My foothold crumbles, sending a shower of loose pebbles and dust into the cavern below. I scramble to regain my footing, finally loosening my breath when my foot finds solid purchase. It's tricky, not loosing my edge in places like these, to stay even footed in both mind and body. In all my years of archaeology I can never quite get used to searching the forgotten places, where humans haven't wanted -or dared to walk in thousands of years. And we are currently in one of best and most recently discovered, of those places. The Howling Caverns stretch far into the dense rainforest, miles and miles of rough terrain and ancient labyrinths made of stone walls and ravines, dotted with cave mouths and rivers. Named for the way the wind filters through the stone work, vibrating and channeling off the walls into keening, high pitched wails.
I try to ignore the screams and focus on the next ledge, ignoring the shuffling of my colleagues behind. It's easy enough gap but I drive in my pistol anchor into the closest wall anyway, which I promptly tie my rope too. It's a long way down, into a seemingly empty abyss, better to be safe. I check my knots are secure and begin brushing away the curling vines that cover the wall ahead, and there, almost buried beneath dust and leaves, is a small carving.
My heart leaps. This, THIS, is why I am here. These ravines are famous in these parts, being home to so many ancient stories and forgotten lives, and while they never built full settlements here, that are known of, they did build temples and trade posts, and inscribed their history upon them. What we could learn... what could be down here... "Tommy! Check this out!" I call, swinging on my rope gently to give him a view. His face lights up from where he hangs about ten meters behind me, his brown skin crinkling into a warming smile.
"Looks like our hunch was right!" He exclaims, wiping sweat off his brow. Yes, yes it was. I smile to myself, trying but failing not to be optimistic, a small carving is nothing really, to make this expedition worth it we need a proper structure of significance. But it's a start.
"We'll make Daniel eat his words right Cas!?" Kris says, worming his way over the rock face.
"You bet." I grin, though I don't like the way we're talking about my fiancé. He means the best, trying to get me to stay home, but we need money for a wedding and for our life after, theres no way we can raise a family on a high school teacher salary alone. So I, a barely qualified archaeologist, am stepping up to find the world a treasure, and for us, a future.
And I know it's here.
There are no more hand or footholds ahead, so from here we're going the only direction that's left, down. Before I take off I feel Tommy's hand clamp on my shoulder. "Careful," He warns. I smile and step out from the ledge, slipping down into the inky darkness of the cave below. Down, down, I go. Darkness envelopes the cavern walls, my headlamp the only light making it down so far. It sparkles off the trickles of water, running down the walls, the sound drowned out by the constant wailing of the tunnels.
Nothing but rock so far, I think, scanning the walls. Nothing of use. Maybe that previous engraving was pointing in another direction? Suddenly a gust of wind stampedes through the tunnel, wailing mournfully as its forced through the grooves and rivets of the cave system. The mournful shriek chills me to the bone as I swing wildly across the cavern, desperately trying to find a handhold. I don't see it coming when I'm slammed against a vine covered, stone pillar.
"Cas?!, Cas, you alright?!" Kris calls as the wind dies down.
"I'm fine!" I call, coughing and wiping my face off the dust that was carried on the wind. A few of my dark curls have broken free from my tight pony, each one stubborn in their efforts to stay in my eyes no matter how many times I try pushing them back. Once I can see, I take a breath and recheck all my fastenings, getting ready to continue my decent. Wait, the wall, - there, an engraving! I push over and brush away the sediment covering the pillar to see that this engraving leads to another and another before I see what I'm pushed up against, not a pillar but a stone totem pole that reaches from the depths below to almost out of the cavern above. Actually, I did notice it before but the top had been so worn down and rough from the elements that no trace of the artwork had been left, but here, there are. I follow the length of the pole down into the darkness below. My spark of excitement turns into an inferno. "Guys I found something, come down!" I call, not waiting for them before continuing myself.
Now I have a path to follow. But it's so much longer down than I would have ever thought, the wind continuing to wail and thrash and sing through the tunnels, their cries joyful and terrified, mournful and desperate. It's just the wind, just the tunnels, I remind myself. Though I'm glad to see the headlamps of my friends glowing above. Down, down we go, until I'm worried about running out of rope and then finally, the bottom emerges.
Coming out of the darkness, its... shiny. No, reflective, off the thousands of tiny glass smooth pebbles that litter the ground. They crunch underfoot as I land, and stretch out as far as my light will go. I look up, Kris and Tommy aren't far behind so I take out my ascender and attach it now, that way I wont have to carry it, such a handy tool, but heavy.
