Chapter 6 - The Huskamau
Jeremiah woke early, just before dawn. It was still semi-dark and the fire had long since burned out. A few dying embers were all that remained. Feeling the frost and altitude sickness slowly returning, he rose from his blanket to rekindle the fire. Once he had it going, he placed Bunejab’s small kettle that he had filled with the chill mountain water above the hot flames.
Warming his hands, he gazed down at Chalice who was still in peaceful slumber. She looked like an angel. She had no idea how beautiful she was. During all that time away from Canton, he realized only recently just how much he had missed her. Physically, she was very different than she had been, but on the inside she was still that same sassy, clever, little girl he had known, who always broke the rules and tried to boss him around. Could she really be a princess? Is that what Sebastian was hiding? He hoped his wish would come true, but it didn’t matter. To him, she already was. She can deny it all she wants, I won’t bring up the subject again, he told himself.
Jeremiah grabbed the pouch of Taluqua leaves Bunejab had placed in his bag and sprinkled a few into the kettle. Just then, Chalice stirred and opened her eyes.
“You’re up early,” she said.
He smiled. “I always get up before dawn. I’m a hunter.”
“Uh, oh yeah,” she replied as she stretched and took a deep breath of the crisp morning air. Suddenly, a piercing cry echoed down the canyon. “What is that?”
“The Niquilas.”
“The what?”
“The snow eagles. Their cries can be heard in the early morning of the Trui’Quirré. They wake the mountain.”
“Oh, right,” she said thoughtfully and remembered having heard the screeches from far off during her journey through the middle passes. “Is Bunejab awake yet?”
“No. He must have been really tired last night. He was the first to go down and now the last to get up. You want breakfast?”
“You know, I’m not that hungry,” she answered sitting up, wrapping herself in her blanket.
“Me neither, but we need to drink this tea. Here.”
She took the cup he proffered her and blew into it, cooling it a little before drinking. Taking a sip, she felt the warmth and energy flow into her again, stamping out all the frost and fatigue.
“I like this. I’m going to have to get me some of these tea leaves.”
Jeremiah laughed as he laid out a pan of cool water steeped in tea leaves for the horses. “You’ll have to take that up with Bunejab.”
“I will,” she replied wryly as she sipped her cup and stared out at the water. Minutes passed. Then, she frowned in thought. “You know, I was thinking about something last night.”
“What’s that?”
“Well, it seems to me that it’s cold enough at this altitude for the lake and river water to be frozen, but it isn’t. Why is that?”
At that moment the blankets across from them began to move and a furry head popped out from under the covers.
“Well good morning!” she said cheerfully and he chittered. Apparently, Bunejab had heard her question and wanted to give an answer. All Chalice could make out was a few sounds before she turned to Jeremiah.
“You want to translate?” she asked, smiling.
“He says it’s because of the land. It keeps the water from freezing, but closer to the top of the mountain we’ll begin to see more ice. He also said that it’s the reason why the trees can grow this high up. The land keeps the forest and the animals alive.”
“The land … keeps the water from freezing? Hmm …” she said quietly to herself in a soft, thoughtful tone. She remembered clearing the snow for the bedding the night before and how warm the ground felt. It was a good thing for it kept them comfortable during the frosty night. She never felt a chill at all. Just then, Bunejab jumped out of his covers and began to roll up his blanket.
“Yeah, we better get moving,” Jeremiah said, taking the cue from the little Chinuk. He tossed some snow onto the fire and began to pack up. Chalice followed suit and soon they were ready to head back up the trail.
“Chalice, why don’t you let him ride with you and you two can lead this time.”
“Alright. Here, hand him to me.”
Jeremiah lifted the Chinuk to the front of Chalice’s saddle, where he fit nicely in between its pommel and Sunny’s mane. She smiled. From the other side of his furry ears, issued the strange sound that he made every time he chattered on in the Chinukan language. He appeared very excited to share something with her. All she could respond with was: “Yeah, uh huh, wow, really …” She had no idea what he was saying.
Jeremiah grinned as he mounted. Of course he knew what Bunejab was telling her, but decided to remain silent. Maybe it will give her some incentive to learn the language, he thought. He motioned Banner to follow Sunny and they ascended the embankment to follow the trail once more.
The slope of the trail tapered off along the mountainside, but the sheer drop off facing east was intimidating. Jeremiah tensed as they approached a narrow section of road. Chalice didn’t even seem to flinch. She rested calmly on Sunny’s saddle and giggled at Bunejab who jabbered away. Little did she know that Bunejab was giving her advice on Jeremiah.
It’s a good thing she can’t understand him, he thought. He wondered how she could remain so cool and collected on this part of the trail. Then, he remembered that she had just spent the last few weeks crossing the middle passes of the Trui’Quirré. No wonder, he thought, that’s even more dangerous than this and she did that on her own! He wanted to tell her how much he admired her. He wanted to tell her how much she had grown, but the thought of it left him tongue-tied, so he decided to keep the information to himself … for now.
Then, he thought about how his life in the past few days had drastically changed from the complacency of the Branburian quotidian routine to an escape from the King’s men for a reason that still eluded them. Everything had been status quo when he left on his hunting trip and then completely upside-down when he returned and all of it coinciding with Chalice’s arrival. To see her again after all these years, he almost expected to wake from what seemed like a strange dream.
