by A M Russell
We had come from the massive cave we were in round the pool of this waterfall to the edge of a deep drop of what looked like thousands of feet, where an immense waterfall tumbled. From higher above us than I could see past this side gallery (as it now must seem) it gushed into a void than had no discernible bottom. Still softly lit with a myriad organic lights, it was too terrifying and wonderful to contemplate. Too great to take in with one glance. I shrank then from the most awful thing of all. A narrow bridge than started as a wide road near our feet and sprang outwards into this space and travelled into the heart of a glowing rainbow of water and light. There was no rail, no support, and no visible landing space on any other edge. But that, it seemed was our road.
We stopped behind a biggish boulder. There we were sheltered slightly from the sound. Jared hugged each of us in turn. 'For what lays ahead.' he said. Oliver looked sober and shouted 'How about the masks?'
Jared shook his head, but then said: 'Make it ready with the filter only.'
'Can we breathe?' I yelled pointing over our rock.
'Yes. I believe so. They do.'
The old man appeared: 'It is a good time now. When the moon rises we cannot pass.'
'It must come from outside. The waterfall is affected by the tides.' said Marcia.
'But it's frozen. We know that.' Oliver struggled with the end of the mask. Jared helped him and smiled in a strange way. Curiously he seemed in this soft light less burdened, younger, not the slightly craggy adventurer I was used to.
'What did you do before this?' I asked Jared. He looked at me suddenly. 'Nothing. Nothing at all' he replied and smiled, 'Time to go.'
'Yes. Time now. Soon the water rises.' the old man pointed upwards, 'then it becomes a big river from top to bottom.'
'How long does it take to cross?' I asked
The other three tribes’ people looked at me. 'It takes forever.' said one of the others.
'He means a very long time,' said Jared, 'we need to set off now.'
'But how long?' I insisted
The tribesman looked at Jared, not understanding my reluctance.
'They are the best hope of finding the others Davey. They watch everyone.'
'But aren't we moving away from her....I mean Janey’s location?' I shouted.
'We've got no signal. That message is three days old now. We could wander in these caves forever.' Jared seemed worried now, 'Davey. Try to trust me. I need it right now.'
'O.k.'
'O.k.' Jared repeated and tightened his pack strap.
I didn't dare look at Marcia or Oliver. If they realised how terror had reduced me to a pathetic heap of jelly I would be lost.
We began the walk into the waterfall.
*****
Sixteen
It was a long way to the part of the stony path that became the dreadful bridge into open space. I peered intently trying to discern any shadows or dark patches through the colours of the waterfall that might indicate where the other side was; and consequently how far I would have to go in my alarmed state before a point of relief was imminent. I risked a glance at Jared. His face... What shall I say? He was bright eyed, calm, relaxed... He was enjoying this! I looked ahead. The road was a lot wider than it first appeared. It was about the same distance from side to side as the north bound half of a three lane motorway. It seemed if one walked right in the middle the drop might not be visible. I didn't exactly feel much better, rather a few degrees less terrified. I was keeping the lid on it; just. I thought I might cross this place with only an extremely unpleasant feeling; instead of a traumatised set of memories that would wake me up at night sweating. Just as I was thinking this we stepped onto the part of our road that jutted out into unsupported space. Only my rational set of beliefs in the science of objects that span gaps and have been there a very long time kept me from hesitating as I sensed, rather than saw the drop beneath this sprouting frond of stone. About 30 feet beyond our path the stone had splattered patterns of drops thrown out from the spurting and flexing of this new giant waterfall. Perhaps another 20 feet beyond that it graduated to a heavy shower. As we approached I felt a change. The echoes and all the sound without was deadened; replaced by the soft spill of drops around us. Something like a silence was felt, but this was one where the silence was within, not without. A few more steps and we were all soaked. Marcia stretched out her hands as she turned her face upwards. I felt it too. This was a cleansing flow of pure water that was cool without being cold. Even Oliver was smiling as the pouring shower washed off our muddy disguises. I had forgotten how dusty and unkempt we must have looked. As all today we had travelled, after sleeping in a gravelly hollow last night, and then daubed with ochre and dun. Jared stood for a moment his face upturned, his eyes closed. He then bent his head down for a moment. He held something in the palm of both hands cupped carefully. Jared was not as I usually thought of him; but here so calm, so utterly otherworldly. For a fraction of a moment I saw him as an entirely unusual kind - living a somewhat different sort of life; and not being sure what to make of that profound peacefulness as he opened his eyes again; I felt embarrassed and looked away.
