Beyond the Valley of Mist

by Dicksion, William Wayne

  “Lela and I could ride the tame horses among the wild horses,” Ador added. “That will allow the wild horses to get used to us. Our mothers can help make halters and padding for the riders to sit on. You men attend to the weapons. We women will take care of the other necessities.”

  “Tomorrow, we’ll begin teaching our fathers to use the bows and arrows,” Zen said. “They can take them home and practice in secret until they gain proficiency. With our fathers’ help, we can make more, so there’ll be enough for everyone. We need all the help we can get.”

  “We’ll hold meetings each night to explain what we’re going to do,” Jok agreed. “Cam and Ador’s father had good ideas when they suggested we overcome the priests and take back the control of this village.”

  “I have some thoughts on what we can do to break the hold the priests have over the people,” Zen added. “But we must be very careful that no one exposes our purpose before we’re ready to rescue our friends and families. I like the idea of forming a secret society where each member carries a symbol to let the others know that he is part of the plan. If we’re exposed, we would all be killed. It would be terrible if Ador and Lela were sacrificed to the fire after all the trouble we went through to prevent it. Also, we cannot let our parents be killed, because we came back to rescue them.”

  “We can call our secret society the Brotherhood of the Arrow,” Jok suggested. “Everyone who wants to join will have to swear in blood on the pain of death, that he or she will not reveal our presence, or why we have returned. We could inject the dye of the red berry into our arms as a mark to let others know that we are Brothers of the Arrow.”

  “Yes,” said Zen. “That way, we’ll know who we can trust. We’ll talk to our fathers about it when they arrive tomorrow. Let’s sleep now. We have a big job ahead of us.”

  “Goodnight,” Jok said and took Ador’s hand.

  Zen looked up; Lela was reaching out to him with her arms open and a big smile on her face.

  “It’s been a wonderful day!” she exclaimed. “Thank you, Zen, for making it possible. It’s good to find that our families are well.”

  Her softness eased the strain Zen had been under the last few days.

  ***

  The morning was half gone when their fathers came. They were armed with spears, stone axes, and knives. They told their friends that they were going on a hunting trip and that they would be gone for several days. It was not unusual for them to go on hunting trips together. They wouldn’t be missed, nor would anyone think there was anything different about what they were doing.

  Zen and Jok gave each of them a bow and a bag of arrows and showed them how to use them. All day they practiced. By the end of the day, they could shoot arrows into a bundle of straw thirty paces away, and hit the target with a good measure of accuracy. The men were elated with the new weapons.

  They sat around the fire concealed deep in the cave and ate their evening meal. Zen told the fathers the idea of swearing in the people who wanted to join their secret society by using berry juice to mark their arms. In time, the mark would fade. The fathers agreed and took the oath and got the mark right away.

  The following morning, Jok and Zen took the fathers and had each of them shoot a deer. They would have meat to show that they had been hunting. They concealed the arrow wounds by penetrating the skin of the deer in the same place with their spears. To anyone examining their trophies, it would look as though an expertly thrown spear had killed the animal.

  Each father had one or more friends who wanted to hear more about the plan to start another village and were interested in taking control from the priests and throwing them out. They felt more secure that, by getting the secret mark, it would not be revealed to the priests that they were considering leaving the village.

  It would be difficult to get all the recruits they would need. Many were frightened of what their God might do to them for defying Him.

  The dogma of “If you deny God, then God will deny you,” had been so deeply implanted in their minds that it was going to be difficult to overcome. The people had been following this teaching for many generations, and they each carried a “valley of mist” in their minds. How could they get beyond that valley? They were not sure which they feared most, the priests or the Fire God.

  Zen told the fathers to tell their friends that when the time came, he would prove that Fire was not God. He reminded the fathers of the man named Zor, who had been banished from their village many lifetimes ago, and told them that Zor was the first to survive the journey through the Valley of Mist. He said that everything the two couples had brought back with them were the products of the people of another village who had listened to the teachings of that wise man, Zor, and that by listening to his teachings, those people had gone on to build a happy village where everyone lived free.

  Every Lalock had heard of the man who said that fire was not God and knew that he had been banished from their village. He was the one who had shown them how to make fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together.

  “How will you show the Lalocks that fire is not God?” Gordo asked.

  “I can’t just tell you,” Zen replied, "because you will not believe me, so I must show you, all of you at the same time.”

  ***

  The next day, Zen and Jok showed the fathers how to hide behind the branches of trees and bait lions with the body of a deer. When the lions came to eat the deer, the fathers killed them with arrows while they remained safely in the trees. The fathers were impressed.

  The following day, they taught their fathers to ride horses. At first, they were afraid, but after they learned to control the horses, they raced one another while riding at a full run.

  The third day, they learned to use the metal knives as weapons and to use the shields to protect themselves from spears by deflecting them.

  By the end of the day, the fathers were so excited, they were like little children. They returned to the village with fresh meat for their wives and friends. They said they had had a successful hunt, and everyone was happy.

