Josephine Marlin and The Alternatives

by Karen Eastland

  ‘Blous,’ she said pointing to my bra.

  ‘Oh yeah, that’d be funny wouldn’t it,’ I said, ‘meeting the others outside, and me without a blouse on.’

  Pony and I laughed while Dog barked as we all dug around in the dirt searching for my blouse. Dog found it half buried and covered in blood and other such refinements.

  ‘Thank you,’ I said, giving him a chin scratch. I really didn’t want to put it back on, but had nothing else to wear. I was also certain one stain was from my earlier vomit session.

  We began ransacking the cavern, looking through potions, herbs, and what I think were animal mixtures. There were more old parchments and jars filled with things I couldn’t even guess. But there was no blue crystal jug with a black stone cork in it.

  ‘It’s somewhere in the ground in the cavern where we first found the banshee,’ I said, drawing on the memories the souls had shown me.

  ‘Where are we?’ I asked more myself than anyone else.

  Looking around I saw Pony just staring at me “in a cave”, was what her look said.

  ‘Alright,’ I said. ‘Do you remember how you got here Pony?’

  Dog barked and ran to a naturally hewn arch in the rock, that looked like it was a doorway to a dark tunnel. He looked back and barked again, all the while moving closer to the tunnel, where I’m sure I’d seen the snakes go after their powwow with the banshee.

  ‘Looks like Dog knows how we got here,’ I said to Pony. ‘Come on let’s follow him.’

  We ran through the archway, and I’d just finished telling them I knew where the other exit was when I heard an awful cracking sound and another rumble. It was bigger than the others had been, and I didn’t think it was thunder.

  Once we entered the arch, we were in complete darkness. I could see Pony and Dog through her glow, but nothing more. There was no light at its end. Looking back to where we’d killed the banshee, I saw rocks had begun to fall from large yawning cracks opening in the roof. Just before I lost sight of it, the wall Pony had been chained to, fell forward hitting the fire, sending sparks into the air.

  ‘Run!’ I yelled while picking up my pace. ‘It’s caving in!’

  Putting both my hands on Pony’s back, I pushed her down the tunnel. Eventually, she picked up enough speed for me to just worry about getting myself out. I was wondering why she’d suddenly become so slow. Back in the mortuary, she moved like the wind.

  ‘Maybe as she transforms,’ said Brain, ‘her abilities, whatever they may be, change?’

  ‘Maybe…’ I pondered as I ran.

  The entire cavern behind us was imploding, and so was my escape plan. While running, I looked back to see a large plume of pale dust and gravel racing through the tunnel behind us. It was almost upon us, and I was so busy looking behind, I didn’t see Pony and Dog had stopped, and ran head first into Pony’s… back… Yes, that’s what I’m calling it… It was her back.

  ‘Why’ve we stopped,’ I shouted above the noise of the cave as it collapsed behind us, but Pony wasn’t saying, and I couldn’t see. Squeezing past them wasn’t easy, but I needed to know why they’d stopped.

  ‘Oh,’ I said with my panic rising, ‘a river. It looks like clean water, what’s the problem?’

  ‘Nake,’ said Pony.

  ‘Nake? Oh, snake! Yeah, you know what,’ I said, looking back at the dust and rocks coming our way, ‘I think because the caves are collapsing, maybe the snakes are just trying to get out too.’

  Most of what I said was in an effort to convince myself. I would’ve like to have found another way, and not go swimming with snakes again. I’m pretty sure that’s what I’d been swimming with earlier when I propelled myself into the body fluids. Just because there was a snake, I knew it didn’t mean the cave was going to stop caving in on us.

  ‘Alrighty? Right!’ I said taking Pony by the hand and pulled her with me as I jumped into the river.

  We weren’t in the water long, but it was long enough to give me the illusion of feeling clean. I tried not to think about the snakes, and when Dog belly-flopped in after us, his splash cleared them away from where we were trying to get out. We made it to the other side without the snakes even looking at us… although I’m sure a few bumped into me, but I wasn’t going to dwell.

