Journey to Rainbow Island (35 page)

“That's fine, Yu-ning. What matters is that we are all together. And don't worry, we won't let any harm come to you,” added Lorelei, patting Yu-ning's arm.

“And I won't let any harm come to you either, ma'am!” With this, Lorelei let out an easy laugh, marveling at the precocious nature of this unusual little girl. “Tell me about that pretty necklace of yours,” said Lorelei.

Yu-ning beamed. “This is my crystal heart necklace . . .” Yu-ning said, and then paused. “I have an idea. Do you want to play a game?”

Lorelei nodded her head, smiling at Yu-ning. “Close your eyes,” Yu-ning said. Lorelei obeyed. “Now hold out your hands. All right, good.” Yu-ning placed the glowing pink gem in the woman's hands, and placed her smaller hands on top. “Now think of the one thing in the world that you love more than anything . . . do you have it in your mind?”

“Yes. Yes, I do.”

“Open your eyes!” Yu-ning instructed. As Lorelei opened her eyes, the most beautiful, pure light she had ever seen glowed before her. It was flowing all around her in transparent wisps of pink, rose, mauve, puce, fuchsia, and amaranth.

“It . . . it's amazing! It's like heaven! Where did this light come from?” exclaimed Lorelei, taking in the beauty of the colors as they radiated away from Yu-ning, illuminating the
trail as it weaved further up the mountain. Yu-ning took her pink crystal heart and placed it next to Lorelei's heart, pressing it against her coat. “From here!” Yu-ning said, with a broad grin on her face. “The light is from your heart—you just needed to see with the eyes of innocence and love. By the way, who were you thinking about?”

Lorelei looked at Yu-ning with a smile, and then turned her head to look at her son, James. He was resting on a nearby rock, stretched out on his back, soaking in the warmth of the sun. Yu-ning just smiled back. As they took to the trail once again, Yu-ning was encouraged that at least one adult could now see the pink path. Yu-ning turned to Lorelei and said in a low voice, “Why don't you take the lead now? I think the other adults will listen to you more than they will to us kids.”

Lorelei understood Yu-ning's meaning and nodded her head. “Here, I can take a turn in the lead,” she said to Elliot in a louder voice. He smiled and yielded the front position to Lorelei, who turned around and winked at Yu-ning. With Lorelei at the point, the group moved more swiftly. With the pink rays of Yu-ning's necklace leading the way, Lorelei had no trouble covering the last remaining section of trail before the tired, cold group neared the summit. As the afternoon wore on, the shadows on the mountain lengthened, and the temperature began to drop.

“Hurry, everyone, this way!” shouted Lorelei, reading the coordinates on her compass as she pretended to study a thick topographical map. Again she winked at Yu-ning and said, “We are almost at the summit.” Talk of gold deposits had dissipated since they had left the tragic scene of the avalanche. However, now that the group had nearly reached the top of the mountain, a few of the adults became more animated,
and picked up the discussion of the elusive treasure once again. “The caves are said to be just on the other side of the summit, as you begin your descent down the south face,” said Elliot, who was limping from a stiff leg.

“No, that's not right,” one of the other women said. “The golden nuggets are said to encrust the walls of a deep crevasse, located
east
of the summit. I heard an old man in my village on Tunzai Island say that when he accidentally stumbled on the hidden crevasse, the nuggets were embedded in the walls like barnacles on the side of a ship. All he had to do was scrape his knife against the ice and rock, and the gold would pop into his hand!” Back and forth they argued, with most of the adults entering the debate. Yu-ning noticed that neither of James's parents, however, was saying a word.

They entered an area of the mountain where the trail was narrow, clinging to the side of the cliff wall, in some places no wider than two feet. “Don't look down,” Yu-ning said to James, Solimar, and Marisol, who were all walking single file behind her, doing their best to hug the cold rock wall as much as possible. Not following her own advice, Yu-ning glanced down. She immediately regretted her decision: the cliff fell away more than a thousand feet into grey mist below.

This part of the journey was slow going, and seemed to take an agonizing amount of time. Then the cliff face turned sharply, and around the corner the party could see the trail open up into a broad area of rocks and boulders where the cliff gave way to flatter ground. The children celebrated as the weary travelers decided to stop once again, if only for a moment, and then press on before darkness fell.

Yu-ning wandered a little bit away from the group and noticed that the trail once again broke off in different
directions—one trail heading due south, and two other trails heading east and northwest, respectively. As she held up her pink crystal gemstone, its lights illuminated the path heading south. She hurried back to the group to inform the others.

“My husband and I are heading
east,”
said the woman who had talked about the hidden crevasse brimming with gold. The husband added, “We will make camp at the head of the icefall, and begin our explorations in the morning.”

“I would advise against that,” said Elliot. “That route is treacherous. Many never return from those icefalls. The ground is unsteady, and the crevasses are difficult to see—sometimes they are buried under just a few inches of new snow. One false step, and that's it for you. You need ice ladders, crampons, pickaxes . . . and a lot more rope to traverse that part of the mountain. You don't have the proper equipment!”

“We are going,” announced the husband, his chin slightly raised in the late-afternoon air. No one else spoke. The couple headed east away from the main group, which set its sights on the southern path. They figured they had about two hours of daylight left and were determined to find a sheltered place where they could spend the night. Lorelei stayed in the front, following the pink light emanating from Yu-ning's necklace, its light floating over and around her as Yu-ning walked just behind.

Ahead of them the trail was visible, even after the day's fresh snowfall, but it was getting harder to follow in the fading light. Here at the summit, the mountain was flat; no vegetation or trees grew here, as they were far above the tree line.

