Sword and Magic and Taxi

The so-called cave is just below the hill, nestled among the weirwood roots. The son of the forest walked in front with his finger raised, and the group followed behind. At Xiaohua's request, Zhao Mai held the flowerpot and took her with him.

The path to the cave was winding and low, and Hodor had to walk crouching, and if he carried Bran on his back it would grind him against the ceiling. So the paralyzed boy is now on Zhao Mai's back. His eyes widened, trying to look around him through the swaying light and shadow. It's a place covered in roots, moss and cobwebs, with a lingering earthy smell in the air. The coldness formed by the combination of moisture and coldness continuously penetrates from the surface of the skin downwards. It doesn't look like a serious place.

The child of the forest walked in the front, the bark on his body rubbing against the leaves in his hair, making a constant rustling sound. The underground passage had many twists and turns, and soon he was no longer visible. Zhao Mai kept carrying Bran on his back and walked slowly behind the Reed siblings. Whenever Bran is around, he can see the Three-Eyed Raven. He was always on guard, fearing that the Three-Eyed Crow would somehow disappear as soon as they separated.

Follow the firelight and walk for a while until the cave branches. The left fork was as black as asphalt, and the fire lit the right fork, so even Hodor knew which way to go. Zhao Mai used his psychic powers to create eyes and penetrated into the dark left fork. The deeper you go in, the colder it gets, and you soon see a lot of ice. There are many black shadows inside the ice. If you look closely, they are all frozen people.

I don't know how long they have been in the ice. Their clothes don't look like the current northern residents. Wherever the psychic eye can see, there is such solid ice, and there are also frozen people inside. The distance was too far, so Zhao Mai withdrew his gaze and continued to follow the torch.

The light and shadow flow, and the walls seem to be moving. In their eyes, many creatures slowly appeared. Earthworms and centipedes squirmed from the cave walls and above their heads, and they even saw giant white snakes crawling in and out of the ground. Insects that eat carrion and corpses swarmed up and covered everyone's feet. The bug is soft and pale, sticky and slippery, and has three rings of sharp little teeth.

The teenagers were frightened, and Meera squeezed her brother's hand tightly. Ado also saw this scene. Hodor, he whimpered, crouching and forcing himself forward. Zhao Mai waved his hand, and a breeze blew by, dispelling the illusion in front of him. The so-called white snakes are just white tree roots, and the bugs on the feet are just slippery moss and small mushrooms.

Bran, you can learn anything, but don't learn the taste of the Three-Eyed Crow. Zhao Mai curled his lips, adjusted the posture of his shoulders, and said: It is obviously using the natural force, but it is arranged here like a Necromancer, how can you attract a good apprentice?

What is a necromancer? Bran is always curious.

An evil spellcaster who manipulates corpses, takes human lives, and plays with souls. Zhao Mai replied.

They continued to move deeper into the ground, passing through one fork in the road and one cave after another. There is a particularly empty cave, which is enough to support a banquet for three hundred people. But now there are only countless stone teeth above the head and a large number of stalagmites on the ground. The dripping raindrops in the room make annoying music, and the children of the forest holding flames are urging in front.

After passing more caves and more forked roads, everyone has been walking in the maze-like underground passage for a long time. Ado's stomach made a growling sound, Ado, he scratched his head, and then took out the mutton and ham from the cloth bag on his chest. Hodor? He asked everyone while holding the ham. After breaking a piece for everyone, he happily ate his own portion.

The sound of people chewing echoed in the cave, and sometimes there was even an echo. Ado burped, and then there were sounds of Duoduoduo... from all directions. The boys and girls laughed, and the laughter began to echo, dispelling the cold atmosphere of the cave. The son of the forest turned around, blinked his slender eyes, and imitated their appearance with a smile.

How much further? Zhao Mai asked, How deep are we underground?

We will be there soon, just walk through the Bone Cave. said the Son of the Forest. Then he turned around, held the firelight and advanced silently, no longer answering their questions. Everyone was imagining what the skeleton cave looked like. Zhao Mai scared them that it was a scary place where skulls were hanging everywhere and they would fall into piles of corpses if they stepped on them. In the eye sockets of the skull, yellow fluorescence flashes, like the light of fireflies, but weirder and colder. There are bones everywhere, old, decayed, and unbearable. You will crush the bones no matter what, and then there will be white ones. The corpse air was squeezed out, floating like hands, scratching your calves and ankles, leaving black scratches on them. The cold breath blew gently on the fluff behind your ears, and a voice sounded: 'I died so unjustly...'

Everyone was frightened, but finally discovered that the so-called bone cave was not as scary as Zhao Mai described. Although there are fragile bones under the feet, there is only a thin layer. There were neither white cloud claws nor whispers in the ears. There are only bones of birds and animals scattered on the road, but there are also other bones. The larger ones may be from giants, and the particularly small ones may be children of the forest. On the cave walls on both sides, there are many excavated stone niches and cages, where the skulls of various creatures are placed. Almost all creatures in the north appear here. Summer found a direwolf skull, ran over and sniffed it, and then sneezed.

The atmosphere here did not reach the atmosphere exaggerated by Zhao Mai, which made the group a little disappointed. They went through another steep road and finally reached the final hall. Through the curved arch bridge, they crossed the dark underground river and came to a platform. The son of the forest raised his hand high, and the fire became brighter, filling all the surrounding space. Following the direction of his finger, everyone looked attentively.

A pale-skinned king embellished with ebony appeared in front of them. His expression seemed to be in a deep dream. A weirwood throne surrounded his withered limbs like a mother hugging her child.

Although there is a throne, there is no crown. There is only a black dragon crystal in the middle of his forehead, like a third eye. His body was thin and his clothes were tattered. From a distance, he looked like a corpse. But his chest was still rising and falling, and his breathing could move the slender beard around his mouth. Only then did everyone believe that he was not a ghoul. Countless tree roots wrapped around his body, wrapping him up and supporting him. Many roots even penetrated through his body, but the wounds had grown together with the tree roots, making them indistinguishable from each other and not considered wounds.

The owner of the throne has fair skin and a blood-red birthmark from his neck to his cheek. This is the only abnormal color on his body. The white hair, white eyebrows, and white beard are all as delicate and slender as spider webs, fluttering in the wind, separated from each other, and not tangled. He is no longer separated from the tree root throne behind him. It is possible that his bones have been replaced by tree roots, and perhaps his internal organs. Zhao Mai saw dots of dark red leaves growing from his skull, and countless gray mushrooms occupied the exposed skin of his arms and thighs. It seemed that he had not moved for a long time, because when he moved a little bit, he would drop a lot of dust and spores of mushrooms and moss.

He opened his eyes, but there was only one blood-red eye without the white of the eye. A white tree root was drilled into the socket of the other eye and pierced out from the inside of his neck. He glanced with his red eyes for a long time and finally found a group of people.

Are you the Three-Eyed Raven? Bran asked.

Crow...crow? The pale king's voice was dry, and his lips were torn from the mushroom and moved slowly. He seemed to have forgotten how to form words, so it took a long time before he finally spoke: Yes, I was once. Black clothes and black blood, I was the Three-Eyed Crow.