by K. T. Tomb
Initially, it seemed to be getting fainter and he reversed his course until it began to become stronger again. He had nearly homed in on where it was coming from when the crying ceased.
No, Khaera, don’t stop yet, he thought.
What human being in their right mind had ever had that thought before? All he had left was the hope that he was headed in the right direction.
Methodically, he searched each room along the corridor, praying that he would find Khaera before he was discovered missing or seen searching the corridors.
Luck, fate, magic and whatever other forces were at work in his strange, new world all came together as he followed the soft glow of light that was seeping around a corner of the hall in front of him. Inching up to the edge, he risked a quick glance and knew right away that he had found the “nursery.”
Moving quickly across the corridor to press his back against the wall nearest the doorway from which the light was spilling, he then slid quietly until he was adjacent to the door. He risked a glance into the room. There was no movement and no reaction to him, so he pushed his head a little bit further into the room and studied it a moment. On a bed against one wall lay the most fragile old woman he’d ever seen in his entire life. Not far from her was a baby, swaddled in skins and strapped to the papoose board.
He had seen photos and paintings of Navajo women working in the fields with their babies leaned against a tree in the shade, tied securely to the board. He had never thought a great deal about it, but in many ways, it was a working mother’s perfect solution. Not seeing much of a threat from the fragile sleeping woman, he crept into the room and toward the sleeping baby.
She was incredible. From the moment he laid eyes on her, his heart skipped several beats at the thought of Naomi and how closely the features of this tiny replica matched her own. He was in the midst of studying the face of Khaera when the old woman sat up suddenly. Without thinking, he swept the pole in his left hand forward and tagged her with the end of it underneath her chin, just as she opened her mouth to scream.
Nothing more than a soft whimper actually escaped her lips, certainly nothing that would alert anyone, given the fact that whimpering and crying were regular sounds issuing from that particular room. The fact that he had nearly been given up set off an alarm in his head and he realized that he needed to get moving.
He set the pole down and gently raised the papoose board. He realized that he couldn’t carry both the baby and the pole. Then he noticed the shoulder straps. He felt stupid for not thinking of that in the first place. Of course it would have shoulder straps. He slipped his arms through the straps and reached again for the pole. He began to pray more earnestly than he ever had in his life. Please, stay asleep. Please, stay asleep. He slipped back out into the hallway and started quietly searching for their escape.
With the dagger held in front of him to light his way, he finally found his way to the large hall where the throne sat. He could see the doorway that he needed in order to escape because of the dim light that flickered from a fire in the center of the room. He tucked the dagger away in his pocket and studied the room. There were several silent shadows pacing along the perimeter of the room keeping watch, and Parke’s heart sank as he realized that if he attempted to cross to the doorway, he would surely be discovered. Worse yet, were he to make it past these guards, what would be waiting for him on the other side of the doorway?
He studied them for as long as he dared. Khaera crying or even a call from the old woman could suddenly have the entire place wide awake. He thanked his good fortune to have made it as far as he had. The pattern of the guards was soon obvious and the moment he had an opportunity, Parke slipped into the room and followed along the wall, staying in the shadows as he worked his way around to the doorway.
The sentry was beginning to make his turn and would certainly be looking back toward him when he did, just as Parke reached the door. There was no time to check for more of them outside, he had to move. He stepped through the doorway quickly and stayed close to the wall in the shadows.
A fire and four men standing around it warming their hands was in what could only be referred to as a courtyard out front. Parke’s luck was holding. Because they had been gazing into the fire, they would be blind whenever they looked away from it. Staying in the shadows, he continued to move away from the courtyard and along the trail that passed in front of the ruins. As he got further away from the ambient light of the courtyard and deeper into the darkness, he took the dagger out again.
Overjoyed by the fact that he had escaped death and had Khaera to boot, Parke picked up his pace. He kept a steady eye out for hidden dangers and continued to look back over his shoulder, but he was almost certain that he would have an uninterrupted return to the kiva and an escape back into the second world.
He made it beyond the place where he had been ambushed and captured before Khaera started to whimper.
“Oh no, not yet sweetie,” he cooed to the whimpering child on his back. “We’ll be home soon. Please, not now. You’ll be with mama soon.”
His words had little effect and the whimpers had grown into crying and the volume began to increase. Afraid that her cries would echo all along the canyon and reach the ears of the dozing sentries in the great city, he stopped and slipped the papoose board from his back.
Her black eyes cast an eerie glow in the dim, green light of the dagger as he tried to soothe her.
“Don’t cry sweetie. Shh. Please don’t cry.”
He touched her head and stroked her tightly wrapped body through the furs. It was no use.
Being unfamiliar with the papoose board and the leather strings that held the bundle in place, it wasn’t easy for Parke to figure out how to get her out of the contraption. Gripping the dagger in his teeth to free both of his hands, he finally worked the bonds free and soon had her in his arms. The reason for her outburst was soon evident by the smell that suddenly assailed him.
“Here? Now? I have to change a diaper?”
