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There were seven of us when we
left. They tell me that we were only missing for three days but we know
better, those of us that returned. We all know better.
We left in search of adventure. We found it but not the
kind we expected...
Six friends and myself had gone on a hike to find whatever showed
up. We often left civilization behind for an afternoon or an evening to
explore the area around our home. There was a hint of mystery and of magic
about the places we went and until that day, I didn't know if the magic
was in the land, or if we carried it with us.
We were following Paul, which in itself was a mistake.
Paul, a lanky kid with curly sand colored hair, had to be the luckiest guy I ever have or will know but his luck didn't always apply to his friends. We used to say he could walk off a cliff and bounce. The boy could drive a car through a field of boulders at ninety miles an hour and it would still run. He and Burt drove his little blue car into a telephone pole on a Main street in our town. He was reaching down to change the “tunes” and smacked into the pole. They both hit the windshield and were bleeding; the pole came down on top of the car and caused a power outage in a big part of town. They didn't walk away from this accident. They drove. Paul, it seems is immortal but the trouble follows him very closely.
We were in new country and should have known better.
Mick was next in line and had just told Paul that he didn't have any
idea where he was leading us. I do too, Paul said. Bull, said Mick,
you're lost again. Mick is stocky with short blond hair and blue
eyes that can freeze most people in their tracks. His
temperament matches his eyes. You don't have to wonder what Mick
is thinking; if he doesn't say it his eyes will tell you.
Alan was next. Alan is tall, solid, and serious on the surface, but
the mischief bubbles in his eyes. He is sometimes too smart for his
own good and has been in plenty of his own trouble. He was in many
ways, the leader. Even though I was almost twenty years older than the
others and the recognized leader, what Alan said carried a lot of weight
with the group.
Zade, the tallest and heaviest of the guys, was next. Zade is
quiet and loud. I know this is a contradiction but he is the type
to listen and learn before he speaks. His laugh is the loudest and his
long dark hair the darkest. He made an impressive man, even as a
teenager. He was a good head taller than most people.
Corey was next in line. He too is quiet but unlike the
rest of us he has a sort of wisdom. It shows in his eyes and his
thin face. Maybe it is just the glasses? He loved to be with
us. His comments were few and he kept his opinions to himself.
Burt or Robert was as usual last in line, with us but not with
us, he was in our world but his mind was usually off in some wonderful
place. Burt is tall and muscular and his jokes are the life of any
party. He could take a serious gathering and have everyone rolling
on the floor in minutes.
I am what some would call a big man. At thirty-five I mistakenly
thought that I was still nineteen.
I love these guys and it is a big thing in my life to be a friend of
theirs. I am six feet and two inches tall and well over two hundred
pounds. I laugh a lot and feel like no one else I know. The
one thing that betrays my age is my forehead, you see it stops rather far
back and my belly is a little out of proportion with the rest of me.
I was next to Alan and was only half listening to the banter between
these good friends. Something was in the air I could feel it.
I searched the trees and saw nothing out of the ordinary. It was
just a feeling, a prickle on the back of my neck.
If I knew that we were headed for another of our fantastic experiences.
If I had known even part of what was ahead of us I would have either turned
and ran or ran full speed into this adventure.
We wandered on up the valley, weapons clattering against trees and bushes
as we began to climb the south face. As they usually will, my premonition
passed and I slipped into the conversation. Mick and Alan broke off from
the rest of us quietly and we were now listening for the crackling of leaves
that would betray their ambush.
We were on a path, probably a deer trail, but in our minds, it was
an Elfin path, something from Tolkien or Eddings tales. There was
no warning as Alan dropped from a tree above my head. I had taught
him well "take out the biggest first. " His plan was good but his
aim wasn't. Instead of crumpling me with a direct hit his weight
slid down my back. His arms were still around my neck though the
dagger in his left hand was moving quickly to my throat. Instinct
kicked in and my elbow found his stomach. It was enough. His
grip was broken. I spun, drawing my black sword. The ringing
sound of it singing from the sheath was always like a battle hymn. The
smile broke onto my face as Alan's sword broke from its sheath.
The clang of steel magically changed the modern forest into a medieval
background. As my opponent struck and spun by me I caught a glimpse
of my comrades at play. Mick was dispatching Corey and turning to
Paul as I struck at Alan's head and whipped a return stroke at his belly.
He pulled his stomach back and spun a fast shot at my head (a very near
miss). The clash proceeded until I landed a blow to his neck and
turned to find Zade standing over Mick with his wicked smile saying, "Yield?"
Paul was sprawled in a bush, feet to the sky and Burt stood, sword
tip in the ground dusting his sleeves and smiling.
Quite a good fight, best of all no one was seriously hurt
Diamond Knights. We live the adventures others play in games or read
in books. It is all great fun and unbelievable exercise.
We sat for while. Reliving the fight with every detail and a few added
ones. When we noticed that as was not unusual, Paul was missing.
I asked the others if we should go find Arken (his Diamond name).
Zade's response was "maybe we would be better off to leave him while we
had the chance." We all laughed, but the foreboding I had felt
earlier returned.
We all stirred from our fantasy state, among such comments as "Dip
#$%^ð"and " Idiot," then proceeded to search the trees and yell.
