The Wizards of Xitt

The Wizard Stones

CHAPTER SEVEN

The Wizard Stones

Waikiki beach had never been this deserted, Kaila thought as he killed the engine of the Hyundai Centauri. The car had rumbled to a halt besides a four-poled building serving as a shop. The building was in front of the yet to be completed Trump Towers. From where they were, the beach was in good view and if not for the scanty barricades of coconuts here and there, it would have been a perfect vantage point.

Kaila chanced a look at Malena, he knew she was anything but the calm dovey-eyed princess she appeared to be. And he knew that was in part due to the place itself. Waikiki beach was one of those magical places on earth capable of enticing, intriguing and humbling in the same measure.

A number of violent waves lifted the frothy blue ocean water and slammed it against the shores. A local surfer was trying to evade being rolled over by the billows.

“Are you coming Kyle or not?” Malena asked, she was leaning against the open window of the passenger side. Kaila had not heard her alight.

“Sure, I am. One minute.” Kaila squeaked without much co-ordination.

Malena smiled at him and turned towards the Wizards stones.

Kaila wound up the glasses, stepped out of the car, and ran after her.

“Where all but one elements briefly meet. Where rest the might of four great men. Is laid the twelve-eyed orb of monstrous height, to be queried long before sundown.” Malena was reading from the felt. Kaila fell into step with her.

“What do you think is this monstrous orb?” Kaila asked.

“I have no inkling.” Malena replied.

They strolled to where the four basalt boulders sat upon their lava rock bed. The stones were among the most sacred items in Hawai’i. According to popular belief, each of the wizard or Kahuna stone, which weighs several tons, carried the power of one of four mysterious and powerful healers. These men came to Hawai’i and lived in Waikiki sometime before the Fifteenth Century. They cured and educated the people of Waikiki, and after many years, they wished to return home.

The men asked the people to erect four monuments made of bell stone. The bell stone was a type of basalt rock that was found in Kaimuki quarry and produced a bell-like ringing when struck. The healers then spent about a month or so transferring their spiritual healing powers or mana to the wizard stones.

Kaila and Malena drew up at the gate. The lava rock serving as platform was rounded. Kaila turned a knowing look at Malena.

“That not an orb Kyle, that’s a circle.”

Orb! An idea struck Kaila. He remembered one mad derelict who was shouting the last time he had come here. The man was talking of finding what the wizards did not want anyone else to see. “Come on Malena, I know someone who can help us.”

Kaila scanned the whole environment, but without much success at finding the derelict.

“Let’s go down the beach,” he suggested and headed off without turning to see if Malena was following. He had remembered that the man loved comparing himself with the statue of George.

George was a local surfer who was believed to have thought the ancient people of Waikiki the act of Surfing. In memory of him, the people erected his life-size statue upon a rock. Behind the statue, they had placed a skateboard and guiding arrows on either side.

On reaching the statue of George, Kaila found the man measuring his height with George. He was dressed like George in a shorts and yellow leaves slippers. He also hung a coronet of flowers around his neck, but unlike George did not carry another coronet in his hand.

“I would say George is taller.” Kaila began.

“Who dea you!” The man returned jumping down from the rock.

“But I believe you are wiser.” Kaila amended.

“Nau you talking,” the man said redressing his flower. “Mad maen!”

Kaila could not help the smile that crawled to his lips.

The man bent down and picked up an arrow on the floor. He raised his head and it seemed he was just becoming aware of Malena’s presence. “Hu dis ‘kinny sista. Me not tok to sista!”

Kaila turned a pleading look at Malena to understand. “Sista not skinny.”

“Drink tu mach mad maen, ‘se Pilau drink tu mach gingin.” The man began to laugh uncontrollably. “Them se Pilau drink tu mach aelkahol.” He continued his laughter, produced a small bottle from his pocket and drained its content. “Dem se Pilau ste in da shchrit. Dem not si mad maen.” He laughed on.

“Pilau?” Kaila interjected. The man gave him a wary look. “Ai want to know what the wizards hide.”