  I would’ve liked to have followed the river out, but we still needed the amphora. I considered insisting Pony and Dog leave through the river, but by the time I accepted they wouldn’t leave, the cave would’ve collapsed. As it was, we’d just climbed out of the water and reached the other side when the dust and gravel that’d been following us, spat out into the river.

  We watched the tunnel collapse.

  ‘If the tunnel ahead has already crumbled,’ I thought, ‘we still had the river option.’

  Hearing another loud rumbling noise echoing from the same area we’d just escaped, the roof above us began to collapse into the river. It almost completely blocked the exit I was relying on as a fallback. Water began rushing into the cavern so fast; it’d broken its banks, and had begun to lift snakes and water to where we were standing.

  I pushed Pony into a tunnel ahead of us, and we were running as fast as we could, hoping it wasn’t blocked, when I looked back to see another plume of dust and debris chasing us. After a few minutes of running, we found ourselves in another small cavern, but not the one we were looking for. It had a stone hewn fire pit raised off the ground, and another tunnel to the right that looked like it led back to the river.

  There was a large pan sitting on the edge of the pit, but apart from a few old jars, I couldn’t see anything resembling a flat rock on the floor. I’d begun thinking the banshee could’ve moved the amphora after she killed me the first time, and started to tear into the jars, while scuffing the dust from the floors with my lace-ups, hoping something would reveal where she had hidden it.

  Leading Pony and Dog back to the banshee’s Keep, where the way out had already collapsed, I was afraid for them. I wanted to get them out while I continued to look, but with every step we took, the path behind us crumbled. I’d just finished ransacking the cavern when the tunnel we’d just ran out of, collapsed.

  ‘Keep going,’ I yelled when I saw Pony and Dog were waiting for me. ‘We don’t want to get sealed up in here.’

  They weren’t moving, that’s when I noticed there were three exits in the cavern. Two leading back to the banshee’s cavern, and one that looked like it led back to the river. If I’d seen the doors when we first arrived, I’d have checked the sand on the ground for footprints, drag marks and other stuff. But I didn’t.

  ‘Which door Dog?’ I asked as my panic rose.

  Pony ran to one of the tunnels and Dog barked at the other.

  ‘Which one is it?’ I asked with more urgency, looking back as another rumble echoed from deep within the cave system. I had no clue how we were going to get out because the exit the souls had shown me was back the way we’d just come. Turning to Pony and Dog, I noticed Pony lying on the ground under the archway of her chosen tunnel.

  ‘What,’ I said panicked, ‘that’s it? It’s your tunnel, or you’re not going anywhere? Is that right Pony?’ I was getting that shrill back in my voice; I couldn’t help it, it was like, “make your mind up people; we’re all about to die… tick tock, tick tock…”.

  ‘Bad lad drag Pony, here door,’ she said.

  ‘The bad lady dragged Pony through that door,’ Brain said.

  ‘Sorry Dog, I’m going with Pony on this one,’ I said while running to help her up. Pushing Pony into the tunnel, I found it was long, winding, and up and downhill.

  ‘Do you know where you’re going?’ I called, ‘I don’t mean to rush you, but the cave is still collapsing in on us.’

  I’d just finished talking as we came out of the tunnel, and entered the cavern we’d first found.

  ‘I love you,’ I said looking at her, ‘and there’s still a fire burning, so we have light!’

  Placing my hands on each of Pony’s che
eks, I pulled her down and gave her a quick kiss.

  ‘Hurry everyone,’ I said, ‘we need to find the amphora before the collapsing catches up with us. It’s a blue jar Pony, with a black stone plug… Then we need to figure out how the hell we’re going to get out of here.’

  We pulled jars off stone benches, tipped others out, but none of them were blue, and none had a large black stone wedge in them, like the Man of the Trees mentioned. I made my way to the last bench, and went through everything, while the others began brushing the sand away on the rock floor looking for a flat stone, but there was no amphora.

  ‘I didn’t see any other cave when we first got here,’ I thought feeling our search had been hopeless, ‘though the souls showed me a squared out hole under a rock. I know they showed me where it was, I just need time to think.’

