"You're right," Bracken said. "I'll try to contact the Sphinx. Meanwhile, get us out of here."
Chapter 23 Vasilis
Seth sat on the rocky hillside while Vanessa consulted the hand-drawn map he had received from the Singing Sisters. She compared it to a second map, consulted her compass, and checked the GPS reading. Up ahead, Newel and Doren were fencing with their walking sticks, wood clacking sharply as they slashed and blocked and stabbed. Hugo loomed over Seth, waiting silently as Vanessa got her bearings.
After leaving the paved roads of British Columbia, Vanessa had driven almost tentatively. Seth supposed isolated dirt roads that skirted sheer drops of hundreds of feet would make anyone a little cautious. Vanessa had piloted them along obscure, pitted roads for hours, winding among rugged mountains and picturesque bodies of water until, with dawn approaching, the latest road had ended at a small camping area, where she had proclaimed they would proceed on foot.
"We're close," Vanessa said. "If I'm correlating these maps correctly, around this hill, we should find a long valley that narrows into a ravine. The Totem Wall awaits at the end of the ravine. Let's make this a real break and have a snack."
"Foo-ood!" Seth called. The satyrs quit their duel and trotted over, opening their packs.
"Would you care for a sandwich, Mike?" Newel asked, referring to the false passport Vanessa had used when bringing Seth over the Canadian border. It was the same passport he had used when traveling to Obsidian Waste. Elise had held their documents, so his passport had made it home to Fablehaven with her. Vanessa had recovered it during her foraging at Fablehaven, and had added forged documents establishing her guardianship. Her extensive experience with international travel had come in handy.
"Pretzels, Mr. McDonald?" Doren asked, using the last name from Seth's passport. He held out an open bag and shook it enticingly.
"Sure," Seth said, accepting a pretzel. "At least I didn't have to walk over the border and then get picked up on the far side."
"Best to assume the Canadians would have objected to foreign goats," Newel said, handing Seth a deli sandwich.
"Or a huge dirt pile in the back of the truck," Doren added. "Or weapons. We did you guys a service, kept all the possible contraband out of your vehicle."
Newel flung his arms wide, stretching. Appraising the nearest mountaintops, he filled his lungs with the cool morning air. "I'm surprised more people don't live up here. This is some of the prettiest country I've seen, and it's also the least populated."
"Harsh winters," Vanessa said. "We're lucky they seem to be having a gentle spring. At higher altitudes or farther north I bet we could still find deep snow."
Seth compressed the tall deli sandwich with his hands and bit into it, crisp lettuce crunching. The satyrs had kept the sandwiches in a cooler, so it was chilled. The sandwich had more mustard and pickles than he liked, but helped satisfy his hunger nonetheless.
Doren tossed pretzels at Newel, who caught them in his mouth. Vanessa ate half her sandwich, then leaned back and closed her eyes. After all the driving she had done, she had to be exhausted.
Seth tried not to obsess about the upcoming task. He wished they could reach the Totem Wall and get started. The anticipation was driving him crazy.
The satyrs returned to fencing with their walking sticks. Vanessa didn't stir. Seth supposed she had earned a brief rest. To distract himself, he pulled out the coin Bracken had given him.
"You hear me?" Seth mouthed.
I hear you. I should have tried to reach you earlier. We failed to protect another Eternal. Only one left. We're on our way to Texas. How are you?
"I'm about to carry out one of the hard parts of my mission. If I succeed, maybe we can meet up before long. Is Kendra all right?"
We're all fine. Uninjured, I mean. Just a little discouraged. Hopefully we'll both have more success in the near future.
"I'll be in touch," Seth whispered.
Keep that coin handy.
"Talking to Bracken?" Vanessa asked, sitting up.
"They lost another Eternal," Seth said. "Only one left."
"Which makes our role in this ever more important." Vanessa arose. "You shouldn't communicate too much with the coin. With our enemies in possession of the Oculus, everything we say and do can give away our purposes."
"I've been keeping my language vague," Seth assured her. "For all we know, they've been watching us all along."
