To cap it all, when we halted to drink, we discovered our provision of water had turned red. We drank it all the same. Its warm temperature strengthened the impression we were drinking blood.
We resumed our march toward hope. In the evening, we found the first signs of plant life. The ground was firmer; the dust had become scarce. A spa.r.s.e thin gra.s.s sprouted. We threw ourselves at it and grazed the meagre vegetable without pulling it up. Was it autosuggestion or did the gra.s.s have a real nutritional value? In truth, we felt better and slept better, too.
At the break of dawn, after drinking our putrid water, we resumed our trek. A few hours later, we reached the edge of the forest.
Immense trees mingled the green hue of their canopy with the purple of the sky. The trunks were encircled by vines as thick as my arm, curiously coiled like serpents" spires. Toine tried to pull at one of the spires but could not and beckoned me to come and help him. Our combined efforts proved in vain. Only the thin bark of the vine came off, and the bare stem slipped under our fingers and coated them in a viscous red sap.
"We need something sharp," Toine said, his gaze searching the ground. He saw a flat slab of stone, surely the rest of a volcanic eruption. I wondered why he had made a point of cutting the vine. He could not think of eating it, could he? The moment was badly chosen for questioning my companion, so I watched him hack at the vine with the sharp stone. He uttered a curse and let go of the stone.
"It"s moving. The G.o.d-d.a.m.ned thing is moving!"
At first, I believed it a hallucination, but it was real. Very slowly, like a boa constrictor, the vine contracted, spire by spire. It undulated like a living animal. A strange wheezing came from the trunk the creeper was strangling, and a thick red sap oozed from tiny pores in the wood. Toine glanced at me with a stupefied expression.
"Have I gone mad?"
My own expression told him I was seeing the same thing.
"Let"s go, son." He grabbed my arm. "This place is cursed."
"Where to?" I cried in despair.
"The mountain. Maybe it"s different on the other side. But we need something to eat first."
The farther we penetrated that gruesome forest, the greater our conviction grew. We would never find anything edible besides the gra.s.s. That could calm our aching stomachs but contained no nutrients. For hours, we trudged on under that incredible canopy. Several times, I let myself fall to the ground, refusing to advance. It was so exhausting to struggle for each next breath. Without Toine"s friendly but firm insistence, I would have welcomed death.
The day was ending when we came across a clearing in the forest. Several huts rose, in various states of preservation. In that great silence, we did not even consider the possibility that someone could still live in the village. We entered the nearest hut. Inside, we found a few statues like those we had seen in the cavern. On the ground, a sack half worn away by time; a few green shoots wormed out of its holes. Toine bounced on it, shouting, "Potatoes!"
He was right. We had found sweet potatoes, which were beginning a new life. We devoured them with unspeakable joy.
Finally sated, a state we had not known for weeks, we visited the small village. Inside each hut, we met the same statues of people or animals. Only the postures varied. The expressions were of torment, except for the young children, whose features remained relaxed. And crudely shaped utensils littered the floor. Neither Toine nor I had notions of the arts but we were both struck by such contrast. Moreover, each hut harboured a hearth filled with ashes, and the wooden bowls abandoned on the floor contained the remains of dried food. It looked like a sudden misfortune had frozen the inhabitants before they could flee. But no traces of struggle were visible, nor did we see any volcanic lava.
Toine repeated, "It can"t be. Looks like they were turned to gla.s.s. And they realised what was happening to them."
I asked what he meant by that.
"D"you remember the stone I picked up this morning to cut the vine? It was vitrified as well. Probably by the heat of a volcano. An eruption, you see?"
"Are you saying it"s what happened here?"
"No. One could think so, but it"s impossible. If lava had pa.s.sed here, we would have found only traces of a new life, tiny new plants provided pollen had been caught in the wind before all was destroyed."
I knew nothing about this vegetal life the wind carries across and beyond the seas. Toine did not try to explain. He simply set a hand on my shoulder, his smile doubled by every crevice in his old face.