What is all of this about? And why didn’t Father leave me a message? He couldn’t understand it. It was unlike his father to abandon the farm even if in a hurry without leaving behind some sort of note to let him know what was happening or where they were. Are they alright? he wondered. He wondered if Zeb and Jordan were still fighting over Alora. His two brothers never really got along well in any case, not like the others, but he supposed that the contention between them had at least been put on hold given current events. And that was assuming they were still alive. No, I shouldn’t think that way. They are all alive, he told himself stubbornly.
He wondered if Seth and Nicolah, his two eldest brothers, were with them. And Aemis and Tobias, his two best friends. When he left, Tobias was still contemplating proposing to Seychelle. Jeremiah wondered why he didn’t just do it and get it over with. He couldn’t imagine Tobias with anyone other than her. It was fear holding him back.
Maybe all of this will cause him to break through that fear, he thought.
Aemis, on the other hand, had just been on the brink of perfecting his new invention. Of course, this was always the case every time he talked to him and every time something went wrong and it didn’t work. Had he succeeded this time? The invention was a powder that he had been developing. Aemis had said it could be put to many uses in the village, as well as facilitate the digging of wells and culverts. He also had some insane idea of making what he called skyfire for festivals and celebrations. Jeremiah had anticipated returning from his trip to pay him a visit. He was interested in Aemis’s progress. He wanted to see this skyfire. Smiling, he shook his head. Crazy Aemis!
Hours passed where he let his mind entertain thoughts of his village and the people closest to him. He
supposed keeping them alive in his mind kept him from losing hope. If anything, he had to maintain at least the outward appearance of surety and strength for Chalice. Although sometimes he thought that she was stronger than him in many ways. Regardless, she seemed lost at this point in her life and for that matter, so was he.
At least we are lost together, he thought.
Finally, snapping out of his thoughts, he realized that they had been on horseback all through lunch and the remaining afternoon. They found themselves in a flat highland area, surrounded by a pure white forest that twinkled with snow and ice. Light rays beamed through the sequoias from the east, indicating that it was late afternoon or early evening. He glanced upward and discovered icicles dangling menacingly from the branches far up.
Best to stay on the beaten path, he thought.
At that moment, Jeremiah’s eye caught a flash of white and grey from behind the trees to the left. Simultaneously, the horses began snorting and prancing nervously along the trail. Luckily, he managed to soothe Banner with a stroke of his hand, but Chalice, it appeared, was not having the same success with Sunny. He raced up alongside them.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“It’s Bunejab. He won’t sit still. He’s terrified. I can’t control both him and Sunny at the same time!” Jeremiah noticed Bunejab, who by that time had turned around in his seat and was clutching Chalice around the middle in a death grip, chittering in rapid Chinukan. Jeremiah grabbed Sunny’s reins and slowed him. The presence of Banner alongside him appeared to calm the horse and slow his stride.
“Whoa boy! Ssh,” he soothed and eased Sunny to a walk. He looked back at Chalice who, in exasperation, had her arm around a clinging Bunejab. “The Huskamau,” he said.
“The what?”
“Bunejab is talking about the snow wolves. He’s afraid of them. They usually don’t come around this area, but when they do, that means that they’re hungry. Sometimes they prey upon the Chinuka. They’ve attacked his village before. I just spotted one of them back there and if you can see one, then there are dozens more you can’t see lingering in the forest somewhere. Bunejab says the Chinuka used to have friends who lived in the high passes of the mountain who protected them from the wolves, but those friends are gone now.”
“We should hurry then!”
“His village is not too far from here,” Jeremiah said as he gripped Sunny’s reins with his left hand and guided Banner with his right. “You keep a hold on him,” he added, nodding toward Bunejab. “I’ll get us there.”
Heeling Banner into a fast trot, they continued in that manner for the next quarter-hour. If the wolves were following, Jeremiah didn’t see them and the horses appeared not to sense them either. Bunejab, however, remained unnerved. He stayed in position all the way to the village and held tightly to Chalice, keeping his eyes on the forest until they reached a large clearing, dotted with small, white, snow hills at the base of an enormous, sheer crag of thick mountain rock.
As they approached, Chalice and Jeremiah found that what they had thought were snow hills weren’t really hills at all, but low-lying huts, or burrows, carved into the soil and covered with a thick blanket of snow. Small wooden doors covered with ice, and tiny windows decorated with thin icicles peeked out of the white mounds. Sparkles of jagged light brightened the paths that wound in and around the huts, many of which had small, protruding chimneys that released the sweet smell of wood smoke into the frosty mountain air. Dusk was approaching rapidly and the area was thoroughly shaded by the large sequoias to the east and the rock face to the west that towered over the small village.
Chalice’s stomach growled. They hadn’t eaten all day and it was getting close to dinnertime. Only a few of the Chinuka could be seen scurrying about the paths in brown and grey cloaks, carrying supplies for meal preparations. They all resembled one another, yet at the same time displayed varying differences. Some were much larger and stockier, with thicker, darker fur and strode about carrying heavy loads. Others were smaller and lighter in color, with softer, more rounded features that were distinctly feminine. None of them, however, seemed to notice the new arrivals.
A word from Bunejab brought them to a halt on the main path through the village, right in front of one of the huts to their left. He scrambled off the horse, falling to the ground in a heap, and rushed into the small, Chinukan home. After a moment, they saw what must have been Quinta peer out of the window. Then, her face vanished.
