“Then you better take a plastic bag,” Josh said coolly. “We’re all going, and that’s the end of it.”
“Whoooee!” Reb shouted. “I been to three county fairs and four snake-stompings, but I ain’t never seen nothing like this!”
In no time, they were all mounted. It was rather frightening, Josh found, to meet the beady eyes of the bird he mounted and to be so close to that steely beak. But at the same time, it was fun to feel the soft, feathery body filled with muscles, muscles as taut and strong as steel wires, ready to lift its rider to freedom.
“Wait a minute,” he said. “What about Volka? He’s too big for an eagle to carry—and we can’t leave him here.”
“No worry,” Kybus said. “He go with us. You watch.”
Then Josh saw that four of the large eagles had been yoked together with a sort of harness, all the lines running to Volka, who was wearing something that looked like an old-fashioned corset.
“He heavy cargo,” Kybus said, “but they carry him. Now, we go! Is time!”
Then, just as the heavy equipment of the enemy came into range, there was a ruffle of mighty wings, and Josh felt the body of his great condor tense. In a second, he was airborne!
The earth faded away, and the wings beat down, then rose again. The air cooled his face. Josh and his friends soared higher and higher. He smiled as the tiny men below shook their fists. Their curses faded as the eagles soared upward.
Josh glanced across at the closest bird and saw Sarah, her face pale but a look of wild joy in her eyes.
“I guess the book was right,” she called out. “I like this mounting up with wings of eagles.”
Josh nodded and turned to see Volka being towed along easily by the four great birds. All the others were clinging to the backs of their eagles, and Reb was sitting straight up, waving his straw hat over his head.
“Hi-yo, Silver, away!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.
Oldworld, Josh thought, had never been like this!
16
The Seventh Sleeper
What a trip that was! Imagine sitting astride a horse, but with no hard hoofs jolting you at each step. Instead, there is only the smooth beat of mighty wings that drive you through the thin air. The flight is so smooth that you hear only the wind blowing across your face!
At first there is fear—for the earth has fallen away into distant geometric patterns, and one slip will end it all. But finally the mind relaxes, and you can sit straight and look down at the earth with the freedom of the bird himself.
The tiny hairline far to the south is the tumbling Roaring Horse River. That far distant gleam is the gold turret of the Temple where the Chief Interrogator, Elmas, sits plotting your doom. But all his dark power cannot rise to the clouds that you now plunge into.
The dream of flight has become a solid reality. You emerge from the clouds to see a rocky needle rising sheer out of the desert, pointing a stony finger to the heavens.
“There it is,” Josh yelled, pointing at the needle. “That’s got to be it.”
Kybus pulled his eagle over to the right of Josh as easily as any cowboy ever maneuvered a horse. “Yah—that is Needle. We be there in maybe twenty minutes,” he promised.
Josh was sorry the flight was over when they began to descend. But the sight of the stone buildings, or ruins, where the final Sleeper lay reminded him that this was the end of the Quest.
The giant condors came to earth gently, and all the riders scrambled off onto the ground.
“Now, birds go back,” Kybus said, and Josh watched nervously as the birds took flight. Slowly the huge condors disappeared back in the direction of Kybus’s land.
“Wow!” Reb sighed. That was some ride, boy!” He looked over the side of the Needle and whistled low. Watch out for that first step—it’s a humdinger!”
So it was, for the flat top of the mountain stopped abruptly and fell away to the desert floor far below. Several footpaths had been hacked out of the plateau’s side, but nothing else.
“We’ll be safe here—for a while,” Crusoe said. “But the Chief Interrogator will be coming sooner or later. And they can starve us out if they have to.”
“But how will they know where we are?” Sarah asked.
“Dave will have told them. He knows all the locations of the Sleepers.”
“I—can’t understand Dave. I thought he was one of us,” Sarah said in a soft, grieved voice.
Crusoe nodded slowly. “He was, Sarah, but there is only one defense against the sin of pride—the shield of humility.”
