The Seventh Mountain (16 page)

“What do you want, Ralph?”

Slone answered instead of Ralph. “You’ve got
brains and guts. What you did to Ralph, Ricky and Keith was clever.
We’ve just come to ask you to join our little group.”

“Thanks, but no thanks.” Mark turned to
leave.

“Mark…” Slone’s voice was low and
calculated.

Mark paused in his step.

“Are you sure? This might be the only time
that I’m going to ask. You’ll regret it if you don’t.”

Mark didn’t look back but kept walking to
his original destination.

 
* *
* 

Nick, Jamal and Chenoa were sitting in their
usual booth, waiting for Mark. Nick spoke first when Mark sat down.
“Wow, what do you think it means?”

“I don’t know.”

Chenoa spoke next. “I think that it all has
something to do with you. You were chosen by that stallion with all
those stones in its headdress. He must be a general like the
Council of Elders said.”

“That’s what they called him when you guys
left, too, The General. They said that he was in charge of the
twelve tribes of horses. I guess that is what the gems in his
headband mean. They said that the Emerald horses chose you all.
That means that you are in the Emerald Tribe. The General chose me.
That meant that I could choose any tribe that I wanted to. I could
even choose to not be in a tribe. I chose the Emerald Tribe.”

Jamal said, “There has to be something
special going on here. Stuff like this doesn’t happen without
reason.”

Tim walked up, unnoticed. “That is right.”
His voice confirmed the mystery. “I just heard about it from Gerod…
That is some kind of special. Nobody knows what it means yet. The
Council of Elders is going to consult the U.T. stone about it.”

Chenoa said, “The U.T. stone? I thought that
was a myth.”

“What’s an U.T. stone?” Nick tilted his head
when he asked the question.

“The U.T. stone is real all right. There
have only been eight known throughout time, in the entire world.
Right now, there are only seven that anyone knows where they are.
Each of the seven mountains has one. The eighth one is lost. The
way it works is you say something that can be true or not true.
Kind of like a yes or no question but not a question. You toss it
down. If the fire side shows then the statement was an untruth.
It’s always right. It has never been wrong, not ever.”

“Is it like dice or something?” Nick tilted
his head the other way.

“No. It is flat, kind of like a cracker or
something like that. At any rate, we have to wait for the Council
of Elders to shed some light on the matter. We do know your tribe
now, so let us go and get your class tunics. You will be sleeping
in the Emerald Dormitory tonight. I will show you where that
is.”

They followed Tim and bought all of their
tunics. Tim took them to the Emerald Dormitory. The common room was
exactly like the barracks except that all of the tables, chairs and
decorations were green. The students who were there looked at the
foursome when they entered. No one said anything for the longest
time.

Mark thought that he would break the awkward
silence. He raised his hand to wave at no one in particular. “Hi.
I’m Mark Young.” The crowd drew in around them. They all began
speaking at once, saying their names and offering greetings. The
news had traveled quickly; the four companions were
celebrities.

“Ah… we need to put our stuff up.” The boys
followed Mark, Jamal and Nick into the boys’ dorm hall. Chenoa
followed the girls into the girls’ dorm hall. The hall had
individual rooms, more like cabins.

Someone called out, “Your room is all the
way at the end.”

A green door at the end of the long hall had
the names Nikola Poparov, Jamal Terfa and Mark Young painted on it.
The paint looked like it was still wet.

“Looks like we’re roommates.” Jamal grinned
at the other two.

Inside were their three beds with the
headboards set against the wall and re-made-up with green blankets
and green pillowcases. There were three full-size, business-type
desks on the opposite wall, complete with padded swivel chairs.
Empty bookshelves lined every bit of wall space, four feet high and
up. The entrance to the bathroom was on the far wall from the
entrance door.

Mark thought that he might leave the staff
in the room. Then he thought better of it. The three friends left
their room together and returned to the waiting crowd in the
hall.

