispersed, Madnes tiptoed away...though not before a sharp “Madnes!” from the cat caught him. “Where do you think you’re off to?” demanded the feline.
Madnes put on an impish look and winked over his shoulder. “Off to get into trouble, of course. See you later!”
Hand firmly on his hat, Madnes dashed out of sight.
“Don’t go beyond the village!” Cheshire tried to call after him, but it was no use. His whiskers trembled and his furry cheeks fumed. “Why do Madness Solvers never listen?”
MADNES PEEKED ONE EYE around the mossy bark of a pine. He trailed after Oz, who followed a crowv guide beyond the village perimeters. The forest slopped downhill, a stumbling terrain of hidden rocks, moss, and gnarled roots. After a while, the guide came to a halt and turned back to the prince.
“This is as far as we should risk going, My Prince,” he bowed. “The river is close, the bad luck is near.” His neck craned like a nervous bird, watching their surroundings.
Oz nodded lightly. “Yes, you should go back.”
“But, My Prince—!”
Oz raised his hand in gesture for silence. “I command it,” he said. “Do not fear. I will not put myself at unnecessary risk. But I do intend to locate the source of this illness that’s been taking my people. That is the job of a ruler: to take care of their subjects, is it not?”
The crowv stared at him, jaw working for words and finding none.
“Now, go,” ordered Oz. “Leave the rest to me. I will return before nightfall.”
The overwhelmed crowv bowed, and with reluctance made his way back uphill.
“Quite a show of bravery, there, going off alone. Or is it that you can’t stand to be around people for too long?” Madnes hopped from behind the tree, landing several feet from Oz. He watched Oz’s face turn from surprise to anger and pure annoyance.
“Do my claws need to come out and slice that nose off, which seems so terribly fond of sticking itself into other people’s business?”
“Ha!” Madnes strolled past the prince, folding his arms and raising his chin high. “As the Madness Solver, it’s my job to solve mysteries and promote peace,” he said. “And so, I plan on solving this case, with or without you.”
Madnes stumbled over a rock and had to lower his chin to watch the ground. His foot passed a curious patch of fungus growing on a root.
Oz hissed through his teeth, loose strands of hair falling into his eyes. “I’m solving it first!”
Madnes gave him an impish chuckle, and then he raced headlong down the forested hill.
“Oh no you don’t,” Oz shouted, chasing after him. “I’m not letting you beat me!”
Madnes nimbly kept ahead of Oz, taunting him all the way down. That is, until the rush of water reached his ears and he scrambled to a stop.
Oz plowed into his back, and they both spilled out of the forest and onto a sandy riverbank.
Madnes tried to raise his head, Oz’s weight crushing him.
The river? Uh-oh. They weren’t supposed to have come this close. He struggled to rise, and Oz deliberately took his time getting up—pushing off his back so Madnes got a mouthful of sand.
Madnes scrambled up, spitting, ready to grab Oz from behind and rub a handful of sand all over his perfect head. But Oz stood frozen, his gaze fixed on something.
Madnes dusted his hands off and moved to his side to catch whatever Oz was looking at.
Bones—a stretch of skeletons littered the riverbank as far as the terrain would let them see before the river curved around a rising cliff face.
Madnes stepped closer, inspecting the bones. The surfaces were black, and pockmarked as if by acid.
“The illness,” Oz murmured behind his left shoulder.
“Or is it?” Madnes questioned. “Can an illness really follow a village around?”
The prince straightened and spread his black wings with a rustling flap.
“Wait—take me with you,” Madnes quickly said.
“As if I’d carry your sorry backside around,” Oz snorted, and lifted off. Before he got more than a foot off the sand, Madnes grabbed him by the ankles and wrapped his arms around Oz’s knees.
“Let go, you backstabber!” Oz kicked and flapped above the bank.
“Stop bringing up the past, and just fly!” urged Madnes, somehow his top hat staying on his head. “Check beyond that cliff.”
Muttering something bitter under his breath, Oz flapped his wings and glided around the cliff face, following the river.
After several yards, the river ran abruptly into the foot of a steep waterfall. Madnes narrowed his gaze, focused on something like a cave behind the water cascade. He voiced his findings to Oz, who then lowered them to the nearest bank. Madnes let go and landed on the sand. “Just for the record, not agreeing with you on every single thing when we were kids is not called backstabbing.” He huffed and readjusted his hat over his dampened bangs.
Oz barked a laugh. “Is that all it was to you? You ran away from me when I needed your help most, and you don’t call that betrayal?”
Madnes kicked at the sand, turning his back away. “I’m sorry you took it that way. But you were acting so strange, and I was a frightened child. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be there for you, I just...all those crazy things you were saying about your mom and another world and danger...I was afraid.”
“Things that were all true.” Oz’s teeth gritted. “And you didn’t bother to let me even prove it to you!”
Oz shoved Madnes’s back, knocking him to the ground so that he got a mouthful of dirt this time. “My mother went missing, and you could’ve helped me find her. But you didn’t. You left me, like a coward. It was your fault!”
“How cwan you bwame mwe?” Madnes spat out dirt. “That illness kwilled her—not me!”
Oz snarled near his ear. But before either of them could move, the ground beneath them rumbled...
...And cracked open.
Madnes sucked in a breath of dirt and air as he tumbled, headfirst, into an opening sinkhole.
Gripping Madnes by his jacket, Oz tumbled in after, dragged along into sudden darkness.
Chapter 40:
Oz’s True Goal
EVERYTHING BECAME THE sensation of falling into darkness...and then the sudden impact with ground drove the air out of Madnes’s lungs. There was the rushing sound of falling dirt, and bits of rock pelted his back for a moment longer, and then
all became silent.
Using the brim of his hat to shield his eyes, Madnes tried to adjust to the encompassing darkness around him. From the glow of daylight at the sinkhole’s mouth above, he could make out what looked like a tunnel stretching off into the dark before him. He crawled towards it, assessing the area; he’d fallen through the collapsed portion of an underground tunnel—man-made, judging by the tall, rectangular contour.
A dark shape crawled up beside him. Oz shook off dirt from his wings before vanishing them into his back. “What is a tunnel doing here?” He surveyed.
“My question exactly.” Madnes pushed to his feet, and coughed on a cloud of dust as he did. “Time to go exploring.” He started into a trot down the dark tunnel.
Not to be outdone, Oz followed after him, shielding his mouth with a sleeve.
Madnes’s vision gradually adjusted to the dark. The dirt tunnel surfaces soon gave way to hard metal, and their boots clinked at every step.
Other than that, there was no sound down here. The quiet was unnerving and awkward.
Madnes took the chance to finish what he’d been meaning to say. “I’m angry with you, Oz, and I can’t brush off the things you did. But I’m also worried about you.”
“Here you go again,” Oz huffed irritably. “Can’t we walk in silence?”
“What darkness has taken hold of you, Oz? What made you change so much?” Madnes persisted.
“Darkness? You mean that Syn fairytale?” Oz barked a cold laugh. “Typical Madnes Hatter. Blame it on some mysterious force because it can’t possibly be anything else.”
“Then what did change you? And don’t act like it was all my fault.”
“...I don’t think I changed so much as I learned,” said Oz. “Learned the cold ways of reality. You can’t count on others, especially friends. They act like they’ll always be there for you, but when the time comes that you need them most, they vanish, walk away, leave you behind.”
