Where’er we tread, ‘t is haunted, holy ground. –Lord Byron
Nathan and Shadow set out ahead of Whitney and Mana according to Mana’s instructions. The footpath along the valley of the Black Mountains had been recently traveled. Nathan and Shadow proceeded cautiously by determining large boulders to walk towards in their attempt to be concealed from anything that may be searching for them. The rafflesia that Mana had rubbed over him made Nathan queasy, his stomach was upset by the repulsive odor as well as the imposing stress that traveled with him. He and Shadow maintained silence as best they could mindful of Mana’s directive. Still, upturned stones and the duo’s breathing seemed to amplify and echo in the valley. Occasionally Nathan imagined that he saw a sleek darting shadow ahead of them. Before one sudden turn along the dark path Nathan heard the “Har, har, har,” of a fossa breaking the silence. The deep cry was answered by another and still another. The thought that the fossas’ had slew an unforeseen reptile in the dark shadows of the steep mountains only increased Nathan’s anxiousness. The silence was most terrifying. Nathan longed for words of reassurance. The fear that the silence provoked clouded his senses. Then he remembered his conversation with Mana as they ascended the mountain along the stream of the golden alewives. Nathan closed his eyes tightly and concentrated. “Shadow.” There was no reply. “Shadow,” he thought again, “I’m really scared,”
“We fine Naton. SSShadow been here before. Before SSShadow became SSShadow,” the cryptic response soothed Nathan’s anxiety. The weight of terror he carried lifted . He was reassured that he was not alone in this darkness.
Suddenly the impenetrable silence was broken. Nathan heard the thunderous sound of hooves on the hard surface of the path approaching him. He and Shadow raced for the protection of a large boulder that had been deposited from its perch atop a mountain countless ages before. He spotted two fossas streak ahead as they darted up the side of an embankment to conceal themselves behind a jagged crevice at the base of the mountain. Nathan could feel the ground shake as he spotted two pantars atop their dragon steeds racing towards his direction. Nathan recalled when he first saw the menacing creatures at the fallen tree near the gulley of lava where Shadow had courageously protected him from two similar creatures. At that moment Nathan felt Shadow’s reassuring grip on his shoulder. As the steeds bore down on them the brutish creatures abruptly turned their direction away from the boulder to follow the path. Nathan breathed a deep sigh of relief. Then he thought of Whitney and Mana following shortly behind. “I can’t let them get her,” he thought. Before he could contemplate his next move, Shadow was standing in the middle of the trail screeching the same shrill cry that Nathan had heard when he leapt over the embankment near the fallen tree. This time Nathan joined Shadow crying out in the darkness, “You don’t want to mess with me!”
Whitney and Mana departed soon after they had determined that Nathan and Shadow were safely ahead of them. From time to time as they traversed the winding trail along the valley of the dark steepled mountains they would spot the duo ahead of them. Mana, who led, would hesitate providing more distance between the two groups. Mana reasoned that the possibility of either group safely reaching their destination was improbable, yet one of the pairs stood a better chance of going undetected by splitting up. The tall Black Mountains rose like skyscrapers in an uninhabited dystopian city. The mountains were so abundant and tall that they blocked the sunlight making the ability to travel in the shadows along the path more difficult and anxious. The further they ventured along the path at the base of these haunting mountains the darker their surroundings became until vision became nearly impossible. They could no longer view the occasional appearance of Nathan and Shadow ahead of them. Whitney had been tempted more than once to use the flashlight that was in her pocket, but she knew that the light omitted would appear like the beckoning globe of a lighthouse. She nervously tapped her thumb on the tiny switch of the flashlight as she followed on the heels of Mana before her.
Whitney sensed a troubling distant rumbling of the ground just before her. Mana raised her arm as she crouched signaling Whitney to stop. Whitney knelt close to Mana. Suddenly Mana lifted the child in one arm and raced towards the base of the closest mountain. She sprang in long strides up the side of the mountain desperately leaping on a narrow plateauing ledge. The ledge revealed a declivity beyond the view of the path. Mana embraced Whitney with both arms as she leapt down the declivity like a schoolyard child riding along a greased slide. Before they disappeared into total darkness Whitney heard Shadow’s piercing cry followed by Nathan’s bold challenge.
