by H. M. Clarke
At the last row of buildings, Kalena stopped, unsure of what to do.
“Why have we stopped?” Holm asked.
“We just can’t follow him out there. He’ll know he’s being tailed then,” Kalena replied.
“I don’t think he will, he’s not paid any attention to us or anything else around him,” Kral said. “He’s too intent on whatever it is he’s thinking on.”
The corner of Kalena’s mouth twisted up as she thought.
“I think Kral is right. If we keep our distance behind him we should be fine. And anyway, isn’t one of Adhamh’s red crosses in this set of foothills? If we get caught, you can just pull out that map of his and show we were looking for that.”
“Good idea Holm.” Kalena smiled.
“See, I’m not just an exceptionally pretty face,” Holm grinned back.
Kalena shivered. “Holm, put those teeth away. You make me feel like you want to eat me.”
“Kalena, are we going? If we are we’d better do it now or we’ll lose him in the foothills.”
“Fine, let’s go.”
They moved away from Darkon’s outskirts and walked into the foothills. They kept the boy far enough ahead of them that they could keep him in sight, but he should not notice them.
They followed him through the shallow foothills and began to get a little anxious as the hills began to grow larger around them because now they lost sight of the boy more often. It was as they rounded one of these hills that they lost sight of the boy entirely.
“Where did he go?” Kral asked.
“The sand is soft enough that we can follow his tracks. Let’s see how far they can take us,” Kalena replied.
They found his tracks in the loose red sand easily enough and they followed them around the hill and into what looked to be a loose jumble of large stones and boulders that had come down in some ancient landslide.
But as they walked further into the boulders, the trio noticed that they formed a natural corridor, and the boy’s footprints were leading them along to the end of this.
They moved along the corridor slowly and carefully. There was no sight or sound of the boy and Kalena began to grow an overwhelming fear that one of these boulders or stones were going to topple over on them. She knew it was an irrational feeling and tried to shake it off.
“Where do you think this goes?” Kalena heard Holm whisper behind her as the corridor had narrowed to only allow people to pass single file.
“I don’t know do I?” Kalena hissed back over her shoulder. “You can see from the tracks that no one comes here.”
“I can’t see anything with you and Kral walking through everything,” he muttered back. “It’s just these boulders don’t look very natural to me. They look like the stone ruins near where I grew up.”
Kral stopped and laid his hand upon one of the stones that stood sentry along the path. He then began to brush away some of the dirt and debris that clung to the surface of the stone, the boy momentarily forgotten.
“I think you’re right Holm,” Kral said running his fingertips along the newly exposed stone. “If you look closely you can still see some of the chisel marks here.”
Holm squeezed passed Kalena and looked intently where Kral indicated. “Yup, and if you look closely here,” Holm grabbed Kral by the shoulder and pulled him closer to view the stone from a different angle. “You should be able to see that something had been carved there. See the line?” Holm moved a finger along a line of rock.
Now that Holm had pointed it out, Kalena could see a faint shape carved into the face of the stone. And as she realized this a strange queasiness started in the pit of her stomach.
Chapter Seven
The Way is Forward
KALENA LOOKED AT THE standing stones that lined the trail and could now see that the stones were all similarly shaped and of the same size. Age and damage had disguised this, but once it had been pointed out, it was hard to deny.
“I think we may have found Adhamh’s temple.”
“Huh?” both Kral and Holm said in unison as they turned to look at her.
“He’s looking for an ancient cavern and he said there had been an old settlement build around it that existed before the Suene Empire took control of these lands. I think we’ve found it.”
The two boys glanced at the standing stones around them, seeing them now in a different light.
“Then what’s the boy doing out here?” Holm asked.
“And who is he talking to?” Kral added.
“Let’s go and find out,” Kalena said as she slipped past the boys and moved quickly up the trail.
“Kalena, wait up,” Holm called.
“Are you going to tell Adhamh this is here?” Kral asked as he caught up behind Holm.
“I will when we get to the end and see what this boy is up to. I want to see who he is talking to, and having excited Hatar’le’margarten about won’t be helpful.”
“Yeah I suppose out here Hatar aren’t the best for sneaking up on people.”
“And us talking isn’t the best for sneaking up on people either,” Kral reminded them.
Kalena and Holm immediately fell quiet and they all walked in silence up the corridor following the fresh tracks left by the boy.
Kral was right, they probably had made enough noise to awake the dead. So why hadn’t the boy come to see who was out here with him?
But, then again he was only new to the Krytal and was inexperienced in communicating with mind voice. Kalena had noticed that a lot of new Human Hatar Kalar would use all of their concentration when talking with their Hatar, to the exclusion of everything else around them.
Maybe that was why this boy was going about his business without worrying. Or maybe he just thought he was doing nothing wrong. Maybe he wasn’t. but that strange voice made the hair on the back of Kalena’s neck stand on end and she just knew it was up to no good.
