Chapter 2

I woke as a tall brown youth. I must have been fairly young as I had no wrinkles upon the backs of my hands. I was lying on a stone shelf inside a structure made of stone blocks larger than I could ever move by hand. I slowly sat up and wondered at what lay about me. Upon a stone table lay a long linen cloth that I knew was fashioned as a garment to cover my hips and crutch. A sleeveless jacket went over that and a long jacket of steel scales that would stretch to my knees once worn. A circlet with an amber finial looked like a crown. I refused to wear it. I found a six foot hardwood staff with a bronze blade leaning against the wall. The end was capped with an iron point. A travelling bag lay near the door. Within it was a short steel knife, a few steel arrow heads the length of my hand in an oiled leather sheath, a carved wood box with a sliding lid which held split feathers, a quarter pound of beeswax wrapped in a cloth, a spear-thrower, a hank of heavy strong cord the width of my smallest finger, a large spool of thinner waxed cord, a spool of nickel-brass cable cut into ten foot long sections, a copper cup, a spoon, a water gourd, a bag of salt, a fire-making box, a cooking pot with a lid that would hold both of my hands locked together and a canvas sheet large enough to form a shelter tied under it.

I knew that the Mother demanded that I use my mind. I took what I could of the room and strode out, wondering what would come to me.

I looked back to see a decrepit temple covered in vines, brush and moss. I realized that none would be coming to greet me. I opened my senses to the environment.

I knew that many small animals were close. I fashioned four snares and placed them, then gathered firewood and retreated back into the tomb. It was dry there, and the afternoon promised rain. I shook my water gourd to see how full it was. Not very. I went back outside to clear the debris leading to two depressions at either side of the doorway. They appeared to have been used to hold small fires once before. I hoped that they would collect rainwater.

Two of my snares caught rabbits. I reset the snares then quickly cleaned the rabbits and promptly had them on spits. It didn't take long to get a fire going One corner of the temple appeared to have been designed for a fire pit. The smoke crept up the wall to disappear above.

After disposing of the remains of my meal I stoked the fire, then carefully examined the interior of the temple. I had heard of many older temples that lived in debated lands hid the temple treasury behind cunningly crafted stone doors. I pressed on the sides, tops and bottoms of all the stones that I could reach with no success. Then, I thought about where my current gifts were left me. Either on the alter or next to the doorway. I examined the alter more carefully. In the near-dark my fingertips came across a small slot in the stone at the head of the altar, if I were lying down on it. I sat back, while listening to the rain come down, and took another inventory of my pack. I ceased to frown and dug down into the bag for a spear head. I used it to probe the slot. I found a socket within. Pressing did no good. Sliding the spear head sideways however, freed something deep within the stones. I thought about how a door might be built and latched. I used my palms to push and pull stones to one side. One stone to the side slid to the front and stopped. It did nothing else. Now what? It worked once, so I tried again. I moved the spear head about in the slot. This time it sank in the length of three fingers wide and I heard a click. I pushed, pulled, prodded and twisted everything that I could think of. In disgust I leaned against the altar. It smoothly slid to one side. I looked up to the ceiling hidden above in the shadows. "Thank you, Mother, for keeping me humble. I may live longer this way."

I peered down into the gloom, considering a foray below. I was not prepared. I closed up the altar because it looked wrong as it sat. I then filled my gourd from the water streaming down the side of the temple and drank my fill. Afterwards I went out to check and gather my snares. I had four snares full of little piggies, and a huge snake had swallowed one of them and left itself caught like a fish on a hook. I took its head off with my sword-staff, then gutted and skinned it there in the forest. That was all the meat that I would need so I stowed my snares. I cut many long, springy grass-like stalks up to the size of my thumb. I took everything back to the temple where I assembled a drying rack above the fire pit. I hung the meat and started a small fire burning with the wood that I had gathered, then I went out to find more in the jungle. I looked for dead hanging branches and plates of tree bark. I found enough to keep the fire burning a night and a day. Soon I had some pig for dinner. Afterwards I cleaned up and drank from the dishes of water near the temple door to preserve my water supply. I spent a while making a carry sack from the pig skins for the dried meat. When I became tired I thanked the Mother and slept.

