Chapter 29: Noeledge Is Power
Mount Elbert, Colorado
September 28, 1:49 PM MDT
The snow on trails is thick enough for Jade to need snowshoes, while I break the trail for her. The bitterness I was expecting after my victory is absent. Instead she actually seems willing to work as a team now.
Repeating my question about why she became a Shadow, actually gets an answer this time. "When I first took off, I needed to hide. Who better than the Shadows?"
"So is the plan to hide, until dear old dad dies of old age?" Jade doesn't necessarily care about beating anyone fairly. But this seems kind of cowardly for her.
"The plan is to do enough jobs for the Great One, that he eventually allows me to be trained by Lady Shiva." She growls at my back and I decide it's safer to change the subject for now.
After three days searching, I'm starting to think it's just a waste of time. "You keep telling me that I'll know what we're looking for. But I haven't seen anything but ice and rock for hours, so give me something to go on."
"You ever hear the legends of the Thunderbird?" With binoculars up to her face, Jade peers up the ridge.
"The indigenous phoenix?" Does she think I'm an idiot? If they ever existed, they died out a long time ago.
"In seventeen thirty six, the Great One saw a Thunderbird fall to Earth in these mountains." She explains smugly. "He was unable to get through the Ute people and eventually it slipped from his mind."
Handing me the binoculars, she directs my sight to cliff side ledge. A large bird has been carved from the stone, overlooking the entire valley like a warden.
"How did anyone climb that?" It's a couple hundred feet above the ground and at least that far again from the peak of the mountain.
"Good thing we don't have to find out." Jade has been quite pleased at how many shortcuts I've made.
Rolling my eyes at being reduced to an elevator, I start trudging up the ridge once more. "Why though? What's a dead bird going to do?"
"The creature was supposed to be able to resist magic and pierce any mystic protections." She waits for me to create a bridge, her eyes constantly scanning the area for trouble. "We're here to find the bones and find out if the property remains." Confirming the Shadows have 'allied' with someone magical.
"And why hasn't Ra's sent anyone before now?" That's a long time to just forget.
"He did," Admits the ninja. "The Sabuagana band and the snow, kept the Shadows from finding anything until now." Doesn't that just make me feel special.
Reaching the base of the cliff after another twenty minutes or so, I create a pillar of ice beneath our feet. Going slow so we don't get launched into the air, we get an incredible view of the valley.
The ledge is far larger than it looked from below, with an entire cave system at the back. The ruins of three longhouses astound me just for existing. But it's the dozens of carved birds that gleam in the sun.
All of them except for the largest granite hawk, are made from glittering aquamarine. Most are the size of a cat, with a few nearly reaching man size.
"I think we found the right place." If we didn't, this is a pretty good decoy. "You think Ra's will mind, if I take one of these?"
Nora's surgery is in November. It would be nice to have something pretty for her to wake up to.
"Take as many as you want. He has an island full of trinkets." She disregards my question and marches straight for the mouth of the cave. "What I want, is in here."
She puts a homing beacon onto the rock wall, raising an eyebrow at the rows of graves carved into the cliff side. "They lived up here for quite a while. At least three generations."
"Would have been hard for any Shadows to get up her. At least until recently." I concede this find wasn't the simple task I first assumed.
The walls of the cave have been carved into a smooth heart shape, leaving far more room at the top. Hawkman could walk through this. Why did they go to so much effort?
"Oh..." Rounding the last bend in the tunnel, brings us to our reason for being here.
The cavern widens, with sunlight filtering in through another opening. Only that one looks like something crashed through.
In the middle of the cave, is a light grey ship that resembles a bird of prey. It's wings curve like a hawk mid flight, with an elongated centre that looks like a beak.
"My finders fee is ten percent." Before she has a chance to step towards the ship, I try breaking the growing tension.
"I told you to take the birds..." Jade scowls at me, though doesn't argue any further. "Fine. Ten percent, but only if you can figure out a way in first."
Challenge accepted, I start running my hands across the craft. It's so smooth, I just need to find a seam.
Jade tries the more direct approach and goes through quite a few knives in her own attempt. Her growls of frustration start to shift into snarls of fury, making me redouble my efforts.
"Aha!" Finally finding a groove in the metal, I let my azure energy trail from my fingers.
It expands like normal. But instead of the shattered steel I'm used to, the alien metal tears outwards. The hatch does end up open, but I'm incredibly impressed at how well it stood up to the pressure. What kind of metal is this?
"Just don't touch anything connected to the ship." I can see Jade trying not to react with anger and it kind of looks like she's counting to ten.
"I really just want a helmet." If this stuff has anti magic properties... It might just be able to block psychic attacks.
We find three mummified bodies, each one with metal laced through the bones. The wings have the most and I'm confused how that helps with flight.
The helmets look almost identical to the one worn by the Hawks and I pull one closest to my head shape. Should probably call Artemis and see if her Martian friend can test this out for me.
We find a few systems still active and a few weapons that crackle with energy. Jade ends up taking a couple curved knives to replace her broken ones and tells me to bury the valley.
"I marked the site, the recovery team will be here in a few days." He words sound a little sharper with the helmet snugly in place. "So turn this back into a glacier and we can get out of here."
"I hope you're ready to pull me back on the sled." I look over and frown at how little food is left on it. "Because this is approaching volcano levels of effort."
Notes: The Ute people in Idaho/Colorado/Utah (with hunting grounds in Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming.), has 12 historical bands. I tried to accurately use the band that claimed this area of Colorado. But I might be a couple valleys over. If I'm using the wrong one, I do apologize.
