The Mid-World was once called the land of Nod. In the ancient tongue, the word ‘Nod‘ merely meant ‘Wandering’. So, in essence, this place and these lands were essentially the ‘Land of Wanderers’. The portals or doorways to this land were not always closed to mortal man in the waking state. They were held open pathways of light that bridged the entire vastness of the created universe, which tangentially touched the earth at eclipse points, where the morning and evening path of the Sun’s light kissed the horizon of the earth in those briefest of seconds before the circle of the planetary plane, seemed to lose or gain the solar light of Sol, our Surface World Sun. It was only in recent times when those Surface Worlders who have, by a measure of faith, come to traverse these portals and experience the Mid-World lands within their dreams.
At one time, in Earth’s ancient history the One came down into a beautiful garden of His particular delight and creation to meet with and fellowship with two of his creations, a male and a female, who were given something no other life form in the entire universe was given. A binary imprint of Himself. A triune being, having three distinct yet harmonious components with which to enjoy, perceive and celebrate their existence and find the particular favor of the One who created them to be something nothing else in all His creation could be. Sons and daughters. They were given physicality in a corporeal body that could sense the material world, with sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell and grow in stature, strength and muscle skill. They were given their personhood in the form of a soul which allowed them to know differences, delight in discovery, and find a uniqueness in themselves that assured them that no other being was exactly as they were, so they occupied a place within the universe that only they fit into. The soul also allowed them both to appreciate sameness and differences in other beings such as they were, but in their uniqueness, they were given a particular purpose and reason for their specific existence. That personhood was like in some ways to others which allowed them to commune and agree, but in areas where they were different, these differences allowed each of them to learn something new and gain meaningful knowledge from those interactions. And finally, these beings were given a spirit which beckoned and stirred them to look beyond what they saw, felt, heard and perceived about the world and see behind it another layer of mystery, and an awe of something so vast that the other two components of their being could not qualify or classify. Their vested spirit gave them the capacity to commune with their Father/Creator, and it called them to seek and yearn for more than even the body or soul could perceive. To have the possibility to know something beyond the limits of their awareness of themselves and gain an awareness of Him who cannot be contained by any limitation. A grand Giver of Discovery and Wonder, beyond all that could ever be imagined. It also gave these beings the capacity to be overwhelmed and celebrate in the delight of knowing and being loved by the One who gifted them with their individual personhood.
Light, throughout the cosmos, behaves according to an imprint of order given by its Designer. Everything created by His Word and Hand, in the shaping of all, retains something of the laws and order into which it came into being. No evil is inherent in anything created, because it came from the Hands and Mouth that speaks only truth and perfection. Therefore, when chaos was introduced into the world, all created things behaving according to design, resist and will not live in harmony with disorder. It is said, in the Surface World, that nature abhors a vacuum. And this is true. A void or vacuum represents an imbalance in the order of all and creation seeks to correct that imbalance, by serving justice at all costs.
Chaos that can be perceived in a seeming resistance to order, is actually a struggle between two principles that have an observable physical component. The rules of order are what holds everything together and they are precisely balanced, but it is disorder that shifts that balance into what seems to be contention or conflict. Death permeates existence to such staggering effect, that it is hard for created beings to imagine or perceive that there was ever a time in history where it did not exist or seem to prevail.
***
When we realized Maeven was missing, Christie, James and I feared the worst. That she’d slipped out of James’s arms, was drifting downward and if she had not been dead already that she most certainly was now, and we’d find her drown body somewhere at the bottom of the pool. In the seconds of that realization, we’d prepared to dive in and look for her, but we both were shocked when Nell and Begglar prevented us from doing so.
“She’s not there, lad,” Begglar reached out a hand to steady James.
“Aye, lassie, don’t you be fretting. This is good news,” Nell said putting a comforting arm around Christie.
“Good news?!” I asked, incredulous, “How can this be good news!? Where is she!?”
Nell looked at me with an arched eyebrow, and a wry grin on her face, “What’s happened to her is what happens to all of you Surface Worlders. After all these years, she has finally awakened.”
***
As dawn pushed the darkness back into evening’s envelope and mailed the deferment through the horizon, the sky celebrated the golden coming of the sun. At the hem of the frozen skirt of the falls, the three erstwhile sentries watched as the three young men converged on the area where they’d left the fallen log that Maeven had referred to as a branch. Beyond them, they could see the edge of the lake but could not see the shore itself or their waiting company because they were cloaked under the shadow of the tall forest. Yet there was movement. A small figure was coming toward them across the ice at a run. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
***
“Where did you guys last leave it?” Will asked as he, Dominic, Mason, and Matthew jogged carefully across the ice sheet, ice grit crackling and shushing under their footfalls.
