by D. C. Payson
“Elleina!”
Julia looked over her shoulder. An ethereal robed figure stood beside a bookcase. It reached out a partially translucent hand toward her.
“Elle—”
Julia screamed. She ran down the stairs as fast as her legs could take her, bounding two or three steps at a time. She didn’t slow down until she had burst across the threshold of the library, running into the sunlight. Glancing over her shoulder every few seconds, she charged down the narrow road ahead of her, past the porticos of the temple-like buildings flanking the library. She didn’t stop until she reached the top of a short but grand outdoor staircase.
Julia ducked behind one of two huge statues at the top of the stairs and tried to catch her breath. Panting, she looked back at the library. The hooded figure had not followed her. She kept her eyes on the doorway for a minute longer, then she released her tension and slipped down the statue to the ground.
As she rested, Julia glanced over at the statue across from her. She was now able to appreciate its incredible size. Standing at least twenty feet tall, it was of a man with an impossibly large beard covering his torso, his hands clutching a giant hammer. Scooching forward, Julia turned around to see the equally large statue behind her. It was of a beautiful woman, nude except for a vine that wrapped around her leg and covered her groin, part of her torso, and breasts. She wore a wreath of flowers on her head, and her hand sat gently on the head of a maned, wolf-like creature. Julia recalled the figures carved into the wall of the library and the words that she’d heard in the back of her mind.
“The Shaper,” she said as she looked at the statue across from her. “And you … ” she continued, shifting her gaze to the woman, “you are the Goddess.”
These gods had great significance for this place, yet something inside Julia also stirred to see them. The figures were at once unfamiliar and familiar. They reminded her that she was stranded in a foreign land, yet somehow she felt like she knew them well beyond just her ability to identify them.
Julia glanced back at the library doorway one last time, then she stood up and descended the stairs. There was a mosaic spanning the width of the road at the bottom of the steps that seemed to mark a boundary of some sort, separating the upper part of the ravine and library-temple complex from a wider area below. The road past the mosaic was no longer patterned, and even the buildings, though large in size, lacked the ornamentation of the library and temples behind her.
Julia stopped to examine the mosaic. Its central symbol was unmistakable: Ina’s necklace pendant again. Except this time, it was surrounded by a ring of objects resembling peacock feathers, beneath which were two lines of writing rendered with blue stones. Julia sensed that there was something gravely serious about the mosaic and the library complex behind her. She looked up at the two huge statues one last time before she turned and hurried toward the front wall of the complex, paying no heed to the variously standing, dilapidated, and collapsed structures she passed. Whatever her interest in discovering the secret history of this place, it was superseded by her desire to get out and find help.
Arriving at an open archway in the fortress wall minutes later, Julia leaned against a pillar to catch her breath. She looked out over the landscape beyond. She felt at once exhilarated and daunted. A steep, winding road led away from the complex, with a vast plateau ringed by other mountains in the distance. Dense forest covered the plateau’s near ground, though there was a more open plain beyond. Julia thought she could make out a city on the horizon. Her heart swelled with hope.
Roads connect people, she thought as she focused on the road, readying herself for the journey ahead. Help is ahead, somewhere. This road will lead me home.
Julia was not usually afraid of heights, but the butterflies in her stomach fluttered as she peered over the edge of the road. A sheer rock face plunged hundreds of feet down. All that separated her from the drop was a foot-high stone guardrail. She stepped back and traced the narrow road with her eyes as it cut back and forth across the mountain. The landscape was barren at this altitude, offering only a few small patches of scrub grass. Julia knew that there would be no refuge if the weather changed, and she would likely not find water or food for a while. She could only hope the road would be passable all the way to the base of the mountain.
Roads connect people, she repeated to herself. I can’t stay here.
Her sandals clacked against the worn paving stones as she walked. A strong sun beat down on her, and the altitude made breathing difficult. Occasional gusts of wind swept up the mountainside, forcing her to stop and brace herself. But despite the obstacles, Julia pressed on, step-by-careful-step.
Slowly, the landscape around her began to change. As the slope leveled off, golden mountain grasses and clutches of white and yellow wildflowers started to appear. Farther on, she saw a few small, twisted trees, and then a bush teeming with red berries. Her stomach growled.
Probably better hungry than poisoned, she reasoned, thinking back to some of her early camping lessons in Girl Scouts. Still, her head was beginning to throb, and she knew she’d have to find water and food soon.
The forest is close. I’ll find something there.
As she neared the final stretch of her descent, Julia stopped for a moment to rub her legs, doing her best to ignore her thirst. The plant life grew larger and denser with every step, and the road seemed to disappear among the shadows of the primeval forest ahead.
She summoned her resolve; there was no turning back now.
Julia cautiously glanced from left to right and back again as she passed through a stand of hundred-foot trees at the boundary of the forest. The dense underbrush and subtle changes in topography across the forest floor limited her visibility. By the time she had walked only a few hundred yards in, she felt as though she’d been swallowed. Julia felt insignificant next to the ancient pines looming overhead. The rustling branches and ever-shifting patches of light played tricks on her eyes. The smell of decomposition and pine sap hung heavily in the air. The forest was at once a grand and claustrophobic space.
