Rogue Angel - Restless Soul Part 2

Zakkarat picked up a gas lantern from the floor and lit it. The squeaking grew louder as the light grew brighter. A mud-colored snake slid across the path and toward the wall.

"This is all so beautiful," Annja said.

"Yes," Luartaro whispered. "Though not so beautiful as you." He took a few pictures of her looking at one of the limestone formations, bouncing the flash so it would not be so disturbing.

They both stared at the immense chamber striped with earth colors and s.h.i.+ning in the meager light.

No matter how many caves Annja had traipsed through, she never really tired of them and was always amazed by what magnificent formations nature had sculpted.

Annja felt relaxed in the cave, though she knew from their mannerisms that some of her companions, the Australian husband in particular, were made uneasy by the surroundings. The sense of foreboding she'd had the night before seemed far away.

They walked on, following the bobbing light of Zakkarat's lantern.

Annja could hear moving water a few minutes before they reached another river, or perhaps a branch of the same one.

Zakkarat indicated another bamboo raft.

"More baht, right?" the Australians said practically in unison. "For the Shan."

Zakkarat poled them across to the far side of the cave.

"Follow me, please." He led them up a fairly steep rise to a ledge that overlooked a cavern.

"No rails," the ecowife noted. "We've been to quite a few caves. Not near the safety standards as in Carlsbad Caverns and Mammoth Cave. Or even that Mark Twain one in Missouri. They all had railings."

Zakkarat's course took them around a deep sinkhole and to another chamber from which tunnels branched away. Scattered road cones and faded danger signs blocked off a few of the pa.s.sages, and Annja suspected there was a risk of cave-ins. Another sign, more recent from its bright paint, dangled from a rusty chain. It read Do Not Pa.s.s-Low Oxygen.

"See here? Cave painting. Authentic." Zakkarat pointed to a spot midway up the wall. "One of seven in this cave. But the only one I can show you today. Most paintings are where it is under excavation. Archaeologists from Bangkok found a skeleton under a rock shelf, supposed to be twenty thousand years old. The oldest skeleton found in Northern Thailand. The dig is off-limits, and the skeleton predates the coffins you will see. But this cave painting you can look at. Do not touch, though."

Annja squinted to make out a faded design. At first glance it looked like a shadow or a smudge. Beneath it, affixed to the stone, was a large black-and-white photograph of what the painting had looked like before tourists had rubbed it away by touching it. The photograph clearly showed a deer, an arrow and the sun overhead.

"There's writing on the photograph," Luartaro said. He leaned close and almost touched the picture. "A date. This photograph was taken thirty years ago."

"Pity that people have to ruin things," Annja said. "Inadvertent or no, people don't understand how precious the past is. I wonder what the artist was like. He or she probably painted it with burned bamboo. A lot of bamboo still grows around here."

"The cave paintings off-limits today are in better condition," Zakkarat said. "Perhaps it is why they stay off-limits."

Zakkarat led them up a damp slope, then down, stepping over and through pools of water and past columns that dripped with moisture and glimmered like jewels in the gaslight. They walked down a set of rickety wooden steps, and they reached the river again.

"A beach, I say," the Australian man grumbled. "That's where we're going next. With a book in one hand and a drink in the other. I'll sit on my b.u.m and soak up the sun. Aruba, I think. Or maybe Jamaica. Rum and cola from a bottomless gla.s.s with one of those paper parasols in it."

Zakkarat pushed the raft into a darkness that his small lamp couldn't keep at bay. Bats screeched from high overhead and fluttered their wings. The air turned thick with the smell of guano.

"G.o.d, the stink. It's incredible. I can't believe we paid to smell this stuff." This came from the ecowife. She doubled over and retched. Her husband hunched over, too, and held his stomach.

"It is the bat droppings," Luartaro said. "That is what stinks so bad. Thousands of bats. Probably hundreds of thousands. Far more than there were in the other chamber. Amazing. The smell is truly amazing."

"Amazingly awful," Annja said. She could tell that even he was affected by the intense smell. She cupped her hand over her nose and mouth and tried not to gag.

Her stomach roiled. She'd been in caves many times before, but none of those had such a large bat population.

Their guide seemed inured to it.

She was grateful when the raft docked and Zakkarat took them up an incline and through a short tunnel that opened into a chamber filled with what looked like coffins.

Though musty and close, the air was considerably better there. No bats were present.

"As I mentioned before, the tribes not afraid of this place stole from it," Zakkarat said. His voice took on a sad tone. "Stole from this chamber and others. Stole some of our history."

He turned up the lantern, and the Australians gasped as more details were revealed.

The coffins were hollowed-out teak logs ranging from seven to nine feet long and were relatively well preserved.