“We used it to take down the bull,” Mason offered, still a bit unsure of Will after the cold stare he’d received from him when he returned his spear. He’d introduced himself, giving the young man another chance and the benefit of the doubt, but Will had only snatched the spear away from him and ignored Mason’s proffered hand of friendship.
Will had never been pleasant to be around. As far as Mason was concerned he always seemed to have a certain air of contempt for others within the company, never really trying to get along except with one of the other guys about his age who also seemed to be up to no good. Matthew was generally liked by the group, a good-natured and willing guy, eager to help and always volunteering to chip in. With Matthew, what you saw is what you got. He was not given to pretense or some hidden agenda, and in his company, you felt at ease. Dominic was an easy-going fellow as well, good-humored, but had a sort of sadness behind it and a world-weariness that defied his youth. He seemed more deliberate and considered in his actions, and while he was welcoming enough to the Surface Worlders of the group, he had a sort of guarded caution with them as well. He knew they were not accustomed to what might be ahead and would be perhaps frightened if they knew all that he knew about the lands and the beings that populated it. He also had a sort of oldness about him because of the terrible things his young eyes had had to witness growing up in the Mid-World in occupied territories, with his family living under suspicion for so long. Dominic knew secrets he was not allowed to tell or share, and as such he was in some ways a private person. Affable, yet reserved until a degree of trust was earned and experience over time permitted him to place confidence enough to extend friendship. Like his father, he seemed more like a person hosting a group of city-dwelling visitors with natural good manners of rural country folk.
They spotted the log up ahead off to the left, barely visible along the surface of the ice because its surface had been dusted with windblown frost and snow. A slushy irregularly-shaped pool of broken ice lay treacherously before it. A waiting trap for the unsuspecting approaching the log from the front. The ice had broken as the body of the bull Moon Sprite had been torn from its frozen pocketed prison, cutting a sidelong furrow to the hole making the broken pool more ovoid in shape. The broken ice settled back in place, however, creating the appearance of a false surface, with a powering of dust seeming to smooth out the disjointed jagged pieces of floating ice and slush.
“Circle wide, boys,” Matthew cautioned, “The edge is deceptive, and that water is icy cold.”
“I can vouch for that,” Mason quipped. His legs only now beginning to feel less of the numbing effect from having partially fallen in.
Will, Dominic, and Matthew circled wide trying to come in at the log from its backside. Mason lingered in the front, suspicious of where exactly the stronger ice ended and the faux surface portended death by hypothermia or drowning. The ice was just as dangerous as anything they fought upon its surface. Its depths would swallow them in an instant.
The boys approached the log cautiously, testing the stability and integrity of the surface, with each creeping step, balancing their weight on their back leg and then slowly shifting forward. Dominic reached the curved limb that rose like an extended skeleton bone upward from the central trunk, its tanned, bark stripped surface polished smooth by the abrading stones as it had been carried downriver through the deepening river and eventually over the precipitous falls to eventual fall and drift towards the bank of the falls basin where they had found it. Now that tanned wood had a grey look, with ice collecting along its limbs and sparkling in the light of the dawning sunrise to their east. The others reached the log and placed their hands on the limb extended plaintively upward, as if the tree was reaching for them as well. Together they tugged at the limb but found that the base of the trunk was partially frozen to the lake surface and a portion of its twisted root extended into the broken pool. With not much leverage, the boys knew they would have to manhandle and rock the limb and log loose of the pool’s edge, but that would increase the danger of one or more of them falling in. If their pulls and tugs fractured the edge of the ice too much they might find themselves in even greater danger it the ice leading up to the back of the log did not hold.
Matthew looked over at Mason, still hesitating on the other side of the broken pool.
“Dude, you wanna give us a hand with this?”
“If I do, who will rescue your icy butts if you guys fall in,” he grinned, “I’m doing fine over here. I have confidence you guys can get it loose.”
Dominic looked and Matthew and Will and shrugged with a grin, “Lad’s got a point. If the ice gives way, we’ll be needing someone atop it, to lend us a hand.”
Will remained unconvinced and muttered, “Coward,” but Matt and Dominic let it slide without comment.
Dominic and Matt put their lead foot up against the base of the log and placed both hands on top of each other, wrapping their cold chilled finger around the narrowing limb.
“On three,” Matt directed, but Will stood back a little, hesitant to join them, looking at the snow dusting the trunk of the log and the curve of the root extending into the black scar into the water beneath them.
