From the Beginning: The Old World (18 page)

In the next couple of days we had until the rest of the women returned, Violet and I worked quickly and secretly. We collected big branches for building the raft, and we piled them in a hiding place so no one would find them and reveal our plan. We needed to hide and hold our breath more than once when one of the men would pass by, praying silently that he would not notice our presence. Fortunately for us, not many of the tribe members came to this part of the island, a fact which made our efforts a lot easier.

When the other women returned from the holy cave, Jamila and little Jezebel joined us in our construction efforts, with Jezebel keeping watch and bringing us food and drink whenever we needed. After about a week of strenuous and hard work, when we did everything humanly possible not to attract any unnecessary attention—the raft was completely built, ready to embark on its mission. We only had one more week left before the moon disappeared. The little sickle of the moon was getting thinner at night, urging us to continue preparing.

Now that the raft was complete, we returned to the little cave, and with joint forces we finished knocking down the dividing wall, creating the coveted opening to the additional space. When light came through, the spectacular sight of my last vision was revealed to us: The dozens of little niches were indeed filled with rolled up parchment scrolls. Excited, we took out the scrolls one by one, blowing off the old dust that had accumulated on them, and we opened them carefully and gently so they wouldn’t tear or get damaged. We soon found out that the scrolls’ condition was good as if they were kept in a museum with perfect preserving techniques and not in little dusty niches. By the light of the flashlight, we checked the scrolls, trying to decipher the drawings in them, and to see where each of the maps led and to which island.

“We wouldn’t be able to understand anything from here,” I expressed my discontent. “I actually used to like reading maps, but it needs to be compared to something visual, to some physical features to help us match the map to the right route,” I turned the map over from side to side, trying to read the ancient writings. Suddenly the flashlight stopped working.

“Damn it!! Why now???” Violet reacted in anger.

“Now we have no other choice but to take them outside and read them in the daylight. Come, let’s collect everything, and in the meantime, we’ll think of a good observation point.” I rushed my plot partners.

“Mother…?” Jezebel’s hesitant voice was sounded behind us.

“Yes, sweetie? What did you want honey?” I asked distractedly while I was gathering the maps, without even turning my head to look at her.

“Mom, do you remember that after the storm we stood on the summit of the island, on the roof of the cave, and from there we could see all the other islands? Maybe from there we will be able to read the maps better? It seems like a perfect observation point…” She became silent with embarrassment when three pairs of astonished eyes were looking at her.

“Jezebel darling you are a genius!” I kissed her with a big smile on my face, squeezing her to me for a bone crushing hug. I exchanged a hinting glance with Violet and Jamila, who knew in an instant what we needed to do.

“We will wait for nightfall to come again before we go up. We will not be able to pass near the big cave without arousing suspicion and questions about the odd cargo we are carrying,” I commented.

“What shall we tell the men?” Violet raised another hurdle. “What will I tell Roan to explain my absence? Now, that the moon cycle ceremony is over, I have no good reason for going up there…” We looked at each other, pondering, trying to find an effective solution.

“Mom…?” Jezebel’s hesitant voice was sounded again.

“Jezebel darling—if you have something clever to say, just say it, sweetheart. You do not need to ask for my permission each time. You are already a big girl and very smart as we all have witnessed.” I encouraged her a little impatiently.

“We can say that I too started to bleed and that you are taking me there for a special ceremony of my own since the big ceremony ended already…” she lowered her eyes again and took her hands away from her pants. To our amazement, a big dark blood stain was revealed.

“Jezebel honey!!!” I instantly bent forward to her. “Why didn’t you say something? My child—when did this happen? “I caressed her face with affection and excitement, and the maps were set aside for the occasion.

“It started yesterday, but I wasn’t really sure yet. You were so busy, Mother, that I didn’t want to disturb you. You don’t have much time to prepare as it is, and I didn’t want to set back the work…” she hid her shy look.

“Jezebel my child, nothing is more important than your health. For a minute there I thought I would have to lie, but I can see that this blood is completely real. Jezebel—you are turning into a young woman!” I hugged her softly and maternally. “I didn’t think you would start menstruating at such a young age, after all, you are barely eleven years old,” I kissed her forehead, and she responded with a radiant, appreciative and loving look.

“It still doesn’t solve Jamila’s and my predicament,” Violet interrupted the idyllic family moment.

