Chapter Thirteen
Chewthumps
At Rhapsody's wishes, the travelers took leave of the forest of Lizick trees, and made their way out of the sandy land of Drysin, into a hilly country where the ground was hard, gray, and littered with dead trees, like dry bones of twisted corpses. Above them the sun bathed the world with a hesitant yellow-orange glow. It was as if the sunbeams were reluctant to light up the land, like the gray atmosphere was absorbing more of the light than necessary.
“Eerie sort of place,” Talic murmured, glancing around him. “Not even the bugs are chirping. It’s too quiet. ”
“Not to worry,” Freddie said, retrieving a wooden flute out of his pocket, the only thing he’d been able to bring with him from Hollyhock Hollow. “I’ll, fix that problem.”
Soon, beautiful melodic sounds were emitted from Freddie's flute. First, he played a happy jig that made his listeners tap their hands in time with the music. Then he switched songs and played a sad melancholy tune. It felt as if the sad music, like their pent up emotions, were now being released into the air for all to see, like caged birds, flying at random, fluttering on the current of the wind---their longing, sadness, fear, and insecurity, soaring about them, in all its lonely nakedness.
“Stop already!” Talic shouted. “If you don’t play something a bit happier, I'll...sing, and you really don't want that, do you?"
Freddie immediately stopped fluting. He stared at Talic, narrowing his eyes. "You wouldn't."
"I would," Talic warned, taking a deep breath.
"Fine!" Freddie sighed. “All right, I'll play something happy. Just don't sing." He put the flute back to his lips, and put all his effort into playing music that was much more cheerful and light. He paused for a breath, just as Rhapsody raised another word of caution. “Freddie, stop!”
“What now?” Freddie complained. “Too happy?”
“No,” Rhapsody said, pointing beyond to some scraggly brush. Where a gathering of wide-eyed creatures lurked. They were oval shaped, and so were their large eyes. They had long gray tails and two back feet like a kangaroo.
“Funny looking creatures,” Freddie mused.
“They look like eggs with tails and ears,” Talic said.
“Oh,” Ivory cooed. “They're so small, so cute. "
"They may look innocent, but don't be fooled!” Rhapsody said. “Look how their bones show. No doubt, they are hungry. If you give them a chance, they will nibble you to bits. My uncle met up with a hungry pack of Chewthumps, once, while he was sleeping and, well, they nearly ate off every single toe he had, chewed off a part of his ear too. Believe me, you don’t want to give them a chance to get near you.”
Freddie blew a gust of air through his flute, and the creatures immediately jumped, bounced, forward like springs towards him. He stopped playing, and they stopped. He tooted another note, and they took another step. He stopped, and they stopped once more.
“Musical little fellows,” Freddie mused.
“Continue playing," Rhapsody warned, "and you’ll soon see how hospitable these musical little fellows can be. Come," Rhapsody said, clucking to his horse. “Let’s keep moving.”
Every once in a while Freddie would peer back at the Chewthumps and shake his head in amazement. Odd enough, the Chewthumps stayed put, watching remorsefully, as their musical dinner faded out of sight.
“Funny creatures,” Freddie kept saying. “Music lovers and such.”
“If I didn’t know better,” Talic said. “I’d say you’d make a good Chewthump yourself, Freddie. You like music and you certainly like food. I remember the time I put a piece of Perry cake in your mouth when you were sound asleep. Do you know what you did?”
“No. What did I do?”
“You started chewing.”
“Seems logical.”
“Not while you’re sleeping. Plus, after you ate the Perry cake, I gave you a cricket and you ate that too.”
“You what?”
Talic let out a loud laugh. “Sorry, it was just an experiment.”
“Sorry?” Freddie repeated. “Yeah, you will be, after I put stinkbugs in your socks! Andrew, don't you think that's a good idea? Or better yet, in your mouth while you're sleeping! Andrew? Andrew...?"
Andrew looked upset and his hands were clenched. He did not look like he had heard Freddie at all. His normally blue eyes shown a glowing green color.
“Look at Andrew’s eyes,” Ivory said.
Rhapsody stared at Andrew with great interest. There was a bright green sheen to Andrew’s eyes that was slowly dimming, like dying embers of a fire. His lips were curled into a half smile and his face had the strangest expression on it.
“Andrew," Rhapsody asked, his voice full of curiosity. "Andrew, tell us, what did you just see?”
“Huh?” Andrew blinked several times, almost as if waking from some distant dream.
“What did you see?” Rhapsody asked again.
“See?”
“Your eyes…they burned green a moment ago. No elf has had that kind of vision since…well…I don’t know when.”
“Vision?”
“Now, it would be most helpful if you could tell us what you saw.”
Andrew shrugged. "I can't really tell you if I don't understand what I saw in the first place."
"Just tell us anyway," Rhapsody insisted. "Maybe I can decipher it for you."
"Well, okay." Andrew closed his eyes, trying to picture what he’d just seen. “It was as if I could see through the mountain, through the rocks, trees, the earth. I could see down every mole hole and far beneath the tree roots. I could see past this mountain. I could see a hill covered in black. I could see lots of keys, and locks. And there was something else, but it wasn’t like I could see it clearly. It was more like I could feel something there that was in great anguish.”