Julia’s thirst had grown to the point where she felt almost desperate to find water, but she didn’t dare leave the road to explore. She knew that the road was the only thing keeping her from being lost among the monotony of repeating trees, roots, and shrubs.
Roads connect people, she tried to reassure herself, though her confidence was beginning to wane. Her legs grew heavier with each step, and the deep, aching pain in her head was getting worse. Julia stopped to sit on a large tree root abutting the road. Looking up, she could only see a few small patches of daylight above—the forest hid even the time of day from her. She inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled in an effort to maintain her composure, but she could no longer control her emotions. She burst out sobbing.
“What’s happening?” Julia cried out, her voice cracking from the dryness in her throat. “My house burns down, and now I’m lost in the middle of nowhere? What is going on? Why? Why!”
Julia was exhausted, and she knew that no one would be coming to help her. For a moment, she felt dizzy and thought she might pass out. But then an intuition made her reach for her necklace, and she felt it warm. It seemed to flip a switch inside her. She wiped her tears and ran her fingers through her hair.
I must keep moving, she thought. It’s not about ‘why,’ it’s about ‘now.’ Help isn’t far away. I just need to get out of the forest!
She stood up and was about to continue down the path when she heard a faint sound in the treetops. She perked her ears and listened.
Birds!
The chirping sounds were the first familiar thing she’d come across all day. She scanned the trees but was disappointed to see only dense branches and rustling needles. The sound continued, a high-pitched rolling, warbling song that seemed to last longer than the birdcalls she knew from back home. Soon Julia heard other calls of the same type from elsewhere in the forest, their origin no less hidden than
the first.
Suddenly, her necklace began to change, its warmth replaced by a faint chill.
Wait, why is my necklace … ? Julia looked down at the pendant for a moment then back up at the trees. Something’s wrong.
Her search for the birds taking on a new urgency, Julia tried to zero in on their calls. The sound of a translating voice grew louder in the back of her mind as the song continued back and forth.
“Chosen of the Goddess?” called a distant voice, fading in and out of intelligibility.
“No, trespasser,” the near one replied. “Within thorn’s flight.”
Julia finally spotted movement along a nearby branch. She stared at the area for a moment and shuddered as the creature came into view. It was not a bird at all, but rather something that looked like a cross between man and monkey. It had a humanlike face with sharp, angular features and long, slender limbs that clung tightly to the tree trunk. The rough texture of its skin provided near-perfect camouflage in the forest understory. Had she not seen it moving, it’s unlikely Julia would ever have spotted the creature at all.
The creature uncurled its tail from an overhead branch and drew it back like a whip. Just then, Julia’s necklace released a brilliant burst of light, simultaneously sending a wave of cold across her chest.
I have to get out of here!
She turned and ran, adrenaline breathing new life into her legs. She felt a sudden, biting pain in her right calf, but she didn’t dare stop. For several hundred yards, she ran at top speed through the trees and over rocks and roots, spurred on by the calls of the creatures and the whirring sounds of small projectiles shooting past her. She kept going until her legs weighed her down like leaden logs. Eventually, she could not force even a small jump out of them, and her foot caught a low root. She crashed to the ground.
Julia remained still, gasping for breath, clutching her wounded leg. She was bleeding. The projectile had gashed the bottom of her pants but had only grazed her skin. She perked her ears for the creatures and heard nothing. Looking down, she saw that her necklace was dormant.
Are they gone? Am I safe?
Julia picked up a rustling sound in the distance. She froze, unable to run. But listening further, she realized it wasn’t the sound of tree creatures or branches rustling in the wind; it was a different, more hopeful sound. Water!
Calling on her last reserves, Julia struggled to her feet and trudged off the road in the direction of the sound, pushing her way through a thicket. The canopy gradually opened up overhead, letting more light into the understory. She had to fight her way through the distinctly younger growth, sapling needles scratching at her exposed face and pulling at the fibers of her sweater. Squeezing her way through one final wall of brush, she found herself on an embankment overlooking a wide riverbed with a narrow but fast-moving stream in the middle.
Momentarily safe from the forest creatures and with a cure for her dehydration ahead, Julia felt the profound joy of survival overcome her. She lowered herself down from the embankment and rushed as fast as her exhausted legs could carry her across the riverbed toward the running waters. She sat down next to an eddy at the river’s edge and dipped her hands into the near-freezing stream. No sooner had they filled than she rushed them to her mouth and drank deeply. The icy water burned against her dry throat. She suppressed a minor wave of nausea, reaching back in to drink several more times. Her fingers were numb by the time she had quenched her thirst.
Julia found a large boulder nearby and hid behind it. Removing her necklace, she used the pendant’s point to help tear away the bottom part of her pants before cleaning up the blood on her leg with river water. There was an odd tingling sensation radiating from the wound, but she was relieved to see just how shallow the cut was. There wouldn’t be much risk of infection.
