Tale of the Nine Pillars

Chapter One: The Trek

From where he sat, Tim could see the narrow, elegant head of the serpent and wondered what species it might belong to. He was sure it was a cobra, but he had not seen one of this kind before. The open fangs certainly made it look dangerous. Quizzing over it, Tim picked up the newspaper lying on the floor with the serpent’s picture.

Tim looked carefully at the image in the newspaper he held. He saw a man with a swarthy face, thick eyebrows and a robust mustache staring coldly at him from the picture. On his thick neck, spreading across his throat, was a large tattoo of a cobra. Actually it was a Naja Atra, the dreaded cobra found mostly in China, Taiwan and northern Vietnam.  Tim read below the picture, surprised to note that this was General Qafi, the dreaded underworld militant, and a long list of his misdeeds followed. Tim was too preoccupied with thoughts of the upcoming trek to read any further. He quickly turned the pages of the newspaper, excessively bored, finding nothing of interest to read. He wondered for the umpteenth time, what was keeping the others.

Allan, Joe, Dave and Tim had decided to meet today in their clubhouse. This was to be their pre-trek day meeting for the final preparations. All throughout their exams, as time permitted, they had huddled together in secret meetings planning a two-day trek to the Lone Mountain. The exams were finally over and each had successfully and surprisingly obtained permission at home for the trek. Tim had arrived first at the clubhouse and anxiously waited for the arrival of the other members.

Tim was otherwise a calm boy, slightly heavy in build with a large forehead and short brown hair. He was the silent type, hardly seen talking aloud with his few friends. He usually topped his class in studies and even his teachers found it a challenge to meet his learning demands. Some attributed his silence to his stammering, whereas others attributed it to his busy mind.  

Tim had named their alliance the ‘Four Corners Club’, having four members. Dave had joined their school just the last year, but he had at once been taken in the club. Dave was fun to be with, although he was a bit timid and looked funny in his baggy clothes, glasses and blond hair. However, Dave was ingenious with his hands. He could build wonderful models of planes and ships. He had also made a number of gadgets for their club that he alone could use, but the rest were proud to have them at their club.

Allan was smart in many ways, speaking large, incomprehensive words with a flourish and pretending to be much older than he actually was. He stood taller than the other three and carried himself with poise. The girls at the school could be seen nudging each other as Allan passed them, his hand pushing his trimmed hair back. His majestic dialect sometimes made him a subject of ridicule at school, especially so when Joe’s other friends were around.

Joe was way at the bottom of the class, but he could pride himself with most of the sports prizes. Squat and muscular, his rusty hair could be spotted darting across the football field in all seasons. Undoubtedly, Joe was the strongest in the class.

“Tweeeeeeep!” Tim heard Joe’s whistle, their club’s branded call procedure, and jumped up to open the door.

“Wh-what kept you s-so long?” Tim stammered his question, seeing both Allan and Joe.

“Errands, dear,” replied Allan flippantly, as Joe winked at Tim with a smile.

Allan and Joe were shortly followed by Dave and they quickly settled themselves for the meeting. Today’s meeting had special importance, not only because it was for the final preparations of the trek but also for another serious issue they needed to discuss. Allan’s parents were to visit Allan’s aunt, as she was not well. It was a two-day visit and posed a question about Gary, Allan’s younger brother. Unlike Allan, Gary was the most troublesome boy in the town. He was full of energy and bounded all over the town, creating rampant menace wherever he went. Many a meetings of their club had been reduced to utter chaos because of Gary’s pranks. Allan’s mother had suggested Gary join them on the trek. Allan had fumed and fought every step of the battle, but lost it. Allan’s mother was clear about her verdict – either Gary goes with Allan or they both stay back at home.

The meeting covered the list of things each had to bring for the trek. Caps, ropes, a scout knife, whistle, torch, a compass, a staff, empty bottles, so on and so forth. Tim was surprised to see a nail cutter included by Allan, but feared to question Allan about it. Allan had already procured a large map in addition to a do-it-yourself wheel repair kit. Dave confirmed the trekker’s cabin booking done by his father. Finally it was time to put the proposal of Gary to vote. Allan in his most formal way went about the explanation.

“Being imperative to the viability of the excursion…,” he began.

Tim was quite sure, just like him, the others could not follow Allan’s prattling. Fortunately they knew the problem and could follow the proceedings. Of course they couldn’t think of a trek without Allan and morosely agreed to Gary’s participation. But the excitement of the next day’s trek kept their spirits high. With the meeting formally ended by Allan, the clubhouse quickly filled with laughter and cheering, and wild plans for the coming trek!   

“Yoo-hoo!” shouted Joe “Let’s get cracking!”