The pantars rode their dragon steeds at full gallop. Their senses had alerted them that the other child was nearby. The pantars were maddened with the opportunity to seize the child that had escaped the previous scouting pantars. The wild cats had suffered one ignominy after another. They were a species used to wandering far without confines. The Dark Master’s control over them added to their distress. The pantars were terrifyingly fierce like any irritated animal. Their ferocity, however, misled them as they were stampeding towards Whitney and Mana. The taunting jeers of Shadow and Nathan confused the wild cats. Along with the effect of the rafflesia the cats’ reliance on their sense of smell was interrupted by Shadow’s shriek accompanied by Nathan’s valiant dare. The pantars angrily drove their knifelike claws into the scales of the necks of the steeds. The beasts came to a sudden halt violently upturning the gravel beneath their hooves spraying pebbles and stones like projectiles fired from a shotgun. The agile pantars shifted their bodies directing the steeds to return in the direction of the cries. The powerful dragon steeds with their enraged riders regained full gallop as they descended on the awaiting boy and his companion. Their red fetlocks appeared like flames racing at the heels of the oncoming steeds.
Mana held Whitney firmly in her arms close to her. Whitney’s ear, pressed against Mana’s chest, detected her caretaker’s racing heartbeat. Whitney was reminded of the revolving fan in her family’s camp on the evenings she laid awake staring into the darkness. Mana slowed her breathing as the pair settled on the floor of what appeared to be a cave. Mana calculated that they had slid over thirty meters. The last half of which were nearly vertical. Mana’s feet, thighs and posterior ached from absorbing the force of the descent and landing. The two females sat upright for several moments in the enclosed total darkness of the cave. “Child,” Mana finally spoke, “Do you still have that beam of light?”
“Yes,” Whitney quietly replied.
“We will need to use it here in order to discover where we are.” Whitney had the flashlight firmly in her hand. She instantly rolled the riveted switch with her thumb as the beam of the flashlight, angled towards the ceiling, shone brightly, an artificial sun in a desolate inanimate space.
Whitney directed the light towards the opening where Mana dove into. The child was amazed at the height of the dark opening above as well as the steepness of the sloping wall. There was no way that she and Mana could climb out the way they had entered. She looked helplessly at Mana. Mana had detected an unnatural presence somewhere directly ahead of the pair. “Shine the beam lower to our eye level ahead of us.” Whitney redirected the flashlight to the area that Mana had indicated. The child could not restrain the frightened reflex that escaped her mouth when the beam of light revealed an encircled troop of ten human skeletons. Whitney turned her head from the spotlight that the flashlight cast upon the skeletons. She buried her face in Mana’s hirsute chest. Whitney’s rapid breathing displayed her distress. Mana instinctively patted her head as she cooed. “There is nothing to fear child. All that remains are their bones.”
Whitey responded maintaining her proximity to Mana, “Those are human skeletons aren’t they?”
Mana steadied Whitney’s wrist so that she could study the ring of skeletons. “Yes, they are certainly creatures of your kind. They appear to have been in this position for what you would believe to be a very long time.”
Whitney could not suppress he concern, “But, how could? How did? Mana, we came here by accident. Do you think they came the same way?” Am I, are we going to end up like them?” She kept her face pressed to Mana’s chest to avoid looking at the bones.
“Let’s see if we can find out about their situation?”
Whitney moved her head so that she could look Mana in the eyes, “What do you mean? Those skeletons,” Whitney turned turned to look at the encircled troop, “they’re not going to talk to us?”
“Of course not, but their spirits perhaps might speak to us if we put our minds to the task of listening.”
“How are–”
“Shh, Child, shhh. Concentrate on how we communicate. Try to focus on their identity,” Mana explained motioning to the skeletons. Whitney complied as Mana released her grip from Whitney’s wrist. Whitney held the small flashlight with both her hands. She was still trembling from the spectacle before her. The beam of light from the flashlight likewise trembled making the skeletons appear to move. Whitney attempted to steady her hands. She altered her gaze on the skeletons instead looking at Mana who appeared to be meditating.