What were those things? Julia wondered. She was well-traveled and well-studied, but even wracking her brain continent-by-continent, habitat-by-habitat, she couldn’t come up with anything that even remotely matched the bizarre—and dangerous—creatures she’d seen. She knew she’d gotten lucky in her first encounter; only an inch to the left and she might have faced a very different outcome. It was only her necklace that had saved her.
She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on a mental image of the pendant, squeezing the metal with her hand. She wanted to tap into its power, to control it for the first time.
Ina, where should I go? she called out in her mind. What should I do? How do I get home?
She waited for a response, but none came. Julia sighed. I guess it doesn’t work that way.
Putting the necklace back on, she leaned against the boulder and watched the rhythmic chaos of the rapids. Her head felt woozy, as if she were spinning around in the river’s frigid waters. Another wave of nausea came over her. The midday sun was warm, but a slight chill from her necklace nipped at her breast.
What the heck?
She wanted to get up and get moving again, but she felt an almost overwhelming sluggishness. She tried to will her leg to rise, but it lay dead against the rocks in front of her, attached to her body but no longer a part of it.
Wait, why …
Her head began to loll, her eyes slowly closing. With her last ounce of energy, she slid down the boulder to her side. A second later, she slipped into blackness.
Julia was startled back to consciousness by a loud sound in the forest. Her eyes shot open, and she bolted upright, checking her surroundings in all directions. It was already dark, faint rays of moonlight all she had to see by. She perked her ears, but all she heard was the babbling of the river. Her heart pounded.
Wha-what happened to me? she wondered, rubbing her temples with her hands. What was that noise? Her head hurt, and her stomach ached with hunger, but at least she could move her body again.
It was cold. She hugged her knees to her chest and pulled further into the nook of her boulder, sheltering herself from the wind. She inhaled deeply to slow her rapid pulse.
Then suddenly, from a short distance downstream came a loud, sustained scream: “AI-AAIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
The sound shattered the peaceful stillness of the night. This was a bestial yell: deep, brutal, primal. Julia hugged her legs even tighter, praying that she would remain hidden.
Another scream rang out, though this one was different; rather than a wall of furious noise, it had variations in pitch and cadence. Quietly, in the back of her head, Julia could hear the whispers of a translation. Though the drawn-out words remained incomprehensible, she knew she was hearing language … maybe even a human language. She was certain it was not coming from the creatures that had stalked her earlier; their birdsong was etched indelibly in her memory. It seemed likely to be human. Her fear gave way to curiosity.
Carefully inching out from under her rock, Julia crawled along the riverbed. She moved slowly and silently in the direction of the sound, hoping to see its source. As she came around a small bend in the river, she saw the flickering orange of firelight only a hundred yards ahead of her. Another yell pierced the night, making her jump behind a nearby log. But she could no longer suppress her desire to find out who or what it was.
Arriving at the riverbank a minute later, Julia climbed up and slipped through some low brush. She finally caught sight of the fire itself in the middle of a small clearing ahead of her, though there was no sign of whatever had been screaming. She crept forward. At the edge of the clearing, she pressed her body against a tree and poked her head out to get a full view.
There was a cooking spit set up over the campfire, a rabbit-sized animal roasting over the flame. The air was rich with the smell of meat, which made Julia’s belly growl. A large leather satchel sat near the fire, close to which appeared to be a patch of bare ground where someone had made a place to sit or lie down.
Julia could hear the sounds of heavy footsteps across the way, in the woods on the far side of the clearing. Taking a step out from behind the tree toward th
e fire, she spotted a huge, hulking shadow. She pulled behind her tree again and kept watching, but the shadow disappeared from view, moving farther into the forest.
Shoot.
Suddenly, Julia’s eyes detected movement to her side. Faster than she could react, a hand shot out and clutched her throat. The world around her blurred as she was swept to the ground and pinned against the earth. She squealed in terror but was powerless to resist.
“VARNI FAN MA IORN!” a voice demanded, drawing closer with each word.
The light of the fire revealed her captor’s face. It was a man! Julia tried to scream, but he tightened his grip around her throat.
“VARNI FAN MA IORN!” he repeated, this time louder than before. Julia could hear the translating voice in the back of her head growing in volume, but it was still too faint to understand. She sobbed as she struggled against the man’s immovable arm, her necklace growing colder and colder.
“TAM,” he said, staring deeply into her eyes as he reached down to his side with his free hand. “ … IN SILENCE YOU DIE!”
Julia saw the gleam of metal rising above her. She tried to scream again, but it was no use. She braced for the inevitable end.
Just as the man was about to strike, a tremendous flash of blinding, blue light shot from her necklace. He let go of her throat and staggered backward, covering his eyes.
Julia had her chance; wriggling and writhing, she broke free. She ran toward the river, driving forward through the brush. “HELP!” she shouted in English. “HELP ME!”
The man behind her yelled something, but she was too focused on getting away to understand. A hand grabbed her ankle like a vice. She lunged but went nowhere, falling to her knees.
“Let me go!” she shouted, kicking. “LET ME GO!”
The man pulled her backward then shot forward and pinned her arms to the ground. His hazel-green eyes locked onto hers. “Be still.”