The Road's End

by Daniel Kirk

  “Better that he knows the truth,” said Tuava-Li. “He can’t survive down here by himself, though. I must go after him. There may be more of the snake monsters, there may be—”

  “You saw those beasts, too?” Asra said with a shudder.

  “Aye, why do you suppose these bandages are on my shoulder? The creatures nearly tore me apart. Matt bound my wounds. I’ve got to go to him and convince him that it’s over, that I’m not lying.”

  “He won’t get far,” Macta said. “The floor of the corridor collapsed, just a short distance ahead. He may well be too big to make the crossing on the narrow ridge; Asra and I were barely able to do it. There’s really no room for any of those snake monsters along the path. You needn’t worry about your friend.”

  “Then come with me,” Tuava-Li said.

  “Certainly not,” Macta said. “You mustn’t go after him. Don’t let him control you like that. No, the Human must come back to us. Give him a few minutes to think it over. He’ll come skulking back like a Goblin with his tail between his legs, I’m sure!”

  several portals in the vast maze, Becky and Tomtar paused to rest. Becky placed her Kolli on a rock while she looked in Tomtar’s pack for something sharp. When she found a large obsidian blade tucked into a pocket in the side, Becky carefully pulled it out and cut the rope that bound Tomtar’s wrists. “There’s a lot of useful stuff in this pack, Tomtar,” she said. “Did they give this to you in Hunaland?” The Troll nodded and managed a feeble grunt. It was more sound than he’d been able to make in many long hours, and it made him hopeful. He grunted again, and again. After the third time, Becky urged him to be quiet. “When Astrid—I mean, Jardaine, comes after us, we don’t want to give ourselves away. She’s going to be ready to kill us for the Seed!”

  Tomtar nodded. He rubbed his wrists and then took off his pack. He found two small portions of food inside and handed one to Becky. They opened them and hungrily ate the dried fungus, nuts, and seeds. When they were finished, Tomtar pointed the way down another passage. “I wish we would have thought to take Jardaine’s Fire Sprite,” Becky whispered. “Then there wouldn’t even be a chance of her following us. I just wasn’t thinking clearly. It was stupid of us to have left her like that. We could have tied her up; we could have taken her Huldu!”

  She glanced at Tomtar. “I know what you’re thinking, we didn’t want to kill her. I know. If we’d tied her up, or left her completely defenseless, she’d end up starving down here, or those monsters would gobble her up. Maybe they’ll do that, anyway. But if we don’t manage to get far away from her, she’ll make sure we don’t ever cross her again, I’m sure of that!”

  Suddenly there was a faint tapping along the stone wall. Becky stopped in her tracks, all of her senses on alert. She put her finger to her lips and looked at Tomtar, who shrugged helplessly. He wouldn’t be able to talk even if he wanted to. Becky’s mind raced. If it was Jardaine who had heard her talking, why would she have tapped on the wall? She would have been stealthy; she would have been sly. She wouldn’t try to get Becky’s attention and let her know that someone was very near. Becky lifted her knuckles, and very, very cautiously, returned the knock. Immediately there was a response. It sounded a little farther away, so Becky, still holding the knife, raced ahead and knocked again. Another response, just a short distance ahead.

  Becky hurried onward, with Tomtar right behind her. She listened for a knock, then rushed ahead and returned each knock, each time a little louder, a little stronger. Becky wondered who it could be on the other side of the wall. Was it Tuava-Li and Matt? Who else would be down here? Who else would be capable of knocking like that? Surely not the monsters. If they were close, they’d be sneaky, like Jardaine. But still … as Becky held the Kolli before her and saw a black portal opening just ahead, she hesitated. She clutched the handle of the obsidian knife. If it were one of the monsters, she’d be ready to strike. She glanced back at Tomtar and gave him a look that meant he should be prepared to fight.

  It was then that Matt, like an apparition in the flickering gloom, appeared in the portal. He stood, shirtless and panting, before his sister. His hair was longer than when she’d last seen him; he was leaner, stronger, older looking, somehow. But the look on his face was sheer joy. Becky dropped the knife and ran into Matt’s arms. “Becky,” he cried, “what are you doing here? What’s going on? They said you’d come down here with that monk Jardaine and her troll, Nick. I couldn’t believe it. I thought you were safe and sound, back where I left you in the woods!”

