“I hope that’s not supposed to be you,” Batu said, pointing at the figure in the middle. That one had a human skull. Small leg bones, like something from a rodent, stuck out of the eye sockets. The skull was stuck on top of a ribcage from what looked like a wolf. For arms the skeletons of two complete snakes were attached to the shoulders. It had only a single leg from a very large animal that was unfamiliar to them.
“Why would it be me?” Karliss wanted to know.
“They worship you, don’t they?”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Karliss protested. “Besides, it doesn’t look recent.”
“I hope it was our barefoot friends who built these and not someone else,” Hulagu said, looking around uneasily.
“You think there’s someone else living in here?” Batu asked, putting his hand on his spear.
“I don’t know. Probably not.”
“Then why’d you say that? Are you just trying to rattle me? Because it worked. I was all happy to be in here and now all I want is to run away.”
“Guys, look at that,” Karliss interrupted. He pointed to the far side of the valley. “Does that rock formation look like an eagle to you?” The far side of the valley was one long scree slope, the leftovers from a big avalanche that happened long ago. Halfway up the slope, sticking out of the scree, was a large rock that looked a lot like an eagle with its head to the side, resting on its shoulder.
“I thought it was supposed to be a peak,” Batu said. “That’s only a rock.”
“It’s an old story. Somewhere along the line it got changed,” Hulagu said.
“We made it,” Karliss said. “This is the place where Unegen found the word of power.”
“There’s only one problem,” Batu said. “I don’t see a cave.”
Chapter Sixteen
Batu was right. There was no sign of a cave at the base of the rock formation or anywhere nearby. Karliss felt a sinking feeling in his gut.
“So what now?” Batu asked.
“We still have some light,” Hulagu said. “Let’s go get a closer look at it. Maybe we just can’t see it from here.”
They rode across the valley floor to the foot of the scree slope. “I don’t think we should take the horses up that,” Batu said.
“We’ll have to leave them down here,” Karliss said.
Batu looked around uneasily. “What if they steal them while we’re gone?”
“We’ll wait here and guard the horses,” Hulagu said to Karliss. “You go up and take a look around. Don’t spend too much time up there. It’s going to get dark soon and those rocks look loose. You could get hurt coming down them in the dark.”
Karliss handed over his reins and started up the scree slope. The rocks were loose and he had to make his way carefully. Twice he started small rockslides and once he had to jump out of the way to avoid being struck by a sizable boulder that came crashing downhill toward him. It took almost fifteen minutes to make his way to the bottom of the rock formation and by then the sun had set, leaving the whole area in shadow.
At the base of the formation he paused to catch his breath and look around. There was still no sign of a cave. There weren’t any plants growing along here either, so there was no chance that it was being masked by one. He began working his way along the base of the formation, stopping regularly to peer up at it. A couple of times he saw sizable cracks in the formation, cracks he thought might be big enough to be entrances to caves, but each time when he crawled up to them, they went nowhere.
When he reached the end of the formation going one direction, he started back the other way. He stepped on a loose rock that suddenly bounded away downhill and fell, smacking his knee painfully on a rock. He reached the other side of the formation still without finding anything.
A terrible sense of hopelessness descended on him. He was a fool. He’d come all this way on a wild hope, he’d left his clan undefended against Kasai, and it was all for nothing. How long would it take them to get back? The horses were run down from the hard riding and lack of forage. He and his friends were almost out of food. It was possible that they would die in this barren land and no one would ever know what became of them.
It was starting to get dark by then and Karliss could hear Hulagu calling his name from down below. Feeling heavy and useless, he began making his way down the scree slope. Darkness and despair combined to make him put his foot down carelessly on a large, flat rock about halfway down. The rock began sliding, then a whole area of stones began to go. Karliss fell down hard. Rocks rolled over him and bounced off him and he seemed to slide for a long time.
