The Black Stallion Legend (10 page)

The loco brothers opened their mouths in wild screams as the Black bore down upon them. Then, suddenly, they parted, scattering before the stallion’s fierce onslaught. But they immediately turned to fling rocks, arrows and spears at the horse.

The Black screamed in rage and pain as the barrage of weapons fell upon him. He came to an abrupt stop and rose, pawing the air. A stone tore into the softness of his belly. He came down, shaking in his fury and undecided what to do.

Alec yelled into his ears,
“Go, Black, go!”

The Black bolted forward, but it was not to escape the milling mass of ghastly figures. He reached out for the nearest one, grabbing him with savage teeth and lifting him from the ground. He shook him vigorously before flinging him back to earth.

Fire flashed in his eyes as he lashed out with steel-shod hoofs at others. Maddened with pain, he ran forward, then backward, as cunning and quick as a wild animal on the attack.

A rock struck Alec in the middle of his back and
he cried out. His blood ran hot with rage as well as terror. He knew the Black was attacking to kill, and he would do nothing to stop him.

The Black moved into the milling throng of powdered bodies, his torn mouth spattering flecks of red foam upon them. He was determined to cut the attackers to pieces with slashing teeth and hoofs.

Now the ghastly figures were too close to use their weapons, so they resorted to clawing, hammering hands, seeking to pull the stallion down. Yet their eyes were fearful as the Black’s striking forelegs caught one body after another, sending it to the ground.

There were just too many for the Black to fight. He was breathing heavily, blood spewing from his cut mouth. Alec turned the stallion in the direction of the distant ruins at the far end of the arena. He knew the gorge exit was closed to them and the only way to save himself and his horse was to outrun the horde of painted bodies.

The Black’s hoofs struck out at those who attempted to stop him. They fell back, their screams filling the air.

Alec raced the Black up the long arena, knowing they could not stop to rest until they were well away from the crazed mob. He didn’t know what lay beyond, only that there was no turning back.

As they approached the mass of fallen stones, Alec brought the Black to a stop. The crumbling ruins had been a huge structure at one time. There was a portion that looked like an outer wall, thick and substantially built. But there would be no safety for Alec or his horse
in this heap of rubble. It could provide them with cover for only a moment.

Alec slid off the stallion and moved his bloodstained hands over the Black’s body, finding open wounds but no broken bones or torn tendons.

Straightening, he told his horse, “We’ve got to keep moving. They’ll be following us.”

Wrapping his arms around the stallion’s foam-covered neck, Alec searched the area with his eyes, looking for a place to hide. Just beyond the ruins was a somber area of piñon trees with a snowy peak rising behind. As Alec made his way toward the trees, seeking cover, he realized that they grew in uniform rows. Apparently this land had once been cultivated.

Walking through the trees, Alec heard a distant sound—a low, booming roar. The Black heard it, too, for his ears were pitched in the direction of the sound.

Alec looked around, trying to pierce the dense cover to either side of him and find the source of the deep, continuous sound. Perhaps it would prove to be a way out of this madness.

Taking care, watching his horse’s every stride, Alec broke through the bush. A moment later he came to a halt, staring in bewilderment at a crater-like pit from which the noise came.

Reaching the edge of the pit, Alec looked down into the depths. The distant booming roar reverberated in his ears, but he also heard the distinct sound of a rushing torrent of water. It was then he knew that the sound came from an underground river.

His eyes turned to the far side of the pit where a
path zigzagged down into the crater. Slabs of stone were piled high on the precipitous side to make a safe roadway. What purpose did the ancient inhabitants of this land have for entering the crater? Was it to fetch water from the underground river? Or was it to reach another way out of the walled arena?

A great upheaval of the earth accounted for the crater, Alec knew, but not for the man-made road leading to the depths below. It was wide enough for him and the Black to walk abreast with safety. But was there safety below? Should he go down it if the frenzied mob came after him again? What was his alternative? To fight them to the end? Or scramble up the high mountain just beyond the pit, exposed to their view and weapons?