Chalice and Jeremiah glanced at each other in confusion. Jeremiah dismounted and crept toward the door, his ear straining toward it, trying to listen to what was being said. Chalice dismounted and stood watching as she held the horses’ reins.
“They’re arguing,” he whispered. “Well, he’s not, but she is. She’s not happy he’s been gone for so long or that he brought us back with him.” He paused to listen again. “Man, she’s really angry. I think he knew she would …”
Suddenly, Jeremiah cut off and leapt back from the door. It had suddenly cracked open and four, tiny, furry heads appeared from behind it. In an explosion of excitement, they chittered and giggled and bolted toward Chalice, knocking her over. For a moment, Jeremiah had to suppress a crazy desire to laugh as she was inundated with small, moving fur balls that tickled her and laughed like a bunch of mad squirrels. They had never seen people before and seemed to be making the most of it. Chalice appeared both amazed and exasperated. She clearly wasn’t expecting to be tackled by four Chinukan children.
Just then, Jeremiah spotted the villagers approaching. They had taken note of the newcomers and were moving nearer to investigate. As he turned toward them, from the corner of his eye, he spotted Bunejab and Quinta watching Chalice and the children. In the midst of the commotion, the two had stopped arguing and were now standing in the doorway. Jeremiah had the impression that Quinta was no longer angry.
It’s funny how children can do that, he thought.
Flushed and breathless, Chalice sat up and the children, being called back by their mother, returned to the house. Then, Quinta spoke.
“She says she’s sorry. They usually don’t behave like that,” Jeremiah translated.
“It’s alright,” Chalice laughed as Jeremiah walked over to help her up. Bunejab addressed the crowd, and from what Chalice could discern, introduced them. Most were interested in the new guests, some were suspicious, but to her surprise, none of them appeared to be angry. Their introduction to the village seemed to be going well … until the wolves arrived.
Suddenly, piercing shrieks of terror burst from the crowd as the Chinuka frantically scurried back to their huts. Chalice turned toward the path from which they had just come and spotted a large pack of enormous wolves. They were pure white with flecks of grey in their tails and ears. Grey flecks also covered their muzzles and encircled their eyes of ice-blue. They were beautiful if deadly.
She realized that it must have been the same pack tracking them along the trail, so she kept very still. Moving her eyes without turning her head, she noted that the whole pack was standing back in the depths of the trees, surrounding the village. They were lingering and watching, as if waiting for something. Then, she saw the one. He must have been the leader. He was enormous, with the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen, that stared not just at her, but into her. And she suddenly sensed something strange. Something familiar. Almost a kinship.
“Chalice, come on! What are you doing?” She felt a tug on her arm and knew that Jeremiah was beckoning her to go with Bunejab who was gesturing frantically toward the rock cliff. Jeremiah was also trying to control the horses at the same time without much success.
Then, she heard noise issuing again from the village. The male Chinuka had emerged and were brandishing small clubs, spears, and crossbows in an attempt to defend their village. Many of the wolves growled and snarled at their advancement. Chalice stepped forward and motioned with her left palm fo
r the Chinuka to halt. Then, slowly, stealthily, she approached the leader, extending her right hand as a glint of sunlight flickered from the blue diamond on her ring to the eye of the wolf.
“Chalice, what are you doing?! Are you crazy?! Get back here!” She could hear Jeremiah pleading with her as if through a tunnel in the distance, but she ignored him and continued on. She wasn’t sure if it was crazy or not. She had no idea how she knew that she wasn’t in any danger. She just knew. The wolf did not move as she drew closer. Its ice-blue eyes peered into her, as if searching for something, as if knowing who she was. As soon as she was close enough, he moved his nose toward her hand and sniffed. With a loud snort, he threw up his head and stepped backwards. Retreating, he turned slowly and trotted back down the path from which he had come. The rest of wolves followed suit. It was over.
Strange sounds issued from the crowd. It was unlike anything she had heard since first experiencing the Chinukan language. She turned around and realized that they were cheering. Many rushed up to touch her. It seemed gratitude swept over them like a flood and they were no longer suspicious of her or Jeremiah. She had done nothing, she knew, but to them it appeared as though she had saved their village.
“You scared me to death!” Jeremiah burst out in exasperation. “What was that all about?!”
“I … have … no idea,” she said in total bewilderment.
“How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Get them to leave.”
“I didn’t do anything. I just stood there. There was something about that wolf.” She turned her head to glance once more down the path and found it empty. “For some reason, I knew they weren’t here to harm anyone. I don’t know how I knew that, though. It was weird, Jeremiah. There’s something about this mountain that’s strange. It’s something that isn’t present in the lowlands. Can you feel it?”
He glanced around and nodded. “Yeah, a little, but it still wouldn’t make me approach a giant wolf, you lunatic!” he said smiling and wrapping his arm around her. “Come on. Bunejab is going to lead us to our rooms for the night where we can rest the horses and have some dinner.”
The night? she wondered. And yet it was nighttime. The sun had set, and between the shade of the trees and the darkness of the sky, she suddenly realized that there was no sunlight left.
“Oh, yeah, let’s go. I’m famished!”
After the excitement had died down and the villagers had returned to their business, Quinta tucked back into the hut and set to tending the children. Following Bunejab’s lead, Chalice and Jeremiah strode down the main path to the base of the cliff. There, they took a sharp right, which led to a large gateway in the rock face.
