The Map Maker's Choice

by Matthew J. Krengel

  “It’s open just a few feet in,” Bella reported. “After that, the tunnel looks open as far up as I can see.” She dusted her wings off and fluttered back over to Coronia and settled on her shoulder.

  Encouraged, Jacob started grabbing bigger rocks and pushing them off to the side while Eriunia and Jane moved smaller ones. They worked hard for about twenty minutes. By then Jacob was dripping with sweat, but the final rocks fell away, leaving an opening just big enough for him to squirm through, He looked at Eriunia and Jane.

  “Here we go,” Jacob said. Since Eriunia had lost her bow and sword and only had her dagger left, he was the only one with a serious weapon. He pulled his sword from its sheath and carefully slid his shield through the opening. It took a couple of minutes of working back and forth for him to get his shoulder through the hole, but when he did, he felt a draft of cooler air. “Come on through,” he called to the others. As he waited, he felt Bella flutter through the opening and land on his shoulder. A second later, a small fairy light popped into view and lit up the passage and steps before him. The tunnel was narrow and curved, and almost looked like it had been carved by hand from the stone around them.

  “Where does this lead?” Jacob asked. He peered one way and then the other, trying to see through the gloom.

  “I don’t know,” Coronia replied. She gratefully accepted his help slipping through the hole. Once she was on the other side, she sat down weakly. The muscles in her legs trembled from the efforts of moving around.

  “It’ll take some time for the transformation to complete, helping your new legs gain some strength,” Eriunia said. She slid through the hole with no help and landed gracefully on her feet. Behind her, Jacob grabbed Jane’s outstretched hand and helped her through.

  Once they were all together again, they started up the steps, their path lit by Bella’s small light. The air was cool, and despite its being a little stale, it wasn’t so bad that it would make them sick. Somewhere in the cavern, air vents still let fresh air in. They climbed about twenty steps at an easy grade to a landing with three passages leading off in three different directions. Here the passage was made of bricks and the ceiling was curved, just like Jane had seen pictures of when she looked up the tunnels under the Twin Cities. Despite all she had seen, she was still amazed to find that the tunnels matched the ones on her side so closely.

  “Which way?” Jane asked. The light Bella created was only strong enough to show them about ten feet into each tunnel. Beyond that, darkness filled each passage, and Jane could not see anything.

  “I remember seeing this on the map I found,” Coronia said. “I think the map room is this way and the armory that way.” She pointed in the direction she thought they needed to go.

  “Armory?” Eriunia asked. She turned and looked down the indicated passage with sudden interest. “We should check it out.”

  “Why the armory?” Jacob asked. He still had his sword and shield and in his mind the weapons they had lost were easy enough to replace once they arrived in Duluth.

  “We’re a long way from Duluth. Other then your sword and my dagger, we have no weapons,” Eriunia replied. “If we run into Katar and his brutes, I would like a way to defend myself.” She said the words in an even tone with only a slightly lecturing note.

  “I was just asking,” Jacob said. “I thought we’d jump to Duluth from the map room.” His face reddened slightly. He felt Eriunia was pushing his buttons lately and he wasn’t sure why.

  “What if we can’t?” Eriunia posed.

  “Armory it is,” Jane interjected. She wrapped her hands around Jacob’s and smiled up at him. “Better safe then sorry, right?” She stood on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his cheek and another on his lips for good measure.

  “Works for me,” Jacob said with a smile. Life was too short to live it irritated, so he motioned for them to lead on.

  The passage leading to the armory was short and widened some before it reached a door that was barred from the inside. There was no obvious way to open it, so Jacob swung his powerful sword at the lock as hard as he could. The edge of the blade cut through the old rusted lock easily, and it fell to the ground. Carefully they pushed the door open and were greeted with another short passage and another locked door. The lock on this one was in better shape, and it took half a dozen hacks from Jacob’s sword to free it.

