THE SEARCH FOR THE LAND OF GOLD

CHAPTER FOUR

THE SEARCH FOR THE LAND OF GOLD

The living standard of the Tolen's family had been improved after the new appointment of Mr. Tolen as a chief security.

Time rolled by and passed away.

The youngest among the three siblings was now sixteen years old. The passion of searching and locating the land of gold had grown up with them. They were ever determined to locate the land and get the best of the gold out of it unhurt by whatever sinister creatures said to inhabit it. Now, as teenagers, they had enough freedom to leave the house at whims.

As such, it would no longer be a problem if they engaged in search for the land of gold. Since leaving home at will was no longer a problem to them, Charley had been able to execute one of the plans mooted for discovery of the strange land of gold. Mr. Tolen had left for office while his wife had gone and dropped Mary at school. The three youths had taken off at the early part of the day from their home at Zinatano city. They didn't stop until they had fully approached the paths leading into the forest.

"Hey, Charley, I remember this place" shouted Pete. "Pete, it's been a very long time since we came here," remarked Jenny.

"It is certain Jenny, this was the T-Junction where we separated and went different ways, only to find ourselves in the spot later. Do you remember, Charley? Pete observed.

"Yes, Pete, but this time we won't split. We will stay together till we are in the sight of those mysterious walls," said Charley. Pete and Jenny acquiesced. Charley hurried them up to increase their pace. He said they must reach a certain point in their search before the sun went down. The three of them hurried along the stone filled foot path, taking note of every object and sign that would aid them in their way back. As they took a turn down the steep hilly path leading downwards straight to Kalkulta city, behold strange and old walls suddenly appeared before them. They were tiled and stretched straight ahead of them.

"Pete, Jenny we've found the walls. But I cannot see the land of gold," Charley said. Just as they made a few more steps ahead, an amazingly bright light glowed a little distance ahead of them. They excitedly shouted: "that's the land of gold we have found it."

"Those large golden gates with the statues on both sides must be the entrance into the land of gold," said Charley.

"Look!" Pete pointed to his right and left sides where two posts stood erect with the instructions "Danger Zone. Keep off". They stopped for a while to take a deep breath contemplating whether to go further or turn back. As they deliberated on what would be their next action, Pete said:

"Charley, Jenny, do you recall what Uncle Benet used to say whenever he was about to leave after paying us a visit?

"No!" answered Charley and Jenny.

"The race is not for the swift but for he who can endure it". "What does that imply," asked Jenny.

"Well I think this warning signs were put here to scare anyone who would want to enter into the land of gold. A lot of goodies must be in there," Pete observed.

"I think you are right, Pete," said Charley.

"Let's return home now," Jenny cried out loud.

"Common, we have long wished for this day. Just imagine what great wealth could be lying in there if we could succeed in getting inside and are able to get enough gold. When we return home everyone would be proud of us," said Charley. "We would be the talk of the day and the city. Remember papa said all the people who entered but never returned are from Kalkulta city! We would be the first people, youths as we are, to have entered the land of gold and returned alive. With so many riches we could buy the whole city," Charley concluded.

"This place is so beautiful, look how everything behind those golden gates glows, I don't think it could ever get dark in there," Pete observed. "The statues and paintings on those old walls are all gold. And how attractive they look!

They took thorough observation of the strange land. They looked ahead to where land of gold was written on the walls in gold. "Wow!" Charley and Pete exclaimed.

"This could mean that the whole place has all its structures made from pure solid gold, if we do succeed in entering into the land and we are able to come out, we would all become rich! I recall papa saying, gold brings wealth," Jenny observed at the same time pointing directly towards the direction of the two large gates with the two massive statues made from gold.

"Hey, Pete and Jenny, let me go across those bridges to the other side of the walls, I want to picture those paintings of strange creatures on those walls," Charley cried out in a loud voice. He gradually drifted away from his siblings, moving forward and deeper along the boundary that separated the path leading through the gates into the land of gold.

As he gradually drew close to the walls, he felt a chill all around him and was covered with goose pimples. He momentarily remembered what their father had earlier told them about the land of gold and how it had a mysterious effect that sometimes made intruders into the land experience a sense of hypnotism. They perceived that their minds were being controlled by certain unforeseen forces as they gazed at the reflection of the golden statues by the radiance of sunshine. 

The radiation of these objects attracted those who found themselves in this strange land and compelled them to go further and deeper into it until they could not find their way back. They wandered inside until they came across the statues of sinister creatures that when one torched them they come alive, killing any living thing in their part after which their victims turn into golden statue.

Apart from turning to statues, the creatures terrorised or killed their victims in their bid to escape from the land of gold. And in most cases missing people in the land were lured by their greed and desire to acquire more and more wealth by gathering the solid gold, golden mini-statues and gold dust that littered the hallways, corridors and passages that led to the interior part of the land. By this deeper adventure, they missed their ways and found it difficult or impossible to trace their way out. As such, coming back to the outside world with their riches was rendered impossible.

Those who died in the land of gold also became statues made of gold. They remained golden statues for as long as the land existed. However, it was said if good people innocently entered the land and touched the statues of good people like them before they turned to statues, they turned to the human beings they were before their misfortunes. The same happened to statues of monsters and all the terrorizing beastlike creatures or serpents as well as paintings of golden images on the old walls that surrounded the land.