“Ow wizard mad maen, come.” The man threw his bottle away.

Kaila followed the man onto one of the street, he was so close, and they seemed to fall into step. Malena meanwhile, was a little far behind.

“Deaz dis old grim maen. Come tu da pleiz. Him nat ste lon, not tok tu, just luk and go!” Pilau was explaining.

“Him luk how?” Kaila quizzed.

“Luk laik dem wen pein hiz skin. Waite head, lon noze. Him nat come from hia for shua.”

Kaila waited for Malena to catch up. “They’ve already been here.”

“I don’t believe they’ll know what they’re looking for. Remember, when they took the Advent Calendar, they did not know the clue would be in that image.” Malena reasoned.

“Maybe there are other clues, other pathways.”

“We will follow ours.” Malena asserted firmly.

“Dass it!” The man called out. He was standing over what looked like the cover of a sewer pipe. He opened it and jumped inside.

Kaila followed suit, then Malena. She put the cover back on.

The place was dark but the man kept going. Malena panicked but Kaila placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She produced her cell phone and the faint light was somewhat enough for them to see where they were going. They followed quietly after the derelict. He was singing one ill-tuned song that did not make any meaning; Kaila believed the man composed the song himself.

After about five minutes, the man stopped and turned to face one side of the walls. Kaila stopped some considerable distance behind the man, just in case of anything. The man tried turning a huge stone handle, and a stone door swung open. The man hopped in, Kaila dawdled a bit before following suit. For some reason, he was getting scared and wanted to tell Malena to go wait for him outside. He knew Malena however, the young woman’s spirits flourished where danger reigned, and she will never back out of anything for fear’s sake.

The tunnel led them on and on. Then, without warning it expanded into a small circular chamber. Malena stepped out from behind Kaila; it seemed her initial fears had evaporated. Kaila looked round trying to find his sense of direction. He suspected that the chamber was directly under the four wizard stones.

The derelict produced a lighter from his pocket and lighted a torch. Kaila could not believe his eyes; the place was full of ancient relics of any type of metal imaginable. There were gold coins and some other artifacts Kaila could not quite fathom.

The wall was desecrated by images, which mostly depicted the four elements. The images of the wind seemed largest and occupied most of the walls.

Malena walked away from them but Kaila did not notice. He and the derelict were taking close looks at the images on the wall. A particular image that was not any of the elements, it depicted strange rituals. As Kaila moved the torch slightly round the circle he found more rituals related images, a wide array of plants, and animals considered sacred in Honolulu.

Somehow, Kaila knew that the four healers did spend some time in the chamber. Probably, when they were transferring their powers to the stone. Kaila’s leg struck something; he took the torch from the derelict and shone it at the floor. He saw it; a huge circle on the floor with eight closed eyes.

“Malena?” Kaila called out, Malena did not stir. She was transfixed by whatever she was looking at. Kaila bent down and wiped off most of the dust from the circle mumbling “...the twelve-eyed orb of monstrous height.”

“The oda maen se nat ta tach.” The derelict said bending down too.

Kaila noticed that one of the eyes was not quite closed. He thought it was dust collecting inside it. But the dust did not clean off, Kaila realized he was looking at a shallow hole with something inside. He removed what was inside; a felt material. He jumped for joy.

Malena turned.

“I got another clue!” Kaila boasted. “Strike me as hard as the sun, and should I cry out, your wars are done.”

Malena pondered over it. “This is a clue, but not the next one.”

“What do you mean?”

“That’s our next clue.” Malena said pointing to the wall. Kaila shone the torch at it.   ‘Like the four-faced monster I stand aright,      watching every corner of my plains. On each face are twelve blinded eyes for sight. Three faces, I give my own. One to the intruders to my plains. And to you stranger, with this face I speak.’

“Aloha watch tower.” Malena said authoritatively.

“I don’t understand,” Kaila said.

“In ancient times, before the advent of flying, everyone who came to Honolulu came through Pearl Harbour. According to many people, the first thing you see when coming in from the sea, is the Aloha watchtower. It is like a welcome beacon, and need I remind you, it is a four-faced monsters and a clock which graces its four sides is twelve-eyed.