“You are right, Violet. In view of the developments, we shall act like this: Both of you will stay in the big cave. There is no point that you should come up with Jezebel and I. Jamila can’t join us on our surveillance journey anyway, and it will be better for you both if you did not run up and down the mountain with your pregnancies. You will save your strength for the night in question. Jezebel and I will go up there alone and draw as little attention to ourselves as possible. That way we will not need to answer any unnecessary questions. We can also take a torch with us when we go up in the evening, and no one will pay attention to our sack of maps.”

We all nodded with acceptance—and that is what we did. We hid the maps near the big cave, and then we rejoined our friends that were preparing for lunch on the beach. I bathed Jezebel in the big pool before we also descended to the beach, there I told with great motherly pride about Jezebel’s exciting development and of the need to take her to the sacred cave for a special ceremony of her own.

“I will not drag all the women with us. There is no need. Only Jezebel and I will go up this time. I believe that in time her body will adjust itself to the rest of the women’s cycles, and she will join us in time for the full moon. We will go before dark, right after dinner…” We exchanged secret sharing looks while I laid out my plan to the tribe members.

I had no problem receiving their consent. Some of the women rose and approached Jezebel, hugged her and kissed her, congratulating her for the blessed change in her body.

Jihan approached her, and they both conferred with embarrassment and skipped away to their hiding place, where Jezebel described her new experiences to her good friend. “Now I can become a mother!” She told Jihan proudly. “Of course not right away. After all, I am too young for doing all those funny things that my mom is doing with Connor and Jack. But in a few years, when I grow up, I wouldn’t mind having a child of my own. I would like Billy to be the father of my children. He is so charming… and maybe also Thallal… I also like him very much…” she spoke in a childlike grace while her friend was distorting her face, squinting her little black eyes in disgust.

“I hope I will never bleed!!” she said. “And I would never let any man touch me! Ugh! I get sick to my stomach when I accidently see what Mom and Dad are doing, or if I accidently stumble on Ana and Hassan’s place of mating. Behhh… gross!” Jihan expressed her disgust from the act of love between a man and a woman.

“So how will you become a mother?” Jezebel asked naively.” If no man will touch you, how will you get pregnant?” she added a curious question.

“Who said I want to be a mother? I want to learn Herbology and become a healer and a witch like my mother, reading palms and seeing the future—that way I will always be able to help you, my sister, when you become the leader of the tribe after your mother, Grace. I will be your personal assistant and see the future for you.” She held Jezebel’s hands, her eyes gleaming with a promise.

“How do you know I will become the leader of the tribe?” Jezebel wondered with amazement, her sparkling eyes widened with enthusiasm. “Don’t tell anyone—” Jihan placed a silencing finger to her lips, getting closer and whispering in Jezebel’s ear. “My mother told me I will be your advisor when we are older. She saw that you will be taking Grace’s place. That is why she is preparing you and teaching you everything.” She smiled at her friend after she had shared her secret.

“I promise you, Jihan, if I become the leader of the tribe one day, you will be, without a doubt, my personal assistant, and also my very best friend forever and ever!” Jezebel made a childish and cheerful statement, and they both giggled with pleasure. Jihan stroked Jezebel’s straight hair, her little black eyes following the hair that rolled down her thin back.

“You are like a sister to me, Jezebel. And I love you so much—my sister!

She turned Jezebel’s face to her with her small hand, holding and stroking her gentle cheeks and then she leaned and kissed her at length on her cheeks and another small sweet kiss on her lips.

“Shshsh… That will be our secret!” Jihan hinted again in a whisper, this time putting her finger on Jezebel’s lips, sliding a loving caress on them.

“We won’t tell anyone!” Jezebel smiled and cooperated, charmed by her friend’s love. “Very true—my wise woman…” Jihan mimicked her mother’s voice, and they both burst out laughing. “Wise woman—leader of the tribe, my Jezebel, my sister…” she whispered again and pressed her lips gently to Jezebel’s, kissing her with love…

In the early evening, while the sun was putting away its rays for a night’s slumber, I took out the maps from their hiding place with Jezebel. We took an unlit torch and kindling to light it later on in the cave, and we made our way up the island on the steep path to the sanctity of the cave, where I would baptize little Jezebel as a young woman in the full sense of the word! We were both very thrilled. 