As Alec looked into the crater, he felt a warm blast of air on his face. And with it he saw a flicker of light, a small crescent, burning for a moment in the darkness. What did the light mean? Where did it come from?

Suddenly Alec heard shrill screams behind him. Turning, he saw a sight that filled him once more with terror! A tightly packed mass of grotesque figures was moving through the trees toward him! He could see their powdered faces with eyes glaring at him.

A feeling of despair swept over Alec. He knew that neither he nor the Black could face another fierce onslaught and live! He scrambled to his feet as a shower of stones was hurled at him. Leading the Black, he ran to the far side of the crater and started down the path.

The rock slabs piled high on the edge of the old road kept Alec and his horse from falling into the gigantic pit. Alec stopped once to look back up and saw the horde of powdered faces at the crater’s rim. Those in front were on their knees while others pressed heavily against them, leaning over their comrades’ shoulders, all stabbing down into the hole with long spears, striking again and again in futile attempts to reach him. Above the muted roar of the underground stream, Alec could hear the clang of their weapons against the stone.

It was only when they put up their spears and began hurling stones at him that Alec led the Black on. He hoped he wouldn’t have to travel beyond the reach of daylight.

When they were safe from the hail of stones, Alec halted and looked up again. The loco brothers were still at the rim of the crater. At least they weren’t following him, and Alec felt safe.

The crater and its noise might be taken for
anything his pursuers cared to believe, he told himself. It might be enough to scare the crazed mob away and, if so, Alec was grateful for their ancient beliefs.

He remained where he was, wrapped in the semi-darkness of the pit, waiting for the loco brothers to leave and listening to their mutterings. He felt the Black’s hot breath against his face and stroked the stallion’s head, hoping his horse wouldn’t go berserk in the confines of the crater.

The front rank of the mob was wavering, pushing back in fright at whatever it was they feared below. But those behind pressed forward, and a few bold ones made for the road down, their spears held high.

Alec felt a new surge of despair.
If they came down, what would he do?

For a few minutes more he remained where he was, his eyes intent and watchful. Then, when he saw the braver ones making their way toward him, he plunged down the twisting road into the ever-darkening pit.

Finally Alec reached the bottom and came to a halt, believing he had gone far enough, that the loco brothers would never follow him so deep into the crater. The dull, heavy roar had become louder and it startled the Black. Alec touched him lightly, comforting him, trying to reassure him that despite the noise and the darkness everything was going to be all right.

Suddenly Alec felt the vibration of the floor beneath him, and with it came a small flash of light! He realized immediately that what had been only a flicker of light when seen from above was, here below, bright enough to reveal a large underground chamber just
beyond. In the dark again he walked quickly toward it, unmindful of danger, only grateful that he could periodically see where he was going. If he used his wits and did not panic, he might find another way out of the crater.

Within the chamber, submerged in the roaring sound, he waited until the light came again. Now he saw a high tunnel leading from the room. His hands reached for the Black and he felt the heat of the stallion’s blood flow to him, giving him the courage to go on. He didn’t know where the tunnel led but he would follow it, hoping it would lead to the world outside. Yet, as he made his way along, the floor of the tunnel sloped ever downward as if taking him to the very bowels of the earth.

The flashes of light grew in intensity, and Alec was able to see that the walls to either side of him looked hand-hewn. But he thought such a feat impossible. It was far more probable that some upheaval of nature had created this passage. But who knew the answers to this subterranean world with its unearthly light that came and went with ever-growing brightness?

The tunnel soon ended at a great arched entrance to another chamber, and it was from there that the greatest noise came. In the moments of light, Alec saw the underground river rushing through the chamber, the sound of it echoing and re-echoing against the walls, before plummeting into a pit to unknown depths.

Reaching the water, Alec found it icy cold. The Black was already drinking deeply and Alec lowered his body wearily and drank with him, hoping the water would relieve his hunger pangs as well as his thirst.