“Hadn’t we better find the Sleeper?” Josh asked anxiously. “You know, I’ve thought every time we found a capsule that our leader would be waiting inside. But I really think this one must be it. It makes sense,” he argued. “This is the last Sleeper, and here we are, stuck on the point of a needle with no way out. Now Goél couldn’t expect the first six of us to do anything like saving the world. We’re not even adults yet. So I think the seventh Sleeper will be the one who will pull everything together.”
“Hey, you could be right,” Jake said. “Let’s find that capsule.” He pointed at the ruins of an ancient building. “I bet it’s there somewhere. Check your heart, Sarah.”
“It’s on fire right now!” Sarah said, and she began to run toward the building. “Yes! This is the way.” The stones of the building were old beyond knowledge, rounded and stained with time. The roof had fallen in, and some of the large round pillars that supported it were leaning outward dangerously. But Josh and the others rushed inside without hesitation.
The room inside was very large, possibly one hundred feet square, and arches from the pillars supported the high ceiling. Slits along the apex allowed light inside. The whole place looked like an open air theater. High on one wall was a sentence formed out of carved stones:
YOU SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH AND THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE
The travelers had not been there for more than a few seconds when one of the Hunters discovered a steel door set in the wall. They all fell over each other to reach it.
Then Josh said, “Sarah, read the words of the song.”
Sarah got out her paper and read the verse slowly:
“‘I sleep—
“‘in that thin air
where eagles dare!’”
The door slowly swung up, and Josh held his breath as they all pressed toward the chamber that held the capsule. There was room only for Crusoe and the Sleepers, but the rest peered in through the entrance as Josh held his finger on the AWAKE button.
“Here we go,” he breathed.
He touched the button. There was the sound of escaping gas, then the cover swung back, and the seventh Sleeper, he who was to lead them all out of tribulation, sat up and stared at them. There was a moment of total silence. Then the last Sleeper spoke.
“So what’s happening, people?”
He was possibly the youngest of the Sleepers, certainly the smallest. He wore a pair of rugged jeans, tennis shoes, and a khaki T-shirt. His rich, full hair was bound back by a yellow headband. And his skin was as black as night itself.
“You don’t say?” he finally prodded them. “That bad, hm?”
Josh glanced at Reb’s face. He saw that his friend’s usual smile had disappeared. His eyes had become narrow slits.
“Just what we need—”
“Wait a minute, Reb,” Josh interrupted quickly. “I guess he’s as shocked as we are. What’s your name? I’m Josh.”
The new Sleeper bowed from his sitting position. “Mine is Gregory Randolf Washington Jones.” His teeth flashed. Then he gracefully climbed out of the box and slid to the floor. “But most just calls me ‘Wash.’”
“Well,” Josh said a little lamely, “you’re not exactly what we were expecting, Wash.”
“So I see.” Wash grinned. “Likewise, I was expecting the new world when I came around.” He stopped when he spied Reb’s suspicious face. “But this looks pretty much the same as the old one to me.
”
Sarah moved a little closer to him and smiled warmly. “Don’t worry, Wash,” she said and put her hand out. “I’m Sarah. And I believe you were right, thinking you’d see some kind of new world. All of us human types are minority material in this place. Let me introduce you to the real Nuworld folks out here.”
She led them all out of the tiny chamber and said, “First, your fellow Sleepers. This is Abbey, Jake, and Reb —you’ve already met Josh. That’s Volka, and Tam and Mat, and Amar and Rama, and these three are the Hunters, and this is Kybus.”
Wash’s small face was a study as he looked at the giant, the dwarfs, and all the rest of the strange crew. Finally he screwed his face up into a squint and said, “I can see I’ve got some catching up to do.”
“And we’ve got some rethinking to do,” Reb said sullenly. “Is this your great leader, Josh? Cause I ain’t havin’ none of it. We need him like a pig needs a saddle!”
“I don’t understand it either, Reb, but Wash isn’t here by accident—none of us are.”