“Very interesting," Rhapsody said, nodding. "Keys and locks."
"What does it mean?" Andrew asked.
"It means..." Rhapsody mused. "It means...well, that you can see through things. You can see deep into the ground so you can watch the seeds you plant, grow. What an incredible gift to possess, to see the things you plant spring to life from the earth."
Andrew scowled, and shook his head. “Rhapsody, you saw what I did to that tree back in Nookpot. I'm not the same as I once was. I kill plants, I don't grow them anymore. Ivory knows what I mean."
Rhapsody smiled. “Not to worry, Andrew. You are just experiencing the change. Elves’ gifts also work in reverse. What plants you cause to live, you can also cause to die. And what you cause to die can be caused to back to life. With some guidance, you will understand how to use your gifts. It’s the way of things. However, many elves have been cautioned against using their gifts anymore, because Barnacles, dark creatures, that siphon gifts from elves, can smell it when an elf uses his gifts. To use ones gifts is very dangerous these days. Many deny the power given to them, because it is unsafe to use it. It is truly an age of great darkness in which we live.”
“Reverse?” Andrew said, a look surprise and relief crossing his face. "If can use my gifts in reverse. Can I still grow things?"
“Yes,” Rhapsody said. "You can. You just need to find your roots. Once you find your roots, your foundation, your footing, the things you will grow will be unlike the world has ever seen."
Andrew pulled his horse to a stop. A light came into his eyes, and excitement shown on his face. It was the first time since leaving the Hollow that he felt a sense of hope, of returning. If he was to find his roots, it had to be now.
He slipped off his horse, and walked towards the dead, twisted trees along the road.
"Andrew?" Rhapsody questioned. "What are you doing?"
"Finding my roots," he answered, walking with purpose up a low hill where there were hundreds of dead trees clumped together as if a forest fire had ripped through them.
"Andrew," Rhapsody cautioned. "Didn't you just hear what I said? It
's dangerous to use your gifts. The Barnacles. No. Andrew. Don't even think about it. Not here, not now."
Andrew clenched his fits, and continued forward, feeling fear, and anticipation grow inside him. Here in this gray, dry valley where nothing grew, where no life was found, he could not make things worse. Only better. Here he would bring life back into the ground where no vegetation dared grow. If what Rhapsody said was true, he would find out right now.
"Andrew!" Rhapsody shouted behind him. "You must conceal your gifts until it is time for you to reveal them.”
Andrew shook his head, feeling resolve build up inside him. He was not waiting any longer. All that he had needed to know was that he was not a monster. That he could again give life to the land he thought he had cursed. He would reclaim his title, his honor, and his abilities. Here, Ivory would see what he could do, the life he could give, instead of the devastation. He slowly knelt down below the foot of one of the bent trees, looking at it with compassion like it was a lame beggar that had long since given up in despair.
Find my roots? he wondered. How was he supposed to do that, except dig deep inside himself, to look beyond what was, to the hidden realms where no one saw. He stared beneath the foot of the tree, concentrating. In an instant, he could see beneath the ground, deep below the hard surface along the tree's roots. Instinctively he dug his fingers into the ground, and grabbed the tree's roots. He closed his eyes, and held onto the tree's roots with all his might. In that single moment, a flash of memory flooded his mind, of his home in the Hollow, his family, his friends, his past, what Orion had told him, of who he really was, visions of stars, of planets, of earth, seeds, dirt, and love filled his mind. The truth encompassed him. Passion and hope, sunshine, and laughter echoed through him as the memories did, channeling through him like shafts of summer, its heat, and life force pushed through his core and flowed out his fingertips, shooting through the ground into the tree's roots, entwining with the roots of the tree next to it, and the tree next to it.
In that instant he felt fire run through is arms and push through the ground deep into the roots of all the trees surrounding him, exploding into a wave of heat, and warmth, and life.
He fell back, as the wave of energy surged into the ground, straightening the bent backs of all the trees, bringing new life into their roots and branches. Green grass and flowers, spread out from him in all directions as if he was a river of water giving life to all he touched. In a single moment the desolated land breathed with life and beauty. Birds twittered in the trees, grass and shrubs carpeted the ground. As far as the eye could see, the gray hills had turned green, and the bent trees were tall, green, and waved majestically in the wind.
Exhausted, and exhilarated at the same time, Andrew slowly stood, and surveyed the life that came deep from within side him and now spread out from him for all to see. It was as if the jungles, the tapestries, the fields and forests of his mind had now become real. In this now, this moment, he felt as if anything was possible. Proud, and deeply satisfied, Andrew bent down and picked a pink rose that blossomed at the foot of a tree he had just brought to life.
He slowly sniffed it, and smiled. It smelled of cinnamon, of everything that reminded him of safety, of happiness, of home. He turned, and faced his friends. The look on their faces told Andrew, only one thing. That he was back. And that nothing could stop him from the fate he was gravitating towards, whatever fate that was. He lifted the rose, and handed it to Ivory, his eyes never leaving hers. Somehow it seemed like a symbol. A start of a new life, where he had reclaimed the power he had once lost.
Here, in this fertile soil, anything could now grow.