So slowly it seemed we edged our way across the arc of stone through the pouring waterfall. If it hadn't been for the waterproof over sacks everything would have been wringing wet. I peered at my watch, blinking the spray out of my eyes. Marcia was just to my right and a little behind, Oliver was, like me walking down the centre at the back of the group. The small group of tribes’ people had spread out to the right and left of us, and appeared to walk a long zigzag course towards the edge and back to us in the centre. At each point of being visible they signalled to each other then dipped away again. Jared was about three yards ahead of me walking with the older tribesman. They, like us, walked the middle course. He carried the long pole that I had seen one of the others with earlier. My examination of the time revealed that we had been on this day’s journey for over fourteen hours in total. I knew that we would need to stop soon. It was, from our point of view nearly nine in the evening. The last time I had been still travelling long into the evening, had been the walk back to End Base from the temporary Boundary Camp, after the accident in the hollow. I'd been drugged at the time, so perhaps that had affected my appreciation of the scenery. Just like then, I really was starting to feel the first signs of a grinding weariness. Although hardy as we all were from our adventuring, there was a point where we would need to stop. I felt the waterfall had done its work. And I really was as clean as one could be by taking a shower with one's clothes still on. Just as I was starting to wonder if we would have to spend the night on this rain soaked precipice, I caught up with Jared and the old tribesman. The others quickly gathered in. One of the other tribesmen met us and pointed a little to the left and downwards. At this point we saw some smallish rocks like a collection of stray footballs. And just past these, there was a darker patch. As we approached, I realised to my horror it was a craterlike depression in the stone bridge. There didn't seem to be any way round it. And further along there was another. At first I didn't understand what Jared and the old man were saying to each other. But it dawned on me that the way our journey took us was down the hole! I was certain it was ok as one of the tribesmen sat down on the edge of this bath plug hole and promptly slid down into the centre and disappeared. Jared must have seen my face, because in the next moment he was next to me and explaining loudly in my ear how the distance was only a few feet into a six foot high tunnel, which then ran into another open channel cutting into the wall behind the waterfall. It seemed we would, with this right angled turn from our current position, reach a sheltered place behind the waterfall. This was communicated in a few well-chosen phrases that left me in no doubt as to the urgency of compliance. We were all exhausted. In another ten minutes we could be out of the wet. I watched as Oliver squatted at the edge of this wide depression. He glanced at Jared and with the direction of one of the youngest of our team of guides pushed himself forwards from the lip wit
h considerable force. Oliver slid down feet first. Two more of our new companions followed. Then Marcia, who was visibly shivering, slithered with limbs splayed out. She braced herself over the opening for a moment, like a ballerina doing the splits; and after one glance downwards launched herself neatly into the chute. Three more tribesmen followed. That just left Me, Jared, and three others - including the old man. He indicated haste and then pointed upwards. I didn't understand what he meant until I looked at the "plug hole" and saw the water was swirling clockwise, which disturbed me for reasons that I couldn't quite process in my mind at that moment. The two younger tribesmen launched themselves at a run. One going down head first. The roar of the waterfall was insistent and terrifying now. The old tribesman pointed upwards again. The water was falling in a visibly heavier flow than ten minutes since. Jared nodded and went, vanishing out of sight down the now madly spinning surge of ripples. The old man put his hand on my shoulder and pressed me forward. I could not make myself kneel down in supplication to be executed this way. I resisted. He stood in front of me and sat down. I just stood there feeling the terror rise. He looked up at me then, and nodded blinking away the rain. I would wait until he had gone and then find a way to ease myself down slowly. There was a craggy rock. I had rope. It seemed logical. He pointed up again and then made as if to push himself from the edge down the funnel. Quicker than thought I was pulled by the ankles. I was spinning and skidding towards the gapping maw with no way of stopping. I think I tried to spread my legs like Marcia had done to pause before the drop, but this only served to make me spin faster. Then I was in the roaring dark and the water was in my eyes. I was automatically holding my breath. I felt something grab my ankles with force and yank me sideways. I discovered a moment later Jared holding my limp form as I struggled to clear my vision. I felt hazy and I couldn't breathe. He shook me roughly. I coughed and vomited.
