Caves That Time Forgot (2 page)

2

Voyage to Nowhere

W
ell, there it is!” Dave exclaimed, looking out across the vast expanse of gray ocean. “I thought we'd never get here!”

The Sleepers had forged their way through dense woods and along narrow, twisting roads for more than a week. They camped beside the road each night and had been fortunate enough to find food at a few small villages.

“I just hope there's a shop where I can buy something,” Abbie said with irritation. She brushed at her clothes ineffectively. “I wouldn't wear these old rags to a rummage sale!”

“That looks like a village over there.” Josh nodded in the direction of the shoreline. “From the looks of all those ships, it's some kind of port. So I'm sure we can find something. Come on!”

Dave sent Josh a quick look and said sharply, “I think we'd better get organized before we go into the village.”

Sarah as well as several other Sleepers had noticed that Dave was jealous of his new authority.

Wash grinned at Reb. “Give a man a top job, and he'll pretty soon show you what he is, won't he?”

But Abbie was so anxious to get to a store that she put a hand on Dave's arm and said, “Please, Dave. I need some makeup and some fresh clothes. We just can't go on a voyage wearing these old tattered rags.” There was pleading in her voice, and when she turned her large eyes on him, Dave immediately was swayed.

“Oh, well, I suppose it'll be all right. Come on then.”

As Sarah walked along beside Josh, she noted that his lips were drawn tight with irritation. “Don't be mad at Dave, Josh,” she whispered. “He'll be all right as soon as he gets used to being the leader. That's what he's always wanted to be, I suppose.”

“Well, he's welcome to it,” Josh snapped. “If he thinks he can do better than I can, more power to him!”

Sarah wanted to comment that Josh was behaving every bit as badly as Dave. She had learned, however, over the long months the two had spent together, that Josh was generally a sweet-tempered young man, terribly shy at times, and sensitive as a young girl. So what she said was, “Well, I guess we could use some supplies.” She pulled at his patched shirt. “This shirt's so dirty you could stand it up in the corner!” Her eyes crinkled at him, and they laughed aloud.

“I guess so. Well, you get some nice things too. We can't go to these people looking like a troop of beggars, whoever they are.” His brow wrinkled. “Goél wasn't very informative about them. He just said they were simple—but that could apply to almost any kind of folks. I guess we'll find out when we get there. Let's go—before Abigail buys the store out.”

Sarah discovered to her delight that the shop was large and well-supplied, especially with gear intended for sailors.

“I don't want to buy any ships' compasses or things like that,” Abbie said, “but look—they've got a nice stock of clothing. Let's go try some on, Sarah!”

“Oh, me!” Jake groaned, slapping his head in a forlorn gesture. “Once you get Abbie trying on clothes, that's it. We'll be lucky to get out of here a year from now!”

Jake's timing was off somewhat. But by the time the Sleepers had bought new clothes plus a few extras, it was late in the afternoon. The shopkeeper totaled up the bill,
and Dave paid him out of the gold pieces that Goél had supplied.

The shopkeeper took the coins, weighed them carefully in his hand, then said, “Going on an ocean voyage, I take it! May a man ask where you're going?”

“We're going to a place called the Isle of Mordor,” Dave replied.

“Mordor!”
The man's eyes blinked with surprise—and something else.

Why—he looks scared out of his wits,
Sarah thought.

The shopkeeper stared at the group of young people, then shook his head. “Well, good fortune be with you.” But he sounded doubtful.

“Partner,” Reb asked, “what's the matter with that place? You looked a little bit skeery when you heard the name.”

The man clamped his lips together. He would say only, “I got nothing to say about the land of Mordor. Thank you kindly for your business.”

“That's a strange thing,” Sarah murmured as they left the shop. “I wonder what gave him such a scare?”

“Don't know,” Josh replied. “One thing for sure—you wouldn't get
him
on a ship going to Mordor.”

The Sleepers made their way down to the shore and looked at the boats anchored there.

