“…hope is epidemic, optimism spreads. Bitterness breeds irritation, ignorance breeds imitation…”i
The Song of the Shepard
The water level finally rose above the enormous column of water shooting from the well, and the Oasis quieted. Its center filled with churning whitewater, pushing everything toward the surrounding cliffs. And the only exit, the crevasse Connor had arrived by, now functioned as a drain.
Ross had tied everyone together for safety, and as the water poured from the Oasis, it pulled at them. As a team, they easily kept themselves, Connor and the old apple barrel between the center of the Oasis and the deadly crevasse.
Ross, Tarquin, and Ravi floated in silence, as the first direct rays of Light shimmered across their faces.
Connor was the last to have the Light touch him, and it felt like falling through the ice of a frozen lake. Every survival instinct instantly activated. He held his breath, jerked his head from side to side and surveyed his perilous situation.
He was in a lake surrounded by a sheer cliff, and he had some sort of airbags under his arms keeping him afloat! There was an unconscious man, held up by the same type of airbags, connected to him by a rope. It seemed like the man tied to Connor was also anchored to two other unconscious men, plus a small barrel.
He watched the water from the lake empty into a narrow crevasse filled with violently churning whitewater. Ominous crashing sounds emanated from the opening and blasts of mist-filled air licked out of it, showering the barrel.
Connor envisioned the twisting mouth of a giant, evil creature towering into the heavens. Fueled by adrenaline, instinct, and fear, he slipped free of the airbags and started swimming away from the point of no return.
There was a sharp tug against his waist as the barrel was sucked into the crevasse. It tumbled end over end in the churning whitewater, chafing the rope against his waist. He dipped under the water trying to get as much power as possible. His legs kicked, his arms pulled and the barrel bounced back and forth between the stone walls of the coffin corridor.
The lid to the barrel popped loose, yanking Connor backward as it filled with water. He surfaced, took a deep breath and dove. The blankets on the barrel slipped off, slamming the barrel against the wall and shattering it. As the debris washed away, the rope came free, and Connor moved forward.
Surfacing again, he took another breath, put his face in the water and fought for his life.
Ross, Tarquin, and Ravi all awoke at the same time. Ross had tears streaming down his face, and he slapped the water, yelling, “She did it! She did it!! She did it!!!”
Tarquin just floated with his face to the sky. Tears ran down his cheeks too as he watched the sunlight stream through the limbs and leaves of the trees above.
He whispered, “Home.”
Ravi awoke a mere ten feet from the mouth of the crevasse. He had two extra airbags, to help hold up the bag of money dangling from his waist, like an anchor from a ship. His dreamlike expression faltered as he watched Connor’s abandoned flotation device enter the mouth of the churning passage. It was pulled under the water, popped up above a tumbling wave of foam and disappeared into the maelstrom.
“Ahhhhh! Help me!” he screamed in panic.
Ross and Tarquin turned to Ravi, and Tarquin yelled, “Swim for the other side!”
Ross lifted his arms, and his airbags slid free. Diving under the water, he started swimming against the current with everything he had.
He came up for air when Tarquin’s rope began pulling at his waist. Breaking the surface he turned his head, took a breath, and yelled, “Come on Tarquin!”
His next stroke hit something and Ross took a foot to the face.
Connor felt the collision and stopped swimming. Ross did too.
“You’re awake,” Connor said.
“I’m awake?! Look at you. You’re swimming!”
“And we should keep swimming until we reach the other side of the lake.”
“The lake?” Ross asked
“Hey, you’re awake!” Tarquin shouted, swimming toward them with Ravi in tow.
Tarquin backstroked past Connor and Ross, laughing.
“Kaya!” he said aloud, with his face to the sky. “Kaya! Did you see how many rules she broke last night? Can you believe it?! It’s like we were there! That was incredible!!”
Ross swept his hair out of his eyes. He was smiling as only he could smile, and said, “She really did it. I can hardly believe it, she…,” he trailed off, turning away from Tarquin and looking at Connor.
“Come on,” he said to Connor. “Let’s get to the other side, then we can rest a minute.”
“Hi, I’m Ravi,” Ravi said, as he half paddled and half floated past Connor.
“I’m Tarquin! Come on Ravi, at least try to swim a little.”
“I’m Connor. Connor Duncan.”
“Nice to meet you, Connor, my name is Ross. I’m the eldest Caretaker for the Oasis. Come on,” he said, motioning his head toward the far side of the lake. “Let’s get to the other side.”
“Nice to meet you,” Tarquin added.
“A real pleasure,” Ravi quipped, as Tarquin pulled him along.
