The Cave of Nine Bears (Chronicles of a Magi)

by Gene Curtis

  Nick had managed to stop Shirley’s bleeding but she was going into shock; she’d lost too much blood. Mark shook his head, “She’s not going to make it unless we get her back to the healing ward.”

  She moaned and tried to sit up. Mark wrapped his arms around her shoulders to keep her from straining. “Mom, can you remanifest? Mom... mom!” She went limp in his arms.

  Mark’s face flushed hot, especially around his eyes and the tears started flowing heavily. “Mom, don’t you die! You hear me! Don’t you die!”

  He thought his best hope was to find someone at The Seventh Mountain that could remanifest by using Spirit Sight. He closed his eyes and let his spirit travel to the balcony of the bookstore. A team of warriors was supposed to be on standby. They weren’t there. Nobody was on the balcony of the healing ward either. He sank to his knees, closed his eyes and cried out, “God help me! I need to be here! Now!” When he opened his eyes, his mother was in his arms seated on the balcony floor and he was back in his body. He was totally surprised but had the presence of mind not to let her fall back. After gently laying her down, he went hurriedly into the healing ward. “Hello, I need help: laceration trauma to the abdomen, in shock and unconscious.” Several people scrambled to his aid.

  * * *

  Nick said, “He finally did it. I knew he’d get the hang of it eventually. We need to get out of here before they get back. Which way out?”

  Steve pointed, “That way. That’s the way Ruby left.”

  Nick picked up the lantern and said, “Let’s go.”

  Steve and James followed. It took about ten minutes to reach the entrance. The cave was on the side of a mountain. When they were out Steve asked, “Where did Mark get that sword? I’ve never heard of anything like it.”

  James answered, “It’s a secret. We’re sworn not to talk about it. You should forget that you saw it.”

  “Well, I’m glad he had it. We’d still be in there otherwise.”

  Nick scanned the sky. “We’re facing north and it’s about a half hour before dawn. The sky is starting to get light over there.” He pointed east. “Judging by the North Star we’re at about thirty-five degrees latitude. Judging by the desert terrain, that puts us somewhere in the Middle East, North Africa or the southwest United States.”

  James said, “With my luck it’s probably the Middle East.”

  Steve volunteered, “It doesn’t have the feel of a desert in the Middle East or North Africa. I’ve been to both, but I could be wrong.”

  Nick said, “We should stay close to this cave in case Mark comes back.”

  Steve said, “We should take cover in case the other guys come back.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Nageed Reports

  Through the centuries, Nageed Shade had been known by many names in all cultures: Asmodaeus, Ashmodai, Chammaday, Sidonay and Modo, to list a few, but no living mortal knew his true name. To know that name gave power to command him and his quarter million soldiers. That was not to be allowed. His true name was almost never invoked by any of his thirty-one superiors; he was an obedient servant after all. And he took great pleasure in his work; in fact he loved nothing better. What he hated was having to report failure, but he loved exacting revenge afterward against the offending party.

  Ruby had failed to search the boy thoroughly and as a result, the boy used that fish concoction to repel him. What else had she missed?

  “My master, I report failure on my part. Ruby asked that I assist her in an interrogation. She failed to properly search the boy, Mark Young. He had concealed a fish capsule and used it against me.”

  Benrah appeared as a seven headed dragon this time, his true form, to Nageed. “He has done the same to me. He has probably escaped. Notify Ruby of her failure and remind her that letting LeOmi escape is not an option.”

  “My master, may I have her?”

  “Which, LeOmi or Ruby?”

  “Either, my master.”

  “If LeOmi escapes, you may have Ruby, but you’re not to help her escape.”

  “Yes, my master, I will obey.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  Cave of Singing Badger

  It had been an entire day and the Seven Mountain Alert had failed to find any sign of Mark, Nick or LeOmi. To top it all off, Shirley, James and Steve were actually missing too. Mrs. Shadowitz pushed her breakfast plate aside and looked at the locator beacon receiver. She kept it with her wherever she went. Nick had obviously forgotten about the beacon or he was in such a situation that he couldn’t use it.

