Chapter 20
She followed him inside to find Leo sitting on the bed and a lantern giving off a weak light sitting on the table. She sat down next to him, feeling the now strange sensation of a mattress giving beneath her. Koran sat down on the chair and Kiayani then noticed that there was an array of papers cluttering the table as well as a heavy leather-bound book. She wondered why they had called her in.
Koran then answered her unspoken question, “You see these documents?” he gestured toward the mass of papers, “We need you to help us to read them.”
It then became crystal clear; none of the boys could read. Leo must have remembered that she could after she read a chapter or two of her book to him. That book now sat at the bottom of her bag, she had read it too many times to think about even picking it up again.
“Sure,” she replied, nodding, “Where do you want me to start?”
Koran picked up the leather bound book and gave it to her, “here.”
She looked at the book with interest. Embossed across the cover in gold letters were the words, ‘The Ancestors Realm,’. As she turned the first page Koran said, “We’ll leave you two it.”
Then he and Leo left the tiny cabin.
As she flicked the pages she noted that all seemed to be about the Ancestors, every page mentioned them. She found one page with a large drawing of a candle and she stopped. She recognized it from somewhere. Quickly she found the page title, ‘Sending Ones Soul to the Realm’. That is where she had seen it, her mother’s funeral. That candle had been sitting by her coffin. The priest had lit it at the start of the ceremony and it had stayed burning until it burnt out. Intrigued she read on,
The Ancestors Light, also known as the Holy Candle, is one of the only ways to send a spirit to the next realm. The candle must be lit at the start of the ceremony by one whom follows the ways of the Ancestors. The candle is placed by the head of the deceased and the smoke creates a path straight up to the realm. It must not be touched until it has blown out by its own means. If it is interrupted the soul will have no path to follow and will not be able to pass into the next realm.
She finished reading the paragraph, suddenly understanding. She flicked back through the pages again and she realised that the book was full of rituals and ceremonies to perform in the name of the Ancestors. She found one for good health and another to bless a newborn. There were some to help grow crops and another to make it rain. It was very strange. As she went to close the book she noticed some words that had been inked in, ‘This book is property of the Sages of the Ancestors. Please do not remove.’ The sages… Kiayani didn’t think that she had ever heard of them before. She closed the book with a snap and placed it on the table. She pulled the chair out so that she could sit on it and began examining the papers by the dim light of the lantern.
As she neatened all of them into a pile Mik came in with a plate of food.
“I brought you some food,” he said placing it on the table.
“Thanks, smells good,” she said looking up at him, “Is it squirrel?”
She think she recognized the same nutty scent.
“Yeah, how did you know?” he said slightly confused.
“It smells the same as when we had it last time, back in the forest,” she said awkwardly.
“You can remember smells?” he asked frowning.
“Sort of,” she said.
He smiled and then left her to her papers.
When she bit into the meat the nutty flavour was overwhelming.
Kiayani rubbed her greasy hands on her pants before picking the documents up. She was disappointed to find that all of the papers just had long tables on them with information filled in. however as she picked one up to read she found something unusual. There was a date on there from over a hundred years ago. And another. She scanned the page. It was all from a hundred years ago. She read the text that went with it. It seemed to be just a list of names. Kiayani put the papers down and thought for a moment. She hadn’t seen anything like that had she? She tried to sift through her memories of reading. But she still couldn’t think of it. Frustrated she pushed the chair back, its legs scraping across the wood floor and stood up. She took her plate back outside and deposited it on the pile of dirty dishes.
The boys heard the tinkling of the plates and looked up at her in silence. They were expecting her to talk, but she was lost for words at that moment, still trying to figure what those dates and names meant.
“Did you find anything?” Koran asked.
“Yeah,” she said sitting down next to him by the fire.
“And?” asked Mik.
“The book was called The Ancestors Realm, it was all about rituals that you could perform to please the Ancestors and such.” She replied.
“Was there anything about talking to the Ancestors directly?” Mik said looking at her.
In her confusion about the candle she had not even thought to see if there was anything about contacting the Ancestors.
“I don’t know,” she said slowly and then Kiayani jumped up, “I’ll get the book and see.”
She rushed into the cabin and picked up the large book gently. Holding it to her chest she brought it out and resumed her seat next to Koran. By the firelight she read through the contents list. Then she found it.
“Contacting the Ancestors,” she read aloud.