“I don't know which one to go to first,” Dave said, “but that's a nice-looking ship there.”

The ship he indicated was the largest of the vessels bobbing at anchor. It had three masts and a comfortable width. On deck, sailors were mending sails, swabbing the deck, doing the things that sailors do when a ship is in port.

“I'll just go give them a hail,” Dave said confidently.

As Dave walked toward the shore, Jake ambled over and said to Josh, “I can tell you one thing—this is not going
to be a lucky voyage. Did you see the look on that shopkeeper's face when we mentioned the Isle of Mordor?” He shook his head dolefully. “I don't know what we're going into, but it's not going to be Disney World. There'll be something more there than a few rides. That's what I say.”

They wandered up and down the beach until finally Dave's call drew them back. When they came up to him, he was looking highly satisfied.

“It's all taken care of,” he said. “They'll drop us off on the Isle of Mordor, but it costs a pretty penny for our passage.”

“Did the captain say anything about the place?” Sarah asked anxiously.

Dave's expression changed, but he merely said, “Well, he said it's a little off the beaten track, and he seemed surprised that we were going there. But he guaranteed to take us. And what's more, he said he'd bring his ship back to take us off. He passes by there on a regular basis.”

Reb said, “When's he leaving? We've got to get our gear on board.”

“First thing in the morning. He said if we could board tonight, he'd give us our quarters. So let's get our stuff loaded.”

The next morning the ship sailed out of the harbor. There was much excitement among the Sleepers as they stood on deck watching the land disappear.

Abigail was wearing a new dress. It was a shade of light blue that matched her eyes and seemed very fragile after the rough clothing she had been wearing. She touched her hair and said, “I was glad that shop had some shampoo and some cosmetics. I don't feel ready for anything until I've done my face.”

Reb grinned at the pretty girl. “Well, Abbie, you
done it up nice. Shucks—you look good enough to be buried right now! We wouldn't have to do a thing to you.”

“Reb! What an awful thing to say!” But then Abigail laughed and put her arm through his. “Let's go to the front of this old boat. I've seen all I want to of that harbor. Let's see where we're going.”

Dave watched them go. “I think that girl would flirt with a stone statue,” he said. Still, he looked rather envious.

Sarah whispered to Josh, “I think Dave's jealous. He always did like Abigail.” She looked up at him. “Just like you did. Remember the first time you saw her? I thought you'd fall over in a dead faint of admiration.”

Josh blushed, but he said, “Aw, I didn't either. I'd rather have somebody with brains—like you—anytime, Sarah.”

Somehow this compliment didn't please her, and she sniffed and drew away. “Come on, Jake, let's take a walk around the ship. We can talk to some of the sailors.”

They had plenty of opportunities to talk to the sailors, for the voyage went on day after day. The food was good, and their sleeping accommodations were better than usual. After the long trek through the woods, a sea journey was a good time to rest up. They found the sailors jolly and very friendly. However they soon discovered that none of the mariners was willing to talk about the Isle of Mordor.

On the sixth day out, Josh and Sarah were sitting on kegs watching the cook, a small gnomelike figure named Bentley, who had, it seemed, traveled all over Nuworld. The pair had come to listen to his tales several times before.

Finally Josh said, “Look, Bentley, none of you on this ship will talk about the land of Mordor. What's wrong with
it? Is there some kind of monster on it? Come on, level with me.”

Bentley screwed his face into a scowl and scratched his sparse gray hair. “Well, now, lad,” he said, “it's not the kind of place a man wants to talk about, if you catch my meaning.”

“I
don't
catch it,” Sarah replied instantly. “It must be a frightening place if you won't even talk about it. Have you ever actually been there, Bentley?”

The cook was peeling potatoes. He carefully pared away a long scrap, dropped it in a bucket, then tossed the potato onto a small mountain beside him.

“When I was a boy—no more than fourteen or fifteen, as I remember—I was on an old freighter. We hit a storm in those latitudes and had to put in. It tore the rigging out, so we had to stay until we got the sails repaired. Some of us had to go into the woods hunting for food. I went with them one time.” He fell silent, picked up another potato, and began to peel it, his eyes moody. “There's
things
in that place.”

