The Tree of Ecrof

by Kobe Bryant

  It looked as if it had been driven through the roof of the cave. Driven straight into the ground with enormous force. Only a god could have done something like that. Only a god—

  “Hurell.”

  The name was out of Pretia’s mouth before she could stop herself.

  Suddenly the story Anara had told her the morning she departed for Ecrof came flooding back. What had her nurse said? In a final attempt to call the people of Epoca back to him, Hurell had gone to his temple on the cliff’s edge and called out across the ocean. When there was no answer, he’d driven his Staff of Suffering into the ground with such force, he’d broken the cliff. Driven his staff!

  Pretia knew exactly what that glowing rod was: the Staff of Suffering. And she knew where they were—the Temple of Hurell.

  For years under the Gods’ Eye, Pretia had imagined that Cora was looking longingly at her island—taking one last look before she departed forever. But now Pretia was sure that she had been looking back anxiously at the staff, a reminder of Hurell. An earthly remnant of the Fallen God. Something that had stayed behind and might allow him to return.

  26

  ROVI

  THE STRANGLER FIG

  Rovi was in a state of shock. First they’d stumbled upon the strange flat treetop identical to his father’s drawings, and now they stood before the entire tangled tree itself—every detail, every branch, every terrifying dark space between the vine-like branches. Rovi’s father had perfectly re-created every single inch of the massive strangler fig except for one thing—the strange glowing light at the center. That was missing from his drawings.

  But Rovi had too much to think about to worry about this one difference. How had his father wound up here, in this strange cave-temple? What was this place? And what had happened to him here? Suddenly Rovi’s heart filled with dread. What if whatever happened to his father in this place happened to him? Rovi shuddered.

  He looked around. Vera was still standing at his side, but Pretia had disappeared through a hole in the cave wall that led out to the beach.

  “Pretia!” Vera called. She turned to Rovi. “Should we follow her?”

  “If she doesn’t come back soon,” Rovi replied. He hoped she did. He was too interested in the enormous, terrifying tree to waste time retrieving Pretia from the beach.

  He looked across the expanse of the cave floor to the base of the tree. How had his father planned to kill it?

  Rovi took a step toward the tree but had to put out his arms to steady himself as the floor shifted beneath him. “Did you see that?” Rovi asked.

  “What?”

  “Look.” He pointed at the ground in front of them. “It’s moving.”

  He took another step. There was a horrible creaking noise as the ground moved again. Rovi looked around the cave to see what was making the sound. He didn’t see anything, so he took another step toward the tree.

  This time the sound was deafening. And this time the floor didn’t just move beneath his feet, it fell away. Rovi felt Vera’s hand grab his arm, yanking him back just before he dropped into a cavern that had opened in front of him.

  Rovi glanced down. He and Vera were standing on a ledge with a wide-open space between them and the tree.

  “What just happened?” Vera gasped.

  “It’s like the tree doesn’t want us to get near it,” Rovi said.

  “So maybe we shouldn’t get near it,” Vera said. “Maybe we should just go back.”

  Before Rovi could reply, Pretia burst through the opening from the beach. “We need to kill the tree,” she shouted. “We need to kill the tree.” She was running full tilt toward Rovi and Vera.

  Rovi reached out and caught her so she wouldn’t plunge into the cavern.

  “Whoa,” Pretia said, reeling back from the newly formed ledge. “Where’d the ground go?”

  “I don’t know,” Rovi said. “I took a few steps toward the tree and then the ground disappeared. I don’t think the tree wants us near it.”

  “So I guess we can’t kill it, then,” Vera said.

  Pretia was looking around the room in disbelief. “But we have to,” she said. “I know what this place is.” She looked from Rovi to Vera. Then she lowered her voice. “It’s the Temple of Hurell.”

  “What?” Rovi gasped.

  “The Temple of Hurell,” Pretia whispered. “The woman who took care of me back at Castle Airim is a Flamekeeper, a guardian of the old stories. She told me about this place when I was little. I thought it was just a myth. But it’s true.”