Parke’s experience with diapers was fairly limited. He and Melissa had never had children and the little time that he had been around his nieces and nephews when they were babies hadn’t taught him a great deal in that department.
“Damn! It’s not like you can just run down to the corner and get some Pampers,” he muttered.
He finally decided that he would do the best he could, using his T-shirt as a diaper. He stripped off his shirt and then his T-shirt. He tore off a corner of the T-shirt and did the best he could to clean up her dirty little bottom and then folded his T-shirt around her.
Khaera was comfortable and happy and smiled so brightly at him that he nearly melted where he sat. She was comfortable and dry again and rather pleased with herself.
“Well, now. Aren’t you just the happiest little thing, now that you’re dry?”
He reached a finger forward to tickle her under the chin and she clasped his hand and held on tight while she smiled and blinked her large black eyes at him. He nearly forgot that he was in a race for his life in that moment. The precious face of Naomi in the form of a baby drew his heart into an even deeper longing to be with the woman he loved, and it was that longing which set him back into motion once again.
With Khaera once again strapped on the papoose board and secure on his back, he took up the pole again and started on the trail toward the kiva. Only a couple more hours and they’d be home free.
Chapter Nine
The first light of the rising sun was at his back before they reached the kiva.
He knew that by sunrise, if not before, they would know that he was gone. Depending upon the condition of the old woman, they might have known well before sunrise. He was in a race against time, but he was confident that he had the advantage.
Khaera seemed to be content after having a fresh diaper, so he had picked up his pace and moved a great deal faster than he had when he was searching for the great city, certainly faster than they had moved when he was trussed up
like a pig, ready for slaughter. He was not surprised that he had seen no sign of their pursuers when the stone room came into view not far ahead.
A smile grew across his face as they neared it and he knew that he had succeeded. There was one problem that he hadn’t yet found a solution for. How would he seal up the hole in the kiva? If he got Khaera home safely, there was no reason that they wouldn’t be able to slip right back through the hole and steal her again. He had to close the hole behind them.
Nearly out of breath because he jogged the last couple hundred paces, he entered the stone room and leaned against the wall a moment to catch his breath and allow his eyes to adjust to the near darkness inside. As his eyes grew more accustomed to the darkness of the room, he realized that there was something wrong. He pulled the dagger from his pocket to get better light and moved slowly toward the pile of rubble in the center of the room. It was a perfectly round column of broken rock that was contained inside the ring of columns, as if someone had taken great pains to stack them properly.
He raised the dagger to see if he would be able to climb the pile and find a way to slip through into the stone room above. After walking all of the way around the ring of columns, however, he realized that it was sealed tight from top to bottom. What had happened? Had someone sealed the opening behind me? He could think of no reason that someone above would have closed it. Had the people of the dark world figured out that he had come through that opening and sealed it to keep him from escaping? They could not have known his purpose and they had obviously been using it for their own journeys. It made little sense for them to close it. Nevertheless, it was closed. Trying to determine why was of little use to him and Khaera. They would have to find another way out.
Where did you go to find another way out? He stepped out of the stone room and scanned the horizon in front of him. They would certainly be coming soon. They would come to the one place that a person from the other world would have tried to leave. He could not stay where he was. He started back down the trail, realizing that he would be going right back toward those that were pursuing him. There was a small draw rising away from the main valley off to the right. Perhaps there was another trail or a stone house with a ready-made portal waiting for them there.
He doubted that the portals were scattered all over the place, but he certainly couldn’t stay where he was. He hurried toward the draw and started up the ravine just as he heard the thundering of horses’ hooves coming down the trail. They had horses? He hadn’t seen any when he was in the city or along the trail. In fact, he had seen no sign to indicate they had horses. Maybe they only brought them out whenever they needed to chase someone from the other world who had stolen the baby they had kidnapped.
He slipped in behind a stone and remained as quiet as possible, praying that Khaera would remain quiet as well. They rode straight to the kiva. He could see several dismount and pass through the doorway. It was only a matter of a couple of minutes before they were back outside the room and having a rather excited discussion. He could see waving arms and could faintly hear an occasional voice. Those who had dismounted, mounted once again and they began to ride back along the trail.
Had they not covered up his tracks by riding right over the top of them when they came charging in, he would have had little to no chance, but as they started away from the kiva, they began to fan out and search the ground in every direction. He couldn’t let them find his tracks or the whole bunch would be on him in a few minutes. In addition, he had a baby that understood nothing of the predicament they were in and could begin to whimper or cry at any moment. His only chance was to get a horse and ride as hard as he could.
Parke moved slowly behind cover toward the rider who was nearest to him. He was riding a black and white painted horse and was focused on the ground in front of him. His path, if he stayed with it, would lead directly past where they were hiding.
As he came nearer, Parke gripped the pole with both hands and waited for the exact moment. Too early and he was dead, too late and he was dead. It had to be perfect. He controlled his breath and crouched, the muscles in his legs were ready to spring. The right moment came and he made his move.