  “Wow,” Jacob said. He stepped into the room with Bella hovering next to him and looked around. The area was about fifty feet wide and the same tall. All around the outside and in the middle were racks of weapons and various pieces of armor.

  “Too bad the bowstrings are all rotted out,” Eriunia said. She retrieved a bow from a nearby rack and tested the wood, which was still strong. She set it back down and kept walking down the rows of weapons. Suddenly she stopped and gazed at the work of art displayed before her—a handcrafted and gem-encrusted bow leaning against a wooden stand that held a set of golden inlaid bracers. A finely detailed piece of mail lay there. When she lifted the edge, she found it incredibly light. Finally she examined leather greaves, leggings, and a helm that looked like it was made of silver with an open face and images of eagles worked into the metal. This was a suit of armor constructed for a queen.

  Immediately she pulled off her old cloak and picked the mail off the stand. It slid down over her torso as if it had been crafted for her. The leggings felt like a second skin when she pulled them on and the helm slid down onto her head so well she could not even tell she was wearing it.

  “Wow, you look great,” Jane exclaimed. She had been walking down another aisle of the armory. When she reached the end, she had finally seen why Eriunia was so quiet. The armor fit Eriunia like a glove and made the elf look even more deadly.

  “How do I look, Jacob?” Eriunia said with a sly smile. She couldn’t resist trying to set the boy up just one more time.

  “No kidding,” Jacob muttered in surprise. Once again, Jane slapped his arm. “What did I do this time?”

  Jane just started to chuckle at him. They checked the rest of the room and managed to locate a pair of finely crafted daggers with silver inlaid into the hilts. Jane slipped one into her belt and Jacob passed the other to Coronia. To his surprise, the mermaid spun the knife around in her hand and sent it through a series of moves that told him that she knew how to use it.

  Jane found a second mail shirt in pristine shape and slipped it on over her undershirt. To her amazement, it fit perfectly. When she put her outer shirt back on, it was hard to tell she was wearing it.

  “All right, where’s this map room?” Jacob asked when they were done. The rest of the armory was a rusted and ruined mess. Parts of spears and swords leaned against weapon racks and the empty skeletons of armor holders were covered in dust.

  They left the armory behind and walked back to the intersection that had brought them this far. Coronia thought the map room was to the right from the alchemy lab, so they started down that passage. This time the steps led lower into the ground. After about thirty steps, the passage ended in a pool of water.

  “It’s flooded,” Jacob reported. He waded down into the water and tried to see where the brick-lined tunnel ended, but it was lost from sight. “I can’t see the other side. If there is a map room down there, it’s out of sight.” The water was clean and calm but all they could see was more bricks and more of the passage leading out into the distance.

  “We need a mushroom circle,” Eriunia muttered. She glared at the water like it was an enemy waiting to fight her.

  “I don’t know about that,” Bella squeaked. She was still having nightmares about the last trip through the underpaths, and she didn’t relish the idea of having to try again.

  “You’ll do fine, Bella,” Eriunia said comfortingly. She didn’t need the little fairy falling to pieces on them right now.

  They turned back from the flooded p
assage and climbed the steps back to the intersection. This time they took the passage leading straight ahead. This tunnel went out straight for about fifty feet. They climbed a flight of steps and found another wide platform. The only way out of this room was still up, so they crossed the dusty area and continued up the steps.

  When they arrived at the top, they found a chamber that reminded Jane of an abandoned subway station she’d seen pictures of the year before. A series of pillars was supported with layers of brick that had been polished. Parts of them still shined brightly. On both sides of the chamber, wide steps led up and out. Jacob pointed up to their right.

  “I see sunlight,” Jacob said happily. He grabbed Jane’s hand, and they hurried toward the steps that would bring them out, trailed by Eriunia and Coronia. Bella fluttered ahead, wondering where it would bring them out. When they emerged, they could see they were standing on the edge of the city. A thick forest lay straight ahead, and a few animals called loudly from the hidden depths of the trees.

