CHAPTER 9
Following the magical signal, they continued on their quest for several weeks, stopping into any villages and towns they passed, to replenish their supplies, and sometimes, to get a night of sleep out of the elements. Every time they entered a new town, Darcie made a beeline for the nearest bakery to replenish her muffin supply. She seemed to have an uncanny ability to detect muffins. Most of the villages they encountered were quite small, but occasionally they stopped in larger market towns.
Travelling with Darcie helped Tobin realize what a solitary existence he had led. He had never thought of himself as a lonely person. But now that he’d been with Darcie for a while, he had come to understand how important it was to be surrounded by good, caring people. Despite living quite close to his family, he saw them only on rare occasions. Most of his childhood friends had moved to other areas, and he only kept in contact with a few of them. Little by little, Tobin had insulated himself against contact with other people. He hadn’t done it consciously, and it wasn’t even something he really wanted. But he had isolated himself, and the sudden emergence of Darcie and her vibrant personality into his life, was a shocking admonition for Tobin to make some changes in his life. He was beginning to think that the explosion of his front lawn might have been the best thing that had ever happened to him.
After weeks of following the magical signal, without any hint that they were getting closer to the source, it was a surprise one afternoon, when Darcie’s compass began to ping excitedly.
“Finally!” Darcie exclaimed, moving slowly around in a circle, the compass held out in front of her, trying to get her bearings. “It’s this way,” she indicated, pointing to the left of the path.
They broke their way through the underbrush following Darcie’s compass. It was hard going; they were in a particularly untamed part of Elden Forest, and other than the main roadway, there was no clear path through the forest. After crashing around for almost an hour, they stumbled upon a clearing in the middle of the dense wood. It was a lovely, serene little clearing, with a babbling brook, and grassy knolls.
“Which way do we go now?” Tobin asked wearily.
“No, I don’t think we need to go anywhere else,” Darcie replied, turning slowly. The compass was pinging frantically. “The Field Scope says we’re right on top of it,” Darcie said, looking at her compass, and then squinting around the clearing.
Tobin looked around too. A pair of butterflies perched for a moment on an old tree stump, and then drifted lazily off to the tall grass.
Darcie moved a few steps until she was standing next to the tree stump. “This is it, apparently,” she said, looking rather bemused. “An enchanted tree stump perhaps?” she smiled to herself, and then looked startled, as though something had just occurred to her. Kneeling down, she began rifling through her rucksack; clearly, she had a definite artefact in mind.
“What are you looking for?” Tobin asked.
“There should be something in here that allows me to see through enchantments,” Darcie replied. She was almost up to her shoulder in the deep rucksack. Finally she pulled out an odd pair of glasses. The lenses were multicoloured, and they were curved upwards at the corners. When Darcie put them on, they gave her a very quizzical appearance.
“What are they?” Tobin asked.
“The Kaleidascopes, remember?” Darcie replied. “They’ll let me see things that aren’t there.” She turned back to the tree stump, and examined it closely. “Mmmm just as I thought!” she exclaimed. “This is not a tree stump.”
“It’s not?”
“Nope. The tree stump is an illusion, covering what appears to be a tall metal box. I’m going to try and open it,” she said decisively.
“Is that a good idea?” Tobin asked, remembering his unfortunate incidents with touching magical objects.
“Well, I know what I’m doing, for the most part.” Darcie replied absently, focused on her task.
Tobin was not convinced. Given how often they had stumbled onto strange magical enchantments, and plants that turned people blue, he really wished they would exercise a little bit more caution when approaching things they didn’t understand.
It was strange to see Darcie’s hands digging around in a tree stump. They seemed to disappear into the stump itself.
“Hmmm,” Darcie murmured to herself. “There’s definitely something in here. It looks like a very concentrated knot of magic…” Darcie trailed off as the ground beneath them made an ominous rumbling sound. She froze, her hands still inside the tree stump illusion. Tobin was just about to ask what was wrong, when the ground rippled strangely.
“Oh no,” Darcie whispered, as the ground beneath them disappeared.
They fell for many feet, before landing with a jarring crash, in the pile of dirt and debris that had travelled down with them. Tobin coughed frantically, waving a hand in front of his face, trying to clear the air.
They had landed at the bottom of a large pit. It appeared to be quite deep, although Tobin could still see the sky far above them. The walls of the pit were very steep, as though they’d been carved out. Brushing dirt off his clothing, Tobin looked around.
Darcie lay next to him, a pained expression on her face. Her left arm hung limp at her side.