Mana closed her eyes as she tilted her head back, her forehead facing the ceiling of the cavern. She appeared to Whitney to be contemplating some message from far away as if she were in prayer. After some time had passed in this meditative state Mana opened her eyes and stared at Whitney. Whitney was already mystified by Mana’s ability to conjure the thoughts of others translating and communicating those thoughts without utterance. Now, however, Mana had dwarfed Whitney’s comprehension with her ability to act as an antenna of sorts. Whitney looked at the alabaster skeletons encircled around the ancient dormant fire pit. She heard a distant melody growing stronger. She was distracted by the magnified shadow of Mana cast on the cavern wall by Whitney’s flashlight. The accent of the singers was strange to Whitney. They were the collective voices of the ancient Gaelic travelers who had somehow likewise ventured into this world many years earlier. Through Mana, Whitney was able to understand their song:
The torched flickered wildly
As the wind shrieked in from space
Hope had forsaken us
We had fallen from her grace
Driven to a darkened destiny
By our quest to out-live time
We beheld vanity’s looking glass–
the portrait of our crime
Left here with our conscience
and visions of our past
all our hopes and dreams
abandoned here at last
The torch shines so brightly
there is no wind at all
Souls resting in an empty abyss
Awaiting a haunting call
One cannot force the hand of fate
nor turn the key to a vacant door
for the wind taunts of late
And the torch shines no more,
And the torch shines no more,
And the torch shines no more…
The song faded until Whitney was aware of her own breathing. These travelers had somehow met their end enclosed in the cave. Whitney looked to Mana for encouragement, “We won’t end up this way will we?”
“We’ll have to explore the cave further. We won’t be able to climb the steep descent that we rode in on,” Mana replied as she took the child’s hand, “Let’s see what we can find with your unique beam of light.” Whitney was mildly relieved by Mana’s reassurance. The pair followed the beam of light cast off by the flashlight as Whitney slowly rotated the light around the cavern searching for a solution to their predicament. Whitney could not entirely eliminate the consideration that she probably would only uncover yet another mystery in this strange land of her strange circumstance. After the pair had circled the cave, Whitney looked pleadingly at Mana, “Did you see anything?”
Mana was poised as always, “Child, did you miss something in your search?”
“I don’t know?” Whitney offered as her best response to the riddle offered by the sage.
“The objects in this cavern tell a story.”
“You mean the skeletons?” Whitney responded squeezing Mana’s hand.
“You have heard their story, but there are other clues.”
“Mana, the only other objects in this cave are rocks.”
“Indeed. Look again with your light. What do you notice about the rocks?” Whitney again shined the flashlight on the cavern walls and the floor of the cave. She spotted various scattered rocks around the cave. When she had completed her circle once again Whitney was befuddled. She looked again at Mana who patiently implored, “Try again.” Whitney searched once more seemingly without success. She was prepared to surrender to Mana, before she realized that something was out-of-place.
“Wait, she said, “She returned the beam of light to a formation of rocks a short distance away from other scattered rocks. “Those. There!” she exclaimed, “Those rocks don’t appear like the others.”
“How are they different?”
“The other rocks in this cave are scattered about. Those rocks seemed to have been moved for a purpose. Mana, what do you think those rocks were moved for?”
“We’ll have to find out, won’t we?” Mana replied. Whitney released Mana’s hand heading to the formation of rocks. Mana, in her deliberate pace followed. “These rocks are piled on top of each other. And look Mana! They form an arrow!”
“An arrow?” Mana responded.
“Yes. Yes,” Whitney answered excitedly, “I think those people were trying to point us in a direction with these stones,” Mana looked confused. “You know, like you use the stars to travel by,” Mana smiled knowingly. “Oh,” Whitney expressed feeling the heat of embarrassment, “You knew that all along.”
“Not entirely Whitney. Your explanation has aided me. Your kind would leave such a sign?”
“Yes, that is one way we can,” Whitney hesitated to consider, “communicate.”
“Communicate,” Mana replied, “Let’s see what they wanted us to understand.”
Mana and Whitney studied the arrangement of rocks. The first pattern that Whitney observed was that the big thick oblong shaped rocks were stacked three rows high. They formed a line about two meters long. At one end of the segment was a triangular shaped head. “This looks like an arrow,” Whitney explained, “It’s often used to point someone in the right direction.” Mana looked at Whitney uncertainly. “Whatever direction the point of the row of rocks is directed at probably tells us to go that way.”
Mana shook her head as she considered Whitney’s explanation, “To follow where the rocks are pointed to. I see.” Whitney and Mana looked in the direction that the rocks pointed to. Whitney shined the flashlight in that direction. There was a slope in the cavern that they had not observed previously. Whitney looked at Mana for an indication. Mana shook her head approvingly. They slowly walked along the floor of the sloping cavern until they spotted in the shadow beyond the beam of light, a rectangular wooden crate positioned next to the wall. Aside the crate were ten saddles, ten saddle blankets, ten reigns, ten shields, and two long sturdy oak poles. The crate, paraphernalia, and poles could not be seen from the level of the cavern floor where the encircled skeletons were located.
