Beyond the Wall: Part 3

As the explorers’ shadows grew steadily larger behind them, they began to realize rescue may not be as imminent as they had expected. The helicopter shone an ominous black as a result of the light of the setting sun. Grant watched the sun’s reflection disappear and the moon’s pale face rise up to take its place on the shiny metal.

 “We need to think about survival. We don’t know how long we are going to be here.” He turned on his heel towards Janet, who was sitting and drawing with a stick in the sand. Preston was asleep, and thus had no thoughts about what should happen next. 

“Yeah, do you have any ideas how we can survive?” Janet shot back. A silence hung in the air between the two, Janet filled with rage at the idea of being trapped on an island and Grant hurt by the harsh words of someone he respected.

“I’ve got a few,” Beau replied. He walked over to the helicopter and grabbed a bag from it. “Was I the only one who thought we would be here for more than an afternoon?” Vlad walked over to the helicopter and got a large black duffel bag from the cockpit.

“I also came prepared.” Vlad tossed his bag into the sand in front of Janice, and a large knife slid out of the open top. Janet grabbed the knife and held it in her hand for a moment, unsure of what she should do with it. “Give it here,” Vlad commanded, stretching out his hand to receive the menacing blade. Janet placed the knife in Vlad’s hand, and he immediately placed it in his belt and covered it with his shirt. If Grant had not seen Vlad put the knife in his belt, he would never even have known Vlad was armed.

Beau pulled his bag over his shoulder and started to walk down the beach. “There must be something here that could help us.” Vlad followed behind him, the two men walking off into the night without knowing where they were headed.

Janet got to her feet. “Wait!” she called to them. “Where do you expect to go? We should stick together.” She ran to the wrecked helicopter and grabbed her bag of writing supplies. 

“Are you expecting to keep a journal?” Beau asked her.

“That’s what I came here to do, isn’t it?” she said as she walked up to him. 

Grant made eye contact with Nora, who was sitting next to the sleeping Preston. “We shouldn’t go down the beach,” she said. “We don’t have the resources to stay in the sun all day. We should head into the forest; the foliage will protect us.”

Beau, Vlad, and Janice made their way back to the helicopter, and Nora grabbed a bag filled with something heavy. “What do you even study, Nora?” Beau asked.

“I am a linguistic expert, I am fluent in twelve languages and can mostly understand another thirty-four.” she replied, opening her bag to reveal several books on language and an empty journal.

“Wow,” Beau replied, “I can barely speak English.”

“We know,” Janice chirped as she walked to the edge of the forest. The group followed, pausing only for a moment as Vlad nudged Preston with his foot. 

“Get up, we are leaving this beach,” he said. Preston scrambled to his feet, ran to the helicopter, and grabbed a satchel. 

As the group stood at the edge of the forest, they finally noticed how lush the foliage truly was. The bright moonlight that filled the beach did not penetrate the forest at all. Bizarre plants filled this forest: massive trees with large purple leaves, a moss that seemed to blanket the entire forest floor, and strange bushes with dark berries covering them. Vlad stepped into the forest without looking much deeper, at least it seemed that way to the rest of the group. Unbeknownst to them, his perception was intense in its efficient perfection. The rest followed quickly behind.

After several hours, the sun rose and the forest came to life. Birds with bright plumage swept through the sky, and small squirrel-like creatures with long scaly tails scuttled through the treetops, long tails trailing behind them. Grant paused for a moment every time he saw one of these peculiar creatures, just to admire the strange yet natural beauty. After another hour or so of walking, the group broke out of the forest to a strangely familiar structure. 

Just outside the forest, a pyramid sat on a hill. At the peak, a large golden capstone sparkled in the sun’s morning rays. Slabs of white limestone covered the entire structure, and it stood taller than any of the trees in the area, a mountain amidst a sea of green and purple. Vlad walked over to the pyramid and touched it.

“How-” Janice started, but she was interrupted by a slab of limestone sliding away to reveal a woman standing in a hallway. She was dressed in beautiful silk cloth that seemed durable and well suited to the environment, despite the overgrown forest around them.

“Your name is? You come here?” the woman said. None of the group responded. “Answers!” she yelled, a strange accent making her speech difficult to understand. 

Nora stepped forward and spoke, “We came from over the ice wall, can you help us? Our helicopter crashed.” The woman seemed just as shocked as the rest of the group, but still seemed to understand them. She beckoned for them to follow her inside the open pyramid, then disappeared inside. The group paused for a moment, then to their surprise, Nora walked inside.

“It is not a good idea to go,” Vlad advised.

“What are we going to do otherwise?” Preston replied, then followed Nora.

“We must be wary,” Vlad warned, then followed. Janice simply made eye contact with Grant and Beau, then walked in. 

