ALONE IN THE CLIFF

The Islanders pulled in their slender, bladeless oars. With the ship safely clear of the cave, it rode the swells of the western ocean.

The ship's massive figurehead bobbed up and down, rising toward the sky before plunging back down. Mindaza's stomach lurched in time with its motion. Perched atop the breeze, the eagle let out a harsh cry and started preening its feathers. A seagull swooped in for a closer look but thought better of approaching the formidable bird.

"Hoist the mainsail!"

Sulaya effortlessly commanded the crew to position a thirty-foot tall pine mast upright in the center of the ship.

Khallel shouted commands to tighten the stays and lift a cross-spar high up to stabilize the mast. Meanwhile, the crew unfurled a large red canvas sail that caught the wind, swelling majestically.

Granny Juana started a rhythmic chant that the rest joined in, synchronizing their rowing. This old woman knows the myth and some legends that living in the depts of oceans. The chant is to give them guidance on board allowing them to start the journey with the calmness of water.

At the stern, Khallel proudly steered the oar. Standing at the bow, Sulaya gazed ahead towards the island of Mindanao.

Mindaza swallowed hard as she watched her home island diminish into the distance. A pang of sadness washed over her as she realized her father would not be joining them on this journey, despite her mother's words.

"Do you have to say something, Mindaza?" Khallel asked softly, noticing her grief.

"I just miss my father. I'm so sad he's not coming with us," Mindaza replied wistfully.

"No matter where I go, this island will always be my home."

"One day you will return here, but for now you must face your fate," Khaled said, a gentle smile crossing his face.

"How about you? You live in Mindanao Island, the big kingdom compressed with many cities. What was it like?" Mindaza asked, but Khaled gave no answer. He simply smiled knowingly, lost in hopeful thoughts. But not later, he started to tell something.

"There are so many things that the Kingdom has, which possible you didn't experienced yet, but if you stay there, only you will realize that there is no permanent in this world. For now, just say goodbye to your beautiful Island, as your future is coming," Khallel said, and leave in front of her.

Mindaza felt conflicted. Though sad and uncertain at his abrupt departure, she also felt a thrill of excitement and wonder at the new experiences ahead.

The Spiral hunters navigated the waters for five hours, until the atmosphere shifted dramatically when foreboding dark clouds rolled in, accompanied by a strong wind that stirred up the waves, leaving them isolated in the tumultuous sea.

Mindaza looked at the people working together within the ship. She had known these people all her life, now, they sat hauling on the long oars as the ship rose and fell, dashing aside the waves from its sharp prow. The youngest was middle-aged, the oldest in her dotage, yet here they were, pulling lustily at the oars.

(Jeg.jeg.jeg.) Rushing sound of the wind.

"Mother, they are all wet now because of the rain, how can I help?" concerned Mindaza asked her mother, but Sulaya said,

"Don't worry, they will be fine. Soon the rain will stop."

Granny Juana made another chant. Verse after verse. Mindaza hears the one sentence, "Open the light and guide everyone for a journey on."

The moment she heard it, the crew seemed to move together, leaning in and pulling back with determination. Until there is a beam of sunlight emerged from the eastern horizon, dancing across the waves and scattering a multitude of sparkling reflections that illuminated their faces. In that instant, they transformed, shedding their identities as mere farmers and peat-cutters.

For the first time, Mindaza saw the hidden strength of these people. She saw the deep eyes and set mouths. She even wondered how these men and women would have looked ten or twenty years back then, when they were in their prime.

"Over there!" Sulaya informed her daughter Mindaza.

"That's where we are heading, Mindaza." She leaned closer to her daughter. "There, you will find your destiny."

A cluster of tiny islets emerged from the sea, their surfaces kissed by waves that crashed with a force, sending up a fine mist of spray and spindrift. The relentless westerly wind propelled the ship forward, guiding it through the tumultuous waters. As the waves gathered strength for their next assault, the ship rode the swell, continuing its journey until the tumult finally subsided.

The crew of the ship plunged their bow into towering waves, causing torrents of seawater to crash onto the deck. The deluge swept across the entire length of the ship, drenching every member of the crew, before spilling out through the scuppers in a dramatic display of nature's power.

Mindaza stretched her neck backwards as far as she could to view the cliffs, "Mother, why are we here?"

"We are here, so you can find your destiny, Mindaza."

Mindaza heard Khallel's rough laugh stop abruptly. "Why are you laughing?"

"No I didn't." Khallel immediately responded.

"I saw you laugh,"

"Never mind it, I am just curious about you," Khallel said. Mindaza sighed.

"Go, find your destiny," Sulaya repeated.

"But how do I do that?" Mindaza asked.

"It's your task to find it," Sulaya told her.

"Just be careful out there, don't trust anyone, you have to learn more about life. I know you are that smart sweetie..."

A sea swell raised the ship, causing it to surge up and closer to the rocks.

The voice came from above, faint, feminine, and familiar; just the words escaped Mindaza, despite her efforts to listen.

"What was that?" Mindaza asked. Sulaya held her gaze but said nothing.

"Mother, did you hear that?" Mindaza tried again. And nobody else among the people spoke. They avoided Mindaza's eyes as the voice came again, ethereal, drifting around her mind without the luxury of words.

"Okay, I am going onto the Island," Mindaza decided.

"Steer us closer, Khallel," Sulaya ordered quietly.

Mindaza noticed a little ledge a few feet above sea level mounting the rock at a sharp diagonal as the ship got closer to the island. She followed it with her gaze until it vanished, then mapped a path to the dizzying heights above.

"Stop," Mindaza said, wobbling on her bare feet as all the people bounced and rolled to the beat of the waves.

She cast a peek behind her, but the stranger who had been her mother said nothing. In that location of splintering waves and roaring wind, the voice she heard again, tantalizing, spooky.

Mindaza landed softly on the shore after a short leap from the ship to the island. She glanced up and balanced comfortably. What appeared to be a clear ledge from the ship was really a little crack with hardly enough room for her toes.

Mindaza looked over her shoulder, but all the people had backed away. She was about twenty yards offshore now, with Khallel holding the steering oar and all other eyes fixed on her.

The words came into her head, as clear as if somebody stood at her shoulder on that precarious ledge, reminding herself, she said, "I can do this, I have to find my own path, trust me mother!"

Mindaza's remarks were caught in the wind and carried away into the scudding clouds.

overhead.

She began to climb, searching for finger and toe holds with the unconscious skill she had honed on a hundred expeditions hunting birds' eggs on the cliffs. Twice she looked back over her shoulder, to see the ship further away, the wind was whipping spindrift from the surface of the lunging sea. There was nowhere to go, except going up.

As she climbed, the cliff seemed to rise before her, so the distance to the top never diminished; only the clouds seemed closer. The voice had gone, and now the only sounds were the howl of the wind and the crash and thunder of the waves against the rock.

The ledge stopped. One step there was a finger-wide ridge on which to balance, and then there was nothing except wind-smoothed granite stretching upward as far as she could see.

"What do I do now?" she asked nobody, but there were strange voices that came again saying, "Follow your destiny"

Mindaza heard the tartness in her voice.

She peered up again, blinked as water dropped from an overhang, and noticed a black smear fifteen feet above her head on the face of the cliff.

"That's a cave, but how can I go up there?" she wondered.

The cliff above was sheer rock save for a sliver of thorn-laden trailing bramble that the wind twisted this way and that.

Mindaza thought for a while now. She inhaled deeply. Later on she said, "There is no other option."