“Beware the dark pool at the bottom of our hearts. In its icy, black depths dwell strange and twisted creatures it is best not to disturb.” ― Sue Grafton
Mana slowly walked down the dark drafty corridor, “Shine your light on the floor ahead of us Child,” Whitney did as Mana indicated. Together they walked alertly the beam from the light bounced ahead of them from Whitney’s unsteady hand. “Try to keep the light still if you can,” Mana encouraged Whitney.
“Yes Ma’am,” Whitney obediently replied. The pair were aware that the corridor steadily declined as they advanced. Without warning they came to a wall where a hole was covered up by another large circular boulder. The draft continued from their right where the corridor narrowed. Whitney stooped and Mana had to crawl on her knees at this point. They continued on for another fifty meters before Whitney, who was now ahead of Mana with the flashlight clenched between her teeth, spotted a dim light from an opening ahead of her. She turned to confront Mana.
Mana anticipated Whitney’s concern. In her silent manner she conveyed, “Yes, I see the opening. Allow me to get ahead of you. Make your light dark. We don’t want to be detected.” Mana crawled ahead of Whitney. Whitney rolled her head to relieve the tension from her sore neck caused by bending it for so long in the narrow corridor. She followed Mana as the light at the end of the corridor grew bolder. The opening of the cavern that they had followed was elevated from the floor of the new area that they now observed. An arching shape of rock concealed the opening where they were positioned. Cato had used this perch to spy on his pantars in the past. He was previously the only beast who knew of this opening. One of the sconces where the torch burned was placed just right of the opening of the cavern. The flame roared in their direction. Normally this area of the cavern would have been guarded by a pantar. The activity in the grand cavern, however, required all of the pantars to be in the cavern save for the one who served as a sentry at the main opening where Kyle originally had entered. Nathan and Shadow had not yet been led that way.
Mana surveyed the entranceway. A large open space led off in another direction. On each side of the hub were located two similar holes where large circular rocks were placed with thick wooden stubs in the center of each. Mana studied the area in her deliberate manner. She turned. Even in her silence Whitney understood the urgency that Mana conveyed. “You will remain here out of sight while I go to find out more about our situation. Do not move regardless of how long I am gone. I will return for you.”
Whitney, of course, was terrified. She was entirely dependent on Mana though. All she could do was shake her head reluctantly in agreement. Mana skillfully swung from the ledge of the concealed spy-hole where Whitney remained. She lightly landed on the pads of her feet as she dropped the remaining distance to the floor of the center of the cavern. Mana approached the closer of the large circular stones. Someone or something had labored to create this stone wheel. The edges of the circular soapstone had been chipped away and smoothed by the use of a harder stone. Mana had studied the wheel-shaped stone from her perch before she descended. She immediately heaved her shoulder against the centered stub of wood. The circular stone hesitated slightly before it rolled exposing a leeway into another grotto. Whitney watched from the edge of her concealed position as Mana advanced into the room. Whitney’s heart raced as the circular stone was placed in front of the opening from within. For the first time since she was positioned high atop Alkebulan she was alone. Whitney looked at the stone that Mana had moved for a long time before she sank below the edge of the rock. The child laid flat on her back as she stared at the dancing shadow of light caused from the torch.
Mana had entered into Cato’s lair. No other creature aside from Cato himself had advanced into this cavern before. A torch burned as well in this cavern giving Mana the light to survey the space. The room was spacious. A large wooden frame was placed in the center of the room. Inside the frame was a collection of moss and fir branches. “This is likely the nest for the Dark Master,” Mana assumed. Mana studied the room further. Two smaller openings similar to where she had entered were blocked by large circular soapstone wheels. A larger opening covered by a similar round stone was located behind Cato’s nest. Mana approached this opening and studied it for some time. She pressed her ear against the cool soapstone as she embraced it. She inhaled several times attempting to detect a scent of what was positioned behind the rock. A memory of long ago stirred in her as she considered what lay beyond the secured entrance. She retreated from the stone with a heavy heart.
