THE PRINCESS OF ÉLEVÉ

In The Cavern of the Leprechaun

75000 BP (Before Present)

Yuri was stunned. He found himself alone in the middle of a large cavern, eight to ten meters across. The walls had signs that there'd previously been mining of what appeared to be slate, and on one wall there were marks that appeared to be doodles. No matter! The fact was, he'd been transported back in time just as that mysterious Indonesian tablet said. There was a large rock in front of the wall beneath the doodles, and there were steps gouged into it on one side.

He also noticed four openings in and out of the cavern, three of which appeared to be passageways. The other small one looked more like a cave since there was no foot path to it. Each tunnel had a different set of stones at the entrance. One had small stones or pebbles, another rocks of six to ten centimeters in size, and the third small boulders. A crumbling statue of a king stood near the rock entrance. The paths from the "Pebble" and "Boulder" passages crossed to the "King" one, showing a fork in the passageways.

The air in the cavern was fresh and cool as if a faint draft coursed through the passageways. Yuri decided to explore the King tunnel which appeared to be a main route. He was more curious than afraid and thought, "Archie thinks I'm fearless. Here we go." Withour hesitating, he dashed into the entrance.

All was silent in the underground world. Then Archie appeared in the middle of the cavern. Archie had no idea where she was, or if this was where Yuri had gone, but she wasn't surprised at all to be in some sort of cavern. After all, that was where she'd found the tablets in the first place. She stood motionless and listened. Not a sound. She made quick note of the walls, the rock, and the four openings leading out.

Yuri was nowhere to be found, but there was a faint sweet fragrance that reminded her of him. There was nothing she wanted more than to hold him again in her arms. She vowed never to argue with him if she found him.

She had a momentary thought: perhaps he'd been transported elsewhere. She quickly dismissed that notion. He must be nearby, she reasoned. Then she heard footsteps. Yuri came running in, out of breath, from the passage he'd been searching.

"Oh, Archie! I thought I'd blown it this time. I wasn't sure you'd come." Yuri's smile of joy filled the cavern. She ran to him with open arms.

"Yuri, what else could I do? I couldn't let you do this alone. It's my mission, my journey to take." She hugged him, "but I'm so glad to see you. I thought for a moment you'd gone somewhere else and I was on my own."

"Not a chance!" Yuri smiled and held her in his arms. "We're in this together."

She pointed to the opening from which Yuri had emerged. "Where does that go?"

"I don't know. It seems to be a tunnel. See the paths?" Yuri pointed to the paths that ran from the other passageways. "Do you really think we went back in time seventy five thousand years?"

"Look around. What do you think?" She pointed to the drawings and doodles. "See these? The same language used in my tablets. If the tablets are seventy five thousand years old, these must have also been done then. That makes sense, doesn't it?"

They were startled by a noise that sounded like snoring. They looked around but saw no one, yet the noise seemed to be close to them. They realized that the noise was coming from under the large rock below the doodles. Yuri looked under a corner of it and saw a sleeping figure.

"Look here. What's this? It's sleeping. What is it?"

Yuri's voice and movements startled the sleeper, and it woke up. It jumped up and ran into the King tunnel. It was clad all in green, with short pants, a dusty jacket, and boots.