“One, two,” and on the unspoken ‘three’ both Matt and Dominic threw their weight backward, extending their arms tugging mightily on the branch while pressing against the log’s base with their lead foot. With a crack and crunch, the log lurched and then twisted, its frosted root clawing and then wrenching free of the broken pool, fling stinging water spray outward, spritzing Mason on the other side of the pool. The drops of water stung his face like icy bees, and Mason gasped and stepped backward, almost falling on his tail end.
Will guffawed and then laughed aloud, making no apology at taking savage pleasure in Mason’s sudden discomfort and shock. Both Dominic and Matthew landed hard on the ice below them, as the end of the log slid away from the pool’s edge and the extended branch turned downward, lift the other extended limb from the lake surface.
Matt and Dominic cast resentful looks at Will and shared a quick conspiratorial look at each other.
“Methinks this lad needs a shellacking,” Dominic muttered quietly to Matthew, “What thinks you?”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Matthew rejoined, “If I didn’t think it might do him in, I’d say he was ripe for a quick swim in this pond.”
“Aye,” Dominic agreed readily, “More’s the pity tis not summer. We’d give him an attitude rinsing indeed, wouldn’t we?”
“In a heartbeat,” Matt rejoined as he and Dominic rose up from under the limb and climbed to their feet.
Just then a warbling sound of soft cries came from behind them. They turned, to see a girl running toward them, soft unintelligible cries coming from her as she ran towards them as fast as her small legs would carry her.
“It’s Miray!” Mason said as the girl came close enough for them to identify her.
“Miray! Over here!” Matt shouted.
The girl had spotted them and was crying with a blend of relief and sheer panic. The others came around the pool and joined Mason and moved toward the running figure. Within moments she reached them and fell breathlessly into Mason’s arms as they kneeled down to her level, trying to calm her fright and reassure her.
“What’s wrong?” Will asked.
“They’ve…,” she breathed heavily, trying to catch her wind, “They’ve gone. Were taken. All of our supplies. The wagons the horses. They just came out of the woods.”
“Who,” Matt asked, “Where have they gone?”
“Pr-Protectorate guards,” she stammered, “Caught up with us. Tracked us with those horrible dogs. Cheryl was bitten.”
Her eyes were still wild with fear and panic. “I didn’t know what else to do,” she pleaded for their understanding, “I just ran. They came up on us so sudden. They were gonna let the dogs kill her. We begged them to stop. To call off their dogs and we would do whatever they wanted, but they just laughed and kicked him away, and threatened to trample him with their black horses. I just ran. I didn’t know what to do.”
Mason held her close while she trembled and patted her, trying to calm her, but knowing it would do little good.
Dominic put a steadying hand on her shoulder and pulled a strand of unkempt hair from her eyes.
He cupped her chin and cheek gently and spoke in low calming tones, “Miray, you did the right thing, lassie. You came to us and we’ll be needing to tell the others. We’ll find them, dear. There are others who can help us, but we need to let O’Brian and my Da know. Take courage, dearie. You did the right thing.”
***
The three sentries saw the four young men and the girl come together and form a distant group huddling around her, and they were drawn toward them, curious to see what may have happened. When they had gone several paces out from the edge of the falls, they suddenly heard a loud crackling noise behind them, and each pivoted searching for the source of the noise that now sounded like a low rumble. Pieces of ice tumbled down from the high cliff above the falls, and struck the ice formations, pivot and careened and bounded off of jutting stones and the bare rock facing striking the frozen false ground below, with percussive explosions. A thundering rumble following the fissuring of a large slab of ice as it too ponderously fell to the foot of the falls, bursting through the frozen base, splintering the crust with a loud bang, water displaced from beneath bursting forth from the gaping hole, sloshing in waves out into the trench below the base. A tide of slush and ice pursued them as they backed away from the frozen teeth of rock and ice, as the silent falls seemed to awaken with a yawn of froth and the sky overhead split in two, sending a cascade of water and powder and ice shards raining downward. Before they knew it, the three were running, looking over their shoulder, wondering what would become of their party inside the awaking mouth and what might become of them if they did not get far enough away when the great sheets and pillars and towers of ice glistening up the cliffside, finally toppled down to the base with thousands of tons of weight and water pressure.
The young women hesitated even in the midst of this rumbling warning, as the pieces of the frozen water towers splintered, burst and twisted downward.
“What are you waiting for, we’re going to get killed delaying like this?!” a man to the left of her shouted reaching out to grab her arm and pull her, if need be, away from the danger.
“I’m looking for the Pearl!” she shouted, “Where is it?!”
