Gaal the Conqueror (12 page)

Morning found them thirsty and trudging drearily forward, hoping that they would see some sign of the forest or else that
they would come across another Gaal tree. But desert stretched
endlessly before them. At length Eleanor stopped and said, "I
don't think I've ever been either as tired or as thirsty as this in
my life. Is it never going to end?"

John saw she was near to tears. "Let's take another break,"
he said.

"But we've finished all the water."

"A few minutes will do no harm." He was doing his best to
act like a man and remained standing, shading his eyes as he
peered off to their right a little.

"I can see something shining. It could be water," he said.

"Where?" Eleanor was on her feet at once, staring in the
same direction.

"Why don't you take it easy here while I push on ahead and
see?"

"No, sir! If you go anywhere I'm coming with you. I'm not
going to stay alone in this place. You might never come back!"

"Oh, come on! You know I wouldn't do anything like that."

"Sorry, I don't mean it that way. It's just that you might not
find me again. It's a big desert, and we're only two tiny specks
in it."

There was obvious sense in what she said, but John felt he
had been wronged, and sulked. Eleanor was too tired to notice,
and followed him blindly as he pushed stubbornly forward in
the direction of the shining.

It took them half an hour to reach the place, and excitement
took away their tiredness momentarily as they perceived it was
indeed a river. But disappointment followed, and they became
conscious once again of their thirst. The water was bright yellow, thick with the mud the river was washing downstream. Had
they been truly dying of thirst they might have drunk it. But the
thought of drinking that water turned their stomachs.

Since the river was flowing north, they decided to follow it upstream, toward the south. The decision was a poor one, for
the walking was far rougher than their walk across the desert.
The river had recently left its course, almost as though it had
flooded. It had frequently torn through its banks, to leave what
had once been a slow and meandering course to a more direct
and purposeful one. So it crisscrossed its former course, which
was now lined with pools and drying mud. The former bed was
marked by a series of ox bow bends which John and Eleanor
were obliged either to cross or to circumvent. Frequently they
stopped to rest.

"Know what?" John said on one of these occasions.

"No. What?" Eleanor's voice was heavy with weariness.

"There's no sign of vegetation. You'd think there would be
something, especially along the old course of the river. But
there's absolutely nothing-no grass, no trees, not even palm
trees."

Eleanor remained silent for a moment. When she spoke
there was a little more life in her voice. "What made it change
its course anyway? It must have only just happened. The mud
is still drying in the old river bed."

John shook his head. "It makes no sense-unless-"

"The earthquake!" Their voices chimed in unison, and for
a moment their weariness was forgotten.

"So the river had to go faster-"

"-and break through all those twists and turns."

"Mebbe that's why the water is so muddy!"

Before long they came to a steep slope where the river issued
from the mouth of a cave, through an opening that was too
small to admit any exploration. So they climbed the slope to
crest a hill, seeing as they did so that they were about to descend into a circular depression, a sort of gigantic bowl.

But what they saw in the bowl was so horrifying that they
stopped abruptly. Terror and bewilderment gripped them for
several moments. Human skeletons lined the slope below them. At the foot of the slope an almost circular pool reflected the
clear blue sky. Some of the skeletons were in small groups,
tangled together, others alone. Ragged bits of cloth, the remnants of what had once been clothing, hung from the bones
of many. Some lay on their backs, some on their sides, some
on their faces. Some lay as though sleeping. Others lay in grotesque contortions, as though they had died in torture and pain.
Some were half covered with sand, and all gleamed white and
clear in the sunlight.

"This is the Valley of Taavath-Basar," Eleanor breathed. I've
heard of it, but I never thought it was real."

Very slowly they moved toward the skeletons, realizing they
would have to pass through them to approach the water. Thirst
burned on their tongues. They stopped and Eleanor shuddered. "It's hideous. Why hasn't someone buried them?"

"You scared?" John asked.

"No-o. But I hate the thought of walking through them all."

"We'll have no choice if we're to get to the water."

There was a long pause. "It's the way they all grin," Eleanor
said. Suppose they move ..."

"Don't be silly. They're just dead people's "John would
never have admitted it, but he felt profoundly scared himself.

Eleanor took a step closer to him and sighed. "I really
thought I'd never be afraid again after what Gaal did for meand the thing with Protector. I was lying just now. I really am
scared. I'm sorry."

John felt uncomfortable. "That's O.K"

"Do you mind if I-" Eleanor paused, embarrassed.

"If you what?"

"If I hold your hand?" Eleanor's face was pale and pleading.

"Sure!" John held out his hand, wishing it were dry and
warm, and knowing it was not. But Eleanor's hand was icy.
Slowly they began to walk among the skeletons, descending as
they did so toward the little lake. Eleanor kept her face to the ground, shuddering whenever she accidentally caught site of
whitened bones. Eventually they reached the water, which was
clear, and saw what had not been visible from the crater's rimthat there were also skeletons on the bottom of the pool. "I
guess it will be O.K to fill the water bottle though," John said
with a frown. He turned to Eleanor. "It will be O.K, won't it?"

"I don't know. I suppose so. I hate the thought of the skeletons being in the water, but it's clear water, so it must be clean.
Anyway, the river keeps washing through it." But her tone, like
John's, was doubtful, and her face looked worried. John's thirst
drove judgment away. He knelt down and cupped his hands,
slipping them into the cool water. The sun shone hot on his
shoulders and his throat was parched.

"I'll just taste it first, to see if it's all right." He raised his
dripping hands to his lips.

Eleanor screamed, "No!" striking his cupped hands and
dashing them from his lips. Her eyes were wide with terror.
"They all died because of the water! It's the water! It must be
poisoned!" John rose to face her, trembling. "Don't you see?"
she said. "They died quickly. No one had time to get away." She
paused and John's pale face attested to his fear.

Eleanor continued, "Come to think of it, it may explain the
desert. Why was there no vegetation along it? Because the river
flowing south is a sort of river of death flowing out from this
pool and killing everything in its path. Just think-if it hadn't
been for the earthquake, and the river being muddy, we'd have
drunk the water already and be dead now!"

He turned and stared at the water. He realized the force of
her logic, yet with everything in him he still craved it. He wanted to plunge into it, to drink until he was full of it. He groaned
and turned away, Eleanor following him with bowed head.

It took them nearly an hour to go round the pool and ascend
the slope to the waterfall on the far side of the valley. They
panted and sweated their weary way beside the plunging crystal river, deceptively clear and wholesome looking, invitingly thirstquenching in its appearance. Before long they saw the source
of the river. A sort of permanent geyser shot skyward in a vast
fountain, issuing from the bowels of the earth, and erupting
two-thirds of the way up the long slope.

Later still they saw above them, some distance below the
geyser, that the waterfall plunged into a small pool and that
behind the upper part of the waterfall was an enormous wheel,
a rapidly spinning wheel that seemed to be made of crystal. It
was monumental-towering a hundred feet above them. A marble obelisk stood by the pool at the foot of the falls. Carved on
one side of it they read the words: