Chapter 26

Bracken and Chepa stood in front of the high granite wall that Dalfang had first led him to weeks earlier.  Chepa leaned back against a rock somewhat amused, watching his friend repeat his cryptic formula for the fourth time.  Bracken paced back and forth in front of the solid stone face, extremely irritated.

"I just don't understand why it doesn't work.  I wish Dalfang were here.  I'm sure it would work for him immediately."

Chepa kicked at the loose rock beneath his feet and smirked.  "Well, if you haven't opened any secret world, at least you've led us to a fine place to hide.  I can't imagine Pirax ever finding us here."  He stood up and walked around, examining the texture of the narrow canyon walls.  "This is quite a unique rock formation, but the entrance to another world?  That I find hard to believe.  Are you sure this Dalfang didn't just put you in a trance somehow and cause you to dream the whole thing?"

Bracken's features furled in a frown of frustration as he turned to Chepa.  "Yes, I am sure I wasn't dreaming.  I met real people in there."  He pointed toward the wall.   "Right now, there's one I'd especially like to see again."  After the way Lisha had treated him, he was sure he wouldn't bother to resist Brish's invitations.  "If only this code would work."  Again, he repeated the phrases with no apparent response.  In complete exasperation, Bracken tossed the flat metal rectangle against the wall and slumped down on a large round rock.  The coded placard bounced off the granite and clanged against the ground sending a ringing down the narrow ravine.

"You're much too impatient, my son."  Dalfang's cloaked form appeared from behind an outcropping of rock.  "You must learn to be more faithful in your attempts at releasing the keys to the passage."

Bracken jumped to his feet, completely surprised by the sudden but comforting appearance of his mentor.   "Dalfang! Where did you come from? We looked for you at your cabin, but no one was there."

Dalfang smiled a rather playful but understanding smile.  "You're correct, Bracken.  I wasn't there because I planned it that way.  I saw you and your companion long before you ever reached my home.  I've been hiding, simply so I could see how you'd do when faced with the entrance by yourself."

Bracken slumped down again.   "Well, as you saw, I failed miserably."

Dalfang moved alongside Bracken and patted him lightly on the shoulder.  "Not unusual for a novice.   You'll learn in time."  The older man's weathered features glanced over to Chepa.  "By the way, who is your companion?"

Bracken slightly comforted, stood up again and motioned toward his friend. "This is Chepa. He's a tremendous musician. You'll have to hear him play the stam. He's really good."

Dalfang smiled and nodded at Bracken.  "A pleasure I look forward to."  Dalfang extended his hand to Chepa smiling wisely.  "As Bracken has already told you, my name is Dalfang, guardian of the western gate to Malchag."

Chepa shook Dalfang's hand, still slightly startled by his mysterious appearance.  "Happy to meet you."

"Chepa and myself were with Ley Os and some of the others when the Pirax broke in on us," interjected Bracken.  "If it weren't for the fancy guard mechanism Ley had installed, we might have ended up in Accad's detention block.  I guess they've been after him for some time."

"Indeed, a possibility," said Dalfang, frowning as he folded his arms and leaned back against the granite wall.  "Considering his foolish displays, I am amazed it hasn't happened sooner."

"Do you know Ley Os?"

"Quite well.  He sat where you are my friend."

"You mean he's been to Malchag?" asked Bracken in a tone of amazement.

"At least twice," admitted Dalfang, a note of reflection on his sage-like face.  "I brought him here shortly after his discovery of the first Gems.  I had hoped to convince him of the higher virtues of the world that lies behind this wall."  Dalfang arose and walked over to the stone's surface and rested his hand against its face.  "But unfortunately he was unimpressed.  He, like you, failed to open the passage at his first attempts and therefore chose an easier alternative."  The wizened man's glance fell to the ground.  "Easier is not always better, Bracken.   Something I hope you'll remember."

"Certainly you don't believe that the Mingus is a worthless experience," said Bracken defensively.   "I've had wonderful experiences in that realm."

"No doubt and I would never discourage you from your quest for truth.  I just have my hesitations when it comes to Os.  He seems too eager for power, and intends to have it however he can."  Dalfang's face looked strangely darkened as if recalling some unpleasant memory.  He mused for a moment and then spoke.  "But away with such thoughts for now," the old man's face lit up. "You are standing at the gateway to something far greater than even the Mingus realm."

Dalfang reached down and picked up the metal plate that Bracken had tossed away and held it out to him.   "You must try again. You will learn this time."  Bracken took the cryptogram and stood in front of the wall and firmly spoke the secret phrases.   Instantly the miracle he had hoped for occurred.  Chepa, seeing for the first time the wall vanish and the shining passage materialize, stood captivated until Dalfang spoke.  "Let us go, Chepa.  What you see now is only a doorway.   Malchag's lasting treasures lie beyond." Chepa followed only to be stunned again as he stood on the green hills of another world.

For the remainder of the day he listened intently as Dalfang and Bracken guided him through the wonders of Malchag.   The following hours were filled with odd but pleasant surprises as he met Dimliss and his friends.  The scenic landscape and fresh atmosphere of this nether world left all of them pleasantly intoxicated.

