The Return of the Fifth Stone

by Vincent Todarello

  “But what if they were truly pure? Like Gareth or the Lapisians?” I asked.

  “It is believed that they would have inherent powers, as it was in the ancient times before the fall of the groundsmen, when there were heightened senses, longer lives, and benevolent gifts for all, but no Haareti can use the stones' force for good. You are lucky to have gone undetected, Valdren." Patreus changed the subject to my wanderings. "Those men posses many talents from the dark items. You must not stray from us again. You are too important for such risks. I would rather it be me that does such things than you,” he added somberly.

  “Yes, Patreus.” I understood. Although I did not know much about Patreus and my parents’ beliefs, I knew then the gravity of how important I was to their cause. It was as if I were placed upon a pedestal; something more important than even their own lives.

  “Quickly, we must get to the bridge and move on as far away from here as possible before nightfall,” he commanded.

  I looked at the map as we neared the bridge, which could be seen now in the distance as the width of the chasm narrowed considerably. The map depicted a grand and elegant stone crossing, but the bridge ahead of us was a very basic rope and plank crossing. There were two ropes with wood planks secured between them to form the bottom of the bridge, where one would place his feet to walk across. Then there were two ropes above to serve as a crude hand railing. There were thinner ropes vertically connecting the rope railings and the bottom of the bridge to keep it somewhat stable. As we approached it, I realized how ragged and unsafe it was. The ropes were fraying in many places and the planks of wood looked dried out, splintered and warped. Many were missing or broken.

  “Here we are,” said Patreus. “Now, it may look scary but I assure you I have crossed it many times.”

  “But that was when you were alone. We are six. I don’t think it’s safe,” warned Fiama.

  “Then we shall go one at a time,” he insisted. “We risk our lives if we cross at the altar.”

  “We risk our lives crossing here as well,” pressed Fiama.

  Peitus produced a rope from his pack. “The first person to cross can bring this rope to the other end and secure it there, then toss the other end back over to this side. We’ll hold onto the rope as we cross one at a time, so that if the bridge fails, we can hang on to the rope.”

  “It’s too dangerous. We’ll just secure it at this end,” said Patreus.

  “No, because then if the bridge were to break, we would swing back to this side and be stuck on the wrong side of the chasm,” reasoned Peitus.

  “Good thinking, son,” said Patreus. “But we’ll secure it to this end when the first person crosses, for safety, and then secure it at the other end and do as you suggested.”

  “Alright then. That makes me feel a bit better,” Fiama said, followed by a short sigh of relief.

  “I’ll cross first with all of our gear,” Peitus heroically volunteered.

  “Are you sure?” Patreus asked.

  “Definitely,” replied Peitus. Fiama became worried. “It's alright mother. I want to.”

  Peitus approached the bridge with caution. He wiped his brow and stood between the two posts which secured the rope crossing, as the midday heat, or perhaps nervousness, made him sweat. He maintained his brave exterior well. Peitus was always valiant and even fearless at times, unconcerned with his own safety when it came to the safety of others. His demeanor now reminded me of a time when we were younger. Lunaris had climbed a tree near the farm and was too scared to descend it because a limb had snapped as she was moving around in its canopy. Peitus was still a boy himself, but he expertly scaled the tree and scooped Lunaris up, showing her the safe way to get down, despite knowing that the tree had died and was rotting throughout.

  Patreus fastened one end of the rope securely to the bridge post and tested its strength with several fierce tugs, then handed the other end to Peitus to bring to the other side of the bridge.

  Peitus began. Brushing off his fear, he slowly placed one foot onto the first wood plank while resting his hands firmly on the top of the posts. He pressed it for tension strength, testing various amounts of pressure before allowing all of his body weight to rest upon it. Once his weight was on it, he removed his hands from the posts.

  “It seems okay. I guess looks can be deceiving.” He began to cross with the extra rope coiled over his shoulder. He made each step deliberate, his feet searching for the strongest parts of the sturdiest, most solid planks. His hands grasped waist-high at the frayed rope railings. “Some of these planks are definitely weak and ready to crack, so you must be careful where you step,” he yelled over his shoulder. Just as he finished speaking he took a step and his foot broke through a plank.

