make out a thin, zigzag line in the craggy face of the mountain. Sure enough, before I knew it, we were walking on a narrow path. It was the first sign of civilization we had seen in hours. My heart started to race. Could this be the trail to Black Water? The rocky trail took a sharp turn and got very steep. We climbed, single file, in one direction for a while, then hit a switchback that sent us around the other way. The whole time we kept climbing higher and higher, zigzagging our way up.
The scary thing was that the trail was nothing more than a narrow ledge cut into the steep mountainside. In no time we were up so high that my palms started to sweat when I looked down. I found myself leaning into the mountain, just in case the zenzen stumbled.
We reached another switchback, and I expected to make the turn and continue climbing in the opposite direction, but the trail didn’t go that way. Instead it led to a narrow gap that looked like the mountain had been wrenched apart. The opening was so narrow that it blended in with the terrain and couldn’t be seen from below, even by sharp klee eyes. We were about to walkinto the mountain! Kasha didn’t hesitate and walked her zenzen right into the fissure. Yorn and I followed close behind. The gap was barely wide enough for the zenzen. I had to concentrate to keep my animal walking straight because my knees kept scraping against the rock walls to either side. I was glad to be off the ledge, but didn’t especially enjoy having my legs shredded.
A couple of times I heard the sound of falling stones coming from above. I quickly looked up and saw pebbles bouncing down toward me. I ducked, and the pebbles missed, but it gave me a bad feeling. What caused them to fall? Was it coincidence? Or did something up there kick them loose? If we were attacked by a pack of tangs, we’d be trapped and slaughtered. I tried not to think about it and went back to concentrating on protecting my poor knees.
Thankfully, it didn’t take long for us to arrive on the far side of this gap. I was actually surprised that it was so quick, because there was no way we could have traveled all the way through to the far side of the mountain range. When I directed my zenzen out into the light, I saw the reason why.
We were still in the mountains. The three of us stood on a wide ledge, looking down into a beautiful, enclosed valley. It was like being on the inside of a volcano. Unlike the gray, rocky terrain we had been traveling through for the past few hours, the inside of this bowl was covered with lush plant life. I counted seven waterfalls that began near the rim of the bowl and cascaded down to a large, mountain lake that took up much of the bottom.
“Is this Black Water?” I asked.
“No,” she answered.
Kasha looked at her map, then looked to the sky. “What are you doing?” Yorn asked.
“According to the map,” she answered, “this is the exact time we need to be here.”
“I don’t understand,” Yorn said.
“The sunbelt needs to be at a certain angle,” Kasha explained.
I looked around. I’m not sure why. I had no idea of what to look for. A few minutes passed. Still nothing. Kasha kept checking the sky. I kept looking around like an idiot. A few more minutes crept by. The sunbelt dropped lower. Soon it would be resting on the rim of this crater, and then it would be dark.
“You’re sure this is the right spot?” I finally asked. Kasha scanned the inside of the bowl, then announced, “There!”
She pointed to the far side of the bowl. I had been staring out there since we had stopped and didn’t expect to see anything different, but I was wrong. Something was different with the waterfalls. They were all about the same height. The water appeared white as it crested the top and fell all the way down to the lake. But now, with the sunbelt at just the right angle, the light must have been blocked by a rock formation or something. For now, the second waterfall from the right no longer appeared white. The water had gone dark. It totally stood out from the other six. There was only one way to describe it.
“Black Water,” Yorn whispered in awe.
JOURNAL #18
(CONTINUED)
EELONG
“That’s our destination,” Kasha confirmed.
The three of us sat on our zenzens, staring at the dark waterfall on the far side of the valley. It was our guidepost to the mysterious place called Black Water. Yorn reached over to Kasha and took Seegen’s map from her. He looked at it with a smile, shaking his head in wonder.
“There are times when I feel older than the ground I walk on,” Yorn said. “You’ll find that as you grow older, there is one gift you will cherish most dearly, because it doesn’t come often.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Surprise,” Yorn said with a big smile-the first smile I’d seen from him since we’d met. “Surprises keep you young, and right now, I feel like a child. Yahhh!” Yorn shouted with excitement and kicked his zenzen forward. He galloped down the grassy hill that led from the crevice we had entered through, charging toward the waterfall.
“He reminds me of my father,” Kasha said. “Even at his age he’s always looking for the next adventure.”
“And you’re not like your father?” I asked.
Kasha took a sad breath and answered, “Things were simple for him. He felt strongly about what was right, and wrong. What was fair and what wasn’t. He was a builder. But where others used gars for the more difficult or dangerous work, he always did the work himself.”
“Did he tell you why?” I asked.
“He always said that he didn’t think it was fair to force a gar to do something they wouldn’t benefit from. It was a simple sentiment, but said so much.”
“Maybe you’re more like him than you think,” I said.
Kasha didn’t reply to that.
“Is this where you leave us?” I asked.
“We haven’t gotten to the end of the map,” she said, and kicked her zenzen forward. Together we galloped down the steep, grassy slope to the bottom of the valley. I felt like a cowboy charging across some awesome, uncharted territory. The sunbelt cast a warm, late-afternoon glow over the valley that made the place look like a painting. For those few minutes, I can actually say I was having fun. We soon hit a dense stand of trees and had to slow down. Yorn had disappeared into these trees long before we reached them and was nowhere to be seen.
“I hope he went the right way,” I said.
“If he keeps his eye on the black waterfall, he’ll be fine,” Kasha answered.
It was getting dark. The sunbelt had dipped below the rim of the crater. We only had a few minutes of light left. I was really worried that if it got too dark, we’d be lost until daybreak. I hoped klees could see in the dark like the cats at home.
“Yorn?” Kasha called.
All we heard back was the roaring sound of the waterfalls. Not good. At best we were separated and would have to deal with finding each other. At worst, well, I didn’t want to think the worst.
“Look,” Kasha said.
A soft mist was rising off the ground, making it even more difficult to see anything. I was about to ask Kasha what she saw, when something appeared through the trees ahead of us. It was a large, dark shape moving slowly toward us. But it was too dark and the shadow was too far away to make out what it was.
“Oh no,” Kasha gasped.
At least one question was answered. The cat in Kasha had way better vision than the gar in me. “Is it a tang?” I asked.
Kasha didn’t have to answer, because a second later I recognized it. Trotting toward us through the trees was Yorn’s zenzen…without Yorn. Kasha walked her zenzen up to the beast and retrieved the spears that were strapped to the saddle. She tossed one to me.