The gateway was not made of wood or iron, but of the rock itself. The doors were made of grey rock, outlined with a white vein of crystal … or marble. Chalice squinted at it. She couldn’t really tell what it was, but it flowed and looped in an intricate pattern, so complex she thought that no human artisan could have designed it.
Bunejab waddled through the snow to a white circle embedded to the right of the doorway. He placed his palm on the circle and Chalice gasped. The crystal veins outlining the gateway glowed white hot and split down the middle, allowing the two thick stone doors to thrust outwards, forcing the layer of snow back from the entrance. The chamber within lay shrouded in darkness.
They drew near the entrance and stopped at the threshold. Warm air rushing out through the doors blew Chalice’s hair from her face. They watched in awe as Bunejab entered and touched another white circle on the inside that mirrored the circle on the outside. Light surged from it and lit up his tiny face. The light streaked from the center of the circle across the inner surface of an enormous dome in thousands of white veins that marbled the rock wall. The veins glowed and pulsed for a second until they steadied and their brightness suffused the entire dome.
Chalice and Jeremiah stood on the threshold, suddenly able to see everything in the dome as clearly as if it were daylight. With mouths gaping, their eyes met as a silent communication passed between them. Then, they stepped inside.
A stone path stretched out several spans in front of them from the entrance, extending to the other side of the rock dome. Located at the end of the stone path, was another doorway similar to the one they had just entered. To the left of the path stood a magnificent silver fountain that shone softly in the light. Its three intertwined spouts stretched upwards, curving around one another without touching and curled over at the top to spill crystal clear water into a silver pool encircling the spouts. Around the fountain, lay a green pasture of soft ground, dotted with maple trees and white daisies. Beyond it stood another gateway.
The right side of the stone path was given to the same kind of green pasture, but was clearly intended for horses. A stone fence, stretching from the right side of the doorway on the opposite side of the dome to a large, stone building that Chalice took to be the stable located directly to their right, enclosed the pasture. They found that all of the structures in the dome were whole, as if they had been hewn directly out of the mountain rock.
“This is how they do it,” Jeremiah whispered softly.
“Do what?”
“Grow things. You see the trees?” he said and she nodded thoughtfully. The land keeps the water from freezing, Bunejab had said and she noticed that the air inside the dome was almost hot compared to the air outside. It made her curious to know what was in the silver veins on the wall.
Without a protest from either horse, they walked in slowly. She heard and felt the low rumble of the massive rock doors closing behind her. The slow clop of hooves quickened as they came near the stable. It seemed the horses were eager for the food they knew would be there and Chalice was suddenly reminded that they had had very little to eat the day before.
Bunejab spoke rapidly to Jeremiah and pointed toward the fountain. As Jeremiah listened, Chalice gathered Banner’s reins, opened the door of the stable, and led the horses inside onto the soft dirt. She tied them to a hitching post protruding from the right wall and looked around. Seven stalls with silver gates lined the left side of the stable. All were bedded with soft hay. Each stall opened to the pasture and let in enough light, allowing her to see the back of the stable clearly.
Walking toward it, she entered a tack room. In the center stood a large stone table with a hayloft hovering several paces above it. A thick layer of dust covered everything. Apparently, the room hadn’t been used for some time, so she brushed off the table with a small hand broom hanging from a hook on the wall.
Working quickly, she relieved Sunny and Banner of their burdens and started in on grooming them. Sunny lifted his head in the air and twitched his muzzle when she scratched his neck and chest. He loved it. Banner also enjoyed the same treatment. They deserved it, she thought, after the grueling climb they had just suffered. Then, she led them to the stalls and unbridled them. They immediately bolted for the grass outside and began to graze.
After placing the saddles, saddle pads, and bridles in the tack room, she hoisted their bags over her shoulder with a grunt and staggered toward the door. Jeremiah’s were heavy. What the heck did he put in these bags? she thought. Rocks? Just then, he appeared in the doorway.
“Here, let me take those,” he said, smiling at her attempt to carry them. She thought she was doing a pretty good job of it. She was strong enough, she knew, but she handed them over all the same. He lifted them with ease and she marveled at his strength.
“The horses need water,” she said as she knuckled her back.
Hearing her words, Bunejab quickly jumped into the stable and ran to fetch two water buckets that he quickly filled with fountain water. He then placed them into the stalls. Taking a small pouch from his pocket, he dropped a small handful of Taluqua leaves into the buckets and came out to meet them just as Jeremiah was passing on the information to Chalice that Bunejab
had told him.
“Yeah, the green room. It’s just beyond those doors,” he said, pointing to the gateway beyond the fountain. “He says it’s the largest of all the Chinukan villages. When Quinta returns with the fish, they’ll take us there. That is where they get their food for meals.”
“What kind of fish do they have?”
“It’s called tsökhí. They keep it stored in frozen crates next to the village. The Chinuka at the top of the mountain ice-fish on Lake Cancha and trade with the village for small crafts and materials, sometimes even for fruits and vegetables that are grown here. Bunejab says it’s really good.”
“Hmm, I’m looking forward to seeing this room,” she said as she felt a slight tug on her coat sleeve. She glanced down and found Bunejab motioning them toward the door at the end of the room. “Okay, we’ll follow you.”