The only other object in the room was a stone table. Mana curiously studied a series of wooden bowls that Cato had discovered among the skeletons in Spirit’s Cave. On top of the table was a large shallow bowl. Next to that bowl was a shallow tray. On the floor of the cave near the stone table was an additional bowl, much larger than the two on the stone table. Mana approached the table that was located directly below the torch that provided light in the room. Mana looked into the large shallow tray. She was struck with a curious reaction at the image that greeted her. The image in the bowl seemed strangely familiar to Mana even though she could not recount where she had seen the image before. The tray had a a base of salt. The salt was covered with a shallow level of water. Mana realized that the image that regarded her was her own likeness. The tray using the light cast off from the torch served as a mirror–a miniature reflecting salt plain. Mana peered into the bowl next to the tray. The content of this bowl had a generous quantity of black dye. The larger bowl on the floor contained a pile of black walnut shells. Mana continued to study each of the bowls. She kept returning her attention to the shallow square tray on the center of the stone table. Finally, she shook her head in acknowledgement satisfied with her observation.
Mana next studied the remaining two stone doors. One of the circular stones, she considered, by its proximity to the direction that she and Whitney had traveled, led to the blocked entrance that they had encountered before they discovered the perch where Whitney presently concealed herself.
Before Mana would return to Whitney she required more information. She approached the other circular door and slowly pushed it aside revealing another corridor. This passage was similar to the corridor where Whitney and Mana had discovered the hidden opening that Mana most recently descended from.
Mana knelt to get a better look at this new corridor. She saw that the passageway was only about thirty meters long. A stream of light indicated to Mana the end of the corridor. She crawled on her hands and knees until she reached the end of the passageway. A similar ledge of stone blocked the entrance of the corridor from the room that was revealed.
The room that she now encountered was bustling with activity. A variety of beasts dragging large square black stones across one area of the expansive floor labored under the watchful vigilance of the pantars. Mana had arrived at the great cavern where Cato was overseeing the construction of his black fortress.
Her surveillance was directed to a discussion taking place far away from the construction. She could see in the distance the large looming figure of the Dark Master. Two pantars were positioned on each side of the Dark Master facing him. They appeared to be holding something, but Mana could not see the figure that was blocked by the Dark Master’s body. She surveyed the giant room. A short distance from her right and well ahead of where she hid, Mana spotted a large pile of pumpkins. Her focus returned to the commotion where the Dark Master was positioned. The pantar’s were captivated by their commander. Mana waited a while longer before she lowered herself to the great cavern floor. She hung momentarily from the ledge before she gently landed on the stone floor a short distance away. She immediately crouched behind the pile of pumpkins. She crawled deliberately using her elbows to propel her along the floor of the cavern in order to position herself directly behind the pumpkins until she reached the pile of gourds. She could now hear the conversation taking place between the Dark Master, his pantars, and their captive. From her new position Mana could see that in the grip of the pantars was the third child. Her heart rose with momentary joy before she witnessed the Dark Master strike the child. She waited to see that the dazed boy was otherwise uninjured. Anger was a feeling that Mana was incapable of experiencing, but she hesitated as the suggestion of that foreign notion tried to formulate in her mind. No sooner was it gone like the tide carrying out with it some unnatural debris left behind. Mana scampered back to the opening where she had arrived from. After determining that she was unseen she sprang from the floor to grip the edge of stone that concealed the opening. She raised herself easily and disappeared in the corridor.
