The Treasure of Ecarte Island

Subterraneans

        "Oh, Gretch," Petrich grumbled under his breath, "Why here?"
         The dog looked at him with an intensity that looked to spread throughout her body in the form of a tight muscled stance. She then began moving forward into the cave.  Petrich made steps to follow her, until Hilary caught his arm.
         "Have you gone mad??" he asked, breathlessly, "You have no light! No equipment!"
         Petrich looked at him, then to Nora. "Fetch me some of that hanging moss off that grove of trees yonder, Nora," He then looked down about his feet and spied a couple of worthy sticks.
          Nora brought back to him a great bundle of the dense almost cloth like hanging moss, enough to construct a couple of torches as well as extra to add as needed.  It was a resource they had used long ago when lanterns were not available.
          Hilary only watched in aggravation. "But, you could get lost!"  Even as he said this, Petrich took off his jacket and then pulled off his knitted jumper leaving him in only his linen shirt beneath. With an ever present penknife from his pocket, he cut a single thread, and was able to begin unraveling the jumper quickly as Nora wound the yarn around a sturdy short stick.
         Gretchen had entered into the cave but then returned to the mouth of it and barked at them.
         "We're coming, Gretch!" Petrich assured her still unraveling his sweater, "Just a moment and we'll be ready!"
           Gretchen then sat on her haunches and waited, but not without fidgeting.  Petrich noticed that every once in a while she would dry heave as if wanting to sick, but then would not.
           "How. . .when did you learn all this?" Hilary asked, watching Nora securely tie the end of the unraveled yarn around the trunk of a slim tree growing out of the rock face of the cave.
           "Oh, we learned lots of things during our expedition unto the Kushkin Mountains." Nora answered with a wary smile, "Camping with few resources was but one."
            With his flint wheel lighter, Petrich lit the moss he had wound tightly around the end of his torch stick. With this he fed Nora's torch.
              Nora looked back at Hilary, who was helplessly watching them move toward the cave.
              "Be sure that yarn remains secure." she instructed.
              Hilary nodded, then audibly groaned and came to her side. "I do not care for caves. Would be far more comfortable in the water, you know, but I can't watch you go in without me."
             "Are you for certain?" Petrich asked, "I mean, I've no real idea as to why Gretchen has decided to lead us here, but it is surely important whatever it is. We must follow. You do not."
              Hilary swallowed hard and stood tall. "I choose to go."
               Petrich grinned and nodded. "Very well, then. We would be grateful for your help, if we should need some."
At the very least, this was not Petrich's first venture into the cave and his memory of the path was quite sharp. It was still a dark cave, however, and the further Gretchen led them, the more his heart sank.
            Gretchen moved on with determination but never out of the range of Petrich's torchlight. He was always able to see at least the back of her hind legs.
           You were right to follow, said a small willowy voice in his head.
           Petrich stopped for an instant.
           Nora? He thought out to her, a telepathic ability a celestial scribe commonly possessed with his bound assistant. 
           He knew this was certainly not Nora's telepathic voice, however. It sounded and felt nothing like Nora's, and furthermore, since returning from their expedition, they had yet to resume their telepathic communication, blocked by their mental trauma presumably.  Perhaps it would resume in time and Petrich sometimes tested it, as one would an electrical sound system, but, so far, there was nothing.
          No. I am not Nora, as you very well know.
          Then who might you be? Gretchen? Petrich could not help but chuckle under his breath. The thought of hearing a dog's mind somehow proving humorous to him.
        Curious you should wonder. The voice returned. At the beginning of all things, ALL life forms could commune with one another. Then it was Man who stepped beyond as his mental function began to change, leaving all else behind, ignoring the voices of lower life forms, leaving behind the innate instinct of an animal. Because of this, while much has been gained, much more has been lost.
         Who or what are you? Petrich thought out, his curiosity outweighing his foreboding, for a moment, anyway.
         I am The Voice of the cave. It replied. ALL the lower life forms that live here congregate their small voices and become one so that a man like you may hear.
         A man like me?
         A man who has seen and heard what others cannot. Your mind. . .it has been damaged but is healing. Parts of it are reconnecting. . . differently from others. You can hear us, if we all speak together.
         But, I've been here before. I heard nothing of you then. 
          No, we had yet to come together.
          Petrich called to mind the distinct sound of scratching, as like a claw or talon against stone he had heard the last time. What could that have been? Something Gretchen recognized enough to drag him away, that was for certain.
          As if The Voice heard his thought, it replied. You heard the scratches of that which abides beyond the cave. . .it is searching, ALWAYS searching for the stones.
          The stones?? Petrich asked, although he already had an inkling.
          Yes, the lost stones from the crowns the Ancient Ones covet above all things. They have sent a servant of many to hewn it out. One of the stones has been here all along. . .
         Petrich stopped, frozen in his tracks. So, the legend is true. . .
         Nora and Hilary stopped a few paces behind him, Gretchen, a few paces ahead. They all looked at him.
