Beyond the Valley of Mist (21 page)

“
The rest of the men are
following us,” Cam said, “The women are behind them with packhorses
and supplies. You give the signal, and we’ll go in after her. I
have a debt to settle with those priests.”

“
Let’s make sure she isn’t
hurt,” Zen replied, “and then when the time is right, we’ll rush in
and rescue her.”

They stopped outside the
cliffs, where they could see what was going on inside the village.
They saw Lela being carried up a well-worn path to the sacrificial
altar. Molten lava was bubbling from the top of the mountain and
running down the other side.

Ren and his father rode up,
and Ren said, “We want to be part of dealing with any priest who
would sacrifice people to a Fire God. I know the feeling of being
the victim of that kind of behavior. Just give me a chance, and
I’ll deal with those sanctimonious rats. I’ll let them know the
pain to which they have been subjecting others.”

“
I, too, would like to
express my feelings to those self-righteous snakes,” Cam said as he
stood up, swinging his sword as if in anticipation of an encounter
with the priests.

“
Let’s stay out of sight
for now,” Zen cautioned, “but when I give the word, go in
swinging.”

They followed closely
enough to see what was going on, but far enough away to prevent
being seen. When they arrived at the altar, the cliff dwellers were
watching the ceremony so intently they didn’t bother to watch out
for anyone who might be intruding upon their hideous religious
practice.

The priests had carried
Lela, bound and gagged, to a ceremonial altar at the edge of the
volcano. Lela was looking around frantically, trying to see if
someone, anyone, might be coming to her aid.

Zen positioned his shield
so the light of the volcano would be reflected at Lela. Her eyes
caught the reflected light and she nodded, knowing that Zen was
there to rescue her.

The High Priest removed the
gag from Lela’s mouth and released the bindings on her feet so she
could stand. Then he began a ceremonial chant for the benefit of
his audience, whipping them into a religious fervor.

Just as everyone’s
attention was riveted on the proceedings, Zen hollered,
“Now!”
and they all
rushed in, swinging their swords.

While Zen was busy cutting
Lela’s bonds, Cam flung the High Priest into the boiling lava, and
yelled, “This is for Den!” They could hear the priest screaming as
he fell to his well-deserved death.

Ren grabbed another priest,
severed his head with one swift stroke of his sword, threw the head
into the volcano, and then joined the others who were eliminating
the priests with abandon. The cliff dwellers ran screaming down the
mountainside.

Taking advantage of the
confusion, Zen quickly led Lela to their horses and they bounded
away. The others followed, and they all met up just outside the
village, and then quickly rode out of range of anyone who might be
pursuing them.

It had been a terrifying
experience for Lela, and neither she nor Zen would ever forget
it.

Ren and Cam felt a little
better; they had vented their anger.

At last, when they were
able to slow down enough to hold a conversation, Lela said, “I have
good news.”

“
How could any news be good
at a time like this?” Zen asked incredulously.

“
I am with child,” Lela
said simply.

Zen was so surprised that
all he could do was look at her with complete wonder. He put his
arms around her. “That
is
good news! Our child will be the first member of
our tribe to be born in our new village. We must make it a happy
place for him to grow up.”

“
Why do you think it will
be a ‘him’?”

“
Because we’re going to
have more than one child, and it’s better for the first one to be a
boy, so he can protect his little sister. That way, he’ll learn to
care for the women, and his sister will learn to live with the men.
Don’t you think that would be best?”

“
Perhaps it would be best,
but how are you going to have children in just the order you want
them? That is something man will never learn to
control.”

Zen answered, “Zor taught
that all knowledge is possible if we will just look for the
answers. I think he was right. The only thing that limits what we
can know is our willingness to look for the answers. We defied the
priests, and our first child will truly be
our
child. Thank you for having
enough confidence in me to come with me on such a hazardous journey
as the one we made through the Valley of Mist.”