The horizon began to glow with that sanguine hue. Toine picked up two stones and rubbed them together. Sparks burst out. Toine approached the sack that had contained potatoes. After a few moments, the old fabric took fire. We ran into the other huts to look for inflammable material. Soon the flames danced. In the darkness, the twisted reflections made the grimacing statues even more sinister. Thanks to the trembling lights, the statues moved.
We lay down close to the fire. Along with the crackling of the fire, we heard the m.u.f.fled rhythmic beat that rose from the bowels of the earth.
We took turns getting up to feed the fire. We needed the light more than the warmth.
Until a heavy slumber took possession of me.
IX.
I awoke to sunbeams gliding through the misshapen branches of the roof, streaking the floor with bright stripes. Toine had gone out. I slipped into a reverie. Such a sense of well-being had eluded me for a very long time. Perhaps the potatoes I had eaten yesterday had given me a new strength. Unfortunately, my roaming gaze focused on one of those statues. My anguish returned. A bad presentiment clutched my heart. Good Lord, I thought. I hope nothing has happened to him. I rose and ran outside.
In the bright red light, the village was a remarkable sight. Toine was nowhere to be seen, so I went to inspect every hut. I did not find him so I rushed into the forest, hoping to come across some fruit to appease my hunger. And I saw many of those fruits, only they were placed too high for me to pluck them. I decided to content myself with vine sprouts. I had pulled one from the ground and I was about to put it in my mouth when it wriggled. It moved like a snake, in slow motion. Stupefied, I stared at it without thinking of throwing it away, while it coiled itself around my wrist. I came to my senses at last and tried to get rid of it, but the vine seemed stuck to my skin. I had to tear it off. Minuscule beads of blood covered the place where the vine had hugged my wrist. Overcome by disgust, I tried to chase away the horrid idea that the plant was carnivorous. On the ground, the vine continued to writhe like a reptile.
Stomach knotted, I resumed looking for Toine. Through the spa.r.s.e holes in the green canopy, the sun darted several tiny red eyes on me. The hot breeze that set the foliage a-shivering gave me the impression these eyes mocked me. To add to the creepy sensation, I could see no sign of animals, not a bird, not even an insect no tiny vermin that made a blade of gla.s.s a little world teeming with life. I cried Toine"s name to no avail. My anguish increased with every step until I arrived at a river. The water was sweet and fresh. I took a long drink, and then I started along the riverbank. The crystalline sound of falling water called to me. In my solitude, such a familiar noise rea.s.sured me. The waterfall was more distant than I had thought, but when I reached it, I did not regret my effort, despite Toine"s absence. The sight was magnificent. From the middle of a gigantic slab of rock as smooth as a wall spurted furious waters that fell in a sumptuous curtain of white foam. The foam fanned out into myriads of droplets like a scattering of diamonds. With the waterfall, the river made a leap of at least one hundred metres.
Gigantic, bright-hued flowers adorned the banks sprinkled by the foam. The smallest flower was twice my size. The fat gra.s.s flaunted a bright green. I approached one of these unknown flowers. It was white, rimmed with mauve and sporting a yellow heart. As I drew near, it closed slowly. Then it began to inch toward me, opening its petals again. Panicked, I jumped backward. The flower bent and darted down like a b.u.t.terfly net, covering the ground at the spot where I had been standing a second before. I heard a horrid noise of suction. Then the flower retook its vertical position, its petals closing up again. Nothing but bare soil remained. It had sucked up everything, gra.s.s and shrubs, just as it would have swallowed me whole, had I not retreated.
Cold sweat ran down my back as I watched the enormous transparent stem beginning the digestion. I stood there as if hypnotised. Only after a moment did I succeed in pulling myself away from the spectacle. The extraordinary beauty of the place, a beauty that had fascinated me at first, now only inspired me with revulsion I was beyond fear, and I could only feel loathing. I pondered this feeling. It was the reason why the lost souls sojourn in Hades without revolting against it, for revulsion is the beginning of acceptance. If acceptance is death to normal people, it is the logical response for those who refuse to reflect on the questions that would save them.