“The House of Goél won’t be filled with one color, Reb,” a voice said. They turned to see that Crusoe was sitting with his back against the stone wall, his face pale as paper. “It will be a large House, and it will have people in it far different from us. Goél is not for one people, but for all people!”
But Crusoe’s words fell on dull ears. Paradoxically, it was just at this point that Josh—and the other Sleepers and travelers—should have been most confident. Their mission was complete, wasn’t it? The prophecy had said that when the Sleepers awoke, the House of Goél would be filled. But nothing seemed to have changed. In the face of their apparent failure, the group was plunged into the deepest gloom.
Perhaps they had all expected too much from the last Sleeper, for all looked a little angry or disappointed at the innocent Wash. They had been tuned to open the last door and have victory walk into their arms. But instead, there seemed to be no answers and only more problems.
The disbelief in their faces seemed to infect the very air of the ancient temple. Josh tried to fight against it, but the hopelessness of the situation swamped his heart with despair. I—I guess it’s all for nothing,” he said, with a catch in his voice.
“Yeah, it’s a real puzzle,” Jake echoed. “Nothing to do now but wait for the redcoats to swarm us.”
“Huh!” Reb snorted. “You’d complain if’n they hung you with a new rope.”
There was a weary consensus from everyone.
Even Sarah appeared defeated. “It would take a real miracle to save us now.” She moaned and slumped to the ground.
Suddenly Josh said angrily, “What did they bring us all here for if there was no hope? No one has told us the truth.”
“No one, Josh?” Crusoe sat up a little straighten “Not one person?”
“My own father lied to me. He said he’d be near me—‘I’ll be near you’—that’s what he said. He lied to me!” The tears that he could not hold back ran freely down his face.
Josh knew that this had been in him for a long time—his bitterness at being forsaken in a strange world by his father. He lied to me! He’s not near me now and—”
“Isn’t he, Josh?” Crusoe softly cut in.
Then Josh finally recognized it—something in Crusoe’s voice tugged at the old memories buried deep in Josh’s heart.
Josh stopped breathing and turned to look at the twisted form of Crusoe, at the piercing eyes that looked out from the old man’s gnarled face.
“Isn’t he near you, Josh? Right now?” Crusoe prodded.
Suddenly Josh knew! Why had he been so blind? he asked himself. He took a hesitant step toward Crusoe. His voice trembled as he spoke.
“Dad?”
Crusoe smiled, and Josh saw that beneath the beaten body it was indeed his father. Josh stumbled across the stone floor and fell into his father’s frail grasp.
As the old man reached out and embraced his boy, there was much clearing of throats and looking off into the distance to avoid intruding on the moving reunion of father and son.
Finally Josh pulled away and wiped his face. Why didn’t I see?” he said. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t expect you to know me, Josh. The explosion changed me so much that not even your mother would have known me. She died in the explosion, son. And I didn’t tell you because—well, I didn’t know if you were strong enough to accept this.” He gestured at his broken body and scarred face. But now you can—and just in time.”
Suddenly the pale face twisted with some hidden pain. Josh saw that the old man was paler than death.
“I—I think we have only a little time, Josh—”
“Dad, what’s wrong!” Josh cried out and held the thin hand lightly, as if to keep his father from slipping off.
Suddenly Crusoe closed his eyes for a long moment as if he were listening to a distant call. Then he opened them, and a beautiful smile came to his lips. “It’s time for me to go, Josh. I want you to know something. I’d always been proud of my boy, but now I’m proud of you as a man, for that’s what you’re becoming. Your mother would be proud of you too. Now be a strong man, Josh. Don’t be afraid of anything. You will be guided by the wisdom of Goél—and he will keep you wherever you go.”
Josh’s father gave a little gasp at the end of the words, and then he squeezed his son’s hand and smiled. I’ll see you in the morning, Josh.”
The old man’s eyes closed, and Josh knew that he was really alone on the earth.
17
Traitor Redeemed
Jake, how long are we going to have to stay in this place?”