When finally the rockslide stopped, Karliss lay there, breathing hard. He hurt in a dozen places. His ankle was throbbing and it felt like he might have broken it. He could hear his friends calling his name, but for a moment he couldn’t respond.
He sat up and called back. When he stood, his ankle hurt, but it held his weight so it wasn’t broken. At least something had gone right. Or not horribly wrong anyway.
“That was close,” Batu said when he got to the bottom of the scree slope. “I thought you were going to break your neck for sure.”
“Did you find anything?” Hulagu asked.
Karliss shook his head, too numb to speak.
“We’ll look again in the morning. All of us. We’ll find something. This has to be the right place,” Hulagu said.
“Maybe the cave is up on top,” Batu said hopefully.
Karliss didn’t reply. He wanted to tell them it was hopeless, but his despair was too thick. This was all his fault. They shouldn’t be here.
“I think we’re going to get wet tonight,” Hulagu said, looking up at the sky.
Karliss looked up and saw the clouds massing overhead. He’d been so caught up in what he was doing that he hadn’t even noticed them. They were thick and black. Lightning flickered in their depths.
“We should head back to one of those stands of trees,” Hulagu said. “We might be able to get some cover there.”
“I can’t wait to build a fire and cook up these rabbits,” Batu said. “I’m starving. I hope your new worshippers bring us some more tomorrow, Karliss.”
He said the words lightly, clearly intending them to be a joke, but Karliss didn’t smile or even look at him. He wanted to give up. He wanted to go home. It was all pointless. Everything he did was a mistake.
There was quite a bit of grass around the stand of trees and they hobbled the horses and let them graze. The trees weren’t that much taller than they were, with spindly limbs and sparse leaves, but they would provide a little bit of shelter. They also provided wood and in a short time Hulagu had a fire going and the rabbits on a spit over it.
About the time the rabbits were done the storm hit. Rain whipped down out of the sky on heavy winds. It came in sideways, completely defeating the meager shelter of the trees, soaking them quickly and putting out their fire. The boys huddled in their blankets, trying their best to stay warm. To Karliss the cold and the wet felt only appropriate. The gods were telling him what they thought of his foolishness.
At the height of the storm there was a sudden, blinding flash of lightning, followed almost instantly by a huge thunderclap. As the thunderclap died away, a new sound began: the sound of stone grating on stone.
“That lightning must have struck the scree slope!” Hulagu yelled over the storm.
The sound of rolling rocks continued for almost a minute, loud enough to be clearly audible over the noise of the wind and thunder. When it ended, Batu said, “Good thing we didn’t camp at the base of that. There wouldn’t be anything left of us right now.”
A few minutes later the rain and wind began to slacken. Not long after that the storm ended. The clouds began to break up. Hulagu got to work and somehow managed to coax the fire back to life.
“That was some storm,” Batu said. “If that wasn’t sent by the gods, I don’t know what is.”
Karliss didn’t answer. He was thinking that the gods were g
one or they didn’t care enough to act in the world anymore, which amounted to the same thing.
Hulagu moved over beside Karliss and put his arm across his shoulders. “Hey,” he said, “it’s not so bad.”
“Isn’t it?” Karliss shot back. “We’re far from our clan, cold, wet and almost out of food. You two talk about what you are afraid of. You know what I’m afraid of? I’m afraid I’m going to do something wrong and people I care about will die. But wait, that already happened, didn’t it? Which means I should have learned my lesson. But instead I didn’t. I rode clear out here for nothing and maybe right now Kasai is attacking the clan. More people are dying because of my mistakes. That’s what I’m afraid of.”
He finished his tirade and they all sat there in silence for a couple of minutes. Hulagu added more wood to the fire and it blazed up. It was Batu who spoke first.
“What happened to you, Karliss?”
Karliss gave him a dark look, but said nothing. Batu persisted. “I’m being serious. Tell me what happened.”
“I don’t know what you’re saying.”