  Cam and Nadd came to the cave and said they each had two friends who wanted to join their group. The fathers had told them of the pledge they had to make to be included in the group. They said they thought it was a good idea; that way, everyone would be protected.

  All of the friends and confidants of the fathers arrived the next day. They each took the pledge, received the mark, and then received the same training the fathers had gotten. By the end of their training, they were excited and eager to help. Jok gave each of them a bow and a bag of arrows and told them to practice in private.

  Everybody went with Jok and Zen to catch wild horses. Ador and Lela rode the horses they had brought with them and helped the men gather wild horses. The men tied loops made of vines around the horses’ necks and used the vines to restrain the horses and prevent them from running away.

  Someone had to guard the horses from lions, but after they had killed many of the lions, the others were afraid to attack the horses, and the job of guarding them became easier.

  The work of gentling the wild horses began with the girls taking fresh grass and water to them each day and remaining near them. In time, the horses would eat grass from their hands and let the girls touch them. The horses enjoyed being petted. Lela and Ador rode the tame horses and led the wild ones. While Ador and Lela were taming the wild horses, the men made new weapons and trained their helpers to use them. The following day, they began training the wild horses. It was great sport. Soon they had so many horses that they had to build fences in hidden places to contain them.

  Lela and Ador were busy with their mothers, secretly making halters to guide the horses and padding to put on their backs to make it more comfortable to ride them.

  ***

  Chapter 18

  Lor and Ren

  One night, while the parents were at the cave, a man and woman came to ask for help. The woman was crying, and the man looked frightened. Their
daughter Lor and her boyfriend Ren were going to be sacrificed for defying the Fire God. The soldiers caught them attempting to escape. They were to be sacrificed on the first night of the next full moon, and that was only a few nights away. They didn’t have much time.

  Zen understood their problem. If he and his friends had not made good their escape, they would have been in that same situation. “We will help," he said, calmly trying to console the couple, "but you must do exactly what we say, no questions asked. If you can do that, we will save your children.”

  “Oh, thank you,” the mother cried while clasping Zen’s hands.

  “Are you allowed to talk to your daughter?” Jok asked.

  “Yes, we can talk to them, but the soldiers guard them day and night,” the mother replied.

  “Tell Lor and Ren that we will be there on the sacrificial night. I will be on the altar with them, and they must do exactly what I tell them without hesitating. Can you tell them that?” Zen asked, stressing his point.

  “Yes, we can tell them, but what are you going to do? Won’t the priests kill you and your friends?”

  “I don’t think so,” Zen said confidently as he shook his head. “Now, go tell Lor and Ren not to worry. We’ll be there on the night of the ceremony, and we will prevent them from being sacrificed to the Fire God.”

  “Thank you! Thank you!” Dant, Ren’s father, said as he took his wife’s hand and led her back to the village.

  The mother was crying even harder when they left than when they arrived.

  “Doesn’t she understand that we’re going to help?” Zen asked.

  “Yes, she understands,” Ador replied.

  “Then why is she crying?” Zen asked.

  “She’s crying because she’s so happy,” Ador answered.

  Zen shook his head again and said, “That doesn’t make sense.”

  “Oh, yes, it does,” Lela said as she hugged Zen.

  Pushing that bit of confusion from his mind, Zen turned to Cam. “Cam, is the sacrificial altar still the same as when we escaped into the Valley of Mist?”

  “No,” Cam replied. “They have moved the fire pit to a new location inside the cave and dug a hole in the floor to contain it.”

  “How do they get rid of the smoke?” Zen asked.

  “They cut a hole in the top of the cave to allow the smoke to escape,” Cam explained.

  “Is the hole directly over the fire?” Zen asked.

  “Yes,” Cam responded. “What do you have in mind?”

  “Are trees still growing above the ceremonial cave?”

  “Yes,” Cam answered. “Oh, now I see what you’re thinking.”

  “We must get a large skin of water at the opening of the hole above the fire. In addition, we must get two skins of loose dirt up there, without the priests or their soldiers seeing us. Do you think you and your friends can do that?”

  “It won’t be easy, but we’ll do it. No one ever goes to the top of the cave, and we’ll work at night. We’ll get to the top of the cave from the back. No one will see us. We’ll have it done before the night of the full moon. I know that’s only a couple of nights away.”

  “It will be dark among the trees even with a full moon,” Zen said. “I need two of your best marksmen stationed among those trees with bows and arrows on the night of the sacrificial ceremony.”

  “Don’t worry,” Cam said. “We’ll be there, and we’ll be ready.”

  “All right, here is what we’re going to do,” Zen explained. “I’ll be on the altar with Ren and Lor. The priest will not be expecting me, and he’ll be surprised. If he signals for the soldiers to capture me, put an arrow through the heart of the first soldier who steps forward. If more step forward, drop them in sequence. I think two will be all who’ll step forward, but don’t kill the High Priest unless I signal that I want him killed. I want to use him for my purpose. If I want him killed, I’ll hold my sword high above my head and then point at the priest I want shot.

