As I went walking I saw a sign there And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.” But on the other side it didn’t say nothing, That side was made for you and me. –Woody Guthrie
In some ways Nathan was an old soul. He spent much of his time with his adult family and being the only child, he listened to and became part of adult conversations. He had a quirky manner which was balanced by a sound sense of humor. He was however an eight-year-old boy and regulating these traits were beyond his ability. Seeing Mana though brought calmness to the boy. He instinctively relied upon their familiar manner of communication, “Mana, did you plan this or do our paths just keep crossing?” Mana regarded Nathan with her intimate smile. His growth in character since she first conversed with him was apparent given the ordeal that he had been through and the challenges that those hardships placed upon him, however she could not conceal her affection for him. The feeling was ancient, yet one that Mana had never relinquished. Time had elapsed well beyond reasonable description since Mana raised her young. The maternal identity long ago taken from her still defined her more than any other instinct, “When our spirits are calm we are able to present our finest selves,” she intimated to Nathan. In turn the boy placed his arms around her resting his head on her protruding belly. She smiled as she looked at Whitney, “Isn’t there someone you want me to meet?”
Nathan looked at his cousin, “Whitney this is Mana. Mana, this is Whitney,” he boasted.
“Of course, I am so pleased that you found each other,” Whitney naturally was confused. She understood their communication even though Mana had not spoken a word. Even before Nathan spoke, “Whitney this is Mana,” she understood their conversation. Despite the peculiarity of their communication Whitney acknowledged its reason. Mana’s appearance naturally astonished Whitney, yet she clung to the most pressing mystery as she spoke to Nathan.
“How are you able to speak to her without talking?”
“Oh yeah, I forgot. Well, it’s easy. You’ll catch on right away, you’re smart.” Whitney turned to Mana for an explanation. Mana’s endearing smile greeted Whitney, “He is right, communication is easy, it’s all the noise that makes it complicated. When we eliminate the noise our ability to understand each other is natural,”
“I’m not sure that I understand,” Whitney spoke turning her attention to Nathan.
Whitney heard Mana’s reply stream in her thoughts, “You’ll catch on just fine. This one took an entire mountain to figure it out,” Mana caressed Nathan’s shoulder with her long fingers.
Nathan smirked at Mana, “Well Whitney the secret is to get rid of your anger and frustration and, and–” he paused to consider, “and”
“To listen,” Mana added.
Nathan smiled, “That’s right you need to hear.”
Whitney recalled her conversation with Nakuset on the island. It was as if he was still speaking to her, “Yes,” she thought, “I can do this.”
“From this point on we must communicate in this way. There are other ears listening.”
At that moment the children turned their attention to the other figure who remained near the scattered trees.
Nathan looked at Mana in disbelief, “Lizardman!” he cheered jubilantly as he ran to Shadow. Shadow was taken aback by his excitement.
“Nathan, Shadow has been through quite an ordeal, be careful with him.”
Nathan’s face grew red from shame. He looked at Shadow. Nathan recalled his conversation with Mana on the beach while they were constructing the raft. He realized that he had misled Mana. “Hello Shadow,” he deliberately thought, “Thank you for saving my life.”
Shadow had a nasty wound caused by the striking claw of the pantar across his head. The more serious injury was a deep bite on his shoulder that Mana had treated with yarrow and goldenrod, she wrapped the wound with long ancient aloe leaves, “Those bad catsss wanted to hurt you. I not let them. They mean to liddle one.”
“You are very brave,” Nathan praised.
A troubled expression came across Shadow’s face as he spotted Whitney, “Me feel bad. Notty catsss rip your red ssskin,” Shadow motioned to Whitney’s cardigan that had a gaping hole where his injury was and another missing part of the sweater that had ripped away when the Xenosmilus went over the cliff with Shadow. Whitney considered the sweater. It no longer appeared comical on Shadow. She saw Shadow attempt to take the sweater off.
“No, no,” she looked at Mana for assurance, “Sha–dow,” Mana nodded her head approvingly, “You can keep my swea–my red skin.”
“Really? Brown Eye nisssse. Mana, Brown Eye kine to SSShadow.”
“Her name is Whitney.”
“Wit, Wi-tne, Witne,” he managed. Whitney smiled approvingly.
“And this little one is Nathan.”
“Naton,” Shadow proudly announced roughly rubbing Nathan’s head.
“Shadow,” Nathan spoke deliberately and sincerely, “I can’t tell you how thankful I am for what you did to save me. I am so sorry that you were injured.” Shadow tilted his head sideways first looking at Nathan and then to Mana.