I awoke during the night to turn the meat and rebuild the fire. I made water outside the temple, drank my fill and slept once again. I dreamed about the crown. It glowed! So that was its purpose.

The next morning I rose to greet the day. A vexing problem had solved itself during the night which was a good sign. I no longer had to worry about keeping a lamp, candle or torch lit while underground. The meat was not ready yet so I spent the day collecting more firewood, tanning pigskins and in contemplation.

On the third morning I woke and checked the meat. It was ready. I did my morning ritual then broke my fast. A bit of water was still in the temple dishes which I carefully sucked out. I then packed away all the dried meat and scattered the evidence of my presence into the jungle. I fashioned a way to hang my spear over my shoulder, took up my possessions including the helm, opened the altar and peered below. I caught sight of hand and foot holes in the shaft. I swung myself into the hole and started down. After an arm's length I reached up to pull the altar stone back into position. As I climbed down I took care to not scratch or score the walls any more than I had to, but occasionally my sword-staff struck against the wall.

Above me in the abandoned temple the serpents came out from their hiding places. Their nests were within the temple walls.

My arms were getting hot and tired when I found the staff caught in a side passage. I gratefully sat in the opening where I had a drink of water.

I did not know it, but I had just avoided an insidious trap. From there on the side bearing hand and foot holds slowly swung back from vertical until the unlucky climber would be thrown down into the crevice below. The priests had counted to 144. I relied on luck.

I had to crawl some distance, feeling my way ahead, until the amber-colored gem between and above my eyes started to glow. It slowly got brighter, showing me a path splitting left and right. I used my hands to feel the floor. It was smoother to the left so I went left. The ceiling above me raised until I could walk upright. Soon I came to what must have been an underground monastery. I found a kitchen, a bath house, several sleeping chambers, class-rooms and a temple. I genuflected in the temple, thanking for my guesting from whoever or whatever still resided in that long-abandoned place. Courtesy cost me nothing. I cast up a prayer of thanks and encouragement to those who caused the place to be built.

I spent a night there, bathing in the cold, cold water coming in from the mountains many miles away through hidden underground ways. I was surrounded by an amber glow given off by the crown. Beyond that light the blackness weighed heavily upon me.

Why was I there? What was I to learn? Where was I to go? I used the maze secret to find any hidden rooms. I laid my left hand upon a wall and started walking, never taking my hand from the wall. This brought me into a cleaning closet near the kitchen. At the rear of it was a disguised handle in the rear wall. When pulled the wall opened into a hallway. With all my gear on my back and a full canteen I hesitantly walked into the passageway.

I slowly walked down the passageway, watching for any changes. I had an odd sensation that my eyes were being fooled. I undid my breeks and peed in the middle of the passageway. The liquid quickly ran further down the hall ahead of me. No, it was not flat and level as I had assumed. I backed up until I reached the doorway. I did not trust this passage any further. I pulled the door closed and continued my search. I found nothing else until I came to the shower room. There I found a slot in the stone below the lever which freed water to pour down. This made sense. A brother should be cleansed before entering the temple, and where else to do it but where water flowed?

I covered my pack then, feeling foolish, pulled the lever to start the water. I then used a spear-head to probe the slot. The bottom pushed in about two finger's width, then stopped. I stopped the water flow and pushed in again. The bottom pushed in three more finger's depth and a side wall sagged open. I pushed it down until it clicked then stepped over the lintel into the room beyond. A rod sticking out of the wall moved to free the wall's catch, and a handle built into the wall allowed me to lift it back into place where it clicked home.

