Grail Quest by D. Sallen Page B

what it is?”
    “Nooo. Give me creeps.   Strange creature.   Maybe spook.”
    “It looked real enough to me. Let’s see where it went”
    The edge of the underbrush was a tangle of berry vines, weeds, shrubs and trees. Having nothing to cut with but our knives and hatchets, getting through it seemed daunting. My saber was in the canoe, but I was reluctant to use it for chopping wood. As much as we could see over and through the thicket, there might be open spaces inside. Getting to them seemed more trouble than use. What did we care about a strange dog?
    “This place is a deep puzzle to me,” I said. “The natives say there were White Men here. Yet apart from the wall, there is no visible clue to their existence.”
    “Why anyone, white or red build this place?”
    “Good question. Let’s go back down to the ground   and see if we can get around it.”
    Following the wall from the shore side we came to an area of the forest that was thin enough to walk through. We made our way completely around the thicket to the west side. The thicket grew around and over the north end of the wall and mound. “I wonder if this density was encouraged for some reason. It seems like a deliberate barrier. Now I really wonder what it protects.”  
    “Maybe burial place for many dead white people. Maybe many ghosts.”
    “Whatever. Someone spent a lot of time and effort. Lets probe from the north end and see if there is some kind of hidden passage through there.”
    At the north end we split in opposite directions, each looking   for a way through. By climbing a tree I saw what looked like a break in the underbrush within reach. I climbed out on a limb as far as I dared, and dropped to the ground in a crouch.
    I started to rise up. My world turned black.
     
    When I could see again, I sat expertly trussed to a tree…looking at an apparition. “Who are you?” I said.
    Facing me at a distance of about thirty paces was a startling figure. A Natural girl with flaming red hair gazed at me. She appeared to be very tall, taller than most Natural men, wore only an apron and carried a bow. A quiver of arrows hung at her side.
    She said something I couldn’t understand. Holding a copper knife she came over to grab my hair and pull my head up. She was going to scalp me! I jerked my head out of her hand. I twisted to free myself. Nothing doing. Her bonds held.
    She waved her hand at me, put the knife aside, and smiling, said something I couldn’t understand. She examined the cause of my head ache. Pulling up my shirt she looked at my body. Something puzzled her. She scrapped a fingernail across my stomach. After tugging my beard, she shrugged and then stepped back.
    Gazing at me, beside her sat the smiling dog. Must be her pet. Trying to suggest she free me, I struggled gently against my bonds. She just chuckled. I wondered where Moyock was. Sure could use his sign language now.
    “Moyock! Moyock,” I hollered.”
    Then in the distance I heard him. “Squire, Squire, where are you?”
    “In the thicket! I’m prisoner of a huge girl! Be careful. She has a companion. I haven’t seen him.”
    I heard Moyock again. “Squire. The big dog is out here. I think he wants me to follow him. I think he is very odd. I do not like this.”
    “Moyock, he was in here with me and the girl. I don’t know where my flintlock is. Arm yourself with my pistol and saber.”
    The Amazon laughed. Since we were at an impasse I studied my captor. I guessed she was in her twenties, had a comely face with high cheekbones. Her   skin was slightly darker than Moyock’s but nowhere as red as most Naturals. She was very fit and muscular for a female… and very pretty. She utterly fascinated me: A Red-Indian Athena. Could she be a remnant of the Welsh? Certainly her hair and skin color differed from most Naturals. Was she the girl of my dreams…and why?
    A while later I heard Moyock again. “I not afraid of girl. I follow dog.”
    The Amazon laughed.