The Seventh Mountain (37 page)

Shirley started to speak but paused. She
dropped her chin to her chest and shook her head.

The guard returned. “Cap’n Ben checked out a
full set of body armor and a bee-keeping suit, four days ago.”

Mrs. Shadowitz looked at Tim. “Just to be
sure, mount a full-scale search for him. Notify everyone to
presuppose that he doesn’t want to be found.”

Tim said, “Yes, ma’am.” He got up and
left.

“Gerod, I want you to go and get The
General.”

Gerod got up and left.

“The rest of you can follow me down to the
museum, if you like.”

Shana said, “I’ve got to get back to The
Oasis; my shift is about to start. I’ll pass the word about what’s
happened, if that’s okay?”

Mrs. Shadowitz nodded and Shana left.

Steve looked at Mrs. Shadowitz. “If he’s
going back in there, I had better give him his birthday present
now.”

Mrs. Shadowitz nodded and reached into
Aaron’s Grasp. She removed a katana and handed it to Steve.

Steve handed the sword to Mark. “Happy
birthday, son. It’s the real deal.”

Mark pulled the blade from its sheath. The
cutting edge looked as sharp as a straight razor. He knew not to
touch it.

“Ms. Vanmie says that it is a three body
sword, one of the very best Magi have ever made. You take good care
of it, and it’ll take good care of you.”

Traditionally, the Japanese rated katana
swords according to how many heads could be lopped off or how many
bodies could be completely severed with a single blow. Many
prisoners were executed in this cause. Magi-made katana swords were
rated with the same terminology but their effective cutting
efficiency was arrived at by entirely scientific measurements.

 
* * *
 

Down in the museum, the vigil started once
again. Mr. McGraw reported that the door had already opened and
closed for today. Since Mark didn’t have the staff, they had to
wait for the door to open again. There was no telling when that
would happen.

Hours passed into the night and morning came
ever so slowly. Tim kept everyone fed, making many trips to The
Oasis and returning with orders filled to perfection. They all
slept in shifts, fitful and anxious about the upcoming foray into
the labyrinth. What if Cap’n Ben wasn’t in there? Mark would be
trapped until the staff could be found and then some. Mark was
prepared, though. There was a duffel bag filled with meal packs,
enough for two people for well over a month. Warm clothing was
waiting to be tossed in after him and he had a large lantern. The
easel and The General were there. All of the bases were
covered.

It was well after 9 a.m. when the door
opened. Tim threw the duffel bag into the opening.

Mark stepped in and onto the ladder. He
looked around with the light and didn’t see anything.

“Cap’n Ben! Are you in here?”

The voice entered his
head. “
Get out of here. You have no place
in here. I won’t let you save him; he’s mine. You can’t do this,
it’s not allowed. My master will be furious. I won’t let you. I can
control you, look!”

Mark felt a very strong urge to throw the
lantern down, almost too strong to resist. He did resist though, by
sheer will alone. It took all of his mind to do this, which
prevented him from reaching into his pocket for a bug bomb.

Gerod saw to it that Mark had an ample
supply of what he called “bug bombs.” It was an adaptation of an
ancient method of making an evil essence run for the hills. It had
the benefit that it worked almost instantaneously and was effective
for several hours.

Gerod said that he had found the formula,
for burning a special kind of fish’s heart and liver together, in
an ancient manuscript. He designed the bomb by dehydrating the
heart and liver, adding a water capsule to re-hydrate the organs
and a sodium capsule to make the concoction burn. It worked by
rupturing the water capsule. He claimed that it even worked on
Benrah.

Gerod said, “The only drawback is that they
always come back mad as a hornet’s nest.”

Mark became fatigued from the struggle, but
he didn’t give up. It seemed like forever before that evil thing
relented.

“You win this time, but next time you won’t
be prepared for it. I’ll get you! You won’t get out of here. You’ll
rip his heart out before I’m through with you and then you’ll eat
it and then I’ll make him do the same thing to you.”

