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AMY COULD NOT POSSIBLY have slept. Not even as the hours ticked down past midnight. A part of her was tired, yes, but the rest of her was jittery with excitement. She was near bursting with impatience to tell the others about what she and Euciphidus had discovered, and so, she bounced from foot to foot by the cave entrance, waiting for them to return.
When she saw them emerge from the edge of the forest, she could not wait for them any longer and raced down the slope to meet them. It was not until she was halfway down the meadow that she noticed something was wrong.
They looked more like they were returning from a funeral than a council of war. The centaurs dragged their heavy hooves, the Gazer limping with difficulty from the wear and tear on his joints, Stormchaser as one with a broken heart. At first, Amy only saw Walter and Airdella. When she realized the limp bundle in front of Walter was Aaron, all the excitement went out of her, replaced by a pain wrenching at her chest.
She did not know where to begin asking and could not find her voice anyways. The weight on her chest was almost too heavy for her to breathe. Airdella slid from the Gazer’s back and turned to face Amy with streaked cheeks and glassy eyes. Amy did the only thing that really mattered at a time like that; she threw her arms around her sister and offered the only comfort she could give. Airdella held her close for a moment, and the two of them walked back to the cave in silence, trailing behind the centaurs.
The centaurs stopped in the entrance of the cave, where Euciphidus stopped short on his way to greet them. He and the Gazer exchanged a few quiet words, and then Euciphidus hobbled back into the cave. Walter forced himself to dismount from Stormchaser’s back. Every movement, every breath, took more energy than it seemed to be worth. He turned to his friend’s limp body. Aaron’s unconscious head hung in front of his own, and Walter stared at the unresponsive face. Aaron should have been smiling back at him. Now, he was barely breathing, and Walter could hear a gurgle with each of his heavy labored breaths.
“We must bring him inside the cave,” the Gazer reminded him quietly.
The three children helped each other as they slid Aaron from Stormchaser’s back. Airdella and Walter supported him, each with an arm across their shoulders, into the main room of the cave where Euciphidus had brought his cot in from the back room and set it up in front of the fire.
“What happened?” Euciphidus asked in a low voice.
“We were ambushed in the dark,” the Gazer told them. “Many brave creatures were cut down tonight.”
Stormchaser had remained in the entrance room of the cave. The Gazer took a decorative jar from the mantle above the fireplace and returned to the cave entrance, Euciphidus and the children following him. The Gazer bowed and offered the jar to the mourning centaur.
Stormchaser accepted the jar, opening it and dipping his fingers into it. With his fingers covered in the dark ashes from inside, he spread the ashes on the wall and smeared them on his cheeks. His tears trickling down left streaks through the ash marks. Then he took his horn and placed it on the floor beneath the perfect circle he had drawn. “The blood of a Hornblower has been spilled this night. Blood of my blood. But he died an honorable warrior’s death. And he laughed as he fell.”
After a few moments of reverent silence, Stormchaser and the Gazer turned and went back into the other room. As their hoofbeats broke the silence, Airdella and Walter realized for the first time just how silent and still it was. Something was missing, and it dawned on them that they could no longer hear the roar of the waterfall. They walked back outside.
The waterfall had transformed into a majestic cascade of ice and pearl and silver.
“I don’t know how we ever thought we’d climb that,” Airdella said bitterly.
Walter said nothing. He could not give in to the despair like Airdella. He wanted to believe that there was a way up the waterfall, that all they had done had not been for nothing. That there was a way to save both of them – their father and Aaron. “We should go check on him,” he said quietly.
In the back room, Amy knelt anxiously on the floor by Aaron’s head, holding gauze ready to hand to the Gazer, who knelt beside her, examining the arrow shaft still inside of Aaron’s chest and muttering quiet instructions to Euciphidus, who stood over a pot of water heating over the fire. Stormchaser stood silently staring into the fire.
Airdella joined Amy on the floor while Walter watched grimly from beside the table. He knew they were going to try to remove the arrowhead. He also knew the girls should not be there to watch, at least not Amy. It was not going to be a pretty sight.
“We should go get some rest,” he said quietly.
“We can’t just leave him!” Amy and Airdella protested together.