Connor and Ross were swimming side by side. When they reached the center of the Oasis, the fountain of water pushing up beneath them gave them a brief rest. Suddenly Ross noticed how sensitive his waist was. He reached under the water feeling the raw skin across his hips and back.
“Do you want your airbags, Ross? I saved ‘em for you.”
“Not yet Ravi, but thank you. Please don’t let go of them, we’re still going to need waterskins.”
Tracing the path of the ropes around his waist, he took an account of each one.
“One for Tarquin” he mumbled to himself, feeling the motion of his friend swimming. “One for Connor and one for…oh, no. The barrel!” The slack from the rope was in his hands. “Has anyone seen the barrel?”
Tarquin hadn’t stopped swimming, and his rope yanked against Ross’ waist.
“Ouch!”
Ross gave Tarquin a sharp tug.
“Hey, what gives?” Tarquin complained, popping his head out of the water.
“The barrel is gone!” Ravi shouted.
They were scanning the surface of the water when Connor said, “It’s not in the lake anymore. It got pulled into the waterfall over there. I don’t think it was a barrel either. I’m pretty sure it was a kilderkin, which is much smaller than a standard barrel. If it had been a full sized barrel, we probably wouldn’t be alive right now.”
Ross’ expression was a mixture of surprise and confusion. “Untie your rope and let it drop,” he instructed Connor, then he asked, “What’s a kilderkin?”
“A kilderkin. You know, it looks like a regular barrel, but it’s only half the size. I think it broke apart after it started smashing around in the waterfall.”
“But it was tied to my waist, wasn’t it?” Ross asked, untying Connor and Tarquin’s rope from around his waist and letting them go.
“It was pulling us into the crevasse, that’s all I know. I hate to see good Coopering go to waste, but I really don’t think I could have held out much longer. Especially with the three of you just bobbing around like dead fish.”
“You saved our lives?” Ravi asked breathlessly.
Connor shrugged, tilting his head to one side. “Maybe you would have come around before it was too late. I don’t know.”
Tarquin took off the rope connecting him to Ross but kept Ravi tied to his waist.
“He’s The One isn’t he?” Tarquin asked, sounding unsure and confused.
“Connor we are certainly in your debt,” Ross declared. “You have our thanks, and soon, you will have your new beginning.”
“A new beginning? That would be an impressive trick.”
“No, not a trick,” Ross corrected. “We’re here to help.”
“Would you like my flotation device?” Ross offered.
“I’m fine, but thanks. I feel like swimming.”
“All right, just remember, Ravi has it if you need it.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Connor, would you mind swimming ahead to the other side of the Oasis, I mean the lake. I need to have a quick word with my friends. We’ll be over in just a minute.”
“Take all the time you need. I’ll see you there.”
Connor swam away with a confident stroke, his strong legs churning the water behind him into a bubbly froth.
With Connor out of range, Ross, Ravi and Tarquin huddled.
“This is a glorious day my friends,” Ross declared, turning their huddle into a group hug.
“The Kingdom is reborn, and it’s as though we were there to see it! I can’t believe it was Kaya who found the way. I’m never going to hear the end of this.” Ross was wearing his famous smile again, and Ravi and Tarquin sniggered like children.
“We’re still Caretakers,” Ross said, sounding serious, “and Connor is under our charge. Without the Oasis, helping him isn’t going to be easy, and it’s definitely not going to be like the old stories.
Along with the Oasis, our food is gone, we’ve got no blankets or shelter, and we still have a job to do.”
“How can we?” Tarquin asked, sounding desperate. “The Oasis is gone, it’s all gone!”
“Ravi?” Ross asked, “What’s the responsibility of a Caretaker?”
Ravi lifted his chin, took a deep breath, and recited:
“The Caretaker is there when others are not, for those who have lost their way.
His job is to listen, with more than his ears, to what his guests do not say.
Encourage and guide, but judge them not. Your job is to help when others cannot.
Choices surround us every day; choose yours carefully, lest this be your day.”
“Perfect. Tarquin, did Ravi say anything about the Oasis?”
“I guess not.”
“Good, because I didn’t hear it either. So here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to escort Connor Duncan to the Empire.”
“To the Empire?! Ross, are you crazy?” Tarquin pleaded. “All we’ve got are fifteen waterskins and a guy who just drank from the well!”
“I’ve still got the bag of gold tied to my waist,” Ravi reminded them.
“A little lower please,” Ross requested.
Tarquin lowered his voice to a whisper, and continued, “We don’t act like them, we don’t talk like them and, and, and it’s against the rules.”
“Good,” Ross said. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”
Tarquin stared at Ravi in disbelief.
“Ravi, what do you think?” Ross asked.
