“I can carry on my back anyone who fears they can’t make it,” Thayla boldly offered. Traevus didn’t doubt that for a moment. He couldn’t help admiring her strength and endurance. She was fascinatingly terrifying. The group ate and rested as the sun set and the sky darkened into night.
After their final rest above ground, Rojaire led them into the first lava tube. Here it was always night and darkness reigned and despite his lecture about conserving energy, a string of sun charged crystal powered lamps followed.
The first part of the nocturnal journey proved easy despite the occasional pile of rock debris that littered the tunnels. Here the lava tubes ran fairly level and the correct route through the labyrinth was well marked. Then suddenly a tremor ran through the ground under their feet, loosening particles of crumbling rock that rained down upon them. With abated breath, everyone paused anxiously waiting for more. Ground tremors were the last thing they needed now that the colonists had entered the passage through the Crescent Mountains. Fortunately, the tremor quickly subsided and all was quiet. For the longest, they continued on in silence, listening to the mountain.
“I don’t like it in here,” Captain Setas croaked, breaking the silence.
“I don’t either,” Inventor Sulyan agreed.
Ilene would have joined in with the plaintive, but she didn’t want to appear cowardly in Kiril’s eyes. In the light of their lamps she could see that others shared her unease. Kiril, on the other hand, showed no concern at all for crumbling lava tube walls. All he could think of was arriving at the fabulous secret valley and what a surprise it will be for Theon, Ollen, Tassyn, Caleeza, and Edty when they all showed up.
They passed through several junctions where lava tubes connected, but Rojaire always knew the way. As much as Rojaire would have preferred to keep going, the weaker members of his team showed mounting signs of fatigue. Eventually he had to call for a period of rest.
Besides worrying about a cave-in, Rojaire had a different concern coming up altogether. They had reached the point in the passage where the floor of the lava tube began sloping downward. This downward trend would be gradual at first becoming frightfully steep before they intersected with the cave system that would take them a long way through the mountains. Some of the people he led were not as limber and sure-footed as he would like. He didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks and even took some precautions before leaving the Community of the High Council. Aware of this tricky spot in the route, Rojaire had come prepared. Based on mountain climbing technology he had seen on Earth, Rojaire had Inventor Sulyan design a couple of rock anchors for the trip in his workshop. At the time, he would never have guessed that Sulyan would then surprise them by joining the colonists.
Rojaire got them moving again as soon as a few began to stir. The trek went well until the floor of the lava tube more noticeably started to slope downward. This was going to be tricky. It was time to call a rest halt while he detailed his plan to the others.
“The path we are following is going to get steep,” Rojaire warned.
“You call this dark tunnel a path? It’s a death trap is what it is,” Captain Setas fumed. The revered matriarch didn’t like this part of the journey at all. She was going to like what was coming even less.
“How steep? Up or down?” Inventor Sulyan asked with uncertainty.
“The lava tube takes a frightfully steep dive down. It’s so steep, if you slip and fall, gravity and momentum may take you away,” Rojaire informed them solemnly. “We need to put in a safety net.”
“I’m starting to have a distinct dislike for the underground,” Drak mumbled.
“What did you have in mind?” Kaylya asked to bring the discussion back to solutions.
“Here’s the plan.” He pulled a rock anchor out of his pack to show them. “After we get everyone as close to the cavern entrance as we comfortably can, we will find a place to anchor a rope to the rocks using this. We have lots of rope; we’ll put it to use.”
“Are you sure that’s going to hold us?” Drak asked worried.
“Sulyan made these for us and Traevus, Kaylya, and I tested them in the mountains on the Main Land. When we reach the point where you feel uncomfortable, Traevus and I will continue on down to the mouth of the cavern driving in anchors and feeding out rope as we go. Once we are there, we will secure the other end of the line in the cave. Then, Traevus will remain at the cave entrance at the receiving end of the line while I return and guide you down one at a time.”
“What about me?” Kiril asked. He felt that having made the passage before with Rojaire and Traevus, without a safety rope, should recommend him for an active role.