“You’re not leaving him,” the Gazer told them gently. “He’s right here. But your brother is right: you should go get some rest.”
––––––––
As exhausted as they were with fear, worry, and sorrow, none of them got any sleep. They sat in Euciphidus’ back bedroom, waiting and listening to the hushed tones drifting to them from the next room. It was a long time before Euciphidus came bustling back into the room to look for something amongst the crates of food and supplies.
“No sleep for anyone tonight, I suppose,” he sighed when he saw them. “Might as well come on out and have a cup of tea, then. The worst of it’s over.”
Aaron still lay unconscious on the cot before the fire, his chest wrapped in bandages. Stormchaser was washing a knife and a few surgical tools used to remove the arrowhead while the Gazer rested his ancient aching joints.
The girls sat timidly down on the floor beside Aaron.
Walter stopped at the table and leaned back against it. “Will he be alright?” he asked the question they were all thinking.
“It is possible he could recover from the arrow wound itself,” Euciphidus said quietly. “But that’s not the worst of it. It looks as though he has been cursed with the White Cougar’s poison. The only way to save him is with that cure.”
Walter nodded for a few moments, gathering his thoughts together. “Well then, ’bout time we went and got it.” No sense sitting around waiting for the White Cougar to find them here.
“We did not get to ask Topo for proper climbing gear,” Stormchaser said. His speech was rasping and forced as he tried to keep functioning despite his grief.
“Actually, none of them need to climb it,” Euciphidus stopped from pouring a pot of tea.
“You’re saying the source is already here?” Walter frowned in confusion.
“No, no. There’s a staircase.”
“What staircase?” the Gazer started in surprise.
“There’s a staircase that leads to the top of the waterfall. Behind the secret door.”
Airdella felt a surge of hope and a sense of urgency.
“Door!” Walter was almost shouting now, the word ringing in his head and echoing of his conversation with the White Cougar. “What door?”
“The mural tells of a staircase that used to lead to the top of the waterfall, but that it was later shut and locked. Your sister Amy, she discovered that the key to it was in the mural.”
“Did you find the door?”
“We think so. She insisted on waiting for you.”
“Show me!”
They followed Euciphidus’s hurried gait out of the cave and into the moonlight. On either side of the icy silver curtain, the bare reddish brown granite cliffs stretched upward into the sky, higher than their eyes could reach. Euciphidus stopped in front of the cliffs on the near side of the waterfall.
“According to the mural, it should be here,” he swept his hands wide, indicating the cliff face.
“‘Here’ is a pretty broad area,” Airdella said.
“Well, your sister and I did an inspection, and it would appear –” he stepped closer to the cliff face, “– that this little nick here could possibly be the keyhole.”
“You didn’t try it out?” Walter asked.
“She wanted to wait for you,” Euciphidus stepped back from the cliff.
Walter smiled in appreciation. Of course, she had. “Well, we’re all here. You want to try it out, Amy?”
Amy had been keeping the key on a string around her neck, but now, she removed it and held it up to the door. It slid perfectly into the little hole in the cliff. She could feel it connect with something, and as she turned it, a tremor shook the ground beneath them. A flare of blue light burst from the keyhole, spreading outwards as a crack split the cliff face, growing from the keyhole and running up and down and around to create the outline of a pair of doors. The light flared through the cracks as if the light itself were cutting the stone. The thunderous cracking grew louder and higher in pitch and seemed to split the very air itself. And then the doors blew open as if shoved by some invisible force. On the other side, stone steps spiraled upwards into darkness lit by glowing blue stones set into the steps.
“It’s just like in the mural,” Amy breathed in awe. Everything in her body shook with excitement and her fingertips tingled as she removed the key from the lock.
Airdella felt almost relieved enough to cry. Actually, she was crying. “Stairs,” she sniffed. Here was her bridge she had needed for so long. For once, the path was set and ready for them.
Walter nodded. “Time to go, then.”
“You should rest first,” the Gazer advised gently.
Walter looked at the girls, who looked back at him with similar expressions. They all knew what the others were thinking. Were they exhausted emotionally and physically? Yes, yes, they were. Were they going to be able to sleep? No, no, they were not. At this point, it did not really matter when and where they rested. If they got too tired, they may as well rest on the stairs as in the Gazer’s cave.