The sky turned pink and the horizon was colored in spectacular shades of orange and gold. When we reached the summit, we stopped to breathe in. Here, the wind blew, and Rebecca’s voice caressed us with loving gusts of wind…

* * *

It was an early morning hour. A little after sunrise we rose and ate a light meal. After the baptizing ritual in the light of the flaming torch last night, we tried to decipher the secret of the maps. We found one map that was larger than the rest, with a sketch of the islands that were close to our island—as much as we could call them “close”—but certainly visible from the summit during daylight.

At night, I dreamt of a black woman mumbling enchantments trying to lay her hand on my stomach. I woke up in panic, breathing heavily. I approached the alter inserting my hands to wash my face. I saw flashes and pictures again, only this time, I saw flashes of words, some kind of key code for interpreting the ancient writing on the maps.

Jezebel and I were sitting on top of the world, gazing into the distance, into the wide open spaces of the great sea, holding the ancient maps trying to learn their routes.

We lay open the big map, which we had already given the name “mother map,” and we tried to place it in the correct direction.

“Here, like this… No, like so! Or maybe it’s the other way around? Here! That’s it! Or is it my imagination…” We turned the map in every direction until I remembered the flashes of letters I had seen at night. “Just a minute, Jezebel honey, I think I received a message on how to read these maps. So instead of us wrecking our brains for another long hour, maybe we should try and decipher first what is written,” I suggested.

We pulled a lime chalk from our little duffle bag and started writing down the codes and marks we had seen on the mother map. Since we did not have paper and we couldn’t write on the scrolls, soon the roof of the cave was slowly filling up with drawings and sketches.

After about two hours of intense labor, when we were both sweating and scorched by the rising sun, the mapping and deciphering task was complete. A huge “mother map” that connected all the little maps was now drawn onto the cave’s roof. In accordance with the location of the rising sun, we set the direction of north, south and west that we were missing so far. Slowly I started cracking the ancient secret code, which was based on crossing letters and symbols. After an hour, I could read the entire story of the flood as was predicted by the people of an ancient tribe. This tribe roamed the peaks of the adjacent mountains in time and set up residence there a long time before the waters covered the world, hoping that one day the survivors of the big flood would come and discover them, putting them to the right use.

I read Jezebel the story of the little tribe, which had customs similar to ours. It was for good reason that I had received the inspiration for the path I charted. It became clear to me now that many before me had walked this path.

“They too saw visions in the holy waters, and that is how they foresaw the destruction of the world. If only they could warn us in advance…” I sighed sadly. “On the other hand, if we were able to prevent this calamity, would it have made a difference to humanity itself? The flood came to wipe the slate clean and regenerate everything. It wasn’t by chance that this tribe remained obscure and hidden with its prophecy waiting for our new tribe to come and revive the ways of the ancient world a moment before things started to go wrong with the human race. I have no doubt that none of this is accidental. So was the presence of Cole, who was here to examine our resolve to live in a better world with no violence and evil. I believed that it was possible, but we would probably have to fight for it and eradicate the evil once and for all. Otherwise, the past would come back to haunt us…” I withdrew into philosophy and into fundamental and existential questions, forgetting for a moment that little Jezebel was beside me, looking at me with curiosity.

“Mother, do you think I will make a good tribe leader when I grow up?” Her question woke me up from my pondering thoughts, surprising me with its timing.

“Why wouldn’t you be a good leader?” I answered back with a question. “You are my daughter, and you are receiving the best possible training from me. I think you will make a wonderful leader!” I stroked her with love. “Your grandmother would have been thrilled to see you take my place when the time comes,” I winked at her with a big smile, since we were both very aware of her spiritual presence by our side. “Now come, let’s see where every map fits!” We started laying one map after the other in correlation to the drawing of the mother map, matching them in accordance with their location that had become clear when we looked at the surrounding horizon. We then placed the maps in front of their matching islands that were seen in the distance.

We stood in the center of the mother map, back to back, each gazing at a different horizon, and we turned on our axle to take in the entire space. The drawing on the cave’s roof now matched perfectly to the view that was seen from the top of the mountain!

“There is only one problem!” I lifted my arms in frustration. “Which map, damn it, is the map that will lead us to Cole’s island? Some of the islands drawn on these maps are so far away that we can’t even see them, and I doubt if we will ever reach them. Which makes me wonder, to which islands did Jack get to in his travels and did he draw his own maps? I assume that if he ran into Cole on one of his journeys, he would tell me about it, or worse, he would return injured, if he returned at all!” Just the thought of this made me tremor, and I remembered that Jack was supposed to come back any day now from his latest voyage, to which he embarked on just before the full moon gathering.