“Are you alright?” Tobin asked, brushing dirt out of his eyes, and off of his clothing.
“I think I’ve broken my arm,” she replied, trying to cradle her arm towards her body.
“What happened?”
“I think I accidently touched it. The concentration of magic,” Darcie replied ruefully.
“You touched the magic? What was it?” Tobin asked.
Darcie gestured with her good hand, over to the opposite side of the pit. Lying half buried in the dirt was another copper orb.
After Tobin had propped Darcie up against a larger stone in one of the corners of their new prison, he opened his rucksack and took out one of his shirts. He fashioned a crude splint for her arm from the shirt, and then fished out a chocolate chip muffin for her. She brightened immediately, and even managed a weak smile around a mouthful of muffin.
“So, about that rule about not touching things...” Tobin began tentatively. Darcie laughed, and then quickly stopped, shuddering with pain from her arm.
“You’re right,” she said, “We both need to stop touching things. The Kaleidascopes allowed me to see through the stump illusion, but they blinded me to the copper orb. I just saw it as a knot of magic. I won’t make that mistake again,” she said ruefully.
“It seems strange that we keep encountering these copper orbs,” Tobin suggested.
Darcie finished chewing, her eyebrows furrowed.
“Yes,” she replied as she swallowed. “I’m beginning to suspect that we’re being corralled into places where we can then be trapped. First the manor house, then the stump illusion.”
“They don’t seem to be very good traps though.” Tobin said. “I mean, this hole isn’t really that deep, and we have all of those magical artefacts with us now. Surely there must be something in there that will help us get out.”
Darcie smiled. “I was thinking the same thing. Let me finish my muffin, and we’ll get started.”
First they tried the ladder. Tobin remembered Darcie showing him the ladder before, when she was trying to determine what the magical artefacts each did. The ladder was so fine, and delicate; little more than a few threads, that Tobin had been sure Darcie was mistaken when she said it was a magical ladder. The gossamer strands of the ladder seemed to gleam in the dim light of the pit.
“It was made by magically combining the silk of glowworms, with Trulvian spider silk,” Darcie reminded Tobin. “It can withstand a massive weight. We should have no trouble getting out of this hole, even if you have to help me out.”
Tobin attached a small pick to one end of the ladder, and threw it straight up, toward one of the edges of the hole. The gossamer ladder sailed upward in an arc, and then seemed to hit a wall. The air above them seemed to cra
ckle and glow for a minute, and then the ladder disintegrated in Tobin’s hands.
Tobin stared at Darcie in shock, the charred threads drifting to the dirt floor of the hole.
“Well, that’s new,” Darcie said. “It looks like our little friend, the copper orb, has implemented a null shield at the mouth of the pit.”
They were luckier with the rest of the magical artefacts. The null shield didn’t destroy anything else, but unfortunately, it didn’t allow any of the other artefacts to work.
“We have nothing left to try,” Darcie said, as she finished rifling through her rucksack. That null shield seems to counteract every magical instrument I have.”
“Is this null shield the same kind of shield that trapped us in the manor house?” Tobin asked.
“It’s similar, but not quite the same,” Darcie replied. “The force shield kept people from passing through. This null shield, simply blocks enchantments from getting through, by counteracting their magical properties. If this hole wasn’t so deep, we could simply climb out of it. The null shield shouldn’t touch us.”
They sat quietly for a minute. Tobin began to feel a quiet desperation come over him. His mind raced, searching for alternatives. There didn’t seem to be any way out, short of scaling the wall. The null shield would counteract any of the magical artefacts they had with them. It was designed to prevent enchantments and spells from penetrating.
“Wait!” he exclaimed suddenly. “Do you still have those seeds you brought back from Alserva?” he asked Darcie.
She looked puzzled. “Yes, I should still have a packet. Why?”
“You told me that the ivy plant grew faster than anything you’ve ever seen, and that it grew to be fairly substantial,” Tobin said.
“Right, what does that have to do with our situation?”
“Well, all of the different ways we’ve been trying to get out of here have been spells, and enchantments,” Tobin explained. “I think the ivy will work because it’s not a spell, and it’s not enchanted to grow fast. Growing fast is an inherent property of the plant, because the plant itself is magical.”
Tobin watched Darcie’s expressive face change from puzzlement to shock and then to delight.
“That is brilliant!” she exclaimed. “I think that might actually work!” she looked at him wonderingly. “Your mind is fascinating,” she told him. “When we get out of here, we are going to have some long discussions about magical theory.”
