by Alex Archer
She pointed at the screen and Derek followed her gaze. He peered closer. Right before where the shaft turned into a steep angle of descent, a horizontal line barred the passage.
Derek shook his head. “I don’t know, but it looks almost like…a door?”
19
Annja leaned back from the radar unit. “What in the world would a door be doing down here?”
“Wasn’t there one over the burial mound leading down here?”
“Well, yeah,” Annja said. “But it also doesn’t explain the sudden increase in slope just beyond the door. To look at the display, the shaft goes almost vertical.”
“I’d like to get a look at that door,” Derek said. “Do you think we have time?”
Annja frowned. “We’ve pressed our luck far too much already. And I’m not at all pleased you made me stay here.”
“I did no such thing. You stayed of your own volition, not due to any pressure from me.”
Annja sighed. He was right, of course. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her. Or had it? Maybe Annja was supposed to stay down here for some other reason. The idea that the sword was controlling her came back into her head and she frowned. “Well, we might as well see what’s behind the door.”
Derek clapped his hands together. “Excellent. I’ll rig the lights to extend farther down the shaft.”
Annja watched him move away from the radar unit. She studied the screen. The shaft seemed to resemble a missile silo farther on. How far does it go down? she wondered. Does it ever stop? One thing seemed certain—Derek’s mining company might have bought itself a huge trough of diamonds.
“Let’s go.” Derek’s voice was a hushed shout. Annja glanced up and then switched off the radar unit. She moved down the shaft, careful of her footing. The ground farther on was dry and she felt a bit more confident, even though it still sloped down.
Derek pointed. “Do you see it?”
Annja did. The door looked as though it had been made from some type of dense wood but she couldn’t identify it. It stood about eight feet high and the same width. Crosspieces braced it into position.
“It doesn’t look like it was meant to open,” Annja said. “Maybe it’s not a door after all.”
“Then what could it be?” Derek asked.
“Maybe it’s a wall.”
He frowned. “Why would anyone place a wall here? Why would they close off the shaft from the outside world?”
Annja shrugged. “I don’t have any answers for that. All I know is I don’t see any hinges and there doesn’t seem to be a way to swing it open. The way this thing looks, it’s been set into the sides of the earth. Who knows how far those pieces of wood extend into the earth?”
Derek walked closer to the door and ran his hands over the rough-hewn wood. “It feels almost warm.”
Annja moved closer and she could feel the heat emanating from it. “I suppose that makes sense, depending on how far into the Earth it goes. We could be talking about some kind of thermal updraft from the interior of the Earth.”
“Straight to the core,” Derek said, his voice full of wonder. “It’s incredible, isn’t it?”
“It is cursed.”
They spun around and saw Wishman standing there in the dim light of the shaft. He did not look happy.
Annja started to speak, but Wishman held up his hand. “Do not seek to quell my anger with your excuses.” He frowned and shook his head. “I had hoped to avoid this, but such is the curiosity of man.”
“Avoid what?” Annja asked.
Wishman gestured to the giant wall of wood. “That. The secret that my people have kept for many years.”
Annja looked back at the wall of wood. “What is it? It doesn’t seem to be a door.”
Wishman scowled. “Well, that depends on who you ask. Some people would see it as a wall to keep something back. But from the other perspective, it would be seen as an exit for what lies beyond.”
Annja looked at him. “What lies beyond?”
Wishman nodded. “The secret of this land.”
Derek moved away from the wall. “What is the secret?”
“You would desire to know that, wouldn’t you?” Wishman sighed. “Perhaps I am at fault in this, as well. I know well that when you forbid a child from doing something, they want nothing more than to run right out and do that very thing. So it was that I watched you from the woods this night. The spirits told me this would be the time you chose to seek your answers.”
“But you didn’t stop us,” Derek said.
“Until now,” Annja said.
Wishman leaned against the wall of the shaft. He seemed to be breathing harder than usual. “What good does it do to stop the curious? Sooner or later they will seek their answers. And then they will have them. One way or another.”
“Are you all right?” Annja started forward to help him. But Wishman raised his hand.
“I am all right. Probably the time I spent waiting in the cold of the woods, seeing if you would discover what you have.”
“How long would you have waited?”
He smiled. “I heard your talk of going back to sleep. I prayed you would be successful in that, Friend of Bear. But you then gave in and wished to see what he wishes. And then I knew that as soon as your machine drew you the picture, you would need to investigate further. That was when I came down here.”
“I slipped and fell,” Annja said. “How did you manage such sure footing?”
Wishman waved his hands as if dismissing a mosquito. “I did not get to be my old age by being a clumsy oaf,” he said. “My feet have known far more treacherous surfaces than the likes of this burial mound.”
“I wasn’t exactly clumsy,” Annja said. “The ground was slippery is all. I’m usually quite good on my feet.”
“I’m sure you are,” Wishman said. “However, you were not tonight. I should thank you for the brief humor I enjoyed listening to you attempt to sneak up on him.”
“Glad to help,” Annja said. “Now, tell us about this curse or whatever this thing is.”