  I’d begun to wonder if the tunnel we’d just came out of had collapsed. There were two other tunnels. The one Dog was insisting on and one that should take us back to the river. I sat on a stone outcrop and was nervously scraping my foot across the sand, listening to the cave gods growl. It appeared they were shutting down the system forever. I’d given up and was just thinking about how to get Pony and Dog out.

  ‘Then I can come back in,’ I thought. ‘If I die, I’ll come back to life.’

  Pulling my foot back ready to put my plan into action, I noticed a slightly raised, squared off rock just beneath the sand. It looked like a paving brick.

  ‘It looks like the rock the souls showed you,’ said Brain.

  ‘You’re right!’

  ‘I think I’ve found it,’ I called.

  Moving the sand aside, Pony touched the brick, rocking it from side to side. I was able to catch one edge, while she pushed down on the other.

  ‘Let go,’ I said, pulling the brick away.

  Under it was a squared out hole with a beautiful blue amphora, that had a black stone wedged in it.

  ‘The Amphora of Souls,’ I said, becoming caught up in its awe from the moment I saw it.

  Holding it in my hands, I could feel the vibrations emanating from all the souls sealed within its confines. I also felt the rumblings of the cave come to a stop.

  ‘Now the amphora’s in my hands; I don’t want to give it away Brain.’

  Brain remained silent. The amphora was ancient, and I felt it belonged to me.

  ‘I don’t want to give this to the Man of the Trees,’ I said to the others and sat back down on the bench in front of the hole. The amphora knew it was mine to protect, as to, were the souls inside.

  ‘What do I do?’ I tearfully asked Pony and Dog. ‘If I don’t give it to the Tree, Ann can’t slay Tiamat.’

  Dog nestled against my leg and looked up at me. His eyes told me I would make the right decision. Pony appeared deep in thought when she spoke.

  ‘Hep Ann?’

  ‘Yes, we’ll help Ann,’ I said. ‘In the amphora, are the souls of those who have been trapped by the banshee. They’ve been locked away for a very long time, and they’re calling to me. They need my help too. What do I do?’

  The tears that had begun to well in my eyes spilled over and splashed against the blue of the amphora, washing the dirt from it, to reveal the golden shine of the souls within its confines.

  ‘Let doe,’ said Pony.

  ‘We’ll go in a minute,’ I cried while pulling my blouse up to wipe my eyes. ‘The cave’s stopped crumbling for the moment, and I just need some time to think.’

  ‘No, Jo let doe soul.’

  It took me a moment or three before I realised what she’d meant. Wiping my tears, I pulled my blouse down and gave her another kiss on her beautiful green slimy face.

  ‘Of course,’ I said as I stood. Pacing back and forwards as the banshee had earlier, I thought, ‘the Man of the Trees doesn’t need to know there were any souls in the amphora. I could just tell him the banshee was wearing them as a dress, and when she died, they left too. That wouldn’t be a lie, because thousands of souls did leave the banshee as she died. He didn’t tell me not to kill the banshee, did he? The quest was to retrieve the Amphora of Souls; he doesn’t have to know does he?’

  Pulling Pony close, I gave her another big kiss on her slimy cheek. With the cave seemingly waiting for us before continuing its collapse, we all took a moment to marvel at the beauty of the amphora vibrating in my hands. The blue of the crystal was very special. I could feel it when I touched it, and it wasn’t just any stone wedged in the top, it was a piece of pure black obsidian. Somehow I just knew what it was, and how precious it was.

  ‘Shall we do this together?’ I asked, turning to Pony who’d become excited by the idea.

  With Dog at our feet, Pony and I touched the stone, and she pulled back as if she’d received an electric shock.

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘Fell funny when touch.’

  ‘That’s the souls. They’re as excited as you are. They want to come out, and we’re going to set them free,’ I said, watching the smile return to her face.

  ‘Ready?’

  ‘Ready!’

  Pony touched the wedge without pulling back. We rocked it gently, so we didn’t crack the amphora, then pulled it out a little way. Gold orbs began to emerge from it. The more we pulled on the wedge, more souls poured out. There were thousands of them. They’d collected at the roof of the cave, and sung the same beautiful song all the other souls I’d met, had sung for me.

