The Air Dancer

Chapter 6

Inte'kunda sped through the jungle on the heels of Kidala.

The jaguar had been waiting for her outside the entrance to their shared home simply saying, "Follow me," and had melted back into the trees.

Kidala was a streak of muted yellow that stood out against the green around them, but even without being able to visually follow him, Inte knew where they were headed.

"We're going to see it again, aren't we Kidala?" Inte asked, breathless. She knew the answer.

"Yes," the jaguar answered as he bounded forward over a fallen tree. "We can wait no longer."

Inte didn't know what the creature back in their cave was, but she thought that the answer might be found in the strange artifact lying dormant in the valley nearby -- the thing Kidala simply called the Stone.

Kidala had told her stories of the Stone since she was small, and had even taken her to see it a few times. Each time, Inte had felt something in it, and each time she wondered what it was -- but was never allowed to touch it or even go near it. She wondered what could be so dangerous as for Kidala to forbid her from even approaching.

But if the jaguar's fervent pace was any indication, she was going to find out today.

Her feet pounded against the dirt floor of the jungle that had become firmer over the years.

And, before she knew it, they were there.

***

Kidala turned and looked at Inte'kunda in the darkness. The jaguar's green and yellow eyes shone with the reflection of the moon.

"Did you bring it?" he asked.

The two of them had passed into the mouth of a great cave, hidden deep within the jungle. Inte'kunda opened her fist and held out the necklace that she had clutched so tightly on the run.

"Of course I did," she beamed.

Kidala closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. Opening them again, he looked at Inte'kunda. "You must listen to me, young one. What you hold is very important, and you must never let it out of your sight."

This was the first time that Kidala had ever talked about the necklace, so Inte took heed when the old jaguar spoke. She stole another look at the metallic object in her hand and noticed, for the first time, a soft glow emanating from it.

"What... What is happening?" she asked.

"It has come home," Kidala said, seeing the glow as well.

"Home?" Inte asked. "What do you mean?" She looked up at her friend with confusion.

"Follow me," he said, and turned to walk further into the cave with Inte'kunda scampering to keep up. It was too dark for Inte to see -- but not too dark for Kidala. Inte reached out her hand to rest it on the furry back of her old friend, using him as a guide as they went deeper into the cave where the light eventually faded completely into blackness. As they descended, the air became cooler -- and with it, Inte'kunda's necklace became warmer.

She noticed a different glow coming from up ahead. She knew just by feel where they were.

"The Stone!" she breathed excitedly to Kidala. They were retracing footsteps that they had made since Inte was old enough to walk.

"Yes," he replied. "It knows you have come back."

Though their voices were quiet, the echoes in the cave made them sound like giants. The inside was damp and cold, and even the soft footsteps of Kidala were magnified as they echoed off the emptiness.

Inte'kunda had been here many times before, but she had never been this excited. She knew that this time would be different somehow, and the warmth that poured from her necklace seemed to agree.

They rounded a corner that she had walked a hundred times before, but the first thing she noticed was that it had never been this brilliant. She took her hand off of Kidala as she found herself no longer needing a guide. This part of the cave was bigger than anything she'd ever witnessed, and the light from the Stone acted like a torch. All around them was circular and spacious, with the Stone at the center reaching upward from inside a small pool of water. The walls went high above her head -- high enough that she could not actually see where they ended -- and, once again, Inte'kunda felt small.

"I had hoped that we could wait until you were older," Kidala began, "but now I see that we have no choice."

Inte'kunda stepped forward from the darkness and into the glow of the Stone -- a great, white protrusion that jutted up from the floor like the tooth of a crocodile. She had never seen it so bright! Looking around at the walls, rugged and grey, for the first time she saw that they were covered in pictures.

"Kidala! Look!" she gasped. Running to the wall closest to her and, placing her hand on its cold, rough surface, she smiled up at the mural. "It's a jaguar just like you!"

Kidala laughed softly. "So it is," he said as he walked over to where she stood. Still looking up, he sat down on his hind legs. But his eyes were not on the wall -- they were on Inte'kunda.

The young girl looked in wide-eyed wonder at the pictures before her. They were drawn in color, and with great detail.

"And look!" she said, pointing to another picture nearby. "A girl, like me!"

When she looked closely at the drawing, though, the breath caught in her throat. Wrapped in the tanned skins of animals, with brown hair that hung below her chin, was a nearly perfect representation of Inte'kunda. The only difference, though, was that she looked to be much older -- and with eyes as white as clouds. Behind her raged a great fire, and above her was lightning. To her sides swirled great gusts of air, and below her were great boulders that supported her bare feet that broke the waves of the waters below.

Inte'kunda backed away slowly.

"Kidala," she said softly. "What is this?"

"Listen, and listen well, young one. It is time you learned about who you are."

Kidala paced the cold cave room, lithe muscles rippling under a deep yellow hide. "What you know as your world," he began, "is not your world at all. It is the world you live in, but not the one you are from."

Inte'kunda scrunched up her face in confusion as she looked at the old jaguar. "Is this another one of your stories?" She asked.

"I am afraid not, young one." He had moved to the opposite side of the cave, beyond the Stone, and was looking up at another one of the murals that graced the walls. "Come here. I have something to show you."