  Shana walked up to the stage in a bit of a hurry, “Mark just remanifested to the healing ward with Shirley. She’s wounded a bit and he’s got a bump on his head.”

  “Nothing life-threatening I hope. Did Mark say where the others are?”

  “He doesn’t really know. They were in a cave somewhere. He grabbed some healing oil and remanifested back. I would have gone with him, but he left before I got there.”

  “Impetuous to the extreme. You would think that after last year he’d start thinking of himself as being part of a team.”

  Mr. Diefenderfer and Mr. Young walked up. Mr. Young said, “Evidently something has happened.”

  “Mark remanifested to the healing ward with Shirley then popped back out before getting someone to go with him. We still don’t know where they are.”

  “I take it... that Shirley is... still unconscious and Nick... hasn’t activated the... homing beacon?”

  Mrs. Shadowitz nodded, “Correct and we have no idea what their situation is.”

  * * *

  Mark returned to the same spot he was before he remanifested out. It was dark which probably meant that everyone had gotten out of the cave. “Anyone still in here?” There was no answer. He slipped into Spirit Sight and verified it. Setting the charges on the sunstone was the next order of business. He took out his lantern.

  He had lost most of the explosives when they had been captured, but he still had a couple left. They were about the size and shape of a small book and worked in two stages. The first stage was an incendiary and would melt into the stone. The second stage was inside the first stage, surrounded by heat shielding that would allow it to sink into the molten stone too before exploding. He climbed up the face of the sunstone using the chain and set the two devices on top. When he got back down he made sure they couldn’t be seen when standing below.

  He found the cave entrance and looked out from the inside of the cave before exiting to see if any guards had been posted. He didn’t see any, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. He used his binoculars to look for Nick and his father and brother in the early dawn light. He didn’t see them. What he did see was a bunch of people appearing out of thin air, all heading toward the cave where he was. He scanned the area for a place to remanifest to and spotted a likely spot about a mile away on the side of the adjacent mountain. It was a place that had plenty of outcrops and boulders to hide behind. Once there, he scanned the area for Nick and couldn’t spot him, but he did see that there were many more Neo-Phylum in the area than he had seen before and more were still coming in. They were spreading out, not just heading for the cave where he had been.

  He pushed the button on his communicator ring to talk to Nick and said, “Nick, are you here?”

  A moment later he heard Nick whisper, “We’re surrounded by Neo-Phylum. They haven’t seen us yet, but it’s just a matter of time.”

  “Where are you? I can’t spot you.”

  “I can’t signal or they’ll spot us. We’re at the base of the mountain in a small outcrop. If you’re still in the cave, you need to get out now! A couple of them are already up there.”

  “I’m not in the cave. If you’re facing the mountain, look to the left about a mile away from the cave. You’ll see a large outcrop about half way up.”

  “Got it... There’s no way we can get there without being seen.”

  “I don’t have a signal on the detonator. Do you?”


  “I’m too far away to get a signal.”

  “Hang tight, I’m going to check for an escape route. When I come get you, they’ll spot us. I’d take us back to mountain, but we’ve got to blow the sunstone. I’ve already set the charges.”

  Mark looked up and down the mountain with his binoculars for any possible escape route. He didn’t find one; the place was crawling with Neo-Phylum. They might end up having to go back to The Seventh Mountain anyway. He checked the area behind him and had almost given up after a couple of hours when he decided to walk around one of the farthest outcrops. The opening he saw was small, but not too small to get through. He used Spirit Sight to check it. It was indeed a cave, a long narrow passage opened into a larger room with many more passages branching off from that.

  While making his way back to where he could see where they were he called Nick on his ring. “I’ve found another cave. Get ready to grab on as soon as I get there. Wait to signal me when I tell you.”

  He made it back and looked around the edge of a boulder, “Okay Nick, signal me.”

