Coyote shook his head and told them to dismount. “Make sure you have your weapons. We will all have to go on foot from now.” Meriwether and Sacagawea did so, and the shaman made strange but oddly familiar gestures with his hands as he took the horses’ reins. He tied the animals to an invisible post in the field, something he must have conjured. The two mounts snorted, but seemed perfectly content to remain behind.
Meriwether patted his horse, saw its blood-spattered hide, the dust on its head and mane, and the weariness and fear in its eyes. He looked to Sacagawea, who was in a similar condition, but her beautiful face showed a hard defiance. “We are ready,” she said.
Coyote marched ahead with his lithe steps, walking across the soft, sandy soil pitted with numerous holes. Countless small, tan creatures ran about, like squirrels or rats, while some poked out of burrows and made a chittering warning noise, Meriwether had seen such colony rodents long ago in the early days of the expedition; he and Clark had called them “little dogs of the prairie.”
Coyote snapped his teeth in their direction, and the chittering sounds fell silent. The small animals seemed fascinated by the strangers.
Coyote strode out to the middle of the prairie, until the soft dirt and tangled mounds collapsed under his moccasin-clad feet. He squashed burrows near the surface, the dirt slumping down a foot or two. He looked up at them with a lupine grin, as if he had found what he was looking for. He squatted and dug quickly with his hands, scooping dirt wildly, until he opened a hole about six inches wide, large enough for a small badger.
He nodded to Meriwether and Sacagawea. “In you go. Raven will never expect you.”
Sacagawea frowned at the little burrow. “Into that? I could barely fit my arm in there.”
Meriwether glanced back at their invisibly secured horses. “I have a small camp spade in my pack.”
Coyote looked up again, displaying all his fanged teeth, and clicked them together in amusement. He made another gesture, and suddenly the hole looked very big, the size of a cave. Meriwether felt dizzy, and he reached out to take Sacagawea’s arm to steady her as she also swayed. He realized that the hole had not grown suddenly huge, but that they themselves had been reduced in size. The two of them were no larger than a pair of the prairie dogs.
Sacagawea looked up at the now-towering Coyote, placing her hands on her hips in impatience. “How can we fight the dragon, if you make us small?”
He laughed. “I may be a trickster, but this is no trick. You will return to your normal size soon enough, once you have traveled through these secret passages. Raven doesn’t watch the routes beneath the ground, and so you can approach. Now go, follow the tunnels, and you will pass under his scrutiny.”
Meriwether looked at the sprawling rodent colony that covered the prairie leading up to the prominent peak. “But how will we see? How will we find our way?”
“You will know the passage. Follow it, and keep traveling deeper into Raven’s secret land, until you find a tunnel that goes up. Then you will climb.” Coyote grinned, showing his many teeth. “And that will take you directly to the chamber with the seven-headed dragon. Then remember a single hair from powerful woman will bind each of the heads.” He bobbed his head. “That will be your part.”
Meriwether had his weapons, but also his doubts. He wasn’t sure the two of them, with their spirit forms, would be enough against the greatest monster. But Sacagawea didn’t question the instructions, and with just a quick glance to be sure he would follow, she ducked her head and climbed down into the tunnel. The two of them found themselves in a moist, musty underground tunnel, a comfortably wide passage that plunged for a great distance forward, as straight as an arrow shot.
He and Sacagawea set off, silent and determined. Sacagawea put on a burst of speed, as if anxious to have it over with. Meriwether hurried after her.
Side tunnels branched off from the main passage, and Meriwether was startled when one of the burrowing rodents emerged to confront them, as if protecting its home. Now that the two humans were reduced in size, the prairie rodent seemed as large as a bear, with claws used for burrowing, teeth for tearing roots. It was a monster, but fortunately Meriwether found that his air rifle still worked, even if it was tiny now. He fired a shot at the rodent, and the single stinging bullet was enough to drive the creature back. It ducked into the side tunnel and scurried off. It made panicked squeals, the sound of which must have frightened the other rodents in the colony, which shied away from further encounters.
Although they had been reduced inside to fit comfortably within the tunnels of the underground colony, this also made their strides much smaller. Meriwether knew it would take them a long time to cover the necessary miles, so he and Sacagawea ran, covering as much distance as possible. Since they were underground, surrounded by crumbling dirt walls, they had no way of measuring the passage of time.
Finally, they reached the end of the long burrow, which opened up into an immense cavern, but which Meriwether realized was a chamber barely big enough to contain them, had they been their normal size.
“Over there, Captain Lewis.” Sacagawea indicated a different sort of tunnel that led in the direction of the mountain, this one irregular and opening into rock. The air was hotter, stuffier, and a warm glow seeped out of the rock passage. He knew that was where they must go.
The ground itself, the rocks, the looming mountain, held a throbbing power, the same dark and twisted energy that Meriwether had felt across the land when he was in his spirit dragon form. Though he knew the danger, he felt drawn in that direction.
He and Sacagawea made their way to the passage, and she ducked, her long hair streaming down her back. She crawled ahead, working her way forward. He followed her, keeping his rifle and pack protected, though they had barely enough space to move. After several minutes of pushing forward, the rock walls parted and Sacagawea emerged into a larger cavern, where they could stand and catch their breath.
Then they moved onward into a larger tunnel. The underground labyrinth seemed to expand, widening as they went deeper into the mountain lair. Another grotto, another tunnel, and another. He stood straight, brushed the persistent powdery dirt off his shirt and shoulder. Though the reference points around him were disorienting, he felt they had returned to their normal size.
And they were inside the mountain of the dragon sorcerer…Raven, or the mad thing that Raven had become.
From the echoes they heard, he guessed the pitch-black grotto around them must be immense. Ahead, he heard the loud, chuckling sound of running water, and he smelled moisture in the air.
Hearing the rush of the subterranean river, he reached out a hand to restrain Sacagawea, so she didn’t stumble into the fast flow. But she took his arm and helped to lead him forward, cautious and blind.
The cave offered no light, and he could not see in the dark, not even with any magic he could imagine. Unless his spirit dragon form was able to see in the dark? But if he let the dragon loose, then his physical body would remain here, collapsed on the floor, and they would never reach their actual adversary.
But no, he had something else! He remembered the tokens that wizard Franklin had given him and Clark as trinkets to distribute to friendly tribes. They were like coins, showing the profile of the old bespectacled wizard, and they had been charmed to emit something like lightning. He fumbled in his pocket, knowing he still had some of the tokens there, though he had not thought of them for some time. His fingers found the smooth metal disk. It wasn’t much, but it was a chance to see something.