"Who or what is that?"
"A giant snake."
"A what?"
"Pincoya was built around the waterfall, which our legends say is a fountain for an enormous snake who guarded the doorway between worlds. There was a bad time in our history when sacrifices were made and many innocent people were thrown into the pool, and into the snake's mouth."
"I don't like being anywhere near snakes, much less inside one of them," Indy said.
"Don't take the legend literally."
Right. The fairy princess of the interior world tells me not to take a legend seriously.
"But there is some truth to the story," she continued.
"There usually is."
"You see, my father once told me that the legend served the purpose of discouraging our people from following these underground corridors to the exterior world."
"You mean this might be a way back to the real world?" He spoke the words slowly, trying not to get overly excited.
"The real world?"
"You know what I mean. My world."
"If we make it. The problem is that Minhocoa is the between-world. There is no way we can get to your world without first passing through her stomach."
"Her stomach?" He had a brief vision of himself being swallowed whole by a mythical snake, then being digested. "That's what you said? Her stomach?"
"In the legend, Minhocoa's stomach is the place you've already heard about, the Land of the Lost."
12
Cave Within a Cave
Whatever it took, Indy thought. Nothing was going to stop him from getting to a place that was even vaguely recognizable as the world he had known. His world was, or had been, one of considerable variety. Yet nothing he had ever seen compared to the strangeness that he had encountered in recent days. He couldn't even say how many days had passed since he'd been abducted in Chiloe. But that was the least of his problems right now.
"Do you think we're on an island?"
"No, it's a point of land, like a peninsula that runs into the lake. It rises from here until we reach a cliff."
Indy was puzzled. "How do you know? Have you been here?"
"I'm just telling you what I see."
"Are you kidding? I can't see anything."
"It's not so dark, at least for me. But my eyes are different from yours. They're more sensitive to light."
"Is that right." Indy snatched up his damp clothes, turned away, and started dressing.
She laughed. "I'm sorry. I thought you knew. It's time to move on."
"I guess there are certain advantages to being from Pincoya. At least in the dark." He recalled that he'd never seen the sun since he'd left Chiloe. It had been foggy or dusky when he was on the ship and in the city. "If you live in the interior of the world, as you say, where does the light come from?"
"We don't have a sun as you think of it. But we have illumination, like a continuous dawn in your world." She explained that it was created by electrical interactions between the earth's magnetic field and streams of charged particles, which bubbled into the atmosphere from bottomless pools heated by the core of the planet. "It's a phenomenon comparable to your aurora borealis."
"That explains everything," he muttered.
"Our atmosphere, of course, is different, too," she went on. "That's why you require the nalca every few hours while you are here, and I require it when I'm on the exterior."
He thought about what she'd just said, and realized that he was all set to trap her. "If there's no sun, Salandra, why do you talk about hours?"
She smiled and her emerald eyes seemed to grow larger. "It's true that we don't have a sun to guide us as you do in your world. However, we have an inner clock that is the equivalent of a twenty-five-hour day. By the time our children are three years old, they can tell the time within a minute or two. We also have an agreed-upon period of hours each day, which is for rest. Do you understand?"
"Sort of. So everyone sleeps at the same time?"
"Of course not. It's just like your world. No one has to sleep at any particular time."
She had an answer for everything, he thought. "Let's get going. I'll follow you, since you've got the eyes. In fact, why don't we tie my whip between us so you don't get too far ahead."
"Don't forget your hat," she said, after he fixed the whip around their waists.
He touched his bare head, then dropped to one knee and started patting the rocks.
"To your left," Salandra said.
He snatched it up and forced it down onto his head, and they started forward. They hadn't gone far before Indy felt a ticking sensation between his eyes. He lifted the fedora and yanked a leech from his forehead just as it slithered onto the bridge of his nose. He tossed it aside without missing a step.
As they continued on, he couldn't help puzzling over the mystery of Salandra and the interior world. He liked her, liked her a lot, and he really didn't think she was trying to deceive him. It was something else, something he couldn't quite grasp yet.
Light. That was what Indy wanted more than anything. The absolute darkness made him feel as if he were walking in midair. There was no context to anything around him. He had no sense of direction. If not for the gentle tug of the whip tied between them, he probably would've wandered off the cliff by now.
Salandra suddenly stopped, and Indy bumped into her. One foot slipped, and he tottered on the other. She grabbed his arm, then laughed. "It's all right. We're well away from the cliff now, but we're going to be climbing soon."
"Soon? I thought that's what we were doing," Indy grumbled.
"I mean really climbing. There's a mountain ahead of us."
Indy stared into the darkness, and shook his head. In comparison to her vision, his head was covered with a thick blanket. "Any ideas what this stomach of Minhocoa looks like?"
"It's a labyrinth. That's what we're looking for."
"That's what you're looking for. I can't see my hand, and I don't know how I'm going to find my way in, much less out of a labyrinth."
"Here, take a swallow of the nalca." She held up her pouch; it looked like an oversized wineskin.
"I don't need any fish eggs. I feel fine."
"It'll help your vision. Besides, it gives sustenance. You won't feel any hunger for hours."