Wishman beckoned Derek. “I should ask you to come away from that area or your presence may draw it closer to us. Probably even now it senses our flesh and would like nothing better than to do away with that wall once and for all.”
“‘It’?”
Wishman nodded. “The creature that lives beyond the wall.”
“What creature?” Annja said.
“A terrible thing. In my youth we hunted it mercilessly, but still it eluded us until we found this burrow. We guarded it with armed warriors, poking our spears into the entrance to keep it at bay. The shaft of the tunnel was far too narrow for it to escape and engage us in the open.”
Wishman shook his head. “We summoned a shaman from a faraway village to come and use all of his magic to set the thing back deep within the shaft so we could imprison it within. For five long days, while we kept it inside, the shaman stood here in a trance and he chanted his most powerful magics, using a variety of spells to drive the creature back.”
The old man shivered then. “It howled as we drove it back further into the shaft. Its pain was evident, but we had seen too many of our people taken by the creature. Never would we find any trace of them save for a spare item of clothing. They were dragged down here and consumed whole.”
“But what is it?” Derek asked. “Some kind of animal?”
“At one time,” Wishman said. “Now it is probably more an angry spirit than anything tangible. It has been locked here for years. Imagine our horror when we found that it had made a burrow out of our burial mound. It lived in our most sacred ground, adding more death to the numbers we stored here, unknowing of its presence.”
“So what happened?” Annja asked.
“The shaman forced the creature back further and further until it slunk down the deepest part of the shaft. Then he made us construct the wall you see there. We toiled hard and fast to make the wall. None of us thought it would be enough to hold the
fury of the creature back, but the shaman bade us do as we were told. And when we had finished its construction, he ordered us back to the surface. He alone stayed down here in the shaft. And then he called out his magics again, using them to mystically seal the creature behind the wooden wall. No amount of strength would ever free it from its captivity. As long as the wall remained in place, the creature would never again bother the Araktak people. Or anyone else for that matter.”
Annja took a breath. “But now…” Her voice trailed off as she started to realize the implications of the wall.
Wishman nodded. “So, you do see the problem after all, Friend of Bear. Then perhaps you are not as reckless as this one here.”
Derek frowned. “I am sorry for going against your word, Wishman. But this land doesn’t belong to you anymore. It belongs to the company.”
Wishman’s eyes twinkled. “And what would you have the company do with the awful truth of what lies beyond that wall?”
“I don’t know what lies beyond the wall,” Derek said. “And the men I work for are not used to dealing with legends of horrible monsters. They are used to making money.”
“And that will be their downfall,” Wishman said. “For to disregard what I have told you is far more dangerous than believing it.”
“Surely no creature could survive for as long as it has been locked behind that wall,” Annja said. “Do you truly think there’s still a danger?”
Wishman nodded. “Not a danger of the flesh, but of the spirit. Such a creature as this would never go off quietly to the afterlife. It would seek vengeance on those who imprisoned it all those years ago.”
“On you.”
Wishman nodded. “I am the last of the original group who hunted the creature. It is why I have become the shaman of the Araktak. I needed to learn the skills of the shaman we originally summoned if I had any hope of dealing with this being.”
Derek cleared his throat. “Look, I don’t mean to be a real jerk here, but frankly, I’m not sure I buy all of this.”
Annja glanced at him, but he kept talking.
“I mean, Wishman, if you’re trying to renegotiate the deal, then perhaps this stuff is better saved for the company’s lawyers. Fact of the matter is, you were only too happy to sell us this land when we sent Godwin here originally.”
Wishman shook his head. “That decision was made by the younger members of my tribe who have no knowledge of this creature. They want the modern life that plagues the rest of the world. Only a few of us know of the horror that lies beyond.”
“Nyaktuk,” Annja said. “He knows.”
Wishman nodded. “Indeed. He has been my apprentice for many years. He is already becoming skilled at certain magic.”
“All this talk of magic,” Derek said. “I don’t know if I can buy into it.”
Annja shot him a look. “Now you’re just being hypocritical. Only a few minutes ago, you told me about your obsession with things like this. And now, when Wishman tells you that something…otherworldly lies beyond that wall, you decide it’s time to be all clinically detached? It’s ridiculous.”
“Your magic is different than the tall tales that this guy is weaving,” Derek said. “I think it’s just an elaborate shakedown.”
Wishman looked at Annja. “I thought I recognized something about you when you came into camp. A presence about you.”
Annja waved him off. “I’d rather we kept the talk centered around the wall and what we’re going to do about it.”
“You believe, then?”
Annja shrugged. “I don’t know what to believe. I’ve seen a lot of crazy things in my time. And I’ve dealt with some unusual animals, as well. Right now, my main concern is making sure we don’t open some kind of Pandora’s box here.”
Wishman nodded at Derek. “You would do well to listen to your friend. She has much wisdom, no doubt gained by hard experience.”
Derek frowned. “I don’t need to be told what to do or who to listen to.”
Annja shook her head. “I don’t know that I even understand you anymore, Derek.”
