Chapter 6

Taima and Manahay stood again at their western perch of the hilltop overlooking the prairie lands that spread out as far as the horizons. The sky appeared endless.

"I don't like it when you are right," Manahay said in a soft voice. "They may be tens of leagues, may be even a hundred leagues away and in the vastness of it all, we could pass by them, never realizing how close we were."

Taima grunted. "The land isn't entirely flat; there are features that we should be able to follow. Do you see those ripples of land that seem to undulate from somewhere in the middle?"

"What did you say?" Manahay said.

"The land isn't..."

"No, the ripples in the land: show me the ripples," Manahay said, insisting. Taima traced out with his finger the concentric circles with that were leagues wide but definitely got smaller the further out one scanned.

"Do you understand what you've found Taima?" She didn't wait for an answer. "You've found a relic on the face of the land. If we find the center ring, I'll bet my life that we will find one of the places of the ancients. Let's go!"

"Don't you want to dig a hole up here first?" Taima said, gazing uneasily at the distance of her goal.

"This hill is dead; nothing grows on top of it. Out there is where we should pin our hopes, Taima."

With that statement, Manahay began stuffing her pack.

Getting down the hill was faster though a bit more nerve-wracking because of the risk of breaking some vital part of the body. Scratched and scraped, they headed out onto the plains. Half a day's journey out, they learned that the grasses hid the uneven nature of the ground underneath. They made frequent detours around one obstacle or another and had to rely on the hill as a reference point to return to their intended path. On the other hand, the land teemed with life of all shapes and sizes. As long as they avoided the venomous reptiles and the larger predators, they would be able to cross the land and feed themselves.

Taima recognized varieties of wild grains and tubers all along their path. Even small streams appeared at least once a day. They were unable to travel far each day; the terrain was difficult and treacherous.With such a lush land, Taima wondered why no humans lived on the plains. Thousands could flourish on this land and never diminish its bounty. Manahay had no answer either.

Four days later they reached the first of the circles.While the feature looked small from their hill in the distance, it was thick and wide when one stood on it. Neither dirt, nor stone, the circle was made of a material neither of them recognized. It was only as high as a man's chest. There were pocks and chunks missing, some of them filled with dirt and plants, but the bulk of the circle remained. Heartened by their find, they crossed over it and continued towards the next one.

At the end of the next day, they camped on top of the second circle. When it was dark, they stood on top of it and scanned the western lands. They weren't disappointed. A point of light flickered like the flames of a bonfire.

"Maybe they are on the move as well," Taima concluded.

Each night the light appeared and Taima became more uneasy. He kept that thought to himself but he also kept his weapons at the ready. Manahay followed his lead.

Standing on top of the fifth circle, both were surprised that they could see the sixth circle in the near distance. Each previous circle had been a least a day's walk depending on the obstacles.

We've found the center ring," Manahay said with a certainty that Taima found himself compelled to believe even though he wouldn't know for sure until he saw the other side.

Coming down from the fifth circle, Taima spied hoof prints in the soil that he had never seen before. They were not split hooves like the antelope they had seen earlier or the elk of the mountains. These were rounded hooves and they were big. The animals appeared to travel in a line and if the surrounding grasses were any indication, they weren't grazing. The mystery was another unsettling and Taima's unease leapt higher.

The ground was also more treacherous than the previous circles. There were sinks and fissures that were hidden until a person was only a step away. Taima had expected a short journey to the center ring but their trail was a continuous set of detours. To make matters worse, more than once the otherwise continuous chatter of insects and birds in the thick tufts of grass went suddenly silent.

Taima and Manahay had dropped to the ground immediately. Yet, when they began to seek out the source of the disquiet, they saw nothing. Taima began to wonder if something or someone was tracking them. The sun was centered overhead, which meant he couldn't even watch shadows for movement.

Keeping low and making use of the faults and the dips of the terrain, they made their way to the center ring without any more scares. Taima hesitated before scrambling up the worn, pitted surface of the circle but Manahay showed no such restraint.

Lying on the top of the ring reminded Taima how unnatural the material under their stomach was. The not-stone felt gritty, but there was no sand clinging to his skin or clothes.