Rites of Passage (19 page)

I jumped down and landed on bended legs, and looked around me. I was on the inside of the construct, surrounded by the shell of the material, which was marked by horizontal and vertical ridges, and more of the fist sized protuberances. I approached the aperture through which the great chain curved, stood on tip-toe and inserted my head. I stared down, called out and waved.

“Nohma!”

They stared up at me, their faces pale in the starlight. They were impossibly tiny, and oddly foreshortened from my perspective.

I called down, “I know what this is! A dwelling where our ancestors lived. A great space like a cavern, but above ground. The rest of the dwelling is buried in the side of the mountain.”

“Be careful!” Nohma called out, her voice made tiny by the distance.

I waved again and moved from the hole. I turned and, cautiously, approached the torn lip of the surface on which I stood, and peered over the edge.

I made out a shadowy space, vaster than any cavern I had beheld.

I heard a distant voice: Nohma, crying out. I turned and darted towards the slit and peered down. “Par!” she cried. “Above you!”

Heart thudding at her alarm, I looked up. Above my head, where the sloping ground of the ravine continued above the edge of the V, a huge crab stared down at me with eyes on the end of waving antennae.

It was perhaps two man-lengths above me, its pink shell pulsing up and down on multiple legs. Two great claws, one larger than the other, made pincering gestures in the air.

I lost control of my bladder and felt hot piss course down the inside of my leg.

Far below Nohma was screaming something, but I could not make out what.

The crab moved. It scuttled forward quickly, then stopped. Its claws waved, as if gesturing at me, asking some form of question in crab semaphore. At first I had thought the creature no taller than a man, and perhaps as broad, but now I could see that it was twice the size – a giant crab indeed. Old Old Old Marla was right, I thought, and had time to wonder what Kenda might be thinking now.

I heard Nohma, screaming my name again and again.

The crab pulsed up and down on the suspension of its multiple legs. It eyed me speculatively. I wondered if it had ever seen a human being before, and what it might make of me. A source of food, or a threat?

I had left my club outside the cave, and I sorely wished I had it now. In lieu of that weapon, I utilised my crab shell. Moving slowly, so as not to alarm the creature, I loosened the shoulder straps and pulled the shell over my head, holding it before me in the manner of a shield. Above its serrated rim I watched the crab as it moved tentatively towards me, then attacked.

Pain shot through my arm as its claw impacted with my shield. I staggered back with the force of its attack, then rallied, darted forward and battered at the advancing crab. I managed to knock it sideways, so that it was parallel with the edge of the chasm. It faced me, claws waving, but did not advance. Emboldened, I stepped forward and swung my shield, connecting with a loud clash of chitin. The crab staggered backwards, dancing on its nimble legs and teetering on the brink of the chasm. The momentum of my attack carried me forward. I stumbled and fell... and saw, as I dropped, the midnight shape of the crab come tumbling after me.

Then far below I struck something hard, and very painful, and all consciousness fled.

~

S
unlight brought me to my befuddled senses.

I cried out in alarm and attempted to move myself from the direct glare of the sun. I gasped as pain shot the length of my right leg, and glanced down. A long gash greeted my shocked gaze. The flesh of my thigh was peeled back to reveal strips of red meat and, shining white, a length of bone.

I glanced up. The rim of the sun was edging into the man-made chasm. Its merciless rays struck my lower leg, and its burning touch vied with the pain throbbing higher up. I had come to rest in a seated position, my back against the sloping inner plane of the V. I looked around me in panic, and realised that if I could move further to my right then I should be out of the direct line of the sun, for a little while at least.

I braced my arms against the ground, gritted my teeth, and attempted to drag myself into the shade. Pain clenched my thigh as if my leg was being amputated. I cried out, yelling at my foolishness in trying to show off to Nohma and Kenda. I collapsed against the wall of the V, and realised that, in spite of the pain, I had succeeded in dragging myself into the shade.

Though it would be only a matter of an hour, I reckoned, before the sun caught up with me again.