Kaila had heard enough, he turned to the derelict and gave him back the torch. He fished in his back pocket for his wallet, extracted some notes, which he gave Pilau. “Get anything you want Pilau, you’ve been very helpful.” He turned to Malena and smiled. “I guess you already know what I’m gonna say.”

“No need for words, come on.”

He took Malena’s hand and they walked back to where the Hyundai Centauri was parked, got in and he zoomed off.

Barely minutes might have passed as Kaila pulled up under the shade of a large Banyan tree. They both alighted in great haste. Kaila remembered that on weekdays, the shade usually served as a market place for many. One can always buy a bazaar of clothes, jewelries, souvenirs from O’ahu’s colourful merchants under the trees.

Malena had already crossed to the other side of the road when Kaila caught up with her. She was reciting the lines she had seen in the chambers. Kaila sighed, he really hoped, he would have his Malena back when all this was over.

Tall coconuts and date trees cast unwelcoming shadows over them. Kaila took in a small round signboard. “ALOHA TOWER MARKET PLACE.” Below it, ‘PIER SIO PARKING’ was pasted to a stone slab.

Aloha Tower Market Place stood beside Aloha tower clock. They could see the harbour on the down side and a small white naval ship anchored nearby.

Aloha Tower stood out monstrously tall as the clue had hinted. It was four-sided and the side facing them was jealously guarded by varying sizes of palm trees. White security light poles also lined the path and Malena came to a stop just by one of them.

“Do you have any idea what we are looking for?” Kaila asked.

“Nope. Three faces I give to my own, one to intruders. And to you stranger, with this face I speak.” Malena closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she re-opened her eyes however, she was breathless.

Kaila knew those signs too well.

“Kyle?”

“Speak Leena, I’m listening.”

“We are strangers and the part of the clock to intruders is speaking to us.”

“That’s the other side, the side facing the harbour.”

They sprinted off towards that side of the Watchtower.

“So what’s it supposed to be telling us now?” Kaila said in a frustrated tone after he had looked at the clock continuously for close to ten minutes.

Malena too was getting frustrated, and Kaila could read that she was trying not to show it.

Kaila sat on a stone boulder in the grassy area. Malena kept phrasing and rephrasing the clue. Once or twice, she recited from the back and another time, she recited it in a song.

“At least, let’s get a cup of coffee from one of the harbour side restaurant. In fact, we can watch from there till this clock is ready to speak.” Kaila suggested.

Malena did not reply or say anything; she just kept looking at the clock. However, when Kaila started towards the restaurant, she followed.

They sat beside a window; the clock of the Watchtower was still visible from there. Kaila ordered prawns and Gilly fish, to be washed down with black coffee. Malena said anything was okay by her, so the waitress decided to give her what Kaila was having.

Solemn hour after solemn hour passed, and Kaila tried repeatedly to inject humour into their wait. He tried a few jokes that could not even attract Malena’s attention, let alone, relax the taut line her lush lips had become.

“Come on Leena, give it a rest. One speech would not deafen us from hearing what Mr. Clock has to say.”

Malena turned. “What did the felt say.”

Kaila reached into his pocket and brought out the felt material he had recovered from the chamber. He was about reading it when Malena stopped him.

“The other one.”

Kaila thought hard, could that last felt had borne more than one clue?

“...is laid the twelve-eyed orb of monstrous height.”

“To be queried long before sundown.” Kaila completed in Unison with Malena.

That was it. The clock was speaking, they had not heard.

“How do we query a clock?” Malena asked.

Kaila thought for a minute. “The hand, we query the hands.”

“Long before sundown.” Malena mused.

“Not noon.” Kaila thought aloud, “it would have been easy to say shortly before or after noon.”

“So we are looking at a time between two and four. I would suggest three p. m.”

Kaila closed his eyes and opened them. “We are not looking for time Leena, we are looking for directions. If you say three p. m. Then the short hand should be directing us somewhere.

