Dawn glowed red behind the mountains, a towering wall of black circling the valley. Blue Lake was still in deep shadow, its rippling waters dark as oil, silent as the land around it. Arul and Guru Pari stood on its rocky shore, deep in conversation. Arul would occasionally select a pebble and fling it horizontally, attempting to skip it across the water as Jaya watched the splashing ripples unfolding in a line.
Guru Pari watched the stones skimming over the dark water with a faint smile. ‘The answers you’re seeking lie past this valley. There’s something you should see up there. Something that may help the village.’
Arul looked at his teacher’s cloak, almost black in the gloom. ‘You mean, stop predators from terrorising Sailem?’ His eyes flicked north to where the road climbed to a pass between the mountains. ‘What’s up there?’
‘Some things that will need explaining. Things you need to see for yourself,’ Pari said. He paused and looked towards the mountains, a word forming on his lips, then dying. Arul felt that Guru Pari was withholding much, but he had to trust him.
It’s like he’s been looking out for me for a long time. Protecting me somehow.
He wanted to ask Guru Pari so many questions that it was hard to restrain himself. He didn’t want to appear rude to his teacher, whom he deeply respected. ‘Ah! Look now Arul.’ Pari’s voice intruded. He pointed to the water. ‘There!’
As the sun climbed above the dazzling snow-capped peaks along the east side of the valley, blinding shafts of light shone onto the lake, the water changing from grey to brilliant blue, vivid in contrast to the shores of black gravel. ‘The Blue Lake!’ Guru Pari said, his voice soft. ‘Don’t you think it deserves its name?’ Arul stared in silence, faint waves slapping against the shoreline. Navira and Keeran joined them and they watched the valley fill with sunlight, the lake glistening like a great blue sapphire.
‘Why is it so blue?’ Navira asked Pari, unable to tear her eyes from the incredible scene.
‘Well,’ Guru Pari explained, ‘There are substances in the water from deep beneath the earth that make it so.’ The teens nodded respectfully, although they didn’t quite understand. They strolled on the lakeshore for some time, the sun climbing halfway up the sky before a very odd thing happened.
Arul felt something was wrong before he noticed anything. Above them, a flock of sparrows fled south, twisting and turning in fear. Arul’s head snapped up. He thought he could faintly hear something in the north. A buzzing. The odd thing was that he felt it passing through his body rather than with his ears. It began to build in volume, more a vibration than a sound. Navira and Keeran pressed their palms to their ears, fear clouding their faces.
Then all at once it stopped, silence flooding back into the valley.
Arul gasped and rubbed his ears. The teens faced Guru Pari expectantly, waiting for an explanation. Pari simply blinked and pointed. ‘I think we should move to higher ground.’
Before Arul could ask him why, a great rumbling sounded north of the lake, as though hundreds of animals were running together. There, where the road climbed steeply up to a ridge before plunging down the far side, a stag appeared on the crest, shaking its impressive antlers before racing down towards the lake. Behind it raced hundreds of deer in a wild stampede.
‘RUN!’ Keeran yelled as he accelerated away. They all scrambled after him, the river of animals splitting in two and flowing along both shores of the lake. Some of the animals leapt into the lake, struggling to keep their heads above the freezing water. The noise was deafening as thousands of hooves shook the ground in a continuous tremor.
Jaya’s thoughts spoke to Arul urgently. There! That slope!
Arul scrambled up the loose gravel with Jaya, his heart thumping wildly. His wounded foot hurt, twisting his face into a grimace as he climbed. They crawled onto a stone ledge high above the stampeding animals. Nearby, Guru Pari climbed onto a huge boulder with Keeran and Navira.
Arul watched the blur of brown and white flashing past, the reek of fear rising in a cloud. Arul winced and touched his skinned knees. Hard stone was unforgiving on human skin.
The river of animals passed by, leaving a few wild-eyed stragglers in the rear, desperate to escape the mysterious sound in the mountains. Below Arul, a trio of beautiful snow leopards snarled, spotted coats shining like ivory against the black rock. The animals seemed to be confused, snapping at each other, unsure where to go. Arul instinctively reached behind his back for an arrow.
My weapons are at the campsite!
He swallowed hard, crouched on the rock, hoping the predators wouldn’t attack. One of the snow leopards abruptly stopped below the ledge and sniffed the air, fixing Arul with an intense gaze. It began climbing the slope, its head held low.
Jaya growled dangerously. ‘Shh! Quiet boy! They won’t harm us.’
Some deep instinct told Arul to wait. He was scared, yet couldn’t help but stare back into the leopard’s startling blue eyes. When it was quite close to Arul, it paused, its body very still. The entire world seemed to fade away as boy and leopard gazed at each other. Arul’s perceptions unexpectedly became heightened. He could feel the energy of the rocks beneath him, coursing like silver spider webs through the earth. He felt things that his mind could not process or even understand.
Something passed between the leopard and Arul. A message of some kind. He frowned and tried to concentrate as an unfamiliar consciousness reached into him.
When you sit afar on your golden seat, think of us.
Remember us, Child of the Mountains.
The connection faded, the leopard growling and turning away, racing for sanctuary in the south. Arul collapsed on the rock, heart racing, his mind hovering between two worlds.
Remember you? Why? What’s going to happen? Tell me!
He blinked away tears that sprang to his eyes, the rock cold and unforgiving beneath him. Jaya sidled up beside him, pressing his head into Arul’s lap. Somehow, Jaya understood.
After a time, Arul and Jaya joined the others in the campsite, Navira and Keeran standing around their Guru with searching eyes. Before they could bombard Pari with questions, he raised a hand. ‘Those animals were in a blind panic. Running from something. That something is connected to that sound we all felt before the animals stampeded.’ He stood up and dusted himself off. ‘That’s what Arul and I are going up there to figure out tomorrow.’
Keeran and Navira stood with their mouths open, speechless.