***

The Lone Mountain, in fact, was a very lonesome sight; a single rising with no other mountains or even small hills for miles around. One had a feeling, by looking at the mountain, that it had suddenly grown out of the earth and found that it had missed its mark!

The Four Corners’ team had cycled to the mountain and managed to reach the trekker’s cabin, halfway up the mountain, by evening. On their way up, Dave had broken into a ghastly story about a mountain with man-eating goats in its caverns; the victims haunting the mountain at night! The only good thing about the story was that they reached the cabin in good time and Gary for once was quiet, savoring every grotesque detail of the story. The day had gone by quickly, and after dinner Allan had set up a guard before falling into their beds, exhausted but happy.

Dave had finished his two-hour guard duty and it was now Joe’s turn. Dave tried to wake up Joe with faint whispers, followed by a sharp prodding in the ribs. This worked and Dave finally had Joe sitting near the cabin door with a staff in his hand.

Joe, however, was not used to staying awake at such ungodly hours. Notwithstanding his best of resolve, Joe started to nod at first and soon a rhythmic snoring could be heard in the silent surroundings. The cool night air tickled his ears and Joe dreamed he was back on the football field, however this time tackling a man-eating goat!

Perhaps it was an act of fate, or simply Joe’s rusty hair, that attracted the dragonfly to him. It landed softly on his head and went on a small excursion trip. Perhaps finding nothing of interest it simply stung Joe on his ear. Joe woke up with a start, slapping at his ear and cursing violently. Now fully awake he looked at his watch and noticed it was nearly time to wake up Tim for the next guard duty. He walked to Tim’s bed and was surprised to find it empty! Slightly alarmed he looked about the cabin, and then heard a strange noise. It was a weird choking sound and Joe was convinced he had heard someone close to screaming. He still did not want to alarm the others; perhaps it might be some sort of a joke being played on him!

He took the staff and torch, slowly opened the door and looked out. The darkness and the looming shape of the mountain didn’t make him feel too good. He imagined he had seen a movement in the dark and quickly pointed the torch towards it, half expecting a grisly man-eating goat to pounce on him.

“Damn Dave and his stories!” he cursed under his breath and set out on the incline of the mountain.

Tim, who had gone out in answer to nature’s call, returned a few minutes later just as Joe and his torch went out of sight. Tim had been half-asleep on his way out of the cabin, whispering to the snoring Joe as he passed him. On his way back he had heard a weird sound and made a beeline for the cabin. He was nearly in his bed when he realized that Joe was not in his guard seat. The weird sound and sudden absence of Joe alarmed Tim. He opened the door again and looked around, calling out for Joe in a halting voice. Getting no response, he quickly woke up the others.

“What’s up?” Allan queried sleepily.

Tim told them quickly about the sound he had heard and Joe’s absence.

“Must be goofing out somewhere,” Gary commented, ready to curl up in his bed again.

 Just then they all heard the creepy screaming sound, shocking them into silence.

“Let’s go!” Allan commanded, getting his poise back. “Out with your staffs and torches in two minutes.”

They quickly got dressed and marched out into the darkness. Allan held on to Gary by the collar of his shirt, as if he were a dog on leash. They proceeded in the general direction of the screaming sound in the darkness.

 “Joe!” called out Allan at the top of his voice, which wasn’t much.

Others immediately joined in, Gary no doubt the loudest of all. They walked for some time up the incline of the mountain on the path made by the regular trekkers, until they reached a small fork. One path lead up the mountain with a sharp incline. The path to the right disappeared around the mountain.

“Shssssh!” said Dave, “listen.”

They all stopped and listened but could hear nothing, except the wind blowing in the trees. Suddenly they heard a distant yell to their left, but not from the path above. Allan swung his torch in the direction of the sound. They saw a thick growth of bushes and trees spreading across the somewhat flat expanse of the mountain.

 “Help!” the sound came again and each one of them had heard it clearly to know it was from Joe.

Without waiting for Allan’s instructions, they rushed into the growth, heedless of the branches hitting at their faces in the darkness.

“Joe!” Gary called out from the front, maneuvering expertly through the obstacles.

“Th-there he is!” shouted Tim as he saw Joe’s figure for a split second in someone’s swinging torch beam.

They pointed their torches in the direction and could see Joe on the ground, bent over forward and trying to look back at them.

“Joe!” they cried out and burst into a run towards him.

Tim heard Joe shout something at them, but could not hear it well. They were all upon Joe in a jiffy, trying to lift him up.

“Stop!” said Joe in a choked voice, which made them all look down at him carefully.

“Oh G-God!” panted Tim, as they saw the tree roots twined around Joe’s legs and arms holding him firmly to the ground.