Mark dropped a bug bomb, but he was still on
the ladder and the vapors would take a while to reach that high. He
quickly started his descent, being careful to lock at least one arm
on each rung, just in case it tried to throw him off the
ladder.

He climbed lower and
lower, realizing that the voice had not reentered his head.
That bug bomb must have worked
.

Mark heard a voice below him. “Oh, good!
It’s you.”

“Of course, it’s me. Who’d you expect?”

“I don’t know. This voice in my head kept
telling me all kinds of things.”

“You have the staff, right.”

“Yeah, I’ve got it, for what good it did
me.”

“Come on up, and we’ll get out of here.”

Cap’n Ben started climbing the ladder.
“How’d you stand it in here? I mean it’s like hope doesn’t exist
here. And that voice will drive you crazy… hey, where is it?”

“I dropped a bug bomb; that ran it off. It
won’t be gone for long, though.”

“What’s a bug bomb?”

“It’s like bug spray for evil, only it
doesn’t kill it, it just makes it go away for a while.”

“So, that’s what that smell is. Right, let’s
get out of here.”

“You’re going to fall asleep as soon as you
get out.”

“I figured that out.”

“Why’d you come in here in the first
place?”

“Nobody else was. Those people, trapped in
here, need to get out.”

“So, you thought you could do it by
yourself.”

“Yeah, you know me, do or die.”

They climbed out and Cap’n Ben fell asleep
immediately. Mark didn’t, he had only been in there for a few
minutes by his time and less than ten seconds outside time.

 
* * *
 

The next day a mission was mounted to rescue
those trapped in the labyrinth.

Mark walked into the school’s museum with
Mrs. Shadowitz. There were well over three hundred people dressed
in gray work tunics, led by Mr. Diefenderfer and Gerod that filed
into the museum. Each was carrying a duffel bag. The plan was that
everyone would enter the labyrinth when Mark opened the door. The
group would move through the rooms leaving one person in the
previous room entered so that they could guide the way back. The
idea of leaving markers in the rooms was thought to be too easy to
tamper with.

Mark opened the door with the staff. Gerod
tossed in a couple of bug bombs. He had no liking at all for the
doom-saying voice that he had been told about.

“That ought to teach that pipsqueak imp who
he’s messing with.”

Mark held the door open with his staff, and
everyone entered and climbed down the ladder. That event alone took
more than eight hours, outside time. Mark was the last one in and
down the ladder.

The cavern that was the first room was well
lit. Lanterns were burning and placed around on the floor. Everyone
had staked out sections of the floor for themselves. The first ones
in had already been there at least eight days according to time in
the labyrinth. Mark made his way over to where the next door
was.

Mark addressed the entire group. “Roaches.
Get cinched up. It’s really gross in there.”

Everyone started putting their beekeeping
hats on over their armor.

Gerod asked, “Are there any other doors in
here?”

“This is the only door that I know about. I
don’t have any idea when it opens or how often. There might be
other doors. This is the only one that has a sign beside it.”

Mr. Diefenderfer asked Mark, “Did…
perchance… you happen to… use the staff… to check… for other
doors?”

“No sir. I didn’t.”

Mr. Diefenderfer shook his head. “Can’t say…
that I would have… either… It might be… prudent… to do so now.” He
lost his balance and started to fall, but Thaddeus Thorpe, one of
the instructors from combat class, caught him.

“Are you all right, sir?”

“I don’t know… this place… is most…
disconcerting… and discomforting. Stay close… would you
please.”

“Maybe your brain damage is healing. All
sorts of ailments are disappearing for other people in here. Even
my nose has cleared up. I can smell things! Although, I’m not sure
that is a good thing in here.”

Mark worked his way along the wall. It took
more than an hour before he reached the spot where all of the
artifacts had been strewn. The wall opened.

“Hey, I’ve got it, another door!”

Everyone walked through the opening.

Even with all the lanterns lit, no one could
see the far wall or the ceiling. The group was starting to spread
out when they heard a low, guttural voice.

The voice said, “New meat.”

Mr. Diefenderfer’s voice seemed different,
defiant.

“Prepare for combat!”