It was moments later when he noticed still another tunnel on the far side of the chamber. From it came a pale light that was interrupted by now-brilliant flashes.

Alec got to his feet and stood close to the Black. “Come on,” he said softly.

He hurried through the chamber, finding his way in the gray, ghostly light. Entering the tunnel, he found it more narrow than the others. He walked until he left the noise from the stream behind and could hear only the sound of his own breathing and the ring of the Black’s hoofs on stone.

The light was now coming in a pale, wavering cloud of luminous silver. He knew he was approaching its source, for he could feel a glowing warmth enveloping him. The blasts of air became warmer and stronger still, and the light grew more yellow in color.

Alec stopped, certain that he saw a ring of flame, boiling and glowing, just ahead. He watched it dim to nothing at all before bursting forth a moment later in a sudden flare of vivid fire!

Cautiously, Alec moved forward, one step at a time. He knew he had found the source of the light that had led him here. He entered a small room whose roof was much higher than any of the other chambers. In the center of the floor was a jagged hole from which the fire came. The murky glow above the hole brightened until it became a boiling caldron, glowing with an intensity that burned his eyes and caused him to turn away.

When the fire subsided, Alec stood in its glow, knowing he had nothing to fear from it. Indians might credit their gods for the fire below, but he knew that
most everything he had seen in the area had been created by violent upheavals of the earth’s surface. The whole area was one of faults in the earth’s crust. A deposit of oil or coal below, burning close to the surface, could account for this fire.

Alec now had no doubt that he had entered the sacred underground world of an ancient people. The walls of the small room were covered with strange, fantastic carvings of Indian figures and faces, and to either side of the doorway across the room were immense pillars of hand-wrought stone.

He saw too that the way to the doorway had been worn smooth by many thousands of feet before his own. It was the only evidence Alec needed to believe that the doorway must lead to the world outside. He hurried toward it, hoping that soon he and his horse would be free again.

Alec had gone only a short distance before he stopped abruptly, thinking he heard something just beyond. He held his breath and listened. The sound came again, and he wondered if his ears were playing tricks on him. He could have sworn he heard a human voice, faint and distant. He remained still, his body shaking.

Slowly, cautiously, Alec went forward, aware that the floor beneath his feet was leveling off while the light ahead grew brighter. He walked faster as the tunnel widened, then swept upward to come to an end at a large opening.

Reaching the opening, Alec stood in shocked silence, unable to believe the sight before him.

He saw a great chamber, the size of a tremendous cathedral, oval-shaped and bathed in the golden rays
of the late afternoon sun, which came through a long but narrow opening in the lofty heights above! But the sight that held him most spellbound was of numerous caves on the opposite walls.

A clear stream ran the full length of the chamber, and to either side of it grew moist green grass. The Black snorted at the sight of such lush pasture and moved toward it.

Alec wasn’t aware that the stallion had left his side, for his searching gaze had found an aged Indian, very much alive, sitting cross-legged at a campsite. The old Indian held his arms outstretched toward Alec, looking at him with immense joy as well as sadness. Alec remained still, unable to believe what he heard.

“I have been waiting for you all the years of my life,”
the old Indian said.
“You have come at last.”

Alec remained where he was while the old Indian waved his gnarled hands at him, proclaiming in a deep, guttural voice, “Heaven has opened. Heaven has opened.”

Alec was overwhelmed by the strange greeting. He stared at the Indian’s dark, wrinkled face. He had never seen such sorrow written on a face before. The old man looked a hundred years old, his body frail, his long hair ghostly white and decorated with eagle feathers. Yet his small, powerful eyes were wild in what must have been his anticipation of Alec’s coming.

Alec studied the old man’s eyes, and he thought how much like the Indian boy’s eyes they were. Was this Alph’s
old father
, leader of the clan? If so, what was he doing here, deep in this subterranean chamber?