The Road's End

by Daniel Kirk

  “Well, I’ve been lying to them from the beginning,” Matt said. “They don’t know about you guys, for one, and then they think I’m going to see my dad. Maybe you’re picking up on the bull I’m passing off, and it’s giving you bad feelings. So far, everything seems aboveboard with these guys. I felt like we could trust Mary, basically, and Joe is related to her, so he’s probably okay.”

  “Probably,” said Tomtar. “Basically.”

  “Yeah? What’s wrong with that?”

  Joe and Charlie were coming back with another man. Matt ducked down, but now he could hear their muffled voices outside the plane. There was a rattling at the side of the hull, then a swooshing sound and the smell of gasoline. Tomtar and Tuava-Li were green with nausea, and they each popped another fresh Trans into their mouths. “How long you gonna be up here this year?” they heard Joe ask.

  “Another couple of weeks and I’ll be headed for Ottawa, thanks to you.”

  “Hey, you set the price,” Joe said. “Off-the-books gas is a lot more expensive than the regular kind. I know the Air Force likes to keep its records nice and clean!”

  “I’ll keep this little ole pile of jewels you gave me clean, Joe,” the man laughed.

  Now it was Charlie speaking. “This is just another run, no more, no less. Nothin’ special.”

  “Well, you’d better get your nothin’ special business done and hurry back. Good luck finding any solid ice to land on up there! Every year it’s worse. Another couple of years and there won’t be anything left of the North Pole but water.”

  Minutes later the plane was back in the air. Matt was in his seat, with his backpack safely in his lap. The roar of the engine was just as loud as before, though Matt’s ears were numb with fatigue. He could see the two men talking up ahead. Their mood no longer seemed so casual; their faces looked different somehow. What are they saying to each other, Tuava-Li? Matt reached out in thoughtspeak. Can’t you read their minds? I think I overheard Joe say he’d paid that other man with jewels. That can only mean one thing—he got them from Mary!

  Be patient, Tuava-Li replied. She was not inclined to read minds, though she felt the same anxiety as Matt.

  It wasn’t long before Joe unfastened his seat belt and stood up, hunched over in the cramped space. He turned to face Matt. “It’s time we do a little business, son.”

  “Business?”

  “It’s a little matter of payment for the trip. Now we know you don’t have a father up at the Pole. Our friend back in Alert told me that the last of the scientists cleared out a week ago. There’s nobody up there but seals and polar bears now. So I don’t know what your game is, but you’re gonna have to pay more than you gave Mary back in town. That’s if you want to go to the North Pole. Otherwise, we can leave you right here, son. It’s a long drop to the water, though!”

  “But I don’t have any—”

  Joe was standing over Matt now. “You’re wastin’ time, son. I know you have more of them jewels in your backpack, so why don’t we make this simple. Just take it easy and hand me the pack.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Matt cried. “I don’t know what Mary told you, but I gave her all my money!”

  “Mary didn’t have to tell me anything! She has a hard time keeping her trap shut with Joan, though, and she showed her a couple of the jewels you gave her. I’m sure you weren’t foolish enough to give her all you had.”

  “But—”

  “Mary didn’t want to fess up to the truth, but in the end, she gave me the jewels.” Joe pulled a knife from his pocket and drew it from its sheath as he grinned at Matt. “Now hand the rest over.”

  Matt felt helpless. But instead of handing Joe the backpack, something made him toss it onto the floor. When Joe bent over to get it, Tuava-Li crept from her hiding place behind the seat and stood up. She looked Joe straight in the eye. “Wha—?” he said, stumbling back.

  Matt could feel the force radiating from behind the seat. The Belt of Power, he thought, recognizing the sensation. Joe’s head hit the wall between the cabin and the pilot’s seat and he fell, groaning. Matt tore open his safety belt buckle and turned to see Tuava-Li, with Tomtar behind her. Waves of energy came spiraling off them as they stood unsteadily before Joe. “Who—who are you?” he cried from the cabin floor. “What are you?”