“It is too late for that now, c’mon!”
He caught her arm and pulled her reluctantly away from the falling face of the falls, now bursting with explosions of white, wet spray and broken ice and rock. Walls and great plates of ice seemed to fall and fracture, exploding downward as they tumbled to the skirt of the falls and great washes and waves of water fountained and spilled and ruptured outward, pushing the ice sheets upward from below till it seemed like a wall of water was rising from the falls base and moving outward towards them as they ran further away from the base for safety, hoping that the lake itself would not shatter and leave them to drown or swim if they could still manage it ahead of the tsunami building behind them.
“Run! Run! Don’t look back! Run for your life!” they shouted at the four young men towing the large log behind them, the young girl leading the way.
A fracturing, cracking and rumbling thunder roared behind them as they came within fifty feet of the small band who had frozen in shock at the rising wall of water now pursuing the three who had been left to guard the base of the falls.
The ice surface of the lake seemed to curl and mount up behind them as the three reached the boys and the ice below them splintered and crackled, sending fissures like lightning strikes through the frozen surface around and past them extending and racing with blinding speed toward the shore. Within seconds of reaching the boys and the girl, each of the new party, took hold of the large log as the icy ground beneath their feet transformed into liquid cold almost as fast as it had frozen when the giant Pearl first rolled onto its surface. Beyond the rising mountain of water, the Trathorn falls came to frothy life as shards and plates of ice fell from the sky above the cliff, tumbling and blending in with the tons of water that followed it down in great cascading showers. The river above had back flowed and gathered under the ice sheet for as long as it could before the weight of the water below the ice had grown too great to be bound by the ice that dammed it.
The rising tide slid under the log and branches that the clinging company had fastened themselves to, and thrust it upward rising higher and higher towards the rolling hill’s crest. Miray had straddled the trunk and clung fiercely to the outstretched arm of the forking limb, and Dominic and another of the two men help steady her while they themselves clung for their lives to the great tree. Matthew, Mason and the young woman were further back, but firmly grasped the tree and trunk lifting them now to the sky upon a mound of water, their clothes soaked and sodden, but the desperate struggle to survive claiming their attention over the discomforting chill lingering in the water below them. The tree had served them. So far it had preserved them against a sure water burial as it continued to ascend and bear them up on a large crest racing towards the edges of the lakeshore. If Maeven had not insisted on them returning for the fallen log and tree limbs, they would all have perished. For them, Providence had moved to protect and preserve them, should they survive the coming impact with the shore ahead. They could not be certain, but it appeared they were heading either towards the rocks of a brief stretch of grassy embankment, but it was impossible to tell which would be their fate for the log was slowly spinning as it topped the crest of the great wave and then began to fall downward in a rush within twenty feet of the shoreline. As the cresting log turned, the fiercely clinging group noticed the roiling cloud bank standing at the top of the cliff’s edge, just above the lip of Trathorn Falls. The cloud looked like the white and grey edge of a great cyclone, its base flinging debris thousands of feet into the air, its middle a bulging white potbelly of pressurized vapor, wind, and barometric chaos, threatening to spill further outward over the canyon cliffs and downward into the descending valley. Specks of debris, too far to clearly make out were thrown up and down with violence, turning end over end in the sky, as large white jagged pieces of something unidentifiable rained down from the tower top of the storm head like large pieces of snow and ice, great teeth appearing to flash inward and outward from the edge of the storm chewing up both the land and the sky.
***
When the walls began to rumble, we knew we were in trouble. When the Pearl showed up within the caverns and rolled across the top of the black pool behind us, flash freezing its surface, we were certain of it.
Words spoken to me by the mysterious visitor Mason and I had encountered before we left this cave and brought Maeven into it, suddenly jumped into my memory with a clarity that I knew was given to me from outside of my own heart:
“Remember this, though it may seem strange to you now. Within these caverns, there are mysteries hidden and mysteries revealed. Take care that you are not deceived. The way in is not the way out.”
The Pearl rolled up onto the embankment, leaving patches of frost and ice in its wake and stopped short of the edge of the pool in which we stood. I knelt quickly and scooped it up sliding it back into the rough leather purse into which I had carried it this far. The rumbling increased, with great explosive concussions sending tremors through the stone walls, causing the stalactites hanging precariously like suspended daggers above to shake and sway. James backed out of the pool, dripping onto the shore as the others turned to me.
I gave them all one directive and gestured to the darkened aperture at the back of the large grotto in which we stood where our mysterious visitor before us had disappeared.
“We’ve got to get further in. Run. Now. As fast as you possibly can.”
Excavatia 