Secret Of the Sighing Mountains (The Quest Trilogy)

by Iram Dana

  The truth was, that the only excuse Master Shengdu would ever accept was death, and since that had not occurred yet, Diego had no choice but to do as he had been bidden.

  And so, Diego found himself training awkwardly with his left hand, while the others did so with their right. Sierra ran to his brother’s defense and began training with his left hand too, so that Diego would not feel so left out. As the weeks passed by, they got more and more efficient with their left hand, more so Diego, since he had to do every other chore with it, too. One morning, when they were all practicing throwing spears, Diego managed to aim, throw and perfectly pierce his target using his left hand, surprising even himself. Sierra clapped Diego’s shoulders proudly and Diego grudgingly admitted to himself that Ashitaka had, in fact, been correct. Whatever happened truly did happen for the best. It just might not be clear immediately.

  By this time, Sierra had checked out all the girls who had come in their batch and also tried to flirt with a few of the ‘chosen ones’ even though their training schedule was so strenuous, they hardly had any time to socialize. Sometimes his attempts met with failure, at other times, with success.

  Diego wouldn’t bother with most of the girls around. He was interested in only one girl –the hottest and most aloof of them all. Stephanie had a brain and she was not afraid to use it. This intimidated most boys who chose to admire the goods from afar rather than be sliced by her sharp tongue. She was like the stern but incredibly hot teacher, who the boys would give an arm and a leg to be slapped by simply for an excuse to be touched by her. The pointy tipped glasses she wore totally completed the look.

  Diego never approached her. It wasn’t his style, so he settled for covertly staring at her whenever he had the time and opportunity.

  Sierra was interested, too, and would have enjoyed the challenge she presented, but he never made a play for her since he had caught Diego eyeing her plenty of times and therefore, considered her off limits.

  One night at dinner, Diego was doing just that; eyeing her constantly from across their table, even though he had to look over his shoulder since she was seated behind him. Sierra noted all of this with mild amusement, keeping track of the number of times Diego surreptitiously turned around to look at Stephanie. Twice when the first course of soup was served, twice more during the main course of prawn and vegetable noodles, and thrice before dessert was served. When dessert was finally brought to their table, it turned out to be Diego’s favourite; rice dumplings cooked in sweetened coconut milk, coated with a layer of crushed peanuts.

  “Fight you for your bowl of dumplings.” dared Diego.

  “All right!” Sierra was immediately up for it.

  “Beat me in a round of arm wrestling.”

  Sierra eyed Diego suspiciously. “Are you gonna take off your ring?” he asked.

  “No. Are you going to chicken out?”

  Sierra returned Diego’s mocking stare eye for eye.

  “You’re on.” he said, shoving his bowl of dumplings aside and placing his elbow up on the table. “Ready?”

  “Ready.” replied Diego, gripping Sierra’s hand. “At the count of three, all right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “One … two … three!” said Diego, and started pushing against Sierra’s hand.

  The minute the competition began, Sierra knew it was a mistake to have taken up Diego’s challenge. They were both equally strong, normally, but the ring gave Diego an advantage that was proving to be too much for Sierra. He knew he had just seconds to go before being defeated. If he could not win this, he thought, he had to at least hold out longer. It was a matter of saving his fragile male ego. In desperation, he stamped hard on Diego’s foot under the table.

  “Ow!” yelled Diego, glaring at Sierra, who would not meet his eye. He knew Diego would retaliate with his own blow in a second and he was right. He split his legs, separating them in the nick of time and saving his toes from being crushed.

  “Cheater.” breathed Diego.

  “Take … off … the damned … ring.” grunted Sierra, using all his strength to hold on to his position. By now, a crowd had started to gather around them, choosing sides and then cheering and goading on their chosen candidate towards victory.

  “In your dreams,” panted Diego, “just give up already and let me at those dumplings. You know … you’re gonna … lose. So stop fighting.” he taunted, hoping it would anger Sierra enough to make him give up.

  But it seemed to have the opposite effect.

  Suddenly, all signs of struggle vanished from Sierra’s face and he leaned back a little in a deceptively casual motion, but Diego noted that Sierra’s concentration never wavered and neither did the pressure against his palm lessen enough for him to gain an advantage. Sierra’s eyes fixed on some point behind Diego’s shoulders and he gave a half smile.

  “Come to wish me luck, Stephanie?” he asked.

  And for a split second, Diego almost lost his concentration. Almost. He checked himself in the last moment.

  “Nice trick, brother. But it’s not going to work.” he said, pushing harder against Sierra’s palm. Just then, a familiar voice spoke from behind him.

  “Actually, I came to see you lose.” said Stephanie.

  The same second that she spoke, Diego realized she was actually there, and he let his concentration slip for the tiniest fraction of a second. Sierra swooped down at that little opening, pummeling Diego’s hand into the table. The dining room burst into cheers and boos as the winning side’s supporters playfully taunted the losing side.

  Sierra looked smugly at Stephanie, and raised a triumphant eyebrow.

  “A disappointment, as always.” she sniffed.

  She turned up her nose and walked out of the room with a friend.

