by Rada, J. R.
Gary inserted his mouthpiece and turned on the regulator. When he stepped into the freezing water, he shivered. He had forgotten how cold the water was. If it hadn’t been for the mouthpiece, his teeth would have chattered against each other. He’d wished they’d had time to put on their wet suits. This had better be a short dive. If they stayed underwater too long they might die from hypothermia. Everything was happening too fast. They needed to slow down and plan. For once in his life, he wasn’t too anxious to see what was at the end of a cave.
David followed Gary into the water. Gary turned on his flashlight and stepped off the ledge he was standing on. David hopped off the ledge and sunk into the water.
The lights lit up the sump about ten feet in front of them. Although they were barely kicking their flippers, the water was dirty with silt. It was a sign that someone who hadn’t been careful had gone through the sump recently and Gary thought he knew who it was.
Was he really going to see an underground city? Although his mind rebelled at the idea, it also excited him. When he was fifteen, he had read Journey to the Center of the Earth in his English class. He had been fascinated with the thought that Atlantis had been sucked up by the earth and was still basically intact underground. That book, more than anything else, had gotten him interested in caving, and he had never gotten over his fascination with the story or caves. Finding a city like Atlantis underground would be like playing a character in the book.
Gary dove deeper trying to go under the roof of the cave. The passage narrowed and he turned sideways so that he could get through the choke. As he slid between the narrow rocks, he saw something wedged in the crevice. He slowed his movement and grabbed the object as he passed by.
It was a glove. A small glove. He turned up the inside tag and saw “C.S.” written in permanent marker.
It was Christine’s glove.
Those...people had her. What would they do to her and Sarah? David seemed to think they would be used as breeding stock like a prized steer.
Suddenly the idea of blowing up part of the cave didn’t seem like such a bad idea after all.
CHAPTER 54
Gary hated the water. Not water in general, just this water that filled the passageway through the cave. If by some stoke of luck they did manage to find Sarah and Christine, they were still going to have to get out of the caverns without getting themselves killed. That would be very hard to do if they all had to put on their scuba gear again while they were being pursued. It would take too much time.
David let go of Gary’s calf and shot to surface ahead of him. Gary could see his body treading water. Gary allowed himself to slowly float to the surface. The entire dive had taken about four minutes.
As his head broke the surface, the two flashlights on his helmet illuminated the shore. Half a dozen pale men were standing there. The looked just like the men Gary had seen kill Jared, except they were wearing yellow tunics with black trim, not black with red trim.
Gary grabbed for the pistol he had tucked in the waistband of his pants. He had sealed the pistol in a waterproof bag before diving into the sump. He brought the pistol to the surface and pointed it at the men on the shore. It would be useless to try to take it out of the bag. It would fire just as well through the bag, and he didn’t know how much time he had before the men on the shore attacked them.
If the men knew the pistol was a weapon, they certainly didn’t seem afraid of it. They didn’t even move at the sight of the gun. It would be like shooting targets in a fun house.
As his finger tightened on the trigger, David’s hand slapped the pistol below the surface of the water.
“They’re good guys,” David said in answer to Gary’s unasked question.
Gary and David slowly climbed out of the water and stood in the center of a ring of half a dozen Sun Clansmen. David moved slowly because he wasn’t sure if the Sun Clansmen trusted him, and he didn’t want to startle them into action. As the Sun Clansmen stared at them, David motioned for Gary to take off his scuba equipment.
David stared back at the Sun Clansmen waiting for something more to happen, but nothing did. He wondered if they even recognized him.
David’s skin dimpled and he shivered in the cool air of the caverns. He reached into his waterproof bag and pulled out a towel to dry off with. When he had finished, he was still cold but at least his teeth weren’t chattering. Somehow it just didn’t seem right to let his teeth chatter in front of the Sun Clan.
Gary still looked overwhelmed by everything that was happening. His face was pale, and his brow kept wrinkling as if he was mulling over some great question. He had unbagged his pistol even before he had taken off his tanks. The pistol was shoved into his waistband and Gary kept his hand near the butt.
“Why don’t they say anything?” Gary whispered in David’s ear.
“You wouldn’t understand them if they did. They speak an ancient form of the Hopi Indian language. Let me concentrate for a minute and see if I can communicate with them like I did before,” David told him.
In truth, David wasn’t sure if concentration was the key to communication with the Sun Clan. It had happened so naturally before. Masani had touched the center of his forehead, and David had suddenly heard Masani’s voice in his head.
David held out his forefinger and walked toward the nearest Sun Clansman. He didn’t know which one was the leader of the group, but he assumed he should be able to communicate with any of them. The Sun Clansman backed away from David’s touch. David smiled and tried to touch the man’s forehead again. This time he succeeded.
As he made contact, he thought, I am a friend of Ma´saw.
You are Outlanders. How do you know Ma´saw?
David took a step back. If things went as they had before, he would be able to maintain communications without direct contact with the person.