Questions pounded the three when they
re-entered the hall. Mark said, “Let’s go sit down in the common
room and we’ll tell you all of the story.”

After about an hour’s worth of storytelling
and answering questions, nobody posed any more queries.

Mark said, “I have a question. Can someone
tell me about flags matches?”

Everyone spoke at once. It seemed that
everyone wanted to tell what they knew.

A tall girl walked up to Mark. She looked
familiar, but he just couldn’t place her. Her voice silenced the
crowd. Her brown eyes showed a hint of luminosity. They were
nowhere as near as bright as the teacher’s or counselor’s eyes, but
there was a definite glow about them. Her thick, wavy dark brown,
almost black hair stretched way past her shoulders and down to her
waist.

“Hi. I’m Krisa, the Emerald Team’s captain.
What do you want to know?”

“Everything.”

“Well… the matches are held on the last
Saturday of the month while school is in. The finals are held
during the summer. The playing field is the entire school grounds.
The object of the game is to return a flag that has been launched
onto the field, to your base. The game is played on horseback and
on foot. There are as many players as you want but only twelve
riders at a time on each of the four competing teams. The team and
the individual player score the point value of the flag when it is
returned to base. Flags can be captured from another team’s base.
Flag values increase one point each time a new flag is launched
onto the field. There is a bonus flag worth one hundred and forty
four points. It’s on The Island and it’s guarded by wild animals.
The animals change every match. You score points by keeping the
flags that you bring back. There are two basic rules. You can’t
kill and you can’t remanifest. You might want to read a book or two
on it.” She went to the bookshelves and pointed. “This whole
section is books about flags matches. Tryouts are this
Saturday.”

Krisa’s explanation seemed awkward and was
too fast to take it all in. Mark knew that he would catch on in due
course and didn’t ask any questions.

“Thank you.” Mark went to the bookshelf and
looked over some of the titles. He decided that he would read
Omar’s Strategy Guide for Flags
and
Flags Through the
Ages
first. He left them on the shelf for now.

Mark turned and looked at the crowd. “I
think I’ll go and get supper now.” He walked to the door. Chenoa,
Nick and Jamal joined him.

Trouble seeks the unwitting, and finds
those unprepared
.

The next morning the group made it to
breakfast with time to spare. Someone had knocked on their bedroom
doors to wake them up.

Tim was there waiting for them as expected.
He was his usual bright-eyed self. “Meet me on the top floor of the
bookstore at eight. Today we are going to get your telescopes.
After that, I am going to take you to the observatory on top of the
mountain where you can set it up.”

Mark walked up to Tim. “I was wondering,
since we have already been chosen, do we need to attend the
choosing event?” Jamal, Nick and Chenoa walked up beside Mark,
waiting for Tim’s answer.

“Well, I do not know.” Tim looked down at
the floor in thought, and then looked back up. “It has never come
up before. I can see no reason that you should have to attend. I
would think that you would want to go just to see the folks that
get chosen to be in your tribe.”

“Okay, where’s the best place to watch
from?”

“I guess you can sit in the bleachers. Best
take your binoculars with you.”

“How do you get to the bleachers?”

“Observatory level. You will see how to get
there this morning. That is where you will set up your
telescope.”

Mark nodded. “Okay, thanks. We’ll see you in
the bookstore.”

The group followed Mark. A couple of steps
away from Tim, Chenoa leaned toward Jamal and whispered. “I don’t
think he has any intention of sitting in the bleachers and watching
the choosing.”

Jamal answered, “I think that I agree with
you. It would not be my first choice either. What do you think he
is going to want to do?”

Nick leaned in and said, “I don’t know about
him, but I don’t want to sit in the sun all day. I’d rather be
sitting somewhere in the shade with a nice, cool, umbrella drink.”
This was very odd for Nick because he always considered umbrella
drinks to be adult beverages.

