Beyond the Valley of Mist (11 page)

Lox told them that they
should drink also.

The liquid was sweet, tart,
and left a tingling sensation.

After they finished their
drinks, two girls came and refilled their containers
immediately.

“
Drink slowly,” Lox
cautioned. “The drink has an intoxicating affect.”

Other people brought food
from behind the trees on the other side of the semicircle. Zen and
his party had never seen or eaten most of the types of food
before.

After the second drink,
everyone began eating. They were served roasted meats, various
fruits and plants, both cooked and raw. The meal was seasoned with
salt and was very tasty.

When the meal was over, the
drums began again, this time with a rhythmic beat. Four beautiful
girls proceeded to the center of the semicircle and began dancing
between the seated people and those on the elevated area. The girls
were smaller than Lela and Ador; their dancing was erotic, and it
seemed that the purpose was to entice men. It was very effective.
Neither Jok nor Zen could take their eyes off the dancing girls.
Ador and Lela were not smiling as they watched their husbands with
disapproving looks.

As the girls finished their
dance, a group of young men jumped into the center and the rhythm
intensified. The dancers jumped and tumbled to the beat of the
drums and began a highly energized dance. Ador and Lela enjoyed
this part of the entertainment much better, smiling and clapping
their hands in time with the beat.

The young men completed
their dance and beckoned to Ador and Lela to join them. Zen told
the audience that Lalock women were forbidden to dance, as their
priests said it was wicked.

The girls who had danced
earlier said they would teach Ador and Lela, who agreed
reluctantly. But after a while, they were dancing with enough skill
to entertain the audience, and they were enjoying it. The Zorians
clapped their hands approvingly and asked Zen and Jok to
dance.

Zen shook his head. “I do
not want to dance, but with Gar’s approval, I have something to
show you.”

Gar nodded his
head.

Zen stepped to the center
and held up his hand, indicating that he wanted absolute silence.
He asked the men holding torches to place covers over them to
reduce the light—he needed a dark stage for his
presentation.

After the stage had been
darkened and everyone was quiet, Zen removed dried moss and sticks
from his pouch and laid them on the ground in front of him. And
then he produced two rocks from his pouch and held them over his
head for everyone to see. He then struck the rocks together, and
fire flew from the stones. Everyone gasped.

After showing the stones to
the audience once more, Zen stood poised over the pile of dried
moss and sticks, struck the rocks together again, and little pieces
of fire jumped onto the dried moss. He blew into the moss, and the
fire sprang into a flame!

Startled expressions of
surprise came from the audience. Zen placed larger pieces of wood
on the fire, stood back, and then invited all to come and see what
he had done.

Gar, the leader, came over
right away and looked at the fire in astonishment, waved his hand
over it, and jumped back quickly when he felt the heat.

“
Zen,” he asked, “could I
see the stones?”

“
Yes, Gar. One of the
stones is firestone. This firestone will create fire when it is
struck with another stone.”

Zen handed the firestone to
Gar who examined it closely. “I’ve never seen a stone like this
before,” he said.

Zen showed him how to
strike the two rocks together to make fire.

“
Zen, I thank you for
showing this to me and my people. We’d be grateful if you could
show us where to get these stones.”

“
Gar, Chief of Zoran, I
cannot reveal my source,” Zen answered, “but I’ll give this one to
you as a token of our friendship, as a way to say thank you for
welcoming us to your village, and I’ll help you get more firestones
for all of your people.”

Gar seemed pleased and
repeated to his people what Zen had said. After the excitement
abated, the leader called an end to the celebration, but no one
wanted to leave. They all wanted to talk with the newcomers and
examine them more closely--the color of the girls’ hair and eyes
fascinated them.

After everyone had a chance
to touch and look at their visitors, the chief clapped his hands,
and they all returned to their lodges. It had been a very pleasant
evening.

Lox’s wife invited them to
their lodge, saying that she and their sons wanted to thank them
personally. Their two fine boys were eager to hear about how they
had found their father.

Zen explained to Lox that
they wanted to learn as much as they could from the Zorians. Lox
told them they would be welcome to remain in Zoran and become a
part of their tribe. Zen thanked him, but explained what their plan
was. Lox said he understood and would do everything he could to
help them learn. He would assign them to the people who did what
they wanted to learn.

“
That would be wonderful,”
Zen said. “We’ll return when the sun rises tomorrow, but before we
go, there is something I would like to know.”

“
What is it?” Lox asked.
“I’ll tell you if I can.”

“
What is the material that
the containers are made from?”

“
Do you mean the ones we
use to store water?” Lox asked.

“
Yes, we drank from a
container made from the same material at the feast
tonight.”

“
We call it copper,” Lox
replied.

“
Where do you get copper,
and how do you make the containers?”

“
We get copper from rocks
that we dig from the ground. We heat the rocks until the copper
comes out. We sometimes combine two different types of material to
make a metal that is much harder and stronger than copper. We call
it bronze. We make bronze tools and arrowheads. Making containers
and tools is not my trade, but I will introduce you to the men who
do that kind of work. They’ll show you how it is done.”

“
Thank you, Lox, we’re
eager to learn. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

***

Zen’s group returned to
their house and went to the strange new beds that were more
comfortable than any they had ever slept in.

“
I’ll learn to make beds
like these,” Lela said as she stroked the bed. “We’ll have them in
our new homes.”

“
I’ll learn to grow plants,
so we’ll always have fruit and vegetables. We’ll never have to
depend on finding our food somewhere again,” Ador said as she took
a bite of a fruit.