'Steady now.' Jared said softly, 'Don't struggle.' He put his hand on my chest. I stopped gasping and sucked in a lung full of air.
'You can stand now. Come on Davey.' Jared pulled me upright. I felt as if I'd swallowed a whole river.
I saw the old man stood by quite calmly. I felt a mixture of annoyance and respect. I realised that we had to move swiftly to get out from under the torrent that was increasing its force as it fell from above. We moved along this lipped channel from which walls rose slightly above our heads. By our feet the stream flowed in a deeper cut. The narrow path we walked on was beginning to swish and slosh with a greater flow. We came out from under the overhang. We were in a torrential tropical rain storm. The water falling on us seemed only slightly discontinuous than the boiling stream on our left. Suddenly this stream spilled out of a great gap in the channel to our left like the spout of a monstrous milk jug, and our route on the right hand side of this alarming water feature, was a steep scramble up a set of giant steps. We clambered up six of these and then were above the level of the rocky span that we had walked upon. It was being washed by the raging torrent. The rounded bowl-like depressions including the one we had slid down were full to overflowing. The old man urged haste. This time I responded, willing my trembling limbs to propel me over another rock. Two more and we found a short tunnel going into the wall of rock. The roof was perforated with small apertures through which sprang jets of water. In any other circumstances I would have found this rather pleasing. Like some wild garden centre creation. We hurried along to a tight dead end. It was slick with some strange vegetation. It appeared to be slightly reddish, just like the seaweed-like growths in the steamy pool from our first meeting with the tribesmen. I looked back and saw our way quite obscured with glassy twisting flowing and foaming excretions down this short tunnel. We all crowded close to each other. At this moment I felt too tired to care what happened. We weren't climbing up the face of a waterfall with at least a thousand feet drop under us anymore. The youngest of the tribesmen pushed between us. The long pole was passed to him over our heads. He deftly placed it upright in a dent in the floor and settled the top end in a little dip that was just visible above. Before I had time to wonder about the purpose of this; he had swiftly run up the pole using the large notches in the sides, and lightly sprung onto a small ledge some six to eight feet above our heads. Maybe as many as fifteen feet from the floor we were standing on. One at a time we all followed: Marcia with balletic grace. Jared and Oliver with heavy clambering that made the stick vibrate. I was next to last just before the old man. I wasn't particularly delicate about it. But I got to the top rather faster than the last hazard. Clearly the policy of putting the slow and scared at the back with the cunning old guy worked a treat. I'd soon be running up and down poles as nimbly as the rest.
