Kuélap

The journey to Kuélap began with fog.

Not a little haze over the mountains. Proper fog. White, cold, and so dense that Perusino bumped into the same bush twice, each time pretending he was checking it intentionally.

"Stable," he said the second time, rubbing his forehead.

Franz walked ahead of them. His red scarf was dry again, but the stone bead in his pocket clinked with every step.

Click.

Click.

Click.

"It's been doing that for an hour," Franz mumbled. "Either it's leading us to Kuélap or it's counting my last nerves."

Perusina stopped. A wall emerged from the fog in front of them. Tall. Dark. Mighty. Stone upon stone, as if someone had tamed a mountain and turned it into a fortress.

Kuélap.

Perusino fell silent. Even Franz said nothing.

Then the stone bead grew warm.

So warm that Franz jumped in alarm. "Ouch! My adventure bit me!"

Perusina carefully took the bead from his pocket. Three small circles and a line shimmered on its surface.

"Like on your scarf," she said.

"Yes, I remember that very personal annoyance."

At the entrance, the fog blew aside. For a moment, they saw a narrow wall passage leading inward between high stone walls.

Perusino grinned. "We'll fit through there."

Two minutes later, he was stuck.

Not badly. But clearly.

His backpack was jammed between the stones. Perusino's head was visible at the front. His shoes were visible at the back. In between, indignant breathing could be heard.

"I'm not stuck," he said. "I'm just examining both walls simultaneously."

Franz sat in front of him. "Very thoroughly."

Perusina sighed, loosened the backpack strap, and pulled. Perusino popped out of the passage like a cork from a bottle, landing on his stomach.

As he did, the stone bead fell from Perusina's hand.

It rolled.

Slowly at first.

Then faster.

"No!" cried Perusina.

The bead tumbled across the ground, bounced over a root, disappeared into a round stone circle, and made a perfect loop there.

Perusino got up. "That was intentional. From the bead. Not from me."

The round stone circle was not a well. Not a playground. It was the foundation of an old house. Round, made of stones, open to the sky.

The bead rolled along the edge.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Then it stopped in one spot and glowed faintly.

Perusina knelt down. "The circles on the bead are round houses."

Franz looked around. More round foundations appeared everywhere in the fog. One after another. Like dots on a map.

"Then the line is the wall," said Perusino.

Then they heard children's voices.

Not nearby.

From further up.

"This way!"

"No, that way is faster!"

Then a clattering.

Perusina jumped up. "Someone's there."

They ran.

The fog made Kuélap seem bigger than it was. Walls appeared and disappeared again. Round house ruins lay like gray wheels in the grass. Llamas would not have been a surprise here. Neither would ghosts.

Franz ran ahead, nose to the ground. "I smell wet shoes, fear, and corn cakes."

"Focus on fear," cried Perusina.

"I can do both!"

They reached an old path between two remnants of walls. There stood two children from a village, perhaps nine or ten years old. A boy held a stick. A girl carried a basket. In front of them, a narrow path led along a stone wall.

A stone loosened.

Then another.

Perusino's eyes widened. "Get out of the way!"

He rushed forward, slipped on wet grass, and slid directly towards the children. The girl jumped back. The boy stumbled.

Franz shot under Perusino, grabbed the basket handle with his teeth, and pulled. Corn cakes flew into the air.

"Not the cakes!" cried Perusino as he slid.

Perusina reached the boy, pulled him away from the edge, just as a larger stone crashed onto the path.

Silence.

Then everyone breathed at once.

The girl looked at Perusina. "We just wanted to take the short way."

Perusina pointed to the wall. "The short way can be the wrong one."

Then the stone bead in her hand grew hot.

Not warm.

Hot.

It almost fell from Perusina's fingers and rolled on its own. The fog spirits now appeared not as large figures, but only as hands of mist on the stones. They pointed to round house foundations, to wall edges, to places where grass obscured the old path.

"They're showing the right way," said Perusina.

Perusino looked back at the collapsed path. "Then they'd better show it quickly."

Because now they heard voices from below. Visitors were coming up. If they took the wrong turn, they would walk directly to the crumbling spot.

Perusina acted immediately. "We need a sign."

"I have one!" cried Franz.

He pulled off his red scarf.

"Franz, no!" said Perusino. "Your scarf is almost a personality!"

Franz tied it to a low stone post next to the safe path. The three circles and the wall line were still faintly visible on it.

"Then let it work today," said Franz.

Perusino stood on the other side and waved at the visitors. "This way! Not there! The mountain is falling apart there!"

"A little quieter," said Perusina.

"This way!" Perusino called more quietly. "The mountain is just in a bad mood!"

The children helped. They laid small stones as path markers. Franz sniffed out the safe trail. Perusina followed the stone bead to a round house foundation, in the center of which was a small depression.

Exactly the size of the bead.

She placed it in.

For a breath, everything stopped.

Then the fog receded.

Not completely. But enough.

The wall of Kuélap became visible. The round foundations now lay clearly before them. The wrong path disappeared into the fog; the right path lay bright between stones and grass.

The fog spirits stood on the wall.

Still.

Then they bowed their heads.

Perusino whispered, "Did we just pass a test?"

Franz looked at his scarf, fluttering on the stone post. "My scarf passed. We were just there."

The girl with the basket picked up a corn cake and handed it to Franz.

"For the rescuer."

Franz accepted it very dignifiedly.

Perusina gazed over the walls of Kuélap. "Now I understand. The fog spirits weren't protecting a treasure."

"But the path," said Perusino.

"And the people who use it," said Perusina.

Behind them, something clinked.

The stone bead lay next to Franz's paw again.

Only the mark on it had disappeared.

Franz carefully lifted it. "Does that mean it's empty?"

A soft rustling came from the fog. Almost like laughter.

Then a new small dot appeared on the bead.

Further away.

Further up.

Perusino groaned. "Oh no."

Franz chewed his corn cake.

"I'll only say it once: If this bead rolls off again, it should at least take a lunch break first."