The Seventh Mountain (38 page)

“When you get out, you are going to fall
asleep. That’s natural, since you haven’t been able to sleep, at
all, for as long as you have been in here. That’s going to happen
to me, too. There may be other effects as well. Some of you may
wish to stay in here until all your injuries are healed. We came
this far to get you out. We won’t abandon you now.”

Mark pointed up. “The way out is up there.
I’m going to climb this ladder and open the door. The group up
there is going to help you out. It might take some time. Be
patient.”

He reached the top and pushed the staff
through the door. He saw a commotion start in the museum. He didn’t
want to fall asleep so he didn’t climb out. Shortly, the first
person was up.

Mark asked the first climber as he neared
the exit, “Do you know Joseph Young? Is he here?”

“He’s not here. Must still be back in the
grotto.”

“Thanks.”

Every prisoner elected to climb out. One day
later, inside time, the last one was out. Mark climbed back down
the ladder and entered the room where everybody had been. No one
was there to be seen. The poignant, overbearing oppressiveness of
the labyrinth was beginning to sink into him, again. He was hungry,
and he wanted very much to sleep.

What was that?
He saw, out of the corner of his eye, a shadow
cross near him.

Mark scanned the room. There was no sign of
anyone. He turned off the lantern that had been left near the door
and waited for his eyes to adjust to the dark. There, in the far
distance, he could see the faint glow of light.

He turned the lantern back on and looked for
the bags that had been left there. They were gone. The contents had
been strewn on the floor. He found a meal pack, sat down and began
to eat. Just when he was finishing his meal, he heard a large rush
of water in the distance. A few minutes later, water started
creeping over the floor.

Mark stood and held the lantern up. Meal
packs were starting to float on the water. The water was slowly
rising. He backed up to where the door was. Evidently the floor was
slightly sloped away from the wall. Water hadn’t reached there
yet.

There was another sound of water rushing,
this time, somewhat closer. The water on the floor started to
recede; carrying meal packs with it, farther into the cavern until
the water was no longer deep enough to float them. Again, Mark saw
a shadow cross beside him. He turned to look and nothing was
there.

“Who’s there?”

No answer.

Mark put the staff into Aaron’s Grasp and
withdrew his sword. “We have the key to the labyrinth. Everyone
else is already out of here.”

Silence.

Mark retrieved the staff and touched the
wall. The door opened. “I’m telling the truth. There is a way out
of here.”

More silence.

Mark spoke to an imaginary person in the
next room. “There’s someone out here, but they won’t say anything
or show themselves.”

Might be a spirit. I had
better toss out a couple of bug bombs
.

Mark did just that. They ignited and burned.
A burnt fish smell filled the air.

Mark heard something approaching. He turned
to look. He saw a lantern. When the figure approached closer, he
could see that it was Gerod.

“Hi, Mark. Thought you might be back by now.
How are you holding up?”

“I’ve been better, but I’m all right.”

Gerod sniffed the air. “Bug bomb?”

“Yeah, I’ve been seeing this shadow moving
out of the corner of my eye. I didn’t want to take any
chances.”

“It might be that ancient warrior that
Joseph Young was telling us about. He’s supposed to be guarding a
sunstone.”

“A sunstone?”

“The ancient Aztecs used to carve calendars
is stone. This one must be a special one. This guy won’t let anyone
get near it.”

“Where is it?”

Gerod picked up a meal pack. “Don’t know. We
haven’t found it yet. We’ve found a bunch of other stuff
though.”

“What kind of stuff?”

“Well, we found the lost U.T. stone, an
ancient cloak, an ancient manuscript; Mr. Diefenderfer thinks that
it might be the lost Testament of Enoch. There’s a bunch of stuff.
Everything that we are finding was placed so that it wouldn’t get
flushed.”

“Flushed?”

“Yeah. The floor is like a big shallow bowl
with a door in the middle. First, all of the doors around the walls
open at the same time. That decreases the air pressure in here.
Water rushes in until the pressure is equalized again. The door in
the floor opens and pressurized air rushes in as the water flows
out, one giant flush. Evidently, a flowing substance can pass both
ways through the doors when they open.”

