Beneath the Eye of God (The Commodore Ardcasl Space Adventures Book 1) (9 page)

"The sky?"

"Up there somewhere." The old man waved his hand over his head. "Just climbed up their white towers into the sky. The Preacher could explain it better'n me."

"White towers?" The Commodore almost fell off the edge of his step when Elor translated for him. "Are those white towers around here anywhere?"

"Of course not," the old man spoke slowly as if the Commodore were slightly retarded. "They took the towers up with them. The Preacher knew a lot more about the details of it. He said it was a fine place they had gone to. Maybe that's why they stayed, cause they never came back. Some folks got real mad. Preacher said he must have figured wrong and it'd be the next season instead of the last one. But when that season passed, well . . ."

"But you stayed."

"One day the Preacher was gone. Folks had already started drifting off. My mama got real mad and left. But my daddy stayed on. He liked it here. He showed me where he wanted me to put him down out in the forest and that's where I put him when his time came. By then, Alexander'd come along. He's been helping me and likes it here too. So we stayed on." The old man looked around at the Commodore as Elor translated. "You reckon that Preacher was right? You reckon they're coming back?"

"The people from the sky? The ones who built this place?"

"We've kept it as nice as we could, Alexander and me," the old man's eyes were pleading. Even Alexander seemed to be watching the Commodore in the darkness.

The Commodore cleared his throat. "My friend," he said. "I have travelled through many lands. I've seen many great and powerful cities, yet none as impressive as this one. I can't imagine anyone who would build a place like this, and leave it, and never return."

The old man slapped his knee while Alexander snorted approvingly. "We figure that Preacher got his numbers wrong," the old man grinned. "Could'a meant seventy seasons instead of seven. That'd be just nine more seasons from now. We got it worked out on the wall inside. Alexander and me decided we'd just wait around and see."

"Well, if they do return," the Commodore said, "I'm sure they will be pleased with the way you've kept the place up."

"It's organization that does it," the old man cackled. "You can't just go off willy-nilly."

This time, Alexander's snort was definitely dissent.

***

In the morning they awoke to find their horses gone. The old man seemed as mystified as everyone else. The Commodore was on the verge of working himself up into a rage when, according to the old man, Alexander suggested that they might have headed for the water pit.

The Commodore, already beginning to wave his arms and stomp about, stopped short. "Water pit?"

"A city this size," Elor said thoughtfully, "would have to have a reliable and plentiful source of water. Some sort of natural or artificial opening through the overlying capstone to the water table beneath. It could be in the form of a pit."

"Me and Alexander don't go there much," the old man said. "But it's the biggest hole I ever seen."

"Where, my dear chap," the Commodore asked, "will we find this pit?"

"Why, right over on the other side of the big pyramid," the old man smiled. "Let's go look."

They came upon it suddenly, surrounded on all sides by flat-roofed buildings in an advanced state of decay and enveloped in thick vegetation. The pit itself appeared to be a natural formation, roughly circular, 150 feet in diameter, steep sided with a pool of dark water sixty feet below ground level. The horses were standing forlornly on a ledge two thirds of the way down where part of the trail to the bottom had crumbled away.

Ohan had never seen so much water in one place. "It looks deep," he shuddered.

"This whole end of the continent," Erol explained, "is a vast limestone slab afloat on the runoff from the mountains on its way to the sea. And all this great city and whatever riches it may have possessed must have begun right here. There is no other way they could have supported a large population without some kind of irrigated agriculture."

"Let's get those stupid horses out of there," the Commodore said, "before they fall in." The old man produced a tightly woven basket which the twins filled with water and used to lure the horses back up the trail to the rim of the pit. After drinking their fill, the big beasts became almost playful as the twins and Leahn took turns pouring baskets of water over them. The horses would prance and snort and shake their massive armored heads as the water cascaded over their plated sides. Two of them actually lay down in the puddle that had formed and rolled in it, their long legs stabbing at the air.

"They're used to a different country than this," Leahn said. "So am I. A country where water falls as rain and runs off in streams and collects in lakes. Not a place where the only water is in the morning mist that's gathered in by the treetops or that flows beneath the ground where you can't get at it."

She had unbuckled her sword and laid it aside. She was holding her horse's head as Erol poured a basketful of water over it. Most of it ran down the animal's long snout, then down Leahn's front. The beast gave a snort that enveloped the girl in a cloud of steam. Ohan shuddered but Leahn and her beast seemed quite happy. "Let's go for a swim," she suggested brightly.

Ohan was aghast. He had heard of swimming at school but had dismissed it as something that would, hopefully, remain forever beyond his experience. It was bad enough that some of the students used twenty times more water while bathing than any dozen rational people would require and left the bathing room awash in wasted water. Though there was plenty available, he could never bring himself to use it in any but the careful way he had always known in the forest.

"Come on, sport." Leahn was pulling at his arm. "I'll race you across the pit and back."

"What?" he cried. "The pit? It has no bottom." She was pushing him toward the trail the horses had taken. "Oh no!" He dug his feet in. "I've heard about swimming and I've also heard about drowning and I don't intend to try either one."

"Let's not be too hasty, Ohan." It was the Commodore. "If Leahn wants to go swimming, I think the least we can do is go down and watch . . . that is, stand by in case she requires our assistance. This is a unique structure and as such, requires a thorough examination. But until we know more about it, no one should be allowed to swim in it alone."

Erol and Alexander remained on top with the horses. Ohan volunteered to stay with them but Leahn wouldn't hear of it.

"My daddy used to take me down to the water," the old man giggled as he led them over the edge, "but I never knowed anybody to jump in of their own accord. I recall tales of folks being pushed in or maybe being drunk, falling in. But never going in on their own. That'd be something to see."