“Kiril, I want you to be responsible for the others until everyone has arrived safely. You will be on the last trip.” It wasn’t exactly what he had in mind, but it did give him a sense of responsibility.
“Yes, sir.”
After going some distance with the rock under their feet only gradually adding gradient, things suddenly changed considerably. “How much further do we have to go?” Zaloka quivered, staring down the sharply sloping way ahead of them.
“We’ll stop here,” Rojaire said and pulled a rock anchor out of his pack.
“I’ll finally get to see this thing put to use,” Inventor Sulyan said with a chuckle.
“Let’s just hope it works,” Rojaire said looking for the best place to wedge it in. There were plenty of cracks and rock protrusions, but much of it crumbled away easily. He needed something substantial to anchor to. Traevus held a light on him while he worked. Several steps further down the sloping lava tube he found the secure anchorage he was looking for and drove it in. After frequent tugs, giving it all his weight, he was satisfied. “Ready, Traevus?” The two men tugged together as hard as they could. The anchor held. “Let’s go.” Rojaire and Traevus paid out the rope as they descended, enjoying the extra security of a line. It wasn’t long before the men seemed to drop out of sight. Only the movement of the rope noted their progress.
“We have to go down there?” Zaloka sighed with dismay.
“Don’t worry, Zaloka, I won’t let you fall,” Thayla promised her. Nothing seemed to faze Thayla. For Thayla every moment was a welcomed challenge which she fearlessly faced. Kiril wondered if all her people were like that.
“If anyone is going to protect her, it will be me,” Wessid said good-humoredly and put an arm around Zaloka to calm her. But Kiril could detect the unease in Wessid’s voice.
“I’ve done it before without a rope; with a guideline it will be easy,” Kiril assured them. He turned toward Ilene to offer her personal assurance. In the light of their lamps he could see all the color in her face had drained away. “It will be all right,” he added softly. Ilene actually smiled for his effort.
They sat quietly and waited in the light of their lamps for Rojaire’s return. Only Thayla seemed willing to extinguish her light to save energy. Then Kiril turned off his lamp to set an example; Drak, Wessid, and Captain Setas followed suite. They tried to relax as much as they could.
It was some time before they spotted a light returning; Rojaire was on his way back. They stood up waiting for him to reach them. “How was it?” Kiril asked.
“Good, the rope is anchored at the other end and Traevus is waiting at the mouth of the cave. Captain Setas, you’re first. I’ll go ahead of you in case you lose your footing. You’re going to hold on to the line as you go. Ready?”
“Yes, ‘Captain’ Rojaire.” she said with great respect. Rojaire knew Setas calling him “Captain” was the highest honor she could bestow. He nodded appreciatively.
“Be brave,” Inventor Sulyan called out to her as Rojaire led Captain Setas to the guide rope. Only after they could be seen no longer did the group sit back down to wait. It seemed a long time before Rojaire returned, but return he did.
“Captain Setas made it fine; it just took a while. Zaloka you’re next.”
“I’ll be glad when this is over,” she admitted.
“I’m with Kiril,” Thayla said. “We can go together. He can show me the way.”
Rojaire considered their proposal carefully. “All right, give us enough time to arrive then follow the line down. Make sure you maintain a grip on the rope,” Rojaire emphasized. Thayla and Kiril watched Rojaire and Wessid recede into the darkness.
“So how’s the romance going, Little Proton?” Thayla asked to lighten the mood once they were alone.
“Great!” Kiril declared with more certainty than he actually felt.
“Are you sure?” Kiril blushed. “Earth sounds like an unusual place, I wouldn’t mind seeing it for myself.” The distant world often crept into conversation since so many of their group have actually been there including Rojaire and Kaylya, as well as Theon and Caleeza.
“Do you really think that’s very likely? I mean, we’re all renegades now, aren’t we?”
“Anything is always possible, Little Proton. Don’t ever forget that!”
“So do you expect to return to Twaka someday?”
“No,” Thayla answered emphatically without hesitation.