The large room behind me was well-lit by some sort of windows high in the wall. At one end of the vaulted room was an altar facing several pews. Behind the altar stone was a stucco display of a vine-wrapped tree surrounded by woods Two ghostly eyes looked out from high in the tree's canopy. It appeared to be colored with crushed glass as the entire display glistened in the light. The other end was filled with small box-like openings in the wall, each one holding a rolled-up scroll. I curiously approached and withdrew a scroll at random. I gingerly spread it out at one of the tables. I was surprised to find that I could read it. It was an instructional volume on how to build a bridge across a gorge or other void, including how to prepare the footings below and at either approach. I found it quite interesting and soon finished it. I replaced the treatise, then stepped back to count the number of cells. There were eight groups of ten cells across the bottom, and they rose some fourteen cells high. If all of them were filled then there were over a thousand volumes represented. It was a magnificent library!

I explored the rest of the room and found a passage leading to a toilet and several dormitory rooms followed by doorway leading outside. I saw a broad valley with rough rock walls, continuing on until I lost the details in the distant mist. Along one side of the valley ran a stream that I barely heard as it was a short distance away. There was a profusion of plants growing near the temple, stopping only at the edge of the stone platform surrounding the rear of the building. It appeared as if someone's garden had run wild for a long, long time. In the distance I saw the waving of tall grasses dancing in the breeze. I walked towards it until I could identify what was growing. If it wasn't wheat then it was a pretty amazing replica. I stripped a head and chafed it in my hands until the kernels separated from the hulls, then chewed a few. Yep, starchy and sweet. It was still green though.

I cut across the edge of the field and approached the stream. Slowly the sound of the water grew louder. It was a broad, shallow river with some exposed rock sticking up through the surface. I looked back towards the temple and found it hard to pick out against the mountain that it was dug from. I was in a wide rift. The river must have carried sand and dirt into the valley floor to provide dirt for growing things. No doubt there were animals in the valley that fed from the bounty. I would have to find some runs and set up a small trap line.

As I walked the shore of the river I found the place where it emptied into a break in the rocks. It was partially blocked and the water had backed up into a small wet valley that had turned into a swamp As the water had slowed down and spread out it had dropped any load of soil that it had been carrying, providing a fertile muck to support the wetlands growth. I saw many plants that I was unfamiliar with. However, I did spot a large growth of cattails. I stripped down, took my knife and got down and dirty cutting strips of the long reeds out of the muck. I'd need several arm-fulls to make a bed. I'd also need plenty to weave gleaning baskets and storage baskets for food. I could see being here a while. If I was supposed to use my mind then I assumed that I was to read as much of the library as I could. I wondered what I was to use for fuel to cook? Perhaps the answer was under my nose. So far I'd been lucky enough to stumble across what I needed.

I went back to the 'patio' to spread out my cattails to dry, then went back inside to explore the building with more care.

I did finally find another passageway leading to what I would call the 'support services' rooms. I found a slot opening at the end of the library shelves closest to the outer wall. That led to a passageway which led to the kitchen, larder and laundry. The larder was empty, which I expected and the laundry was equally barren. Shallow stone tubs lined the walls and a large stone table dominated the floor.

The kitchen featured broad tables and against the walls were plinths topped by shallow pans half filled with some sort of spongy translucent fibrous mineral. In one corner sat a huge stone vat with a lid covering it. I shifted the lid to find the vat mostly full of some sort of oil. It didn't smell like anything, but that characteristic 'heavy' smell. I looked about further and found some small bowls. I didn't need anything so large to cook over as the big pans, but a small bowl bearing some oil and half-filled with the mineral as a wick would make a grand cooker. If I wanted to use the grill that would lower over one of the pans I could nestle my smaller heat source in the existing mineral to keep it stable and position it where the heat would to the most good. I considered it a perfectly adapted solution. Before dark I went back out to lay my snares, ate a bit of dried meat and scavenged a while in the rampant garden. Before it got dark I fashioned a fascine to sleep on out of the cattails and secured my canvas to lay both on and under. I gave thanks to the mother for my gifts that day, not the least being my life which I almost lost in the trapped passageway. It had been an eventful day.