As they walked, Chalice glanced around the dome and couldn’t help but feel a heightened sense of awareness of everything around her. It was an overwhelming feeling of peace and contentment that she realized she had been sensing ever since they set off from the lowlands. It had been increasing steadily for the past two days. She attributed it to being safely up the mountain, away from the danger.
When they arrived at the end of the path, she discovered thin grooves in the rock wall. She reached over the fence and placed her hand on one of the grooves. Cool air flowed out, chilling her palm.
“Weird,” she murmured.
“Not weird,” Jeremiah remarked, pointing to the top of the dome where there were similar grooves, but wider and closer together. “Ventilation. The cool air flows out through the grooves and the heated air rises, flowing out of the dome at the top. It keeps the air fresh.” Chalice quirked an eyebrow at him. “My parents engineered something similar in our underground tunnel. That’s how I know.” She nodded.
Bunejab opened the door before them in the same fashion as before and Chalice wondered how it was done. Was it just by touching the circle, then? As in the dome, the circle outside was mirrored on the inside and Bunejab lit what appeared to be a long, wide corridor hewn out of the rock. Along the hallway, doorways were situated several spans apart on each side.
“These are the apartments,” Jeremiah said.
“What’s that?” Chalice asked as she hadn’t been paying attention. She had been examining the white circle on the wall.
“It’s where we’re staying tonight.”
“Oh.”
They walked in and stopped at the first door to the right. Before Bunejab could open the door, Chalice stopped him.
“Let me try!” she said and the Chinuk motioned for her to step forward.
“What do you call this?” she asked, pointing to the white circle.
“He calls them the vellen, or vella, singular, if I’m pronouncing it correctly,” Jeremiah replied.
She placed her palm on the circle and the outline of the door brightened, but did not open. She tried again. Nothing.
“There’s got to be a trick to it. Hmm …” She tried again and was still unsuccessful. Bunejab stepped up and placed his palm on the door. It opened.
Chalice sniffed loudly. “How does he do that?!” It frustrated her when she couldn’t master something immediately. She stood there examining it and Jeremiah laughed.
“You can laugh all you want. I will figure this out!”
He just shook his head, smiled, and stepped into the room. Jeremiah placed his hand on the vella inside and after a couple of seconds, the room lit up.
Chalice let out a frustrated gasp. “How did you do that?”
“I touched it while thinking of light and it worked; well not right away, but it still lit the room. I think you have to fix your mind on what you want it to do.”
“I tried that. It didn’t work for me,” she said, frowning. Well, it was sort of true, she had been thinking of an open door, but she probably wasn’t concentrating hard enough. Still, she wondered how it worked. How does it know what you want it to do? she wondered as she stepped into the room.
The quarters within were spacious and comfortable. The kitchen lay to the left and the sitting room to the right. The bedrooms, she assumed, could be found along the hallway that extended from the opposite side of the room. A large love seat of polished wood and down cushions covered with a drape of soft rabbit fur sat opposite two large chairs made of the same material. A low-lying, polished wooden table sat in between them. To the right of the furniture, a large fireplace was carved into the rock, its hearth a half of a pace above the ground, with a small rock bench jutting out from just below it. Split firewood lay in a stack to the right of the bench, waiting to be used.
Chalice found that the kitchen was almost the same as Grandma Naelli’s, except for the cooking utensils that hung from hooks along the walls. They were fashioned out of a dark, glossy material, almost like dark crystal. Tall, stone cupboards with silver doors sat directly below the utensils on both walls. At the end of the right wall, a wide, deep rectangular groove was carved into the rock above a small table that sat below it. A large stone preparation table sat in the middle of the kitchen. Like the stable, a thick layer of dust blanketed everything, revealing how much time had passed since the last visitor.
Bunejab rushed into the kitchen and pulled out several cloths from a cupboard. Then, he set about cleaning the rooms. Jeremiah placed their bags on the sitting room table and peeled off his thick coat that he hung from a hook on the wall next to the door. Chalice did the same. She was feeling the warmth, too, as perspiration began to bead on her forehead. Then, they set about helping Bunejab clean.
In the bedchambers, the bed frames were made of stone cut from the rock wall and supported smooth, feather mattresses. In one, she lifted the bedcover of soft fur off the mattress and shook it. She immediately wished she hadn’t as it set her into an uncontrollable fit of sneezing. Finally, when it subsided, she managed to shake the dust off and finish with the rest of the room.
The sound of clacking cupboard doors brought her back into the sitting room. Quinta had arrived with the fish and was pulling out a large casserole made of the same crystal as the utensils. Chalice rushed over to help her as soon as she saw that Quinta was struggling under its weight. The quarters were made for humans, so for Quinta, everything was twice the size it should have been. Standing on a chair, she motioned for Chalice to place the fish, frozen rock-hard, into the dish.
“Tsí tsônín grôn zsítsá.”
“I’m sorry?” Chalice asked, not understanding the words.
“Tsí tsônín grôn zsítsá.” Quinta pointed to the rectangular groove in the wall.
Then, Chalice understood. She walked over and placed the casserole into the hollow. Quinta dragged the chair over, jumped onto it, and placed her palm on the white circle next to the hollow. Chalice watched intently as the inside of the hollow brightened slowly to a dull glow and began thawing the fish.
“It’s an oven!” It was almost like the one in Jillian’s bakery back home except without the fire. She placed her hand inside and felt the pulsing heat.