“That’s east Malena observed. “Could be anywhere east.”

“Not anywhere,” Kaila maintained. “Since it is possible that one felt can contain more than a clue. We might try reversing that.” Kaila said and dropped the felt material in his hands.

Malena read aloud “Strike me as hard as the sun. And should I cry out, your wars are done”

“Come on Leena, what cries when struck?” Kaila asked.

Malena looked him straight in the eyes.

“What makes a sound when struck?”

“Kaila if you know something, tell me.”

“I’m still on the path...”

Malena thought again. “A bell makes a sound when struck.”

“And what happens when there is no war?”

“Why? There is peace.”

Kaila withdrew his wallet and extracted enough money that would be enough to cover their meals, with some leftovers. He signaled to the waitress, then turned to a ruminating Malena as he rose. “Come Leena, we are going east. We are going to the Valley of the Temples.”

“The Bell of Peace!” Malena mouthed happily, before following after him.

Kaila discarded the Hyundai Centauri along the road and made it to the temple grounds on foot. Across the wooden bridge, Malena fell into step with him. Apparently, she was still thinking of what they will find within the Temple grounds.

The Caretaker, a man with a starchy moustache met them over the bridge. It seemed, he was showing a few people around the Temple grounds.

“Peace unto you my dear. I am Mr. Ohara, the caretaker; we are doing a guided tour as you can see. If you don’t mind joining us.” The man said in a tone that made him more important than he really was.

“We’ll really love to sir,” Malena began, “but we just came to lay a request...” She lied.

“Oh, go ahead.” Mr. Ohara directed them towards the temple. “This way.” He said to his charges.

“Malena struck the Peace Bell twice. “Come on,” she said.

“I’ve a strong hunch that whatever we are looking for is on this bell.” Kaila said stubbornly.

“Then have a look.”

Kaila looked round the large blue bell caged inside what seemed a miniature temple. There was nothing on the bell and it did not seem like the final destination of their quest was going to be a bell. A temple it seemed more likely.

“Nothing, right?” Malena prompted.

“Yeah.” Kaila replied and followed her down towards the Byodo-in Temple.

Between the meditation pavilion and the temple, there was a pond. They saw peacocks fluffing their feathers some considerable distance from the pond. The place was serene and relaxing and the Ko’olau Mountains seemed to confer on it some divine security.

Malena led the way into the temple. The Amida or Lotus Buddha sat facing the entrance door in his gold linen. The temple was believed to be a replica of a nine hundred and fifty years old temple located in Uji, in the Kyoto region of Japan.

Malena characteristically sat on the floor, Kaila followed suit and pretended to be meditating.

They searched the temple with their eyes for a better part of twenty minutes. They found nothing that caught their eyes or attention. As always, Kaila had already given up.

Soon, there were footsteps and a man dressed in traditional Japanese attire entered. Kaila reckoned him to be the Temple Keeper or Bishop, but he did not risk turning a glance.

After a few seconds, Malena pretended to have finished her supplications and stood up to go. Kaila waited for her to get outside before he too rose to go.

Meanwhile, the Bishop was making his own supplications and pretended not to notice them.

Malena spoke to Kaila with her eyes. There was nothing inside the temple; they would have seen something to lead them. That left the peace bell, and they were already heading for it.

“Madam?” A heavy Oriental-accented voice called behind them as they neared the pond.

They both turned to behold the Bishop, a short old Japanese man. Malena greeted him in a traditional Japanese way. Kaila imitated.

“You look troubled in the soul,” the Bishop began.

Malena nodded.

“Lord Buddha hears all our supplications, and makes answers in his own time.”

Malena nodded again.

“But you must worry no more. Take the birds for instance, the neither toil nor strife. Yet Lord Buddha provides the sesame seed and other crops for their nutrition.”

Malena nodded her understanding.

“May the good Lord Buddha go with you.”

Malena nodded her affirmation.

The man nodded too and turned back to the temple.

“You really did fool yourself there Leena.” Kaila commented once they were out of earshot.

