The Black Stallion and the Lost City (10 page)

The guards hurried them up the path, goading them along as if they were criminals. Alec limped ahead, shivering with cold. He was angry about the way they were being treated but smart enough to know that arguing was pointless. Sooner or later they
would have to report to someone in authority. When they did, Alec planned on giving whoever it was an earful.

Xeena picked up a stick and handed it to Alec to use as a crutch. Alec started to say something, but she put a finger to her lips and made a sign to him to be quiet. Alec tried to read her expression. Somehow he wanted to laugh, just to break the tension. After all they’d just been through inside the mountain, now they were being hustled along by these spear-happy juvenile delinquents to who knew where? Alec shook his head. Whatever happened, he thought, at least he and the Black were on dry land.

Xeena marched along stoically beside him, her face a mask. What had happened to her in the underground river? Alec wondered. There would be time to talk about it later.

The men led them on, and soon the path opened up to a clearing bordered on one side by a stream and by woods on the other. This stream was narrower and slower moving than the one that had swept them through the mountain. The water was darker, too, almost black, even in the sunlight. Across the stream and beyond a narrow strip of carefully tended grass was a thirty-foot-high stone wall. The wall ran along in a straight line for what seemed a hundred yards or more in either direction before vanishing back into the forest
shadows. Alec saw movement atop the wall, someone waving them all toward a heavy wooden gate. Above and beyond the walls were the tops of towers and temples. Some of the high roofs were curved like quarter moons.

What sort of place was this? Alec thought. If this was Acracia, it was supposed to be some sort of upscale resort. But the young men surrounding him didn’t look like security guards to Alec. And why all the security, anyway? he wondered. Why the hostility? Didn’t anyone see they were hurt and needed help?

The security guards drove Alec, Xeena and the Black forward. There was a small cabin next to the gate, a sentry post. A helmeted guard emerged, dressed in the same white toga-type costume as the others. He looked at them with suspicion. Suddenly everyone began speaking at once.

Again words flew back and forth between Xeena and the guards. Alec wished he knew more than half a dozen words of Greek; at least, he thought Greek was what they were speaking. Perhaps it was Bulgarian or Russian, but whatever it was, Xeena seemed to be holding her own in the conversation, her tone respectful but determined.

All at once, there was the sound of a horn trumpeting through the air. The guards instantly stopped their shouting. Standing at attention, they cast their
eyes straight ahead. The sound from the horn faded, and a commanding voice called down from atop the ramparts. Alec looked to where the voice was coming from but couldn’t see a thing.

Some guards remained at attention while three others ran to push open the heavy wooden doors. Here we go, Alec thought. At last they’d reached someone in charge. The guards backed off and gestured for them to pass through the gate.

The Black stood still, his head held high, his eyes peering beyond the giant, swinging doors, ready and alert for whatever might come. The stallion swished his tail lightly. Alec waited, knowing that his own frail, human senses could never match those of his horse. If there was danger ahead, the Black would be the first to warn them of it. Alec wondered what time it was. By the position of the sun overhead, he could tell they were already well into the afternoon.

Beyond the open gate were voices, but Alec could see no one. They started over a small wooden bridge, crossing above the stream and the embankment that edged the wall’s foundation stones. The dark entrance through the gate yawned at them as they cautiously made their way past the towering wooden doors. The passageway led through thick stone blocks for at least twenty feet. Could these walls really be that thick? Alec wondered.

The passageway opened onto a path of hard-packed red dirt. Alec looked around him. At first he thought the place was a fortress, or perhaps a castle with a moat around it, the sort of place a medieval king might live in. But now he saw that the interior was much larger, a complete city surrounded by walls.

The dirt path ended at a stone block building. Atop the windowless structure was a balcony and beyond that a distant line of columns. A man wearing a sleeveless white tunic was descending steps from the balcony. A blue cloak was draped over his shoulder.

The man came toward them and called out in words Alec didn’t understand. He was about Alec’s size and young-looking, but his face was framed by a wispy beard. His hair was cut short, unlike the longer-haired security force from the forest and the helmeted guards at the gate.