I don"t know how I managed to go back through the woods. I simply found myself at the edge of the village inhabited by the stone people. I heard someone call my name but, still under the spell of the forest, I did not answer.
I was walloped on the shoulder, bringing me back to reality. Toine stood in front of me, arms overflowing with strangely shaped fruits. I seized a few of them and ate avidly. They had no flavour but were enough to satisfy my hunger.
I recounted my misadventure to Toine. He listened and nodded. I wondered whether he believed me. He must have divined my thoughts, for he answered, "Calm down, son. I"ve seen strange things, too. This place is cursed. We"ve got to get out of here at any cost. Losing your head is not the best way."
We returned to the hut where we had slept the night before. Sitting on the floor, we remained silent for a moment, under our grimacing hosts" watchful eyes. We ate some more fruits. The one I was munching was red-fleshed, like a blood orange. As big as a watermelon, it had a pleasant flavour. I asked Toine by what miracle he had managed to pluck the fruits.
"I just bent down and picked them up from the highest treetops." Seeing my stupefied expression, he explained, "I haven"t gone mad yet, son. Dunno how, by the way. I"m going to tell you what happened to me. I left at the crack of dawn. The red day wasn"t up yet and the stars were still there. You were sleeping so soundly I didn"t want to wake you up. I reached the forest very quickly. But something wasn"t right. I kept seeing the stars while they should have been hidden by the canopy. And I"m going to tell you why. All around me, the tree trunks were lying on the ground. As if, during the night, woodsmen had felled them. I was hungry, so I only had eyes for the fruits lying at my feet. I"d eaten so many my belly was going to burst. See what I mean? I just had to bend down to pick them up.
"Then I collected more fruit to take back to the village. But I began to get worried since my hunger no longer occupied my mind. There must have been some reason why all those gigantic trees were lying down on the ground like that, their tops facing the great mountain, visible in the distance.
"At first, seeing the blood-red sun going up rea.s.sured me a bit. But not for long. Imagine a terrifying cracking noise like green wood, multiplied a thousand times. The whole forest was moving. Yes, son. Don"t think I"m raving mad and I"m talking nonsense. Not a trunk remained on the ground. The trees were all straightening up, very slowly. D"you want to know what I thought then? Well, from the tallest tree to the smallest shrub, the forest was saluting the mountain. I thought I was dreaming. That whole forest, praying, all the trees bent and then straightening up like after kneeling down. I tell you, if the ground had started talking right then, I wouldn"t have been surprised."
I studied Toine, wondering if he was out of his mind. He shrugged.
"So you believe I"m mad, don"t you? Believe me. I ain"t mad. And neither are you."
We fell silent. I could see Toine wanted to say more but hesitated.
He broke the silence with one question. "You heard anything last night?"
"No. I was sleeping soundly. I don"t even remember if I dreamt."
"Maybe I"m mistaken. But hear me out. While the forest was kneeling down, I heard from the far-off mountains, something like a song. It sounded like the wind in the halyards during a tempest. And then, from beneath the ground, came that rhythm. You know, that beat. But it was stronger than before. The ground pulsed under my feet. It was like the earth"s guts were heaving."
He closed his mouth, his gaze turning to the shadows formed by the grimacing statues.
"Son," he said after a while. "I"m beginning to wonder whether...Oh, nothing is strange enough here, right? I"m wondering whether the rhythm we hear is these statues" hearts beating beneath the ground. I can"t believe a mad artist made them. Nor did G.o.d, who is said to be good. Then, I can only think of one place; maybe we"ve come to the doors of h.e.l.l. Maybe it"s the red of lost souls that tinges the sky. But this nature that consumes itself cannot understand the souls" suffering. Neither G.o.d nor the Devil would enjoy playing such comedy."
I didn"t understand what Toine was saying, but I knew we needed to find a way out of this place, or a great misfortune would befall us.
"What shall we do now?" I asked.
Toine, who seemed lost in his thoughts, started, looked at me as if he did not recognise me, and then answered, "First, we go back to the river. We"re going to need a lot of water. And then we"re going toward the mountain. I"m sure the key to the mystery lies there."