They reached their booth and sat down. Mark
said, “I was just thinking. I don’t want to sit in the sun on those
bleachers all day. I’d rather find a nice shady spot and watch.
Maybe some place where we can get some iced drinks, you know, the
kind with the little umbrellas in them. My grandfather used to make
them for me, lemonade, a splash of cherry, a couple of pieces of
pineapple tossed in and a little umbrella as a decoration.”

Chenoa leaned toward Mark with a surprised
look on her face. “You heard us talking, didn’t you?”

Mark was puzzled. He hadn’t heard them
talking. “No, I didn’t hear you talking. What were you saying?”

“We, the three of us, were just speculating
on what you would want to do. I mean, I just thought that you
wouldn’t want to watch the choosing from the bleachers. Jamal
agreed with me and Nick said that he would rather sit in a shady
spot with an umbrella drink.”

“That was exactly what I
was thinking when we were walking over here. The Council of Elders
said I had the ability of
spirit
speak
. They called it… Rooack Dabar. Let’s
try something else.” Mark tried to think of the strangest thing
that he could. He pictured in his mind, Tim ballet dancing in
purple tights and a green tutu.

Chenoa’s face wrinkled up and she squinted
her eyes. “That’s absolutely disgusting!”

Nick’s face was in his hands and he was
shaking his head. “She’s right. I could have gone my whole life
without seeing that and been happy.”

Jamal piped in. “What were you thinking,
man? No, wait; I know what you were thinking. I just don’t know
why.”

Tim walked up, leaned over and put his hands
on the table. “That was not very nice. I guess that I am lucky that
not many people are here.”

Mark blushed and looked down at the table.
He was trying real hard to suppress a grin. “I’m sorry, Tim. I just
tried to think of something where I could be sure that these guys
were reading my thoughts. It just popped into my head.” When Mark
looked back up he saw that Nick, Jamal and Chenoa had their hands
over their mouths, trying to keep from laughing.

“Well, I reckon that it was funny. I have
never thought of myself as a ballet dancer. I guess that is a good
thing. At any rate, you need to be careful with what you think, at
least up front, anyway.”

Mark’s expression changed to a serious tone.
“How can I control what I think? I mean, what I think is what I
think.”

Tim knelt beside the table. “Only what you
think in the front of your mind is what people can hear. It works
best in the morning when everybody’s mind is usually clear. I will
say something to Mr. Diefenderfer about this. He can give you some
exercises to help you control it. Just be careful of what you think
up front until you get the hang of it.”

Shana walked up to the table grinning at
Tim. She put her hands over her head so that her fingertips
touched. Then she tiptoed a couple of quick steps, still grinning
at Tim.

Tim shook his head. “It is going to take a
long time to live this one down. You got me. I guess that I should
award you a couple of points for a practical joke, even though you
did not mean to do it.” He stood up and walked back to his post at
the door, all the while slowly shaking his head.

Shana looked at Mark. “Tim’s right you know.
What you think can be used against you.”

Mark looked at her and said, “I see what you
mean.” He was thinking of how his thoughts would telegraph his
intentions to an opponent.

Shana understood what Mark was thinking. She
nodded her head. “That’s right. And there are more subtle ways to
use it against you.”

Mark tried thinking the
question to her.
How do you
mean?

“Well, for example, Chenoa already knows
that you think that she is cute. She could use that knowledge to
manipulate you into doing things. Nick already knows that you think
he is smart. He could use that to give you bad information at a
critical moment. Jamal knows that you think he is wise. He could
give you bad advice. Mind you, I’m not saying that this will
happen. I’m just using these examples to show you how subtle
treachery can be. I don’t, in any way, mean to imply anything
against your friends. Things like I have just described have
happened in the past though. Just be on guard with what you
think.”

“How far does it reach?”

“I was in the back room getting ready to
come out when I picked it up. That’s about fifty yards from here.
You do have one thing going in your favor though. Most freshmen and
first level sophomores will think that what they pick up from you
are their own thoughts. It takes a bit of training and experience
to recognize foreign thoughts.”

“What do you mean, foreign thoughts?”