Tobin grinned in reply.
Darcie quickly dug the seeds out of her bag. She planted all but three of them, and watered the soil from her leather canteen. Within minutes the ivy had begun to grow. Tobin watched, fascinated as the ivy grew at an incredible rate, extending its tendrils up, and out; feeling for little cracks in the wall so it could take root. The plant indeed grew at an unbelievable rate. Within an hour it was halfway to the top of the pit.
Two hours later, they watched carefully as the ivy neared the top of the pit. The first creeping tendril peeked tentatively over the edge of the hole. There was no response from the null shield.
Tobin reached his arm out and took a handful of ivy. He boosted himself off the ground to see if the plant would hold his weight. When it did, he began to pack up their belongings back into the rucksacks.
Darcie went first because of her injured arm. Tobin helped to boost her up as they climbed, and he carried both their packs. It was an excruciating weight, but Tobin focused on putting one hand on top of the other, and one foot up the ivy ladder at a time. As they went up and up, Tobin dared not hope that they would be successful. He concentrated on making sure that Darcie was climbing all right. Finally they reached the very top of the pit, and crawled over the edge of the hole. There was still no response from the null shield.
Tobin lay still beside Darcie for a long while, catching their breath. Finally he manoeuvred himself up into a sitting position.
“Should we find somewhere to camp out for the night?” he asked Darcie.
She looked tired, and her cheeks were flushed an especially hectic pink.
“Actually, I would like to get as far away from this pit as we can,” she replied.
They picked up their bags; Darcie carried her own, despite her bad arm, and Tobin’s loud protests.
Trying to find their way back to the road was difficult, as it was getting dark, and the undergrowth made their progress extremely slow. Tobin was just about to insist that they find a place quickly to settle down for the night when he saw a glimmer through the trees. He came to an immediate stop, moving slightly, to catch a glimpse of it again.
“Darcie!” Tobin half-whispered her name, and beckoned for her to follow him. Slowly, with Darcie directly behind him, he moved forwards, toward the glint he had seen through the trees.
They rounded a tree and there it was. Just ahead of them, suspended in midair was a massive sphere of luminous liquid. It was as big as Tobin was tall, and it sparkled iridescently in the late evening sun, filtering through the trees.
“What is it?” Tobin breathed.
“What is what?” Darcie asked, staring at Tobin.
“That sphere of light!” Tobin exclaimed, looking at Darcie in bemusement. The light from the luminous sphere lit up her face, but she wasn’t even looking in the direction of the globe of light. It was as though she couldn’t even see it.
Tobin was confused. They were standing only a few paces away from the iridescent orb, and it was so large that there was no way Darcie could have missed it.
“This! Right here!” Tobin exclaimed, gesturing to the sphere. He felt a strange tingling sensation in his fingers, and realized in a sudden panic, that his fingers had brushed the edge of the sphere. Suddenly the globe of light dissolved; a luminous liquid from the sphere seemed to seep into Tobin’s hand. It felt charged, and electric. His entire body felt alive; humming, pulsing.
“Hey! What’s going on?” Darcie exclaimed loudly, as the compass in her hand began to ping and whistle loudly. She pointed the compass at Tobin, and the instrument went wild.
Scarcely able to concentrate on standing up straight, Tobin struggled to control the strange energy that had suffused his entire body. Very desperately, Tobin felt the need to use the power that was humming within him – it begged to be directed towards a purpose.
He closed his eyes tightly, and gritted his teeth. It felt as though at any moment he would fly into a thousand pieces. The sensation was overwhelming, and Tobin fought through clenched teeth to exert some sort of control over the energy within him.
His mind buzzed with thoughts. What was happening? And why now? All he had wanted was to find a village. Somewhere he and Darcie could have her arm attended to by a physician. Maybe somewhere with a hot meal and a warm bed. Why couldn’t they be somewhere else?
Instantaneously, Tobin felt the energy leave his body. In his ears Tobin could hear a static buzzing. He felt a strong wind stir his hair wildly, and then stop just as suddenly as it had begun. Tobin heard a sharp intake of breath as Darcie gasped, and opened his eyes to see her gaping up at him.
They were no longer in the forest. They were standing in the middle of a crowded marketplace.
“What is going on?” Darcie whispered, looking very intently into Tobin’s face.
He couldn’t answer. Waves of weakness came crashing over him. The world seemed to tilt, and as his knees buckled, the town square seemed to fade until all he could see clearly, before everything turned black, were Darcie’s worried eyes.