Kelven's Riddle: The Mountain at the Middle of the World

by Daniel T Hylton

  If by now the lashers were on the hunt, they could certainly make better progress through the ruin of the canyon with their longer and stronger legs, but if the two men had not yet been seen they just needed to stay ahead of the pursuit until dark. Aram knew nothing of a lasher’s ability to see at night, but he felt that given the cover of darkness, he could think of some way to avoid capture, even if it meant plunging into the flooded stream and trying to float past their pursuers in the dark water.

  The sun sank lower and the canyon began to fall into shadow. And still, he heard nothing behind them. They came out into a narrow valley where the canyon walls curved away on both sides of the river. There were large stands of trees at the base of the slopes that encircled a long, flat, grassy meadow. The river had spilled over its banks to flood most of the valley floor. At the edges of the meadow, mingled with the groves of fir and pine, there were small clusters of slender trees with pale green leaves and white bark. Followed by Decius, Aram descended to the edge of the water and found the going much easier.

  At the far end of the valley, the canyon wall on their side of the river closed abruptly inward and the way forward became completely impassable at the scene of an amazing thing. The river had curved against the canyon on that side and ran turbulent and deep along the base of a perpendicular cliff. At the base of this cliff, at the level of the river, there was a wide fissure running back into the rock.

  Out of the fissure poured a vast amount of water, equal at least to half the volume of the river with which it mingled in violent fashion. They stared for a moment, astounded by this sight, but Aram knew that they had no time to waste on marvels. For several frantic minutes he explored the cliff for a way ahead or up and over but it was hopeless. The route was blocked and they must either backtrack or find a way across the swollen river.

  On the other side of the flooded river, the canyon wall had become less steep and had broadened out into a series of corrugated ridges punctuated here and there by tall spires of rock and ravines filled with trees. Aram peered eastward in the failing light of the day and it looked as if the other side of the canyon was accessible for as far ahead as he could see. In order to keep going eastward, they would have to find a place to cross the swollen river, before dark if possible. Fortunately, the river had spread out over the narrow floor of the valley and as a result, the vigor of the floodwaters was somewhat reduced.

  Aram looked at Decius. “Can you swim?”

  Decius stared back, breathing heavily with his mouth hanging open, and slowly shook his head.

  “Well, that’s what we have to do,” Aram said bluntly. “We can’t stay here and we can’t go any further on this side. We must get across. Follow me and do the best you can. If you get into trouble, I probably won’t be able to help you but I’ll do what I can. Come on.”

  He’d never swam in the whole course of his existence, but his life and liberty were now at stake, so he plunged into the water and waded toward the far shore. The water was not deep at first, rising to about his knees and he instinctively stayed on a line that would keep him at the upstream end of the valley. As he waded out into the water he glanced down at the far end of the valley, afraid and half-expecting to see lashers making great easy strides toward him, swords at the ready to sever his life. But there was nothing moving against the flat light of the setting sun, and except for the distant call of a hawk, and Decius’ hoarse breathing, the evening was silent.

  Suddenly Aram’s feet slipped off an underwater ledge into nothing and the current had him. He went momentarily under and came up gasping for air and flailing at the water. Frantically, he pulled at the water with his hands and kicked at the flood with his booted feet and was surprised to find that he was making progress despite the weight of his sodden clothing. The current was rapidly washing him toward the lower end of the valley but by thrusting one arm forward and then the other and cupping his hands as he dragged at the water, he drew the other side of the river ever nearer.

  Within moments he was through the swiftest part of the current. Then his feet touched bottom and once more he was wading in the thigh-deep water of the flooded meadow. He turned to check on Decius and found that the stocky young man had done almost as well and was chugging determinedly through waist deep water just a few yards downstream.

  Jubilantly, they made for dry land and when they’d cleared the water, Aram looked once more down the canyon to the west, then motioned for Decius to follow, turned back to the east and ran on.

  Even in the fading light the topography of the south side of the canyon made for good progress. The slope was even less steep than it had appeared and there were wide grassy alluvial fans nearly devoid of rocks. Crossing the ravines was tricky, especially in the gathering darkness, and when he came to one he invariably slowed to help Decius, but his heart was lightened by the fact that at no time did he see or hear evidence of pursuit.

  A short way to the east of the flooded narrow valley where they’d crossed the river, Aram angled up the slope in search of a better way across one of the wooded ravines and came across a dim trail leading up the canyon. There was nothing to indicate whether it had been made by humans or by animals but since it made movement easier and more certain in the twilight, he took to the path and he and Decius went on as hard as they could. In less than an hour, however, it was dark, too dark to see and Aram was reduced to feeling for the relative smoothness of the path with his boots.

  Throughout the first part of the night he kept going, probing the ground ahead with his feet to determine the course of the path, and whistling low every so often to keep Decius in tow. Eventually, however, he strayed in the darkness and they found themselves in a steep area in a tangle of trees. By this time both men were exhausted. Utterly out of energy and encouraged by the apparent lack of pursuit, they felt around under the trees until each of them found a reasonably level spot blanketed with fallen leaves. Then they dropped wearily to the ground and slept.