The thought of going back to the place I had left with so much fear made me shudder. I said nothing, though, and helped Toine to search the huts for something more practical than our small amphorae.
"Come here and lend me a hand, son. I think I"ve found what we"re looking for."
Toine was tugging at a dark bulky object that resembled a huge terracotta flask. It was stuck behind several of those stone figures. We had to move the statues. We began our task, taking a thousand precautions, owing to a certain superst.i.tious awe. One of the statues teetered too much and collapsed before we could right it. It broke with a dull noise and the head, which had come off, rolled a few metres away, like a ball.
We stared at the debris on the floor.
"It can"t be," Toine cried. "There"s a skeleton inside."
It was true. A skeleton stretched out under our gaze made of petrified stone like the surface of the statue.
Without further comment, Toine turned to free the flask. As for me, I could not tear my gaze off that ribcage and the snapped spine that looked so natural. The shape was just an imitation of life, but the verisimilitude was so shockingly strong I would have held those remains as one rocks an infant.
"Come away, son. I, too, feel they"re like brothers, but their predicament scares me. Let"s go fetch some water. Let"s enjoy life for as long as we can."
He loaded the very big flask on to his back and we left without a backward glance.
Outside, a light wind was blowing, making the leaves the musical instruments of a plant world that undulated, rocked, coiled and tightened its spires around the doleful, wounded trunks oozing red drops like tears streaming down children"s cheek. It was a world full of life moving toward death.
Toine, who marched a few steps in front of me, stopped in his tracks and put the flask on the ground. "Come quickly, son!" he shouted. "I"m sure it tastes great."
I understood at once and threw myself at him. "Don"t touch it!"
But he had already seized a vine three times bigger than the one with which I had struggled. Too dazed by the spectacle I had witnessed at the waterfall, I had not mentioned this misadventure to Toine, so he was not on his guard.
Despite my swift intervention, the horrible wooden stem had coiled not around his wrist but his throat. Now the coils squeezed, hard and harder. I pulled with all my strength but the vine did not give way. Toine"s face was already taking on an ugly greyish hue. He was choking. His eyes bulged. Not knowing what else to do, I bit at the vine like a savage. The living rope slackened. I had just the time to jump aside before the vine could grip me as well. The creeper continued its reptilian movements a few steps away while I knelt at Toine"s side. Lying on the ground, he did not stir. He had not, however, lost consciousness because he stared at me with wild eyes.
"Thank you, son. You saved me from a painful death." He ma.s.saged his throat where large black blotches were appearing on his dark skin. "I tip my hat to you. You"ve got guts. Weren"t you scared?"
I recounted my own adventure.
"Ah, you"ve been there before. That"s lucky. So you could save me."
"Yes and no. If I had talked about it, you would have been more careful."
I picked up the flask and we resumed our trek over that cursed land.
We marched side by side. From time to time, Toine rubbed his throat but did not complain. His easy smile had vanished, replaced by astonishment, not even fear. Noticing my furtive glances, he said, "I"m so sorry, son, that you"ve got to be stuck with me in my waking nightmare. But let"s not lose our heads, or we will never come out of this. Here, everything is a mystery. Don"t expect to find answers. Like everywhere else, death prowls alongside of life. Only it"s more visible here."
He uttered these words for my peace of mind, but as he spoke so, I felt more and more lonely. Toine, devoid of fear, was taking the path of acceptance. It was clear enough. I wondered whether the astonishment painted on his face was not that of someone who is surprised about being alive. His old heart was tired and I was convinced it kept beating only for his young companion"s sake.
We advanced in silence under the green canopy of that mysterious world. I knew Toine would never be himself again. The natural song of the waterfall reached us at last. A gleam of interest lit up in his black eyes. It gave me a little hope that we could still make it.
On a tender green riverbank, we lay flat on our bellies to drink the clear water. After quenching our thirst, we remained stretched out. I relished that illusory feeling of well being, in a pitiful effort to escape the anguish that gripped me like leper.