  “Come on,” Vera said. “The myths are just exaggerations to explain how we became the way we are.”

  Pretia shook her head. “No,” she said. “When the people turned away from Hurell, he drove his Staff of Suffering into the cliff so forcefully that his entire temple crumbled.”

  “Or not,” Rovi said, staring at the columns that ringed the cavern.

  “Exactly,” Pretia replied. “Or not. But there’s more,” she said. “There’s this painting in the castle of the beach right outside.” She pointed through the opening toward the sea. “It shows the gods departing the island when they left Epoca for good. All of them except Hurell are getting in the ship, but Cora is looking back over her shoulder right at this cave. She must have been looking at the Staff of Suffering.”

  The three kids looked at each other in horror.

  “And the top of the tree,” Rovi said. “It’s not just the top of a tree. It’s an altar.”

  “Hurell’s altar,” Pretia said.

  Now Vera pointed at the tree, at the glowing shaft of light that sat right in the center of the tangled trunk. “Is that—”

  “Yes,” Pretia said. “I think that’s the staff. I always thought Cora was looking at it with longing, but now I think she was worried.”

  “Maybe the staff is made from a strangler fig,” Vera suggested, “and she knew if it was planted, it might grow. That’s how they work. At least the ones I’ve seen. They take over other trees.”

  “Wait,” Pretia said, “they take over other trees? Do you think this one could be doing that to the trees on Cora?”

  “What do you mean?” Vera asked.

  “What if this one is poisoning them, corrupting them, whatever you want to call it. Maybe this tree is why everything has gone wrong this year. Maybe it’s destroying all the healthy trees aboveground. Remember the first Field Day?”

  “The leaf tornado,” Vera said.

  “Right,” Pretia continued, “and the leaves that smothered Leo, and the branch that hit Castor, and then the Tree of Ecrof looking black and withered, not to mention what happened to Petros, who fell while hanging streamers. The trees are attacking the students because of this tree. It’s making them do it.”

  “Why?” Rovi asked.

  “Something to do with the temple?” Vera asked.

  It looked as if a horrible realization had dawned on Pretia. “What did Cassandra tell us the day we arrived?”

  “That we’d have to do foundational training instead of real sports,” Rovi said.

  “Come on,” Pretia snapped. “Not that. What did she tell us about the temples? What does everyone say about how they were built?”

  Vera rolled her eyes. “The gods’ own grana made the temples rise? You believe that?”

  “Yes,” Pretia said. “The evidence is right here.”

  Rovi and Vera looked at her, confused.

  “Grana made the temples rise. Grana built the temples. And what’s happened to Julius, Leo, and the rest of the students?”

  “They’ve lost their grana,” Rovi said slowly.

  “Somehow, someone or something is stealing their grana,” Pretia said.

  Now all three of them looked at the staff glowing in the center of the tree.

  “Is that why it’s glowing?” Rovi asked. �
��Because of the students’ grana?”

  “Pretia!” Vera exclaimed. “Do you think that’s what’s happening to Julius? Do you think his grana is making the temple rise?”

  “It sounds impossible, but I do. And we have to stop it.”

  “You’re right,” Rovi said quietly. “We know at least one other person saw this evil tree—my dad. This is where he wound up after he went into the Self-Splitter. This tree must have tried to steal his grana. It must have succeeded in stealing his grana. That’s why he was never the same.” Then he paused. “And that’s why he wanted to kill it.” Relief coursed through Rovi’s body. His father hadn’t been out of his mind. He’d been trying to save everyone. He looked from Vera to Pretia. “Let’s finish what he started.”

  “How?” Vera asked.

  “We need to get the staff,” Rovi said.

  “And destroy it,” Pretia added.

  All three kids looked over the gaping cavern to the tree. “The question is,” Rovi said, “how do we get there?” The tree was the length of a basketball court away. And in between was a deep cavern.