  III

  Aram awoke in the morning stiff from the exertions of the previous day, cold and hungry. The sun had not yet cleared the heights of the mountains to the east and there was mist in the canyon. Decius was asleep. The morning was still with not a breath of wind and he sat quietly for several minutes and listened. There was no sound of anything as large as a lasher moving around anywhere in the dim canyon. Except for one lone eagle tracing wide circles in the air high above the canyon rim to the north, nothing moved in all the world. He got to his feet, rubbing his aching legs, and looked around.

  They’d spent the night in a tiny grove of the slim, white-barked trees that grew on a kind of shelf about halfway up the slope. When he could move without cramping, he extricated himself from the growth of trees and eased down the incline. He found the trail they’d been following the previous evening and was surprised at its quality.

  It did not appear to have been engineered by human hands, in that no rocks had been moved or any earth disturbed in order to improve it, which suggested that it was made by the frequent use of some kind of animal. It was narrow and worn pretty deep in some spots. There were small hoof prints here and there in the mud and he wondered if it was used by animals similar to the deer he had seen now and again in the fields of his youth. But Aram had little time to examine the matter further; he could only congratulate himself on finding the trail and then put it to use.

  He climbed back up to the grove of trees and found Decius sitting up and staring about himself groggily.

  “Where are we, Aram?”

  “I don’t know,” Aram answered, and he reached down to help the shorter man to his feet. “But we’re certainly not anywhere near where we need to be. The field is only a few miles behind us. We need to get moving, Decius.”

  With a groan, Decius took the proffered hand and pulled himself up. “I’m hungry,” he said.

  “Me, too,” agreed Aram. “But that will have to wait. They know we’re gone by now and they’ll be coming. We have to put as much ground
as we can behind us. A lasher could easily cover the distance from the field to where we are now in much less time than it took us to get here.”

  They worked their way back down the slope to the trail and turned east, striding determinedly, but this morning they did not run. They were both still weary from the previous day’s exertions and from the lack of food. Sustenance, Aram realized; something he hadn’t considered at all on the previous day was going to become a serious problem as they went forward.

  Still, they moved along briskly once back on the path. Anxiety over pursuit was still very strong but as the morning wore away, hunger gradually replaced it on Aram’s list of priorities. They’d expended massive amounts of energy the day before and somehow would have to replenish it. Food would give them strength and strength would mean more distance.

  As they progressed eastward up the canyon and the day brightened, Aram began to study the trees and brush for signs of fruits or berries but had no luck. It was still too early in the year for anything to be bearing fruit but it had advanced too far for there to be any nuts or fruits left from the previous fall. By the time the sun topped the hills to his front and shone on his face he was growing worried. Somehow, he would have to answer their need for food.

  The sun seemed to impart a measure of strength to the men’s wearied muscles, so for the moment, they pressed resolutely ahead. Every step took them farther from danger and nearer the hope of freedom. The slope of the south side of the canyon across which the path ran gradually moderated and lost some of its rockiness. Plants of all kinds, grasses and brush, grew upon the ridges, and thickening groves of trees filled the ravines. The path became ever easier to navigate. Before another hour passed, they were running again. Aram decided that if this day passed without signs of pursuit, he would devote a good portion of the evening to searching for food. In such a green land as they now passed through they could surely find something that was edible.

  Every so often, they stopped to quench their thirst at one of the tiny streams tumbling down the slope toward the river, but they did not rest. Aram was determined to put another day’s progress between himself and his former masters. The whole canyon had opened up and was now in fact no longer really a canyon but rather a steep-sided valley through which the river wound in sweeping curves. The flood of the day before had subsided and the river was back within its banks. Across the valley to the northeast the black mass of the great mountain was coming closer, running off to the north at an ever-sharper angle.

  That day they progressed several miles up the valley toward the east. The trail wound higher and higher up the hillside until finally they were walking on the very top of the ridge. To the south lay a wide region of grassy ridges and hills and wooded hollows that seemed to go on without end. It was a green country, blessed with trees and plenty of water. Streams gurgled at the bottoms of all the draws, verged by abundant willows. As they went forward throughout that day, Aram often let his gaze wander out over the maze of hills and hollows and several times considered leaving the trail and plunging southward. But he did not. His instincts drove him east.

  That afternoon, they found the deer whose kind had made and used the trail. Walking around a bend in the path where it passed out of a stand of evergreens, the men surprised a group of the animals feeding just below the brow of the hill. With short, sharp cries, the deer bounded down through the hollow and disappeared into a thicket of willows.

  They were very like the deer Aram had seen once or twice as a boy but larger, and one of them was antlered. He’d heard once that overseers were allowed to kill and eat deer and he wondered how such an animal was to be caught. He’d never hunted or killed, but the growing emptiness in his stomach made him wish desperately that these were skills that he possessed.