The next morning I used the latrine, ate some fresh vegetables to keep my belly happy and went out to check my traps. I had caught a rabbit which I quickly cleaned and, after resetting my snare, too back to the kitchen to grill. After eating I scrupulously cleaned my hands before going back to the scrolls. In this fashion of working each morning and studying each afternoon I spent many months at the monastery. When the grain came ripe I cut it short and bound it into sheaves which I took back to the kitchen There were many large containers there which eventually held quite a bit of grain. I found an adequate grinding stone which had split off the cliff-side long before to use as metate base. To clean up the detritus from my gleaning and grinding the grain I fashioned a broom out of my sword-staff and wheat straw.

As the weather got colder I learned to fashion a brazier out of a broad-bottomed bowl that I punched two holes near the lip and tied a piece of my snare cable between them to use as a handle. I kept it under the table as I studied and in the smaller sleeping room that I found. My daylight hours became shorter and shorter but I had less tasks to do since the garden was dormant and the animals either dead or hibernating. I fashioned shoes of woven grass to cover my feet and a cape to cover myself with. I had made a hat from several layers of rabbit skin that must have looked like some horrible monster was trying to suck my brains out, but it served its purpose.

I learned much of medicine, chemistry, mathematics, engineering, geology, mineralogy, mining, shipbuilding, stone construction techniques, tool design and the principles of constructing furnaces and alloying metals.

By spring I was pretty well studied out. while the mud dried in the fields I wove a coolie hat, a pair of hanging baskets and a shoulder yoke. I filled one basket with a rabbit skin bag containing wheat and the other with a stoppered flask full of oil, a cooker the size of my cupped hand and my other possessions from the pack. My feather box held carefully hoarded slips of paper holding seeds for a garden.

When the ground was dry I stripped all sign of my presence from the temple and started up the valley. Within two days I reached the head end where the river deepened a bit and the shorelines became rock walls. A half days travel brought me to a slight broadening of the shore at the bottom of a waterfall perhaps six times my height. I stood back with my hands on my hips, evaluating a climber's path up to the top. I tied a line about my gear and fastened the other end to my belt, then made my way cautiously up the spray-slickened rocks. I gently but firmly grasped with my fingers and toes, taking my time so as not to become out of breath and reduce my judgment. The top lip soon fell to my grasp and I rolled over the edge. Peering down over the cliff I lifted my burden up the side hand over hand, carefully keeping it away from any snagging rocks. When I had my bags in hand I crawled away from the edge, stood and turned to take in my first view of this upper plateau. I smiled. Trees. Wonderful trees. Great soaring things with dense tops that kept the understory sparse except in and near clearings.

I emptied my canteen and refilled it with the aerated water at the foot of a small rapids and strode out, watching for useable or edible plants as I made my way through the woods, my senses open and alert to what was around me.

I came onto a patch of thin wood shoots, some of which were the width of my first finger. I carefully cut a half dozen of them and topped them at six feet. They were very tough. I barked them and tied them together, and then to my shoulder yoke. I would work on my flights later after I made camp and during the days ahead.

I came upon an elevated stony clearing that had several large sheets of quartz thrust up at an angle, forming a protected spot. I carefully searched for scorch marks as some stony outcrops were known to be lightning sinks and the clouds were closing in over my head. I thought it worth the risk and stacked the larger yet moveable rocks laying about into a shelter with the quartz rocks making a partial roof overhead. I propped up several large flat stones to serve as a reflector opposite the quartz so I would be warmed from two sides. I then went out with my axe to seek dry firewood. I dragged back four dead falls that were roughly the diameter of my thigh at their bottoms. Before dark I had them cut into sections thanks to a very sharp axe. I stacked the dry wood in the crevice between the quarts and the ground to keep it dry. I then sat before the fire carefully re sharpening my axe with a bit of found stone while the wind blew up and the cold rain pelted my shelter. I relaxed, swaddled in my long grass cloak. I once more thanked the Mother for the gifts which I had been shown that day.