  “There has to be a way,” Pretia said.

  “I don’t know,” Vera said. “It looks impossible.”

  “Impossible?” Rovi said. The word had given him an idea. “Well, there’s one way to deal with that.”

  Vera laughed. “The fact that something is impossible means there is no way to do it.”

  “I guess you weren’t paying attention to Satis,” Rovi said. “On the first day of his class, he told us that visualization makes the impossible possible.”

  “So what are you saying?” Vera asked. “You think if we can visualize being able to cross this enormous hole, we’ll be able to do it?”

  “Yes,” Rovi said. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. Are you saying you’re too scared to try?”

  Vera didn’t reply.

  “Or maybe you’re worried that you’re not good enough at visualization,” Rovi added.

  Vera’s eyes flashed with competitive fire. “I’m good enough. So what’s your plan?”

  Rovi’s mind started churning. “Well, first of all, we’re going to need to work together. And we’re going to have to believe we can do this.”

  “Why?” Pretia asked.

  “Because,” Rovi explained, “we’re going to do a linked visualization, just like Satis taught us. We are going to be a team.”

  He saw Pretia’s jaw tense and fear creep into her eyes. “Pretia,” Rovi said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “You can do this.”

  Pretia shook her head. Rovi knew what she was thinking. “You’re not going to hurt anyone,” he said. “This is not a competition. This is teamwork.” He looked straight into her eyes. “Pretia, you have to do this.”

  “Since when did you become Mr. Teamwork?” she said. “I thought you were a solo operator.”

  “Since it started to matter,” Rovi said. “You said it yourself: We need to kill the tree. And . . .” He paused. There was something else. Something even more important. “And,” Rovi began again, “if we do this, we can clear my father’s name.”

  Pretia hesitated. “I can’t,” she said. “I can’t use—”

  “Pretia, this is not the time to worry about what you can and can’t do. You need to help. For me. And for the school.”

  Pretia glanced around the cavern. For a moment, Rovi thought she was going to object. Then she took a deep breath. “Okay,” Pretia said. “I’m in.”

  Rovi did not break eye contact with Pretia. “And,” he said, “you have to try your hardest. Promise?”

  “Promise,” Pretia said.

  “Now what?” Vera said.

  Rovi’s heart sank. He was all out of ideas. He knew they needed to work together. He knew they needed to do a shared visualization, but as to what they should visualize, he was totally lost.

  A loud groan echoed through the cavern. “What’s that?” Pretia said.

  Vera was staring out over the gaping space toward the tree. “It’s glowing brighter than before,” she said.

  The same groan echoed again. Then dirt began to rain down from the ceiling of the cavern as the columns rose higher.

  The whole room shook as more dirt and debris fell. Then, as quickly as it had started, the noise and movement stopped and the cavern was still. “How are we going to get across to the tree?” Rovi asked. “We’ve got to do it soon so we can get out of here.”

  Vera was staring at the roof. “Look!” she said. “Vines.”

  Rovi followed her gaze. Dozens of vines were now dangling down between the columns. “The columns must break them loose,” Rovi said.

  “We can swing,” Vera said.

  “But those are the tree’s vines,” Pretia said, sounding horrified.

  “And they’re totally out of reach,” Rovi said.

  “If I stand on one of your shoulders, I think I can jump to the closest one, then I can grab one of you and swing you over to the next vine,” Vera said.

  Rovi looked up. The closest vine looked out of reach, even if Vera were to stand on his shoulders and execute a decent jump. Then he looked down. And if she managed that somehow and then somehow was able to grab his hand, he would be swinging over an unknowable plunge, supported only by Vera’s grip on his arm. “I don’t know,” he said.

  “I thought the idea was to visualize the impossible,” Vera said. Her face was determined. “That’s what we’re going to do.”

  She held out her hands. “And we don’t need any tools or props or dumb sticks to do this. Satis said it was possible to do this just by holding hands. So that’s what has to happen.”