“There has to be some kind of clue here, Mother. Are you sure that you checked everything?” Jezebel redirected my attention to the maps. “Let’s go over them again. Maybe we will see something else we haven’t seen yet.” I didn’t decline her good offer. “My smart child! Your optimism and determination will eventually lead us to where we need to go!” I thanked her again. I was proud of the young child she had grown to be, a charming and graceful young woman. I felt as if she was of my own flesh and blood. I looked at her in a loving maternal way for another long minute and then returned once again to look at the maps, picking up each one, turning them from side to side, until I noticed something I hadn’t seen before.

“Here it is Jezebel! I found it!” I lifted the desired map: On the back of the map, right at the bottom, there was a little drawing of a black feather! The map showed one tall mountain with a small diameter, that was connected by pools and ponds to a lower wider island that hid behind the first island. Just as I saw in my vision!!! In the center of the island shown on the map, the same crater with the sign of the holy alter drawn on the heart of it, the black feather appeared again!

“Mother! How could the people who drew the maps know about Cole and all the prophecies? It doesn’t make sense!” Jezebel voiced out loud what I was thinking in my heart.

“I really can’t understand. They not only predicted the great flood but also our struggle between good and evil, which is about to happen soon,” we looked at one another and immediately started to search for clues that might show us the end results of that struggle. If everything is predictable and foretold—maybe signs of it will show on the maps.

But, after a long hour of searching that yielded nothing, we both came to the inevitable conclusion—that what was about to happen would determine our fate. The choice was ours, and we needed to make it no matter the cost. We would have no alternative but to beat Cole and his dark forces, come what may!

We stood up with the correct map in our hands. We looked to the eastern horizon, from where it was possible to see the little island that had hidden the one behind it. We checked the map well, memorizing the route and the nautical safe path, which was the best accessible path to the back island.

After that, we collected all of the maps except the map we needed, and we found them a new place in the holy cave, inside a small niche in the wall of the cave, close to the altar. We sealed the niche with a big rock so their secret location would not be discovered. All we had left to do was end the day with the blessing of Jezebel’s new blood, and in the morning, we would return to the tribe.

According to the thinning sickle of the vanishing moon, we had just one more day until the moon would disappear completely and we would remain with the darkness of the night, exposed and vulnerable, awaiting the arrival of the black bird…

At dawn, we were already making our way down the slopes of the island.

Although it was expected that in a moon cycle ritual we were to stay in the cave for three days, we didn’t have time for it. Jezebel understood that we needed to cut our stay in the holy cave short, and that she would need to pass the remaining days of her menstruation cycle near the pool, where she could wash herself and be aided by the other women should she need help and I was not there to assist her.

After about half an hour we were back down. People just started waking up to their daily routine, and no one seemed troubled or worried. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened while we were away. Jamila updated us when she came outside to greet us.

“If so, we can go about our business as if nothing happened,” I smiled to Jamila trying to reassure her.

“But one thing is new, some strange thing happen…” Jamila seemed hesitant whether to share it with us. “It is Chamid. He start moving now. He follow Violet all time like he want watch her. I think he feel something. He come now play with Attalla too. I think before he don’t want Attalla any more. I think this why he feel what we to do, or maybe he feel something happen to Attalla.”

It was a blessed change in Chamid’s condition that, because of the depression he was in, he secluded himself and was indifferent to what was going on around him. “I believe that Chamid was always fond of Violet. I had noticed before he was staring at her all the time, so I am not surprised he is hung up on her. Who knows, maybe he will prove helpful at crunch time?” I shared what I suspected a long time ago.

“And you not think he tell plan to someone?” Jamila asked.

“I see no reason to worry. Chamid didn’t communicate with anyone up till now. My gut feeling is that we can trust him, that even if he had seen some of the secret planning—he will not open his mouth.” I lay a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“Grace, ‘ouchtee’ (sister), I am so afraid for my Attalla! You have to save him!” Jamila burst out crying, unloading the enormous strain she was under. I hugged her trembling shoulders and comforted her.

“I promise you, Jamila. I promise I will bring him back to you, even if I have to pay for it with my life!” I declared with determination, meant for her ears alone. I knew well what the meaning of losing the battle with Cole would be. If I fail and lose baby Jonathan—the only hope for creating a new and improved world, devoid of evil and violence, would be lost too…

* * *