But the chase finally ended. At least, I hoped so. Zen stopped outside a small cave and sat down, looking at us expectantly.
"Is this it?" Thorn asked, peering into the darkness of the cave. "Are they in there?"
"Only one way to find out," I told her. "Zen seems to think it's the end of the line."
"There could be anything in there," Thorn remarked, dubiously, hand on sword.
"Zen wouldn't put us into danger," I stated confidently.
"You're right," Thorn agreed. Let's go."
"Right behind you," I said. "Ladies first."
"So chivalrous," she murmured. "Not!"
I grinned. "Hey, you're the only one who's armed," I reminded her. "I have to rely on my wits to survive."
"It's astonishing you've lasted this long, then," she mumbled.
"Cheeky!" I exclaimed. "Watch yourself, Missy, otherwise I'll be forced to set Nix on you."
"I'm totally terrified," Thorn whispered in a mocking tone as she sidled stealthily into the cave mouth. "I won't be able to sleep tonight for thinking about it. Nix, hah! As if!"
As quietly as possible, we searched the cave and found ……… nothing. Nothing at all. Not a sausage. The place was emphatically empty.
"What in the world is this all about?" Thorn demanded, scratching her head in bewilderment. "There's nobody here! What's going on?"
"Beats me," I admitted, looking back at Zen, sitting sedately on the ground at the cave entrance. "Zen seems to think this is where we should be, but I don't know why."
"What is he playing at?" Thorn asked, angrily. "Why bring us all this way just to show us an empty cave? I don't get it!"
"Neither do I," I agreed, glancing around the gloomy interior. "Are we supposed to wait? Is this where the others are going to rendezvous, perhaps?"
"I'm about to give up," Thorn growled, sitting discontentedly down on a nearby rock. "I can't follow any of this! Quina’s and Trix’s behaviour was weird enough, but now even Zen is going loopy. Where’s it all going to end?"
"Don't give up hope, sweetheart," I encouraged, sitting beside her and putting my arm around her shoulders. "We'll work things out. We always do. The light may be hidden right now, but ……. But ……. Hmmm ….. hidden? I wonder?"
"But ……?" Thorn asked, lifting hopeful eyes to my face. "You’ve thought of something, haven't you? I know that ‘but’. I've heard it before when you’ve had an idea."
"Maybe," I said, taking a deep breath. "I can't believe that Zen would just lead us to nothing. Rosewing was in this cave. Zen tracked her and Trix to this spot, I'm positive."
"So, where are they, then?" Thorn enquired.
"Well, they might have left for reasons unknown," I brooded, "but if that’s the case, then why did Zen stop tracking them? He doesn't seem to want to go any further. If they'd left, surely he'd still be on their trail. No, he doesn't want to move because he believes that they're still here."
"But that's impossible!" Thorn spluttered. "Anyone can see that there's no one in the cave."
"Ah, but ‘see’ is the key word, isn't it?" I murmured, looking carefully around the rocky walls. "Just because we can't see anyone, doesn't mean that they're not here."
"Stephen, for heaven’s sake, what are you talking about?" Thorn demanded. "Have you gone mad? Are you saying that Quina and Trix and Rosewing are somehow invisible?"
"In a manner of speaking, yes," I told her. "What I'm saying is that they may have found a secret entrance into another part of the cave."
"A secret entrance?" Thorn exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "Now that would be something!" She looked down at me intently. "Are you sure about this?"
"Of course not," I said, joining her. "It's only a guess ……."
"As all your theories are," Thorn broke in, with a smile.
"…… as all my theories are," I repeated, also smiling, "but it does tie everything together, don't you think?"
"Perhaps," Thorn agreed, hesitantly. "But any theory could be cobbled together to fit the facts. How do we know that yours is the right one?"
"There's only one way to find out," I admitted, heading towards the back of the cave. "Look for a lever or a button or anything to push. If there is an entrance, hopefully we’ll find the item that activates it."
Chapter 13
But, after a futile search, I was ready to admit defeat. "Maybe I was wrong after all," I admitted forlornly. "We can't find anything."