  “I came to rescue you,” she said. “Nick is dead, but I got away from Jardaine. I’m pretty sure that Mom and Dad and Emily are safe, too. They escaped from Helfratheim before I even left to come here!”

  “What?” Matt said. “If I’d known Mom and Dad were okay, I’m not too sure I would have agreed to go through with this! We’d both be back at home, where we belong.”

  Becky noticed her brother’s pale and glistening skin; the last time she’d seen him, he’d been covered in tattoos. “What happened to all those tattoos the Elves put on you?”

  “They’ve been moving around, like they’re up to something,” Matt said, holding out his right hand. It was completely covered in a jumble of inky black lines. “Not a pretty sight, is it?”

  Becky gently touched his skin. “Does it hurt?”

  “No, it just creeps me out. And it makes me feel dumb. Some kind of faerie goddess is trying to give me messages, clues about things, but I usually can’t figure out what they’re trying to say. Tuava-Li understands more than I do.”

  “What about Tuava-Li? Where is she? Is she all right?”

  Matt snorted derisively and turned his gaze toward Tomtar.

  The Troll had been watching the reunion of his good friends with delight, but his warm feeling disappeared when he saw the look in Matt’s eyes. “And what are you doing with him, Becky?” Matt demanded. He pulled away from his sister and took a step forward.

  “Matt, it’s Tomtar, he’s our friend! We escaped from Jardaine with the Seed of the Adri! It’s in Tomtar’s pack! What’s wrong with you; why are you acting like this? You and Tomtar came all this way together, didn’t you?”

  “He and Tuava-Li were planning to kill me, Becky,” Matt said. “I hate to be the one to break it to you, but they knew all along that when we got to the center of the earth, I was supposed to die, so that the seed could grow into a new tree.”

  Tomtar shook his head and gave a pitiful moan. He held his hands before him, begging to be understood.

  “Matt,” Becky said, “I know that story, but you’ve got it wrong. Jardaine told me that Tomtar and Tuava-Li were luring you down to the middle of the earth to die for the Seed, that’s why I came here to begin with! But Tomtar didn’t know anything about it. Otherwise would he have shown me where the Seed was? He wouldn’t have let me take it, if he wanted everything to go according to Tuava-Li’s plan!”

  “Yeah, well, I got the whole story out of Macta, as in, Macta, king of Helfratheim. And Tuava-Li confessed it. She didn’t even try to lie.”

  “But did she say Tomtar was in on the plan?”

  “Not exactly, no.”

  “And where did you talk to Macta?” asked Becky. “Is he here?”

  “Yeah, he’s here, and he’s not alone. He’s with Tuava-Li, now, and that princess from Ljosalfar, Princess Asra. She said they’d come looking for you, to save you from Jardaine! It seems like everybody came here to save somebody from something. But these guys were going to take the seed to the center of the earth and sacrifice me. Isn’t that right, Tomtar?”

  Tomtar pulled off his pack and with trembling hands he reached into it. “What’s he doing?” Matt cried. “Get away, Becky. He might have a weapon!”

  “No, Matt,” Becky said. “Tomtar’s not dangerous. Besides, the knife from the pack they gave him in Hunaland is right here.” She picked up the knife from the dusty floor and held it aloft for her brother to see. “Something’s wrong with Tomt
ar’s voice.”

  “Here!” Tomtar managed to whisper.

  Jardaine’s spell had finally begun to wear off. He was thrilled that he could speak, even though his voice was still little more than a feeble croak. “Here it is, Matt, the—the Seed. I’ll give it to you. You have to believe me, I don’t know anything about any kind of sacrifice. If Tuava-Li had something like that in mind, she kept it from me.” Tomtar stopped to cough. “We were going to do this together, the three of us! We were going to save the world, and then rescue your parents! That’s what I thought, that’s what I always believed. Here, Matt, it’s the Seed. Take it, by the corner. But watch out, don’t touch the package in the middle, it’s—”

  “Ooooowwww!” Matt cried and dropped it on the ground. “It shocked me!”

  “He warned you,” Becky said. “I got shocked, too!”