“I wouldn’t stick my hand in an oven if I were you,” Jeremiah remarked with a wry smile. He was standing in the doorway next to Bunejab when she looked over. She hadn’t even realized that they had finished cleaning and were waiting for her and Quinta.
“Oh, you be quiet. It’s not that hot anyway. I just want to know how it works.”
“You ready?”
“Oh, yeah, let’s go.” She pulled her hand out of the oven and went to join them. She was eager to see the green room. At this point, with the little time they had to spend there, she wanted to learn as much about the Chinuka as Jeremiah did. Chalice noticed a wicker basket Quinta had brought with her next to a large pitcher of water and snatched it up from the sitting room table.
“Do we need this?” she asked and Quinta nodded.
Chalice and Jeremiah followed the two Chin
uka out of the doors, into the stable room, and along the path that led to the doorway beyond the fountain. Chalice glanced over her shoulder to watch the horses who were still grazing and almost ran into the back of Jeremiah. He had come to a full stop in front of the gateway to the green room and placed his palm on the wall. When the doors opened, she realized that the size of the room they were in paled in comparison to the size of the room they were about to enter.
Calling it a room wasn’t exactly correct. It wasn’t just one room. The green room was composed of several domes, divided by thick pillars hewn out of the rock that spanned many hectares of ground. The same flowing, looping design as the doorways decorated the columns that glowed like the walls. They shone brilliantly with the light that came from the marbled veins stretching from the vellen located at each door.
Beneath the domes nearest them stood trees of every kind of fruit imaginable, even some that Chalice did not recognize — apples, pears, cherries, pineapples, peaches, bananas, lemons, limes and on and on. Interspersed among them were nut trees of walnuts, hazelnuts, macadamia and more. Many of them Chalice had never seen in her life. Beyond the trees, lay fields quilted in rich, cultivated soil that provided an abundance of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and herb and spice plants grown in rows, each labeled according to what was sown.
She could see that some of the fields were bare while others appeared fully cultivated. She deduced from this that the Chinuka practiced rotational farming, a method that gave the soil enough time to recuperate from the previous harvest. Another interesting feature of the room was that it employed the same irrigation system that she had seen at the Maehbeck farm — fireclay pipes that extended from the farthest dome, through the crop fields, to the apple trees in front of them.
Chalice handed the basket to Quinta who scurried about quickly selecting the fruits and vegetables she needed for the meal. Bunejab went with her to replenish his supply of herbs that he stuffed into his rucksack. Chalice walked over to the apple tree and began picking a handful for the horses. Jeremiah just stood there watching and analyzing everything in the room. It was all he could do. He was so focused on every detail that, she assumed, would go into his journal later that night.
“Chalice, do you hear that?” he asked as she waddled back to him, her arms overflowing with apples. “The running water.”
She nodded. “It sounds like it’s coming from over there.” Her arms loaded with apples, she motioned with her head toward the back rooms beyond the fields.
“That’s got to be an underground river or a stream.” He paused for a second staring in the direction from which the sound issued; then, lowering his head toward her, he whispered: “This is just like my father’s farm.” Reaching down, he took some of the apples from her.
“Yeah, I noticed that, too,” she said. He looked into her eyes and she knew they were having the same thought again. The parallel between the room and the Maehbeck farm was stretching chance a little too much. “You think your parents visit them?”
“Well, I know they don’t, or that is, they haven’t. That’s what I can’t figure.” He glanced down at one of the apples in his hand, his brows creased in thought. She loved watching him with a concentrated expression on his face. She could see the wheels turning in his head.
“I’m the only one in our family who ever goes up the mountain and that’s always to hunt,” he continued. “I could never make it up this far; neither could anyone in my family, and we don’t have any of those tea leaves in our house. If we did, I would have found them by now.” He looked up toward Quinta and Bunejab who were approaching with the basket abounding with fruits and vegetables. “Here they come. I’ll ask Bunejab about it tonight. I’m sure he’ll know.”
When they exited the green room, she and Jeremiah fed Banner and Sunny the apples over the fence. The horses were ecstatic about the fruit. Sunny ate his share so quickly that Chalice thought he would choke. She could tell by their faces that the horses were content and much less tired. Their ears perked and their eyes brightened with energy as they galloped off, jumping and kicking.
“Look at them,” she said, smiling.
“They like it here,” Jeremiah replied. “We’ll have to take some food for them when we leave. There won’t be much to eat along the trail.”
Before they re-entered the apartments, Bunejab touched the white circle on the inside of the stable room and the light in the room slowly dimmed. After a minute or two, all they could see were shadows in a darkness slightly brightened by the faint glow of flickering sparkles on the dome. Then, Chalice understood. It simulated nighttime, so the horses could sleep.
Nice! she thought.
As soon as they were in the apartment, Quinta put Chalice to work cleaning the berries for dessert and cutting the vegetables that she placed into the casserole. Quinta had already removed the thawed fish and was preparing it, discarding the bones and removing the meat. She shredded it into fine layers that she arranged in the dish with the vegetables. There was cucumber, tomato, squash, peas and a selection of other legumes that Chalice didn’t recognize. All of it, Quinta seasoned with ginger and peppercorn, which according to her, aided in digestion. She had also brought cornmeal and milk made from the plants and legumes in the green room. Apparently, that was going into the dish as well.
“Jeremiah,” Chalice said and he looked up from the hearth where he was stacking wood for a fire.