"It does appear to be the case," Thorn consoled. "So, where does that leave us?"
"Totally lost," I confessed, sitting down. "I honestly don't know what to do next."
"I can't believe we’ve come this far only to give up," Thorn said, sitting beside me. "There must be something else we can do!"
"I'm open to suggestions," I shrugged. "Let's face it, beloved, we’ve lost the trail, and I don't know how we’re going to find it again."
"Unless ……." Thorn murmured, rubbing her chin, "unless we let Zen try."
"Zen?" I questioned. "What can he do?"
"Well, he tracked Rosewing here, didn’t he?" she stated. "Let's bring him into the cave and see if he can find the missing entrance. At the very least, he may be able to pinpoint the approximate location of our missing door."
"Good point," I mused. "Why didn't I think of that?"
"You can’t think of everything, my darling," Thorn told me, caressing my cheek with her fingers. "That tricky, devious brain of yours has to take a break now and again, otherwise it’ll overload."
"I'm such a sucker for your sweet talk," I told her, applying my lips to her fingers. "It's worth a try, light of my life. Let's call Zen in."
At our command, Zen ambled into the cave and looked around curiously. I knelt down, took his head in my hands and stared intently into his eyes.
"Zen, find my daughter for me!" I pleaded. "Find Rosewing!" I took one of her baby dresses out of my backpack and pushed it under his nose. "Go!" I decreed. He looked at me, his head tilted sideways, and then headed off to the left side of the cave where he stopped abruptly in front of the wall and glanced back at me.
"Good boy!" I praised, hurrying over to where he was standing.
"Is this the door?" Thorn asked, excitedly.
"It must be," I answered. "I'm hoping so anyway."
"We've gone over this area a dozen times already," Thorn complained, "and we didn't find anything."
"Maybe we didn't look hard enough," I informed her. "At least we've narrowed down the possible area. We'll just have to do a more detailed search."
And that's what we did. We patiently scanned the wall centimetre by centimetre until we finally found the elusive missing door activator. It turned out to be a small rock, cunningly woven into the facade of all the other stones, making it virtually invisible.
"Well, I'll be damned!" I exclaimed, as a door panel silently opened. "Whoever built this thing certainly knew what they were doing. Incredible technology! No wonder we couldn't find it the first time. Very clever."
"What I don't understand," Thorn commented, peering into the newly opened entrance, "is why Zen didn't lead us to this before. It would have saved a lot of fooling around."
"He didn't know it existed," I answered, also staring into the newly revealed second stretch of tunnel. "He hasn't been here before, remember. As far as he was concerned, Rosewing was in the first part of the cave."
"Fair enough," Thorn replied. "Are we going in?"
"What do you think?" I told her, hitching up my backpack to a more comfortable position. "My daughter is in there somewhere. Let the chase recommence!"
Letting Zen lead the way, we slipped inside the unveiled section of tunnel. I noticed that the disguised door automatically closed behind us and I hoped we weren't burning our bridges by doing this. Ah well, too late now.
As we walked along, I took notice of the hidden tunnel’s construction. For one thing, it had lighting – the same lighting that had been installed outside of the cave and that installation p
roclaimed this tunnel to be of ancient elf construction. The walls were smooth to sight and touch, once again reinforcing the notion of ancient technology. No one today in the fairy kingdom could match it and I briefly regretted the demise of the elf culture. If they hadn't been driven into the wilderness by the One aeons ago, they might have retained their wondrous skills and could have transformed this underground world into something truly amazing. As it was, the elf race had reverted to a nomadic state, scraping a living from what they could find. True, the picture was gradually changing, as more and more of them joined the settlement, but there was still a long way to go.
Chapter 14
It wasn't long before the tunnel debouched into an open area, dotted with small cave openings. Obviously, this used to be a secret town of some description in the olden days. Maybe a refuge for the remnants of the persecuted elf race. It certainly had hidden itself away. And there, right in the middle of the open area, seated on stone benches, were Trix and Quina. Trix was holding Rosewing, although not for long. As soon as she saw me, Rosewing gave a shrill squeal, jumped out of Trix’s arms and ran to meet me. Zen barked joyfully and sprinted to Trix. We all met in the middle. I swept Rosewing into my embrace and Trix cuddled Zen. Thorn and Quina stood back from the reunion, eyeing each other uncertainly. My eyes became misty as I cradled my child and I knew that, back at the settlement, Tracey was unabashedly crying in relief.