The wiry redhead rolled over on his stomach and looked at Abbey, who was pouting a little.
“I dunno—but we better enjoy it while we can,” he replied.
“Sure enough yes,” Reb added. He pulled himself up from where he had been lying lazily on his back. He looked out into the distance. “I figure them priest fellers will be here soon enough.”
“Well, I think somebody ought to do something!” Abbey said sharply.
Jake smiled. He and Reb both were drawn to Abbey’s startling beauty, but they had quickly learned that she was spoiled to the bone. She seemed to take for granted that everyone would cater to her every whim.
Wash grinned at her and whispered to Jake, “I heard that Queen Victoria never looked to see if they was a chair behind her. Just sat down any time, like she figured it was somebody else’s business to take care of those little details.” He shook his head and then moved on.
Abbey seemed totally unaware of Wash’s assessment. She was staring up at the highest point of the rim. There Josh and Sarah could be seen outlined against the sky, talking.
Then Jake spoke to Abbey, asking in a casual tone, “Well, who do you think ought to do something—and what?”
“Well, I’m not the one to say.” Abbey hesitated. “But if Joshua would get his mind on the problem and stop spending so much time sulking around—” She suddenly paused, then smiled. “I mean, it is his responsibility, isn’t it? Why doesn’t he do something instead of wasting time?”
She looked up again at the couple on the high ground and shook her head. Then she glanced slyly at Reb, adding sweetly, “But I know that the rest of us could handle things quite nicely if Josh is just too busy.”
With that, Abbey fell back into her own private thoughts.
∗ ∗ ∗
Sitting on the ledge of the Needle, Sarah and Josh were unaware that the others were watching them.
“Josh, how many days has it been since we got here?”
Looking at the scratches he had made on the wall, Josh counted. “Nearly two weeks,” he announced. “If we hadn’t been able to snare those rabbits—and find those greens and onions—we’d have starved to death.”
“Are we going to wait here much longer?”
“I don’t know, Sarah. I guess after Dad died I was kind of shook up. But even now I don’t know what we can do. I think I
’m waiting for a miracle, and I don’t even know what kind of miracle we need.”
He tossed a stone over the edge, and they waited long moments before they heard it strike far below.
“Even if we left here and got away from Elmas and his crew, where would we go?” Josh wondered out loud.
“I don’t know, Josh.” Sarah drew a little closer. There was a loneliness and mystery in the vastness of the desert and the sky. “Everyone is getting restless—me too, I guess.”
Suddenly Josh sat up and peered hard into the night, then let loose a long breath.
“Well, I guess we won’t have to worry about what to do much longer. Look over there—see that light?”
“Way over there? Yes, I can barely see it. What is it?”
“I think it’s the enemy. Two days ago, I sent the Hunters out to see how close the Sanhedrin were. I think the Hunters will be back by morning—with the bad news.”
“Let’s go inside, Josh. I’m getting cold.”
They found the others sitting around a fire.
Josh broke the news at once. “I can see fires across the desert. I don’t think it will be long now.” Then he saw with surprise the Hunters sitting close to the fire, eating hungrily.
“Well, you must have snuck in the back way. Are they coming?” Josh asked Kybus.
“Maybe two days—maybe less.”
“Josh, there ain’t no way we can keep them fellers out of this roost,” Reb complained. “It ain’t a bad place to fight—if you got lots of help. But they’s maybe ten paths that lead up here, and we can’t watch all of ’em.”
“Well, we’ll just have to fight here—in this old building.”
“But we’ll be pinned down for sure,” Jake said.
“We are anyway.”
Josh looked around, then began to outline a plan. “Let’s get all the food and water we have and move it in here. Volka, you start rolling the biggest rocks you can find into the openings. Just leave us enough room to shoot through. Some of you start clearing the stones and the bushes from around the building. Let’s be sure they have to cross a wide open space to get at us.”
“You believe it’s going to do any good, Josh?” Wash asked.
Flight of the Eagles Page 13