In my sleep I was shown a different view of my shelter. It was an old, old place. The forest loam had grown to cover it over the many years. The trees had taken down and overgrown the watch towers. There was nothing evil about the place, nor inherently good. It was simply old and abandoned. I had a bit of a project ahead of me. But first, food.

I found a few small animal runs and placed my snares, then carefully searched out the underbrush for edible plants. I was happy to find some of the last season's crop of ground tubers waiting for me, and I found a large depression full of curled-up ferns just burst from the ground. I collected a double handful of them for greens, then went searching with my nose. I found some wild garlic. Now, if my snares caught any meat I would be in good shape. Later that afternoon I revisited my snares. Of the six I had employed four had borne fruit. I had three rabbits and a big porcupine that I dispatched with my sword staff. I gathered up all my snares because I wouldn't need any meat for a couple of days. My cooking pot came out and I half-filled it with water from a forest pool. Then I put together a stew to simmer away while I started work clearing my new home.

I recalled from my 'dream' the size of the building. I cut and peeled four saplings to serve as corner markers that I thrust into the ground where I thought appropriate. Then I started in with my shovel clearing the area. It was only three hands deep and mostly leaf mold. It would make excellent garden soil. I found a direction that had no old growth trees on a space sufficient for a small field and it was there that I cut down the trees and deposited the soil.

It took almost a month to expose the fitted stone floor and the fallen wall stones. I planted my garden and laid several passes of snares to not only feed me but to reduce the number of opportunistic little buggers that would eat anything that I planted with great delight--except for may be the peppers and garlic.

I transplanted many other forest plants to my garden as well, such as ground tubers and the wild garlic. I trekked over a wide area to not only gain familiarity with the area but to find more plants for my attempts at husbandry. I also succeeded in finding a stream within walking distance of my--hopefully--new home.

With a long summer ahead of me I carefully dry-laid the dressed stone blocks. I had no mason's chisels nor gritty string to cut or shape the stones so I took great care in how I laid them. I could think of but one way to roof over the place. It was built in one large room some forty feet on a side, twelve feet tall. There were four window holes in the walls and one narrow doorway. I removed four stones from ten feet in from each end and sank two king-posts some four feet down and twenty feet tall. The tops were hewn in an 'X' fashion and I took my life in my hands climbing them to place a cross member on top of them with its ends fashioned so that it would fit into one quarter of the X atop the verticals. Then saplings were close-laid on either side of the cross member and lashed down with strong rope made from grasses. The next members were much shorter and tied across the end poles so that they were a foot below the ridge. I carefully used my hand axed to notch the outsides of the king poles and the outsides of the horizontals and fashioned a brace for each end. I had to use more grass rope to bind the braces to the king poles. Next more saplings were laid from the tops of the walls to the shorter cross-members. Then everything was covered in sheaves of grass. At the top of each row a split sapling was laid to hold them down in bad weather. The saplings were tied down at the ends. I fashioned a long grass mat to cover the top ridge that was held in place by another two split saplings. The holes on either end were left open for smoke. Two months it took me, and at the end of it I stood back and shook my head. I said to myself, "The first good storm that comes up will carry the damned thing half-way to Kansas."

Sure, if I had a team of six people and the tools I could have built a mortise and tenon frame then laid on a slate or stone roof, but I didn't have either the manpower or the resources so we went back to the dark ages, or Ireland. Take your pick.

As the weather spun down towards winter I spun and wove many grass mats from the local wheat straw. Soon I had enough to pad the inner walls of the redoubt. I made a fire pit of clay and rock, backed by slabs of rock to reflect the heat onto my front while the quartz wall reflected the head onto my back. I had many baskets of grain stacked against the far wall and thin wood wands hung from the rafters with preserved meat draped over them to stay dry. Many arms full of vegetables were also hung from the ceiling, preserved and dry. Seed from the best grain and the best vegetables were carefully put aside for the next year.

I hunted every day that it did not rain. On the wet days I went out to harvest firewood. Half the building was filled with cut firewood some ten feet high and two outer walls were covered in tall cords of wood. I fashioned a crude chimney and cone-shaped cowl over the fire from woven grass to collect and guide the smoke out the ceiling draft hole.

