Beyond Doubt: Whispers of the Unseen - Chapter 76
Welcome to my seemingly endless journey.
A trip that will take you to places I might have visited many moons ago.
It´s a tale that came back to me when I meditated on one of my past lives. A life I told you about in my unbelievable true story.
As promised in that story I will now share this story with you.
Chapter 76
It was a relief to leave the foreign country behind me, but I was aware that we had to be grateful to her because, in all likelihood, she had given us our lives back. Although I didn't think about it for too long as my desire to see the homeland grew with every step the horses descended.
A slight frustration flared inside me when Reiko stopped to set up camp later that day. I realized that this was necessary and that I had no idea whether the land of my ancestors would be north or south of here. But to the south rose a massive-looking mountain range, filled with steep walls and sharp protrusions.
I knew it was possible for the healers to conquer this range again and again, but it would slow us down considerably. In addition, it offered few options for escape.
After a brief discussion with Reiko, we agreed that it would be better to head north looking for a place where we could hide and that gave us enough opportunities to escape if necessary.
The journey took us two days, we traveled through the mountains and over cliffs that were overlooking the sea. Her salty breath caressed my skin and my nose. Her noise had a calming effect on the tension that I couldn't let go of.
I enjoyed every second that I had a view of this immense body of water. No matter how beautiful the stories of the traditions were, none of them did justice to this endless undulating mirror of heaven.
Would we find my homeland?
Would there be anything left of it?
Could it be that the Krotan Dua, those sea devils took over the area?
And how would I even recognize it?
Late on the second day, we discovered a path, at least it was a part of the mountain that sloped less steeply than the rest. It wound its way downhill and then around a distant ridge.
If there was a road to the lower land this was it. But it seemed inaccessible because of the many gorges and steep walls. Apparently, everyone thought that it was still the best option because without exchanging a word, we descended the narrow path in succession.
Once around the ridge, we looked out onto a beautiful bay, with a large area of green land stretching from the mountainside to where the beach began. It just lay there surrounded by low rock formations and plateaus, it was beautiful.
We stopped and stared at this piece of paradise between the rough stone walls. It was Retsj who noticed that something strange was happening with the piece of land.
At first glance, the trees were scattered haphazardly, but when you looked at the whole, they turned out to form a beautiful circle. The trees within the circle showed different shapes. It looked something like an animal. The longer I looked, the clearer the image became.
It almost looked like a dragon.
Could this be it?
This was clearly made by human hands. Was this my homeland, and that dragon? Nobody believed in dragons anyway. They were used to express figures in folkloric stories for children. Even though it was different for me, they had no value for my tribe.
Then this would not have been our settlement. Somewhat more smitten, I looked at the beautiful piece of land; this is roughly what it must have looked like. That was enough; I now had an image of the old stories.
Stories about the sea and all its horrors, from the water suction that devoured boats in a matter of seconds, even in beautiful weather, to the monsters that lived in the sea.
The enormous eight-legged one, whose tentacles were longer than trees. She only had to put an arm around a boat and it shredded. While she reached for the crew with her other arms to devour them with relish.
They were taken to the black hole at the bottom of her head. It was said to be toothless, but no one had ever seen it up close and been able to tell about it.
Yes, the chilling stories of when we were still a sea people. They were passed on from one generation to the next like valuable pearls.
Thinking about those lores reminded me of another story. One I had forgotten about for so long. There was a story about a dragon, about Dreng, the sky dragon. The protector of the ancient tribe, she provided the right wind and protected it from unwanted visitors.
The story had been forgotten as we no longer needed the wind to be favorable. Dreng had been reduced to just a story and then diminished to a fantasy because dragons were for children.
It was my curiosity, my ear that never rests, that had once heard a story about her, even though she had more of a supporting role in that tale, I had never forgotten her.
If she had played such an important role in ancient times, could this be her image? Hope ignited in me but was extinguished almost simultaneously when I saw that we were separated from this oasis by a huge chasm.
Reiko had seen it too, shaking his head as he stared into the depths: "It would have been too beautiful," he said softly.
This couldn't be happening; I was staring at the gorge there had to be something we were missing.
After a long search, I had to accept that we could not reach the oasis. There was no path anywhere, or pass through the gorge. I carefully lowered my horse down a part of the ridge that seemed to small for even one horse.
Against my better judgment, I had to take a closer look. It couldn't be that we got this far and then missed it, or worse ignored it.
Very slowly the horse descended the steep part, here and there pieces of rock crumbled under her weight, and my toes were curled, but I had to see this disappointment up close. Perhaps there was something that referred to the old days.
It took an eternity before I reached the edge of the gorge and stared at the other side where the plateaus with now clearly visible foundations lay almost immediately. I dismounted and stared into the depths.
To my surprise, I discovered that on the other side something had been carved into the rocks, along the steep wall there were steps cut into the wall, steps leading down. They followed the gorge south, through a bend in the gorge that obscured my view of their destination.
Where does this end, I could see no further, nor was it possible to go further south on my side of the gorge. The rocks made this impossible, perhaps we could go back along the top. But nowhere had we seen another option to descend.
The answer had to be here, but where?