I looked around for my crab shell, so that I might cover myself in its protective dome, but it lay five man-lengths away, and anyway had split into two equally useless halves. Beyond it, I saw without the slightest satisfaction, my attacker lay on its back, claws spasming in death as semen-coloured ichor leaked from its cracked shell.

As much as I was suffering agonies of physical pain, it was nothing beside the mental despair that gripped me soon after. I calculated that hours had elapsed since I had fallen – for the night to have passed and the sun to have climbed so high – and yet what of Nohma and Kenda? Surely by now they should have climbed the chain ladder and attempted to rescue me?

Then it came to me that perhaps they had made the ascent, peered down and seen me lying inert, seemingly lifeless.

I thought of them leaving me for dead and climbing the rest of the way to the escarpment, then beholding the wonders that awaited them there. Or perhaps, as Kenda had wished earlier, they had turned tail and were making their way back to the Valley.

I felt for my backpack. Perhaps, if I nourished myself on my remaining provisions, drank the water I had saved, this might give me strength to crawl over to the crab, force apart its shell and feast on the meat within. Perhaps, with luck, if I could find sufficient shade, I might bide my time until my leg healed and I could escape from this man-made prison.

But my backpack was no longer on my back. I looked around in desperation and made out its hunched shape three man-lengths away, roasting in the rays of the sun.

I felt despair wash over me in a terrible wave.

I thought of Nohma, and the life she would lead without me. I wondered if she would grieve for long, and how soon it might be before she would consent to share a sleeping hollow with Kenda.

The notion only added to my pain.

I must have passed out then, because when I next opened my eyes I saw that the sun had crept across the ground towards me and was now only a hand’s breadth from my left leg.

I cast about for a welcome pool of shade, and saw none. The entirety of this ancient dwelling place, if such it was, was filled with the molten glare of hostile sunlight – other than the tiny slice of shadow in which I huddled.

I began to weep. I thought of my mother, long dead now, drowned while prospecting for water in one of the lowest caverns – drowned, what irony! While her only son would roast to death...

My father I had never known, though people told me that he was a tireless farmer, taken before his time, a victim of the green plague.

I thought of Nohma, and the life we might have had together.

Then I thought of Kenda, and how he might have seen me lying here, and instead of descending to see if I were alive or dead had instead returned to Nohma and told her that there was no hope. And now he would enjoy the girl I loved, would partner her and raise a family... The thought was unbearable.

I had no idea how much later it was when, the creeping sunlight a finger’s span from my foot, I heard a distant sound.

I shifted my position against the wall and managed to crane my neck and look up.

And what I saw filled me with hope.

A head, dark against the glare, peered over the edge. I raised a hand and called out weakly, “I’m here.”

A hand lifted in acknowledgement and I watched as the figure swung itself over the edge and climbed down the inside wall of the V, using the fist-sized protuberances as hand- and foot-holds.

I saw that the figure was Kenda and I felt a surge of relief, and then a quick shame that I had assaulted him the other night. I watched him climb down slowly; he was still wearing his crab shell to protect him from the heat of the sun, and this impeded his progress.

At one point he paused and peered down at me, then resumed his slow descent.

With Kenda’s help, I told myself, I would be able to climb out of this prison. He would bind my leg, bring water from my backpack. Within minutes I would be on my way out of here.

He paused a man’s-length above me, then jumped the rest of the way and landed in the narrow strip of shade.

“What happened?” he said, leaning against the wall of the V so as to be out of the direct glare of the sun.

“The crab,” I said, my throat parched. “It attacked me.” I pointed to the crab, its ichor bubbling now. “I fought with it, but we both ended up...”

He stared down at my leg, a look of distaste on his face. “That’s nasty.”

“Why... why did you take so long?”

“Crabs attacked us. Three of them–”

“Nohma!” I cried.

“We managed to beat them off. But it was unsafe on the slope. We climbed to the escarpment, hoping to find shelter where Nohma might hide while I came back for you.”

I stared at him. “What did you find?”

He looked away, fixing his gaze on my backpack as its material scorched in the sun. “Not much.”

“What?”

“I don’t know. Things.”

“Dwelling places, like this one.”