  Charlie jerked his head around to see what was going on. He and Joe had planned to take the jewels, and then leave the kid and the sled on the nearest chunk of ice big enough to land a plane. It’s more or less what the kid wants, after all, he’d said the night before. And what’s he doing with a fortune in jewels stuffed in his backpack, anyway? It’s not fair that a kid like that, an American kid with no more sense than a bucket of ice water, should be rich.

  “Joe!” Charlie shouted. “What’s going on back there?”

  Joe moaned. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Two figures stood over him, two children, judging from their size, but they weren’t children. Their eyes, their ears, their skin: they weren’t even Human. They weren’t real, they just couldn’t be! The image of them shimmered, flickering like bad reception on a TV. Joe pressed a hand to his head, where he’d bumped it. Where’s my knife? he thought helplessly. I’ve got to get up, I’ve got to—

  Stay where you are. Tuava-Li’s voice appeared in his head. Then she spoke to Matt and Tomtar. Both of you go and make sure the other Human isn’t going to cause any trouble.

  “Don’t try anything stupid,” Matt said to Charlie as he slipped into the copilot’s seat.

  Tomtar stood beside him, glaring at the frightened man. “You’re going to take us to the North Pole, just like you agreed.”

  Matt’s heart was pounding. Tuava-Li had been right not to trust Joe and Charlie, and now they were in more trouble than ever. Charlie’s hands, white-knuckled and trembling, gripped the controls of the plane. A strange whining sound came out of his mouth, like air escaping from a tire. His eyes were wide with terror. The airplane began listing heavily to one side. The wings groaned. “Tomtar,” Matt said, “get back there with Tuava-Li. Maybe if this guy isn’t looking right at you, he’ll come around before we crash into the ocean.”

  “Charlie!” Matt shouted at the pilot. “Get it together, dude, get ahold of yourself! Pay attention! You’re in control here; do what you’re supposed to do! You’re going to get us all killed!”

  Charlie, his hands on the pilot’s controls, was trying unsuccessfully to fend off his fear. “What was that?” he choked. “What have you brought onto my plane?”

  “He’s a troll. Deal with it, Charlie, it isn’t the end of the world.”

  But Charlie wouldn’t listen. “I’m not g-g-gonna have that on board! No way, no how!”

  Charlie shifted the controls and the nose of the Otter began to dip. Tuava-Li stepped up from behind. Matthew, balance your own energy, she said in thoughtspeak. Breathe into your belly, soften your belly; everything that will ever be is already done. There’s no need to fear. Be at peace, and breathe your peace into this Human. Together we’ll bring him back.

  It seemed to Matt like a bad time to do relaxation exercises; they were headed right for the water. He grabbed Charlie’s hand on the lever and pulled, like he’d seen the man do when he was bringing the airplane up from the fueling station in Alert. “Nooooooooo!” Charlie cried. But his grip was softening, his frozen, terrified expression was melting away. Tuava-Li was enfolding Charlie in an envelope of peace and calm, and the very atoms of his being were changing, slowing, allowing tranquility to come into him.

  Matt beamed at Tuava-Li. “We make a pretty good team, you and me! I do the physical labor, and you take care of—whatever it is that you do.”

  Tomtar, in the cabin, stood over Joe. He was holding the man’s knife in his hand, comparing the weight of it to the knife that had killed his uncle, back in Argant. Joe didn’t dare make a move. The plane was leveling off again, in no danger of crashing into the frigid arctic waters. “How far are we f
rom the North Pole?” Matt demanded.

  “Not far,” Charlie said, his voice still quivering. “As soon as I see enough pack ice to land on, we’ll bring ’er down!”

  The sea below was choppy, with broken planes of ice as big as football fields floating in the water. Some of the ice was thin, pack ice no more than a few years old, so thin that it might not withstand the weight of a child walking on the surface. Joe called from the cabin, “It would be better for you if I was up front with Charlie. Can I have my seat back?”

  Matt looked to Tuava-Li for an answer. She was apprehensive but gave a nod. “Okay, Joe, you can come up. But no tricks. Tomtar, use the knife if you have to.”

  “Aye, I will,” Tomtar said, glad to play a role in this battle for control.

  Matt withdrew his own knife from his pocket and held it within Charlie’s sight. “You’re gonna behave, right?” Then he got up from the seat and let Joe slip behind the control panel.

