that led through long dark tunnels of ancient stone - the dank smell of deep grotto waters ever present, the bright reflection of stalactites, suspended in alabaster isolation, caught in the beams of flashlights.
It seemed to McAuliff that at times they were descending into the cellars of the earth, only to emerge from the darkness of a grotto onto higher ground. A geological phenomenon, tunnelled caves that inexorably progressed upward, evidence of oceanic-terrestrial upheavals that bespoke an epoch of incredible geophysical combustion. The cores of mountains rising out of the faults and trenches, doing infinite battle to reach the heat of the sun.
Twice they passed hill communities by circling above them on ridges at the edge of the forest. Malcolm both times identified the sects, telling of their particular beliefs and the religious justification for their withdrawal from the outside world. He explained that there were approximately twenty-three Cock Pit communities dedicated to isolation. The figure had to be approximate, for there was ever-present the rebellion of youth who found in their intermit tent journeys to the marketplace temptations outweighing the threats of Obeah. Strangely enough, as one community, or two or three, disintegrated, there were always others that sprang up to take their places... and often their small villages.
'The "opiate of the people" is often an escape from simple hardship and the agonizing pointlessness of the coastal towns.'
'Then eliminate the pointlessness.' Alex remembered the sights of Old Kingston, the corrugated-tin shacks across from the abandoned, filthy barges peopled by outcasts; the emaciated dogs, the bone-thin cats, the eyes of numbed futility on the young-old women. The men with no teeth praying for the price of a pint of wine, defecating in the shadows of dark alleys.
And three blocks above, the shining, immaculate banks with their shining, tinted windows.
Shining, immaculate, and obscene in their choice of location.
'Yes, you are right,' replied Malcolm the Halidonite. 'It is the pointlessness that erodes the people most rapidly. It is so easy to say "give meaning." And so difficult to know how. So many complications.'
They continued their journey for eight hours, resting after difficult sections of jungle and steep clifflike inclines and endless caves. McAuliff judged that they had gone no farther than seventeen, perhaps eighteen miles into the Cock Pit country, each mile more treacherous and enervating than the last.
Shortly after five in the afternoon, while high in the Flagstaff Range, they came to the end of a mountain pass. Suddenly in front of them was a plateau of grassland about a half-mile long and no more than five hundred yards wide. The plateau fronted the banks of a mountain cliff, at three-quarters altitude. Malcolm led them to the right, to the western edge. The slope of the plateau descended into thick jungle, as dense and forbidding as any McAuliff had ever seen.
'That is called the Maze of Acquaba,' said Malcolm, seeing the look of astonishment on Alex's face. 'We have borrowed a custom from ancient Sparta. Each male child, on his eleventh birthday, is taken into the core and must remain for a period of four days and nights.'
'Units of four...' McAuliff spoke as much to himself as to Malcolm as he stared down at the unbelievably cruel density of jungle beneath. 'The odyssey of death.'
'We're neither that Spartan nor Arawak,' said Malcolm, laughing softly. 'The children do not realize it, but there are others with them... Come.' The two Halidonites turned and started towards the opposite ledge of the plateau. Alex took a last look at the Maze of Acquaba and joined them.
At the eastern edge, the contradictory effect was immediate.
Below was a valley no more than a half a mile in length, perhaps a mile wide, in the centre of which was a quiet lake. The valley itself was enclosed by hills that were the first inclines of the mountains beyond. On the north side were mountain streams converging into a high waterfall that cascaded down into a relatively wide, defined avenue of water.
On the far side of the lake were fields - pastures, for there were cattle grazing lazily. Cows, goats, a few burros, and several horses. This area had been cleared and seeded generations ago, thought McAuliff.
On the near side of the lake, below them, were thatched huts, protected by tall ceiba trees. At first glance, there seemed to be seventy or eighty such dwellings. They were barely visible because of the trees and arcing vines and dense tropical foliage that filled whatever spaces might have been empty