Masani helped me. He helped me escape the Bow Clan when I was lost in the caverns. He took me to Polanque, and Polanque took me to Ma´saw. I helped organize the raid into the temple to reclaim the women from the Bow Clan.
Masani is dead.
I know. I am sorry, but I killed the Bow Clansman who killed him.
It is a risk the Sun Clan takes.
It might be, but that didn’t stop the man from hurting, David noted as he saw the pained expression flash across the man’s face. He wondered if the Sun Clansman and Masani had been friends.
“Are you talking to them?” Gary asked. David nodded. “Ask them if they can help us find the women.”
The Bow Clan has taken two women from us. We have come to find them. The first is called Christine. She has blond hair, green eyes, flat-chested, and round hips.
Christine is dead, a different voice said inside David’s head. I saw her body displayed on the central temple before I left with the Sun Clan. The dark kachinas killed her.
“What’s wrong?” Gary asked when he saw the look of disappointment on David’s face. “Haven’t they seen her?”
David wondered if he should tell Gary the truth. “They’ve seen her. She’s dead, Gary,” David told him.
Gary’s shoulders sagged and he put his hands over his face.
The dark kachinas displayed the woman’s body to tell the Sun Clan that the Outlanders are no match for the dark kachinas. Is that true? one of the Sun Clan asked.
David turned to Gary. “They want to know if we can defeat the Bow Clan and the dark kachinas.”
Gary nodded. “Tell them we can kill them if we have to. They’re only human.”
David relayed the message and all the Bow Clansmen smiled. Then David described Sarah and asked if they had seen her.
The Sun Clansmen shook their heads.
One of them said, If the Bow Clan has her, they will take her to the central temple.
Can you take us there? David wanted to know.
Two of the Sun Clansmen shrank away from the circle.
It is the central temple. We cannot take you there. It is too dangerous, someone thoug
ht.
Your people attacked it and stole back the women a short time ago.
That was a smaller temple. Sarah will be where the dark kachinas dwell, and once there, she will die.
Can you show us how to get to the surface? someone asked. We have come a long way to find a path to a new sipapu where our people can exit. You are Pahana. It is said you will deliver us from Kuskurza.
We cannot return to Tu´waqachi until we find Sarah, David told him.
I have told you we cannot take you. It is too dangerous.
David wished he knew which voice belonged to which Sun Clansman. He wanted to stare into the eyes of the ones who were afraid and see if they were truly afraid of the central temple or if they just wanted to continue their explorations before the Bow Clan found them.
Take us to Ma´saw, David told the Sun Clansmen.
CHAPTER 55
The Bow Clansmen dragged Sarah through the poorly lit hallway. She saw no entrances or exits anywhere along it, only the massive doors she had been dragged through and the equally massive doors she was headed toward. The ceiling was nearly twenty feet above her head. It reminded her of a massive chamber in the caves.
The Bow Clansmen stopped in front of the ten-foot high doors and pushed one open slightly. Then with a rough push, they shoved Sarah inside.
The door closed behind Sarah before she was even able to stop herself from moving forward. She turned quickly and ran back to the door. She felt along the wall for a doorknob. Even if she found it, she guessed the door would be locked, but she had to try nonetheless. There wasn’t a doorknob that she could find. She couldn’t even feel the seams that marked the edge of the door.
Sarah turned around and leaned back against the door. The room she was in was pitch black like a cave when there were no lights. How big was the room, she wondered. And why had she been thrown in here? Was it some sort of punishment? Solitary confinement?
She started to feel her way along the wall wanting to know how big the room was and if there was another entrance. She had only walked a few feet when she stopped.
She wasn’t alone in the room. Something told her there was someone else nearby. She was tempted to call out, but anyone she met would certainly be an enemy so she remained silent.
Then she felt the weight around her ankles. She looked down and didn’t see anything. Or at least she didn’t think she saw anything, but there was something there. She could feel it. It moved in the darkness. It was like the darkness itself was moving.
The shadows! It was like the shadows in the cave when she first went inside them with David. The shadows had taken on a solidity. All she had to do was turn on a light and the shadows would disappear, but here there was no light to turn on here.
What would happen when there was nothing to stop the shadows? She tried to move away, but her legs seemed glued to the floor and all she could do was stand and feel the darkness slowly work its way up her legs.
Then she remembered her matches. She always kept a book of matches in her pocket to light the lanterns in the pueblo. Sarah patted her hip pockets of her jeans and felt the reassuring bulge. She wondered if they would still be wet from being pulled under the sump. That had been many days ago, though. Her clothes had dried out already. She just hoped the matches had, too.
The darkness had climbed to the middle of her thighs. She felt something sharp like a needle prick her calf, but she managed to contain her startled yelp.
She pulled the matchbook out of her pocket. At least they felt dry. She struck the first match and it flared then fizzled out. Sarah was disappointed, but she had felt the darkness back off for the moment the flame had flared.
The darkness was at her waist now. She felt two more needle pricks on her buttocks. She suppressed a yell both times, but when she felt something bite her thigh, she screamed.