“Things,” Josh repeated. “What kind of things are you talking about? Wild animals?”

Bentley lifted his eyes. They were dark brown and deep-set. “Well, now, I'd seen wild animals afore, lad, but nothing like the things I saw there. Big things. Things like I ain't never seen since. Don't know how to talk about them. There's people in that place too—but they was crafty, they was. Two of our men got took.”

“Got took?” Sarah asked in surprise. “What does that mean—‘got took'?”

“I mean they just disappeared. Went off and never came back. We thought we heard them hollering once, and then it was cut off sudden, like someone had … had …” Then he snapped, “Don't like to think about those times.”

“Is that all you can tell us?” Josh asked.

“Don't like to talk about it.” Bentley had grown moody, and he said only, “Don't like to tell folks what to do, but you young folks are fools for going to the Isle of Mordor! People go there, and the funny thing is,” he said, “they go in but most of the time they never come out again. Don't like to talk about it!” Then he turned his back on them.

Sarah and Josh went back on deck.

“He makes my flesh creep and shivers go up my back,” Sarah said. “It's like going to a horror movie.”

“It's worse than that,” Josh agreed wryly. “It's the things I
don't
know that scare me. If you can see something, at least you know what it is you're afraid of—but the way all these sailors talk—even the captain—there's some things on the Isle of Mordor that must be awful.”

“But we know there are people there that need our help,” Sarah said. “So we've got to go, and that's all there is to it.”

Two days later the ship docked in a little harbor. Reb and the other Sleepers were getting into a small boat for going ashore when Captain Shaw came to say good-bye.

“Good luck to you,” he said rather grimly. “I'll stop off here the first of every month until I find out—” He broke off abruptly and then shook hands with them all. “Be careful now. Watch yourself, for that's a dangerous place. Wish you wouldn't go, but I see your mind's made up.”

“Yes, we have to go, Captain Shaw,” Dave said. “Be sure and check the shore for us. We'll be stuck here if you don't come and get us. Don't know how long we'll be, but it shouldn't be too long.”

An hour later the Sleepers were standing on the beach, watching the sails of the ship grow smaller in the distance.

Everyone seemed reluctant to move, but finally Reb shrugged. “Well, she's gone. Let's get this here show on the road. Are you ready, Captain Dave?” He winked at Jake, for the two of them had given that name to Dave because he was so proud of his leadership position.

“Don't call me that!” Dave snapped. He pulled the map out of his pocket and stared at it. “Here,” he said, “look at this.”

They gathered around Goél's map. It showed a line of mountains and one large river running down to the ocean. “We'll have to follow the river. See, Goél has marked this area here—I guess that's the village where we're supposed to meet the people he's sending us to.”

“Sure wish that river was going
up
, so we could just ride. We'll have to follow along the bank, I guess,” Josh said. He looked at the sky. “It's about noon. You ready to start?”

Dave nodded and folded the map. “Yes. We'll find a camping spot before night so we can cook us a good meal. We'll have to do some hunting, though. The food we brought with us won't last very long. And we don't know what they'll have at the village. So let's go!”

They divided up the knapsacks containing their food, bedding, clothing, and equipment. The girls carried the smallest loads. They started walking along the east side of the river and soon discovered a path.

“Look here,” Jake said, “this thing's been traveled. People must come from the village to the sea.”

“That or animals,” Reb guessed. “All animals like to go to water, but I guess it's probably both.”

All afternoon they hiked. The jungle grew more dense as they made their way inward. Now huge trees towered overhead, sometimes shutting off the light of the sun and sometimes arching over the river from both sides until it was like walking down the aisle of a dim cathedral.

Late in the day Dave drew to a halt. “That's some nice ground over there and plenty of firewood. Let's camp here for the night.”

“Suits me!” Reb said. “What do you want us to do, Captain Dave?”