  Matt, Tuava-Li, and Tomtar stood, clinging to the backs of the seats, and keeping an eye on the view from the front window. Joe and Charlie sat in silence, their expressions grim. Whatever they were thinking, they kept it to themselves. The engines roared on. As they headed north, the black gaps and lines in the ice slowly faded away. “How about there?” Joe said, finally.

  “Not yet,” Charlie answered. “Too blue. We’ve got to look for the thick pack ice. Just a little farther.”

  Matt glanced at the compass on the handle of his knife. The needle was spinning from side to side; it could only mean that the North Magnetic Pole was near.

  “What about there?” Joe asked, pointing at a stretch of ice ahead of them.

  Charlie worked the controls. “Kid, you and your … your friends are gonna have to sit down, or you’ll get tossed around the cabin like Ping-Pong balls when we land. It’s gonna be rough.”

  “I don’t think so,” Matt said. “I’ll stay where I am.”

  “Look, I just want you off my airplane in one piece, okay? That’s all I’m asking. Sit down, and I’ll land the plane. You’ll get what you want. No tricks.”

  The Belt of Power, Tuava-Li said in thoughtspeak. We can still use it to hold them off if they try to attack us.

  What if they just turn the plane around and head back? How would we stop them?

  They don’t want us in here any more than we want to be here. They’ll land, believe me.

  Matt got into his seat and fastened himself in, while Tomtar and Tuava-Li strapped utility belts around their waists and clipped them to the wall. “Here we go,” hollered Charlie, and they descended toward the ice. Matt’s teeth banged together as the tires careened off the rough surface, striking again and again. Finally, with a sharp twist to the right, the plane came to a stop. Joe and Charlie leapt from their seats. “Not so fast,” Matt shouted, holding his knife out in front of him. He could see the blade quiver with the tension in his arm.

  “We’re just gonna open up the hatch and get your sled out of here,” Joe said.

  The two men crept around the massive wedge of equipment that had been stored under the tarp and quickly untied the ropes. Then they slipped on their gloves and lifted the hatch. The wind blew into the plane like a battering ram. Tuava-Li’s hair flew into her face, and she hurriedly brushed it away, thinking that the men might still be planning some kind of mischief. But they were already outside the plane, tugging the sled out of the hold and onto the ice. “I guess this is it,” Matt said. He strapped on his snow goggles, then fought the wind to gather up the rest of his belongings in the plane and pushed open the door at the front. Tomtar and Tuava-Li followed, and Matt helped them down onto the ice. The wind was so strong that he had to guide his friends over to the sled, where there was a little shelter. “How about those jewels, now?” shouted Joe, approaching Matt for the last time. He knew he wouldn’t get them, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask. “You won’t need ’em out here!”

  “Not on your life,” Matt replied, standing tall.

  “Well, I guess I’d better tell you, then,” he said, turning back toward the plane. “It’s near five hundred miles from Alert to the North Pole, and you’ve still got a long way to go. The three of you have a hell of a hike ahead of you, all of it straight into the wind. Good luck!”

  Matt felt rooted to the spot as he watched the two men climb into the Otter and start the engine. They turned the plane around to face their makeshift runway, roared along the bumpy strip of ice, and lifted into the air. A moment later the plane was nothing more than a speck on the horizon. “How long do you think we were in the airplane before those guys tried to rob us?” Matt asked.

  “I don’t know,” said Tuava-Li.

  “We could still be hundreds of miles from the North Pole. How are we going to hike hundreds of miles?”

  “It can’t be that far,” Tomtar cried. “Let’s get going. I’m cold!”

  Matt looked at his friends. There was no way they’d survive a trek of hundreds of miles across the snow. They didn’t even know which way to go, with the compass needle spinning around. Joe had said something about moving into the wind. Maybe he was telling the truth, maybe not. There were skis on the sled for one adult; that would be Matt. But as for Tomtar and Tuava-Li, it would be best for them to climb under the tarp and ride inside while Matt dragged the sled behind. “Okay,” he said, lifting up one corner of the tarp. “It’s my turn to be the leader of this expedition. I want you guys to ride in here.”

