Chapter 71: Chapter 71

“Is it that over there?” asked Noel, pointing in the distance.

“Yes it is!” said Kelser, with a relieved smile. The past few hours had been incredibly tiring. We walked through rocky hills, with uneven footing and winding paths. The rocky hills gave way to green, forested hills, which were even worse to walk through. The ground was soggy, there were bugs everywhere, and the game trails we had to follow felt like they had taken us in circles for half the morning.

I couldn’t see what Noel was pointing too since I was talking to elder Kezler in the back of the group. “I know you said the festival only lasts a single night and day, but do people not stick around? Maybe trade some thing, meet each other, maybe find a partner or something?”

“There will be some people who will arrive early, like us,” said the elder, “but nobody wants to stay for long after the festival is over. Unless they’re in the Jora tribe, that is.”

“Well, I guess that’s fine for us, since we—wait, that’s where we’re going?” I said as I could finally make out the site of the festival.

A sprawling green meadow stretched out from the hill we were standing on. The meadow rose into a small mountain, covered halfway with green and then with snow. An imposing site was carved into the side of the mountain, a few dozen feet below the peak.

Stone slabs rose like pillars out of a pit lined with hand-carved stone bricks. Stone walls lined the pit at an angle, so you could see into the pit from a distance but couldn’t climb into it from the sides. Statues peered over the edge of the wall, staring down into the pit. Each statue was clearly hand-carved from a single piece of stone, although I couldn’t tell what figures they were depicting from this distance.

Around the walls of the pit, stood several small mounds made of dirt and rock. They were huddled together in a few groups, which made me think they were some sort of stone housing. Another, much shorter set of walls wrapped around the whole complex, tapering off into a narrow passage that led down into to the foot of the mountain. The entrance to the passage was guarded by two stone statues, although these seemed to be much less ornate than the ones around the pit. These statues had crudely chiseled faces and wore necklaces made of seashells and bones.

“It looks like we’re the first ones here, after all,” said elder Kezler as he briskly walked to the front of the pack. The other humans gave way to him, letting him lead the tribe to the passageway. I ran up to Noel and asked Kelser how humans had managed to build such a complicated structure. He shrugged and said only the Jora tribe would know, since they were the ones who had started the summer solstice festival, many generations ago. The other tribes of the double river basin joined after the Jora extended their influence in the area.

Noel looked at me with a grimace. This human Jora tribe seemed fishier by the minute. No wonder the Roja tribe wanted our help. Still, if the Jora tribe was able to carve a site like this with only stone tools and basic magic, they were bound to be more powerful than tribes like the Roja.

We walked up to the entrance of the festival site, and passed by the statues wearing seashell and bone necklaces. Up close, it was clear the statues were made out of limestone, and that the tools that were used to carve them were not very good. Still, they made for an impressive sight, with their faces towering several feet above our heads. Upon further inspection, I noticed some of the bones on their necklaces were actually teeth, presumably taken from powerful monsters.

Elder Kezler made a peculiar sign with his hands and bowed to each statue one by one. He muttered something under his breath, then turned around and told the other tribesmen to start making their way up the passageway. He walked up to us while signaling that we should stop.

“Teachers, before we go in, I would like to introduce you to this temple and its guardians,” said elder Kezler as he walked over to the statues. “These are the sentinels. They do not have names but according to legend, they are ancient warriors who sacrificed their freedom to protect the temple and the holy relics enshrined within. I will introduce you to them as our guests. Outsiders are not usually allowed inside the temple complex without the permission of the Jora tribe, but I suspect nobody will mind your presence. Even the sentinels will be elated to welcome venerable elves, like yourselves.”

“I see,” I said, “didn’t you stop calling us venerable elves?”

“Yes, teacher,” said the elder, “but returning to this temple has rekindled my devotion to you. This temple is called Bek Tepe, and it is dedicated to the ancient elves who taught humanity when we were still young and ignorant. Come, teachers, let me introduce you to the guardians of Bek Tepe. And Kelser, why are you still here? You should go help the other tribesmen set up the tents.”