The precious few possessions that had been
brought into the labyrinth were either kept with their owners or
left where the invading waters couldn’t reach them.

“Where does the water come from?”

“Haven’t got the foggiest. Let’s go
look.”

Mark put the staff and sword back into
Aaron’s Grasp. “Let’s go.”

“Which way did you hear that first flush
from?”

Mark pointed across the way. “Over there. It
sounded like it was a good ways off.”

“I don’t think that the others have made it
that far yet. We’ll probably see them when we get over there.”

“Isn’t this place getting to you guys
yet?”

“You mean no sleep, little food and just the
evil feeling of the place? Yeah, it’s getting to us, but we have a
job to do. You can either let it get to you and quit or you can do
the best job you can. It’s up to the person really. True Magi will
do what they have to. They won’t quit. If we quit, we lose.”

Mark and Gerod crossed the expanse making
small talk about what they wanted to do when they were out of the
labyrinth.

They stopped when a quick shadow passed in
front of them. Mark asked, “What was that?”

“Don’t know. It could be that ancient
warrior fellow trying to warn us off. I don’t sense any evil
presence.”

“Let’s take a wide path around that area
ahead.”

“That sounds like a wise move. I don’t know
what this fellow wants, or what he is capable of.”

They walked left, giving a wide berth to
whatever might lie ahead.

“Hold on a second, Mark. I’m going to try
far seeing again. No one has been able to do it in here yet. I’m
thinking that if I concentrate, I might be able to do it, a
little.”

Gerod dropped to his knees and put his hands
over his face. After a moment he said, “I’ve got it. That’s the
sunstone, about fifty yards to the right.”

“I wish I could do that.”

“Gerod stood back up and they continued
walking. “That’s a couple of years ahead of where you are right
now, but if you really want to learn, I’ll help you when we get
out.”

“Is it hard?”

“Learning to see with the mind’s eye is a
little difficult, but after that, far seeing is pretty easy.”

“Why is it so hard to do in here?”

“I don’t know. There’s just something about
this place that oppresses your spirit.”

“What’s the hardest thing to learn?”

“Well now, that depends on the person. Most
say that remanifesting is the hardest. Some say Maode Maharaw.”

“I’ve already done that.”

“Yes, but you can’t yet call it up at
will.”

Mark looked down at his feet. “No, I
can’t.”

“Well, I’d say that learning and
understanding the basic connections between the mind, body and
spirit are the hardest. Once you understand that, then everything
else falls into place.”

“Like, how?”

“Let’s see… have you ever been preparing to
go on a trip or going to do something that you were excited about,
and you had to get up early? You set the alarm, and then you get up
five minutes before the alarm goes off.”

“Yeah! When we were going to
Albuquerque.”

“That’s what I’m talking about. Your mind,
body and spirit were all working for the same goal. Do you remember
how you felt that night before you went to bed?”

“Yeah, I felt good; I was really looking
forward to being there. I felt almost as if I were there.”

“That kind of attitude, that kind of
feeling, and that kind of belief are what you need to develop for
anything that you are working on.”

“I see. That sounds like it might be hard.
It’s hard to get that excited about stuff.”

“Excited isn’t the right word. It’s more
like a very cheerful commitment.”

“I see. It’s like when I developed Aaron’s
Grasp. I was just walking along, talking to my friends and
practicing the exercises. I wasn’t really thinking about it. I was
just doing it automatically. That’s when I got it. I can’t really
explain it.”

“That’s right. You let your mind step out of
the process, so that your body and your spirit could work together
without obstruction. That’s what it takes for Aaron’s Grasp. For
Remanifestation, your mind, body, and spirit have to want to be
someplace else, all at the exact same moment. For seeing with the
mind’s eye you want to shut your body out and let your mind and
spirit work together. For far seeing you let your spirit take
control of the process.”

“I see.”