“Get out of here! They will get you!” Joe shouted suddenly in a hoarse and frenzied voice.

Alarmed by Joe’s shouting they looked around, trying to detect the hidden predators. They found nothing near-by and looked back at Joe, who stared fixedly at the ground. Tim focused his torch on the ground where Joe was looking. A large curled tree root was rushing at Dave’s leg from behind! Dave yelped and tried to jump forward, only to find he had tripped on Joe’s arms and fell flat on his face.

“Look out!” shouted Allan, as his torch caught several tree roots advancing from the opposite direction.

In frenzy, they swung their torches around and realized they were totally surrounded by the creeping roots.

“I was telling you to stop, you just didn’t hear me,” Joe croaked, but it was too late for any warnings.

“Form a circle around Joe, facing out,” shouted Allan, who seemed to have a difficulty in keeping his voice steady.

As they cordoned Joe, they saw the roots nearing their legs. Gary was already kicking at them and they all started stamping and kicking at the roots together.

“Oww!” exclaimed Tim, as he felt the root going round his leg and holding him down tight.

“Don’t panic!” shouted Allan, but it was beyond their control, as they felt the roots clasping their legs and biting into them.

Their shouting and stamping was short lived. They could barely move within a couple of minutes of the attack.

“Shut up and for God’s sake don't move!” shouted Joe from the ground, “the roots stop spreading if you stand still!"

Terrified, they did as he said, holding their hands together and maintaining a ring around Joe. It seemed a surprise that they were still able to stand, except poor Joe, who had the roots holding him down by his hands too. There was a sudden silence in the darkness, as they stopped their yelling. The roots slowly stopped their advance, just as Joe had said they would, but didn’t much loosen their hold on the legs.

“Th-these roots s-seem to get a-ac-activated by motion and s-sound, perhaps,” Tim whispered, controlling his fear.

 “Now what?” asked Joe, hardly interested in Tim’s analysis of the sensory perceptions of these strange roots.  "How do we get ourselves out of this mess?”

Allan had already tried breaking the roots with his hands without any success.  Tim was surprised to see Gary even have a go at them with his teeth, which was stopped by Allan immediately.

 “Is anybody carrying his scout knife?” whispered Dave.

Nobody had remembered to carry it with them, in their hurry to find Joe. Allan seemed peeved at this, but didn’t say anything, as he too had forgotten to carry it.

“Just put out your torches or they will run out,” he added lamely.

 “I suppose we have to spend the remaining night here, until we have some trekkers in the morning helping us out,” Dave quipped in a low voice.

“Why don’t you continue the goat story Dave? It will help pass the time,” chuckled Gary.

Joe was about to retort to this when his eyes suddenly caught onto some movement in the darkness ahead.

“Shush! Look there,” he whispered.

They peered into the darkness, not seeing anything perceptible at first, but suddenly found two large luminous eyes staring back at them! Tim heard Dave catching on his breath and turned sharply to look at him. He found Dave staring at two pairs of eyes burning into them from behind as well!

“Oh-Oh!” said Dave, “We are surrounded by whatever they are”.

They looked around frantically, pulling at their bindings and getting them further tightened. Tied down as they were by the roots, it didn’t take much time for them to realize their precarious situation. They had the torches on again and could see the lurking animals quite clearly; animals like wolves but of a greenish hue.

The animals slowly closed in forming a circle around them. Tim saw one of them break away from the circle and advance towards them.

“L-Look out!” he shouted.

The desperation was at fever pitch as they started tugging at their bonds once again. Their shouting and screaming stopped the approaching animal, but only for a few moments. Unfortunately it had exactly the opposite effect on the binding roots, which advanced further and tightened their hold on them! The advancing animal slowly started its approach again.

Tim, as he jumped up and down, suddenly felt something give way under his feet. He looked down and focused the torch on the ground. He had managed to make a small hole in the ground below! He shone his torch through the hole and could see no ground beneath it! The next instant he was shouting and waving his hands, stunning the others, until they finally understood what he had learnt.

“J-Jump hard on the g-g-ground, quick everybody!” Tim shouted.

The group jumped and stamped wildly on the ground, desperation pushing away all other thoughts but of survival. They could now see the animals in the circle slowly moving in behind their leader. It was now a matter of seconds, after which the boys would have the entire herd at their necks. Joe looked at them miserably, wishing he could help. Suddenly he knew what was wrong with their attempts.

“Stop!” he ordered, “You must jump all at once, ok?”

 “Right…1...2...3…JUMP!” and they all jumped, putting in it everything they had.

“Wrackkkkk!” the ground gave beneath them and they started falling down in the darkness below.

The twining roots shrank back, as if fearful of what lay down the hole!