"Not so," Vanessa said. "I expect their gaze has been directed elsewhere. To the Eternals, mostly, and to Zzyzx itself. If they knew what we were after, we would have encountered opposition long before now. Thanks to all they're dealing with, our little road trip seems to have escaped their notice thus far. Of course, that could change at any moment."
Newel's walking stick broke. Doren started chasing him around the hillside, poking him in the back.
"No fair!" Newel cried. "I'm unarmed!"
"Touche!" Doren exclaimed with each new stab.
"We need to move on," Vanessa said.
"This game was just getting interesting," Doren complained, halting the pursuit.
Newel pointed at Doren. "I'll remember this."
"You'd do better to forget it," Doren advised. "It looked humiliating."
Hugo scooped up Seth and Vanessa. She gave the golem directions, and the satyrs fell into step behind them.
They found the valley where Vanessa had expected, and, as predicted, it narrowed to a steep, dry ravine. When Hugo reached an invisible barrier that prevented him from proceeding, they knew they had almost reached their destination. Hugo set down Seth and Vanessa.
"I guess this is where I go forward alone," Seth said.
"We have only one favor to ask the Totem Wall," Vanessa said. "We mustn't risk the rest of us encountering it."
"I have my instructions from the Sisters," Seth said. "Can't be too bad, right?"
Vanessa arched an eyebrow. "It might be pretty bad. But I've developed faith in you. Bring back the sword."
"Should I take my sword?" Seth asked. He had buckled on his adamant sword and brought his adamant shield when they had left the truck.
"I don't know much about the Totem Wall," Vanessa said. "It's old magic. Considering what the Sisters shared with you about what lies beyond the wall, I'd guess you might want a sword. Just don't use it to make any powerful entities unnecessarily angry."
"Take the sword," Newel seconded. "Chop up anybody who gives you trouble."
"I've heard it's easier if you break their weapon first," Doren added, earning a punch in the shoulder from Newel.
"Okay," Seth said. "See you soon. You might as well take naps, let Hugo stand guard."
Seth turned and started walking along the ravine, treading carefully due to the many loose rocks. He looked back once and caught the others watching him somberly. They immediately cheered up and waved, but his initial glance had revealed a level of concern that his companions had been hiding. He wished he hadn't looked back.
The meandering ravine grew shallower and steeper as he proceeded. Back where the others waited, Seth thought he could have scaled the walls. Now an attempt to climb would be impossible.
Up ahead, a totem pole came into view, brightly painted, as if created recently, standing straight and tall in the middle of the ravine. The stacked images included a squat, chubby warrior on the bottom, three fierce faces above him, and a winged eagle at the top. The grotesque caricatures leered at him, wooden teeth bared, and on some instinctive level, Seth realized the elaborate pole was a warning.
Passing the pole, Seth grew more anxious. The ravine seemed unnaturally silent. He heard no buzzing of insects, no birdcalls, no rustling leaves. The air felt still and heavy. He sensed eyes spying, but could detect nothing to confirm the suspicion. He kept one hand on the hilt of his sword.
Around the next curve, the ravine abruptly ended, and Seth beheld the Totem Wall. Six times his height, built into the rear wall, the Totem Wall spanned the entire ravine like a dam. Hundreds of faces made up the seamless wooden monument, weatherworn, timeworn, but well crafted, each face still very recognizable. A wide variety of animals were represented--bears, wolves, deer, moose, elk, lynxes, beavers, otters, seals, walruses, eagles, owls, and many others. People were depicted in even greater diversity--male and female, old and young, fat and thin, fair and hideous. Some looked friendly, others furious, others wise, others ridiculous, others crafty, others ill, others smug, others frightened, others serene.
Seth had never seen anything like it. He could imagine the Totem Wall as the featured exhibit in the world's finest museum. It was that impressive, that detailed, that unique.
A low stump dominated the ravine in front of the Totem Wall. Seth approached it curiously. No higher than his chest, the stump was at least eight paces across. Seth tried to imagine how tall the tree might have been before it was cut. Judging from the countless visible rings, it must have been thousands of years old.