“I think you’re crazy too,” Ravi said, “but for the life of me, I can’t come up with a better plan. If we stay here with him, like we’re supposed to, well…Well, we don’t have any food or shelter to offer him. And without a map or even an extra shirt to give him, we can’t send him on his way. We can’t just give this guy a sack of gold and a waterskin and point him in the right direction. We can’t exactly stay here either.”
“Tarquin?” Ross asked.
“Let’s take him with us. You know, back to the Kingdom, to the City.”
Ross took a deep breath. “Tarquin, he just got kicked out of the Kingdom. If he tried to re-enter, he’d just bounce back.”
“Oh yeah, sorry,” Tarquin said, avoiding Ross’ eyes.
“I get it,” Ross said. “Going to the Empire, looking like we look and talking the way we talk, with a sack of gold tied to your waist is dangerous. We could be robbed, we could be killed, let’s face it, anything could happen.”
“Anything,” Ravi agreed.
“Anything,” Tarquin warned.
“What do you think would have happened if Kaya hadn’t risked everything last night? Have you ever heard of a Wanderer complaining about what could happen?”
Now both Ravi and Tarquin were avoiding Ross’ eyes.
“Come on you two, I didn’t mean it like that. I know all this is new and unexpected, but new is good. Being nervous about what might happen is good. Helping Connor isn’t just good, it’s why we’re here. He’s The One, and you know as well as I do we can’t just leave his fate to chance.”
Tarquin chuckled, “She broke every rule and rebuilt the City.”
Ravi looked at Tarquin, then at Ross, and said, “Your sister broke every rule and rebuilt the City. I still can’t believe it.”
Ross looked at them, and said, “We’re going to have to throw the rules away if we plan on helping this guy. Not because we want to, but because the rules just don’t apply anymore.
The Oasis is gone, the path out of the Oasis is gone, we’ve got no food, no shelter, and none of the items this guy needs to even try to start over. If we send him off on his own, I couldn’t live with that. We’re up. It’s our turn. This is what we’ve been waiting for.”
“I guess you’re right, this is our moment,” Ravi said.
Tarquin looked at his friends, and said, “I just never thought it would be us, you know? I never thought it would…I always hoped it would…, but now it really is. It really is happening, that’s him!
I’m a Caretaker,” he announced, “and I agree. If we don’t do our very best to help this guy, right here, right now, how could we ever go to the City? It wouldn’t let us in. Heck, I wouldn’t let us in. Ross, count me in!”
“Me too,” Ravi agreed enthusiastically.
“Perfect!” Ross announced. “Then we’re all in this together. By the way, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re about to have another problem.”
“What now?” Ravi asked.
“The Oasis is almost full. When the water reaches the top of the cliff, it’s going to spill out over the edge. We need to be out of this water by the time that happens.”
“Why? I don’t get it,” Tarquin said.
Ross pointed at the top of the cliff surrounding the Oasis. “When the water starts flowing over the edge, it’s all going to run downhill.” Moving his finger from the far side of the Oasis all the way down to the crevasse, he said, “It’s going to be moving in that direction, and eventually over the edge of the barrier wall. The water will pull us with it, and unless you want to ride off a gigantic waterfall, we need to climb out of here and make a run for it.”
“Oh,” Tarquin said.
“Once we get out of here, it will take about four days to get to the Empire. We’re going to improvise along the way. Answer his questions, but offer nothing additional. If he asks about you or about anything personal, redirect the conversation. Remember, we’re not a topic of conversation, he is. We have to help him figure out how to help himself.
What we’re not going to do is tell him he’s The One. We’re not going to talk about the Kingdom, or it’s re-birth or anything like that. This little adventure is not about us at all. In fact, with any luck, he’ll forget all about us.
We know where Connor came from, but we have no idea why. It doesn’t matter either. He’s The One, the very first one to be removed from the Kingdom. I’m not sure that’s something I would want to remember, or be reminded of, but we all know he’s our signal. After two thousand years, he could have gone to any one of the Sanctuaries, but he’s at ours. And before we can go home, we have a job to finish.
Everything we do and everything he does matters more than we may realize. Right now he has no path except the one we lead him down, but soon enough he’s going to have to make a choice.”
“What if he goes down the wrong path?” Ravi asked.
“We can’t let that happen, but the choice is his to make,” Ross whispered.
“Encourage and guide, but judge him not. Our job is to help when others cannot,” Tarquin recited.
“That’s what we’ve got to work with," Ross agreed, feeling overwhelmed by the responsibility. “Our job is to listen and guide, and we’ve got one chance to do this right. I have to believe we’re going to do it right too, or he wouldn’t be here.”
“I know what you’re saying is true,” Ravi said. “It’s just that the stories are so…so…well, you know.”
“I know,” Ross agreed. “And I don’t want to be responsible for unleashing that upon the world any more than you do.”