Chapter 5

The dirt track Jack followed met up with another as it headed into the forest. Torn between the two possible routes, one into the depths of the forest and another running parallel with its edge, the young father decided to stop and, for once, eat his midday meal sitting down. As he refilled his water bottle at a nearby stream, Jack replayed his memories of the time he had spent with Jetta after escaping from the Chosen. She had been trying to persuade him to go with her to try and find her old tribe. He wouldn't fit in, she had warned him, but they would help him get back to the city safely and perhaps even help the Mall Rats fight back against the Chosen. She had told him about little details of the route: landmarks that they would have to look out for. Jack knew that the hidden place where Jetta hoped to find her tribe was deep within a forest, but he had nothing but the path before him to suggest it was this part of the forest, or even this forest at all! Packing his things away, Jack looked along both paths, one after the other, before turning and heading into the dappled sunlight of the forest.

****

Jetta stepped out of the tunnel into the daylight. It was nearing midday and she would have to stop for lunch soon but, from where she stood now, she could clearly see the main part of the valley below her. There was a broad path winding down the cliff face from her left side to the valley floor. A river ran from a pool below the ledge Jetta was standing on, winding its way through clusters of trees and bushes. In the near distance, Jetta could see smoke winding up from the centres of neatly thatched, circular huts, clustered around a flat clearing to one side of the river. Beyond the huts, she could just make out the regularly varying greens and golds of cultivated land.

Turning to her left, Jetta began to make her way down to valley floor. The path beneath her feet was well kept and well used, so much so that, when she came to a sharp bend in the path, she found a thick rope hanging through metal hoops that had been hammered into the cliff face. About an hour later, not long after noon, Jetta reached the bottom of the cliff. The path ended by the edge of the pool, which looked substantially larger from ground level than it had from above, and became no more than the worn tracks of cartwheels.

Walking on the softer ground, between the tracks, Jetta moved forwards. She had barely gone two steps, however, when she heard someone order her to halt. Smiling knowingly, Jetta stopped and shifted Hope's weight to her other arm. The child looked around, bewildered, until two guards came forward from the nearby trees. One of the guards held a strung bow, with an arrow aimed straight at the young mother. Hope hid her face in her mother's shoulder.

"Nihil est quod timeas," Jetta called, calmly.

The two guards paused and the one carrying the bow lowered it.

"Since when do you fire on your own, Lana?" Jetta called again as the archer's brow furrowed as she tried to identify the young mother.

"How do you know our passcodes?" Lana called, drawing closer and squinting against the sunlight.

"As I implied," Jetta replied, "I am one of your own."

"If you are," the second guard called, "you should also know the meaning of the phrase."

"It means 'There is nothing you should fear' and is spoken in ancient Latin," Jetta answered. "I should know, I once taught it to this tribe!"

"Jetta?" Lana cried, suddenly, rushing forwards. "Jetta, we thought you were dead!"

"I am more alive than I was when I left!" Jetta laughed. "Look, I bring new life to our tribe: a girl child. Her name is Hope."

****

"Same again, Ruby!" Ebony called across the saloon, her words slurring slightly.

Ruby and Slade exchanged worried glances from either side of the bar. Slade got up and walked over to where Ebony stood, by the pool table.

"I think you've had enough for now, Ebony," he chided, gently. "Why don't you come have some lunch?"

"Slade, Slade, Slade," Ebony sighed, turning to face him with one hand on the edge of the pool table to steady her. "What's a girl gotta do to have a little fun around here?"

Casually, Ebony trawled her fingertips up Slade's chest. Slade sighed and rolled his eyes; he could feel Ruby's indignant stare boring into the back of his skull.

"You know," Ebony slurred, as seductively as was possible after consuming the best part of a bottle of Scotch, "if it's that important to you, we could always go and have a little fun together?"

Slade leaned back as Ebony leaned towards him conspiratorially.

"I won't tell the little woman, promise," she whispered, loudly.

"You know, sweet cheeks," one of the pool players called, "you could have a lot of fun with me too!"

"Who asked you, Jed!" Ruby called, coming to Slade's rescue. "Now get out of here, before you're barred!"