“Let me stay, grandpa—I mean, elder Kezler. I’ll give Cas and Noel—I mean, the venerable elves; I’ll give the venerable elves a tour of Bek Tepe temple!”

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“Yes, let Kelser show us around. I’d like to see those relics, you were talking about,” I said.

“We’ll come help set up the tents after we’re done,” said Noel.

“No, it’s alright, teachers, we do not want to trouble you like that! Alright, Kelser, you can show them around the temple. Just make sure not to go into the pit without me. Only the Jora tribe’s elders are supposed to lead us inside, but I believe we will be excused for having led venerable elves inside. Now, I will go make some preparations,” said the elder, “Kelser, you can show them around the rest of the temple.”

With that, he led us to the statues, and spoke our names out loud while facing them. He said that we were the Roja tribe’s honorable guests and that as elves, we had the right to go inside without the approval of the Jora tribe. He concluded by asking the statues if they had any objections, to which they didn’t respond, which the elder said meant that they agreed.

We followed the elder up the stone passageway, admiring the various carvings on the walls. Most of them depicting humans or spirits fighting powerful monsters or being overrun by natural disasters. Halfway up the hill, the carvings began to depict groups of elves, with their facial features vaguely defined, helping the humans who were struggling against hordes of monsters and destructive natural disasters. The elves were shown to be using four types of spells: fire, water, earth, and air, and eventually began to teach the humans their magic.

The final carving was more ornate than the rest, and spanned a large part of the walls on either side near the top of the passage. It depicted the elves being worshiped by the humans, before suddenly vanishing into the darkness. A new group of humans stood in the center of the carvings at the end of the passageway, leading the other humans towards the direction of the elves.

On top of the passageway, Noel and I stopped and stared. The temple was even more impressive up close. The stone walls, although haphazardly shaped, were large and imposing. They blocked our view of the pit, but shaped another path that circled around to the rocky mounds that I had seen from a distance, and which looked much larger from behind the walls. The elder went off in the direction of the mounds, where the other Roja tribesmen were setting up tents on a piece of flat land right next to a mound.

“Let’s go this way,” said Kelser as he led us in the opposite direction.

Noel and I followed Kelser around the temple, admiring the many stone carvings and statues. Kelser also showed us parts of the complex that we couldn’t see from below the hill. He showed us the water room, which was a small, covered space with fresh, flowing spring water. A stream flowed out from the spring, traveling down the side of the hill from an opening in the walls. There was a small pool dug out in front of the water room, where cold spring water could be used to cool off fruits and bodies. Kelser said that people only properly washed their bodies in the stream outside, but that they might take a dip in this pool on the day of the solstice, since it was usually very warm.

He then led us to a strange room with many holes in the ground and lines of old and broken pottery. He said this was where some of the tribes made special drinks, which were only drunk on the day of the festival, and forbidden for the rest of the year.

There weren’t any other covered rooms in the complex, but Kelser showed us some of the other spaces. There was an open-air kitchen, full of black soot and residue from many years of fires. We tiptoed around a spot that was decorated by large bones, which Kelser said was a room dedicated to the trophies from the biggest hunts that a tribe had undertaken in the year.

Eventually, we came back around to the place where the Roja tribesmen were setting up their hide tents. Elder Kezler joined us as we went up to the inner walls. He walked up to an entrance and made another strange hand gesture.

We followed him into the pit, with its large slabs of stone, many intricately carved stone statues, and cascading piles of stone upon which people could sit. But something else caught my eye. In the middle of the pit, resting resolutely on top of a large, flat slab of stone, was a strange skull, unlike any we had seen so far. Most of the skull’s features were very similar to those of a human’s, but the one feature that was different, made my eyes widen into orbs.

Two small pieces of bone protruded from either side of the skull’s face. I lifted my hand and felt my own, elfin ear, and felt the same bones, unlike any in a human’s head, and stared at the skull in shock.