“That must be it,” said Leo shifting himself so that he was closer to Kiayani.
She turned to the page number that was listed beside the title in the contents. It was very near the back of the book. She read the page quickly, feeling the others eyes piecing the top of her head.
“It only says what we already know,” she said still scanning the page, “all of the stuff about entering the Ancestor’s realm, and saying the name of the deceased to the sky. It also talks about the most holiest place in the kingdoms. The place where the ground touches the sky.”
“Oh,” said Koran sounding disappointed but Mik looked pleased.
“It’s proved what we already know,” he said smiling, “We had no idea whether or not it was true, we were just following the whims of a bed tale.”
“Good point,” said Koran.
“Mmm…” agreed Kiayani.
She closed the book and sat it on her lap.
“What about the papers?” asked Koran remembering and looking at her.
“Did you get any information from them?” Leo said.
“I was able to read some dates and names,” she said uncertainly, “The dates were from over a hundred years ago but I don’t know what it was for.”
She looked down at the book embarrassed, she had been unable to help them.
“Over a hundred years,” breathed Mik frowning.
Leo’s face lit up, “the names went with the dates did they?”
“Yes,” said Kiayani not looking up.
“What if they were records of some sort?” he questioned.
Records… What if those dates were written were written over a hundred years ago?
“I’ll be back,” she jumped up and ran back into the hut, her brain suddenly whirring. She dropped the old book back on the table and snatched up a handful of the papers. As she walked back out she scanned them, then she found what she was looking for. Written at the top in tiny print read, ‘Guest Book.’ And in even tinier writing was, ‘please sign the date and your name.’ she had over looked that crucial information the first time she read it in her frustration.
“It’s a guest book,” she said slowly.
The others looked at her still bewildered by her sudden movement.
“People came here to stay and they marked their names in this book,” she explained, “but what were they doing at the base of the mountains miles away from a village…” her voice trailed off and she sank into confusion.
He streak had burnt out. She was lost. Why were so many people walking up a mountain?
“Maybe this is only a check point,” suggested Mik.
“But where would this path go? What could be further up that people would want to trek for days, weeks even to get to?” Koran reasoned.
Kiayani sank to the ground next to Koran. What had she learnt about this hut? There were some papers and a book. Then it struck her harder than lightening.
“This hut was owned by the Sages of the Ancestors,” she said slowly.
“What does that mean?” Koran asked.
“It means,” said Mik catching on, “That there is a temple up the mountain.”
The others looked at him in surprise except Kiayani.
“How..?” said Koran but Kiayani cut him off, standing back up again.
“The Sages worship the Ancestors,” she said, “They devote temples to them. And where is better place to have one then where the ground touches the sky!”
The others gave gasps of understanding.
“This proves the fact further,” said Mik smiling widely, “We will be able to contact the ancestors without a doubt.”
Kiayani was suddenly hit with a wave of fatigue, “I’m tired,” she yawned.
The others agreed, even though they each had a large buzz of adrenalin running through the blood, it was not enough to keep their eyelids open.
The black-haired girl found her pack by the side of the cabin where she had left it and she gathered her bedroll. With the satisfaction of a new discovery she drifted easily into sleep.
Re-motivated by their findings, the group pushed their horses harder and tried to go further than before, before they stopped. It was hard on the horses, but they made sure that they got plenty of rest.
Despite their earlier worrying of not being able to find food, they still managed to find a vast selection of strange critters which were edible.
They day after they left the cabin Kiayani discussed the possibility of finding the temple with Koran.
“Do you think that we could find the temple?” she asked Koran while they rode.
She was riding up the front next to him talking.
“I don’t know,” he replied uncertainty, “I really don’t think that it would be there anymore.”
“Why not?” she asked, curious.
She had always wondered what a temple might look like after reading a lot about them in her stories.
“No one has been there in over a hundred years, it probably has crumbled down to dust.” He reasoned.
“Oh,” said Kiayani disappointed, she had wanted to see what it looked like.
“Don’t doubt it until we don’t find it,” said Mik from behind them.
He was riding his dark grey stallion.
“The temples were built by the sages to last forever,” he looked up towards the dark peaks, “Who knows, it might have survived.”
“Who knows,” repeated Koran sceptically.
Kiayani didn’t want to believe Koran’s words but she knew that what he was saying was probably true.
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