“Why not?” he asked boldly, surprised by her answer. It was his understanding, Thayla was some kind of warrior princess on her world.
“I was quite young still when my parents sent me away to a warrior training camp, far from any cities or settlements, for breaking rules of etiquette and decorum at the royal court. I was written off, then and there, as expendable.”
“You a rebel; imagine that!”
“It’s not like I would be missed. I have four sisters and two brothers, all very ambitious, who have long been in intense competition for succession to the throne.”
“Warrior training camp seems to have agreed with you,” Kiril observed.
“It turned my life around. For the first time I was happy. I thrived on the tough training and discipline, excelling in the martial arts. I also enjoyed the freedom of wide open spaces. When I returned to the royal court after my training, I found life at the palace unbearable. Its lack of substance and conniving pettiness were maddening.”
“So you became a warrior,” Kiril said, indicating the deadly blade she always carried. He’d never seen her use it. “Aren’t your talents being wasted here?”
“Are they? I think that remains to be seen. At some point someone may need to protect your puny hide.” Kiril didn’t have a response.
“Anyway, when Kaydra, Aaia’s mentor to Twaka, needed a body guard, I saw my opportunity to escape.”
“But why did you decide to join the colony?”
“Why not? I needed space to think and this sounded like a grand adventure. Why are you here, Little Proton? Shouldn’t you be in school?”
“I don’t need the Academy,” Kiril said with disdain. “I am fulfilling my destiny. I’m where I’m supposed to be, recording Lynnara’s new history.” Thayla didn’t challenge his answer and the two became quiet.
“I guess we can start to descend,” Kiril said after what he hoped was enough time.
“You go first; you’re leading the way.”
“I’m supposed to be last,” he reminded her.
Thayla didn’t argue; she grabbed ahold of the guide rope and started down. Placing both hands on the line, Kiril followed close. It quickly became apparent that Thayla was as sure-footed as she was self-assured. Kiril fell further and further behind as they descended, making him feel increasingly less like a leader.
“Careful, take your time,” she kept instructing him as she lithely sped on ahead. “I can see a light ahead,” Thayla called back to him after some time.
Then the mountain began to rumble.
Both Thayla and Kiril paused as the rumble grew menacingly louder and drew ever closer. “Ground tremor!” Kiril gasped just before the mountain began to shake. “Hold on,” he shouted as much to himself as to Thayla. Bits and pieces of tunnel wall crumbled before their eyes, raining down rocks large and small. Much of the debris, driven by momentum, continued on down the steep decline forming a rock stream.
Kiril tried to move forward, but was repeatedly knocked off his feet, the weight of his pack nearly pulling him down into the flow of debris as he clung on desperately to the guide rope. Just as the tremor seemed ready to ease, it intensified. “Ah!” Kiril screamed as a boulder dropped out the ceiling and slid pass him. No one heard him over the din. Then suddenly he was moving. Not understanding what was happening at first, he looked at his hands, but his hands were still firmly attached to the line. Then with horror he realized the problem; the upper end of the rope was no longer attached to the tunnel wall. Kiril frantically struggled to regain footing, but the intense shaking, the resulting rock slide, the choking dust, and the burdensome weight of his pack defeated all his efforts.
“Hold on to the rope!” Rojaire and Traevus shouted out to him as he passed by the opening to the cavern. Unable to stop his momentum, Kiril slid on …down the maw of the tunnel. Then he went airborne. In freefall, he dropped pass Thayla, visible in the glow of her headlamp, dangling from a taut rope. Then he came to a jolting halt that nearly ripped his arms out of his shoulders and knocked his head lamp off his head, disappearing in the void below. Finally the rumbling and shaking ceased, a stream of rock continuing to trickle down from the brink of no return long after the shaking stopped.
“Help!” Kiril cried out in pain and stress. His hands felt like they were on fire, burned from the friction of the rope and slipping. Looking up, he could see a pinpoint of light above him, marking Thayla’s location. Was she really that far away?
“Kiril, are you alright?” Thayla shouted down to him.