  When he looked back at the dining table and picked up his bowl, Sierra found that Diego had left – along with the dumplings from his bowl.

  “The sneak!” laughed Sierra, banging the bowl down and sprinting after his brother.

  *****

  That day forward, Sierra decided to take it upon himself to somehow fix Diego and Stephanie. He was constantly on the lookout for opportunities, and a week of careful planning later, he hoped his efforts would now be rewarded.

  He had everything arranged to his satisfaction, as he waited outside the door to their room up on the second floor.

  He had already sent word to Stephanie, asking her to come here because Diego needed some help with something, and was now waiting for her to arrive. He stood leaning against the wall, casually whistling a tune. Five minutes later, Stephanie came walking up the stairs and turned into their corridor. She saw him standing there and waved. Sierra waved back.

  Any second now, he thought happily.

  He called out to Diego, who then stepped out of their room. The instant he saw both Sierra and Stephanie in the same frame, he took a wary step back.

  Sierra had been teasing him night and day about Stephanie lately, and something that wide smile plastered on his twin’s face made Diego feel incredibly suspicious about the whole set-up.

  Sierra saw Diego hesitate and nodded to him enthusiastically. Diego strode forward purposefully, looking straight at Sierra.

  At the exact moment that Stephanie stepped in front of him, Sierra smiled and waved at Diego, while at the same time slyly jutting his foot out in Stephanie’s path.

  Distracted by the smile and wave, neither Diego nor Stephanie noticed the errant foot. A second later, Stephanie was tumbling down on Diego, sending both of them sprawling onto the floor.

  Yes! Sierra grinned to himself.

  Stephanie, who was used to these kinds of tricks played by the boys to get her attention, immediately scrambled off of Diego, furious.

  “You clod! Is this what you called me for!” she shouted, and then hit Diego on the head with her books.

  Diego stood there stunned. Hardly believing what had just happened as Stephanie stomped off.

  Then, he spun around towards Sierr
a with a snarl.

  Uh oh.

  Sierra turned and bolted.

  They spent the better part of that day chasing around the plateau, until Diego finally managed to pin Sierra down and clobber him good. That night, Diego went to bed certain that he had taught Sierra a good lesson.

  He was wrong.

  Sierra was never one to give up easily. Especially where there was hope. And whenever he looked at Diego and Stephanie, Sierra saw hope.

  They just need the right setting, he told himself over and over again.

  *****

  A few days later, they were all out at the training grounds, learning how to build their own rafts. Sierra was struggling with his, while Diego seemed to be having no trouble with his.

  The first to finish making their raft correctly, as usual, was Stephanie. Sierra saw her waiting for Master Shengdu to come inspect her raft, and an idea struck him. He jogged over to her.

  “Hey, Steph, looks like you’re done with your raft.” he said.

  She folded her arms across her chest, waiting for him to go on.

  “I just can’t seem to get mine right. Could you come over and help me out?” said Sierra, with just the right amount of sincerity and helplessness.

  Her shoulders relaxed and she smiled.

  “Of course. I’d be glad to. Where are you working?”

  “Over there, next to Diego.”

  “Let’s go then.” she said, starting forward.

  “Hey Stephanie, wait up!” another sequestor called from behind.

  Sierra and Stephanie turned around to face him.

  “Hi, Taylor. Need something?” said Stephanie.

  “Yeah.” Taylor said, then looked at Sierra. “If you’re done wasting her time, I need some help.”

  Sierra narrowed his eyes at the intruder in his plans.

  “Move it, buster. She was just coming to help me out.” snapped Sierra.

  Taylor turned to Stephanie.

  “That correct, beautiful?”

  “Actually, yes. I was just on my way to help Sierra with his raft. Why don’t you tell me what’s the problem? Maybe I can tell you what to do?”

  “Just about everything is a problem for me. From start to finish.” said Taylor, complaining loudly.

  “Really? Like what?”

  “For starters, how many logs of wood am I supposed to begin with?”

  “Where’s the instruction booklet Master gave to all of us. It’s written there how many logs of wood we’re supposed to be starting with. It all depends upon the size of the logs you choose.” Stephanie bent to peer at his hands, which he had folded behind his back. He was holding the instruction leaflet.

  “Oh, you mean this?” said Taylor, bringing his hand forward and waving the booklet around. “How am I supposed to make the raft if I waste all my time reading this stupid booklet? Besides, I’d rather have help from you.”

  Stephanie frowned at this while Sierra looked just about ready to personally show Taylor just how many logs should be used – by shoving them up his butt.

  “Start with twelve, if you’re using the thinner logs.” said Stephanie. “If you’re using the medium sized ones then six should suffice. Remember to start your timer; we’re supposed to finish making a raft in thirty minutes. What next?”

  Taylor walked over to where the logs of wood were stacked into piles and began randomly select them.

  “No, no, don’t just choose anything! Choose those which are more or less of the same length and breadth. They are easier to tie and arrange then.” said Stephanie, going over to help Taylor select.

  Sierra glared at Taylor impatiently. Did something or the other always have to go wrong for him? He followed behind the two of them, itching to box Taylor in the ears and then pull Stephanie away with himself. Instead, he stood there like a statue with a scowl carved into his features, watching Taylor shamelessly flirt with Stephanie while she was helping him select the logs of wood.