Xeena returned the greeting, and they spoke a moment. The man kept his eyes fixed on the Black. The stallion threw back his head, and Alec spoke to him and held him still.

“What’s he saying?” Alec asked Xeena.

“He says we must come in and that we are lucky to have found our way here.”

Alec managed a laugh, gesturing to the troop of guards who had captured them. “I’d say we didn’t have much choice in that.”

The young man gave a small bow and spoke to Xeena, though clearly his words were meant for Alec as well. Xeena listened and then nodded. “He says we should follow him. He says we are just in time for dinner.”

“Dinner?” Alec said. “Tell him we need a telephone.”

Xeena relayed Alec’s words, and the young man replied with a smile and gestured farther up the path. “He says he apologizes for the way we have been treated and that we should get some dry clothes and a moment’s rest.”

The robed man bowed again and then started up a path leading away from the balcony steps. Alec didn’t have the energy to argue, even if he’d known what language to do it in. Alec, Xeena and the Black followed a path up into the walled city.

They came to a courtyard in front of what looked like a replica of a classic Greek temple, complete with high Ionic columns that rose to support a great gabled roof of carved stone. In the center of the courtyard was a small marble altar. A stone figure rose up behind the altar, a life-size statue of a rearing white horse.

It was an awesome sight, but Alec could hardly appreciate it. He staggered ahead, leaning on his tree-branch crutch for support with one hand and holding tight to the Black’s lead with the other. Pain shot
through his leg as he tried to keep up with his horse. He would have liked to mount up, just to take the pressure off his ankle, but he didn’t dare risk it until he was certain the stallion was sound enough to handle his weight. After all they’d just been through, it seemed a miracle that any of them were still standing at all.

They crossed the courtyard, and their guide led them to a narrow ramp that ran up to the temple, a wide, empty pavilion with a stone floor and high ceiling supported by rows of columns. Passing outside again, they came to a plaza lush with grass and flowering trees.

Under one of the trees, they surprised three girls playing dominos around a stone table. All were wearing white tunics much like their guide’s outfit. The girls had been laughing and talking but became quiet and stared as the strangers passed by. The guide greeted them, and the girls politely answered, then returned their attention to their game.

Alec looked around and was surprised to see so few people outside. The buildings bordering the plaza seemed almost empty, though he thought he could see figures moving within the shadows of the doors. But no one stood in their doorways or looked out their windows.

The Black nudged Alec’s shoulder as their guide led them to a garden at the far end of the plaza. In the
center of the garden, among the flowers and sculpted trees, was a circular fountain of marble and rough stone. On an island pedestal inside the fountain stood another statue of a rearing white horse, its forelegs striking out into the air. Like the statue in the gateway entrance, its neck was long and slender and arched to a small, refined head.

Someone was waiting for them beside the fountain, a short, bald man with a long, wispy beard. Despite the bald head and beard, he looked to be no more than thirty years old with a young face and sharp, deep-set eyes so bright and animal-like they were almost inhuman. He spoke to them in English with a heavy German accent.

“Welcome to the acropolis of Acracia and the palace of Governor Medio, a refuge from the modern world,” the man said. “We have been expecting you, young Alex.”

“Expecting me?” Alec said. “How’s that? And … how did you know my name?”

“Could it be any other?” The man smiled and nodded knowingly, as if he and Alec shared some dark secret.

“Actually it’s Alec, not Alex, but how …”

“Of course it is,” he said, cutting off Alec’s words. “Myself, I go by the name Spiro. There are few English speakers here, so the governor asked me to carry his
blessings and bid you welcome. Acracia is honored to have you, young lord. Her cups are brimming over. May I offer you a drink?” He dipped a large clay cup into the water of the pool and held it out to Alec. “Drink deeply, and of your own free will,” he said.

It was an almost ceremonial gesture. Even the cup seemed more like a chalice than a cup. It was hand-painted pottery decorated with horses, moons and stars.

Alec didn’t want to be rude, so he accepted the cup and drank. The water tasted cool and clean, incredibly fresh. A tingling sensation warmed his insides. The man then refilled the cup and passed it to Xeena, who glanced at Alec and then drank from the cup as well. The Black sniffed at the water in the pool at the base of the fountain. He snorted, bobbed his head and back-stepped a few paces. “Easy boy,” Alec said.