“You changed. You used to laugh at everything. Now you hardly ever laugh at all.”
“Weren’t you listening to me?” Karliss flared. “Didn’t you hear anything I said?”
“I heard,” Batu shot back. “I was there, remember? I remember when Jerel died during the lightning storm. I remember when you had to kill Ihbarha to stop him from destroying us all. I remember when Kasai’s men attacked. I haven’t forgotten any of it. I still want to know what happened to you.”
“You say all that and still ask the question?” Karliss replied. “Are you crazy? Isn’t it obvious what happened? I learned that the world wasn’t what I thought it was. It’s not a fun place at all. It’s a terrible place where any little thing you do wrong can get people killed.”
“So you quit laughing because some bad things happened. Bad things have always happened and they’ll never stop happening. That’s not an excuse.”
Karliss shook his head in disbelief. “You’re not making any sense at all, Batu.” He looked at Hulagu. “What’s wrong with him?”
“He’s right,” Hulagu said quietly.
“What? You too?”
“The Karliss I knew would laugh at anything,” Batu said.
“That Karliss was an idiot,” Karliss said. “He was young and foolish and he got people killed.”
“So that’s it, then? You’re going to be angry at yourself for the rest of your life?”
“What do you want me to do?” Karliss was practically yelling. “Act like it’s all a game? Well, it’s not. It’s real and people get hurt and die.”
“People get hurt and die anyway,” Hulagu said. “No matter what you do.”
Karliss looked from one to the other. “I don’t understand you two at all.”
“You think your strength all comes from the wind,” Hulagu said, “but it doesn’t. It also comes from who you are.”
“So I should just laugh at everything? Is that what you’re saying? I’m sorry your husband died, lady, but ha ha ha!”
“That’s not what we’re saying,” Batu said.
“You used to say that the world is a crazy place. The only thing that makes sense is to laugh at it,” Hulagu said.
“I never said that.”
“You did too,” Batu said.
“You’ve lost something that was important,” Hulagu said. “Something that made you you.”
Karliss slumped, utterly weary. “You don’t understand. People died and it was my fault. How can I laugh now? Too many people are counting on me.”
“It’s because they’re counting on you that you have to find a way to laugh again,” Hulagu said. “That’s your strength. The Karliss we know never lets anything get him down. We want him back.”
“I still don’t think you know what you’re talking about,” Karliss said, burying his head in his arms.
“Really? We came all this way to find something that can help us against Kasai, probably the only thing that can. You get here and look around for a half hour, find nothing, and like that you’re ready to give up. You’re ready to give up on our only real chance against Kasai, Karliss! And why?” Batu asked.
“Because you forgot how to laugh,” Hulagu said.
“Laughing gives you strength. It gives you the strength to keep trying even when things look bad.”
Karliss raised his head and looked at Hulagu, then at Batu. They were looking at him intently, concern on their faces. “You really think so?” he asked.
Both of them nodded. “You made some mistakes,” Hulagu said. “Don’t let that change you forever. Let them go. Or you’ll make bigger mistakes. Your clan needs you, Karliss. Can you do this for us? Can you remember how to laugh?”
Karliss pondered this. “It still sounds weird to me.”
“It sounds weird to me too,” Batu said. “I don’t even know why I said it. It just came to me.”
“Have I really gotten that bad? I’m not that gloomy all the time am I?”
“No, you’re not gloomy all the time. But you don’t really laugh anymore either. There’s a darkness around you that you never let go of. It’s time to let it go,” Hulagu said.
Karliss felt tears in his eyes. “You guys are either the best friends a person could have, or you’re the world’s stupidest people, you know that?”
“It could go either way,” Batu told him, his expression deadpan.
For some reason that struck Karliss as funny and he chuckled. Hulagu smiled, then started laughing. Batu jumped to his feet, tossed his wet blanket down and did a little dance. He hit his head on a tree limb which promptly gave him a fresh shower of cold water.