"The pamphlet said they date back at least two thousand years," Luartaro said.

The logs had been intricately carved, and one had deep designs of leaves and vines on it. There were heavy pottery remnants, too, and Zakkarat said the tribes no doubt stole all the good, intact pieces.

Perhaps they'd also stolen the bodies, as Annja couldn't see a single bone left behind. She shuddered as she stepped close to the largest coffin, as if a cold wind had just whipped across her skin. Her skin p.r.i.c.kled, as if tiny red ants were crawling over her.

Were there real spirits here? Were they trying to tell her something? Perhaps they were upset at the presence of tourists who had come to disturb their eternal rest. Maybe they were angry that their remains and relics had been stolen and were seeking justice or retribution. She could provide neither for them.

Sometimes she had an innate sense that something was wrong or that a problem needed addressing. She'd thought it came from inheriting Joan of Arc's legacy and the sword, but she'd eventually realized it was more than that. Even when she was growing up in the orphanage in Louisiana, she'd had an uncanny knack for knowing when things were amiss or when something untoward was about to happen.

"What?" she mumbled. "What is wrong here?"

"What?" Luartaro touched her shoulder. "I did not catch what you said, Annja."

"Are there more chambers here with coffins?" Annja directed the question to Zakkarat and hugged herself when she felt the chill intensify. A heartbeat later the odd feeling vanished.

"Not here, in this cave. Not anymore. But there are other spirit caves nearby in this very mountain range," Zakkarat said. "Many more coffins in them. Soa Hin, Tukta. There is a place called 'spirit well,' too, but part of it collapsed and it is not safe. But this cave, Tham Lod, is easiest on the feet and easiest to reach. This is where I take the tourists. It has some of the best limestone formations."

The Australian man snorted, and Jennie patted his back sympathetically.

"Pi Man Cave, too, has teak coffins," Zakkarat continued. "Many, many more coffins there. Ping Yah and Bor Krai, too. Not so easy as this to get to. More climbing and squeezing."

"But you've been there," Annja prompted.

"Yes. Have taken a few people there, to Ping Yah and Bor Krai and Pi Man. But only a few, and that was quite some time ago. There are maps you can buy with directions of how to get there, but I am better than a piece of paper. I am a very good guide."

"Take us there, please," Annja said. "To Ping Yah and Pi Man." The tingling she'd felt moments ago came back stronger and raised goose b.u.mps on her arms.

The cold sensation was almost numbing. She rubbed her arms to keep from s.h.i.+vering. If the answer to her unease was here in this chamber, she couldn't see it. The answer had to rest elsewhere in the mountains.

"Take me to see more of these coffins," she said.

Annja felt for the sword at the edge of her mind, seeking its comfort.

"How many baht, Zakkarat?" she pressed. "For you to take me."

"Us," Luartaro corrected.

"Take us to Ping Yah and to Pi Man and Tukta and wherever else there are more of these coffins. Places tourists don't go." She stood a better chance of investigating without others around.

"You're crazy," the Australian man grumbled.

Zakkarat scratched his head. "Not easy going like this place. We would need a little equipment for steep places. Not much, some ropes and pitons, a safety line. Helmets. Maybe a pulley-"

"Do you-"

"Yes, I have some caving equipment. My father and I used to-"

"How much?" Annja knew the price didn't matter.

"Five hundred baht."

"Done."

"Each."

"Fine."

"Plus extras, maybe. And I will pack a lunch and water bottles for all of us. No charge for the lunch or water."

She realized he was testing her to see just how much she'd spend. "When can you take us there?"

"Tomorrow morning," Zakkarat said. "Very early, we should start. The day I have free. And tomorrow night I take tourists to the bird show. So we have to be back before sunset. We could get in two caves, I think."

"You're not taking us us to the bird show," the ecowife said. "Even though I've bought the film, I'm tired and G.o.d knows I can't stand this stink." to the bird show," the ecowife said. "Even though I've bought the film, I'm tired and G.o.d knows I can't stand this stink."

Her new husband nodded in agreement.

"The limestone caves that you want to go to..." Zakkarat said, moving close to Annja. "They are off any regular paths, as I said."

"I understand," Annja said. "Lu and I are in good shape. Climbing will not be a problem."

"I can see that you are in good shape." Zakkarat smiled. "Tomorrow morning very early we will leave. When the sun rises. Very, very early so we have time to see a lot. As the saying goes, I will give you your money's worth."

Annja continued to feel uneasy as she looked around the chamber and studied the coffins. "You don't mind, Lu? Going to more caves?"

"I would have suggested it if you hadn't. This is fascinating. And I love caving." He reached out a hand, but stopped himself just short of touching one of the teak logs. "Too many people have touched these," he said. "Too many people don't respect the past."