“
I’m proud of you, Zen,”
Lela said. “You not only saved Ador and me from the priests, you
saved our entire village. Everyone will remember your name for many
generations.”

Jok rode back from the
guide position to talk to Zen.

“
Zen,” he said, “I think we
should stop at the stream where we stopped on our way down the
mountain. It will be the last place where we’ll be able to sleep in
a warm bed for the next three nights. I think we should help our
followers prepare for the cold of the mountain pass.”

“
Thank you, Jok, that would
be the wise thing to do. They have never experienced camping in the
snow, and it’s going to be uncomfortable and confusing. Some of
them will be frightened.”

After they made camp, Zen
told them to prepare their warm skins, as they would need them
tomorrow.

“
It’s going to be cold on
top of the mountain,” Zen explained. “Tomorrow night we will camp
near the pass. Once we are on top of the mountain, you’ll be able
to see into the beautiful valley of the clear river that runs
beside the snow-covered mountains. After we have made our way
through the pass and down the other side, it will be easy traveling
for the rest of the way. Then we’ll arrive at the location we have
chosen for our new village.” He paused, as the travelers were
expressing their feelings. “Food will be easy to obtain, and we
will have a beautiful, clean river for drinking and
bathing.”

The climb to the pass was
long and tiring, but as promised, the view was magnificent.
Everyone was excited and pleased. Ador called them to watch the sun
go down. She wanted them to help her figure out if Sun went into
Earth, past the end of the Earth, or around Earth. They all watched
as the sun disappeared beyond the distant hills. It seemed to some
that it went into Earth, a very long way away.

An extended, excited
discussion followed. Some thought the sun had gone behind the edge
of the earth, others thought that the earth was endless, and that
the sun had gone into the earth. They would be discussing that
difference of opinion for years. They never concluded the
discussion in their lifetimes, but they had found the curiosity to
wonder and the courage to ask the question. That was the beginning
of their long and lasting search for knowledge.

On their way down the
mountain, everything was new and exciting, and when they came to
the new river, they were ecstatic. This was beyond their wildest
dreams.

At last they came to the
canyons and saw the home that Zen and his companions had built.
They all wanted to get started building their own homes right
away.

“
It will take a lot of
time, and it’s going to be a lot of work,” Jok explained, “but if
you’ll be patient, in time you’ll each have your own homes, where
you can sleep in peace, free from the wild beasts and free from the
priests and their vengeful God. And we must think of a name to call
our village.”

The houses had to be built
of stone; therefore, Jok spent most of his evenings explaining how
to build them. The Lalocks had a lot to learn, but their future was
bright, and Zen, Lela, Jok, and Ador would be their
teachers.

Their first decision was
what to name the village, and they decided to name it Lelador, as a
tribute to Lela and Ador, who ignited the flame and the spirit of
freedom.

They devised a set of rules
to live by, where each person would have the right to think, say,
and do whatever he or she wanted, as long as it did no harm to
anyone else, and then they sat down to decide who would be their
leader.

For many days, they worked
tirelessly building their new homes. They had fun making blocks by
mashing mud with straw and rocks with their feet. They called them
adobe and layered them to the desired height, leaving some openings
for light and air, to the delight of the Leladors. They were proud
that they were now able to live in houses rather than in caves, and
could worship the God of their choosing.

***

As soon as the last home
was built, they held a feast in commemoration of their new village.
It was a great celebration, as the first two children—a boy born to
Lela and Zen, whom they called Zela; and a girl to Ador and Jok,
whom they named Jadora—were born, making them the first Leladors.
Ren and Lor announced that they would be parents in the
spring.

Zen and Jok invited the
Zorians to the new village and paid tribute to them for sharing
their knowledge of weapons and homebuilding methods. As promised,
Zen also furnished the Zorians with more firestones. The villagers
formed a friendly alliance, to their Zorians’ delight, since the
Zorians no longer felt threatened by raiders.