The Book Without Words_ A Fable of Medieval Magic - Avi [44]
For a moment the bird did nothing.
“Odo!”
Odo leaned forward and let the stone drop into Sybil’s open hand.
3
Sybil, making sure the stone was secure in her belt purse—where it clinked against the Damian coin—hurried down the steps to the ground floor, candle in hand. Odo rode her shoulder. Together they examined the old wall. It was easy enough to see the outline of the old entryway. And when Sybil poked at the mortar between the stones, it crumbled. “You see,” she said. “It’s not hard. I’m sure you can do it. Do you need my help?”
“I have to do it on my own,” said Odo. He gazed fixedly at the wall with his black eyes and raised a claw: “Feallan, feallan,” he whispered.
A rock vibrated—and tumbled out of the wall.
Sybil clapped her hands. “There! You can do it.”
“One stone at least,” said Odo. He lifted his claw and repeated the words. When a second stone fell, he nodded with excitement and set to work in earnest. He chanted, and stones tumbled to the floor.
“It’s exhausting,” he panted, beak open. “Sybil, be warned, the magical things I do never last. At least I now understand why: it’s the nature of the book’s magic.”
“But don’t stop,” said Sybil. “You’re succeeding.”
Odo went on until a rush of cold air announced he had breached the wall. Sybil peered into the hole. “Tumble a few more stones, and I’ll just be able to squeeze through.”
Odo continued. Sybil checked again. “There,” she announced. “It’s wide enough. Wait here and rest. I’ll fetch the boy.”
“Just hurry,” urged Odo.
4
Sybil ran up the steps and into the back room. “Alfric, wake up.”
The boy sat up with a start. “Mistress, is something the matter?”
“You need to come with me.”
“Where?”
“I’ll tell you as we go.”
“Are we going somewhere?”
“Out of the house.”
“What of Master Thorston?”
“He’s still dead.”
“Won’t he come back soon?”
“Which is why we must hurry.”
“And you’ll not abandon me?”
“Take my hand,” said Sybil.
They went into the main room where Thorston remained unmoving on his bed. Softly, Sybil picked up the Book Without Words and led the boy down the steps. Odo was waiting by the hole in the wall.
“Now,” said Sybil, “I’ll have the hardest time getting through, so I should go first. Alfric, once I’m on the other side, hand the book out to me. Then I’ll help you get through. Odo, it will be easiest for you, so you’ll be last.
The two murmured their agreement.
Sybil got down on her hands and knees, extended her arms into the hole, curled her fingers on the other edge, and pulled forward. It was a tight squeeze, and the stones scratched, but she got through, falling onto weedy ground on the far side.
“Alfric,” Sybil called back through the hole. “Hurry now. The book.”
The boy pushed the book into the hole. Sybil grasped it and pulled it through. “Now you should have it easier than I,” she called. “Reach for my hands and I’ll help you.” She leaned into the hole, found Alfric’s small fingers, and gripped them. “Squirm and kick. I’ll pull.”
Within moments, Alfric was standing by Sybil’s side. As he brushed himself free of mortar dust, she bent down to see where Odo was.
“God’s mercy!” she cried.
“What’s the matter?” said Alfric.
“The hole in the wall is gone.”
5
Odo was just about to jump into the hole when the stones rose up and rammed themselves back where they had been.
Stunned, he stared at the wall for a few moments then lifted a claw. “Feallan!” he whispered. Nothing happened. He repeated the word. The result was the same. He tried pecking at the mortar, but it had become harder than before, and only hurt his beak. He told himself he was lucky he wasn’t inside the wall when the stones reassembled: he would have been entombed.
Perhaps, he thought, if he rested, some of his magic would return.
Exhausted, Odo hopped away from the wall and fluttered up the steps and then atop the books. Shaking his head in agitation, he thought, She has the stone. What if she abandons me? She won’t, he told himself, even as he recalled all the times he