She struck another match and this one stayed lit. It cast a dim light that reached no more than a foot into the darkness before it faded.
The darkness stopped moving and something yelled. It was hard to tell where the yell came from. It seemed to echo from everywhere at once.
Now at least she had something to defend herself with no matter how small it might be.
CHAPTER 56
The dark kachina screamed in pain. Light! Light! How could the light enter his chamber consecrated to the darkness?
It was the woman! She had brought the sun inside with her to kill him. He retreated into the darkest corner of his chamber and waited for his death to come. Soon the room would brighten as the twins returned with Taiowa’s light. It would be just as it had been before.
The twin sons of Taiowa would enter Kuskurza and drive all the darkness from the Third World. Pahana would free the Sun Clan. The power of the dark kachinas would wither, and they would be driven into the darkest recesses of the central temple. Only this time, there would be no place to hide. If the twins entered the chambers of the dark kachinas, the dark kachinas would surely die. There would be no place to hide from the light. He and the others would be imprisoned for another millennia or worse yet, they might die.
Then the dark kachina noticed the light, although it brought much pain when it touched him, it was weak and small. It was brighter than the light in Kuskurza, but it was small, very small. It cast out the darkness for only a small area, not even enough to expose the woman’s entire arm.
The woman had magic, but only a very weak magic. It was not a magic strong enough to kill him, if he was careful.
The woman spun the light around trying to illuminate all sides of her at once, but it was impossible. She knew her magic was weak and could not fully compensate for it.
He moved in closer, but he was careful to stay out of the range of the light in case the woman might turn quickly and catch him in the glow of the light. As she turned away from him, he moved in quickly and bit her shoulder. She screamed and dropped the light. It went out and the dark kachina allowed himself a sigh.
He turned his attention entirely on the woman. She had run away from him, but there was no way she could escape him. There was only one entrance to his chamber, and it could only be opened from the outside. The woman was his to consume.
He quickly surrounded her and pressed in on all sides of her body. He did not want to give her a chance to create another light. He could feel her heartbeat quicken as her fear increased. He could feel her chest heaving as she struggled with each breath. He released her and she leaned against the wall taking deep breaths.
He watched her for a minute as her eyes darted blindly around the room never seeing him even though he stood directly in front of her. She started to try and create another light. He reached over and bit her right hand. She screamed and ran along the edge of the wall. The dark kachina laughed and let her run. She would tire herself, and she would be no further away from him.
He would toy with her awhile longer and then he would kill her. He bit her thigh this time and she began to cry. She pulled away from him, but she did not run. She realized it was futile to try and escape from him.
He watched her feel around on the floor for her light maker, but it was far from her reach. He was untroubled by her search.
He felt something. A warning, but it was dim, too dim. The Sun Clan were in the caverns again. How long had they been in the caverns without the dark kachinas sensing them? They were returning from an exploration. He could tell that from the way they moved.
The dark kachinas should have known before now. Where there was no light, the power of the dark kachinas was supreme. How could the Sun Clan have ventured so far within the strongest domain of their power?
The dark kachina stopped and sent a message to the other dark kachinas. The Sun Clan was in the caverns. Where have they been?
To the barrier, came a reply.
There are two more returning than there were going, another told the Lord.
Is it the twins? he thought with more than a hint of fear.
We cannot tell, but they seem the
same as the Sun Clan.
Kill them all.
Yes, kill them.
It was agreed. The call went out to the Bow Clan. Those in the caverns would die.
CHAPTER 57
The light in the large room was dim, but bright enough to see without having to turn on a flashlight. The Sun Clansmen led David and Gary into it. The man sitting on a stone chair at the front of the room signalled for the Sun Clansmen to leave.
“Who’s this?” Gary asked David.
“His name is Ma´saw. He’s the leader of the Sun Clan,” David replied.
Ma´saw was as white as the other people of Kuskurza. He wore a loose tunic over his thin body made of the familiar silky yellow-and-black material of the Sun Clan. His head rested on his interlaced fingers.
Ma´saw said something that David did not understand.
David closed his eyes and tried to project his thoughts. Can you understand me? he asked.
I understand, a deep voice replied in his head. Our lost white brother has returned once again. It is good that you have not forgotten us, Pahana. Have you come to lead the Sun Clan to Tu´waqachi? We have been awaiting your return.
We know the way, yes.
Ma´saw raised his head expectantly. Will you lead us there?
Yes. Ma´saw smiled. But first my companion and I must find a woman who was taken from Tu´waqachi by the Bow Clan.
Ma´saw’s smile fell. If the Bow Clan has taken her, she is lost. Forget about her. She is dead.
I did not forget about the women of Kuskurza when I was here before. How can you ask me to forget about this woman I have grown to love? If she is dead, as you say, then I must see the body. Somehow David knew that Sarah wasn’t dead, at least not yet. Maybe he could sense her life with his psychic ability, or maybe he was just hoping he wasn’t too late this time. He had failed Terrie. He had failed Adam. He wouldn’t fail Sarah.