The Witness

Dmitri disembarked from the plane at about 1 am. He hated the red eye.

‘I’m getting too old for this,’ he thought.

Except for his fellow passengers, the cavernous terminal stood empty. Signs in the local language directed him to baggage claim and customs.

He took the steps down. There was no escalator. With his backpack slung over his shoulder, he joined the throng at customs.

Dmitri mulled over the cryptic email he’d gotten the previous day from his old friend Matthias.

‘Need you to take a walk. Do not contact. You don’t know me. Visa, tickets awaiting.’

Working in foreign countries sometimes demanded coded communications. This email wasn’t too obscure. But the urgency of it was something he’d never gotten used to.

‘Taking a walk’ indicated Matthias’ need for Dmitri to investigate some obscure location. Enter the country, investigate, and leave no ripples.

‘Do not contact. You don’t know me.’ Politics were in play. Their lives could be at risk, should their friendship become known. Mutual safety depended on their having no direct contact while in the country.  Their activities were being monitored. Plausible deniability was always in place.

Matthias and Dmitri had followed this script many times since their stint in the CIA. Matthias took care of finances and red tape. All Dmitri needed do is arrive on the next flight, do the job and report from afar. 

‘Why me? And why now?’

Dmitri had held many jobs. Working as a journalist allowed him to travel the world between clandestine assignments.

Archeology was his private passion. He’d seen more ruins and archeological digs than anyone alive.

‘Matthias counts on my irrepressible curiosity.’ Dmitri cherished that quality in himself. Though it had waned in recent years, it always perked up at opportunities like this.

He wished Matthias provided more notice though. Reconfiguring his schedule on a finger snap wreaked havoc with his life. It meant delegating several interviews. His wife and kids are pros at coping.

The threadbare but practical, ‘unnamed illness’ was Dmitri’s standard excuse. People might doubt its veracity, but no one wants you around if you might be contagious.

It was his turn. The customs official scanned his backpack. He knew English.

“Welcome… Your reason for visiting our country?”

“A wedding.”

“You have almost no luggage…”

“Local friends rented a tux for me.”

“Why do you need the knife? The heavy boots?”

“Afraid of snakes. You know how outdoor weddings can be.”

The official didn’t buy it, but he stamped Dmitri’s passport and let him go.

He stepped outside. A jeep with three male passengers pulled up to the curb.

The front seat passenger looked at Dmitri. He asked, “You Dmitri?” At his nod he said, “Get in.”

Dmitri crawled into the back, as they pulled away.

The man who spoke to Dmitri introduced himself as Lin. He pointed to the man sitting next to Dmitri.

“That’s Moli.” They nodded to each other. Remaining still, Moli watched intently. An AR-15 rested between him and the door.

The driver remained nameless and didn’t speak.

Lin continued. “So, friends with Matthias, eh?”

Dmitri pursed his lips. “Matthias? I’ve heard of him.”

Lin laughed. “We’re running a little errand. He said you’re a good man to have along.”

“What’s the plan?”

“Going into the frontier… to a sacred mountain. Forbidden to visit. Will climb the back way.”

“Our purpose?”

“Looking for antiquities to save virgin forest from development. From logging.”

Dmitri never got used to joining with strangers and traveling to parts unknown. He felt vulnerable. Too much could go wrong. Travelers often disappeared. Investigations wither.

Trust built over decades was the one intangible everyone depended upon.

The road became a jolting track. Sleep proved impossible. The driver rolled to a stop as dawn lightened the sky.

While unpacking the jeep, Lin explained, “Loggers are building a road up the far side of the mountain. Illegally, but they expect permits soon.” He rubbed his fingers with his thumb. “Won’t delay. Laws are meaningless without enforcement.”

He passed a machete to Dmitri.

“We’ll go up the back. Undetected and unmolested.”

Each carried water and little else. Moli held the rifle. Lin and Dmitri had pistols and machetes. Following the river, they started up the mountain.

Lin cut through heavy underbrush with his machete. Following him, Dmitri pondered his purpose in this adventure.

‘Because environmental laws have no teeth, this ‘sacred’ mountain needs protection from development. Evidence of an ancient civilization will bolster his case. Matthias wants international outrage to stop them. If anyone can do this, I’m the guy.’

‘How did the legends around this mountain originate? If there’s no awareness of human activity the lumber company has no incentive to reveal any finds.’

‘I’m here now. Do the job and go home. How many times can I tell Jill that ‘something came up.’? I’m not lying. This could become a huge story.’

After climbing all day, they made camp at foot of a triple waterfall. Dmitri had heard of its beauty, but never expected to see it.

Not wanting to draw attention with a fire, they ate their dinner dry and cold. And traveling light, they slept under the stars, machetes at the ready.

His inner clock out of whack, Dmitri took the first watch.

He had to laugh at this whole enterprise. ‘Why should the world care about another fallen empire? Will one more ruin provide the key to avoiding past mistakes?’

‘History is the graffiti scrawled on the fallen stones of ruined temples.’

Why did he crave knowledge about civilizations which rose to power on feet of clay?

‘Would the story ever end differently?’ His thoughts followed familiar paths and always arrived at the same conclusion. ‘The ruins speak for themselves.’

He wondered at the ever so human, arrogant urge to power. And how the powerful use an elite ‘priesthood’ to mask their crimes against humanity.

‘In the name of appeasing the gods, they feed their own insatiable egos.’