“Yeah?”
“Have you ever seen tools like these?” Chalice held up one of the cutting knives. It was glossy and sharp and cut like a razor.
“No, not until we came here. Bunejab says they’re made out of a material found at the top of the mountain, formed during the time when the volcano was active. It’s perfect for cutting utensils because it keeps its shape so well and it never needs to be sharpened.”
“I believe it!” she said in amazement as she looked at the knife. They were excellent utensils. “What are you smiling at?” She had just noticed that he was snickering.
“You, in the kitchen,” he said wryly as he poured oil over the wood.
“Very funny! I can cook … well, as long as someone tells me what to do.” He grinned.
By the time Chalice and Quinta had the casserole in the oven, Bunejab and Jeremiah had a roaring fire going and four cups of Taluqua tea resting on the sitting room table. Chalice sat down next to Quinta on the settee and immediately reached for her cup.
“Can you ask Bunejab about the tea? I can pay for it if needed.”
“I already did. He gave us a small pouch of it, just enough, but not too much. They don’t give it out in large quantities to protect the villages.”
“Oh, I get it. To keep others out.”
“Exactly. He asked us to be careful with it and use it only when we need to ascend the mountain.”
“Alright.”
She felt a slight tug at her left shoulder where her broach was pinned to her riding dress. She looked down to find Quinta examining the broach intently.
“You like that?” Chalice asked and Quinta nodded. Her soft, dark eyes were wide with interest. Chalice brushed her fingers over the broach, undid it, and then pinned it on Quinta’s cloak. “There, it’s yours, for all you’ve done for us. It looks good on you.” She smiled and the little Chinuk squeaked and growled softly, content with her new piece of jewelry.
They talked for a while, the conversation eventually leading to the green room, a subject on which Jeremiah had many questions. He asked Bunejab about the river water and the irrigation system.
“You know, it’s very similar to one used on my family’s farm. I’m sure you’ve noticed that, too. Do you know how that can be?”
Chalice noticed Bunejab pause for a split second as something flashed in his eye, fast enough to not even be detected really, but she still saw it. Then, he answered.
“What did he say?” she asked.
“He says he
doesn’t know, but he can show us where the water reaches our apartment.”
Chalice nodded. “Lead the way, Bunejab.”
He led them back to the washroom, beyond the bedchambers where the sound of running water could be heard, and proceeded to show them how to use it. As soon as Chalice entered, she immediately turned to Jeremiah. The look he gave her in return told her that he knew, too. It was exactly like the washroom in his parents’ house, comprised of everything he had shown her the day before. The only difference was that this washroom was carved out of the rock, but there was definitely a connection. She knew it now. Bunejab was hiding something. She thought it best not to press him, though. They were, after all, in his care for the duration of their stay on the mountain. She communicated the thought to Jeremiah after Bunejab and Quinta had left the room to set the table for dinner.
“Yeah, I saw that, too,” Jeremiah said. “There is something he isn’t telling us. I’m sure we’ll learn what it is at some point. I trust him. Don’t you? He did save us after all. I don’t think he would have done that just to hand us back to the King.”
She nodded. She trusted the Chinuk, too. She reached up and brushed the back of her hand across his cheek. “You need to shave,” she said in a low voice. “Although, I like this rough look on you. It’s handsome.”
He gazed down at her, taking her hand in his. For a moment, he seemed to lose himself in her eyes, drowning in an ocean of blue. He looked so serious. His dark features paralyzed her and she couldn’t move. There was a flutter in her stomach as her heart beat so loudly she thought he might hear it. Then, he kissed her softly. She could have melted right there on the spot. Smiling, she licked her lips. He tasted like mint. A squeak from the door interrupted them. Chalice started, only to discover that it was Quinta telling them supper was ready.
“We better go,” Jeremiah whispered and Chalice followed him out the door.
Dinner was delicious. The herbs and spices Quinta had added to the casserole blended all the flavors together perfectly. The berries and sweet milk they had for dessert topped it all off. She had never tasted anything like it. As soon as they were finished, Chalice rose to clean, but before she could even lift a dish, she was halted by Jeremiah’s hand on her arm.
“Bunejab is going to clean up. Quinta wants us to change into different clothes so she can wash our laundry. That way we won’t have to do it along the road.”
“Oh, alright. Thank you, Quinta,” she said and the little Chinuk smiled warmly.
In their respective bedchambers, they quickly dressed in comfortable night clothes. They placed their dirty garments in a small sack and gave it to the two Chinuka before they left, saying goodnight and thanking them for the wonderful meal. With the door shutting behind her, Chalice yawned and stretched. She felt as though she were about to fall over, she was so tired.
“I just thought of something,” she said, taking a seat on the chair in front of the fire. “The farm. We left the animals caged when we escaped. They’ll die.”
“I thought about that, too,” he said, pulling the notebook out of his sack, with a quill and a small ink bottle. Then, he sat down in the chair next to her. “I asked Bunejab and he said that members of his village will go down to take care of them. So we don’t have to worry.” He opened the bottle, dipped the quill, and began scratching furiously in his notebook.
“You writing about them?” she asked, smiling inwardly to herself. She knew it would be the first thing he did after dinner.
Jeremiah lifted his head from his notebook and looked at her curiously. “Of course.”