  They were dancing in the air, swirling in the thousands, like swarms of beautiful gold starlings at dusk. The cavern was full to overflowing with their golden dance, their song. They brushed against us, trailing thousands of tiny kisses all over our bodies. It was even more magical than the Rim had been.

  I believed only I could hear the song from the amphora, but Pony’s dance around the cavern perfectly met their melody. She had hundreds, maybe thousands of souls sitting on her, singing to her, dancing with her in an aerial dance that lifted her off the floor. I stood holding tight to the amphora. Even without the souls, it was a treasure to behold. We all danced and sang for a long time.

  Many souls sat on my shoulder and whispered things that somehow I already knew, but had forgotten, and needed reminding. I watched as Dog became swept up in the aerial acrobatics of the dance too. He was caressed by the thousands now free.

  ‘How long have you been in the amphora?’ I asked.

  ‘Hundreds of years, Andoré, but we knew you would come for us. Thank you for freeing those trapped to the banshee’s vesture. They suffered much more than we,’ the souls sang in whispers inside my head. I was also lifted from the ground in dance. We all danced in the air with the souls, free to move to the Rim.

  ‘I don’t know who I am,’ I said to Brain. ‘But now think I know what I am. Am I the Amphora of Souls?’

  Brain had gone quiet again, but there was something inside me that recognised the amphora. I held it, and the wedge, close to my chest. It vibrated at my touch because it recognised me too. I felt it was a piece of me, and if I was in any doubt about what I am, those who had been bound to it for centuries reminded me.

  I will be talking to Mother and Daddy very soon, but then, I’m enjoying this discovery… Okay, I haven’t enjoyed the snakes, spiders, bones, bodily fluids… dying’s a big one… but to discover I was part of something so powerful… so wonderful… I wanted to know more, and I wanted to find out for myself.

  In any other place, the sun would be coming up around now, but we danced and shared in the joy of each soul for many hours. After some time, we sat exhausted and watched the souls celebrate their release. They danced in circles, swept around the room en masse, with all the grace of the world’s greatest ballerina’s. My face hurt from smiling, laughing, and singing with them. I hadn’t danced so much before in my life, and I still wasn’t tired of it.

  We lay on the ground and watched as the souls collected on the roof. They created a beautiful star map, one I recognised as being from the Rim.

  ‘What is tha
t?’ I asked.

  ‘It is how you will find your way home Andoré.’

  ‘Out of the cave?’

  ‘Home,’ ‘Your home,’ ‘Your true home,’ whispered many souls, slightly out of sync with each other, just as the We had spoken to me.

  ‘Remember Andoré, remember your way home for when it is time.’

  ‘Time?’ I dreamily asked. ‘Time for what?’

  ‘We must leave now Andoré,’ they whispered, ‘but we will see you very soon.’

  ‘Time for what?’ I asked again, but they’d collected into one group and formed a beautiful rose. Then we watched as they danced a flawless pirouette, in the shape of a prima ballerina, all keeping perfect time with each other.

  ‘We must leave.’

  ‘No wait, please,’ I begged, never wanting their dance to end. ‘Can’t you stay a little longer?’

  ‘It is our time Andoré, your time is not yet,’ they said, spreading out across the roof to create the star map again. ‘When it is time, this is your home. We must leave now, the Rim is calling. Many will heed the call; others will seek rebirth.’

  ‘The We and all the other souls are waiting for you at the Rim. For those who choose rebirth, if you remember, find me,’ I said.

  ‘Pony?’

  ‘Yep?’ asked my dreamy ghoul friend.

  ‘The souls have to go now. Do you want to say goodbye?’

  ‘Bye, bye, bye souls,’ Pony said, getting up from the ground, running around, trying to catch them like butterflies in an invisible net.

  The souls gathered above our heads, sang for us one more time, then we watched as thousands moved up into the rock on their way to the Rim, while thousands more moved through the walls to be reborn. When the last soul left, I carefully put the wedge back into my amphora.

  ‘I have no intention of giving this to the Man of the Trees,’ I said to Brain. ‘We’ll hide it away somewhere to retrieve later. I don’t need the stick man to tell me where to find Tiamat, the souls have already shown me. They’ve shown me everywhere the banshees been.’