Then something curious happened: though there was only one trail, the pink light broke off from the main path, leading Lorelei across open, rock-strewn terrain.

“Where are we going?” asked an older woman named Caroline, who was unrelated to anyone else in the group. “The trail leads straight on—why are we heading cross-country here?”

It was a reasonable question, but Lorelei lacked a satisfying answer. Yu-ning spoke up. “It's because there are treasures in this direction. I guarantee it.”

“How do you know that for sure, little girl?” asked Caroline.

“I just do. You need to trust me.”

Caroline gave a cheerless laugh. “Um, no, I don't. I am staying on the path.”

Of the ten members left in the group, Yu-ning, James, Solimar, Marisol, and both sets of their parents decided to keep moving cross-country. The woman stood alone on the trail, while the elderly gentlemen, Elliot, stood undecided.

“Come with me, Elliot. We shouldn't veer from the trail,” Caroline said.

“Perhaps not, but the first rule of the wilderness is to stay together. I am staying with the group. And you should too.” Caroline was furious, but she knew it would be foolish to head off by herself, especially with night nearly upon them.

As they set out again, the pink light led them around enormous boulders that littered the summit of the mountain. It was a labyrinth, weaving in and out, in no easily discernable direction. Then, the pink path dropped steeply into a cleft in the rocks—hidden from above, and only visible if one was standing just in the right place between the two boulders at the entrance.

“It's a secret cave!” exclaimed James. Though technically it was not a cave, but a high-walled slot canyon, the effect
was the same. It was dark and cold, with snow piled on ledges above and some scattered on the ground, where it had fallen from the exposed walls above. The hikers followed the natural stone passageway for half an hour, the light ever fading, evening nearly upon them. Just when Yu-ning was beginning to falter in her hope for a good ending, the slot canyon opened up onto a beautiful, flat open ledge. High cliff walls soared above them on three sides; the view in front was open, the mountains and valleys of Farcara stretching away south into the weak, dusky light.

It was a natural tabletop ledge, nearly a perfect square—about a quarter-mile wide and long. In the middle of this flat table of stone stood a handsome cabin made of granite rocks, huge wood timbers, and large, heavy windows. It had a sturdy wooden roof and a tall stone chimney, a thin line of grey smoke floating from the top. It was lovely—and fantastically out of place here at the top of the world.

The ten weary travelers stood for a moment, trying to comprehend this place. As they stood there, just staring at the handsome cabin, the door swung open and a tall man with long dark hair and a dark beard walked onto the porch. He was dressed in a huge wool jacket.

“Don't tell me!” he yelled. “You must be Yu-ning, correct?”

Y
U-NING STEPPED FORWARD
. “And if I'm not mistaken, you are Joshua.”

“That's right. It seems we both expected this meeting!” said the dark-haired man, handsome eyes measuring Yu-ning, a long pipe clamped between straight white teeth. “You are all welcome here,” said Joshua to the approaching travelers. “Come in—the night is going to be a cold one, and I'd prefer to keep the heat within my home. Quickly, enter, enter!”

The four children and six adults entered the cabin, stamping the snow from their boots before crossing the large wooden threshold. The cabin was large, rustic, and welcoming. All the furniture was hand-carved from gnarled pine and other woods, presumably gathered on the slopes below the summit. There were tables crafted from slabs of granite and a stairway leading to a second-story loft. The walls were adorned with beautiful charcoal drawings of the mountain, horned sheep, snow leopards, eagles, bears, and hawks.

Lying on a huge, flat-stone table in the center of the room was a large sketch. It was clear that Joshua had been working on the drawing when he heard the visitors approach, as pieces of charcoal were scattered around the edges of the thick paper upon which he was working. Yu-ning was startled to see that the drawing was of an obisidigon, and that Joshua had gotten every detail correct, right down to the hard black scales covering its back.

The others removed their coats and gathered round the huge stone fireplace to warm cold and aching feet and hands. Yu-ning stared at the ominous drawing on the table. “Where did you see this?” she asked, tension creeping into her voice. “Have you seen one of the dragons? Is it here on the mountain?” she inquired with alarm.

Joshua was quick to assure her that she was not in danger. “No, Yu-ning. I saw it—in my dreams. I also saw
you.
For the past seven nights I have had the same dream. A dark-haired girl with intelligent eyes visits me, seeking that which only I know of—save one other in this wide world. In the same dream, I see this—” He removed the pipe and tapped the bowl against the drawing. “I know the creature only through old tales—told long ago by a tall wizard on a colorful island, and before that, at the outer reaches of my memory, by kin now forgotten. But oh yes, I have seen it, for it haunts my dreams.”

The other children moved away from the fire, fascinated by the picture of the dragon. “I like your picture,” said Marisol. “But it's a little scary.”

Joshua smiled at the girl and proceeded to welcome everyone to his home, furtively placing a blank sheet of paper over his obsidigon drawing. “My name is Joshua, and as you can probably guess, I don't get many visitors here on top of the
world. And though I don't mind the solitude of my mountain perch, I also welcome strangers on those rare occasions when they land upon my doorstep. Welcome to the Porch of Tranquility!”

On the wall next to the beautiful drawings was something that caught Yu-ning's eye—a beautiful arrow case, fashioned from rich, dark brown leather. Inside the quiver were finely crafted arrows—Yu-ning counted a dozen. The case and the missiles looked as if they were from another age, a distant time. Intricate designs were etched into the rich leather. Curiously, the tips of the arrows were rounded, and shiny.

Joshua noticed Yu-ning's eyes fixed on the arrows and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Don't draw attention to the Quiver of Light or ask me any questions about it tonight. A person can't be too careful.”