“Not like this. Smaller.”

“But dwelling places?”

He shrugged. “Anyway, I left Nohma up there. She’s safe, in... in some kind of shelter.”

Elation swelled in my chest. “Wait until we get back to the Valley!” I said. “Wait until we tell our people!”

Kenda towered over me, staring down. His face was expressionless.

I said, indicating my backpack, “Do you think you could...? I have a little water, and some cactus. I’m thirsty.”

He looked from my face to the gash on my thigh, and remained standing there.

I said, “Get my backpack, will you? We can tear it into strips, bind my leg.”

Without a word he nodded and stared across at my backpack. It had been in the sunlight for so long that a small thread of smoke was rising from the material.

Kenda adjusted his crab shell and scuttled across to where my pack lay, reached out and grabbed it and returned to the scant margin of shade.

He looked from the backpack to me, then knelt and tore the shoulder straps from the pack. He hesitated, then said, “Lean forward.”

I obeyed, wondering at the reason for his command when he should have been attending to my leg.

He reached out with the strip of material and swiftly, before I could move to stop him, slipped the strap between my teeth and knotted it behind my head – effectively gagging me. Next, with the second strap, he bound my wrists together. I moaned and put up a feeble struggle, but succeeded only in aggravating the pain in my leg.

Then I was lying back against the sloping wall, staring at him as he opened my backpack and took out my gourd of water, the strips of cactus and three small chunks of crabmeat. These he stowed in his own pack and stared down at me.

I cursed him past the choking gag, but all that came out was a muffled sob.

I expected him to sneer, to gloat, but his face was expressionless as he said, “Nohma will grieve when I tell her that you’re dead – but only for a while. She’ll get over it.” Then he did smile. “I’ll make sure of that.”

I tried to speak again, begging him not to leave me.

“If I were you,” he said in parting, “I’d roll over into the sunlight now, and get it over with.”

Then he turned, glanced up at the sloping wall above him, and commenced his ascent, lodging his feet on the protuberances and hauling himself little by little up the slope.

I watched him go, hatred in my heart; I prayed that he would slip and fall to his death, but his ascent was slow and assured. More than anything I wanted to curse him, but all I could do was gag and sob. Rather than give him the satisfaction of hearing my pitiful protests, I fell silent as he reached the top and disappeared from sight without a backward glance.

I felt a stab of pain and looked down at my leg. The blade of sunlight had reached my thigh and was burning the flesh. I gasped and dragged my injured leg into the narrowing margin of shade. I was pressed up against the wall now. In minutes the sun would reach me again, and there would be nowhere to hide. I leaned over, into the glare, and reached out for my empty pack. The sun stung my exposed arm, a foretaste of the exquisite pain to come, as I dragged the material towards me and draped it over my left leg.

I wept. I had granted myself a reprieve of minutes only. I might as well have taken Kenda’s advice and rolled into the sunlight to hasten my inevitable death.

I watched the material of my pack turn brown and smoulder as the sun burned down. I could feel the flesh of my leg grow hot beneath the material. Soon the sun would reach the exposed flesh of my torso and burn me to a crisp. In an hour, perhaps less, I would be dead – and a day from now the sun would have cremated me, roasted my flesh and boiled my innards. I had once stumbled across a goat that had strayed from the caverns, fallen down a ravine and broken a leg. After one day in direct sunlight it was no more than a pile of bleached bones in a mess of charcoaled meat.

Something moved on the periphery of my vision. I looked up, sure that I had seen a black flash high up the wall of the V. I turned my head quickly. Something had moved to my right, on the facing wall.

I stared and moaned aloud as I made out fleet shapes swarming down the incline on both sides and crossing the sunlit ground towards me, nebulous shadows when in motion and only substantial when they halted.

I stared, incredulous. If crabs were not enough, now these... At least crabs were a known and familiar enemy.

Half a dozen small, stick-like beings faced me. They were half my height, and thin, with limbs like charcoal sticks and disproportionately bulbous heads. Their skin was black, as if burned, and as I stared I overcame my fear enough to wonder at how they could stand as they did in the full glare of the sun.