now clean hands.
“You should try it,” he said. “The most goddamn refreshing thing I’ve ever felt.”
James did try and indeed it was.
“I think,” said Luno, “we should follow the stream.”
Without waiting for an answer, he began to walk along the bank as it twisted deeper into the jungle. James followed. He felt comfortable for the first time since their voyage began as they strolled along the path, which had been worn by all the creatures that came to drink.
The banks became steeper as they pressed on. The vegetation lining the stream also became more dense, making it nearly impossible to follow while keeping the water in sight. In the end, both Luno and James decided the best course of action would be to wade in the stream rather than travel along its banks. The bottom was rocky and very slick, making travel slow. Luno didn’t appear to mind as he continued to question James about the language of The Never.
“What I find quite intriguing is the lack of a word for death,” said Luno. “There’s ‘life,’ ojala, ‘pain,’ lieska, and even ‘loss,’ tormala, but not death. Fascinating.”
“Perhaps it exists but was intentionally omitted,” James pondered.
“Interesting theory, fascinating in and of itself, actually. I imagine with that word would come an incredible and terrible power, so yes, perhaps you are correct. This place doesn’t want anyone to have that power.”
“Except her, who apparently has no problem wielding it,” said James, referring to the island.
“Again, you are correct. Your powers of perception have indeed sharpened with time in this place. Or perhaps they simply come with age,” Luno said. “How old are you, boy?”
“Nearly seventeen,” James replied.
“My god,” said Luno, “I never realized you were quite so young. This place does things to a man.”
They reached the base of a nearly vertical section of the stream. The water spilled from pool to pool each nested among large boulders. The men climbed to the first pool where they stopped and gazed into the water. The pool was deep, much deeper than the size of the boulders in which it was wreathed. An emerald glow sparkled from beneath the surface. The sun overhead cast rays of light that danced in the moving water.
Luno quickly cast aside the gear he was carrying and held out his hands.
“Tertiri ze Manukto vinka,” he said. Nothing happened.
He repeated this several times, each time James made corrections in his pronunciation. Finally, he had enough and asked James to send a light orb into the pool. As it descended, the walls edging the pool were lighted then faded back to shadow. When it reached perhaps twenty feet, the light from the orb spread and sparkled.
“I believe it opens into a larger area down there. During my travels back in our world, I once visited a place where Mayans lived, before they were decimated by the bloody Spanish. The natives spoke of underground rivers that stretched for miles beneath their jungles. They said men would go exploring in them never to return.”
“Then might I suggest we move on?” James said.
Luno had already removed his shirt and stowed his short sword in his belt.
“If your powers of perception have indeed sharpened, James, then you’ll know I cannot leave anything unexplored. It’s against my very nature. Now, I want you to stay here. I shall return in two minutes.”
Luno slid into the pool, took a deep breath, and submerged. As he descended, James sent three additional light orbs into the water. Each went sequentially deeper, lighting the way for Luno. When Luno reached where the walls appeared to end, he turned, looking around. After a brief pause, he swam out of sight. James looked nervously into the water as the seconds turned into minutes.
“You really shouldn’t dwell on the past,” a voice said.
James turned toward the sound. Above him in the higher grouping of boulders stood Luno with the grin of a much younger man on his face.
“The pools connect. All four of them join. There is a large cave where the pools converge. Fascinating,” he said, not for the first time this day. “At the far end of this cave is another tunnel where I dare not dwell as the current is strong there, and I fear I’ll not return. Now bring my gear and let us continue, we’ve much to discuss, much to explore and little light in which to accomplish either.
The pair continued their journey along the stream. When they reached the top pool, both were relieved to see the elevation flatten and the vegetation thin enough to walk astride the stream rather than through it. Having been submerged up to their knees for so long, their feet were becoming waterlogged.
“ Tertiri ze Manukto poikelo,” said James. A warm breeze swirled around the men drying their clothes and hair.
“I wonder how the others are fairing,” said Luno. “Did you notice there wasn’t one sign of life in the water?” Luno asked, rapidly changing topics.
Used to Luno’s ever-shifting attention, James, whose every thought was on how the others were fairing, replied, “I did notice. Rather strange.”
“Indeed. Neither plant nor animal dwell in such a rich source of fresh water. Well, this land continually perplexes and vexes, that’s for sure. Lets keep moving then, shall we?”
“Tell me,” James said, trying his luck. “Do you know what it is that drives Kilani to seek this transporting powder with such fervor?”
Luno stopped and turned to face James. His face had changed from that of an excited child to an old man, weary and concerned.
“Her desire to leave this place is strong. Stronger perhaps than any other’s. Even your own.”
“She’s made that clear on numerous occasions. My question is what drives her to return? What compels her to this pursuit with such obsession?”
“Each of us comes from a life much different than the one we live here. For some of us, this place, despite all the hardships that come with living here, is a chance to start over, a new beginning. For others it is a prison in which they do not belong. For those wrongfully exiled, they were torn from all they had known and loved and banished to a place from which there is but a fleeting hope of escape. And for those who truly deserve banishment because they’ve committed the most terrible crimes, this land finds quite terrible ends for them. Kilani left much behind. All of it dear to her.”
“What did she leave behind?” James asked.
Luno’s expression turned even more weary as he thought about James’s question.
“I was hoping you had the answer to that,” he said, dismally.
James was shocked. He’d thought for sure she would confide in Luno. He looked at Luno and saw a beaten man for the first time since they’d met on the Harbor Town pier so long ago.
“It is clear by your expression that she did not,” Luno said. “Much remains a mystery with that one. She keeps her own council. We are close, she and I, but ‘close’ is relative with her. I don’t know if she’ll ever let anyone get truly close. And I fear one day, her obsession will be her undoing.”
James couldn’t help but think of the black castle as Luno finished his sentence. He pushed it out of his mind as they continued upstream. The sun reached its apex and began its slow descent to the horizon. Luno was unusually silent for the next several hours. The stream meandered uphill through the jungle then out into a grassy field where it narrowed to a creek not much wider than James’s foot. The field stretched across a large plateau that then rolled back downhill to the jungle below. On the northern side of the field several miles from where they stood, a steep hill rose off the plateau. The grass on the hill tapered to rock toward the top. A small, sickly-looking tree adorned the otherwise barren peak.
“I believe there lies the highest point of the island,” said Luno, pointing to the hill. The gully in which the stream traveled wound its way through the grassy field toward the hill where Luno suspected its source would be found.
“To the peak,” Luno shouted, taking off at a run. James, relieved that Luno’s mood had improved, happily followed. The field stretched farther than it appeared, taking the pair the better part of an hour at full speed to reach the base of the hill. The stream trickled from another pool at the base of the hill. Above it the water spilled down the steep stone face into the pool. Luno paused only for a moment before skirting the base and ascending the eastern and more easily traveled side.
When they reached the top, it wasn’t the view that captured their attention but the small tree. It did indeed stand only a hair shorter than James, and its leaves were small and rather malnourished in appearance. The root system was what drew the gazes of the men. From below, the tree looked as if it sat on top of the rocky peak.