“It all comes down to understanding the
relationships between the mind, body, and spirit and learning how
to control them. Ah, it looks like we are there.” Gerod stopped and
pointed at the wall. “The water has to come from somewhere around
here. Hold on while I use the Far Seeing again.”

Gerod dropped to his knees again and covered
his face. “Ah… That’s interesting. The water is in a pool on a
ledge high up on the wall.” Gerod stood back up. “There’s a ledge,
like a ramp, that leads up to the ledge on that wall. It starts way
over there.” He pointed to the wall on the right. “That solves the
mystery of where the water comes from.”

“Gerod… Is that you?” Mr. Diefenderfer’s
distant voice came from the wall area to the left. They looked and
saw lanterns approaching.

“Yes, sir. Mark’s with me.”

“Good. As soon as we complete the
circumference, we can get out of this wretched place.”

“Did you find many more artifacts?”

“We have twenty-five bags full, plus what we
can carry.”

“We found the sunstone. That ancient warrior
is still guarding it, we think.”

“What do you mean? He either is or he
isn’t.”

“We didn’t see him directly, but someone is
around, watching us. We’ve only seen him as a shadow of motion. We
didn’t want to provoke him so we didn’t get too close to the
sunstone.”

“Where is the sunstone?”

“It’s about two hundred or so yards back
that way.” Gerod pointed toward the center of the cavern.

“Very well. We’ll leave it for now.”

The group caught up with Gerod and Mark.

A man spoke whom Mark didn’t recognize.

“So, you’re Mark Young. My good friend,
AlHufus, has told me about you. I am Joseph Young, your great,
great, great, great, grandfather. I am pleased to meet you.” Joseph
Young offered his hand to Mark.

Mark shook his hand. “I’m pleased to meet
you, sir.”

On the way around the rest of the perimeter,
they found an assortment of other artifacts. Mark got to hear the
story, from Joseph Young himself, of how he came to have the staff
and the foretelling that led to where they were today.

“I have the unique ability to see, as it
were, underground. If I concentrate, I am able to see objects that
do not occur in nature. I was in the Middle East, on an excavation,
when I saw the staff. I dug it out. As soon as I touched it, I was
given the foretelling of you and this staff. I had no clue as to
what the staff was or what it was to be used for. I only knew that
the sixth firstborn in my line of descendants would inherit it. I
was shown where to hide the staff in a dream and was told never to
speak of it to anyone. As a precaution, I enciphered a message that
only you could read. It seems a good thing that I did that.”

The group reached the door with all of the
artifacts that they could carry. Mark had a little trouble finding
the door again, but once he did, everyone filed into the room that
led out of the labyrinth. Mark was about to enter when he felt a
heavy blow strike the back of his neck. He went down to his knees.
Instinctively he shoved the staff into Aaron’s Grasp and started to
pull his sword out but was too late. The door closed. Another blow
struck the back of his neck. Blackness engulfed his
consciousness.

A god by any other name…

Mark started to regain consciousness.
Everything was black. Something was holding him. He felt around his
chest, ropes. He was tied to something. He felt behind him, cold
stone. He struggled to free himself but the ropes were too tight.
He felt in his pocket. The utility knife and bug bombs were gone.
He grabbed for his sword. A deep, raspy voice spoke.

“Little Warrior. I am sad that I must do
this. I tell you this now, so that your soul might not condemn me
in the afterlife… I was set here by the gods themselves to guard
this sunstone, for all time… It is forbidden to destroy the
sunstone, but no man may look upon it to gain its secrets. These
are the words of Quetzalcoatl himself.”

“Who’s Quetzalcoatl?”

“The Winged Serpent god, Kukulcan of the
Nine Winds… Son of the Morning Star. You must know him.”

“Nope. Never heard of him. Why are you doing
this?”

“I was set to guard the sunstone. Guard it I
will. It is commanded of me by the gods. My brother stole the key
and was punished. I must kill you, so that you cannot lead others
in here to this sunstone. My heart is heavy, and I wish you to know
this.”

“You can’t kill me in here. No one dies in
here, not for good.”