I was rudderless, adrift. I had simply followed my nose and built this place. I prayed to the Mother to find my purpose in her world. I soon dreamed of a trap door opening from within my rude shelter that opened onto a worn stairway leading down and down, towards the roots of the mountains. The stairway led so deep into the earth that the temperature rose and the great stones protecting the vault below groaned and strained under their load. The next scene showed me sitting at a table with an amulet about my neck, studying a scroll with the chest lying open on the floor beside me. The third and last scene showed me standing outside calmly taking in the flames dancing above my upturned right hand. I woke lying on my back, looking up at the quartz glowing in the morning light. "Magic. I am to learn magic. To think that I could learn magic! What a magical thing!" I giggled to myself at the absurdity of it all. However, if the Mother had such confidence in me then I could scarcely let her down.

I sat up and saw the chest from my dream resting beside the fire pit. Well, there was nothing for it but to try, now was there?

Much to my relief the chest opened easily to my touch. It was perhaps a three foot by four foot chest some four feet tall with a domed lid which held several panels with simple closures. The bulk of the chest held rank on rank of heavy scrolls. I gazed down at the chest's contents and felt severely disquieted. There was a trap here somewhere and I had no idea how to confound it, much less how to find it. I closed the chest for the moment and concentrated on the other features that I had observed in my dream. I sacrificed one of my precious steel flight heads to make a drill bit by gently hammering the edges around a strong stick, in essence curling the spear head's edges to shave away wood as it bit. Next I fashioned a bow drill and fastened that modified spear head to it. When I was finished it would drill out a 3/4 inch hole.

Next I found an old fallen pine tree some four feet around and cut a segment free from the trunk roughly seven feet long. I had split out some large hardwood wedges before while working on the roof beams. I used these to begin splitting the log into large flat sections. Once I had riven the huge board free of the trunk I began the laborious process of smoothing it. I began by loading it with rocks and dragging it over the rough ground back to the cabin. My hand axe helped with the worst of the job but the final smoothing fell to the use of a stone sliding back and forth over the surface until it was a toss-up whether I wanted it smoother or I had any strength to spare in my arms and back ... Another session with the axe and wedges broke out a slab sufficient to make two wide benches. I cut hardwood saplings to fashion trestles for the chair and table bottoms, which I drilled and pegged together. To make backs for the benches I drilled holes in the thick seats at an angle, then drilled matching holes in the edge of the back pieces. Heavy carved pegs connected the two sections on both benches. I found that they made wonderful sleeping benches. (once I covered them in deerskin so that I didn't get splinters in my ass!)

Once more I opened the chest. I believed that I had intuited the trap. The dream had explicitly shown me wearing a necklace while working with the volumes. I gingerly opened the first panel within the domed top showed me a lamp. I only recognized it as a lamp because of my 20th century memories. It had a broad, heavy base, a shaft and a multi-faceted stretched-out crystal, some eight inches long, supported vertically about fourteen inches off the base. I grinned with a twitch of my lip and facetiously said, "Let there be light." Be damned if the thing didn't light up like a hundred watt bulb. I don't know why, but I said, "Thank you, friend." That set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.

I pulled forth bowls, plates, tableware, cups and a pitcher. I even found within that thing a one liter graduated Pyrex glass cylinder. In a small sliding drawer I found the necklace that I had seen in my dreams and for the life of me what appeared to be a Cross pen and pencil set. I settled the necklace about my shoulders and looked at the chest. Which one first? I decided to let the chest tell ME. "Which one of you should I pick first?" The scroll in the upper-right corner pulsed with a green glow and went out. Well. That was enough of a hint for me! I gently removed the scroll by lifting on the open sack supporting it. As I started to unroll it the thing pushed my hands away and reformed as a thick book, some three feet tall and two feet wide. It was perhaps eight inches thick. Wow. Now THIS was magic! I opened the book and began to read.