"Jeez, whats this?" Kris asks, landing.
"I'm not sure, bit out of place down here you think?" I say, picking up a handful of pebbles, their clattering echoing in the chamber.
" Ah fascinating!" Tommy says, plucking one from my hand, "I haven't seen stones like this since I went to the coast, you know what that means?" He asks with a smile and then continues without waiting for us to answer "That this whole place was once under water, which is also clear from the rock formation too."
"Yes, yes, very fascinating but we only have so much battery remember?" I wave my newly activated hand torch for emphasis, "Better safe then sorry." I say, stopping to scoop up another handful of pebbles. "What's this?" I hold the pebbles out, a few green ones reflect beautifully among the common black.
"My dear, thats jade." Tommy says.
Kris whistles, the sound too loud in the quiet of this place, "Nice find, is it worth much?"
"Is that common in this area? I haven't heard of anyone selling it locally." I say.
"Well its worth depends on who's selling and who's buying, though this is a lovely clarity and no, Cas, its not common here which is strange."
"Hmm, well, get some samples for the geometry lab, I'm sure they'll have a field day." I say and begin walking. The bottom of the totem pole sits proud and strong in the middle of the chamber, its carvings kept in beautiful detail down here. And are also inlaid with jade, I spy, looking closer. Absolutely beautiful, I think, running a gloved hand over its rough - then smooth, then rough again texture. But why is this here? The engravings run up the sides of the monolith, each depicting a different scene, I can make out bits and pieces but its all lost to me until a certain figure presents itself from the rest, seemingly pointing out from its carved place further into the cavern. Kris walks up,
"Found something?''
"Yeah, I think so." I hand him my bag, using him to hold it higher as I search and pull out a spool of fine, wire filament. "Better than breadcrumbs." I say, tiring the end to the totem pole before I motion to Tommy, and we begin walking. Soon we reach a smaller tunnel, each side decorated with ornate engravings. These ones are different, all the others where light and filled with depictions of nature and light and gave clear direction, but these... these where chiseled with fear, warnings for any who would enter, to appease a great and terrible deity. This must be a temple then, or sacred ground of some kind.
What a find, I think continuing forward, but I cant get too excited, any discoveries ahead may have been abandoned before they where finished or even destroyed in a cave in, this maybe all for nothing.
On and on we continue, the walls becoming more smooth and decorated as we go, the clicking of perfectly smooth stones under our feet the only noise that dares make a sound. I've been in caves before, all over the world but here, here it feels like we must be quiet, or something might hear us. Silly superstition, but I keep quiet all the same.
"Ouch!"
I swivel back to Tommy. "Whats wrong?" I whisper.
"Sorry, I just got my pants caught." He says, reaching down to untangle them from the reaching fingers of a stone hand, jutting out from the wall at ankle height. "Bloody hell, where did that thing come from?" He asks.
"Probably from the person who engraved it hundreds of years I go." I smile, trying to lighten the mood. Kris's mouth just twists, his eyes darting past me to Tommy and running a hand through his short, light brown hair.
"Fascinating stuff really," Tommy begins, brushing off his pants, a tightness in his eyes that wasn't there before. "Let's document everything properly when we come back, when we have extra equipment." He says, straightening his clothes and checking his head lamp before continuing on. I nod and continue after him. The next hand is plain in sight, at hip hight, reaching out and up, as if someone within the wall was kneeling and reaching upward toward the heavens.
Perhaps it has religious meaning? More and more stone hands appear, at first sporadically then, almost all at once, they cover the walls. So many that it's hard to squeeze between them without our packs, closes or my long hair catching on them. Hands upon hands reach out and upward. Some are gentle, some are clawing, desperate. I try my best to stay out of their reach. We all do, in single file down the dark tunnel.
As time bleeds on, our tunnel juts into multiple and we to stop for Kris, our ancient language expert, to decipher what way is correct according the small totem poles we find along the way. The hands keep us company all the way until we come into a large cavern, the walkway ahead falling away into a giant pit. "Damn." Kris sighs.
"No, look." Tommy says, shining his light across the camber. It's pitch black in here but his light illuminates another tunnel, this one on the far end of the pit. And at floor height, the tops of pillars are visible, their bottoms out of sight leading into the deep inky blackness of the pit. The pillars are tiny too, barely big enough to stand on and each one is over a meter apart, not including one that's crumbled away. I hear a sigh behind me,"You two go on ahead, I'll wait here." Tommy says, readjusting his pack.
"Tommy-"
He gives me a stern look, "You both know I can't make that jump and we all need this discovery."