         "What is it?" Nora asked barely above a whisper, no doubt reacting to the queer expression on Petrich's face.
          Petrich dazedly shook his head. "Nothing. Are you alright?" He looked at Hilary standing behind her. "Hilary? Still have plenty of yarn back there?"
             "At the moment," Hilary answered. "How much further, you think?"
            Gretchen made a low woof sound, and had begun to pant as she continued her path. Again she made a guttural belching sound as if she needed to vomit, but yet again, did not.
             "I'm afraid I do not know just yet." Petrich answered, taking from Nora a bit more of the dry moss to feed his torch.
Save your resource, The Voice interrupted. Within these walls are bacterium that react with certain minerals. All working together they can illuminate your path far better than your torches.
             And just then, the almost imperceptible points of light within the cave walls became much more luminous than before.
Ah! Petrich almost laughed aloud. If only Nora could see the light, too!
Give her time, master scribe. The Voice replied soothingly, as if sensing Petrich's deep desire to mentally communicate with Nora again.  As for the moment, follow your animal.
Where is she leading us?
Further than you were previous. She is going to the abyss.
Petrich swallowed hard, his feet suddenly feeling heavier with each step. To do. . .what?
To do what must be done. . .
What must be done?? SHE must do nothing!
His thoughts were interrupted by far away unrecognizable sound.
"What is that??" Hilary hissed from behind. "Did either of you hear that??"
"Yes," Nora answered. "What could it be, Petrich?" Her voice was slightly tinged with panic.
"Perhaps bats," Petrich replied, in as confident a voice as he could muster up.
"Never heard of bats making that sort of noise." retorted Hilary.
              "Bats can make more noises than just screeches." Petrich answered hopefully. But those are not bat sounds, are they? He asked The Voice of the cave in his thoughts.
           No, The Voice replied simply enough. The servant has picked up the scent of your animal. It desires the animal. . .
           BUT WHY?? Petrich was now losing patience and on the verge of shouting out in frustration especially as Gretchen decided to pick up her pace.
           The dog has the stone, The Voice revealed. It is inside her. She seeks the abyss to keep the stone from those who could destroy all only to possess it.
Petrich felt his chest began to ache. She must have swallowed the necklace and now means to. . .sacrifice herself into a bottomless pit??
Her loyalty knows no bounds.
"NO!!" And this Petrich cried aloud.
Nora and Hilary froze behind him and even Gretchen paused again and looked back at him.
Petrich patted his thigh and gave a soft whistle to her. "No. . .no further, Gretchen Girl. Come, let's get out of here." His voice unexpectedly hitched with emotion.
Petrich then felt Nora's hand clutching his forearm. "Petrich, what's wrong?"
Petrich took a moment and cleared his throat, in order to collect himself. "Is folly, nothing but." He looked at Nora, wistfully. "I can't let Gretchen. . .or any of us, for that matter be put in harm's way." And with that said, he went to snatch up Gretchen, but then she growled and evaded him and took off at a full run.  To Nora and Hilary, the dog was almost immediately swallowed up in darkness, but for Petrich, the way was still illuminated albeit dim.
             Petrich went after the dog at a run where the cave formations allowed him to. In so doing, he carelessly dropped his torch that was just nearly extinguished anyway.
              "PETRICH!!" Nora cried, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!"  She made to follow but Hilary took hold of her, the strength of only one arm about her waist but it might as well have been an iron clamp. She struggled but Hilary held her fast to him.
           "Listen to me, Ellenora," he said lowly and as gently as he could in her ear, even as his arm tightened. "You must stay put right here. Not another step. You cannot be of any use following him any further."
           Nora whipped her head to him and glared with something primeval that was even beyond despise.
          "You do not understand, Hilary," she sneered, "And you never will!"
          "No, I guess not," he answered, ignoring her contempt, "But this is the one time I will have to step in and protect you."
           "I do not need your protection!" she cried. "Petrich needs mine!"
            "Let Petrich sort out whatever all this is. The truth of the matter is," He held up the stick on which the unraveled yarn was wound. It was at its end. "We are at the end of our rope, so to speak."
            Nora stared at it in defeat. Her eyes glistened with tears. She let a couple fall, but wiped away the rest, and sniffed back her sobs.
            "We shall wait here for him to return," Hilary soothed, "You've plenty of that moss, and it burns slowly, I noticed. Come to think of it. . .Petrich never did replenish his own torch, it it was just about to go out when he took off. And given his pace. . ."
             Nora picked up on his train of thought. "Yes, it was as if he could see far better than we could anyway. As if he had another source of light, that we could not see ourselves." she wondered, hopefully.
             "See there?" said Hilary encouraging, "So, he'll make it back to us, surely."
             He urged Nora to seat herself and wait. She did so, and drew up her knees and hugged them.
              Oh, Petrich! She tried thinking out to him in the darkness, If you could only hear me. . .
               And, of course, in return there was only silence.