After the initial euphoria was over, and with my daughter safely in my arms, I turned to Quina. "You'd better have a damned good explanation for this," I sternly demanded. "Do you realise how much heartache you've caused Tracey? Me too, of course, and Thorn as well. We’ve been frantic!"
"I know, I know," Quina confessed, wringing her hands in agitation. "I’m sorry! Do you think I did this deliberately? I had no choice. I had to do it!"
"You'd better explain yourself, then," I said, coldly. "What could possibly make you kidnap Rosewing and run off to parts unknown without a word? We took you into our home, Quina, and made you part of the family. Is this how you repay us? And you, Trix! Just what did you think you were doing?"
"Let me explain," Quina said, hurriedly. "I do have a reason for everything. Honestly. All I ask is that you hear me out."
"Very well," I conceded, "let's sit down and talk about it. I find it hard to believe that you'd intentionally hurt any one of us, so I’ll listen, but your explanation had better make sense."
We all made ourselves comfortable and Quina began. "I realise this is a very bizarre situation," she announced, slowly, "and what I'm about to tell you backs that up, so please keep an open mind. It all started when you had left and Arugohumna and Traculimna had gone shopping. I was doing the housework. Trix and Zen were playing with Rosewing when suddenly my sister came through from the spiritual realms, screaming at me to leave the house, immediately."
"Mirrella?" Thorn asked. "What did she say?"
Quina screwed up her face in thought. "I think the exact words were: ‘Leave! Right now! They're coming for you!’ She wasn't joking. I could detect the panic in her voice. I grabbed Rosewing straight away and headed for the back door."
"Who's this ‘they’ you're talking about?" I asked, sceptically. "And why couldn't you have left us a message?"
"Believe me, I wanted to," Quina responded wholeheartedly, "but Mirrella kept yelling that there wasn't time! That they were almost at the front door."
"Once again, who are ‘they’?" I wanted to know.
"She explained it when we were running," Quina replied. "It appears that there's a secret society in the settlement who have a prophecy foretelling the end of the One race once ‘The Destroyer’ is born."
"‘The Destroyer'?" I enquired, twitching an eyebrow.
"‘A One who is not a One’," she quoted. "‘The essence of evil, born with silver hair, and destined to bring down the One into oblivion."
"You can't be serious!" I exclaimed, staring incredulously at her.
"But I am," she proclaimed, earnestly. Then she shrugged. "I know it sounds implausible, but ….."
"And these idiots think that Rosewing is this child of evil?" I questioned in amazement.
"Apparently so," Quina shrugged again. "I told you that it’s weird."
"That's hardly the word I'd use!" Thorn snorted. "I've never heard such a load of preposterous rubbish in all my life! I don't believe a word of it!"
"It's the truth, I swear it!" Quina pleaded. "I didn't want to believe it either, but I couldn't take the chance. Not with Rosewing’s life at stake!"
"Beloved, surely you're not believing this?" Thorn asked contemptuously. "I mean, it's ridiculous! A secret society? Child of evil? Quina, what do you take us for?"
"It’s certainly hard to believe," I murmured thoughtfully, "but I've heard of stranger things where I come from." I turned my attention to Trix. "You told Zen to wait for us, didn't you?" I asked, confidently. "You knew he could lead us to you."
"We had to do something!" Trix confessed. "To tell the truth, I didn't know what was going on. All I knew was that Quina grabbed Rosewing, yelled at me to tell Zen to stay, and then ran out the door. I followed her, of course, wondering what the devil was happening, but I did tell Zen to wait for you. I knew he'd find us eventually." She proudly ruffled his fur. "He’s such a clever boy!" Zen wagged his tail in appreciation of her compliment.
