Crow Boy Read Free

ring?” She twisted the silver ring around a finger. “Just to make sure?”
    Keeper nodded and slowly stood. He blew on the fire and the flames died, as if he’d just put out a candle.
    He led us deep into the cave, beyond where I’d explored, past a workshop filled with tools, all made for big hands but some meant for tiny work. I remembered hearing that Keeper had made the nexus ring.
    We continued deep into a corner of the cave to a heavy slab of rock. Setting his shoulder against the rock, Keeper pushed, sliding the slab across the cave floor until he’d exposed a hollow underneath. He reached down and pulled out a worn grey cloth.
    Laying the cloth across one huge hand, he gently unwrapped the layers until he’d revealed a collection of rings. I remembered Maddy trying them all on, before choosing the engraved silver band she now wore. I hadn’t paid much attention to the individual rings then, but this time we both leaned in, slowly touching each ring, some dark and foreboding, others twinkling with jewels. The nexus ring seemed the least of them, a small jade-green stone ring, plain and dull.
    Keeper started to fold the cloth over the rings, but I reached out and stopped him. “Could I look at them a little longer?” I asked. “There’s so much magic here.”
    Keeper nodded. “You feel magic. It will grow again.” Then he handed me the cloth. As I sat with it spread across my knees, Maddy slipped her silver ring off her finger.
    “Where did my ring come from?” she asked. She held it in her hand, examining the interlocking lines etched into the surface of the silver band.
    “Elves made it,” Keeper said.
    “Elves? Here?” Maddy asked, excited.
    Keeper smiled. “No, the ring came from far away. My rings come from many places, many times.”
    I sat examining each ring. Some I slipped on briefly; others I didn’t dare. Finally I picked up the nexus ring and slid it on. It felt good to wear it again. I could feel magic slowly flowing through it into me.
    I hadn’t noticed before, but the nexus ring had its own magic. When I wore it, I felt more connected to the magic world, and even, ever so faintly, to the human world.
    When I mentioned this to Keeper, he nodded. “You are feeling the power of the nexus stone that forms the ring. Nexus means connection, a link. Nexus stone links our worlds. Now we know that it strives to make the connection stronger by tearing the veil.”
    “Is it safe for me to wear it for a minute?” I asked, feeling nervous.
    “Of course,” said Keeper. “You will not be opening a doorway in the veil. It is safe to hold.”
    I relaxed and leaned back against the cave wall. I closed my eyes and became absorbed in feeling the magic world all around me. I could feel the human world too, oddly connected and present, but distant.
    I could hear Maddy softly clinking rings as she looked at them. Then she gasped and must have shivered because Keeper asked, “Are you cold?”
    “This ring,” Maddy said. “It makes me cold.”
    I opened my eyes to see Maddy putting back a heavily jeweled ring, a cluster of gems surrounding a huge ruby flashing red in the torch light.
    “That is the Dragon’s Eye,” Keeper said. “There are few who would dare to wear it.”
    Maddy shivered again.
    “Come outside and let the sun warm you,” Keeper said.
    “Can I stay here a little longer, with the nexus ring?” I asked.
    Keeper paused as he studied me. Then he nodded slowly, and said, “Bring the ring. You can sit with it outside while Maddy gets warm.”
    We walked out of the dark cave into bright sunshine, and sat in front of the cave looking down over a lake far below. Maddy sighed as the sun warmed her. We watched brown-coated bighorn sheep on the mountainside across the lake, crows chatting and circling lazily nearby, and a dark bear searching for berries on the far shore.
    Maddy and I set our backpacks beside us, and dug out sandwiches and water bottles. Maddy offered to share with