  About mid-afternoon, they came to a place where the trail quit the ridge entirely and wound away to the south down a hollow that was substantially wooded and had a sizeable stream flowing at its bottom. Aram sat down on a rock and spent several undecided minutes resting on the ridge top pondering the decision whether to turn southward and follow the trail or continue eastward up the valley. Decius collapsed on the grass beside him and lay back, covering his eyes with his hand, his breathing raspy and labored.

  Aram glanced down at him. “Are you alright, Decius?”

  Decius didn’t uncover his eyes and he answered between gasping breaths. “No, Aram. I’m ungodly tired and hungry as hell. I really don’t know how much farther I can go.”

  Aram scowled at his friend. “You’re going to have to go a lot farther if you stay with me. I promise we’ll find something to eat tonight, even if we have to graze on grass like oxen. But you can rest a few minutes while I decide what to do here.”

  At that, Decius sat up, resting his stout upper body on his hands. “What do you mean? Decide what?”

  “I’m trying to decide what to do about that.” He indicated the trail angling away down the hollow toward the south. “The trail turns off here and I’m not sure whether we should follow it or keep going on up the canyon.”

  Decius stared out over the green, timbered country to the south for awhile and then his gaze came back to rest on the trail. “What’s to decide? The trail makes for easier walking so we can go a lot farther in less time.”

  Aram nodded but said nothing and turned his face to look up the long valley to the east. It was true that the trail made for easy walking and carried him quickly away from his old life, but he’d grown fond of the valley as if it were a friend that had been kind to him. Besides, though it was rougher and perhaps harsher than the wooded hollows to the south, it carried him more directly away from his enemies.

  Looking backward once more along the way they’d come, his eye fell upon something that decided him. In the dirt of the trail that had been softened by the previous day’s rainstorm, there were clear and distinct tracks left by their boots. If there were pursuers behind them, they would need only to discover this trail and they could track him and Decius easily. If they left the trail and went cross-country the task of tracking them would be rendered more difficult.

  Aram stood up and pointed up the valley. “We’re going that way, Decius.”

  “Why?” Decius got to his feet and stared at his friend in consternation. “I thought we’d agreed—”

  “Look at the mud in the trail, Decius, and tell me what you see.”

  Decius spun around and stared and he also saw the telltale tracks. His shoulders slumped as understanding came and he turned to follow Aram. “You said that at least we’d get to eat tonight?”

  Aram started across the ridge top to the east. “I promise we’ll find something.”

  By late afternoon he felt a measure of confidence that they were winning their freedom with every step they took through this wild country. Several times throughout that day he gazed carefully back along the valley as they rested. Not once was there any sign of pursuit. He found this fact as curious as it was heartening. Why were they not being followed?

  Certainly by last evening their absence had been discovered. Perhaps the severity of the storm had caused some confusion as to what had happened to them. Maybe the lashers had decided that the missing workers had gotten caught in the flood somehow and been washed down the river to the west. Aram liked that thought, he liked the idea that his enemies might think he was dead and that his body lay in the other direction. Whatever the reason, for the whole of that day there was no movement anywhere back along their track.

  The lessening of his anxiety about pursuit only sharpened his need for food. Decius was suffering severely from the lack of sustenance and mentioned it every time they stopped to rest. Finally, as the sun began to settle near the horizon, Aram sat down in the grass and decided to consider their options logically. First, he considered their clothing, whether any part of it might be consumable. Finding that to be an utterly impractical consideration, he turned his attention to the grass and plants growing about him on the slope.

  The
re was one type of bunched grass that resembled wheat or milcush, although this early in the year it had not yet made a head, but if it was in the same family then its leaves might contain a measure of nutrition. He pulled a handful of it and carefully chewed. It had a bitter taste, but was full of moisture and it eased some of the agony in his belly. It was, however, very unsatisfying and he doubted it would do much to defray their need for serious nutrition.

  He glanced over at Decius. The stout young man was lying flat on his back with his head up the slope and his hand over his eyes. He looked completely spent. Aram studied the hillside and then got to his feet.

  “I’ll be back in a minute. Stay here, Decius.”

  Since it was near sunset and they needed to find a place to pass the night anyway, he went into a grove of woods in a hollow of the hillside and examined the trees and the plants that grew there. And then he got lucky. Growing beneath the trees he discovered a small plant with broad leaves and a center stalk of flowers that had a large bulbous root. He dug it out and as he had no means of stewing or heating it simply bit into it like a fruit.

  To his surprise and delight, it was fairly tender and had a mild, sweet flavor. He ate it all and then hunted the ground under the trees until he found another, which he carried back to Decius. After they’d supped, they went down into the darkening ravine below the copse of trees and drank from the spring there. Then they went back among the trees, scraped out hollows in the bed of leaves and lay down. Before the stars were bright in the heavens, both men were asleep.