by Gary Foshee
takes captives to the Pit.”
“The pit,” gasped Caboose. “What’s that?”
“The Pit of Souls; it’s in the floor of the colosseum. It’s a place you never want to go. Slithler uses it for his games. Slithler is the 139
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father of lies. He moves about the circle spreading his lies and empty promises to those who are hurt, lonely, feel out of place, or lost. Outside of the valley he only has the power to trick, deceive, and kill the body. But, inside the valley, if he kil s you, he owns your soul. Most of the time he lets his servants kill all who enter.
But, when he wants to be…amused, he has his servants bring the
captives to the colosseum.
At the colosseum, his servants gather around and haggle over
who gets to fight first. Then they bring out the captives and the slaughter begins. Once all the captives are killed, their bodies are used for food and their bones are brought back here and scattered across the valley. Regardless whether you die in the colosseum or in the valley, all souls are taken to the colosseum. At the bottom of the arena, is the door to the Pit of Souls. All souls are taken to the door and cast in.”
“By whom?”
“By Apol yon, the king of the Abyss.”
Caboose hesitated. He was learning more than he cared to
know. “What’s inside?” he asked, not real y wanting to hear the
answer.
“A river of fire, trapping souls for all eternity.”
Caboose stared off into the distance. I don’t remember learn-
ing any of this at temple he thought. “Wow…that is the exact
opposite of The Redmadafa. The Redmadafa is a river that brings
life and healing to all who enter it. Slithler…He real y is the father of lies.”
“I couldn’t have said it better myself, young grunter. I see wisdom starting to surge within you already.”
Caboose stopped and looked at Urium. “Wisdom. Real y?”
With a smile touching both ears, he looked into the air, “Wisdom.”
“We’re here,” said Urium.
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Caboose stepped forward. His head followed a cracked
wooden ladder held together by twisted vines. The ladder
ascended into a black musky shoveled-out hole. Urium grabbed
the ladder, shook it a couple of times, and then disappeared into the shadows. At the top, he opened a hatch that exited back into the valley. He climbed out and then shouted down at Caboose.
Caboose grabbed the ladder and started up. About mid-way
up, he started to sway from side to side, so he plastered his tail against the back wall to steady himself and then pushed forward.
At the top, while crawling out of the hole, he slipped on its slimy surface causing him to fall to the ground. He rolled up against
Urium’s leg.
Urium looked down and laughed. “Are you alright?”
Caboose lay on his back with all fours pointed to the sky.
“I’m fine, thank you; just stretching my back…Yeah my back…
Oh that’s better.” He stood up and shrugged his shoulders.
Urium led Caboose across a valley splayed with thick under-
growth and traps of sticky grass keenly hidden across its billowed expanse. Hunger bugs beat in his stomach at the smell of tang
wafting by. Caboose didn’t say much. He constantly checked
behind him surveying the numerous trails that traversed the
valley floor. He thought about his family back home. He missed
the big dinners and the family time. He wondered what the guys
at school were saying about him. He was sure their stories were
growing larger with every passing week he spent in the valley.
A dark haze gripped the vast wasteland scattered with bones.
Huge stand-alone mountains silhouetted the plains far away.
Accumulated at their base, were mounds of rocks that had broken
off from the top. Caboose, tired and uncertain about being back
in the valley, kicked a set of bones off the trail. The bones tumbled 141
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off the trail and rattled against others lying on the ground, catching the eye of The Wind Whistler.
The Wind Whistler, upset he had been disrespectful to
the dead, hummed a tune diagonal y through the valley, pelt-
ing Caboose in the face with sand, laced with green spikes and
pebbles. He reached down and cupped dirt in the hollow of his
hands. Lifting his hands to his mouth, he blew in-between his
thumbs and then lowered his hands and threw the dirt across the
valley floor—like throwing a pair of bones across the table.
Small dirt funnels emerged from his hands and chased
behind Caboose. The Wind Whistler laughed hysterical y as
they wrapped around Caboose, causing him to cough and choke.
Bones bombarded him from the sky beating him mercilessly. He
dove to the ground and covered his head with his hands.
The Wind Whistler blew past him and ripped down the can-
yon tossing brown teeth high into the sky, raining them back
down on Caboose like a meteor shower, pelting his head, back,
and tail.
Urium didn’t say anything. He discerned the agony churning
inside. He also knew this was good. This agony was the agony
of conscience; the agony of knowing one has done something
wrong; the agony of realizing no matter how hard you try, no matter how smart and talented you are, you can’t right the wrong by your own means. This was something Caboose needed to come
to terms with on his own. He needed to realize the consequences
of his decisions and how they affected others. He needed to realize it is only by the power of The Augur, living fresh and anew
within his heart, that he would be able to do Great Things and
help those that deserve to be thwarted, forgive those that deserve to be condemned, and love those that deserve to be hated.
