The Black Stallion and the Lost City (14 page)

Perhaps he had overreacted, Alec thought. The gray was no threat to the Black. As for the albino, perhaps she was nothing more than a pretty white horse, a genetic oddity of nature on the outside but like any other horse inside. All the same, Alec still felt wary about everyone in this place, people and horses alike. There were no locks on the door, so he propped a chair against it for a barricade in case someone tried to slip into the room when he was asleep.

“If it wasn’t night and I wasn’t so tired, I’d say we should try to get out of here
now,
” he said.

Xeena shivered. “I wouldn’t want to go anywhere near that river tonight,” she said.

Alec had to agree. He stepped into Xeena’s room to help block her door with a chair, and then they said their good-nights. Alec returned to the Black for a minute and then went outside on the balcony. The
megaron was aglow with amber light, and he could hear the sounds of the festivities continuing in full force. He sat down in a big, comfortable, wooden chair, leaned back and closed his eyes. Images from the day flashed through his memory: the waterfall, the albino mare, the swirling black water of the river, a sea of people and horses dancing together …

The world was certainly a funny place, he thought. And if these folks got their kicks out of dressing up and pretending to be ancient Greeks, who was he to judge them? Anyway, he’d be out of there in the morning. After checking on the Black one more time, he went back to his own room. Crawling into bed, he soon fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, Alec was glad to see his jeans and shirt had dried by the fire so he could get out of his oversized T-shirt and put them on. Then he fed and tended his horse, just the same as he would have any morning anywhere. The sleep had done them both some good, Alec thought. The stallion leaned into Alec’s brushstrokes with pleasure and shuffled his feet in the soft bedding, anxious to get outside.

“Okay, big guy,” Alec said to his horse. “Just hang on a minute.” He ran his hands over the Black’s legs and was grateful to feel no excessive heat or swelling that might indicate an injury of some kind. It was truly
amazing considering all they had been through the previous day. Even the scratches that raked his side seemed to be healing, almost as if they’d never been there.

Alec brought the Black out into the corridor and walked him up and down the length of the empty hall for ten minutes so he could stretch his legs. Then they returned to the Black’s room.

Last night, Spiro had said he would get Alec to a telephone in the morning, so there was nothing to do but wait. The Black turned his attention to the feed in the ivory trough. Alec rattled around the room. Fifteen minutes passed, then a half hour, then an hour. He gave the Black another grooming and going-over with a rub rag just to pass the time.

The sun climbed higher over the mountain peaks, and there was still no sign of Spiro. Alec stepped out onto the balcony where Xeena was standing by the railing and looking out over the patios and gardens of the acropolis. No one seemed to be up and around anywhere. The place looked like a ghost town.

“I can’t believe this,” Alec said.

“I guess everyone is sleeping in after the big party last night,” Xeena said.

Alec paced around on the balcony, waiting for a knock on the door. He was starting to get frustrated and wanted out of this madhouse. “Where in the heck
is that Spiro guy?” Alec said. “It must be midmorning by now. He said he’d be here first thing.”

“Maybe they reckon time differently here,” Xeena said. “The monasteries do that. Morning to the monks is a completely different time than it is to people in the outside world. They use a different calendar too.”

Alec looked out over the balcony railing to the megaron and the gardens and courtyard, the fountains and white statues. His gaze lifted to the ramparts beyond the gardens of the acropolis. High along one section of the fortified walls were figures moving about, perhaps lookouts or sentries of some sort. From the summit, one could probably see all around the acropolis, Alec thought. After a minute, he decided to go up there and take a look around. Even if he couldn’t find a telephone, maybe he could get a lead on an exit out of this labyrinth. Alec told Xeena what he was doing and asked her to stay there and keep an eye on the Black while he slipped out to take a look around.

Soon Alec had wound his way through the maze of colonnades, patios and garden hedges to a walkway that led to the walls edging the acropolis. He’d seen no one along the way there, no sign of life at all except the trails of smoke drifting out of a few chimneys.

He followed the base of the wall until he came to a series of steps cut into the side and leading to the summit. He climbed the stairs to a narrow path of flat
stones topping the barricade. If there had been anyone there before, they were gone now. All he could see were two small trees overhanging the railing, their white flower blossoms dangling in the branches.

Alec walked over to the trees, stopped and looked out over the mountains. From this vantage point, the walls looked as if they might encircle not just the city but also the entire top of the mountain. He saw a couple places where there were breaks in the wall, but only because cliffs and gorges made access impossible there.

Nothing seemed to be moving anywhere. The whole of nature seemed asleep—the woods silent, the sky empty of birds, no sign of life at all. He searched in vain for signs of commercial air traffic, or even Bateman’s helicopter. Nothing. About the only movement he could see was a horse-drawn wagon on a road going up the mountain behind the acropolis. Alec wondered where it was going and if there were settlements closer to the summit.

Dark clouds were gathering around the mountain peaks, and it looked like a storm was approaching. A brisk breeze blew in suddenly, rattling the branches of the two trees beside him. Alec leaned over the edge of the wall as a white flower blossom fell from one of the trees and was swept away in the wind. He let his gaze follow the blossom as it twisted in the breeze and
floated off. Then, as the blossom reached the other side of the stream beyond the wall, a peculiar thing happened. The flower seemed to vanish into thin air.

Alec blinked to clear his eyes and looked again. He picked up a fresh blossom from the ground and tossed it into the air. The wind caught the flower and carried it over the moat, and once again the flower disappeared, only this time Alec thought he could see a faint trail of dust falling through the air where the flower had been. He tried one more time and watched again as the soft white petals seem to dry up in midair, then crumble and dissolve to dust.

