{"id":54,"date":"2011-08-26T00:07:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-26T07:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/?p=54"},"modified":"2012-05-30T15:26:54","modified_gmt":"2012-05-30T22:26:54","slug":"the-valley-of-tears-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/?p=54","title":{"rendered":"The Valley of Tears, Part Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turns out this one wants to be even longer<\/em>. To my dear readers, you will be treated to part three tomorrow evening! Enjoy…<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
The Valley of Tears, Part Two<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

My guide picks his way across the rocky forest floor and I follow, wiping sweat from my brow. I am unaccustomed to walking so much, but the tiny man with flaming hair steps spryly from tree to tree going up the slope and isn\u2019t even breathing heavily. Once in a while he drinks a strange brown concoction from a canteen, but any pauses to catch breath or stave off hunger have been mine.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should get more exercise, Teddy,\u201d he says without looking back. \u201cConcrete jungles aren\u2019t good for anybody\u2019s well-being, be they triaum, human or hama.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah well,\u201d I pant, \u201cwriting is kind of a full-time gig.\u201d I trip over a root and nearly fall on my hands. The triaum grasps my wrist with surprising strength and I am saved from earning a few scrapes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlright, I suppose you could use another short break,\u201d he says as he leans against a maple. I pull my water bottle out of my pack and down a generous gulp. I am dismayed to find that I have already consumed most of my supply.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t fret over it,\u201d my companion says. \u201cA triaum can find water in a desert.\u201d There is a long-stemmed pipe in his hands, but I do not recall seeing him pull it out from anywhere. He has no backpack and just the canteen around his neck; the pipe must have been hidden somewhere in his coveralls.<\/p>\n

I screen my eyes with my hand and look up at the sun. It is already past midday and I have no idea how far away the Valley is. It is hot even in the shade today. \u201cAre you sure this is absolutely necessary?\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a sweet, unusual scent on the air. \u201cOf course I\u2019m sure.\u201d He takes a slow puff on the pipe and blows smoke rings at me. \u201cThe rangers watch the entire perimeter, but I know their schedules.\u201d He grins and offers me the pipe, but I decline. I have no idea if it\u2019s sweetgrass or dreamweed or devilshoot in that pipe, but I know that none of them are a good idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy would they be trying to keep people out? Isn\u2019t the site abandoned?\u201d<\/p>\n

He takes another puff on the pipe and points back the way we came with his other hand. \u201cIf you still think that your government is hiding nothing, I suggest you turn back now, Teddy. We are going to a place of hard truths and hidden secrets. I took you for a man who believes that the quest for truth must overcome the gnawing entropy of fear. Are you he?\u201d<\/p>\n

I wave away the smoke he is blowing in my direction. \u201cI still want to know what really happened, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He smiles as he taps out the contents of the pipe onto the forest floor. \u201cGood, because that was your last chance to back out of this. The Valley of Tears is just over this hill.\u201d He beckons me onward and I follow.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will be watching for you on the way back, Teddy. You should never have told anyone about this project. Other people knew better, but you have the burden of believing in truth<\/em> as a principle, and for that you certainly have my admiration.\u201d Whatever was in that pipe, it\u2019s making him talk more rapidly, and his gestures are even more expansive as he hikes up the hill with me trailing behind. \u201cI want to help you, you see. Without my help the government will make you disappear and then nobody will ever know the truth about the Valley of Tears. You see, it doesn\u2019t matter how many triaum tell people about it, nobody will listen until a human tells the same tale, and people know that you tell the truth. It\u2019s so rare these days, don\u2019t you agree?\u201d<\/p>\n

I am panting heavily, but I can see the top of the hill through the trees. \u201cDo you trust me enough to tell me a simple truth, then?\u201d<\/p>\n

He grins wickedly at me and runs up the crest of the hill. I arrive beside him half a minute later, sweating buckets.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was the first triaum that they should have killed when they brought us here,\u201d he says. Below us is the Valley of Tears: a green river vale pockmarked by low concrete buildings. It isn\u2019t as breathtaking as I had hoped, but I shiver for some reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot much to look at,\u201d I wheeze. \u201cWhat secrets could they possibly be hiding here? UFOs? Are they training spies to fight the Empire?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I don\u2019t want to spoil the surprise, Teddy,\u201d my guide says as he starts to pick his way down the steep, rocky hill. \u201cBut to entice you I\u2019ll answer those burning questions you\u2019ve been holding so patiently on your tongue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what questions would those be?\u201d I ask as I adjust my pack. My shoulders are beginning to ache.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy name is Yel,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cYel what?\u201d I reply. Yel is a common given name for a triaum.<\/p>\n