“I am so sorry that I ran off. I should have come back to help you, but,” Nathan waited searching for an explanation, “Well, I was too scared,” he said ashamedly.
“I wassss ssscare too Naton and if mean cat not hang on to me I run too.”
“What happened to you? I thought that you fell into that fire water.”
“I jump to other ssside where Ssshadow live. Where sssun ssshine on grasssss.”
“What about the pantar that had its claws in you.”
“I turn over. In air, I turn over. Cat losst,” Shadow looked at Mana for an explanation.
“The pantar could not hang on to you when you flipped in the air,” Mana reminded Shadow.
“Yessssss. Mean cat rip Brown Eye, Witne, red ssskin, but he cannot hang on when Ssshadow flip in air.”
“That must have been amazing,” Nathan added admiring Shadow.
“So my red skin helped save you?”
“Yessssss,” Shadow replied eagerly shaking his head.
“You, the man Shadow,” Nathan added.
“Me the lizardman Naton,” Shadow proudly offered. Shadow had never felt such appreciation from any other creature. Once again, he looked at Mana for reassurance, “Me like liddle onesss Mana.”
She smiled as she walked away from the clearing, “Come now, let’s go behind these rocks where we can make plans to find your other one,”
Behind the scattered trees and the rock wall was a spherical shaped ground that was defined by the base of two adjoining mountains. The children looked at the impressive steep banks of the stone mountains that rose dramatically above them on either side. Between the mountains was a narrow passage littered with boulders. The desolate rock world looked like an excavated quarry aside from the spherical mountains that dominated the landscape. The ground that the group stood on gave way to stone steps that they sat and rested on.
“The land where you will find your cousin is very different than what you have experienced here,” Nathan’s lips tightened with anticipation. “Shadow and I will go with you,” Mana assured the children. “We must be very quiet as we travel.”
“Like sssnake gliding over rock,” Shadow announced.
“Yes Shadow, like a snake gliding over a rock.” The children, seated next to each other, looked apprehensively. “In order to rescue your cousin, we will need to follow a careful plan. If we fail, we will never return.” Nathan was aware that Mana usually did not submit to bleak warnings, thus her admonition concerned him. Shadow has agreed to come with us even though he was determined never to come back to the dark world where he was delivered from.
“My father, he mean, very mean. He want catsss to,” Shadow did not want to recall Cato’s last communication with him, “Ssshadow want to help find other liddle one and free him.”
“We must rescue Kyle? That means he is in danger,” Whitney added.
“Yes. He is in the gravest danger. He has been captured by pantars. They brought him to their master, Cato.” Shadow shook his head and peered at the ground upon Mana’s announcement. “Before we proceed I must inform you about our land here and how you have come to us.” The children were eager for their ordeal to be over. They also were encouraged to hear an explanation about their extraordinary situation. “You must do your very best to hear as I explain the circumstances that have brought you here. Allow me to conclude my explanation uninterrupted. In that way your questions will be answered.” Nathan took a deep breath placing his hands on his thighs as Whitney rested her arms on her folded legs, her hands clasping each other, she bowed her head so her chin rested on her thumbs. Mana looked intently at both children. She looked too at Shadow whose almond shaped eyes twinkled while his exaggerated smile told Mana that he comprehended her responsibility. He shook his head encouraging her. Mana’s thoughts filled each of the listeners’ minds like the eager spring stream flowing from its generous source.
“The animals and plants are foreign to you. By now you understand that you are not in the land that you know. The life that occupies this land no longer exists in your world. The sun in the land where we are remains steady, high in the sky. Time does not exist according to your understanding. You measure time according to how the sun revolves, when it rises and when it sets. The sun neither rises nor sets here. Time here therefore has no importance.”
Mana anticipated an observation the children, by now, were aware of, the absence of offspring. “Aside from you and your cousin there are no young ones in this land. As you understand time, it has remained in one place. We roam anywhere we can in this world never aging. Species like the fish who provide food for other animals are replaced just as the Kukulas or the raptors and the pantars that have perished while you have been here. There is a balance here of ancient species that no longer walk, swim or fly in your world. Your appearance in our world has disrupted that balance. All of the creatures along with the plant life sense this disruption. While your feelings are curious to us, we do not relate to other creatures in your manner. You confuse us with your mixed intentions. Our instinct is not to destroy, but to survive. The life that you have encountered here has attempted to help you find your way in order to restore the balance that we are accustomed to. Some unnatural event brought you here. I suspect that the event that brought you here was the work of Cato, the one called the Dark Master. He most certainly has captured your cousin.”