The path turned slightly and began to open up, the three could hear the sounds ahead of branches being broken and moved. The trio came to a stop and moved to the edge of the path then moved slowly and silently towards the sounds.
As Kalena was first in line, she moved as quietly as possible to peer around the last large standing stone to see what was going on.
The path expanded up into a larger open area surrounded by the standing stones that butted up against the largest of the low lying hills. The boy was in front of what looked to be a tumble of fallen stones and dirt that had been overgrown over the centuries by the scrubby trees and grasses. It was these scrubby trees and grasses that they had heard the boy clearing away from the hill face.
Without looking back, Kalena held up a warning hand to keep her friends silent. She kept her eyes trained on the boy as he worked. The strange mind thread was stronger now, and it totally covered the linking thread of the boy. The now rose glowing mind thread had also wrapped itself around the boy’s mind. Seeing this made a chill run up Kalena’s spine and she immediately threw up a mind shield to cover the three of them, as Adhamh had taught her. It was lucky that both the Stranger and the boy were not looking for others, otherwise they might have been detected.
The fact that the Stranger’s thread was covering the mind of the boy made Kalena desperate to act.
‘Adhamh, Adhamh!’
‘Yes. Are you ready to search again?’
‘Wait Adhamh. We have something more important to worry about.’
‘What have you done now?’
‘Adhamh, just listen...’
Kalena then quickly explained to Adhamh what the three of them had discovered since lunch.
‘Kalena, you should have told me straight away. Can you tell me where you are?’
‘We are in the southern foothills near the cross you had marked on your map. We are in what would look like tumbled down rocks.’
‘We are on our way, and I have told Samar who will tell Harada. And Kalena, just be careful. If what you have told me about the Stranger is true, anyone wh
o encompasses a mind in the way you have described is either concealing them or trying to control them.’
‘Yes Adhamh, I hear Trar and Motta telling the others. We’ll keep an eye on him until you get here.’
‘Make sure that is all you do Kalena. Do not put yourself or the others in danger.’
Kalena did not answer Adhamh as she broke her connection. Then suddenly Trar and Motta was in her head.
‘What do we do now?’ was the question echoed by both Hatar, and Kalena could feel the gazes of her friends drilling into the back of her head.
‘Tell Holm and Kral that we keep an eye on him until you and the other Hatar get here. Did Adhamh contact Harada?’
‘He is talking to him through Samar right now,’ Motta responded.
‘Then we shouldn’t be out here to lon-‘ Kalena suddenly stopped as she saw the boy toss aside the last of the branches and move towards the mass of stone.
Now that the site was clear, she could see that it was an entrance with the top and side stones decorated in what she now recognized as very worn down carvings. The carvings may have been some form of writing interspersed with pictures, but the millennium of blasting sand and weather had worn them down.
‘What is happen-‘
‘Shh you two, and tell the boys to shh too.’
Kalena felt something warm lean against her back and knew that one of the boys was looking over her shoulder, watching what was happening in the clearing.
She ignored him and watched closely as the boy stood, nearly touching the smooth stone that blocked the entrance before him. Kalena saw the rose mind thread pulse around the consciousness of the boy and now completely blocked him from everything around him. Even his mind thread was gone, pushed back into his conscious center and trapped there.
The Stranger now had complete control of the boy and Kalena had to will herself to stay put. What she was witnessing was an abomination. A worse a crime could not be committed among Hatar. To completely control another’s mind...
Adhamh had warned her countless times about what should and should not be done with her Talents, and what she was witnessing was the absolute worst that can be done.
The rose mind thread pulsed, and the boy began to move. He reached up to the lintel on tip toe and pressed the carving on the left, then the carving to the right of center, then far left, then far right, then...The boy’s movements began to go too fast and Kalena lost track of them. But as he stood up from touching the bottom right carving on the side stone, a dull grinding sound began to come from the door.
And then the stone began to move.
Kalena could feel the rumbling vibrations come through the soles of her boots from the ground and could feel the standing stone that she and the others were leaning against vibrate as well.
“What...” Kral was caught by surprise and jumped away from the stone and Kalena saw that it was Holm that had moved up behind her.
Kalena ignored the two boys as she watched the stone move aside to reveal an opening into the hillside. The vibration and noise vanished as the stone locked open into place with a dull thud. The boy paused a moment, looking into the cavern and probably waiting for any bad air to clear before he moved inside.
As soon as he disappeared into the darkness, the stone door began to close.
“Come on!” Kalena called out and began to sprint toward the closing door. She was vaguely aware of the thumping sound of the two boys running behind her.
But they were not quick enough.
The stone door snapped closed and Kalena turned at the last minute and let her shoulder slam in frustration against the heavy stone door. Holm and Kral then added their shoulders and all three began to push hard against the door.
Kalena pulled her shoulder away and thumped both fists hard onto the stone, causing puffs of dust and grit to fly back into her face.