  “Be careful, Peitus!” Fiama cried out.

  His leg had punctured through the bottom of the bridge and the weak plank broke free and sailed through the air, plummeting down to the canyon below, rapidly flipping side over side, flickering in the sun as it sailed peacefully yet chaotically to the bottom of the Great Divide. Peitus’ other leg was still in place topside, and his hands held onto the rope railings. He regained his composure.

  “I’m okay,” he announced, and continued across.

  When he reached the other side he securely tied his rope to the base of one of the posts that held the bridge. Then Patreus loosened the rope on our end of the bridge and tied a large stone to the end with some twine and rested the stone on top of the bridge post, keeping the safety rope somewhat aligned with the old rope railing. He turned to us.

  “Who is next?” he asked.

  “Me, me,” Deius said with excitement.

  “Be careful, son. Remember what your brother said; you must watch each step,” warned Patreus.

  Deius snatched up the rope and began to cross, keeping one hand on the rope railing and one atop the safety rope. He crossed more swiftly than Peitus, partly because he was not analyzing each step before taking it. Deius snapped a few planks along the way but his foot never fell through the bridge. He safely reached the other side very quickly but at the cost of breaking a few of the sturdier planks.

  “I crossed faster!” he yelled to us from across the chasm.

  “It’s not a contest,” Patreus sighed a disheartened and frustrated mumble that was almost inaudible even to us on the near side of the bridge.

  Lunaris went next. She began smoothly, but became very frightened halfway out onto the bridge when she saw that there were many missing planks in a row, creating a large gap on the bridge due to Deius' hasty crossing.

  “I can’t cross! The space is too wide,” she said.

  Patreus peered around to get a better look at the bridge. “Is it close enough to make it if you jump?” he suggested.

  “I’m too afraid! I don’t want to jump,” she said, “I just want to go home.”

  Fiama shook nervously, frightened for her daughter.

  “You can do it, Lunaris. Remember when you jumped across the creek to chase me after I teased you about being a tom-boy and stole your toy sword?” Peitus grinned. A small smile curled across her face too as she recalled the moment, but it evaporated quickly. She was still scared. “You can do it, I know you can,” Peitus continued. “You flew right across that creek without getting your feet wet!”

  “Alright. I’ll try,” she said with little confidence.

  “Hold onto the rope tight!” yelled Peitus.

  Their voices boomed and echoed across the expanse of the canyon, repeating many times before fading away. The sound was so powerful I began to worry it would cause the frail bridge to crumble apart.

  After a moment of self reassurance, Lunaris leapt across the gap to the other side with ease. She continued across the bridge to safety.

  Fiama crossed next, quite cautiously and with no problems. Even at the gap she was able to make it across with a short leap. Then, when it was just Patreus and I left on the south side, Patreus turned to me, motioning that I cross before him. I was te
rrified. I had never been that high above anything. I stepped out onto the bridge and when I looked down over the edge, my stomach dropped and I felt strange. A tingling feeling traveled from my feet all the way up my back, and goose pimples covered my skin from head to toe. I looked to Patreus.

  “Go on, Valdren,” he said. “I need someone strong on the other side to pull me up if the bridge fails when I am crossing.”

  I smiled, knowing his words were meant to encourage me and make me laugh at the same time. I continued onward slowly, calculating and planning each step ahead of time. The bridge creaked as I crossed, and the breeze whistled as it brushed by the dry rope frays and swayed the bridge ever so slightly. I had passed the spot where Peitus’ leg broke through, and I had avoided many of the cracked planks that broke under Deius’ careless feet. I was more than halfway across when my foot broke through a plank. I gasped with fear and squeezed the safety rope tightly. My right leg dangled in the air beneath the bridge. I regained my composure, and soon came upon the gap that Lunaris and Fiama jumped across.