His intuition told Seth that he should address the wall from atop the stump, using it like a stage or platform. As he climbed up, he noticed that some of the exposed rings were spaced wider than others. He walked to the center, standing on the cluster of concentric circles that formed the innermost rings.
With a cacophony of muttering, grunting, barking, growling, shrieking, and coughing, the Totem Wall came to life. The wooden faces blinked and sniffed and yawned. Tongues wagged. Expressions shifted. The jumbled words spoken by the human faces came out in a language that Seth didn't comprehend.
"I'm Seth Sorenson," Seth said. "I've come to speak with the Totem Wall."
The heads fell silent. A broad male head, old and proud, near the bottom center of the wall, spoke in a profound, resonant voice. "We are many. Choose four to treat with."
"Do all of you speak English?" Seth asked.
"You will hear your language," the head replied. "Choose." He sounded somewhat impatient.
"Very well," Seth said, trying to keep his manner official. "I will speak with Anyu the Hunter, Tootega the Crone, Yuralria the Dancer, and Chu the Beaver."
A surprised murmur rippled across the wall, ending as quickly as it began.
"I hear you," said a rough-hewn male face halfway up the left side of the wall. A knot in the wood disfigured one cheek like a scar.
"I hear you," said a shrewd, hooded face near the bottom right. Intricately carved, she had the most wrinkles of any totem.
"I hear you," said a young, beautiful face with high cheekbones near the top of the wall. The polished smoothness of her features betrayed little evidence of damage from the elements.
"I hear you," said the furry, bucktoothed face of a beaver just below the young woman. His voice sounded adolescent.
After this acknowledgment, the Totem Wall waited, all eyes on Seth. Shifting his weight from side to side, he clasped his hands behind his back. "I seek Vasilis, the Sword of Light and Darkness. I know you guard it. I want to enter and retrieve it."
Another outburst of muttered exclamations fluttered across the wall.
"Silence," demanded the Crone. "How do you know the location of Vasilis?"
"I paid a price," Seth said.
The Hunter spoke in a gruff tone. "Then you should understand that we grant favors only upon receiving an acceptable sacrifice."
"I understand," Seth said respectfully.
"Yet you have little of value," said the Beaver, "save perhaps the sword and the shield. They are unworthy shadows of the treasure we guard."
"Do not press him so hard," the Dancer fussed. "He is young." Her voice softened. "What have you to offer?"
"Along with the sword, you house great evil," Seth said. "Permit me to retrieve the sword, and I will purge the evil inside of you before I exit."
"Others have come to us in search of Vasilis," the Crone mused. "Rarely have they already suspected the location. We have admitted some. None have returned."
"The youth speaks with confidence," the Hunter approved.
"Any simpleton can speak with confidence," the Dancer said. "Sometimes the greatest fools have the most bravado. The boy is young and naive. He will come to harm, and he will not deliver on his promise."
"The wise do nothing," the Beaver complained. "The wise sit and advise. Their understanding prevents action. Do not underestimate the young."
"What deeds have you accomplished?" the Hunter asked.
Seth hadn't planned on turning in a resume. He tried to recall his highlights from the past couple of years. "I pulled a dark talisman from the neck of a revenant. I caught a leprechaun. I awoke Olloch the Glutton and put him back to sleep. I found the Chronometer, one of the keys to Zzyzx. I stole the horn of a unicorn from the centaurs at Grunhold. I have bargained with the giant Thronis and left him satisfied. I killed the dragon Siletta in order to retrieve an item from the dragons of Wyrmroost. I survived the Dreamstone at Obsidian Waste and helped retrieve the Translocator, another key to Zzyzx. And I've bargained with the Singing Sisters."
"He speaks true," the Crone said.
"And I'm telling you the truth now," Seth said. "I don't feel fear. I can get this sword and rid you of the evil hiding near it. And then I'll use the sword to save the world."
"He means what he says," the Crone said.
"Tootega knows truth," the Dancer admitted.