It was rumoured that when the statue of an innocent person transformed back to a human form, he helped to set free the trapped persons in the land and thereafter lead them out. However, how to know a good person among the statues when it was in a solid statue form and touch it posed a great difficulty. The sad thing was that none of the three – Charley, Pete or Jenny – knew about these secrets, except for the existence of statues of strange creatures and gold in different forms that would make anyone wealthy or rich.

As Charley made the last step across the bridge leading to the walls with painting on the other side, he was confronted by the awe and beauty this paintings on the walls presented. Pete and Jenny had gone into the gates leading into the land of gold. Inside these walls, they could only see gold in the form of statues, paintings and illuminating golden walls, doors, passageways that seemed to have been made as access paths into the maze-like chambers in the land of gold.

"Wow! This place is beautiful," Jenny said to Pete. "The walls are all made of gold. Look at all those entrances to those passageways or corridors; they have steps and an arrow drawn on the wall," she further observed.

"Hold on Jenny," Pete replied. "We have to return to the outside of the gates quickly and call Charley to come and see how beautiful this place looks." Then suddenly, they heard a scream that sounded like the voice of Charley. Jenny and Pete hurried back to where the scream had come from. If Charley had run into trouble, they could help him out.

Charley had touched and felt the paintings of these strange creatures one after the other, not realising he was in for a big surprise. At some point, he had heard strange sounds and movements behind him. He had thought they were Pete and Jenny trying to frighten him. But as he turned to look behind him, behold all sorts of frightening creatures he had touched their paintings had all come alive. They were all heading straight for him. He had screamed for help.

By the time Pete and Jenny approached where Charley was, they found him lying dead on the floor gradually turning to a statue. Both of them screamed as they helplessly watched their brother turn to a golden statue from a distance. They could not believe their eyes. While they were still watching, Jenny screamed and called out to Pete to look at his side. When Pete looked, behold a massive serpent was crawling towards their direction.

They leapt into the air in their bid to make escape from the advancing serpent. They ran towards the bridge they had climbed into the other side of the land where their brother just died, leaving Charley who had now turned to a statue of gold behind.

As they both approached the entrance at the gates, there were all forms of creeping, crawling and monstrous creatures advancing towards them from behind where Charley died. Any attempt now to advance out of the land would be impossible and futile, since the evil creatures had taken over the path they had earlier followed into the land.

The only option that left to them was to retreat to where they had been when they heard Charley screaming for help before the advancing creatures struck them to death. They ran fast as much as their legs could carry them towards the golden gates so they could close it behind them. Pete and Jenny turned and started pushing the gates so as to close it back quickly.

As the last gap came to a seal between both massive structured golden gates at the entrance, the gates suddenly became one solid massive structure, like a gold wall from the inside with no possible means of passing through to go outside the land again. They drew backward and noticed a veranda with a tiled pavements and steps; they sat on the steps. Behind them was a locked golden door.

"Oh God, Charley is dead," cried Pete. "There is a serious trouble outside those gates, Jenny. We cannot go out there. The animals or creatures had all come alive. Those paintings of snakes, beasts and monstrous creatures are all alive in large and different sizes," Pete concluded.

"What do we do now?" Jenny asked. She had now begun to cry silently. The urge to go back home and see her mother seized her. "I am going back home right," she blindly and impulsively said. She suddenly noticed some holes on the walls and alerted Pete about them. She was afraid that the creature could come in through the holes. "Pete what do we do?" Jenny said calmly. "I am not going anywhere Pete! I will wait here until those ugly creatures leave the place.

I warned you and Charley before he was killed by those things not to enter into the land of gold but you wouldn't listen. If you two had listened to me, we would not have been in this kind of trouble. You caused all this; it's all because of your selfish and get-rich-quick idea! Now you can see what you have brought upon us, we cannot go out there otherwise we get killed. When I get home, that is, if I ever do, I will let Mom and Papa know it was all your idea and your fault Pete.

"Why don't you stop being pessimistic? We need a plan to get out of this place alive. There is no time for you to lament over our predicaments, rather I think we should be more focused on getting a good plan on how to get out of this place Jenny. Getting me reported to Mom and Papa can be possible only if we find a way out of this siege. You can only go and make your report when we are able to get out of the walls."

Jenny noticed the creatures were coming in to them through the holes. She alerted Pete and ran to the open entrances into the golden chambers as quickly as their feet could carry them.

They began to run further into the Land of Gold, just as it had been said that once you found yourself in the land, you could not find your way out; rather you would be running deeper and farther in it. It was now clear to Pete and Jenny that the statues and paintings of strange and weird creatures were there to protect the land from intruders and those who intended to escape from the land of gold once anyone strayed inside.

It was also clear to both of them that at the appearance of any creature, they would have to run deeper into the land, using any entrance that would lead to a safer chamber. As they walked along the corridors or passageways, they found boxes full of assorted ornaments and much of golden dust on the tiles beneath their feet littered all over the passages. Pete kept repeating to Jenny not to pick anything. But she should keep moving.

They ran as fast as they could, jumping golden obstacles that lay on the tiles. Sometimes Pete led the way, holding Jenny's hand. They were now trapped up in the land of gold, with strange creatures hunting to either kill or make them go deeper into the land. Charley was now dead and had become a statue. Who knows what is to become of Pete and Jenny now trapped inside the land, hoping to find their way out of the land of gold?