  “We’re only an hour’s walk from the mushroom circle,” Bella said happily. She sensed the circle hidden in the trees and undergrowth.

  “Let’s keep moving,” Eriunia said. “I want to get back to Duluth and then go on to the Woods Lake area.”

  True to Bella’s word, they hiked through the forest for almost an hour before Bella waved her arms. “We’re close.” She flitted from tree to tree until she spotted the hint of the circle on the ground about twenty feet beyond where they were standing.

  “Over here,” Bella called. She motioned them over and hopped down to where the mushroom circle lay partially hidden under a few leaves. Bella put her hand fondly over the mushrooms and patted one softly, thinking of the wonderful places the underpaths were able to take them. For just a moment she felt a twinge of darkness and her nervousness doubled, but still she told herself, I can do this.

  When they were all gathered around the circle they joined hands with the fairy, and the spinning circle of lights opened up to greet them. The moment they entered the underpaths, each of them knew this had been a horrible mistake. The darkness that had only been a glimpse in the corner of their eyes earlier was now a raging monster that seemed to pursue them no matter where they turned.

  15: Lost Forty

  Eriunia felt the blast of frigid air slam against her body but held tightly to the others and endured the hits. She felt Coronia’s grip slipping, but she clenched tightly to the girl’s hand and kept her securely in the group. If any of them became lost in the pathways, she knew they would never survive the journey.

  Jane heard Bella shout something about Duluth, and then she saw what she thought was the exit for Duluth flash by them. Instead they rocketed north and west and finally a single exit appeared. As they headed for the exit circle, a massive wall of darkness suddenly loomed up in front of them. Jane and Jacob saw it at the same time and together they focused on pushing through it just like they did when crossing over the Divide. The darkness held them back a moment and Jane felt as if her body was being stretched in a dozen different directions, but finally the wall gave way, and they kept moving along the underpath. Jane felt Bella aim them straight for the exit and a moment later they all fell out of the mushroom circle and collapsed to the ground. They were in the middle of a wooded area with tall white pines all around them.

  “Where are we?” Eriunia asked. She sorted her arms and legs out from the jumbled pile on the ground and stood. A songbird chirped at them curiously while a nearby squirrel chewed them out for interrupting his lunch.

  “I know this place,” Jacob murmured. “We crossed over the Divide. We’re in the lost forty acres near Red Lake. Look over there.” He pointed to a sign and read, “‘National Forest point of interest, Lost Forty.’”

  “Eriunia, I think you’re overdressed for this side,” Jane said. She turned and looked down the trail. A family was walking down the path away from them. The only one looking back was a boy about six years old who was pulling hard on his mother’s hand.

  “Mommy, look at the magic people,” he called.

  “Not right now, Tommy,” the mother replied as she pulled him along. “Your sister needs to use the bathroom.”

  “But Moooommmmm.”

  “Let’s get off the trail and fix it so we look more normal,” Jacob said hurriedly. He turned away from the family and walked to where thick brush would block the view of anyone looking their way. Jane and Jacob quickly helped Eriunia and Coronia change their attire to blend in as best they could. The armor they packed into a bundle and made it look like a backpack that could be strapped to Jacob’s back.

  Jane tore a strip of cloth from Coronia’s skirt and used it to make a rolled headband for Eriunia that covered her pointed ears. When she was done, it blended so well with the elf’s hair that it looked like a professional makeup artist had been at work. Bella slipped inside Jane’s pocket and worked to make herself as inconspicuous as possible.

  “This could be interesting,” Jacob muttered. “We need a car, and we need to get to Lake of the Woods.”

  “Woods Lake,” Eriunia corrected him.

  “Not on this side,” Jacob shot back. He was tired of being corrected, and this time he held his ground. They glared at each other for a minute, then Eriunia smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

  “He does have some backbone, Jane,” Eriunia said with a smile. “You might want to hold onto him, or someone might steal him away.”