“I guess someone bought it.” Malena boasted and led the way to the Peace Bell.

They searched everywhere they could mostly with eyes. Kaila managed to check under the stone slap upon which the cage rested, but his effort returned nothing. For the first time since they began the quest, Malena was showing signs of giving up.

An idea struck Kaila. “What about inside?”

“There’s something in here.” Malena said with elation.

“What?” Kaila squatted beside her doubled figure.

“Numbers, letters, I’m not sure. I think it’s another clue. We need a camera Kaila.”

“Then let’s get one.”

The tour group had dispersed. Two or three people gathered at some sites of the temples exploring, or doing whatever they were doing. Mr. Ohara, the caretaker was going towards the temple when Kaila called out.

“Dear boy, what can I do for you.” The caretaker said after he had turned to face them.

“I need a camera.” Kaila said matter-of-factly.

“Cameras are not allowed on this temple grounds without the Bishop’s permission.” The caretaker returned.

“That’s why I’m seeking your permission and your camera.” Kaila pressed on.

“Maybe, your hearing is not quite as efficient as it should be.”

“Nothing is wrong with my hearing Mr. Ohara.” Kaila stated calmly.

“Then you should have known that a Bishop begins with a ‘B’ and a caretaker with a ‘C’.”

“I’m of the opinion that a caretaker can deputize a Bishop.”

“Apparently that’s not the case Mr.?”

“Maentel,” Kaila supplied. He withdrew his wallet and extracted a note. “A hundred bucks says that might be the case, if ‘C’ doesn’t let it slip into ‘B’s’ hearing mechanism.”

“Come this way Mr. Maentel.” The caretaker led them to a small hut that should serve as his office.

Malena threw Kaila a disbelieving look. Kaila could not tell if it was for trying to bribe a temple Caretaker or for pulling off such stunt.

“I insist on knowing what picture you’re going to be taking Mr. Maentel.” Mr. Ohara said icily.

“There are codes of interest to me under the Peace Bell. A hundred bucks more if you upgrade the camera and the lease.” Kaila said producing another hundred-dollar bill from his wallet. He dropped both notes on the cane table at one end of the hut.

Mr. Ohara brought out a digital camera from one small cupboard that also contained coffee mugs. “You pretend to be striking the bell.” He instructed. “And leave the camera by the bell before two...”

“Thank you.” Kaila said and turned to Malena. “Now we have a camera.”

Kaila snapped under the bell two, three times before leading Malena back to the car.

“21˚30’28’N  158˚2’22’W.” Malena read aloud.

“Coordinates!” Kaila thought aloud. “I guess we need a computer now.”

“Trust me, you won’t be checking coordinates on a computer right now.” Malena countered.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“’Cos you’ll set off a terror bell, and every man and woman in Uniform will be coming after you.”

Kaila made a face that showed he did not understand her.

“Listen Kaila, last week I stumbled upon some of my mother’s secret files. The entire United States Secret Service, FBI and Police Departments are searching for a network of Terrorists who communicate by using coordinates as codes. And every computer connected to a registered server is now closely monitored for coordinates. We can’t afford to waste anymore time dodging the feds or my mum’s people. We’ve already lost too much time as it is.”

Kaila heaved a heavy sigh, the sun was already setting beyond the range of mountains. “What are you suggesting we do?”

“I don’t know!” Malena said dejectedly. Then, her eyes sparkled. “Perhaps we, I mean, I could use my mother’s computer.” She suggested. “It is probably not under monitoring and should be connected to the State’s server.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea Malena.”

“You have a better one?”

“No.”

“Then it’s as good as the best.”

“But what if...” Kaila was going to protest further, but suddenly found Malena’s lips on his. When they broke apart, he was dazed.

It took a long time for either of them to speak, and when the words did come. They were more of a command than the suggestion it was.

“You’ll drop me off at my house and go home. If things work out well, I’ll call you. If it does not, I’ll still call you, okay?”

“I guess so.” Kaila had to agree. He turned the key in the ignition and took one last look at the Bell of Peace, under the faint light of dusk, before zooming off.