Mana returned to the Dark Master’s lair by the way she came. Her attention was commanded by a final task before she returned to Whitney. She approached the protected entrance to the opening behind Cato’s nest. She shouldered the thick wooden stump wedged in the center of the stone. The soapstone moved revealing a concealed cavern that omitted a stale upsetting odor. Mana cautiously entered the cavern. Her eyes grew wide when she saw the inhabitants of the torch-lit grotto. Nine separate stalls divided by piles of heavy rocks were each inhabited by a female pantar. They each looked sickly, their eyes were crusted and they were emaciated. Bones of a variety of small creatures littered the floor of the small cells that they were tethered to by strong sinewy vines. They each looked absently at Mana as she observed them. Their spirits were broken liked caged animals in a pathetic zoo. On a stone next to the entrance of the cavern was a sharp flint stone shaped like a blade. One by one Mana cut through the vine that tethered each beast. They hardly moved. Once she was finished she scanned each of the stalls a final time before she turned to leave the cave. Mana was struck with agony when she faced the wall of the entrance. Tagged above the entrance of the cavern was a hide of a creature she instantly recognized. Before the uprooting cascade of feelings could be released Mana remembered her responsibility to Whitney and the other children. She ducked under the entrance- way to the cavern, she looked back a final time at the subdued pantars before she returned the stone back to the entrance of the cave.
Mana walked around the Dark Master’s nest. Instead of returning to the opening where she had told Whitney to remain Mana decided to use the other passageway that was located in the Dark Master’s room. She was uncertain whether she could leap high enough to raise herself to the ledge where Whitney was hiding behind and Mana did not know what activity might be looming in the hub where she had entered into Cato’s lair from. She moved the circular stone and replaced it. In a short time, Mana approached the opening where Whitney waited as she was told. Mana, as she approached behind Whitney conveyed a warm greeting so as not to alarm the child. Whitney turned to face Mana responding with a beaming smile that communicated her relief. Her fondness for Mana as well as her dependency on the matron. They moved further back in the tunnel guided by Whitney’s flashlight.
“Did you see Nathan and Shadow? Did you see Kyle?” Mana could not fault Whitney’s anxious inquiry. In a reassuring gesture, she gently patted the child’s hand.
“I have seen many interesting sights while I have been gone. I saw your cousin, Kyle, but Nathan and Shadow have not yet been brought to the Dark Master.”
“The Dark Master? Is Kyle okay? Where is Nathan?”
“Child, we have much to do in a short time. If you wish to rescue your cousins you will have to listen very carefully. You will have to be brave. You will have to be wise. I am counting on you to do these things.” Mana’s steady tone conveyed to Whitney the urgency of her appeal. Whitney’s chocolatey eyes grew large as she absorbed Mana’s communication. She conveyed the importance that Mana conveyed in her report.
“Yes, Mana, I will try to be wise,” responding to the greatest of Mana’s charges, “ if that is what is needed to save my cousins.”
“Come then, we have much to do.”
Whitney heard the heavy hooves of the dragon steeds against the granite floor of the cave, their echolalia in the tunnel where she and Mana were concealed had been anticipated by the child. Without hesitation she scampered along the tunnel like a creature in the dark pensively prepared to greet whatever the new day brings. Mana had no choice but to follow the child. She found it remarkable how a child’s passion could engulf its wisdom so impulsively. Whitney and Mana arrived back at the concealed entrance of the chamber where the four arteries of the cave met. They immediately spotted Nathan whose apprehension had stained his courage. Shadow walked directly behind him aware of the boy’s struggle. His long thin arm was extended as he placed a reassuring grasp on Nathan’s shoulder. The pantars ordered their captives to halt. After conferring the pantars dismounted their steeds. One of the pantars easily pushed aside the circular stone leading to the entrance that Mana had not entered. The other pantar led the steeds into the new chamber while the remaining pantar repositioned himself with is spear behind the captives. When the pantar reemerged from the steed’s cave he returned the circular soapstone to block the entryway. The wildcats then forced their prisoners with the points of their spears to advance into the larger unsealed chamber . Whitney and Mana remained motionless after Nathan, Shadow and the two pantars had passed. Whitney could feel her trembling heart beating against the stone platform she pressed against. Mana used her elbows to keep the weight of her torso from pressing on Whitney as she hovered above the child. “Now we must hurry,” Mana exclaimed. As she headed back up the narrow- concealed cavern Whitney obediently followed.