“What magnificence,” Spiro exclaimed. “Is he of the red road or the white road?”

“Road?” Alec asked.

“Yes, by what path did he bring you here, the red or the white?”

Alec didn’t know what to make of that question. He was cold and wet and had had just about enough of these toga-wearing fools for one afternoon.

“Path? We didn’t take any path. We … But does it really matter now how we got here? We are tired. We are hurt. I need a telephone. We need—”

“All in good time, Herr Alex,” Spiro said. “First you must get out of those wet clothes, have some food and be made comfortable.” With a small bow, Spiro backed away and then gestured to the man who had guided them here. “Darius will show you to your quarters.”

“Telephone,” Alec said. “We need a telephone. Can’t you find us a …”

Spiro gave no answer. He merely kept his head down in polite deference and continued backing away, then turned and walked off.

“What is it with these people?” Alec wondered aloud.

Xeena looked at him and shook her head. Her wet hair was plastered around her face and shoulders, her skin and clothes splashed with mud. Alec could only imagine how he looked to her.

He took a breath and shrugged. He’d been through so much in the past few hours that he didn’t know what to think anymore. There didn’t seem to be much else he could do but go along, at least for the moment.

Their guide gestured for them to follow. Alec turned to Xeena. “Tell him we need to get word back to the others about what happened. Surely they are missing us by now and wondering where we went.”

Xeena spoke to the guide, and he replied in words
that the girl translated. “He says they will get a message back to the monastery for us. He says we need to come with him and that they have food for us.”

“We need to get some food for my horse first,” Alec said. “Ask him where the stable is.”

Xeena translated Alec’s question. The guide gestured to a grand-looking complex of buildings and replied. Alec could see Xeena was surprised at the answer. “He says the Black is coming into the citadel with us.”

“Is there a stable there?”

Xeena nodded. “He says they have quarters for horses as well as guests inside. He says the Black is an honored guest, as are we, and deserves the finest accommodations they can provide.”

“Guests?” Alec said. “But where in the heck are we, Xeena? Who are these people?”

“I do not have a clue,” Xeena said. “The guide is speaking in Greek, but it’s a dialect I never heard before. The one called Spiro who spoke English sounded German.”

“But why the period clothes?” Alec said. “And these buildings … the temple columns, the statues and gardens. Who built them? It’s like we just stepped back in time a couple thousand years. Is this a resort or some kind of theme park?”

Xeena shrugged, though her eyes were wide with
curiosity. “If it is the resort, I had no idea it looked anything like this.”

Alec sighed. He was in a strange land, and his instincts told him to keep his head and wait and see what happened next before doing anything stupid that he might later regret. Maybe there was a phone in the citadel or wherever it was they were going.

Some food would be nice, Alec thought, again noticing the tingling sensation warming his insides. It was as if the water he’d just drank had been a super-fortified energy drink instead of spring water. He had to admit it was a good feeling, like a second wind, and he found new energy pulsing through his veins as they climbed another ramp. Even his injured ankle seemed to feel better now. Only minutes before, the aching pain had been bad enough to make his skin hurt. Now he felt as if someone were rubbing his leg with a silk cloth and soothing the pain away.

With the renewed strength of his second wind, Alec followed their guide toward a complex of simple, elegant buildings made of finely carved stone.

“That must be it,” Xeena said. “The citadel.”

Soon they were crossing the marble floor of a gallery. Two rows of columns, seven on each side, supported a double-vaulted ceiling. Stairways and ramps led up to the second story on each end. The ceiling was covered with glyphs and inscriptions written in a
language Alec didn’t recognize. A faint smell of incense tinged the air.

They turned down a hallway and came to a suite of apartments. Inside were spacious quarters that Darius indicated were accommodations for Alec, Xeena and the Black. There were three main rooms in all, one for Xeena, the middle room for the Black and the third for Alec. There were connecting doors between all the rooms and separate doors leading out to the hallway on one side and half doors to a shared balcony overlooking a plaza on the other side.