“He’s gone.”
Chapter Eight
The Entrance
“WHAT DO WE DO NOW?”
“We need to get through this door,” Kalena said as she stepped away from the smooth stone face, pulling Holm back with her.
“Shouldn’t we wait for the Hatar? They can’t be too far away,” Kral said as he stepped back to join Kalena and Holm.
Kalena shook her head. “We can’t risk waiting. Every moment we wait is a moment that might save that boys life.”
“You think the Stranger wants to hurt that boy?”
“Anyone who can completely control’s another’s mind and body is not wanting to be your best friend.”
Kral looked back to the door. “Okay, but how do we get in?”
Kalena studied the lintel above the door. The carvings on it had been worn down with the passage of time, but could still be seen if you knew what you were looking for. Though, strangely, close up the carvings did not look as clear as they did from the other side of the clearing. Must be due to the way the light hit them, and it reminded Kalena of a saying that Adhamh was fond of using. ‘Things always look clearer the further away from them you are’.
“I can remember what carvings he pushed on this top lintel, but I lost the sequence after that,” Kalena said in frustration.
“I can remember the rest,” Holm said beside her. “I watched him as well and you know I’ve got a good memory for these type of things.”
“Yes you do Holm. A very good memory.”
Holm’s memory was the reason Gwidion always had Holm up front to watch when demonstrating battle techniques and fighting maneuvers. Holm always gets them the first time he is shown them and can then help Gwidion teach the rest of the class.
“Okay Holm. Show us what you saw,” Kalena said grabbing Kral by the arm and pulling him away from the door to give Holm some room.
Holm wiped the palms of his hands against his thighs and studied each stone of the doorway. He then took a deep breath and stood in the same position as the boy had.
“Are you sure we want to do this?” Holm asked looking back at Kalena over his shoulder.
Kalena nodded.
“Okay then.”
Holm turned back and reached up to press the carving left of center on the top lintel. His hand then moved to the carving to the right of center, and Kalena tried to keep up as Holm moved about the door, pressing the carvings in the same sequence that the boy had.
Kalena was amazed at how Holm could remember all this, especially after only one viewing. Adhamh had told her that his skill had something to do with pattern recognition or some such thing. Kalena just thought that Holm had a good memory for movement, just as she had a good memory for faces.
The grating of stone greeted them as Holm pressed the bottom right carving. He stepped away uncertainly as the stone door began to slide open into the rock. The air that rushed out at them was a little stale but was breathable. Kalena looked at her friends.
“Come on then, before it closes.”
They rushed forward and stopped just inside the doorway. There was a loud click and the entrance door suddenly stopped it’s retreat and slammed shut, locking them in.
“Great. Now we can’t see anything,” Holm said giving the stone door a thump.
“I think I stepped on something raised on the floor as we rushed in,”Kral said. “I might have accidentally closed the door.”
That’s when Kalena realized the first flaw in her plan. The cave where they were held no light, and she did not think to bring a lantern or candle with them. Why would she? How was she to know that they would actually be going into caves today?
The second flaw in this plan was that they had no idea how to open this door from the inside. They were trapped.
She had a brief memory of the cave layout before the closing door shut out the sunlight. There was an exit with a dark tunnel leading away on the far side of the cave.
“How are we going to get out?” Kalena heard Kral ask.
She shrugged then realized that the boys could not see her.
“I don’t know. There may be
a mechanism for the door somewhere.”
“Since we have no light, that’s going to make it difficult to find,” Holm said hitting the door again.
“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t think this through properly. But this does not change the fact that the boy is still in danger and needs our help.”
Kalena heard a sigh, then Kral said “Yeah, you’re right. But what do we do now?”
Kalena reached her hands out to either side of her and when she felt the rough wool of both Holm and Kral’s jackets against her fingers, she latched onto them.
“Before the door closed, did you see the tunnel behind us?”
She heard some acknowledging grunts.
“We’ll go down that. It’s the only way the boy could have gone-“
Kalena stopped speaking to shut her eyes as a bright rosy glow bloomed out from the tunnel. The momentary brightness blinded Kalena and it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the new light level. She had never been as glad to see some type of light as she was at that moment. Being trapped in complete darkness is something that she will not being rushing into again in hurry.
“No need to worry about light anymore. Let’s go.”
Kalena’s hands were still holding the boy’s jackets and dragged them forward with her as she moved forward towards the tunnel.
“How did the kid get a torch or a lantern? He didn’t have one with him.”
“Whoever he’s meeting here probably has one Kral,” Kalena answered.
“Whatever it is making that light is a lot bigger than a torch or a lantern. Look how much light there is,” Kral said.
“Anyhow, let’s just keep quiet and follow the light. This is where our boy probably is,” Kalena said quietly before dragging them both down the tunnel.
Chapter Nine
The Tunnel
THE LIGHT AROUND THEM grew stronger as they moved slowly down the tunnel.