  When he was done, Taylor tried lifting the heavy load but put it back down.

  “I can only carry two at a time.” he said, separating the logs into batches of two.

  He walked over to Sierra and unceremoniously dumped one bundle into his arms.

  “Here, Sierra. You can help carry one pile for me.” he smirked.

  Sierra wanted to throw the logs down immediately but he heaved the logs onto his shoulders instead, a plan forming in his mind. This had gone on long enough and it was time to put an end to it.

  “Where do you want these deposited?” he asked Taylor silkily.

  “Over there.” said Taylor, pointing to where he was working.

  Sierra swung in the opposite direction.

  “Over there?” he asked, innocently.

  “No, you moron! I said over there, to your right.”

  “Oh, you mean … there.”

  Sierra swung back hard, getting Taylor straight in the head with the logs and immediately knocking him unconscious.

  “Oh, my goodness! What did you do?!” cried Stephanie, running forward.

  “What?” said Sierra, now swinging the logs the other way and this time, getting Stephanie on the head with them. She fell to the ground with a dull thud.

  “I’m so sorry.” murmured Sierra, watching the two unconscious bodies without a trace of remorse.

  Diego, who had been keeping a wary eye out for Sierra ever since he had started to speak to Stephanie, dropped working on his unfinished raft and came running over to him.

  “What the hell did you do?! You knocked out both of them!” hissed Diego.

  “I did, didn’t I?” said Sierra, with no emotion.

  Diego stared at him incredulously.

  “What did you have for lunch today? Snails? Why did you hit Stephanie too?”

  “Why else? So that her prince charming could come revive her … and guess who that is?” said Sierra, eyes alight with mischief. Understanding dawned after a moment and Diego’s temper faded.

  “You sly dog.” he said under his breath. “What about Taylor?”

  “Leave him to me.” said Sierra, going over to Taylor’s unconscious body and lifting it up by the arms. “Just tell Stephanie I said sorry, okay?” he grunted, pulling the heavy body away.

  Sierra left Taylor’s body in between two tall piles of wood, so that his body would remain hidden from the others until he regained consciousness … whenever that would be.

  “Serves you right for interfering.” said Sierra, addressing Taylor’s unconscious body. He would have kicked him, too, but he didn’t for fear that it would wake Taylor up.

  When he walked back to his workstation he saw Stephanie sitting up and engaged in animated conversation with Diego, and he smiled. Finally, he had managed to get this right.

  Sierra decided to just let things be and not interfere in the matter anymore, after that. If things were meant to move along for the two of them, then they would.

  *****

  CHAPTER 10

  As one year of their training drew to a close, they were all expecting to be put through some kind of test. The sequestors were both, right and wrong. They were not going to have any sort of written exams, but they were all informed that they would have to undergo what was called, ‘survival week.’ This was going to take place inside the Concept room; a place inside the monastery where absolutely lifelike environments with the desired test conditions could be created according to the level of their skill. The sequestors had to use whatever knowledge they had acquired over the period of one year’s training and survive the conditions for one week. They all had to go through the same test; survive a week in the desert, find a place of shelter or make one, battle thirst, hunger , severe heat and sandstorms with one mission; find a small treasure chest hidden in the desert while overcoming the various obstacles that would be put in their way. They were given a map to this treasure chest and were not informed that it would be guarded by a Felynx, which was a mystical beast that could materialize out of the sand and disapp
ear in it at will, making the task of killing it extremely difficult. The animal looked quite fierce since it was completely black and had a bat’s face and a narrow, fish-like body. It slithered through the sands like a fish would swim in the water and it was essentially a harmless animal that fed on desert beetles and not humans. But of course, the sequestors didn’t know all this. They were led to the room and allowed to enter one after the other at an interval of five minutes. Surprisingly, none of them encountered one another once inside. It was just like being completely isolated.

  Some of them managed to come back with the treasure chest. Others managed to survive, but missed out being able to finish their designated mission. Those who completed survival week successfully were each given a badge of honor and one week off from all training, plus an option to forego their group duties for that week. It was a vacation of sorts where they could relax, eat, drink and make merry while their fellow counterparts slogged on, watching them in envy.

  Sierra managed to come out of survival week with the treasure chest, but he didn’t kill the Felynx. Diego killed the Felynx and got the chest back, too. For this, Sierra was given only half privileges, but Diego enjoyed a good week off from the usual grind.

  A stellar week later, they all had to go back to their usual routines.

  The sequestors might have gotten used to their routines but they never got used to their surroundings because the strange thing was, the view of the mountains beyond that had greeted everybody the day they arrived at Mt. Chimpu was no longer there. In fact, no scene that they saw ever remained the same for any length of time. It changed constantly. Sometimes they would be surrounded by clouds as far as the eye could see and at other times, they would see rolling hills and valleys, or a breathtaking view of the sun’s reflection on the sea. Questions about why this was so and many more doubts had been building up inside of Diego. He wanted things clarified and explained to assuage his curiosity, and was on the lookout for the right opportunity to do so.