  In an effort to avoid frightening myself with prolonged anticipation, I decided I would quickly leap out across the gap, but something stopped me. There was an earthquake! I heard the low rumble build rapidly into a violent quake. I saw the ground on either side of the chasm shake, causing the others to fall from a standing position. The bridge rocked and swayed with the quake. I had to move quickly or the bridge might fall apart!

  I leapt across the gap, but when I landed, my foot broke through a plank, shattering it. I fell through, and my chest crashed against the next plank on the bridge bottom. Several more planks gave way under my fall. Suddenly I realized I was free-falling through the air, the bridge above me. My hand gripped the safety rope and I hung onto it for life.

  The wind screamed in my ears as I fell, my heart raced, and I nearly passed out from fear. Then, in an instant, my body jerked forward as the safety rope I clasped went taut, and I began to swing back-first toward the chasm wall. In a smooth and exhilarating arc, my body swooped and then crashed into the rocky wall. I slid further down the rope due to the impact until my feet came upon the rock Patreus tied to its bottom.

  I heard screams from above and looked up to see the bridge falling apart all around me. Planks flipped through the air, falling side over side, almost delicately, to the rocky waters below. The tattered bottom ropes on the bridge had snapped with my fall and dangled in the air among the dried and dead roots along the top of the chasm.

  “Are you alright?” screamed Patreus. The quake had stopped.

  “I think so,” I replied softly, most likely inaudible to him.

  But I wasn’t alright. I could barely speak and my breathing was hindered. My chest hurt from slamming into the bridge planks, and I feared that I crashed so hard into the chasm wall that I broke my back. I felt tremendous sharp pains below my shoulder blades, and my hands were burning from sliding down the rope so fast when it went tight.

  I looked up to see Peitus hoisting the rope, bringing me closer to the roots that stuck out of the ground along the top of the chasm.

  “Hang on!” yelled Peitus. “Hang on, we’ve got you!”

  Slowly, my breath came back to me and I was able to assess the damage I had sustained. I was winded from my chest-first crash into the bridge flooring. My back, however, still ached with pain from smashing into the rocky wall of the chasm. With my feet resting on the rock at the bottom of the rope, I was able to loosen the grip on the rope with my hands. I peeked at my palms quickly before gripping the rope tightly again. They were bleeding.

  Not bad, considering what could have happened, I thought to myself as I looked down at the rocky waters below. My stomach dropped and the tingles ran up into my back again, settling into the spot that ached with pain from my crash into the chasm wall. I diverted my eyes and looked up toward Peitus.

  “Whatever you do, don’t let go of the rope to grab the roots,” Peitus warned. “They will break under any pressure.”

  The roots were gnarled and grey, and looked dry and brittle like the planks of the bridge. Dead. When I was pulled up through them, many broke away and crumbled into dusty flakes. Then I felt Peitus’ hand grab under my arm and lift me up as Fiama, Lunaris and Deius held onto the rope and pulled me further out. Then, with one last heave, I was out of the chasm, lying on my back. I stared up at the sky, breathing fiercely as my heart struggled to slow to a normal pace.

  “What about Father? He’s stuck on the other side now,” said Lunaris as she gently stroked the hair on my head, trying to calm me.

  “Throw me the rope, Peitus!” yelled Patreus from across the canyon.

  Peitus grabbed the stone that was tied to the end of the rope and heaved it back across the chasm to Patreus. The stone sailed through the air with the rope trailing behind it like the tail of a comet in the sky.

  Patreus secured the rope to the post on his side to create a tight-wire that spanned the chasm. He grabbed the line and began to shimmy his way across the chasm, hanging upside down with his feet crossed over the rope. I was amazed at the ease with which Patreus moved. He was like a lemunk scurrying upside down along the underside of a fanleaf tree branch. He moved hand-over-hand smoothly, effortlessly and without hesitation until he reached us. Upon joining us, he greeted me with a big hug.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Yes, just a little achy,” I replied.

  “Let’s rest a bit then, but be alert. We are still in a dangerous place,” he warned. "Anyone hungry or thirsty?”

  We all nodded in agreement. Our nerves were on edge, but it had been a while since we last had something to eat. Patreus then hugged Peitus and kissed his head, thanking him for his bravery while he helped Fiama unload some dry food from the packs.

