The Iron Pillars

Chapter 15

An hour of plodding through the dense Jasmidianite jungle had taken Aaron and his party almost to their destination. However, their target had changed. Wendy had flown off to scout ahead, and soon discovered that no Alconteans were to be found at Trackenkaken's suggested coordinates. Nonetheless, as they'd come closer to the spot, the travelers had found weapons, uniforms, and provisions strewn about the forest floor. 

"That stuff doesn't just appear out of nowhere." Aaron had said, "There's gotta be something to this." 

And so he'd sent Wendy off again. She returned a few minutes later, saying she had found the mouth of a cavern, with several Alcontean armored cars parked outside. Voices echoed inside, she'd reported, but she didn't dare to venture any further alone. 

Presently, they reached a drop in elevation. Below them lay a clearing, where water cascaded down from a stepped structure in a shallow cliffside. The vitalizing liquid, the lifeblood of the jungle, made a sharp turn once it reached the bottom of the valley and ran westward, broadening and forming a mighty river in the distance. 

"We're here." Wendy said, redirecting her comrades' attention to the other side of the valley, where the armored cars she'd mentioned earlier could now be viewed. 

Aaron peered over the edge at the vehicles and frowned. Several of them bore deep perforations in their bodies, perplexing Aaron greatly. No weapon he knew of could penetrate Alcontean armored cars. Denting was possible, in rare cases, but their shock-absorbing armor caused even the most acute attacks to disperse over wider areas. What in the world could give prolonged pressure like that with sharpness enough to pierce through? he puzzled. 

Aaron snapped out of his silent contemplation to realize everybody was staring at him. He smiled. "What?" 

"Well, the way you're lookin', I thought you were plannin' somethin'." Hannah spoke up. 

He shook his head. "No, I'm just puzzling over what pierced that armor, and how. But anyway, yeah, does anybody see a path down there?" 

Wendy crossed her arms. "We could circle all the way around to the river bank on the other side and come in through there, but that'd be bloody time-consuming." 

One of the other insurgents grimaced. "Yeah, we've been walking long enough already. There's gotta be a hidden path somewhere." 

Hannah's face brightened. "I know! Dat's some pretty clean lookin' water, don'tcha think?" 

"Yes...?" the others replied. 

"So you can bet there're animals comin' down to get a drink every now and then. If we have a way to look down there, we can see if there're any tracks." 

Aaron grinned and accepted a pair of binoculars from one of the men. "Good idea! Follow the tracks and see if they lead somewhere." 

Hannah nodded. "Yeah! 'Cause if an animal made it through, chances are we could, too." 

Aaron placed the lenses against his eyes and zoomed in. He scanned along the river bank. The first tracks he spotted caused him some pause. With no indication of toes, the deep circular pits in the ground, 20 inches in diameter, bore little resemblance to footprints. But as he traced their path to the river in the distance, their regularity suggested the unbelievable. 

Struggling to brush off the two mysteries now weighing on his brain, Aaron searched for smaller prints among the massive indentations. After a little scanning, he found a quartet of indentations in the mud, resembling a cat's paw-print, but much larger. He followed the clawed tracks up to an incline not far from the cascading waterfall, into a cluster of ferns.