  He saw a single flash of reflected sunlight at the base of the mountain and remanifested to the spot. As soon as he appeared, he was spotted. One of the closest Neo-Phylum about a hundred yards away pointed and called out, “They’re here!” Mark felt three hands grab him and he remanifested back.

  “Wow, thanks. That was close,” said James.

  Steve said, “I’ve been in closer situations, but not many. I never got out of one by myself though, thanks.”

  Nick smiled.

  Mark said, “It’s not over yet,” and pointed behind them. The mass of people on the side of the mountain were searching up both mountain faces. “Follow me.”

  Once inside the cave, Mark said, “It’s not going to take them long to find this place. Up ahead is a room that has several passages. We’ll split up and look for a way out, if there is one. If not, we’ll have to find a defendable position.”

  Before they began going deeper into the cave, James said, “What we need is a good avalanche. That’d slow ‘em down, but with my luck we’d get buried in here with no way out.”

  “We’d have a way out,” Mark said, “but I don’t have an avalanche in Aaron’s Grasp.”

  Steve said, “Well, I do,” and produced a block of plastic explosives. “In the Marines, you don’t leave home without it.”

  Mark smiled and nodded, “Aaron’s Grasp, I should have realized. What other classes are you taking?”

  “Horseback riding, single combat and basic underwater demolition.”

  Nick asked, “Why don’t you just remanifest to be in range to blow the sunstone and then back here?”

  “That cave is crawling with Neo-Phylum. I’d never be able to get away.”

  “It might be gone before we can get to it.”

  “If they don’t see the risk in leaving it there they’ll concentrate on recapturing us. I’m going to look for a good spot to create an avalanche.” He closed his eyes. When he reopened them he said, “There’s some boulders near the top of this mountain and this area is crawling with bad guys. Some are almost here.” He held his elbow out to his dad, “Let’s do it.”

  Steve set the charge at the base of three boulders together resting on a bed of smaller stones. “That’ll do it,” and grabbed Mark’s arm.

  Back in the cave, he said, “Fire in the hole,” and pressed the detonator button.

  The blast sounded and outside someone yelled, “Avalanche!” Less than a minute later, rubble started flowing past the opening with some spilling inside. A couple of minutes later the rockslide stopped and the opening remained unblocked.

  Mark said, “That’ll buy us a little time. Let’s get looking.”

  In the larger room Mark paused to glance at the cave paintings, most of which looked like ancient graffiti. Underneath what looked to be a drawing of nine bears sleeping, was a drawing of a wheel with ten spokes. “Hey guys, look at this.”

  James said, “I thought the wheel was supposed to have twelve spokes.”

  “It is, but Mr. Rutherford said only one of the wheels had twelve spokes. This means we’re in the right area. Keep an eye out for others like this.”

  Six of the seven passageways were dead ends that only extended about a half of a mile into the mountain. The seventh passage led to the other side of the mountain and to another opening to the outside.

  When they made it out, they saw that they were higher up the mountain than they had been before and in danger of being seen if anyone came over the top. Mark scanned the valley below with his binoculars. “It looks like there’s a small village about ten miles away.” He pointed south. “It looks like it might be a good place to hole up until we can figure out what to do.” He closed his eyes and entered into Spirit Sight. He saw that the village was composed of mud-packed log huts, twelve in all with all the doors facing east. “I don’t think anyone lives there; there’s nobody around.”

  Mark remanifested them to the village. Steve said, “Well, that answers that question. These huts are Navajo. It looks like a ceremonial spot, sacred ground.” No sooner had he spoken than the farthest hut’s door swung open and a painted warrior wearing jeans and no shirt ran out, paused to look around and then ran screaming toward them with a feathered lance held above his head.

  Mark, Nick and James reacted to the threat instantly; swords appeared in hand and were held at the ready. Steve, on the other hand, pulled from Aaron’s Grasp a military style assault rifle. The warrior stopped in his tracks.