  Rovi took one of Vera’s hands and one of Pretia’s. He closed his eyes. He was Pallas Myrios’s son. He could do this! It took him a moment to conjure a perfect image of the cavern, the columns, the vines, and the distant tree. And when he did, he discovered that Pretia was already there, perfectly poised. Vera was the last to arrive in their shared imagination. She appeared several times, then faded away. Rovi could feel her hand sweating in his.

  “It’s only practice,” he whispered. “Deep breath.”

  Then Vera was with them.

  “Okay,” she said. “Let’s do this.” She climbed onto Rovi’s shoulders. Even though they were really still standing next to each other on the ledge, he could feel the weight of her feet. “One, two, three—” He felt more pressure as Vera bent her knees, preparing to jump. She took off, her arms flailing for the vine. She missed. She began to fall. All three opened their eyes.

  Vera was furious. “Again,” she said. She squeezed Rovi’s hand hard as she shut her eyes. Just like last time, Vera was the final one to arrive in their shared visualization. Once more, she climbed onto Rovi’s shoulders. Once more, she jumped. And once more, she missed the vine.

  She broke out of the visualization. Sweat was beading down her forehead. “Again,” she insisted.

  Once more, the same thing happened.

  “Let’s take a break,” Rovi suggested when they all opened their eyes.

  “Maybe I should jump first,” Pretia suggested. “Maybe that would work better.”

  “No way,” Vera snapped. “This was my idea. I’m not going to fail.”

  “I really think we should take a break,” Rovi said.

  “No,” Vera barked, slamming her eyes shut and squeezing Rovi’s hand so hard it felt as if she might break his fingers. This time, when Vera finally entered the visualization, her image flickered in and out of focus like a bad projection.

  She got onto Rovi’s shoulders. But she couldn’t make herself jump. She opened her eyes, dropped Rovi’s and Pretia’s hands, and stormed away in the direction of the beach.

  “She’s making it harder and harder for herself,” Pretia said. “The more frustrated she gets, the worse she does. Let me talk to h
er and see if I can get her to calm down and focus.”

  “How?” Rovi asked.

  “I’m going to tell her I have grana and that I’m going to use it to cross this cave.”

  “Why’s that going to work?”

  “Because Vera is motivated by competition. And if she wants to measure up to me, she is going to have to figure out a way to relax and do so.”

  “Whoa,” Rovi said. “That’s wild enough to work.”

  Pretia crossed to where Vera stood and put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. He watched them conferring. After a moment, the girls returned. Pretia was smiling. Vera had a determined look on her face.

  “Did you know?” she asked Rovi.

  “Yes,” he said. “I’ve seen her grana. It’s amazing.”

  “We’ll see,” Vera said. She took a deep breath. Then she did something Rovi realized he’d never seen her do before a competition. She smiled. “I got this,” she replied.

  She took his hand. They closed their eyes. And in no time, they were in the shared visualization. Vera stood on Rovi’s shoulders. She jumped off and caught the closest vine. She built momentum and swung back. Then she grabbed for Rovi’s hand at the same moment that he jumped to reach hers. Their hands connected. She lifted him, swinging him out over the ledge and up until he could catch the next vine. Soon Rovi was swinging vine to vine ahead of Vera.

  Then Vera went back for Pretia and did the same, grabbing her as she jumped and swinging her up to catch the vine next to her. Now Pretia was following Rovi, swinging over the cavern. Finally, Vera followed.

  Once they had all arrived safely at the tree, they opened their eyes.

  “Wow,” Rovi said, “we did it.”

  “We need to visualize it again before we attempt it for real,” Pretia said. “And then again and again, so everything is perfect.”

  Five more times, they executed the visualization perfectly—Vera leaping from Rovi’s shoulders, swinging out and back, and grabbing first Rovi, then Pretia, so they could grab a vine of their own. And each of the five times, all three of them made it.

  “Okay,” Vera said after the fifth successful run-through. “Are you guys ready?”