“
I’ll provide animals,” Zen
said, “so we’ll not have to go on long hunting trips and depend
upon the success of the hunt to provide the meat we
need.”

“
I’ll learn to build
houses,” Jok remarked as he walked to the wall of the room and
examined it. “We won’t have to live in caves or in homes made from
the skins of animals ever again. We’ll build our homes from stone
and mud. We’ll build them so strong that we’ll never have to live
in fear of wild animals. We’ll build them tight, so we won’t have
to worry about crawling things getting in at night while we are
sleeping.”

“
This is our pledge,” the
four said, placing their hands together. “We’ll find a way around
the Valley of Mist, rescue our families, and then build our new
village.”

“
What rules shall we have?”
Ador asked.

“
I suggest that we have
only one rule,” Zen replied, “do no harm. Each person can do
whatever he or she wants as long as it does not harm anyone else.
Everyone must work for the good of all the others.”

“
What if we don’t agree
about something?” asked Lela.

“
I suggest that at least a
majority must agree,” Jok said, “or we do nothing. We can try to
convince the others, but if we cannot, we make no changes until we
have an agreement of the majority.”

“
That is a good suggestion.
Does everyone agree?” asked Zen.

“
Yes!” they chimed
in.

“
Then I suggest we go to
bed, or we won’t be able to stay awake tomorrow to do what we have
agreed to do,” Ador remarked with a sly wink at Jok.

***

For the next three cycles
of the moon, they spent their evenings in the homes of their
teachers, learning the Zorian language, and then talking to them in
their language, discussed what they do and learning how to do it.
Sometimes what the Zorians were doing seemed strange, but there was
usually a good reason.

“
Why do you plant your
fields only when the sun is moving north?” Zen asked.

Mar, one of the men who
tended the plants, said, “The Wise One told us that the sun lives
in the North, but it takes a trip to the South each winter, and
that is why it gets cold. We wait until the sun is on its way home
before we plant, because the plants need the sun to
grow.”

“
How do you know when the
sun is coming home?”

“
The Wise One showed us how
to know. Come, I will show you.”

Zen, Jok, and the girls
walked with Mar to the top of a hill. There they saw a circle of
rocks. In the center of the circle was a rock where a man could
sit. To the east of the rock were six sharp-pointed rocks arranged
in a semicircle.

“
You can sit on this rock
and watch where the sun comes up,” Mar said. “When the sun has
completed its journey to the South, it will come up from behind the
farthest rock to the South. At that time, we know the sun will
begin its journey home.

“
In the summer, it will
come up behind the farthest rock to the north. Twice each year, it
will come up exactly behind the one in the center. When the sun
moves south of that rock, it marks the beginning of the cold
weather, and when the sun moves north of that rock, it marks the
beginning of the hot weather. Zor told us we should only plant when
the sun is moving north. It has always been so. Zor has always been
right.”

“
Where does Sun go when it
goes into Earth each evening?” Zen shook his head, trying to
understand all that Mar was telling him. “And how does it get to
the other side of Earth when it comes out each morning?”

“
Some think Sun goes into
Mother Earth each night and she gives birth to a new Sun each
morning,” Mar said. “Only a young, strong Sun would be able to
climb into the sky. Sun returns to Mother Earth at night. They mate
and create new life. Sun dies each night and is reborn each morning
to begin a new cycle of life. Everything is like that. Mother Earth
gives Sun life. Sun lives the life Mother Earth has given it and,
when it dies, it returns to Mother Earth and is reborn to live
again. The cycle continues forever. Each time we live, we learn a
little more, until someday we will know everything.”

They walked to the edge of
the cliff and looked around them.

“
Those who worship Mother
Earth say that people are just like the sun,” Mars continued. “When
they die, they go back to Mother Earth and she gives birth to them
again through their regular mother. People live on and on, one life
following another without end.”

“
Do you believe that?” Jok
asked.

“
I don’t know about man,
but I know about plants, and it is so with plants. Each plant is
born from a seed, which I put into Mother Earth. Mother Earth gives
life to that seed, and a new plant springs forth from her bosom. A
new plant is born, which is just like the plant that the seed came
from. Then that plant grows and produces another seed, which will,
if placed in the belly of Mother Earth, be reborn next spring, and
it will be a new plant all over again. So when you ask me if I
believe Mother Earth is the giver of all life, I have to tell you,
yes, I believe it is so.

“
Zor, the Wise One, said,
‘Mother Earth needs Sun to help her bring forth life.’ He said that
Sun is the Father God and Earth is the Mother God.”

Mar’s wife entered into the
conversation, shook her head and said, “I don’t believe Sun is the
Father God. It is too small, and it is not dependable. It is not
always in the sky; it has to sleep each night, and Mother Earth has
to give it life each morning. No, I do not believe Sun is God. Zor
was very wise, but I think he made a mistake about
that.”

Tag, the maker of
buildings, said, “I, too, think Zor was wrong. Long ago, our people
asked Zor where Sun went at night, and Zor said Sun goes all the
way around Earth and is hidden by Earth at night. He also said
Earth is round like the sun. However, we can see that Earth is not
round; it is flat. Once I climbed to the top of the mountain to see
if the world was round. It was not. I could see that it is flat and
extended on and on forever. Therefore, Sun could not go around
Earth. Besides, if the Earth were round, the water would spill off,
and we would have no seas. I, too, think Zor was wrong.”

Lela listened quietly.
“Where we came from,” she said, “we would all be killed for talking
about God and questioning His existence. Only the priests are
allowed to talk about God; they say no one else knows enough to
talk about God.”