“He bad, my father, he bad.”
“That’s right children, Shadow’s father is Cato. He arrived in this world along with his son. He is a link, like myself, a connection from the life before us to the life that followed. His kind met their end in your world as a result of a disease that was introduced by your kind. His species became extinct. They did not have the opportunity to evolve as your kind has. Cato has the ability to feel hatred that is not instinctive to other life here. His hatred has grown wild and boundless. You and your cousin should fear Cato just as the other life here fears him. I believe that he means to use you to destroy the balance here as well as to destroy the world that you have come from. Evil, as I understand it, is a state of mind, a belief whose power is so enormous that it chokes all other thinking. This mindset is odd to me, I don’t know if I am able to explain to you its effect. I roam this world content to experience my existence and the existence of other creatures, to behold the wonders that each horizon presents. I don’t know how to surrender to such a distorted perspective of what I understand to be beautiful even though Cato has attempted to inflict great suffering on me as well. That was long, long ago.”
“I do not know Cato’s plan. During our climb to the lake the great tree of the forest defeated the Dark Master’s attempt to destroy her forest.” Mana conveyed to Whitney, “That was the reason that the Kukulas first appeared. The message of the great tree urgently spoke to all creatures in her domain. In order to maintain the balance, the Kukulas responded. We depend upon all life to exist here. Cato’s evil nature has created a disturbance in that balance for too long of a time. His futile attempt to destroy the great forest leaves me to wonder what he has in store for your cousin.”
“We ssstop him. We ssstop bad father,” Shadow solemnly added
“Yes, we will stop his plan to destroy. Natural forces are far greater than any individual scheme. But Cato’s devious nature will require us to execute a daring undertaking. You have had help from others up to this point. The land that we are about to travel in is wilder than where you have been. We cannot expect such assistance when we travel through the Black Mountains.
“Like the monkeys that threw that fruit at the raptor,” Whitney acknowledged referring to the high-speed chase in the sky.
“What are you talking about? Nathan questioned Whitney before he realized that they had interrupted Mana, “I apologize Mana.”
“Whitney saw how the raptor who was intent to catch you was stopped. The primates that she spotted as she looked back to see how close the pursuing raptor was closing in were a troop of proconsuls. They indeed intervened just as other life here has in order to help assist you with finding your way. They sense that you do not mean to threaten them. Your youth speaks to an ageless instinct to protect that appeals to them as well. The ancient beasts like the serpent in the lake are too primitive to recognize the importance of stability in our world. The animals that fall under Cato’s control do not willingly follow his orders. They are threatened somehow, like the pantars. Cato’s menace is not to be underestimated. He has turned on his own son,” Shadow nodded in accordance with this revelation. “The life where we are about to travel is more isolated and wilder than the life that you have encountered in this realm. Reptiles of various kinds lurk there, they will prove to be an obstacle. The sun’s guidance will also be distorted as we travel among the shadows of the Black Mountains. The sharp rising volcanic mountains omit clouds of smoke complicating our ability to see. The fossas that hide along the rocks will help us know when the reptiles are near. You will not see the creatures that hunt the reptiles. They are both sly and fierce. You’ll likely hear them long before you ever see them. They make a peculiar sound as if they are deviously laughing, a deep sounding cry.”
“Har, har, har,” Shadow expressed in a deep gurgled response.
“We will not find much help beyond them. We must rely on each other and we must be silent. Your species relies on sight and sound as your primary means of awareness. The creatures in the Black Mountains rely on sound and smell. If we remain silent our chance to rescue your kind is enhanced. In order to pass undetected we will rub rafflesia over us.
“Very ssstinky,” Shadow replied waving his long slender hand across his nose.
“Yes Shadow, but the rafflesia which grows among the rocks in the Black Mountains keeps the other creatures away,” the children looked at each other attempting to the best of their ability not to be overwhelmed by Mana’s narrative.
“Nathan will travel ahead of us with Shadow. Whitney and I will follow just beyond sight. In this way we will have a better chance of going undetected. Shadow is familiar with this region. I have not traveled in these parts since the Dark Master arrived.
“We can’t be split up again,” Nathan protested.
“We will not be far apart, but if you do not pay attention to what I have told you,” Mana urged, “You will have no chance to rescue your kind.” There was a moment of apprehensive silence, “Do you understand?” The children acknowledged shaking their heads in agreement. Nathan pinched himself deliberately hoping for an end to his nightmare.