Beyond the Valley of Mist (17 page)

“
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 “v
alley 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.