The Lost Tribe: Enoch's Children Book IV

 

The boys, hiking cross country because of a broken car stumble into a strange door in the side of a cliff. When the door opens they find a people that have been locked away from the world for over a hundred and fifty years, kept under control of bigots whose only goal is to keep them subservient. Cory and Thomas have to find a way to help the people, and determine what danger they pose to their town. Here's an excerpt from the chapter where they first discover the door and it opens for the first time in a century and a half:

 

   “Hey, guys, wait up a moment,” he said. “Joseph. Joseph! Settle down! What are you trying to say? Settle down and just say it, don’t yell it.”

   “It moved! It moved! I saw it! You saw it, too, didn’t you, Toby?”

   Toby looked confused and shook his head.

   “No. I really didn’t,” he said.

   “Well, I did. It moved, Cory. Come back and look closely. It moved!”

   “Hold up, guys,” Cory said and approached the heavy wooden door. He started at the top and inspected the crack all around the door. He gave the huge ring a light push and stepped back.

   “I think it was your imagination, Joseph,” he said.

   “It wasn’t my imagination! I saw it move. I did!”

   “Okay, but the crack around the door is the same, and the door—“

   The door suddenly groaned and trembled slightly. Cory’s mouth dropped open.

   “Hey, guys, it did move!” He shouted. “Someone is trying to come out!”

   “What?” William exclaimed, pushing past Thomas.

   Thomas followed him back. The two stood behind Cory and the smaller boys and watched.

   After a few minutes Thomas said, “Are you sure?”

   “It creaked and shook,” Cory said.

   “It was more of a mini-roar,” Joseph corrected. “Then it wiggled.”

   “A mini-roar?” William asked.

   “Ya! It was like it hasn’t been opened in a long time,” Joseph shouted.

   “Calm down, Joseph,” Cory said again.

   “I saw it, too,” Toby added. “It did shake a little.”

   Thomas stepped up beside Cory and said, “Maybe we should help them open it.”

   “If someone is on the other side we could hurt them,” William said.

   “But, what if they can’t open it because it’s too stiff?” Cory asked.

   William shrugged and said, “I don’t know.”

   “I’m gonna help,” Cory said decisively.

   “Me, too,” Thomas said.

   “Maybe just one of you,” William intervened. “If you both push you’re sure to hurt whoever is on the other side.”

   He stepped forward and reached out to put his hands against the door when the door suddenly groaned and slowly swung open. Cory stared in shock as did the other four boys. On the other side was a boy about the same age as Cory and Thomas. Behind him were many more people, many of them adults, a few younger. The chamber they were in was much darker than the outside. The boy who had opened the door immediately put his hand to his eyes to shield them.

His skin was white, almost paper white. His eyes were brown, the pupil making up much of the space of the iris. His hair was long and brown and chopped off unevenly in the back. He wore a loose shirt and pants very similar to the ones Toby occasionally wore when he was with his family. The boy’s clothes were brilliant white and almost seemed to glow from within. He was barefoot.

   Behind him an older man, shielding his eyes, yelled, “I warned you! It’s the conflagration!”

   The boy stared at them, his pupils growing smaller very slowly. He kept moving his hand and putting it back as the bright light seemed to blast his face. After a few moments he was able to put his hand down, but he still squinted.

   “Uh, hello?” he said timidly, reaching out almost as if to touch something solid in the light.

   “Hello there,” Cory said. “Who are you?"

   “Oh,” the boy said softly. “I, uh, I didn’t think … I’m Virgil Dare. Who are you?"

   "Oh," Cory echoed. "Sorry. I'm Cory Morris. This is Thomas Brady, William Littlebear and his little brother Joseph. And this is Tobias ben Salah."

   "Okay," Virgil said, putting his hand in front of his eyes again. "This is Traveler, uh, Anderson Blake, and this is Caretaker. I don’t know her real name. That is Truthsayer, Old One, and the others. Are you of the faith?”

   “I … don’t think so,” Cory said slowly. “How long have you been in there?”

   “They say,” the boy indicated the others behind him, “that we’ve been in here time without end.”

   “Nonsense,” another old man said, hobbling toward the opening.

   Cory could see immediately the old man was blind. His eyes were covered with milky cataracts.  But he seemed to have no trouble finding the door.

   “I followed the bright light,” he said, chuckling slightly, sensing the boy's wonder. “I can see light and dark, but all else is denied me.”

   “You said ‘nonsense,’” Cory reminded him gently reaching out to take his hand and lead him out into the glass tunnel.

   He glanced around. The old man was as white as the boy. In fact, all the people inside the cavern were extremely white.

   “I am aware of what I said,” the old man chuckled. “I am Charles Anthony Masterson. The young one here calls me Truthsayer.”

   “Because that is what you asked me to call you,” Virgil returned.

   “I did, indeed,” the old man said. “Now you must all listen to me.” He spoke more to those behind him than to the boys. “In the time of my grandfather we were led here to escape the conflagration that destroyed our enemies. The first few years … oh, you have forgotten what ‘years’ are, but you will learn again now the door is open … the first few years we were happy. Then John Weston became our leader. We called him ‘First One’, and we revered him. We married and had children. Slowly things changed. I remember when things were still pleasant and we lived together in harmony. I was very young then. As John Weston grew older, when I was very young, he forged a series of laws that began to exclude more and more from the faith. Soon, all too soon, we became what you saw when you found your mother, Virgil. Only the One Judge, his name is Elias Bloggett, could father children. That is a word you have forgotten, too. Virgil, One Judge is your father, just as Virginia Dare is your mother. Most of the young are your brothers and sisters. You will learn those words as well. The older officers were fathered by Ezra Maxwell, the previous One Judge. Before that was another, and another. What a travesty to the true faith. We let it happen, Virgil. All of you let it happen. But it's over now.”

Virgil looked up at the old man and smiled.

   “Thank you,” he said.

   “I have a number my father’s father told me to remember,” Charles Masterson said. “I do not know why. He told me to pass it on until the door was opened. The number must be given to those we meet in the before time. That would be you." He pointed directly at Cory. "Does the number 1863 mean anything to you?”

   “It’s a date,” Thomas said before anyone else could speak.

   “I was told to always remember that  number,” Charles gasped. “I was told it was when we were commissioned to organize a new colony in the south. I was told it was when the conflagration destroyed our enemies and we were led into the world of the faith. Now I have fulfilled my instructions I am poured out like roddenell on the down.”

   With that the old man sank slowly to his knees and laid down on the ground. He smiled and slowly closed his eyes.

   “Don’t leave me now, Truthsayer,” Virgil cried, sinking beside him. “I need you to help me through the time ahead. I need your help!"

   "Nonsense," the old man said weakly. "It is over for me. I have seen the light from the time before, and met people from that time. You will do well, Virgil. Thank you for being my friend."

   "I was your charge," Virgil cried.

   Whether the old man heard him or not was unclear. He slept on the glass threshold to the door. Virgil lay over him crying. After several minutes the woman introduced as Caretaker approached. She nodded to the boys, then knelt beside Virgil.

   "I am Marva Darnell," she said to the boys as she took Virgil's shoulders in her hands. "Virgil, he will sleep now. He is at peace. Come. We have much to do."

   She gently pulled him to his feet. She nodded behind her and two adults came forward and picked up the old man and took him back into the cavern.

   "Be gentle with him!" Virgil pleaded.

   Old One stepped forward and said, "You cannot give orders to anyone, whilrod!"