"I still don't believe it!" Thorn stubbornly maintained. "And anyway, Rosewing doesn't have silver hair. It's blonde!"
"It's close enough," Quina pointed out. "You should know that blonde hair is extremely rare among the One. Apparently the color difference is enough."
"How did you find this place?" I asked, curiously. "I presume it was Mirrella?"
"Yes," Quina admitted. "She said we'd be safe here. For the meantime, anyway. By the way, I hope you bought some food with you. We didn't have time to take any with us. I was about to send Trix out do some hunting."
"We did bring some," I said. "We'll be okay for a day or so at least. After that, well, who knows? We'll worry about that when the time comes."
Chapter 15
We decided to have a light snack while we pondered the incredible series of events so far. I could see Thorn had trouble accepting Quina’s extraordinary explanation, and I didn't blame her in the least. It all sounded so …….. far fetched! Rosewing might be a mischievous imp at times, but that was a long way from being a ‘Destroyer’. It all sounded like a Hollywood movie to me.
After eating, Thorn and I stared at our runaways. "You realise how hard this is for us to believe," I finally said, softly.
"I know," Quina said, despairingly. "I'm having trouble myself, but please trust me in this. I’d never let your daughter come to any harm. And I'd never hurt you," she added, blushing a little.
I stared intently into Quina’s eyes and saw nothing but the open truth displayed in them. It’s always hard to read eyes. They can cover up the most blatant of lies, but there comes a time when you have to accept people’s statements at face value and hope for the best. What I knew of Quina predisposed me to believe her. The alternative would have branded her as an unmitigated liar, and I couldn't bring myself to do that.
"Very well," I conceded, "I believe you, Quina. You acted for the best and I don't blame you in any way. Thank you for saving my daughter. I'm in your debt."
"Thank you for your faith in me," she whispered. "It means a lot."
"I'm still having trouble with this whole thing," Thorn grumbled. "It's just so fantastic! This ‘Child of Evil’ nonsense, for example. What are we going to do about that?"
"We'll have to find more about this secret society thingy," I proposed. "I've never heard of it."
"That's because it's secret!" Trix sighed, rolling her eyes at my obtuseness. "Really, Stephen, concentrate, eh? This is no time to act like a typical male."
"You cheeky little wombat!" I chided, smiling. "Behave yourself, otherwise I'll tell Tracey on you." Trix poked out her tongue at me and grinned.
>
"Yeah, I'm terrified," she said.
"So you should be," I sniffed. "Her temper tantrums are legendary." Back at our house, after I had relayed what I said, Tracey squealed in outrage and I stifled a laugh.
"Enough fooling around," Quina commanded. "What are we going to do next?"
"The main problem is that we don't know who these people are," I mused. "For all we know they could be our next door neighbours, and cult followers are always fanatics. They give up their decision making abilities to their leader and follow like sheep. They could do anything."
"So, what do you suggest?" Quina asked.
"I'm not sure," I answered. "We know next to nothing about anything. Can Mirrella help?"
"I'll certainly ask," Quina assured me. "She has access to a lot more information than we do and she may be able to give some clues. But, in the meantime …….?"
"Yes," I pondered, "we can't stay here indefinitely. We need to go somewhere safer. A place where the cultists can't blend in with the landscape." I snapped my fingers. "And I think I know the place."
"I think I do, too," Trix grinned triumphantly. "Are you thinking of a certain sarcastic companion of ours, perchance?"
"I may very well be," I admitted, returning her grin. "Any stranger wandering around there would be as obvious as a diamond in a mud pile. They wouldn't be able to make a move without somebody noticing."
"Oh no," Thorn groaned. "Are you seriously suggesting we go and stay with that reprehensible reprobate? I didn't realise you hated me that much."
"Like I believe a single word you say," I retorted. "I know you can't wait to get there."
Thorn grinned at me. "Well, I admit that it'll be interesting," she confessed. "I've been saving up a few extra special insults just for an occasion like this. And you're right. Rosewing will be safer there. As it is, we don't know who's who in the settlement right now. At least with Nix, every One will be suspect."
Rosewing (9) (The Underground Kingdom) Page 4