Near the close of the day, the three of them sat in Brish's house eating and sharing the delightful events of the preceding day's explorations.  Brish had served a unique combination of foods.   First she brought out a large bowl of gumtas, a flat reddish brown fruit shaped like a leaf.  It was eaten with the skin and had a delightful taste similar to a mixture of pomegranate and melon.  In a short time, these were consumed by the hungry visitors who asked for more.  Next came dishes of what Brish called rowlet, consisting of several herbs, fragrant plants and tasty meats blended together with a purple colored sauce.  Brimming glasses of ulten accompanied the banquet and had to be refilled several times, as the guests washed down the sumptuous meal.  Satiated and overflowing with praise for Brish's fine cookery, the group slumped back into their cushioned seats; Bracken folded his hands, cupping them behind his head and stretched his long legs under the table in front of him.  'This place is more enchanting the Second time.  I almost forgot our recent troubles " he glanced at Chepa.

"And what could those be?" asked a puzzled Brish.  "You appear to be the type who would have few problems in life."

"I didn't tell you, but I recently lost one of my closest companions.  His name was Silas."   Bracken thought of another companion. Lisha's form danced in front of him, in his mind's eye.  Grieved, he pushed the vision away.  "Normally something like this would leave me despondent for some time, but after being here, I feel able to talk about it."

"Bracken's friend, Silas, was killed near Demur," added Chepa, filling in the details of the foregoing tragedy.  He picked up a pyramid-shaped ornament from the table in front of him and was toying with it.  "It seems he heard someone calling him to jump into a pool of light.  Bracken saw the face as well."

Bracken sat up in his seat, his face growing intent as he considered the demise of his former partner.   "That’s what I can't understand.  He just jumped off into space.   There was nothing there.  Before I knew what had happened, I heard him scream and then he was dead."  Bracken looked over toward Dalfang who sat quietly listening.  The older man's features mirrored a calm sense of wisdom.   "Perhaps you have some understanding of why it happened?"  Bracken asked him.

"I've known the Mingus realm long before Ley ever opened its vistas to your generation."

Bracken looked at Dalfang in surprise.  "I had no idea you had ever been exposed to those things."

Dalfang's thoughts seemed to drift back into his past.  "Expose is the correct word.  Such has been my experience many times.  Cib Mingus was my friend years before Os ever made his acquaintance.  Together we have taken many journeys by way of the Gem."   Dalfang folded one arm across his chest, his hand gripping the elbow of the other arm as it extended up toward his chin.  He gently pinched his jaw between two forefingers and a thumb as he pondered Bracken's question.  "There is good there, but also evil.  Not every road one follows is planted with the flowers of kindness and brotherhood.  For one like Silas, who knew so little of what he was toying with, tragedy was almost inevitable.  In the flow of that realm is concealed a tyranny not easily recognized."

"You're saying it was murder then?" inquired Bracken, his voice full of concern.  "A premeditated act of destruction aimed at Silas?"

"Perhaps.  If it was, it's not the first," responded Dalfang sadly, a look of compassion on his face.   "For years now, I have been aware of the depraved aspects of the Gem's power.   There can be good done through the effect, but many have turned it to evil."

Bracken grew uncomfortable in his chair.  Standing up, he walked over to a window and stared out into the dusk.   "How can evil and good mix in the same cloak.  I don't understand, unless somewhere there must be a source, a central place where the power originates."

"Most certainly there is," returned Dalfang knowingly, as he stood and walked over beside the pensive Bracken.  "But it is wisely unconcerned.  The energy that holds this great universe together is for our experiencing, even though some have chosen to use it for the wrong means."  Dalfang's eyes glowed with a deep hue.  The fires of wisdom seemed to burn brightly in them.  "The source is in all of us and we are part of one another.  You create your own destiny.  I am happy to see you have chosen one that is good."

Bracken turned and looked into Dalfang's wise and gentle face.  "Perhaps you are right, but somehow I know I must find the source of the Mingus and the reason for my friend's death."

Dalfang smiled reassuringly at the younger man.  "Search until you find, but be careful in your wandering, Bracken.  Those who hate such eager souls as yours, long to feed their bellies with the broken bones of innocence."

"Thanks for your advice Dalfang. I'll be careful."

A few days later, Bracken and Chepa stood in the Zorek ravine with Brish and Dalfang.  "You're sure you don't want to stay a few more days?" asked Brish a little concerned.  "The rest would do you good, you've been through a lot recently."

"No," insisted Bracken, staring down the arroyo toward the forest below.  "I've got to go.   Too many things have gone unanswered.  I had hoped maybe you'd go back with me though."

Brish looked down at the stony pathway.  "No Bracken, I don't think I ever want to go back.  Right now Malchag holds more for me than I’ll ever find out there."  She nodded in the general direction of the distant city.

"But, I thought you were going to bring others here.  To help Nerkush move ahead toward a better future."

"In time I undoubtedly will, but for now I must wait.

Bracken reached out and embraced her in a gentle farewell.  "Fine.  I can understand your feeling.   I’ll bring others back here with me when I return.  They need this beautiful place."

Dalfang interrupted, extending the rectangular cryptogram to Bracken.  "If you're to return, you'll have need of this.  I trust you've learned from our little lesson to be patient.   If you are, the passage will always open."

Bracken took the coded plaque from Dalfang.  "I'll be sure to remember what I've learned.  I do want to come back."

"Goodbye then," declared Brish.

'Until then," recited Dalfang, raising his hand in a departing gesture.

"Goodbye."   Bracken and Chepa turned and walked down the path and into the shade of the tall trees.