Derek smiled. “Well, that’s just going to have to be something we work on, I guess.” He nodded and looked beyond them. “Did you bring it?”
Annja and Wishman turned. Hansen stood behind them. Annja glanced down and saw that he held something about the size of a book in his hands.
“Right here.”
“Hansen?”
He smiled at Annja. “Evenin’.”
“What have you got there?”
He smiled. “Just a little something Mr. Wainman asked us to bring up from Yellowknife.”
Annja caught a whiff of something in the air. It smelled like marzipan. “Oh, no, not that.”
Derek grinned. “You are sharp. I should have known you’d know what it smelled like.”
Wishman glanced at her. “What does he have?”
“Explosives,” Annja said. “Semtex by the smell of it. Czech military grade, if I’m not mistaken.”
Wishman whipped his head around to face Derek. “No. You must not do what you intend to do. Do not blow up that wall. You mustn’t!”
Derek reached for the explosive from Hansen. “Well, here’s the deal. You can either walk your butts back up top or you can stay down here and be inside when this thing goes. But one way or another, that wall is coming down.”
20
Annja looked at Wishman. “I think he’s serious,” she said.
Wishman kept staring at Derek and Hansen as they placed a ring of explosives around the wall at key points. Derek seemed to be humming happily and the difference in his attitude shocked Annja.
“You’ve changed.”
He smiled at her. “You’re cute, Annja, but terribly naive.”
“Oh?”
Hansen chuckled. “I think she’d love to know what you’re talking about.”
“No doubt. Too bad she’s not going to find out anything right now. We’ve got work to do.”
“We could kill them both right now and no one would know. It would just be one of those terrible little accidents that happens in mining,” Hansen said.
Derek looked as if he was considering it, a fact that made Annja’s blood boil. She could rip the sword out now and kill them both.
Derek pointed at her. “Don’t even try it, Annja. You make any gesture like you’re going to pull that damnable sword of yours out and I’ll hit the detonator and kill us all. And if you think I’m bluffing, go right ahead and try me. See how wrong you truly are.”
Annja stopped. She knew he would do it. At this point, the safest bet seemed to be to assume that whatever Derek had told her up until this point was nothing but a pack of horrible lies.
Hansen, however, eyed Annja carefully. “What sword?”
Derek laughed. “Oh, you should see the little blade our girl there has. Quite the trick she can do, pull the thing out from nowhere and put it back again. That’s what she used to dispatch Leon.”
Annja frowned. “Who is Leon?”
“He was my friend, for one thing,” Hansen said.
Derek’s smile grew even further. “Leon was driving the truck that nearly ran us over.”
Annja shook her head. “That was a setup?”
“Of course.”
“But you were in the truck, too. You could have been killed. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Derek sniffed. “I was never in any real danger. And even if I was, death isn’t something that I particularly fear to any great extent.”
“I’ll remember that when I run my sword through your worthless guts.” Annja bit her lip. “And Godwin? Is he a part of this charade, as well?”
“Godwin was never anything but a pawn to me,” Derek said. “He has no idea what he has been a part of. And I think he’s probably still sleeping off that near-death experience anyway, so why don’t we just leave him be?”
Wishman held up his hand. “My men will kill you for your treachery.”
“Your men
are all sound asleep and will be for some time,” Hansen said. “That little party we had last night saw to that.”
“You drugged them?” Annja asked.
Hansen nodded. “Yup. You left early so I guess you managed to avoid any of the effects.”
Derek fixed the detonation cord on the last package of explosive. “There. All set with that lot.”
Hansen checked the wiring and then nodded. “Looks good.”
Derek wiped his hands on his jacket. “Now, then. What to do with our Araktak shaman and the mystical swordswoman. Choice, choices…”
“What will be most interesting,” Wishman said, “is what will happen to you when you open up that wall there. I have warned you of the consequences of your actions and yet you choose to defy it. I will take great pleasure in seeing your reeducation once that wall is destroyed.”
Derek smiled. “Yes, you have indeed warned me, old man. But you should know that I have known of what lies beyond that wall for many years now. And long have I sought to find this place. Now, at last, we have the means to free the being from beyond. And when we do, we will be able to use it to further our own agenda.”
Wishman shook his head. “The creature will never bend to your will. You aren’t strong enough to force it to submit. Only those of a higher power mind may exert influence over it.”
Hansen glanced at Derek and chuckled. “I see you’ve sold them on the divorce story again.”
“I’m tired of it,” Derek said. “But you know, it does work ever so well given our modern society and all.”
“Did you include the kids this time?”
Derek’s eyes flashed with glee. “The kids make the whole thing come together all the better. Otherwise, it’s just a boring sob story about a man and a woman never meant to be. But the kids, they add a whole new layer of emotional baggage. It’s great stuff.”
Annja sighed. “If you’re going to stand here and sing the glories of your charade, I’d rather go back up top and head to bed.”
Wishman glanced at her. “There will be no sleep this night if they blow up that wall.”
Derek looked at Annja. “The shaman thinks the creature behind the wall will rampage upon being released.”