Indy swallowed the thick, viscous liquid, and wrinkled his nose at the bitter taste. Even though the nalca had taken care of his thirst and painful joints, he still had second thoughts about it. He had no idea what its effects were. But it was too late now.
The trail gradually turned rugged and steep; but he could see his surroundings now. Salandra was no longer just a voice. He could see her long legs striding forward, her copper hair, and her slender figure.
"It's getting brighter," he said.
"No, that's the nalca." She stepped aside, and he took the lead. As they climbed around boulders and picked their way along a rocky slope, Indy thought more and more about how much he wanted to get out of this place and back to his life. "Do you have any idea where we will be when we get out of here?"
"No, but I think it will be a sacred place."
"You mean like a church?"
"Maybe."
He imagined himself coming up through some basement passage of a colonial church in a South American capital. They would emerge from behind an ornate altar trimmed in gold and pass by statues of saints, the Virgin Mary, the baby Jesus. An organ would be playing, and peasants would be kneeling at pews in the dim light near luminous stained glass windows. He'd walk out of the church and into a world that, though it was hardly perfect, made sense to him. He'd telegraph Brody that he was okay and that he was headed for New York. Manhattan was never going to look so good.
"What are you going to do when we get out?" he asked, as he turned his attention to a ledge that ran along a rock face. It started twenty feet above their heads and curved up to a higher slope. If they followed it, they would save considerable time climbing through a rock-strewn ravine.
<
br /> "Go back through another gate. A safer one. I can't stay in your world, not for long. Besides, I've got to stop Maleiwa and I'm hoping you'll come back with me.
Fat chance, Indy thought, as he looked for footholds in the wall.
"Maleiwa is already disrupting the balance between worlds, and it's only going to get worse," Salandra continued. "It could get much worse. His army would overwhelm your world in no time."
"Don't count on it. It's a big world."
"Maleiwa's warriors use fire energy. They can point a finger and burn a building or a person. They can move objects with their minds. It's a power that has many advantages, and your armies have no way of dealing with it."
"Let's get out of here first, before we talk about the future." He pointed to the ledge and told her his plan. He found a foothold, then another, and a handhold. The wall wasn't vertical, but it was too steep to climb without using his hands as well as feet. He slowly scaled the rock face, and as soon as he reached the ledge, he rolled over and reeled in the whip, gently assisting Salandra. When she was within reach, he grabbed her arm and helped her onto the ledge.
Indy looked out over the course they had followed. "I think we've got company." In the distance, he saw a pair of four-legged beasts scampering over the rocks. Then he saw several more. "Dogs. They look like the big black one that Sacho had in Chiloe."
"They must have been thrown into the waterfalls with orders to kill us," Salandra said.
"They look like they can climb pretty well, too."
"They're mountain dogs from Roraima. They will go right up this wall very easily. And once they are given orders, nothing will stop them."
"My four fifty-five Webley would slow them down. If I had it with me." The hounds spotted them and started barking as they bolted ahead. Indy doubted that the dogs could mount the wall, but he wasn't going to stay around to find out. He and Salandra hurried along the ledge until it vanished into a gently rising, rubble-strewn slope.
They stopped a moment; Salandra untied the whip. "We'll be able to go faster now."
The barking grew louder. Indy looked back just in time to see a dog take a running leap at the wall. It struck the rock face three quarters of the way up, and slid back down. He was relieved. Then a second dog leaped. One of its paws caught hold. It dangled a moment just below the ledge, then squealed as it tumbled down.
"Jones, over here!" Salandra pointed toward the ravine.
Four or five dogs had skirted the wall and were charging up the ravine. Without another word, they scrambled ahead, moving as quickly as they could. But Indy knew it was just a matter of time before the hounds caught them. There were plenty of stones to pelt them with and crack some heads. But if the dog he'd seen on Chiloe was any indication of the ferocity of the beasts on their trail, a few stones weren't going to save the day.
That gave him an idea. "This way." He turned toward the ravine.
"But the dogs—"
"I know. We're going to greet them." As they reached the edge of the ravine, Indy stopped by a boulder the size of a chest of drawers. He bent down low and shoved, but the rock was firmly anchored. He tried another one which was slightly larger, but not as well anchored as the other. Salandra pushed alongside him. The boulder wobbled, but wouldn't roll forward. The sound of savage barking pierced his ears.
"Jones, they're getting closer."
He shoved again. Nothing happened.
He grabbed a rock the size of a football, and hurled it into the ravine. It bounced twice, and struck a larger rock, which started to roll. "That's it. Small rocks."
They tossed one rock after another into the ravine, and suddenly it seemed that every rock on the slope was rolling. A cloud of dust rose, and the barking was swallowed in the thunder of the landslide. One moment Indy glimpsed the pack of dogs, then all he saw was dust and rocks.
They waited and watched. The landslide had moved beyond Indy's range of vision. The sound was a distant rumble. As the dust settled below them, there were no dogs in sight. "I think that did it," he said.