"It's not that," Annja said. "It's not a matter of respect, Lu. It's a matter of ignorance. Too many people just don't know any better."

She searched the shadows, thinking she saw movement-a spirit, perhaps-something half glimpsed or maybe just imagined, something that was tugging her or begging her to solve some mystery.

She decided in the end it was just the play of Zakkarat's light. Still, the troubling cold sensation wouldn't leave her. What was bothering her? What could possibly- "Did you hear that, Jennie?" the Australian man said.

"Hear what?" Jennie glanced at the coffins, and then at their guide. "Oh, I heard it. Thunder. The man at the hotel desk mentioned that it might rain today."

"Rains come unexpected this time of year," Zakkarat said, frowning. "It is almost our rainy season. Time to leave." He scratched his head. "Let us hope it doesn't rain too much. The paths will be muddy and slippery."

Annja was the last in line this time, taking one final look at the coffins and the shadows and feeling a stronger s.h.i.+ver go down her spine.

Outside, it was pouring.

3.

It had rained steadily through the night and was still raining the next morning, though it had turned to a drizzle by the time Annja and Luartaro met their guide outside the lodge.

She'd put her palm-size digital camera and extra batteries in a plastic bag and shoved them in her back pocket for insurance against the weather.

Zakkarat, in the same outfit as the previous day, though with st.u.r.dy hiking boots, looked smaller, with his wet clothes hanging on him and hair plastered against the sides of his face. He looked sadder, too, eyes cast down at the puddle between his booted feet, the ball of his right foot twisting in the mud.

"If you do not want to go because of the rain, I understand," he said. "It rained hard last night, and long. Still going. Maybe going all day. The trail will be sloppy and the river swollen."

Annja realized his disappointment was in missing out on the thousand baht he would have earned-and wouldn't have to share with the lodge or tour company.

"I do not have another free day until early next week," he said. "I can take you then."

"We'll be gone in a few days," Annja said. "Me back to New York." She paused. "But I don't mind the rain, Zakkarat. Maybe Lu does, though, and-"

"I like rain fine," Luartaro said. "When I was a young boy I used to be afraid of storms. But my mother told me that rain is just G.o.d was.h.i.+ng away some of man's dirt. Rain makes the world clean again."

He tipped his face up and grinned to ill.u.s.trate the point. "And G.o.d knows I want these few days to last forever."

Annja had intended to go to the spirit caves no matter how hard it rained, alone or with a guide. She needed to discover the source of her unease. She'd intellectually accepted that there was a message someone or something was trying to tell her, and she believed that-like it or not-it was her duty to figure out just what that message or warning was and where in the mountains it was coming from.

"Five hundred baht, right?" Luartaro said. "Each? How about six? No. Let's say seven each because of the rain, and that covers all the extras along the way. Half now." He placed some bills into Zakkarat's hand. "The other half when you drop us back here."

Seven hundred baht was almost what they were paying per night for the cabin, which came to a little more than two hundred U.S. dollars. Giving the tour guide twice that amount for several hours of his time was rather exorbitant, especially for this part of the country. But they had only three days remaining of their vacation, and neither she-nor Luartaro obviously-were hard-pressed for coming up with the amount. And judging from his clothes and worn boots, it looked as if Zakkarat could use the money.

"Seven hundred each." Zakkarat was quick to nod, his expression visibly brighter. He pointed to an old, rusting Jeep, which had packs and helmets in the back and two coils of rope. He'd come prepared in the event the rain had let up or not deterred them.

"Besides," Luartaro said as he gallantly waved an arm to let Annja into the front seat. "It'll be cozy and dry inside the caves." He climbed in the back.

"You think this is a lot of rain?" Zakkarat made a shrill, forced laugh. "This is nothing compared to our monsoon season. Good for you that the monsoon season is a few weeks away. Because Thailand sits between two oceans, we have either downpours or cool and dry weather. Wet now, but the jungle and the mountains are prettiest."

Zakkarat drove part of the way, the tires of the Jeep easily churning through mud that was several inches deep in places. The rain both muted and intensified the colors, and the scenery reminded Annja of chalk sidewalk paintings in Brooklyn that ran like impressionist watercolors during spring showers. It was a wonderful blur of green that she found beautiful, and she drew the scents of the flowers and leaves deep into her lungs and held them as long as possible.

"Which cave first?" she asked.

"Ping Yah," he said. "It is older than Tham Lod, and perhaps has the most to see. It is in the same mountain range, and they are not terribly far apart, but it is harder to get to. Then Bor Krai or Pi Man, as I think I remember how to get there. We'll have time for at least two. Maybe a third, as it is certain the lodge has canceled my bird-show group tonight. The tourists do not want to walk through all the mud."