The valley has that effect on man and beast. The business of
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life and work often keeps people from ever contemplating the
meaning of life and their purpose on the circle. They never question why they were formed nor what their mission is. But once
trapped in the valley, it seems like the sheer solitude and loneli-ness brings them a fresh perspective on those things, or at least it did for Caboose. His mind played back Urium’s stories about the
original garden, the first man and woman, and it especial y took note of the serpent. If Urium was right, he was in serious trouble, and he wasn’t quite sure what he would do if he came face to face with the slithering beast.
On the other side of the valley they entered a rolling ravine
and followed it around a rock-strewn bend. The narrow path
curved sharply around the bend and dipped before entering a
corkscrew. Several miles in, they found themselves sandwiched
in a deep gorge with steep wal s laddered-up on both sides and
high, overhanging bluffs.
Caboose, several y dehydrated, started to see and hear
things. Muffled sounds swooped overhead casting hideous shad-
ows on the wal . Caboose thought for sure this must be the home
of The Wind Whistler. Wind blew down the deep gorge, causing
Caboose to tense with fear.
“His cave is just around that corner,” said Urium, breaking
the silence. “Oh yeah, there is one thing I forgot to mention.”
“What is that?” asked Caboose, looking high up the gorge
wal s scanning the ledges and overhangs.
“Around the next corner, before we get to his cave, is the
Gorge of Gargoyles.”
Caboose swallowed deeply.
“Gargoyles…I hate gargoyles.”
“They should be asleep right now. Just be extra quiet and
everything will be fine.”
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They rounded the corner and continued for several hundred
yards. Subdued shrieks echoed off the wal s and slowly floated
past them. Sparsely il uminated by the twilight, dark silhouettes lined the scabrous wal s and rocky floor. Thousands of gargoyles twitched and shuffled, sleeping on any square inch of space they could find.
“Just watch where you step and everything will be fine,” whis-
pered Urium, trying to build his self-confidence.
Caboose rocked his head back-and-forth and sarcastical y
replied under his breath. “Just watch where your step.” Sure, he thought to himself, that’s easy for him to say, ‘ just watch your step.’
I survived a crawler and a mangondrea, to be eaten by gargoyles.”
The gargoyles seemed to be on edge. They shifted around a lot
and pushed each other for space. Caboose careful y stepped over
and around them, being extra careful not to step on one. With
the cave in sight, he anxiously pushed the limits of his patience.
He stepped over a gruesome-looking small one and stepped right
on the tail of a bigger one.
A screech echoed throughout the gorge.
Caboose froze and lifted his foot.
The creature smacked the little one next to it and went back
to sleep. The little one rolled-over with a smile on its face, grabbed its neighbor’s long floppy ear, blew its nose and mumbled something under its breath.
Caboose looked at Urium and mouthed, “That was close.”
Urium mouthed back, “Keep moving.”
Exiting the gargoyles, they entered the mouth of the cave.
It was a labyrinth of tunnels that looked more like catacombs,
rather than a place where a celestial-being lived. The tunnels
stretched for miles into the mountainside. Urium had obviously
been there before. He navigated in and out, and around corners
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like it was his backyard. Caboose stooped to drink in a small but deep cave puddle, quenching his thirst, and momentarily appeas-ing the hunger bugs who were at this point satisfied to receive
anything. Up ahead was an impressive display of giant stalac-
tites and stalagmites; columns of them had grown together. They
stretched from wall-to-wall deep into the cave.
Caboose, a little drowsy asked, “Are we there yet?”
“As a matter of fact, we are.” Urium stopped. “I’ll sum-
mon him.”
“He lives in here. Aren’t these caves filled with gogs and
crawlers? How does he go about without being detected?”
“He’s a…very unique celestial being. When you see him
you’ll understand. He’s probably standing beside us right now.”
Caboose looked around. Urium pulled a small pipe from
under his armor and blew three long blasts, two medium blasts,
followed by one short peep.
They both looked around and waited.
Drops of mineralized water trickled down small stalactites
and landed in a large pool of bluish-green water at the center of the cavern. Small rocks tumbled down the sides as if they were
all lining up to take a seat. Creeping creatures scurried about
through the cracks and along the floor, strutting by like they
owned the place.
Unexpectedly, a voice materialized right behind Caboose.
“Urium, is that you, my old friend?”
Urium and Caboose spun around but no one was there.
“Seven, I need your help. This young grunter has been
trapped in the valley for weeks. I sent his message weeks ago but I haven’t received a reply.”
Urium raised his light and moved it right and left. Seven
stood a few feet from them but they couldn’t see him.