“I’m so wet and cold!” he shouted. “Isn’t it wonderful?”
The sight of him was so ridiculous that Karliss couldn’t help but chuckle. Hulagu joined in with a laugh and it was like something caught fire inside Karliss. His chuckle turned into a laugh and then that got stronger and stronger until finally he was lying on the ground, holding his sides. It felt wonderful, it really did. How long had it been since he laughed, really laughed? He’d forgotten how much he needed it.
By the time he sat up a few minutes later, wiping his eyes, he felt like a different person. Gone was the suffocating despair. They weren’t defeated yet. Who knew what tomorrow would bring?
“Thank you,” he told them. “I needed that.”
“If you’re really grateful, you should show it by giving me the rest of your share of the food,” Batu said. He stuck out his hand. “Hand it over.”
Karliss grinned at Batu and Hulagu punched him in the arm. “Hey!” Batu said with mock severity. “I’m serious! I’m really hungry.”
Karliss added some wood to the fire and hung up his blanket on a tree limb so it could start to dry a little. Hulagu went to check on the horses. When he came back a minute later he said, “You need to see this,” and motioned for them to follow him.
They made their way out from under the trees and looked up. What Karliss saw made him gasp.
The clouds had disappeared and the whole sky to the north was ablaze with color. Gently undulating bands of green and red and blue. It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
“What is it?” Batu asked.
“It’s the same lights Unegen saw, the ones that led him to the cave,” Karliss said.
“Then this really is the right place,” Hulagu replied.
They stared at it in awe and wonder for a time. Karliss’ neck began to ache finally and he lowered his gaze. That’s when he noticed something else. “Look,” he said.
In the landslide caused by the lightning bolt, a large quantity of scree had slid down the hillside. In the light from the colors in the sky a dark opening could be seen at the base of the rock formation. Batu began to whoop and the others joined in.
Chapter Seventeen
They got up early the next morning, all of them eager to see what the day would
bring. But while Karliss and Batu talked excitedly about what they might find in the cave, Hulagu had more prosaic concerns in mind. He walked off by himself and searched around their camp, returning a few minutes later with two more skinned and cleaned rabbits.
“Looks like your worshippers are still on board,” Batu said, adding wood to the fire so they could cook the rabbits.
“Having worshippers is better than I thought,” Karliss admitted. He grinned at the other two. “What do you say?”
“About what?” Batu asked.
“About joining up to be my worshippers. There’s still room. At least if you act quickly. I can’t guarantee you a spot if you wait too long.”
“I’d make a terrible worshipper,” Batu said. “I’d eat all the food offerings.”
“And I’m not building you a shrine,” Hulagu said.
“Your loss,” Karliss replied.
After eating they made their way up toward the cave entrance. The remaining rocks were looser than ever, especially with the ground all wet, so it took them some time to make their way to the base of the formation.
The cave entrance was small, but once they got inside, the cave itself was fairly large, high enough for them to stand upright in and wide enough for all of them to stand side by side. They couldn’t see the back of it. They’d come so far and now they were so close. Who knew what would they find in here? Hulagu had put some dirt in a piece of old hide and wrapped coals in it. They’d all brought sticks and Batu had a tuft of dried grass. In a few minutes they got the sticks to burn and then they had torches.
“Let’s see what we find,” Karliss said, holding up his torch.
“Lead on, o mighty one,” Batu said, and gave him a mocking bow. “We are your humble servants, loyal to the end.”
“What he said,” Hulagu added.
Karliss led them into the cave.
The makeshift torches gave off a fitful, smoky light, enough to allow them to make their way without tripping over the rough, rock-strewn floor, but not enough to see more than a couple of feet ahead. The cave appeared to be natural. None of the stone had been carved or worked. As they went they kept a close eye on the floor, looking for anything that might be the tablet Unegen had found.
Sea Born (Chaos and Retribution Book 3) Page 22