The rockslide that had stopped the horses was easily bypassed by holding onto the long vines and creepers that grew down the sides from the overhanging forest high above. The trail ended at a wide platform cut into the rock at the water's edge. It gave indications of having once been a busy place. There were shards of broken pottery and several shallow openings or rooms cut back into the cliff-face. Two were empty but three others had glyphs painted on their back walls where altars had apparently once stood.

"Can you read this?" Elor asked the old man.

"Nope. Nary whit nor jottle. But you're right about it being words. My daddy said so. But he couldn't read it neither. Nor anybody I ever heard of, not even the Preacher. That's the king there," he pointed to several symbols inside a flattened oval. "Don't know what his name was but my daddy said that's him."

Elor began to record the symbols while the Commodore knelt down and stuck his finger into the dark water. Ohan shivered. It had been warm up on the rim. Down here at the bottom it was cool and the water lying still and silent did nothing to lighten the oppressive mood that seemed to weigh down upon him. Looking up at the circle of forest and patches of bright sunlight far overhead did nothing to lift his spirits. They were much too far away. He felt buried.

Leahn, on the other hand, seemed positively delighted by the place. She was already unlacing her leather scabbard belt. "I love this cool air," she said as she unfastened the shoulder straps and laid the belt aside. "It reminds me of the high mountain lakes back home. Who's coming in with me?"

She looked at Ohan who shook his head vigorously. "I've heard about swimming but I've never actually seen anyone do it," he said. "I don't think I'm ready to leap in just yet."

Leahn turned to the Commodore who had seated himself on the ledge, removed his boots and was sticking a toe gingerly into the water. "Ah, it's a little cooler than I anticipated. Refreshing."

He wriggled his toes and watched as he lowered them into the dark water. It was crystal clear. "Let us not, my dear, plunge into anything hastily. I'm sure a place like this has its share of legends that should not be too readily dismissed."

He turned to the old man who sat perched on a fallen rock, staring round-eyed at Leahn. "What about it, my friend? Probably tales of a hideous monster or two lurking beneath the surface, strange noises on dark night—ghosts, goblins, webbed footprints in the sand, strange lights flitting to and fro in the watery depths—all the mysterious goings on that invariably attach themselves to an unusual, not to say spooky, place like this.

"Of course a trained scientist such as myself is not influenced by that sort of local superstition but we, nonetheless, approach such areas with a certain amount of healthy caution as there is often a perfectly rational explanation underlying the local myths that grow up around such places."

He stared again at his toes and tossed in a pebble which sank slowly, turning and flashing white in the darkness to a considerable depth until it was lost from sight. "A resident family of crocodiles, for instance, could give rise to all kinds of tall tales which the prudent investigator would be wise to . . . "

"Ain't no families of nothing in there, far as I know," the old man giggled. "No monsters, no ghosts, no noises, no lights that I ever heard of. Just an old water pit's all it's ever been. And if you and that lady's going to jump into it, that's something I'd dearly love to see. I believe Alexander'd even come down to see something like that."

"Would you like me to hold your coat, Commodore?" Elor asked helpfully.

"Ah . . . well. Much as I'd looked forward to a refreshing dip, I'm afraid the coolness of the water might aggravate some of my old battle wounds. Wouldn't want to stiffen up at a crucial moment."

He turned to Leahn. "That's the price we old soldiers must pay. But don't let it stop you, my dear. You go ahead and jump right in. I'll hold your tunic."

Leahn had removed her boots and gauntlets but still wore the long shirt. She smiled at the four men. "Thanks, Commodore, but my tunic and I can both use a wash." She arched gracefully out over the still water and splashed in at a shallow angle. Even after she came to the surface, Ohan found it difficult to start breathing again. He looked anxiously around for signs of anything else in the pool.

"You guys are really missing it," Leahn shouted, her voice echoing from the walls around them. "I'll go down and see if I can find the bottom for you, Commodore." With that, she kicked her feet and slid beneath the surface, a white shadow strangely distorted by the ripples she had stirred, growing smaller and darker as she descended.

"Alexander's really going to be mad he missed this," the old man said admiringly. "She swims good as a water bug in a treepond."

"You have a honeyed tongue, my friend," the Commodore laughed as he watched Leahn rise toward the surface through a cloud of her own bubbles. "Few maidens could resist being compared to a water bug."

Leahn burst into the air with a gasp, then settled back to tread water. "It gets colder going down," she said breathlessly. "No sign of the bottom."

The Commodore had gotten to his feet. "Enjoy your swim, my dear. Tomorrow I think we should take a closer look at those three pyramids."

***

The old man was right. Alexander sulked and pouted all evening. "You gotta remember," the old man explained, "ain't much going on around here from one season to the next. When something does happen, Alexander dearly hates to miss it."

He carried on so, that Leahn found herself on her knees in front of the big tusker, stroking the bristles behind his ear and promising to take him along for her next swim and, for good measure, telling him that she and Ohan would ride out to the half arch next morning to find some of his favorite roots.

Ohan noted with irrational disapproval that Leahn had the same effect on the tusker as she did on him. Alexander stopped pouting, rolled over on his back, waved his stubby legs in the air and drifted off to sleep with a foolish smile on his face.

The next morning Ohan found himself digging tubers out by the arch. "Why so grumpy, sport?" Leahn asked. "I thought you'd enjoy a little ride through the countryside away from the crowd."

Ohan stopped short. It was true. Here he was, far from the strange city, alone with Leahn, digging in the warm earth, in a terrible mood. He pulled up a big tuber, shook the dirt off and looked at it. Then he remembered. The ugly lumpy root reminded him of Alexander. He held it up to Leahn. "I think I'm jealous," he said.