Shadows had once again conquered the still sky. The night had not arrived yet, but the stars were about to appear. It was the moment when the world awaited a change. The only moment that resembled any normal twilight. Only a sound disturbed the silence: the crystalline noise of the waterfall that sang under the jealous gazes of the carnivorous flowers.
Then the black of night drowned out our short communion with hope. The nameless stars, one by one, pierced the immense, secret vault.
Toine spoke in the darkness, startling me.
"We should have brought something to make fire with. We won"t find any dry wood here. This place is as green as can be."
X.
I had slipped into a deep slumber without realising it. I believe I heard Toine stamping his foot and grinding his teeth in impatience, probably because I was so slow to rouse. Half angry, I propped myself up on one elbow and grumbled, "All right, all right. I"m getting up."
But my anger vanished when I saw Toine, or rather his shadow, bent over me.
"Shut up, son, and look."
The tones in his voice, awed at something intimidatingly beautiful, affected me more than a kick in my side, because it was not like Toine to be lost in admiration at anything.
"What is it?"
I stared straight ahead. Seeing only the forest under the silvery light, I turned to Toine. "So what? It"s dawn."
"In the dead of night? Have you ever seen dawn break in the dead of night? And in this place where there"s no moon? Also, you know the day is red here."
Of course, he was right. Only sleep had made me forget about it. But then, what was going to happen now? My stomach filled with ice when I heard the sound I had mistaken for Toine stamping his foot. I gripped my companion"s arm. "Can you hear that?" I asked under my breath.
"Yes, son," he answered in a strangely calm voice. "One would think a giant"s heart is beating under our feet."
Now the grinding had resumed, similar to the cracking noise trees make when woodcutters have sawn three quarters of the trunks and the treetops begin to bend toward the ground. The sky was growing pale. A cold, luminous and thick light like mercury ribboning in water suffused the forest, which was visible now. The trunks, slightly arched, let out the moaning of wood on the point of breaking. I recalled Toine"s story. The same phenomenon was about to repeat itself. The whole forest began its salutation, bowing to some mysterious ent.i.ty. As though to take its vows, the forest was laying its forehead on the ground. Its moans frayed my nerves. The trunks had bent in such a way I expected to see them snap. Already the leaves spread like arms on a cross and the treetops stretched out on the ground, displaying the tender colours of their budding shoots. My gaze was captured by the highest mountain far away. The mountain rose as red as a forge fire. And the beating, which had calmed in the meantime, resumed its thumping with diabolic intensity.
A long sigh resounded, and the pale light dimmed. The forest retook its normal place, the black leaves stroking the dark sky. Silence blanketed everything. Alone, the mountain kept its red glow against the shadows for a moment before fading into darkness. The unfamiliar stars resumed their diamond-like twinkling.
"It"s over," Toine said. He lay down on the ground. I stretched out beside him.
"We can sleep now," he said. "It won"t move anymore. Last night, I stayed awake to see if it was going to move again."
A question burned my lips.
"Where did you find the courage to pick up the fruit?"
"First thing, when I entered the forest, the trees were already lying down. I was starving, and I saw only the fruit. I didn"t wonder what was going on. And the first time, the clarity that made you think of day wasn"t there anymore. I must confess I wouldn"t have touched anything in that light. Did you get the impression you were looking through a shroud wrapped around your dead body?"
Exhaustion adding to our emotions, we lost control of our reactions and sank into a sleep that resembled stupor.
When we came to, establishing contact with reality again but was it reality after all? the luminous red was back. We lay still, listening to the liquid sound of the waterfall nearby. A light wind blew through the leaves of the revived forest.
"Son," said Toine. "How "bout a nice bath?" As I stared, astonished, he smiled, making his wrinkles dance. "Why not? It can only do us good."
He stood, stripped down and dived into the river. After a moment, his head resurfaced in the middle of the current.
"Come on in," he shouted. "You can touch bottom here."
No sooner had he uttered these words than he disappeared. He was not long, however, in resurfacing, and began swimming toward the bank. When he reached it, he hoisted himself out of the water and lay on his back without speaking. Intrigued, I moved closer. His body, trim and fit, incredibly young for his age, trembled and shivered.