Chalice sat back in the chair, basking in the warmth of the fire, with her feet up on the stone bench. Closing her eyes, she tried to get a firm handle on the events of the day, sorting mentally everything that had happened and everything that she had learned. The Chinuka. How did they know so much? The wolves. What was it about that wolf? The green room. What was the connection between it and the Maehbeck farm? And, lastly, the glowing rock wall. How did it work? Her thoughts slowed and drifted to Grandma Naelli’s kitchen, to a memory of when she was little hiding in the kitchen cupboard. She had been playing a game of cache-cache with Papa while Grandma made dinner. She thought he would never find her in her clever hiding place.
“Chalice, supper is almost ready. Where’s Papa?” Grandma Naelli asked as she placed a decanter of wine on the dinner table.
“He’s upstairs,” Chalice replied, pulling open the cupboard door and squeezing inside.
“You two playing again?”
“Yep. He’ll never find me!”
Her grandmother shook her head, smiling. “Chalice, you always hide there and he always finds you.”
“Not this time, Gramma. I tricked him. This time he thinks I’m upstairs.” she replied, peeking out from behind the cupboard door.
“Hmm, I have a feeling he knows exactly where you are,” Naelli responded knowingly. Chalice silently closed the cupboard door just as Papa entered the kitchen.
“Chalice? Chalice? Naelli, have you seen Chalice? She is supposed to be upstairs.” Suddenly the cupboard door flung open and …
“Chalice … hey … Chalice!” Feeling a nudge on her shoulder, she opened her eyes and drew in a deep breath. Jeremiah’s excited face skewed into focus.
“What’s up?” she asked groggily.
“Look at this!” He showed her the notebook he was holding. “When I began page three of my notes on the Chinuka, I found it!”
It was a note, hastily written, but still legible:
Your mother and I had to leave urgently. Took the corridor. We are setting out for the gate. The King’s men are here. They are gathering the villagers in town. Your brothers and friends are with them. Take care of the animals and send this message to
The note broke off. The last part of it was hard to decipher because the writing was so jumbled.
Chalice breathed a sigh of relief. “They’re alright, then. That’s good to know.”
“I knew Father would have left a note somehow. It was smart, actually. He must have written this just before they left, then put it back on my bookshelf right where it had been as if it hadn’t been touched. He knew that if I left, I would take it with me. My parents took the same escape route that we did.”
“That’s why their horses were gone. I wondered about that when you mentioned your family bred horses.”
He nodded and pointed to the note again. “There it is again, Chalice! Just like in the Delphaline. The gate. What is the gate? And who am I supposed to send this message to?”
She frowned in thought as she gazed into the fire. “I don’t know. Did your father ever mention a gate somewhere?”
She looked over at him and he shook his head.
“Is there someone your father would want you to contact in case of an emergency?”
“Yeah, but they all live in the village, so he couldn’t be talking about them.”
“Is there anyone you know who is close to your family who lives outside the Auramont Vale?”
“Just your grandparents. Maybe he wanted me to send the message to your grandfather.”
“That could be … but why? Why would he want that message sent to Papa? That doesn’t make sense. Is there anyone else you can think of?”
He shook his head again. “No.” Then, he paused as his eyes lit up. “Wait! Yes! There is an older man who used to visit us when I was young. My parents went on a search mission with him for the three years I stayed with you in Canton. They wouldn’t tell me what they were searching for, but it might be him. What do you think?”
She rubbed her temples and sighed. “I don’t know, Jeremiah. I don’t know about any of this. What we do know is that your mother and father are safe … and so are we, for the time being.” Slowly, she picked herself up from the chair. “I’m going to bed. Goodnight.” Putting her h
and on his shoulder, she bent down to kiss him on the head. “I’m glad your parents are alright,” she whispered.
“Thanks, Chalice. Goodnight,” he said quietly and touched her hand, his head still bent into his notebook. She wasn’t sure if he was still intent on deciphering the message or if he was trying to hide the emotion on his face. From the angle of his shoulders, she guessed it was the latter.
If I had a note from Papa right now, I would be feeling the same way, she thought to herself.
Entering her bedchamber, she tried again in frustration to dim the light and yet could not get the vella to work. Finally, she decided she was too exhausted to deal with it and curled up in the fur blanket on the mattress. For a moment, she imagined that the light was dimming all by itself, slowly fading out, but she dismissed this as nonsense.
It was such a strange place, she thought. She couldn’t describe the feeling she had here. It was a complete sense of well-being, as if everything were right with the world. She knew this was utter nonsense, of course, because everything was not right. Everything was wrong, in fact, and yet here, something told her not to worry. She didn’t fear what was ahead. She had no sense of anxiety, no sense of dread. She had the courage to go on and the strength to continue no matter what confronted her. It was a power that didn’t come from her, but from something else, she was sure.
She realized just then that she hadn’t been imagining it. The light was dimming. It was almost full dark in her room now, except for the faint twinkle of light from the ceiling. Just like in the stable room, she thought and yawned. Then she suddenly remembered what day it was. Her birthday. She had forgotten. That’s right! I’m eighteen today, she thought.
“Happy birthday to me,” she said quietly to herself. She didn’t want to tell Jeremiah, so she decided to keep it to herself. She was supposed to have spent her birthday with her grandparents and the thought made her inordinately sad. A tear trickled across her temple as she closed her eyes, expecting to see the marble corridor again, except this night held dreams of neither corridor, nor glowing gem. This night held dreams of home.