  #

  “Who would make such a dangerous bridge?” Lunaris asked incredulously.

  “Many moons ago, when the Great Divide was first formed, the ancients constructed a sturdy bridge of stone and the finest marble to connect the southern valley with the northern valley. In those times the northern parts of Ahaareta were still lush and green and used by farmers,” said Patreus.

  “What happened?” Lunaris pressed.

  “There were more earthquakes, and the bridge collapsed, crumbling into the chasm below. So a rope and timber bridge was constructed and maintained, as it held better against the sways of a frequently rumbling earth. But after some time the northern lands changed to desert, since the Tillian River no longer flowed any further north than the Great Divide. The farms dried up, and droughts turned the once lush valley into the vast desert we have before us. The Ahaareti fled the valley and migrated southward and along the coasts. After that, the bridge was abandoned,” Patreus answered.

  “So how do the northerners and southerners communicate or travel?”

  “The impure use the passes through Uhaaretu. The pure do not travel to the north very often. The northern parts of Ahaareta are inhabited by a vast majority of impure, even more so than the south. The hidden temple at Al’Adnim and the nearby town of Kal’Adria are the last remaining holds of purity in the north. I use the bridge when I must travel north simply because it is abandoned and inconspicuous. It had become somewhat of a secret; a forgotten pass. Though, unbeknownst to me, the Earthstone altar was being used as a shrine of evil and the bridge’s secrecy had become compromised.”

  “And now destroyed,” I hung my head with shame, thinking the bridge may have held up through the quake if I hadn’t rushed my crossing.

  “Ahh, not to worry. It's better that it is gone now, for it was indeed unsafe.” Patreus acknowledged his error in judgment with a nod to Fiama. “Perhaps one day after Scievah’s downfall, the Great Divide will fill with water and the Tillian will replenish the north, and a new, sturdy bridge can be constructed to connect the lands, or we can simply ferry across the Divide on a raft.” Hope filled his voice with the uplifting idea.

  Fiama handed us all some bread. We ate and pass
ed around a large skin of water. While the rest of us were eating, Fiama pulled out a few familiar leaves and plant trimmings from her pack. She began to pulverize them into a mash inside a small stone mortar with a long smooth rock wand pestle. Fiama was a master gardener. She had received schooling as a young woman to learn all about different crops and plant life, and their medicinal properties. She added a few drops of flask water into the bowl and continued the process until there was a woody green colored paste inside. After scooping out the balm she smoothed it onto my cuts, scrapes and back. She had created some sort of soothing salve; it cooled my burning wounds and relieved the pain.

  “How are your aches, Valdren?” she asked.

  “Better now. I think it was just the initial crash. I’m alright,” I responded, though my upper back still felt slightly cramped, as if a couple of knots were forming in the muscles near my shoulder blades.

  “Good. I think we should continue just a bit further back west along the chasm until we reach Ahaareta Falls. It is relatively safe there to set up camp. It's not far from here,” Patreus suggested.

  “Ugh, do we have to?” Deius whined tiredly. We all shared his sentiment.

  “Yes. This place is too risky for us. In the morning we will start our trip north. I fear it may be quite a tiresome journey across the desert and we will have to take rest at Enasz’s Oasis, a most dangerous place for the pure. But, on the bright side, if the heat is tolerable, I will begin to train you all along the way,” Patreus said.

  “Well then, what are we waiting for!” Deius beamed with renewed enthusiasm.

  We gathered our belongings, had a good stretch, and began walking westward along the north side of the Great Divide, toward Ahaareta falls.

  #

  The sun started to recede and night was approaching. All around us were the decayed skeletons of a once lively woodland. The trees had turned to gray, brittle, and craggy protrusions that seemed to reach upward from the dusty ground like the gnarled arms of a wailing and tortured spirit. To the north was a vast and open desert as far as the eye could see. Its sandy dunes rolled in the distance. I looked upon it and imagined what it was like ages ago, when the land was still joined and was fertile with the inundations of the Tillian.