Grant stepped towards the door, but was stopped by Beau grabbing his arm. “I don’t know if I can trust the others,” Beau said, and Grant could see genuine fear in his eyes. “But I think I can trust you. I think we should keep an eye out for each other.” 

Grant had his doubts about liking the members of the group. Preston had gotten on his nerves since he met him, but he didn’t think the man was capable of anything actually harmful. Vlad seemed dangerous, but Grant was sure that Vlad would not hurt anyone in the group, he had not expressed violent tendencies before. Grant didn’t know much about Nora, but she seemed friendly enough. Janice had been a bit snippy, but the entire group was stressed at the moment. Yet, Grant realized all of these people were masters of their fields and were truly capable of anything. “I agree,” he replied to Beau.

“Good, let’s go in,” the man responded, and the two walked in. 

The hallway was long and the walls seemed covered in strange writing. Up ahead, Grant could hear the footsteps of the rest of the group. He hurried to catch up and reached them rather quickly. Behind them, the entrance to the pyramid shut tight, plunging them into darkness. The strange woman who led them into the pyramid ran her hand along the wall, and some moss that had been growing there illuminated.

“Bioluminescence,” Grant murmured to himself, pausing for a moment to stare at the strange moss. It had miniscule tendrils that swayed in the air, as if reaching for something. It was beautiful and glowed brightly, exposing the hallway completely, and triggering other patches of moss to light up themselves. In a matter of seconds, the entire hallway was glowing with pink light. The woman pushed a door open at the end of the hall and revealed a room filled with leather bound books and strange paintings. 

“Wow,” Grant heard Janice say, in complete awe.

“You are here, why?” the woman asked.

“We are trying to learn more about this place. What is your name?” Nora replied.

“Sabine, they call me,” she said, bowing down before Nora. “My mother is Romana, from the sands.” She looked up to Nora from her bowed position, her silks draping downwards, her face illuminated by the moss from the walls around her.

“They call me Nora,”  Nora said and bowed down as well, “My mother is Denise, from Atlanta.”

“Nora, who travels with you?” the woman said, rising

Nora rose as well and beckoned to the others to introduce themselves. To the group's surprise, Vlad walked over next.

“I am Vlad,” He said, bowing like Nora had, “My mother is Anya, from Moscow.”

Janet walked forward and bowed down next to Vlad. “I am Janet. My mother is Elizabeth, from Sacramento.” 

The rest of the group followed suit, bowing and telling their mother’s names. Finally, Sabine said, “Rise, listen to me, you can stay and eat, then I will take you to my home.” The group stood up and Sabine left the room through a previously unseen door. 

As soon as the door closed behind Sabine, Nora turned to the group. “When we go to her home, let me do the talking if there are others there. This is why I am here. You all know what you need to do here, but I have just found out why I am here.”

The door opened, and Sabine walked in with a plate of dry meat and a pitcher of water. She set it on a table in the corner and beckoned for the others to sit around it. Preston immediately took a piece of meat and ate it hungrily. A disgusted look quickly covered his face. “It’s salty,” he complained. Sabine watched the newcomers carefully, not eating any of the food herself. Vlad and Nora took note of this, but the others did not notice; they were too busy eating the salty meat and drinking the water. The water was sweet, and the group lapped it down thirstily. Sabine rose from the table and walked to a door.

“Come, my home is in the stones, we have to walk far.” she said and walked out. The others grabbed their belongings and rushed after her. Sabine walked gracefully and easily opened the limestone door that covered the entrance to the pyramid. The sun seemed to have just passed the center of the sky. Sabine walked down a path into the forest, and the group followed. It was not long before Sabine held up a hand and the group stopped walking behind her. “The sun is up, so are the meat-eaters.” she explained to the group. Something moved in the forest near the group and Grant held his breath, hoping whatever was there would not detect the group's presence. Vlad’s hand drifted over the hilt of his knife. Sabine silently produced a simple black dagger, a gold band wrapped around its hilt. The sounds of movement faded, and Sabine signalled that it was safe to continue.  The group traveled in relative silence, not wanting to attract attention. After two hours of walking, the path began to travel uphill. Large stones jutted out of the earth and smaller pebbles rolled under the group’s feet, making the ascent difficult. Another hour of this and the forest broke, exposing a set of terraced fields carved into the mountainside, where several people were working.    At the very top, a  building built with arches and large windows sat proudly overlooking the fields. As the sun dipped lower in the sky, the people in the fields began to enter the building. “It is time for evening meal, come we must eat good food.” Sabine said. She grabbed the person nearest to her’s arm, which happened to be Vlad’s, and took off towards the building. The others followed, running as fast as they could towards the wonderful aromas and sounds of laughter echoing across the mountain from that beautiful building.