  Mark said, “If we’re trespassing, we’ll leave. No need to make a fuss.”

  The warrior smiled and so did his eyes. He lowered the lance. “You’re Mark Young. You don’t remember me, do you?”

  Mark shook his head and kept his sword at the ready.

  “We met last year. I was at the cave of fear. My name is Honaw. I am glad to see you are well.”

  “Why’d you come running at us like that?”

  “I thought you were tourists. Sometimes they come here, so we keep someone on duty to scare them away. This is a sacred place. Why are you here?”

  Mark lowered his sword. “We’re trying to get around the Neo-Phylum on the other side of that mountain,” he pointed.

  “How many are there?”

  “A couple of thousand, maybe more. We need to get close to a cave to blow something up.”

  “We can’t allow you to damage any of the sacred caves. Which one is it? Does it have any paintings on the walls?”

  “No paintings that I saw in that cave. It’s pretty much a narrow passage that opens into a small room and continues back after that.”

  “Is it about halfway up on the right hand side?”

  “That sounds like it.”

  “The Cave of Singing Badger. You can blow that one up all you like.”

  “Singing Badger, really?” Mark smiled.

  “Sure, why not? All of our special places are named according to stories and legends. Spider Rock is home to Spider Woman. She makes dinner of children that misbehave. Cave of The Dreamer, he visited the gods and brought us the Night Chant for healing. Cave of Nine Bears is not just one cave; it’s a complex, like a maze.”

  “I think we were just in the Cave of Nine Bears. There was a picture of nine bears sleeping above a wheel with ten spokes.”

  Honaw chuckled, “Coyote killed the giant, so the legend goes, and some versions say that he fed the meat and fat to nine bears, who when full fell asleep. However, the legend of the medicine men is that Nine Bears was a medicine man and a seer. He prepared a cave to hide a staff of great beauty and great power until the one destined to wield it came.”

  “LeOmi Jones is that person. We know that beyond doubt. She is being held prisoner by her sister, Ruby, who wants to prevent her from getting it.”

  “The legend also tells of a young warrior that might come instead and he will speak three things that will identify him as true. You have spoken the first thing.”

&nbs
p; “You’ve got to give me more than that.”

  “Tell me the story of how you came to be here.”

  “Well, LeOmi dreamed of a lake and we started searching for it. We learned that the search for the staff and the search for the sunstone were linked so we started searching for the sunstone, to destroy it. We found the sunstone in a cave in Turkey. That’s where we were captured. When I awoke I was chained to the sunstone and so was Nick.” He put his hand on Nick’s shoulder. “We were in the Cave of the Singing Badger. Ruby was there and she had a demon preparing to eat my mother, father and brother.” He pointed to Steve and James. She left and we escaped. I remanifested my mother for healing as my healing oil was stolen.”

  “I don’t understand remanifested.”

  “Travel by spirit.” Mark closed his eyes and vanished, reappearing behind Honaw. He put his hand on Honaw’s shoulder, which scared him enough to make him drop his lance, clutch his chest and sit right down on the ground. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I just intended to show you I was telling the truth.” He offered the warrior a hand to help him up.

  “You are a powerful medicine man.”

  “I am a Magi, as are these.” He pointed to the others.

  “That is the second thing.”

  Honaw said, “You said seeking the sunstone and the staff are related. The sunstone I know of; it is a wheel as tall as one of these hogans, but that is not the wheel you seek.”

  “LeOmi’s wheel is a wheel of life. Hers has twelve spokes. The one I saw in the cave has ten spokes. It is not the right one.”

  Honaw picked up his lance and held it high. “That is the third thing.” He lowered the lance, removed a cell phone from his back pocket and pushed a button. A moment later he spoke in a language none of them could understand. When he hung up he said, “I will help you get back to the Cave of Singing Badger, but I only have one bike. More are on the way.”

  Mark said, “I can get us back without the bikes, but there are too many for me to get close enough to the cave.”