What could have caused that? he wondered. Was he still dreaming? Again he looked out to the world beyond the acropolis, his eyes searching for some sign of life in the forest. Where were the animals? He could see a few birds in the far distance but none close by. There were no squirrels in the trees, or on the opposite bank of the moat, or in the grass area bordering the woods. All of nature was fast asleep.

Strange, wild thoughts dashed through his mind. It was almost as if some invisible wall of death stood between Acracia and the outside world, a dead zone that drained away the life of whatever passed through it. Hadn’t that pamphlet he read at the monastery said something about an enchanted forest that could hide whole cities and a poison river in the woods? And then
there were those tall tales about the magical healing waters that Spiro had been going on about at dinner, waters blessed by mare’s milk.

Waters of eternal life, winds of sudden death—could any of it be true? Alec knew that the stories were just crazy enough to be real. He had seen enough in his young life by now to know that most anything was possible. Understanding the how and why of it all was a different matter.

Alec retraced his steps to his room, determined now to forget everything else but getting the Black and Xeena and making a run for the main gate as soon as they could. From what he’d seen atop the barricade, that was the only certain way out of this madhouse. But when he reached his room, he found the Black alone. The girl was gone.

Alec checked the
rooms, the balcony and out in the hall. “Xeena?” he called. “Where are you?” The Black was safe enough, but Xeena was nowhere to be seen. Surely she wouldn’t have left the stallion alone unless it had been an emergency, Alec thought. He stepped out into the hall and looked up and down the corridor. “Xeena,” he called again, and again no answer came.

Now what? Alec thought. Maybe she just went outside for a minute. He could wait here and hope she turned up. Or he could take the Black and try to find her. Alec moved to his horse. The Black was starting to get restless and pacing the luxurious confines of his room like a boxer gearing up for a big fight.

Alec looked out over the acropolis and the advancing storm clouds in the sky. After a minute, raindrops began to fall softly on the balcony. It would start raining now, he thought.

“Easy boy,” he said as he pulled the halter over
the Black’s ears and clipped on the lead line. Thunder rumbled and the pattering of raindrops quickened. He opened the big wooden door and walked the stallion out into the hall. Rain or no rain, there was no use hanging around here anymore. He had to find Xeena and get out of this place.

The Black’s hooves clopped down the empty marble halls as they made their way to the entrance and the path to the grounds outside. The rain was falling harder now. Soon Alec saw a figure carrying an umbrella and approaching up the path from the other direction. The stallion tossed his head and gave a shrill warning cry. Alec tightened his grip on the lead and spoke to his horse to keep him calm.

The figure came closer, and Alec saw it was Spiro. “What are you doing out in the rain?” the bald-headed chamberlain asked. “I was just on my way to find you.”

“I was waiting,” Alec said, “but that doesn’t matter now. Something has happened to Xeena. She’s not in the room. She probably just went for a short walk and got caught in the rain or something but …”

“I just saw her a few minutes ago,” Spiro said. “She was running up the road to Tarta.”

“You did?” Alec said. “To where?”

“To Tarta. It is the next settlement up the hill.”

“Why would she go there?”

“I believe she said something about her father,” Spiro said, “seeing him in a wagon heading up the mountain. She wanted to catch up to him and would not stop to say more.”

Karst? Alec wondered. What would Xeena’s dad be doing here? Then he realized that Karst might have received the message about what had happened at the river and had come to get them. Either that or Karst had come here looking for them after they’d gone missing. Alec didn’t trust the chamberlain, and there was no telling if Spiro really had sent the message last night as he said he had.

“Where is this Tarta place?” Alec asked. “Is it far?”

“Not too far,” Spiro said. “But the girl will be fine, I am sure. Come. Let us breakfast together and wait for the rain to stop. Summer storms in the mountains aren’t unusual. It should blow over momentarily.”

Spiro gave Alec a kindly smile, but his animal eyes were cold and dark. The Black tugged on his lead, and Alec held him still. He shook his head. “Thanks, but I’d like to find Xeena. I know her father. Perhaps he came to take us back.”

“Perhaps,” Spiro said.

Alec again tried to read the man’s expression but could see nothing there.

“Maybe that really was Xeena’s dad she saw in the wagon,” Alec said. “But maybe it wasn’t. Either way I better go after her. How do I get to this place you say she was headed?”

“Follow the road up the mountain,” Spiro said. “But you shouldn’t worry yourself about the girl.”

“I’ll feel better if I know where she is,” Alec said. “We’ve been through a lot since yesterday, and I feel responsible for getting her home safely.”

Spiro bowed his head formally. “As you wish, Herr Alex.” He pointed up the road behind him. “The turnoff to Tarta is no more than a couple kilometers. Bear left at the fork. But please remember to stay on the road. You will be passing through the pastures of the sacred mares. They are forbidden to all. You must not enter there.”

Alec thanked Spiro for the help. He took hold of a hunk of black mane, stepped back and then vaulted onto the stallion’s back. Following the road in the direction Spiro had indicated, they soon found the fork and headed left. Alec kept his horse to a steady walk. The Black seemed to be carrying his weight well. He moved easily beneath Alec, the rhythm of his steps even, his ears forward and alert.

The rain was slowing now, but Alec kept his head down and tucked his face into his horse’s mane, letting
the Black lead the way. Then, just as quickly as it had started, the rain shower stopped. A moment later the clouds parted and the sun was shining upon them.

Again Alec noticed the woods around him seemed to be completely void of animal life. It was unnatural, he thought. A place like this should be teeming with life, especially after a summer rain. The silence around him was unsettling as he recalled what he’d read about the poison river and remembered what he’d seen happen to the flower blossoms that had fallen from the top of the city wall. Some part of him just wanted to turn his horse around and get out of there right now. If it wasn’t for Xeena … but he couldn’t leave without her. Alec inhaled the smell of his horse. He would be all right, he knew. He was with the Black.