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Al had spent a number of hours at the edge of the cliff reading his Bible and praying for guidance. Should he give up his search and follow his friends home? But he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t give up. But where should he look? He had no direction and no plan. While he had something to do and a plan to follow, he had hope that shielded him from despair. An intolerable weight seemed to settle on his mind. For some reason two Bible verses popped into his mind. The verses, from the book of Exodus tell of the Israelites at the moment when they were trapped against the sea by the pursuing Egyptians. The people were in despair facing the prospect of a return to slavery or death.
“The Lord will fight for you, and you only have to be silent.”
The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.”[5]
Wow, thought Al. Given my circumstances, those verses smack me in the head. I didn’t think I’d ever read a verse that told me to stop praying and get busy. I need to get up. Enough praying and thinking. I need to do something. I need to find a next step to take.
He got up and walked back to camp. The birds here were beautiful but much larger than higher up in the lighter air. Even the butterflies and dragon flies were huge, although they didn’t bother him. He walked through the woods and jumped a rivulet that made its way to the cliff edge and then left the woods for a stretch of meadow that fringed the cliff face leading to the fourth terrace. Al heard a rock clatter down from the cliff face. Looking up, he saw two tiny figures climbing down. He pulled out his binoculars—it was Larsen and Chartrand.
What’s happened? Where are the others?
Al rushed back to camp looking for the others but found no one there.
At his own tent, he found Arlana’s note, which described Dave’s tunnel-cutting activity with Hiszt. At any other time, he would have been amazed, but now he felt he needed to find out what had brought his friends back to him in such a rush.
Donning his climbing gear, he took his best rope and ran to the cliff edge. Chartrand and Larsen had made rapid progress. They had just dropped a long rope down to the broken rock at the bottom of the cliff and Larsen was rappelling down. Al steadied the rope.
“Where are the others?” asked Al. “Are they alright?”
Larsen was out of breath from his exertions. He shook the rope to signal for Chartrand to descend.
“All okay—couldn’t reach you by phone—news,” he gasped. He bent over and breathed air in great gulps. “Need water and food.”
While Larsen recovered, Al steadied the rope for Chartrand. After Chartrand was down, Al led them both to camp and gave them water and some cold fowl from the previous night’s dinner.
When they had slaked their thirst and taken the edge off their hunger, Al asked, “Now what’s going on?”
Larsen began the story. “We made the climb as fast as we could to the fourth terrace. We realized we were quite a way northwest of where we wanted to be, and decided to travel some distance along the fourth terrace. Tandor knew of a rebel encampment nearby, so we climbed up to the third terrace and entered the village of a rebel tribe called the Hawks. The chief had heard of Tandor and treated us kindly when he heard our story. That’s when the bombshell dropped.”
Here Chartrand jumped in. “The Hawk chieftain had heard of other-worlders (that’s what he called us) being rescued from a Seth raiding party some time ago by the next rebel tribe over—the Eagles. The rescued were a woman and a child. Linder decided there was no time to waste. Who knows what Bigelow is planning next. Linder, Thomas, Makalo, and Tandor headed immediately to contact the tribe and make sure Pam and Little Thomas are safe.”
“Whoa,” said Chartrand, “we don’t know for sure that it’s Pam and Little Thomas. Don’t set Al up for another needless disappointment.”
“We need to leave right away,” said Al. “How soon can you start?”
Larsen looked at the cliff shadows. “We’re ready to go as soon as we finish eating.” If we hurry, we can make it up one terrace before it gets dark.”
Al rushed off to Dave and Arlana’s tent and wrote them a detailed note explaining where he was going, and urging them to follow. Then he packed up his gear and rejoined Larsen and Chartrand just as they were finishing their meal. Chartrand looked at the note and drew a small map to the Hawk’s camp on the third terrace.
“Let’s go,” said Al eagerly. “I’m sure Dave, Arlana, and Hanomer will follow us as soon as they get back.”
Al rushed ahead to begin the climb. He found himself impatiently waiting for Larsen and Chartrand. At one-point Chartrand foolishly stepped on a loose rock and slid about three meters onto a narrow ledge, hanging alarmingly over the edge of a deadly drop.
I’m being stupid, thought Al. They are exhausted and if I don’t slow down and take it easy I’m going to get them killed.
Al climbed down to see if Chartrand was okay.
Chartrand looked up at him sheepishly. “I’m okay. I was just being stupid and rushing my climb.”
“I am sorry fellows,” said Al, “I am the one who is being stupid and blind. You pushed yourselves hard to bring me the hopeful news. In my eagerness to find Pam and Little Thomas, I’m pushing too hard. Let’s take a break. Have another meal, and then we’ll take our time climbing up to the fourth terrace. We’ll still make it before dark.”
The climb went much better after that. It was dusk when they finally reached the fourth terrace. They hastily set up camp and Larsen and Chartrand were fast asleep shortly thereafter.
Al stayed alert keeping watch. As the night wore on, he refused to wake either Larsen or Chartrand.
The next morning, Al woke to a bright morning. The sun was in the east, which he was used to seeing in these terraces. The smell of roasting meat reminded him of how hungry he was.
“Wake up sleepy head,” said Chartrand jovially. “You know, as sentry, you should be shot for falling asleep while on duty.”
Al grinned. “The person who should be shot is the one who didn’t get up to relieve me so that I could get some sleep. But seriously, sometimes we just have to trust that the Lord will protect us—we all needed the sleep after that climb.”
After breakfast, they walked in the direction of Seth. Al wanted to search for the Eagle camp without the interruption of stopping at the Hawk camp. When Chartrand and Larsen judged they had just passed the Hawk camp, they started another climb to the third terrace. It took about two hours of strenuous rock work to complete the ascent of about five hundred meters. They were too exhausted to continue, but rather set up their tents on the cliff edge, had a quick meal, and then fell asleep.
The next morning, they were much refreshed. Chartrand and Larsen took turns leading the way to the Eagle camp, walking roughly in the middle of the terrace, so they would have the best chance of seeing the encampment.
They had traveled perhaps six kilometers along the terrace in a south-easterly direction, when they saw a band of travellers, mostly women, hurrying toward them carrying bundles on their heads. The few men with the band had huge packs on their backs. They all looked exhausted.
Al, Larsen, and Chartrand took cover. When the lead traveller was almost on top of them, Al stepped out holding his hands up in the universal peace sign. The men leading the group were so startled that one of them stumbled.
“We are friends and come in peace. We seek the Eagles,” said Al in the Common Tongue.
“You come from the Hawk camp?” asked one of the men.
“Yes, we have been there and we seek the chieftain of the Eagles.”
“We are from the Eagles. Alas the Eagles are no more. We have been overrun by Halfmen and soldiers of the overlords. Our fighting men have been captured. Our clan is destroyed. We are part of a remnant that has escaped. We run to join our clansmen, the Hawks, but doubt that we will be safe even there for long.”