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“Where is he?” whispered Caboose.
“I’m right here young grunter. And who might you be?”
Startled, Caboose peered around the cavern.
“He’s standing right in front of you,” whispered Urium.
Seven peeled himself off the stalactite column making him-
self visible to Caboose. Seven’s body was a maze of contours
covered with rocks and small rock formations. His ears, hands,
and feet looked like a taro leaf with suction cups.
Caboose followed the light sparkling off Seven’s body. “Sorry
Mr. Seven, I…didn’t see you standing there. I’m Koby, but every-
one cal s me Caboose.”
“Nice to meet you Caboose; now, what may I do for you?”
“I sent his message several weeks ago but something must
have happened.”
Seven looked at Caboose as if he were looking right through
him. He searched his thoughts and asked, “What is your
last name?”
Caboose touched a small column protruding from Seven’s
body and accidental y broke it off. “Puller, Koby Puller,” he
replied, trying to put in back before he noticed. The piece fell to the ground. They all looked down and then back up.
Caboose gasped and smiled. “Sorry.”
Seven put his hand to his mouth in deep thought.
“Unbelievable. Unbelievable!”
“What is it?” asked Urium.
“I’ve never seen anything like it in all my days.”
Seven walked down the cave and stopped in front of a
smooth wall with thousands of coded symbols carved into its
side. He ran his finger along a small crack, stopping next to a
symbol with three swoggled lines running through its center and
nodded his head.
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“This is strange.”
“What’s strange?” asked Urium and Caboose at the same
time. They paused, looked at each other and then back at Seven.
“Your message: It’s been held up for exactly…21 days.”
“Held up, by whom,” asked Urium?
Seven raised his eyes and lowered his chin, “Mageddon.”
Bewildered, Urium exclaimed, “Mageddon. Why would he
be involved with this?”
“That’s a good question.” Seven searched the wall again, this
time running his finger from top to bottom.
“Galamus has your reply and…is trapped by Mageddon
and his forces. He is hiding in sector C9 Gamma. I will dispatch Miaphas to see what he wants to do. I remember seeing your
message come through here Caboose. What’s odd, is that I also
saw another message…where is it?”
Seven stepped to the left and looked high on the wal . “Let
me see, oh yeah, here it is. No, that’s not it.” He looked a little higher. “Here it is.” He rubbed his finger across the symbols. “It can’t be. It can’t be.”
Urium stood puzzled with lots of questions racing through
his mind. He knew if Mageddon was involved that something of
great value must be at stake. Seven turned around and looked at
Caboose. “Young grunter, do you know a Chesty Puller?”
Caboose’s jaw dropped and his heart stopped beating; tears
the size of blossom berries lined his eyes.
“Papa. He’s m
y Papa!”
“Ha, Ha, Ha!” laughed Seven, with his hands resting against
his side. “I’ve just about seen everything now. This is getting
good—real good.”
“What’s going on Seven?” asked Urium, who couldn’t take
the suspense any longer.
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“I don’t know. I don’t know. But, whatever it is, it’s big—real
big. Caboose, your Papa is here looking for you. Your Papa, he’s been here before.”
Upset that Seven would dare say something so awful about
his Papa, Caboose replied, “Impossible. My Papa is an elder at the temple. He’s never been to the Valley of Bones. We have a great
family and my Papa would never do anything that would bring
him here.”
Seven, impressed by his optimistic passion for his father’s
honor, responded, “Your Papa has been here before and he’s
here now.”
He looked at Urium, “They’ve taken him to the Sea Throne.”
“Sea Throne, what’s that?” asked Caboose, still upset by
Seven’s accusations.
Urium swallowed, “Mageddon’s throne. It is also the location
of…” he looked back at Seven, “The Pit.”
“The Pit!” Caboose paced, uncertain how to react to his
newly acquired knowledge about his papa. “We must help him.
You have to take me to him.”
“Urium, go with him,” asserted Seven. “It is the will of His
Majesty.”
“But, we’ve never taken anyone to the Sea Throne, it’s forbid-
den. Are you sure?”
“Positive. It’s written on the wal . You are to lead him there.
The rest…” shrugged Seven, “Is yet to be told.”
He turned back toward Caboose. “The Augur has plans for
you. Great Things, he has planned for you.”
Seven reached down and pealed a small pouch from his side.
“Here take this. Use it when others need it most.”
“What is it?” asked Caboose, holding it up to the light.
“Dragon claws:
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Pull them out, cast them about.
Water, wind, fire, and earth,
Is all you need to give them birth.
Dragons for friends trapped by sins,
To be used by the wise,
Or it will be your demise.”
“How do I get him to the Sea Throne? I can’t…fly him across.