‘Does no one see that power, grasped tightly, controls those who hold it? When motives are expressed in exalted language, anything can be justified.’

‘Fear effectively masks almost any activity. Using it as a lever, they divide above from below, the in-crowd from the out.’

Dmitri heard nothing over the falls’ rumble. Anything could approach unheard. He scanned their surroundings for impending danger. The moon had set. The world felt at peace. It was almost time for Moli’s watch.

He thought about their destination. ‘What monument to human sacrifice will we discover? How many pyramids were blood-stained altars dedicated to appeasing blood thirsty gods?’

As the poet said: ‘How cheap be the vanquished when thirsty blades demand quenching?’

‘So many civilizations disappeared into the wilderness with its unbreakable rules of survival.

Moli stirred, shook off his sleep and took his watch. Dmitri slept until awakened by Lin. They shivered in the morning chill and ate while climbing.

Moving away from the river, the terrain opened. The shade under the canopy of trees minimized the underbrush and made walking easier. Birds kept a constant chorus.

Monkeys began screaming from the high branches.

Lin announced, “Capuchins.”

It began to rain despite the clear, blue sky.

Moli wiped his brow and swore. He looked up and got a face full. The monkeys were throwing feces.

They ran but the monkeys kept pace, leaping from tree to tree.

The men couldn’t help but laugh. After sprinting several hundred yards, the attack let up. They stopped and assessed the damage.

Panting, half from laughing, Dmitri said, “Finally got ahead of them.”

Lin said, “Or they ran out of ‘ammo.’”

Falling into laughter again, they backtracked to bathe in the river.

After the detour, they entered the main forest of immense, ancient trees. The bark looked like parchment.

Dmitri had never seen them. ‘Are they a kind of birch?’

Lin murmured, “Whoa…”

A half-dozen tribesmen emerged from behind a cluster of massive trees. They held primitive bows and watched, unimpressed, as Moli unslung his rifle.

Dmitri said, “We’re outnumbered and don’t need a fight.”

Lin said, “Don’t attract attention with gunfire.”

Dmitri said, “Keep smiling.”

Moli stepped forward. He addressed them, using short phrases and sign language. The tribesmen listened with interest and burst into laughter.

Moli translated, “I told them we come in peace. They have no reason to trust us.”

After making a sign, he pulled three heavy-duty, webbed belts from his backpack and offered them to the warriors.

The leader examined them. He signaled and his warriors withdrew. Dmitri and the others continued on their way.

As they walked, Moli told them what the warriors said. “They don’t trust lowlanders. I said we aim to protect them. They warned us away from disrupting the trees’ worship.”

Dmitri asked, “They worship the trees?”

“I don’t speak their lingo well. I heard it’s the trees’ that worship and we dare not disrupt their prayers.”

“Tree huggers. Latter day Druids. So, we’re looking for a sacred grove?”

“Maybe.”

They continued trudging toward the sun through the ancient forest. The canopy of branches filtered the light and cooled the air.

Dmitri had taken the lead. He understood they would want to log this virgin forest.

Turning to Lin, he said, “How many houses could you build with one…?” Stunned and trembling, he fell to his knees.

He saw thousands of symbols carved into the tree’s bark. The elaborate carvings covered the trunk, skyward until blending into the upper shadows.

The others turned, and seeing, also fell to their knees. Their mouths moved silently. Tears streamed down their cheeks.

Dmitri sprang up and ran about, shouting, “This is it! All of them! Look!”

The others stood. There were carvings on the sunward side of hundreds of ancient trees. Each displayed the records of a lost civilization. The oldest messages, obscured by healing bark, could still be seen.

The trio set about documenting as many as possible. The mood was light. By day’s end, they’d photographed over a thousand trees, each with distinct markings. The trees’ average circumference was forty feet around.

Dmitri worked feverishly. So much to do.

He thought, ‘Talking trees blending creation with worship. The fulfillment of the universal urge toward transcendence. Creation speaking with its Creator. As it should be.’

The golden light filtering from above was the perfect response.

They found no evidence of human sacrifice. Dmitri had never felt such peace. He didn’t want to leave.

Lin asked, “But what do they say? Will we ever know?”

Dmitri sighed, “Without some sort of Rosetta Stone, we can only surmise. Translating it all might take years. Artificial intelligence will assist.”

Lin nodded.

Dmitri pointed at the trees. “But look. I know what they say. Those aren’t laundry lists. And those carvings weren’t done under the whip.”

Lin agreed.

Dmitri said, “The way they were created proves devotion, reverence and love. The eternal hunger to connect with the ephemeral, the ineffable… the ultimate.”

“Matthias will love this.”

“This forest could be the first library in history. Psalms to the gods, written on living parchment.”

“I hoped we’d find this.”

Dmitri stopped. “You knew about it?”

“How to get here. Yeah.  But never been. Always forbidden. A mystery. Rumors. Nothing specific. Who knows what else is hidden in the wilds?”

“Without human intervention, nature speaks for itself… We should get moving.”

They packed their gear and trekked back the way they came. They made good time.

At the waterfall, they crossed paths with a patrol stopping to refill their canteens. Lin and the others watched from behind the falls, safely unseen.

Reaching the valley, their driver picked them up. Dmitri sent pictures to Matthias. They dropped him at the airport, and he caught the next flight out.

Dmitri had a story to write.