The trees echoed our calls but again as usual there was no answer.
We began to worry, could he be hurt and unable to answer?
Just as the sun slipped over the mountain, we heard
it. It was Paul.
Hey you guys, come'ere.
We were all ready to kill someone and that someone was just above us
in the rocks calling out as if he had just stepped behind a tree to "answer
natures call" instead of disappearing for more than an hour.
"Come up here, quick," He said " There’s a cave and it's unbelievable."
A cave, all anger was banished and curiosity took its place.
As we worked our way toward the sound of our truant friend, I felt an excitement,
anticipation that I would only later understand.
Alan saw him first and pointed to an outcropping of rocks.
There was Arken, in all his glory, standing in his red tunic at the
base of them.
We walked silently to where he stood only to see him disappear into
the rock face. As we came closer, we found, instead of a round opening,
a crack large enough for any of us to walk into but totally invisible from
above or below.
Trust Paul to find something like this. His luck was holding
but, what about ours?
The merry voice of our Elfish friend called to us to enter and like
the fools we are we did. It was like many other caves we had explored,
dark, musty, and forbidding.
There was an odd feeling as I passed through the crack and the others
commented later that they had felt it too, something akin to the day you
leave school.
I knew at that instant that from this point most of what I considered
real or normal was changed. Nothing apparent had changed. It
was only a feeling. There was no water and so the usual dripping
sound found in caves was not present. In fact it was too quiet.
Almost we had to listen to hear our own footfalls.
The only light we had were some candles that we each carried
for this very purpose. We were in no more than 200 yards when a gust of
wind from a side passage blew even these out. As we did at such times
we decided it was time to leave and come again with flashlights.
We relit our candles and turned around to leave.
We all had good sense of direction and immediately headed the
same way we had come.
Zade, who had been the last, stopped immediately. He was quiet
and I could hear him rubbing the cave wall. We were all getting uncomfortable
and worried that the air would once again douse out the lights. I
remember saying, "Come on, Zod, let 's get the heck out of here."
His response in typical Zade fashion was " That'd be cool, but there's
no place to go."
He was very cool and matter of fact and we all thought he was
kidding. Then I heard Mick say "Holy shit. The cave is gone!
There's a wall right here where we came in."
In the midst of much cursing and questioning I made my way back
to see what kind of joke this was only to find that somehow the opening
we had come through had vanished. We were facing solid rock.
First, came a dizzy feeling of being lost and then came fear.
Were we trapped or had we fooled ourselves and become lost. Either
way, under this much earth and with just a few small candles our situation
was as Zade was saying, "Not good guys. Not good at all."
After some discussion, and searching for other openings, it was decided
that we had no choice but to follow the path ahead of us. We worked
our way cautiously forward.
The little light from the candles didn't reach at all into the darkness.
Alan and I were leading. We stayed close together knowing
that getting separated could be fatal, not that we were sure of the results
of staying together. As we worked on up the tunnel, I remember saying,
"Well guys, you said you wanted adventure." There were tentative
chuckles and some of the usual more colorful commentary.
It seemed that the darkness was wrapped around us and had no
intention of leaving. Time was totally suspended. It could
have been minutes or days.
Our candle was burning low; we had decided that it would be best to
use one at a time to make our light last longer. We were down to
two and still had no sign of a way out. We put out the light and
sat down to discuss our options. And concluded that there were none,
we had to move on.
As I stood to light the candle, Mick touched me on the shoulder and
said, "Is it my eyes or is that light up there?" Zade said,
"I sure hope so cause the wall is still behind us." It seems
he had been checking off and on and found that as we moved ahead so did
the rear wall of the cave. He had kept it to himself to keep from
worrying the rest of us. There had never been any choice we were
moving in the only direction that was available.
Mick's sharp eyes had found a light all right but it wasn't daylight
it was reddish, and seemed to flicker or pulsate. The cave was taking
us to the light as surely as water runs down hill we were going to it and
none of us could think of anything to say. So I lighted the candle
to show us the floor and headed off to meet what ever the light meant.
In the darkness it looked like a long way but the distance was only
a few hundred yards. As we drew closer our light looked more and
more like a fire. The wall of the cave began to dance with shadows.
Yes there was definitely fire beyond the opening ahead.
We began to walk faster and would no doubt have rushed headlong into
the opening if Corey hadn't reminded us, "Slow down guys. No telling what
we might find on the other side of that opening. Let's take it easy
and not get dead."
Immediately Tolkien's trolls and other dreadful things leapt
into my mind. As we reached the opening, I realized that Cory (or
Llewelyn) could not have been more right.
The cave mouth, for so it proved to be, was midway up a hillside.
The scene before us was to say the least unbelievable. There spread
before us, was a terrain much like that where we had entered the cave and
only a little less rugged. There were Aspen trees, brush and mountain
flowers. All these were made more visible by the burning village.
The surprise and wonder of finding a town straight out of the
middle Ages would have been unbelievable in itself. But, to find
one such not only in flames, but under attack... Our hearts stopped.
Time was again suspended. It was as if there was no sound.
This was not a game. The swords were real and so was the blood.
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