  The Sacred Seed of the Adri fell from its little cloth pouch. Matt saw the tiny roots growing from the bottom of the thing, and the shoot at the top with its three leaves, swaying gently. It glowed as if lit from inside, as if there were enormous power in it.

  “So this is what I was going to die for,” Matt said. “Well, I’m sorry if I misjudged you, Tomtar. It’s gotten really hard to tell who’s supposed to be your friend around here. I don’t know anymore who knows what.”

  “You shouldn’t judge Tuava-Li, either,” Tomtar said. “I’m certain you must have misunderstood. She wouldn’t betray you like that. She wouldn’t keep something like that to herself. The three of us have been friends since this all began! We came all this way, we watched one another’s backs, we’ve been a team, Matt!”

  Matt shook his head. “Yeah, what a team. After Macta blew her cover, Tuava-Li told me that it had been a mistake, that she’d changed her mind, that she wasn’t planning on going through with it. But what am I supposed to do with that? All along, she led me to believe one thing, and then when the truth comes out she expects me to trust her? Not a chance, Tomtar, not a chance.”

  Matt nudged the Seed back into the piece of cloth and gingerly picked it up by the corner. “This thing has been the source of all our problems. I’m going to get rid of it, once and for all.”

  Tomtar blanched. “But, Matt, if the Seed doesn’t get planted, the Cord will die! There’ll be chaos in the world. The borders between our world and yours will dissolve, and Faerie Folk all over the world will be exposed to the Humans! ’Twill be a slaughter, Matt, it will be the end of Elf Realm and the end for the Faerie Folk! Thousands—millions will perish, both your kind and mine!”

  “I don’t know that, Tomtar; all I know is what Tuava-Li told me, and all I know about her is that she’s a liar! I’ve seen enough, done enough, now, to know I’d die for my friends if I had to. I’d die for what I believe in. But I don’t believe in Tuava-Li or her stories.”

  Matt turned and stalked through the dark portal. Becky followed, holding her Kolli so Matt could see where he was going. “Becky,” he warned, staying close to the wall, “stop where you are. There’s not much floor over here; it just drops off into the darkness. There’s a ledge, but only a narrow, little ledge. It’s the path Asra and Macta took back from the center of the earth. Macta made notches in the walls every time they took a turn, so they could get back after they’d found us. I don’t think we’re gonna follow that path, though. I’ll toss the seed, and then we’ll have to figure out if there’s a Cord we can use to finally get out of here.”

  Matt raised his arm to pitch the seed into the black void, but his arm suddenly froze in place. “Step back,” came a voice from the darkness.

  “It’s Jardaine,” Becky cried. “She’s found us!”

  Matt had the corner of the seed packet gripped between his thumb and forefinger. He felt his fingers pried back, as if by an invisible hand, and there was nothing he could do to stop them. The Seed lifted slowly into the air. The cloth dropped away and the Seed hung in the blackness, glowing like an emerald-colored star. Then Matt felt a blow to his chest. It was as if an enormous fist, a giant’s fist, had struck him, and he toppled from the ledge.

  “Matt, no!” Tomtar yelled and reached for his friend.

  Matt grabbed Tomtar’s extended hand and braced his feet against the wall of the chasm. Becky gripped Tomtar’s legs as Matt’s weight dragged them both to the edge of the precipice. “I can’t hold on!” Matt cried.

  “Don’t let go!” Becky screamed. Her knees scraped over the stone; her body tensed and stiffened as she kicked up clouds of dust, trying to stop the relentless drag toward the abyss.

  Becky and Tomtar lodged themselves against a boulder at the edge of the chasm. Becky clung to Tomtar, and Tomtar shrieked in pain as his arm was nearly yanked from its socket. Matt struggled to hold on, but he knew that he would pull all three of them down unless he let go. So he did. “Nooooooo!” cried Tomtar and Becky.

  Suddenly a single black line, etched into the flesh of Matt’s hand, leapt from his skin and wrapped itself like a vine around Tomtar’s hand, and then his wrist. Again and again it spun around, strengthening its grip. And as Matt fell, it held him like a rope. The black line that tied the two friends together slowed Matt’s fall as it unraveled. And when he reached the bottom of the pit, he landed with a thud on his back, shocked but unharmed. The last black line on his hand snapped away.