He'd no sooner spoken when he heard a low growl behind him. An icy chill raced from his neck to his toes as he turned and saw one of the black dogs crouched low on a boulder, baring its white fangs. Its sleek, fur-covered muscles stood out on its legs and shoulders. There was something predatory and almost catlike about the beast. Instead of simply leaping on them, as Indy would expect of a dog, this one was stalking them. Taking its time.
"I guess you're the high jumper of the pack," Indy muttered, as he cautiously unhooked his whip. He and Salandra slowly backed away, but they'd gone only a few steps when they bumped against another boulder. Indy was sure the dog was about to leap, so he cracked his whip. The dog snarled from its perch like a circus lion on a stool. Its ears were flattened back, but there was something oddly timid about its behavior. It seemed uncertain what to do. Must be the whip, Indy thought.
Another dog dashed into view from the ledge, followed by yet another. He couldn't protect himself and Salandra from this many hounds for long.
"Up here, Jones!"
He didn't dare turn away from the dog, but he caught sight of Salandra on top of the boulder. The other two dogs skidded to a stop a few yards away. All three dogs were crouched and watching. Indy couldn't understand their contrite behavior, but it was the only thing keeping him and Salandra alive. "I can't turn my back on them."
"Yes, you can. They won't bother you. I've bewitched them."
So now she was a witch. He didn't feel a bit more assured. He leaned back against the rock and inched up the boulder without turning away from the beasts. When he reached the top of the boulder, Salandra had vanished from sight.
"Over here," she called. "Hurry. The spell won't last very long."
She was standing fifty feet away, outside the entrance of a gaping hole in the mountainside. Indy leaped down from the boulder, and they darted into the mouth of the cave. The ceiling was high and arched, and the passageway was straight and wide. He was amazed that he could see anything, but his vision was astonishing.
"What did you do to those dogs, anyhow? They were acting like puppies."
"I reached into their minds and calmed them, but they've been trained by Wayua. There's nothing gentle in their nature. They'll be after us in a few minutes."
"I guess you don't like the Wayua very much," Indy said as they moved on.
"I am Wayua." As if she'd never said she was from Pincoya.
"Now you're playing games with me." This whole thing was one big game. It was all about deception or perception, or both. "You told me—"
"I know what I told you. My father is from Pincoya, and my mother was from Wayua. They were both ambassadors to Roraima. That's where I grew up."
"That explains everything," he grumbled.
The corridor opened into a cavern. On the far side of it was a blue-green hole like a pool of water turned sideways. "What is it, another illusion?"
"The light and color mean we're close," Salandra said. "Your atmosphere reaches here."
"That's not exactly the way I remembered it looking," Indy replied.
"It wouldn't look the same here," she said as they crossed the cavern. "We're still in the between-world, and we've got a long way to go before we get out."
With every step it seemed that the green intensified and the blue faded. Indy slowed as he neared the end of the cavern. They were immersed in an emerald glow, and it was difficult to see clearly. But he had definitely been looking at a sky; a sky like none he'd ever seen.
"Which way is out?" Then he looked down, and was struck mute by what he saw. Beyond the hole was an abrupt drop, and a couple of hundred feet below them was a complex pattern of lines and squares and curves. At first, it reminded him of a ruins, a city without roofs. But then he realized he must be looking down on a vast labyrinth.
"There it is," Salandra said in a hushed voice. "The Land of the Lost. We've found it... or maybe it found us."
"Why do you say that?"
"The legend says that the stomach of Minhocoa is inhabited with hungry beasts hunting for food. It's said they lure their prey to them."
"Yeah? What do they eat?"
"Lost souls."
"Swell." He tried to visually follow a route through the maze, but it was too difficult to keep track of the passages.
"Our only hope is finding a way to the other side," Salandra said.
"We'll do it." He didn't see what was so terrible about The Land of the Lost. It was just a maze. The rest was legend, and if there was a way out, they'd find it. Then, as he peered down at the steep grade, he saw it wasn't going to be quite as easy as he hoped. The maze began just below them.
"These rocks are all part of it," Salandra said.
"So I see."
He skidded down several yards until his feet jammed against the first wall. Salandra followed as he crawled over to an opening. He tried standing but it was too steep, and he started sliding down the corridor. He reached for a protruding wall to stop himself from crashing into a dead-end, then grabbed Salandra by the arm as she skidded by.
Another passageway cut across at an angle, and since it traversed the slope, they were able to stand and use the wall for balance. But the effect was distorting. They reached another pathway, and had to make up their minds again, as they would at every intersection. They decided to keep following the one they were on.
A mistake. It curved and led into a room with no other doorways. They backtracked, climbing up the incline, then found themselves trying to keep their balance as they followed another steeper route that headed off at a new angle.
Indy slid into a wall and caught Salandra in his arms. She hugged him. "This is confusing," she said.
"Agreed. Let's try this way."
"Why?" she asked.
"Because we haven't done it yet. I don't know. Got any better ideas?"
"Yes. Let's go straight down and climb over every wall we reach. We'll be at the bottom in no time."
Indy tugged at his fedora. "Why didn't I think of that?" He raced down the slope, no longer concerned about stopping. He quickly picked up momentum and as he neared the wall he leaped.
Indiana Jones and the Interior World Page 10