Everyone drew their swords and sat their
lanterns and duffel bags down. The group backed themselves up into
a large circle, everyone facing out. They moved slowly, as a unit,
toward the sound of the voice.

Mr. Diefenderfer spoke again. “We’re here
to… rescue you. We have the key… to the labyrinth.”

Another voice came from a different
direction. The group tensed and stopped.

“You lie. There is no way out of here. No
one has ever escaped.”

“No one has ever escaped. That is true. That
is because no one ever knew that there was a key to the doors in
here.”

Still from another direction there came the
sound of ringing steel being scraped across stone. “There is no
key. You lie.”

“We can demonstrate if you let us.”

Another voice answered. “Go ahead, show us.
If you fail, you’ll make a fine supper.”

Still another voice said, “Ah… I want new
meat, let’s eat ‘em for supper, anyway.”

A metal bucket clanged past the group.

Gerod said, “Oh yes, we brought food for
you. There is enough for everyone here. Check those bags that we
sat down over there.”

A figure scurried into the light, grabbed a
bag, and pulled it back into the shadows.

“He’s lying. There is no food, get ‘em.” The
voice came from a different area than where the guy that had taken
the bag had gone.

Gerod said, “There is food, enough for all
of you, and we have discovered the way out.”

“You lie, there is no way out.”

Mark said, “Yes, there–” Mr. Diefenderfer’s
hand on his shoulder silenced him.

The voice from the guy with the bag sounded.
“He’s telling the truth about the food. If the other bags are like
this one, there is enough for everyone and then some.”

“Tell me, is there here… one called… Joseph
Young?”

“Yeah. He’s on the other side.”

“If you could produce him… he would vouch,
I’m sure… for my veracity.”

“That’s not needed. Show us this key you
said you had.”

Mark started to hold up the staff, but Mr.
Diefenderfer put his hand on his hand and stopped him. He whispered
to the group. “Move slowly back toward the door.”

“Hold it! I just want to see the key.”

“We have the key but it takes… a specific
person to operate it.” Mr. Diefenderfer’s speech was definitely
improving.

“Yeah. Show me.”

“We’re not trying to trick you. Don’t be
alarmed.”

The figure that had been doing most of the
talking stepped from the shadows. He was ragged and very dirty
looking. A troglodyte existence had transformed this man into a
loathsome pariah of a creature, seemingly unfit for the outside
world. Speculation on their culture that had evolved over the eons
that they had been trapped in this place brought to mind
unspeakable atrocities, unacceptable to be told in any
circumstances. He was missing an arm, freshly severed and not yet
grown back.

“I’m not the one who should be afraid.” He
stepped closer to the group and his body odor was overpowering.

Thaddeus said, “That’s close enough, we can
smell you just fine.”

The group moved to the area of the door that
they had just come through. Mark touched the wall with the staff.
Nothing happened. Mark slid the staff along the wall, to the right,
until an opening appeared. Very large winged creatures fluttered
out.

Mark said, “It’s the wrong room.”

The lone figure that had emerged into the
light said, “That’s not the door you came through. Go back the
other way.”

Mark did as the man said. A few feet past
where he had started was where he found the door.

The man said, “It looks like he’s telling
the truth. Start rounding everyone up and tell ‘um the news.”

It didn’t take long for people; dirty,
ragged, defeated wretches really, to start coming to the door with
just a glimmer of hope shining in their dull eyes. At first, there
were just one or two at a time, then groups of three, four, and
five, and then large groups of ten and more, started coming. Mark
gave them all the same instructions, while holding his nose and the
door. Most of the workers and some of the instructors followed the
group.

“The next room is the way out. Don’t go into
any other rooms. When we get everybody into this room, I’ll come
and open the door that leads out.”

Most of the workers who had come in with the
expedition busied themselves passing out meal packs and reassuring
everyone that what was happening was, in fact, real.

Mr. Diefenderfer led a team of explorers to
search the huge room.

After no one coming for over an hour, Mark
walked back into the first room and climbed the ladder a few steps.
He was sure that everyone could see him.