“We’ll rest when we’re ready to,” Airdella announced for them. “We would rather not delay any longer.”
“At least wait for us to pack you some supplies,” Euciphidus offered. “There’s no telling how high of a climb or how long of a journey you have ahead of you.”
This the children agreed to. And so, Euciphidus and the Gazer bustled around in the cave and filled Amy and Airdella’s packs with dried fruit, bread, and summer sausages. Euciphidus rummaged about in the back room and found another pack for Walter. Walter wisely thought to ask him for a rope, since they had not had a rope since the End Chasm.
Euciphidus also brought Walter the sword that he and Amy had found. “Here, you should probably have this,” he offered, holding it out to Walter. “Amy and I discovered it in the same mural where we found the key. I’m thinking you should take it with you.”
Walter stared in wonder at the sword, and his hand eagerly reached for the handle, taking it gingerly as if it might break. The blade was so polished and shiny that it was almost translucent like glass or crystal. The hilt was covered in gold and set with yellow gemstones. Hundreds of years of being underwater had done nothing to diminish the sword’s beauty in any way, nor had it dulled the blade’s sharpness. “It’s magnificent,” he said in admiration. He gladly unbuckled the short sword he had taken from the White Cougar’s castle and then paused. “It has no sheath?”
“No, sorry, it came just like that.”
Walter tried to see if it would fit the sheath of the other sword. It was slightly too long and stuck out a few inches, but having its sharp blade mostly covered was preferable to having none of it covered. He wrapped the exposed part of the blade in a strip of sturdy leather that the Gazer found and strapped the sheath onto his pack.
“Are we ready, then?”
The girls nodded from where they sat by Aaron’s cot. Airdella had helped Euciphidus pack the food, but Amy had not left Aaron’s side since they came back into the cave. Even if he could not hear them, they did not want to leave without saying some sort of goodbye.
Walter stepped forward and placed a hand on Aaron’s shoulder, looking into the unresponsive face of the boy he had come to call friend. “We’ll be back,” he told him.
Airdella squeezed Aaron’s hand and stood. Amy kissed him on the forehead and joined her brother and sister. They all shouldered and strapped their packs into place. Stormchaser, the Gazer, and Euciphidus followed them back outside to the waterfall. The doors stood open, waiting for them to enter, the glowing blue steps beckoning them to start their journey.
Walter slowly drew a breath. “Gazer, how will we know what the cure is?”
“I think that it will be clear to you when you see it,” the Gazer answered slowly.
Walter looked over at him and saw the wise ancient eyes looking with longing and admiration at the glowing steps. He wondered how the Gazer had had the patience to wait for so long for something he might not even live to see. “Thank you, sir, for all that you have done for us,” Walter bowed to him. “I do hope that we may meet again upon our return.”
The Gazer smiled down at them. “It is I who have you to thank. You are the ones long awaited and hoped for. I am content with my lot, whenever my time may come to an end.”
Airdella too bowed. “We do hope that time won’t be ending too soon.”
Amy threw her arms as best she could around his giant furry body.
“Farewell, little one,” the Gazer smiled. “May the stars continue to sing of your brightness for many years to come.”
“You’ll take care of Aaron for us?” she asked them.
“Of course,” Euciphidus assured her.
She and Airdella moved on to hug Stormchaser’s great strong body, standing tall and proud despite his grief. They said nothing, for what was there to say? He smiled in gratitude and stroked back their hair from their faces with his giant hands. “You have been a blessing on all of us; take heart, young warriors. The winds of change blow louder than my horn. Your return will mark the dawning of a new era for all of Arualia.”
“We won’t return without it,” Walter assured him, offering his hand in salute. “It was an honor to have fought beside you and your son. Thank you, for what you have done for us.”
Stormchaser clasped it in his own and held it firm.
“Come on, then.”
Walter, Amy, and Airdella clasped hands, stepped through the giant stone doorway, and began ascending the stairs together. They had not gotten far when they heard a grinding sound behind them. They turned just in time to see the enormous stone doors shut behind them. The low crack of stone hitting stone resonated through the stairwell. There was nowhere to go but forward.