Yel says nothing.<\/p>\n

I laugh. \u201cYou can\u2019t tell me you\u2019re that<\/em> Yel. He died during the Tlaca riots.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, sweet Teddy, how can you be so na\u00efve after all that you\u2019ve seen and done? You\u2019ll have to publish two books. The second one can be called \u2018Yel Is Dead And Other Lies The Government Told Me\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

I begin to wonder if I can trust anything Yel says, or if that\u2019s even his real name. \u201cIf the rangers patrol this area, won\u2019t they catch us eventually?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey patrol the perimeter, Teddy. Nobody is allowed to look at these secrets; air patrols make sure the rangers don\u2019t get too curious.\u201d<\/p>\n

I wipe the sweat from my brow. \u201cThat\u2019s an awful lot of effort to ensure that nobody finds out about something.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich just makes it all the more enticing. You think you\u2019re the first person to come looking for the Valley of Tears? You\u2019re just the first human lucky enough to have my protection.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat, are you hiding a machine gun along with your pipe? Or do you have some old triaum magic up your sleeve?\u201d<\/p>\n

Yel snorts. \u201cComing from anybody else, that would have sounded pretty racist. No, the last vestiges of our magic died with my sister.\u201d<\/p>\n

I stop walking. We\u2019re about halfway down the hill. I can pick out details in the concrete buildings like doors and windows. There is a chain link fence bordering the compound that is broken in several places.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t mean to offend you, but I can\u2019t tell when you\u2019re being serious or not. I\u2019ve spoken to several triaum who tell me there\u2019s no such thing as magic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yel sits on a stone and looks down at the Valley. \u201cAny self-respecting triaum would tell that to a human, Teddy, but the truth of the matter is that our magic has been dying for centuries…and Drei was the last ember.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWait, Drei was your sister? Drei the Dreamweaver?\u201d<\/p>\n

Yel\u2019s smile is gone, and the fire has left his eyes. For the first time he looks the way most triaum do. He looks like a lost child. \u201cI don\u2019t want to talk about Drei.\u201d He stands up and resumes the hike down the hill. I struggle to keep up.<\/p>\n

I hear the distinctive caw<\/em> of a crow as we reach the chain-link fence. Yel slips through a gaping hole in the fence and I follow. All around me are single-storey concrete buildings and well-trod earth. It is like being inside the skeleton of a city. All traces of life have been picked clean. There is a big clearing in the middle with a barren flagpole. Yel walks up to it and makes a mock salute.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll hail this land of ours, the United Provinces!\u201d His voice echoes off the barren walls. \u201cHome of truth and liberty, and the land of the free!\u201d He turns back to me. \u201cDon\u2019t you feel free, Teddy?\u201d<\/p>\n

His eyes have that slightly crazed gleam again and I look away. A part of me is beginning to regret coming to the Valley, but I still want my answers. \u201cMore than you do, I\u2019m sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, you have no idea how free I feel now, Teddy. Even a triaum can\u2019t appreciate true freedom until it\u2019s taken away from them…which brings me to the reason why we\u2019re here. Follow me.\u201d He enters a nearby building and does not even look to see if I am following.<\/p>\n

I follow, of course.<\/p>\n

Inside the light of the afternoon sun casts long shadows. Whatever once occupied this building is long gone; only walls, a ceiling and a floor remain. Yel is standing in front of a big metal door with a wheel like you\u2019d see in a bank.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can take it all away,\u201d he says, \u201cbut the more a thing is hidden, the more it yearns to be found. Scour something with cleansing fire, Teddy, and the ashes will remain, and oh, those ashes will be bitter.\u201d He turns the wheel and the door parts to reveal a staircase, which goes down.<\/p>\n

Yel knows I am too far in to back out; he doesn\u2019t have to beckon me to follow him this time.<\/p>\n

The basement feels unnaturally cold, and through the light of Yel\u2019s flashlight I can see that it is just as barren as the floor above, only instead of rooms, the basement contains cells with bars.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo this is where they kept you?\u201d I ask as Yel leads me through hallways of cells. He seems to know where he is going. The basement is much larger that the building above it; likely it is a network connecting many of the buildings underground.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly those of us fortunate enough to have outlived our usefulness. Come, here is what you need to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

The room is large, at least fifty feet square, and the concrete is all black. There are tiny holes in the walls and two very large ones in the ceiling. Yel aims the flashlight beam at one of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are those?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmokestacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

**TO BE CONTINUED**<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Turns out this one wants to be even longer. To my dear readers, you will be treated to part three tomorrow evening! Enjoy… The Valley of Tears, Part Two My guide picks his way across the rocky forest floor and I follow, wiping sweat from my brow. I am unaccustomed to walking so much, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-short-stories","tag-the-valley-of-tears"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254,"href":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions\/254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamesfunfer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}