*****
Seventeen
Slowly, oh so slowly I took it all in: from slender columns, to the arched roof; to the further raised floor covered in animal skins, to deep jewel-like snaking branched patterns on deep rich wall hangings. This space seemed small compared to the vast vertiginous spaces outside the wall; but it was as large as a barn, with many comforts round about. It was softly illuminated with many tiny gold coloured metal lamps; my attention was drawn irresistibly to the end of the room, where: oh joy of joys! There was an enormous open fire. The three of us excepting Jared walked forward slowly, curiously like cats investigating the comforts available to them waiting to be claimed. I was trembling from the long climb through corridors and galleries to the entrance of this underground city. I think we were a lot nearer the surface now. Perhaps a couple of hundred feet below maybe? Jared finished his softly worded conversation with the old tribesman, who then melted into a small side entrance at the lower end of the room. The others had already vanished somewhere while I was distracted by the earthy luxuries set before us. Jared climbed up the step and stumbled. Marcia took his hand and they both approached the open fire. I saw the fire light flicker across all our faces. Marcia unpacked her med kit and tended to some grazes on Jared's hands. Oliver gave me the once over check; we were both relatively undamaged. We checked our packs systematically. I saw her eyes, and the way she was so gentle as she touched his raw knuckles. Jared was crying silently; surely not with pain? It wasn't that; it was something here. This place, and its wonder, and the things that seemed so empty now. We were betrayed; the men I had seen told us this. We were 'in' something and it was so much a waste. The entire puppet master's deceit in one thing revealed. Jared looked at me as Marcia bent over his hands. He seemed to stare right through me; he seemed so bleak; so utterly weary. It was a mess and no mistake. What to do? Marcia finished her ministrations; and Jared lay down and curled up on a rug. Oliver nudged me. We finished the check and Marcia came and sat with us. We shared a little water from our flasks. No one spoke. The time was nearly midnight. Apart from a brief rest in that little nest of rocks after I nearly got caught; we had travelled all day. I tried to work out how many miles we walked and boggled at the sheer scariness of some of the places we'd been in today. Jared worried me. He seemed so much more emotional and intense since we'd started out in the buggy yesterday. I felt stupid then, remembering my terrified idiocy back at the stone bridge. I looked at the other faces. Oliver and Marcia - they had followed him without question.... They had risked everything that mattered. We were way out of bounds now. I had forgotten this. We would be on report at least, that was if we made it back to Main Base. Jared was in a desperate situation: if he didn't find out what was happening, it was all over for him. I never realised that decisions once taken with such apparent casualness could have such repercussions. My involvement was predicated on such capricious longing for meaning and change. Like grass in a meadow, it shifted with the wind. Jared wasn't like that; he was driven by something quite consistently unswerving. It was, if you like, a fixed point in space/time from which all other events are measured. Like a rock set in the sea of change, he was obsessed with preserving one thing, and nothing could change that. Only, it seemed I was the only one who didn't know what that actually was. Oliver saw
me staring and grunted something that sounded like "Night Milnes." I turned away then and curled myself in a half sitting position with my back to the fire.
Quite a long time later two women moved quietly into the room, and passed by me like a soft breeze. They fuelled the fire from what appeared to be copper bowls in the shadows beyond the fireplace. They moved so softly yet I squinted sideways and saw Jared's eyes open and follow the two as they stepped down from the raised area back into the dimly illuminated space. They passed by the circle of lamplight and vanished through one of the hollow arches. I saw Jared grip the sheath below his belt; he stared hard at the darkened doorways for almost a minute. Then he seemed to breathe and relax. He looked at me and indicated for me to go over to him.
We sat nearer to the fire then. Jared rubbed his face to clear the sleep from his eyes.
'I'm not doing too well Davey,' he smiled but looked sad as I gingerly sat down. Marcia and Oliver still slept soundly.
‘Bad Dreams?’ I asked.
‘You could say that.’ Jared looked at me bleakly and was silent then for so long I thought he fallen asleep. But then: ‘I’ve loved her for so long….’
‘What?’ I knew I was being stupid, but it seemed the kindest thing.
‘Back before all this. Before the expedition. We met….’ he looked at me half amused then, ‘would you believe at a party? She wore a long skirt that sort of swirled round. My sister had invited her along with some other people she knew. She was less afraid then. Carefree. You know.’