“Yes…no! I can’t hold on,” he shouted back, the rope slipping a little through his hands.
Then he heard her shout up to a murmur of voices almost too distant and faint for him to hear. “He’s down below me.”
“Hold on,” she shouted back to him. “Grab the rope with your legs to help alleviate the strain.” Kiril wrapped his body around the rope squeezing hard, but despite all his efforts, more rope inched through his grasp.
“I can’t hold on!” he shouted back.
“Drop your pack!” she instructed, but Kiril couldn’t release his hold enough to do so.
“I can’t!”
“Hold on,” she called down again. “Don’t you dare let go of that rope, Little Proton. I’m going to climb up and then we will pull you up.” Her use of the nickname she had given him calmed him some.
Then Thayla began her climb. The rope jerked with her efforts, each tug sending a jolt of pain searing through his body. Kiril gritted his teeth, struggling to hold on. The light above barely seemed to move. After what seemed like an interminable among of time, the light moved off, leaving Kiril nothing to focus on.
Slowly, but skillfully, Thayla climbed up out of the abyss. When her head appeared over the lip of the drop off, Rojaire and Traevus, anchored to ropes, reached for her and pulled her to safety.
Kiril’s body screamed with pain; he couldn’t hold on much longer. Any moment now he feared he would fall to his death. He closed his eyes to the darkness to concentrate. Then he remembered his star stone. Why hadn’t he thought of it before? Kiril focused intently on the cavern he’d visited before with its veins of quartz and gold, willing himself there.
“Where’s Kiril? Is he hurt?” Zaloka asked anxiously.
“He’s struggling to hang on; we have to haul him up,” Thayla said.
“Everyone grab ahold of the rope,” Rojaire ordered, “and we pull together.”
But when they grabbed the rope it came easily. They were too late.
Zaloka and Ilene collapsed into each other’s arms, Zaloka screeching in grief.
“It’s all right, Mother; I’m
here,” Kiril said in the cavern beside them, then sank down to the cavern floor his heart pounding.
A roaring cheer erupted all around him.
The first ground tremor stirred deep beneath Mt. Vatre, radiating out to the Crescent Mountains. It did not go unnoted. The essence of what had once been Sarus, now the conscious awareness of the Crystalline Landscape, sensed a minor irritation. Something evil and faintly familiar that had long been dormant was awakening. A thick, dark plume of smoke rose high above Mt. Vatre’s collapsed caldron. To learn more, Sarus concentrated energy along the inner edge of the mass of crystals encircling the volcano.
The second tremor started as a low rumble, quickly growing in intensity. The mountain shook, spewing ash and sending shock waves through the Crystalline Landscape, shattering crystals as Sarus perceived the essence of Droclum awakening. The shock waves spread out far and wide across the continent’s interior, reaching beyond the Crescent Mountains and the continent’s coastline all the way to Alaia Island, shaking Captain Setas’ deserted cottage constructed of living trees. Hidden away in her workroom, in a drawer of relics she had combed off the beach, Droclum’s wand glowed momentarily with energy, then went dormant again.
“Oh…!” Theon moaned, as the ground lurched violently knocking him off his feet, his left side landing hard on the stone pavilion. The ground continued to shake nearly drowning out his curses; there was nothing he could do, but ride it out. At least he was out in the opening where rocks couldn’t fall on him. Finally the tremor subsided. “Ah…” Theon moaned, followed by a string of words Edty lacked the cultural background to understand, but this time Edty heard him and came running from the perimeter of the camp.
“Oh, no, oh, no…,” Edty whimpered. He had promised Tassyn.
“Ah….” Theon’s face contorted in agony with any movement he made.
“What do I do? What do I do?” Edty begged for guidance. It was obvious, even to Edty, that Theon had fallen and was in lots of pain …a horrible development. Even worse, Caleeza and Tassyn left a rotation ago to search for Ollen. Caleeza had argued the “No one ventures out alone.” rule and won. Theon and Edty were alone.
Interstellar Ruse Page 20