  Tomtar shook his head. “But, Matt—”

  “I’ll make better speed than you. Just climb in, and think positive thoughts. That might be the only thing left that will help us. It’s gonna be a long day!”

  Matt strapped on the skis and the harness, like Joe’s wife had shown him back at the co-op. Had she been in on this deal, too? Or was it Joe and Charlie, all by themselves? It didn’t matter now. He’d never see any of them again, anyway. Whether he and his friends made it to the Pole or not, the past was the past, and it was gone. There was no turning back, so Matt bent his head low and pushed off across the ice. His thigh muscles already felt sore. His lips were chapped. He put one foot in front of the other, right foot first, like the Mage had taught him. It would bring him good luck, he was sure. We can do this, Matt, Tuava-Li said in thoughtspeak, from inside the tarp.

  Whatever you say, Tuava-Li, Matt replied. The wind was roaring in his ears. Whatever you say.

  Asra said in a flat voice, sweeping the playing cards into a pile. She took a deep breath as she concentrated on tapping the edge of the deck and straightening the cards in her right hand. “Why must you always let me win?”

  “Let you win?” Macta said, wide-eyed, feigning surprise. His long, ringed fingers stroked Powcca, who sat grumbling in his lap. “Why ever would I do something like that? You’re just lucky, Asra, that’s all. Let’s play again! And maybe this time you’d care to place a little wager on the outcome?”

  The air outside the Arvada was getting cold. Since leaving Helfratheim, they’d been traveling at a steady rate for the North Pole, but the winds had been against them, and the pilots all lacked experience as well as nerve … so the going was slow. Asra and Macta sat at opposite ends of a gaming table in the captain’s quarters. “You know,” said Asra, “this quest business is far less interesting than it’s made out to be. I’d imagine soldiers going into battle must experience this same kind of thing, with long periods of boredom, endless hours where it’s impossible to do anything, think anything, where one feels like screaming, but knowing that even screaming would be a complete waste of energy.”

  She thumped the deck of cards onto the table and got to her feet. “You can’t fool me with your cheerful and friendly act, by the way. I know you’re only on this mission because you want to catch Jardaine and kill her. Your heart has room for nothing but revenge. The rest is all playacting.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with being playful,” Macta said, lowering Powcca to the floor. The Goblin limped to the corner and sat down with a gr
unt.

  Asra scowled. “I believe you’re playing with my mind!”

  A moment later the ship made a sudden lurch and the Princess lost her footing and fell. Macta leapt up from his seat and expertly caught her in his arms. “Owwww,” she complained, pulling away, and glaring disapprovingly at Macta’s mechanical arm. “You ought to be more careful with that thing.”

  “I apologize if I hurt you,” Macta said. “Perhaps some more padding in the sleeve would do the trick.”

  “That wouldn’t even begin to make a difference!” Asra brushed herself off and paced to the portholes on the side of the vessel. She peered out into the clouds. There was nothing but bland, seething whiteness beyond the crystal panes, and the ground below was shrouded in mist. “We might as well not even exist, floating out here in the midst of nowhere.”

  “Oh, you are a Princess,” Macta said with a wry smile, “seldom pleased, and easily bored. I recognize the type, because a Prince is like that, too.”

  Asra sighed, vexed that Macta’s every utterance seemed designed to draw her to him, like a fisherman slowly pulls in the string on his catch. “You and I are nothing alike, Macta. Throughout time there have been dark Elves and light Elves. I needn’t remind you of which type you represent. Shall I rattle off a list of attributes for you? My kind is fair, yours is cruel. Mine is generous, yours is greedy. Mine seeks equality, yours seeks power. Mine is brave, yours is—”

  “Come, Asra,” Macta said, drawing close to his beloved. “I hope you weren’t planning on saying cowardly. Perhaps your friends are besotted with this mythic business of planting a Sacred Seed, but let us be reasonable. Light Elves, dark Elves, each of us has light and darkness inside us. Each of us has the choice, at any moment, to exemplify the best qualities or the worst qualities. ’Tis only bad habits that tie us so firmly to bad behavior.”

  “Speak for yourself.”

  Macta smiled gently. “I always do! And I promise you that I shall not undertake any other task before you are reunited with your beloved Rebecca.”