The Hall of Heroes

3. - No other way

"What? The three of us?"

"What do you mean? How?"

"You want us to go fight a monster?"

They all started shouting out of turn.

The wise woman raised her hand. "Calm down. Nobody wants you to fight a monster."

Her imperious voice seemed to bring about the desired effect. The three calmed down and looked at her curiously.

"What do you three know of the Hall of Heroes?"

Alois, Tereza and Fanda looked at each other.

"Not much," Fanda started. "It's a kids' tale. There's this temple, that's supposed to be high up in the mountains, where you can go if you're in trouble to call up the heroes of the old world to help you."

The wise woman smiled. "Yes. I told you that story myself, Fanda. Long, long ago. You always listened to my stories more attentively than other children your age." The youth nodded.

"But what's a kids' tale got to do with us now?" Alois remarked.

"It is not just a kids' tale." the wise woman said calmly. "We were not completely open about this to you when you were kids. But now that you see that the monsters are real, I'm here to tell you that so is the hall of the ancient heroes." The hut was suddenly filled with anticipating silence. 

"It is a tomb built by some long gone ancestors that houses the remains of folk heroes who were native to our country. Maybe more of those are built throughout the lands, we don't know. What we know is that some powerful sages in a time long gone put some powerful spells on the tomb, making it a safety measure for future times of peril. The knowledge of it has been kept alive by us wise women, passed on from generation to generation.

"Through a certain ritual, the heroes buried there can be called back from their eternal sleep to come to our aid once more should we ever need them again. It has been the safeguard throughout the ages for everyone living in this country in case things went really awry. We told you about it when you were kids to soothe you. To tell you there is always hope in times of despair."

The three stared at her, speechless.

"But the Hall lies high in the mountains, so traveling there will be dangerous and besides, the heroes will not choose to wake up for just anyone, so the stories say. They will only respond to those chosen ones, marked by destiny. That is why I spent the whole afternoon speaking to the spirits and casting bones. I was asking them which people we should choose for this journey."

At that point, the mayor Karel kneeled down beside the wise woman and joined her in her pleading.

"You all know what has been happening," he said.

Tereza turned her eyes downward, Alois curled his lips and Fanda opened his mouth. None of them said anything.

"First, we heard about the herds. They were shrinking mysteriously while grazing close to the mountains. Both the Březina and the Jarník family stopped taking their herds up to the higher grounds because of these disappearances. Even though those are some of the best meadows we have around here.

"For some while after that, there was nothing. And then the sightings. Folks that strayed higher to the hills at night heard distant roars, strange wailing or cackling. And some spoke about a silhouette they saw against the sky. Always the same thing. They said it looked like a large part of some distant mountain moved along the slope as if the ground had bulged up and the bulge was shifting along the surface.