The pool player, Jed, held up his hands, turned and headed out of the saloon.

"And who invited you over?" Ebony sneered at Ruby. "Slade and I were having a private chat, weren't we, Slade!"

"Can't have been that private," Ruby shot back, "the whole saloon can hear you!"

"Aw, did I put a dent in poor little Ruby's pride," Ebony's voice became dangerously mocking.

"Er, Rubes?" Slade whispered, nervously. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that, Ebony," Ruby intoned maliciously. "At least I have some pride to dent!"

"Meaning what!" Ebony's, still slightly slurred, speech became sharper.

"Oh..." Ruby shrugged, carelessly. "Nothing!"

Turning to walk away, Ruby could sense Ebony's rage bubbling up to the surface.

"HRAAAAAAGH!" Ebony screamed, charging at Ruby.

Ruby carefully timed her step to the side that sent Ebony steaming past her at full speed. Unable to stop herself, Ebony went flying over the stool Ruby had been standing in front of and landed heavily. Slade and Ruby hurried to Ebony's side. She wasn't badly hurt, but the combination of alcohol, rage and colliding with the stool had exhausted her and, unprotesting, she let Slade lift her up and carry her up the stairs. Ruby flung the bar towel over her shoulder at Lex, who had watched the entire episode from the comparative safety of the bar, then followed Slade up the stairs.

****

Jetta, carrying her daughter, followed Lana through the small groves of trees and shrubs to the small clump of huts she had witnessed from the ledge. As they drew near, the residents of the quiet village stopped to stare at the newcomer. There were a lot of new faces, Jetta thought, but fewer old ones that she would have liked to see. Occasionally, a familiar face would frown, then brighten in recognition and turn to follow the three to their destination. By the time they reached the centre of the clearing in the midst of the village, there was quite a following behind them.

Lana stopped Jetta at short distance from the head of the clearing. Before them was a larger hut that, instead of being circular, was a thick oblong, indeed, almost square, shape. In a few moments, the heavy wooden door, which Lana had disappeared through, opened and three women walked out, with Lana behind them. The first woman, who stood in the centre of the three, stepped forward and held her arms open, welcoming Jetta.

"Welcome home, sister," she said, smiling warmly. "Welcome back to the valley of the Amazons."

****

It was the middle of the afternoon when Jack reached the guardian tree. He kicked at the remains of a small fire beneath the tree and surmised that he must be on the right path. The tree reminded him of one Jetta had spoken of and, if this was it, Jetta and Hope could have stayed there the night before and the ashes at his feet could be the remains of the fire Jetta had lit that very morning to cook their meals. He looked up into the tree. There should be a hut and platforms up there, if it was the right tree, but Jetta had said they were well hidden and couldn't easily be seen from the ground.

Turning back to the path, Jack made his way onward, further into the forest. His hopes of finding his daughter were raised: the fire had surely only been put out this morning as the ashes had barely been scattered by wind or forest animals. If he kept up a good walking pace, he might even catch up with them before dark.

The shadows were growing long, however, when he finally came within sight of the waterfall. He had heard the roar of the tumbling water for some time, but now he could see the fall itself. In the growing twilight, the waterfall did not sparkle as much as it had when Jetta reached it, but it instead cascaded down into the gorge with a golden hue. Jack was beginning to find it difficult to see the path, but he could make out that it headed straight for the waterfall.

"The curtain..." Jack mumbled to himself, smiling at the revelation that told him he was within reach of his goal.

Hurrying forward in the last of the daylight, Jack found the smaller path that snaked away from the one he was on and followed it to the edge of the fall. He could just see a darker shadow behind the curtain of water that told him there was a cave there. Eager to reach his daughter he hurried across the cutaway path leading to the cave. Once in the mouth of the cave, however, his face fell. The way before him was utterly dark, with no suggestion of how deep the cave could be or what dangers lay within. His brow furrowing in thought, Jack looked around him and spotted, in the last watery reflections of the sunset, the alcove containing the torches and, sitting dutifully beside them, the matches. He strode forward across the wet cave floor.

And slipped.