Centuries of dust and sediment had settled over the material burying part of the wooden tomb in a powder of sifted dirt caused by the interior rumbling of the mountain that over the course of time had deposited fine soil to the cavern floor like flour from a sifter. Mana used her arm to wipe off inches of the sediment. She used a flat rock to scrape off the remaining dirt revealing undeciphered Gaelic markings that were inscribed with charcoal on the crate’s top. Mana looked at Whitney who was entranced with the find. Mana lifted the top board from the rectangular crate. Inside the crate was a thick folded robe. The robe was black. Embossed in the center of the robe was a darker circle, the unmistakable replica of the design on the armor and helmets that the pantars wore, the same design as the pendant that Zeborg had worn. “Mana, I have been wondering how those pantars got the armor and helmets that they wear. These robes, the shields, the spears, the helmets and the armor must have belonged to those, um those people whose remains are over there.”
“I believe that to be true as well.”
“Do you suppose those people stumbled into this world like we did a long time ago?”
“Your arrival is the first of your kind that I have ever encountered, but it is possible.”
“I think whoever or whatever found the armor could not see this box with the robe. Look! The poles next to the box seem to fit through these holes in the side. I think that they used the poles to carry the long box.” Mana was impressed with Whitney’s explanation. “They would have passed the poles through the holes on each side of the box and carried the poles on their shoulders.”
“I see,” Mana reasoned envisioning the child’s explanation.
“But Mana, what were they doing here? You said that humans have never come here before.”
“These humans did not survive. They appeared to have passed away all at once from the appearance of their bones. The way that they are seated suggests that there was not a struggle with any other creature.”
“Maybe they got really sick.”
“That’s as likely as any other possibility. I believe that the Dark Master found these people after they had passed away and he took the equipment that he found with these people. The box must have escaped his attention. This discovery provides a clue as to how the Dark Master was able to overcome the pantars and other creatures.”
“Are you saying that he was lucky? Whitney asked
“Desperation and determination create their own luck I suppose.”
After a period of consideration Whitney offered, “Mana, I saw another pile of rocks over on the opposite wall that don’t look right. They look like they have been stacked on top of each other.”
“Yes, I observed the same.”
“Do you think those rocks are another clue?”
“Why don’t we find out? We must hurry. Nathan and Shadow need our help!” The ceiling above where the pile of rocks was piled was lower than at any other part of the cavern. Mana concluded that the pile of rocks was not the result of an avalanche of any sort. “These rocks were deliberately placed here. We must move them to see why they were arranged as they are.”
“They’re pretty big Mana. I don’t know if I can move too many of them,” Whitney expressed surveying the rocks.
“I believe that I can move most of them. You might help me with those two bigger boulders placed side by side at the bottom of the pile.”
“Ok,” Whitney’s response did not incite confidence, but she had learned that Mana ignored any indication that expressed self-limitation. Whitney marveled as Mana began moving the rocks with admirable strength. She placed the rocks to the side of where they were arranged. As Mana lifted one of the larger stones at the level of her chest both she and Whitney could feel a strong draft of wind blowing from behind them.
“Whitney, shine your light into that opening.” Whitney positioned herself in front of Mana. She stood on her tippy toes and extended her arm as the beam of light shined into the opening that Mana had discovered. A long-extended cavern with a gradual decline was revealed. Mana lifted Whitney and placed her on the other side of the rock pile. She busied herself removing the remaining rocks and as she did a larger opening was revealed. “Help me push this remaining boulder to the other side of the pile,” Mana expressed. Mana placed her long fingers underneath the large boulder while Whitney Extended her arms relying on the strength of her shoulders and legs. Together the two pushed with all their strength. The rock seemed immovable.
Whitney recalled moving a stump with her father and mother from the front lawn of their camp, “1-2-3-push!” she exclaimed. The renewed strength was enough to move the rock from its resting place. Once the rock had been lifted from the indentation made from its weight on the ground the momentum of their effort caused the bolder to roll to the side revealing a clear opening to the discovered corridor. Whitney looked at Mana, satisfied with their effort. Mana, in return, smiled broadly at Whitney. She then gazed beyond the child.
“We do not know where this leads us, but we cannot return the way we entered. The draft suggests that this leads to a larger area. We must proceed quietly as we did before.” Whitney shook her head in agreement as she and Mana ventured down the cavernous hallway.