  Jacob stopped and stared at her in confusion. He knew right then he would never understand women.

  “Where do we find a car, Jacob?” Jane asked. She didn’t know anyone in this part of Minnesota. They fell silent as a group of joggers rounded a bend in the trail and streamed past them, offering a few greetings. She noticed that Eriunia and Coronia were staring at the joggers like there was something wrong with them.

  “What weird outfits,” Coronia said loudly. “Do all the people on this side dress so oddly?” Most of the runners wore brilliant colors and the clothes were all so tight, Coronia thought they must be terribly uncomfortable.

  “Oh, no. Those are normal people,” Jane replied. “Jacob, do you know which way we need to go?”

  “This way,” Jacob replied. He had visited the park the year before with his mom and a couple friends. The area where they were held the last stand of old white pine trees in the state. Everything else had been logged off over the last hundred years, but through a clerical error on a map this spot was missed. The trees were monsters of their kind, with trunks large enough that two people couldn’t put their arms around them.

  They hiked down the trail until they reached the parking area. Jacob spotted a park ranger sitting on a four-wheeler and he headed toward him, saying to the others, “Wait here for a minute.”

  Jane watched as Jacob talked to the park ranger. He got the man to loan him his phone and made a call. She saw him shake the ranger’s hand and then walk back to where the others waited.

  “What did you tell him?” Jane asked.

  “I told him I found you three cold, tired, and hungry out in the forest. Told him that you got lost last night and couldn’t find your way back to your camp. I also told him you each offered to go on a date with me if I could find you a ride home. I actually think he was kind of impressed, and that’s why he gave me the phone,” Jacob said with a straight face. He ducked back as all three swung at him and all three missed. Jane bumped into Eriunia and knocked her off balance, and Coronia’s hand happened to hit Jane’s shoulder. This time it was Jacob’s turn to grin. A moment later, they were all laughing.

  “Now, really, who did you call?” Jane asked when their giggles ­subsided.

  “Lenny, a friend of mine from school,” Jacob replied. “His family moved to Bemidji last year. He has a car and won’t mind taking us up to Lake of the Woods.”

  “How long will i
t take him to arrive?” Jane asked.

  “He said to give him at least forty-five minutes,” Jacob replied. “He needed to get some gas on the way here if we’re taking a long trip. Bella, you’re going to have to try to remain hidden for the trip.”

  “That’s easy,” Bella replied from her current hiding place.

  They walked back to the area where the restrooms were located, and Jacob stepped inside to use one. Jane couldn’t help but notice that Eriunia kept twitching her nose at the smell. She started to laugh.

  “Are all bathrooms on this side like this?” Eriunia muttered finally. She took another step away from the weird-looking structure and shook her head. She was used to the pristine settings of her homeland. Elves believed in cleanliness ahead of most of things.

  “No, only the ones way out in the woods,” Jane replied. She wrinkled her own nose at the smell.

  “Some of the ones in gas stations are worse,” Jacob replied as he stepped back outside. Still, this particular outhouse was a bit fragrant, so they walked away from it and sat down at a picnic table.

  The wait turned out to be almost an hour, and Jacob was getting worried when he finally spotted Lenny pull into the parking area. He waved to him and then turned and pointed to the old purple Cadillac. “There he is,” Jacob said. “I knew he wouldn’t let me down.”

  “We don’t have to all go on a date with him, too, do we?” Jane asked.

  “I don’t think so, no, but the conversation was a little faded in my mind,” Jacob replied, looking more amused than worried.

  They both laughed and waited as the DeVille pulled to a halt in front of them. Lenny rolled down the window. “Jake, you need a ride?” Lenny asked. He looked at Eriunia and Coronia and bit back a whistle. Lenny had heard about and seen pictures of Jane and knew she was beautiful, but the woman wearing the headband was pretty enough to win the Miss America pageant and the African American girl next to her reminded him of Halle Berry. All three were stunning despite the rugged and rough clothes.