In the split second that he snapped up from the ground, the rider froze with fear and then started to turn, but Parke had begun his swing in the same motion as his rising and the full brunt of it caught the creature like an uppercut under his chin and he tumbled backward off of the horse. Parke kept moving, dropping the club and scrambling for the reins of the horse that had started to turn away. His luck was still with him and he was able to snatch one of the reins and prevent it from fleeing.
The action, however, did not go unnoticed and a cry went up from one of the other hunters. He moved as quickly as he could, turning the horse so that he could mount on the side away from them. In the saddle, he stayed low, gathered the reins and turned the horse up the draw where he had been hiding. The chase was on.
The sudden jerking movement of swinging the club and mounting the horse had upset Khaera and she had begun to cry. There was nothing Parke could do but ride and pray that the steady rocking motion of their ride would settle her again. Her screams from the papoose board on his back were drowning out the calls between his pursuers, but he was certain they were coming.
The little painted horse could run and he laid himself out in order to put as much distance as he could behind them. The draw narrowed and forced their pursuers into a single line behind them. It also became steeper and the pace slowed. He could not understand why they hadn’t taken a shot at him, but suddenly realized that they did not want to harm Khaera. She was his protection.
As the draw reached the stone lip of the mesa, he was afraid that they would be trapped against the cliff with nowhere to go. His eyes scanned the rim and he saw a very narrow and very rocky ravine that sloped diagonally upward. All he could do was hope that it ended at the top. He started the horse up the narrow ravine. The going was slow and he knew that his pursuers were certainly gaining on him. He risked a look backward.
They were splitting up. Evidently, they knew of another trail to the top of the mesa and they were going to try to get there ahead of him and cut him off. That, or they knew that he would not come out on top and they would have him trapped between them. Maybe it was all over, but something inside of him simply wouldn’t allow him to stop trying.
Khaera had calmed down, but he knew that he could not continue riding the way he was without giving her some sort of attention. If he came out on top, there would be another wild ride. If he turned back, he’d ride straight into his pursuers. There had to be another way. And then he saw a narrow crack in the rock wall off to his left. If they could hide in there, would their pursuers go past them, allowing him to slip away behind them?
He looked back again. They were in a lower place where they could not see him cut off of the trail. If they were tracking him, ducking off of the trail wouldn’t work, but if they were certain that he was going to continue moving upward, they might just pass right on by.
Dismounting, he trailed the reins and moved quietly into the narrow crack. He ducked through the crack and noticed that there was barely enough room for the horse to walk through the opening behind him. There was a little bit more room once he was through the opening and he moved further toward the back, wanting to put a little bit of extra distance between him and Khaera and their pursuers. What he discovered was that the cave didn’t end. He pulled out the dagger and held it up in front of him. There was a long, narrow tunnel continuing ahead of them, how far it went, he did not know. He wondered if he should go further along to see where it led or if that would ruin their opportunity to slip behind their pursuers after they passed. He finally decided that it wouldn’t hurt to explore a little bit further.
The tunnel seemed to be turning toward the right, which would be generally back toward the face of the stone rim of the mesa. There was no harm in following it; perhaps there was another opening and he could get a glimpse of his
pursuers from there. Or he would have led them into a trap. As the bend in the tunnel continued, he noticed that he could see a trace of light ahead. Moving cautiously, he neared the opening with all of his senses on full alert.
As they moved cautiously toward the opening of the tunnel, he realized that they had arrived in a rather odd place. It was another narrow ravine that had funneled water down a steep slope and into a hole. The tunnel was at the bottom of that hole, like the drain in a sink.
Over time, the water continued to build up in the hole at the bottom of the narrow ravine and had cut a path through it; finding weak places in the sandstone. Eventually, it had cut through and created the ravine on the other side.
When he and Khaera slipped out of the cave and into the narrow ravine, they followed it to the top of the mesa. The ravine had continued along the mesa far enough for them to move well away from their pursuers and he and Khaera continued across the mesa putting distance between them and the dark world men.
He had begun to worry about her after he had heard little sound from her and found a place where they could slip off of the edge of the mesa and hide in another narrow ravine. When he unbound her from the papoose board, he realized that she was quiet because she had likely become very weak. He hoped that he hadn’t killed her.
He remembered the pouches he had stuffed in his pockets and worked the nipple of one of them into her mouth. She worked it softly for a few moments as though in a daze and Parke was afraid that the ride had been too much for her. Just as he was about to despair over her, however, she became much more alert and put a great deal more effort into nursing. Of all of the close calls that he’d been through over the past two days, none brought him more satisfaction than to see Khaera begin to regain her strength.
Being fed brought her very much to life and she began to cry. Another smell from down below was likely the cause. Lacking anything but the shirt on his back, he took it off and tore it to make four more changes. Though he was in favor of abandoning the foul smelling one that he just removed, he decided that they may not be leaving as soon as he had hoped and she might need more changes. He gave it a brief rinse with a touch of water from the water pouch that was attached to the horse’s saddle. He folded it and stuffed it into an empty pouch.