  Then, when I put my hand on top of my head, that will be the signal for you to cut open the bags of dirt to allow the dirt to pour onto the fire. It will smother the fire, but I will build another fire. After I do that, I’ll wave my sword over the audience, and then you’ll cut the water bag open and let the water pour onto the new fire. The fire will sizzle and smoke before it goes out. The people will be so astonished that they’ll be stunned into confusion. I’ll be talking to the audience, so watch for my signals.”

  Zen continued, making sure Cam understood. “When I walk from the altar with the two young people, our horses must be ready so we can escape by riding into the night. If the priests try to follow, or prevent us from leaving, you must have sharpshooters hidden in the trees. Once we’re on our horses, we’ll ride to a predetermined destination and stop for the night; then at the first light of the morning, we’ll be on our way. They’ll never catch us.

  “Cam, will you get word to the fathers of Lor and Ren? Ask them to bring our fathers to the secret cave tonight. We must have a meeting to coordinate our efforts. Tell them to come after dark, so they will not be seen leaving the village together.”

  Zen and Jok worked frantically getting everything ready. They prepared fuel for a council fire and two smaller fires and then spent the remaining time polishing their shields. When they finished, the shields were polished so brightly that their surfaces reflected the light of the fire, making it look as though there were flames in the shields.

  Lela and Ador prepared food and drinks. They would also be at the meeting.

  ***

  As the last light faded and darkness settled on the entrance of the cave, the fathers began to arrive. They were serious-faced men. They knew that this meeting would be one of the most important in all of their lives.

  After they had eaten, Zen stood and said, “You are our fathers; you gave us life. You loved and cared for us and it is not our place to assume the lead, and we are prepared to follow, but because we managed to free ourselves from the Valley of Mist and learned things that we can use to free the Lalocks, we offer our knowledge. That dreaded Valley of Mist is a physical place with foul odors and terrible beasts. It is a terrible place, but the valley of mist that we must get the Lalocks past is the valley of fear that the priests have created in their minds. They have been so blinded by the lies the priests have told them, that they are afraid to look for the truth.

  “No man knows the whole truth,” Zen continued, “but no man should be so frightened by lies that he is afraid to protect his children from being thrown into a sacrificial fire. The Lalocks must escape from that valley of mist if they are ever going to raise their children without fearing the evil God that the priests created.”

  Zen asked, “Fathers of Lor and Ren, are you willing to fight the priests to save your children from being sacrificed to the Fire God?”

  “Yes,” Tur, the father of Lor, stood and said, “I am ready to fight to the death if necessary to save my daughter from being thrown into the fire for something that she has no control over. She should not be punished for loving her young man—she should be rewarded.”

  “And I will fight for my son’s life,” Dant, the father of Ren, said. “I will fight for his right to be the father of his children. I’m proud of him for being willing to stand up against the priests and their Fire God to protect the woman he loves.”

  Zen also stood, placed his hands on their shoulders, and said, “Then let me show you how we can save them and perhaps save many other young people in the future. Our time is short, so we must prepare quickly. Come with me deeper into the cave.”

  After relocating, Zen continued. “I have two piles of wood that we have prepared for this demonstration. I want to show you that fire did not make itself God. We made it God, and we can remove it as our God if it is doing bad things. If the priests, whom we have allowed to become priests, are molesting and killing our children, we must remove them from their positions of authority…. Now watch closely. I will show you that there
is no Fire God. I will make a fire, and then I will destroy that fire, make another, and destroy it also.”

  Zen took a firestone from a pouch he carried for that purpose and held it up for them to see. When they were all watching intently, he stooped over the pile of tinder and struck the firestone with another stone. Sparks flew from the stones into the tinder. He blew gently on the sparks, and a tiny flame burst forth.

  The fathers jumped back. They weren’t expecting anything like that! So after they quieted down, Zen continued. “I have created this fire that you call God,” Zen said. “Now I will destroy the God I have created.” He took a handful of dirt, threw it onto the fire, and smothered it. “I have shown you that I have control over fire. I am stronger than fire. Dirt is stronger than fire. Now I will make another fire.” He again used the firestone and soon had another fire blazing. He then took a bag of water and poured it on the fire. The fire hissed and smoked, then it died. Again the fathers gasped, but that didn’t stop Zen. He said, “Fire cannot be my God unless I give it a power that it does not, by itself, have. Fire doesn’t control me; I control fire. If dirt and water are stronger than fire, then fire cannot be God.”

  Zen gazed at each man and continued. “The same is true of the priests who claim to represent God. The priests have no power unless you give them that power.”

  A long and heated discussion erupted. Zen, Jok, Lela, and Ador listened to their fathers discussing the question of whether or not the fire was God.

  After a time, Zen stood and held up his hands to indicate that he wanted silence. “For the first time in the history of this village, men are discussing the question of whether or not Fire is God. I don’t know who is right, but I do know that we’ll never know unless we have the curiosity to ask the question and the courage to look for the answer. Now, let me tell you what we have planned for rescuing Lor and Ren.”