  As Tomtar tumbled away from the boulder, he saw the glowing Seed still moving through the air. Jardaine stood in the darkness with her Huldu open before her like a trap. The Seed moved slowly into the pouch and Jardaine slammed it shut. Then Becky cried out. She fell to the ground in a faint. Jardaine uttered a spell and Tomtar watched in horror as a great blue bubble began to form around the girl. The bubble lifted from the ground with Becky, still unconscious, trapped inside. “Ha! It worked!” Jardaine cackled. “Now I have the Seed, and I have your friend Becky. Come along quietly, Tomtar, if you care about her. We’re a Troll, an Elf, and a Human, once again, as it was in ancient times. We have a mission to fulfill.”

  “But you’re only going to kill her when you get to the center of the earth!” Tomtar cried.

  “Perhaps you’d rather I kill her now! Or perhaps you’d like me to send a blast of psychic energy at you, and see what it does to your heart. Or perhaps you’d like me to use my magick to push you off the edge of this precipice, and you can join your friend Matt at the bottom of the pit! Or,” she cackled, playing to his heroic instinct, “you can help me save the world!”

  Tomtar felt weak at the knees, and his shoulder burned with pain from supporting Matt’s weight as he had fallen into the chasm. His arm tingled all the way to his fingertips, and his wrist was black where the lines of the tattoo had buried themselves in his flesh. Futility washed over him. “All right,” he moaned. “I’ll come with you.”

  Tuava-Li heard shouts echoing through the stone corridors and jumped to her feet. “Something’s happening,” she cried. “I’ve got to get to Matt, now!”

  She grabbed the Kolli from Macta’s hand and ran headlong into the dark passage. Macta and Asra, with nothing to light their way, hurried after her. Tuava-Li was horrified when she reached the end of the long corridor and found that the floor had completely dropped away. “There’s no one here,” she called to Macta and Asra. “I hope that he—”

  “I’m here,” Matt called from the bottom of the pit. “I’m down here! Can you guys help get me up?”

  “If I’m not mistaken,” Macta said to Tuava-Li, “the Human abandoned us already. And now that he’s in need, he cries for us to forgive him and waste our time with a rescue attempt? Bah!”

  “No,” said Asra. “He’s Becky’s brother. We’ll help him if we can.”

  Tuava-Li put down her Fire Sprite. She closed her eyes and concentrated her energy on a spot between her eyes. She willed her arms to change to wings, her skin to feathers, and her arms to feet with hooked talons. Her eyes spread apart on her head, and the front of her face swelled and changed to a beak. Then she flapped her kestrel wings and dropped in
to the pit. She couldn’t see where she was, but she could feel the flow of air around her and she knew when she was close to the bottom. She fluttered to a stop at the top of a chunk of basalt, and gripped the rock with her claws. She called to Matt, Are you all right?

  “Yeah, I’m okay.” His voice rose from the darkness. There was no need for him to respond in thoughtspeak. He hadn’t forgotten why he’d been so furious at her, but he was overjoyed that she’d found him. “Well, my arm is killing me. I think my wrist is sprained. And I’m going to have a pretty bad bruise on my tailbone. I’ll have to tell you later about my tattoos—they saved my life!” There was an uncomfortable pause. “Is that why you’re here, Tuava-Li? To save my life, too? You haven’t changed your mind again about sacrificing me for the seed, have you?”

  I just want to help you, Tuava-Li said. I want to get you out of here, and I want all of us to go home. I want you to go back to your world, and be happy, and I’ll stay and be happy in mine. That’s what I want.

  Asra and Macta peered down into the darkness. “Is he hurt?” the Princess called.

  “No,” shouted Matt, “I’m fine! Can’t you think of some way to get me out of here?” Then he said to Tuava-Li, “You just missed out on something pretty big. I found Becky and Tomtar, and they had the seed. They’d stolen it from Jardaine. But she came to get it, and she knocked me off that cliff, and then, from what I could hear, took Becky away in one of those blue orbs, like the one that you and your mage used to protect me from the fire in Alfheim. She’s also got Tomtar and the seed again. Now she’s on her way to the middle of the earth. She’ll probably kill Becky, like you were going to kill me, unless we stop her!”