The Heart of Timpanogos

=Introduction=

I remember one night, when I was young, a friend and I lay on his newly sodded front lawn, watching the twinkling stars above with a full moon rising from behind the mountains in the east. We could easily find the big dipper, from there, the little dipper and the north star. I had brought a star chart and was pointing out the various shapes and stories drawn out across the sky. One constellation was always the easiest for me to find--and still is today: Cassiopia. This bold, W-shaped figure always was positioned above Mount Timpanogos throughout the summer and still into autumn. Sometimes it fets like I had some ownership of it, or possibly my destiny was entangled with the stars.

Snow covered Timpanogos still, so the light of the full moon reflected fully off of the face, causing an eerie glow for the surrounding mountains and the valley below. My friend's dad sat with us on the porch as we ate popsicles and told us about the legend of the mountain. He spoke of a Ute princess named Ucanogos that was to be married off to one of the men in the tribe.

The chief proclaimed that there be a contest, and the fastest, bravest, and strongest man would win his daughter's hand in marriage. One man from a northern tribe, named Timpanac, loved her most, and she him, but he was not on good speaking terms with her father, so he was obliged to participate in the contest. The men had to race around the large lake in the valley for the first part of the test. Timpanac excelled at running, and soon all the other men disliked him very much. The second contest was a wrestling match, and Timpanac would not be pinned.

The chief was not happy with the results and decided to make the final test extremely difficult. He declared that each man would have to go out and kill a bear with his own hands. A couple days later, Timpanac returned with the bearskin.



The other men would not have it because Timpanac was considered an outsider to the tribe. The chief cunningly requested that Timpanac climb to the peak of a nearby mountain, where the chief's daughter would be waiting. Timpanac knew that this was a trick and proceeded to climb the mountain without using any of the previously used trails. He made it to a part of the top when he was ambushed by the other men and thrown down the mountainside. Ucanogos saw this, and in her pain and despair would not move from where she was and died on the spot. Ever since, you could see the outline of her body on the mountain top.

For years, I thought about this legend anytime I looked at the womanly shape of the mountain. Slender legs, modest breasts, long flowing hair. At times, I wondered if she was still up there somewhere...no, of course not.

Of course, there were other legends dealing with the mountain as well--particularly one where the the woman died first and the young brave decided to bury her in a cave to the north, now known as Timpanogos Cave. This cave, filled with beautiful stalagmites and stalagtites, "soda straws," and numerous other features that are particular to the cave itself, is also home to a very large stalagtite called the Heart of Timpanogos. It is said that this was the one heart that was created when the hearts of the two lovers grew together. But all these are just folklore and legends that the settlers made up when they found these things, right?

Or so I thought.

=Part One=

"Everything is true," Sims told me one day while overseeing my katana training.

"Everything?" I said, countering his downward attack. "That seems pretty unlikely."

"Well, everything. Fairy tales, myths, legends, old wives tales. You name it."

"Legends?" I returned to my starting place, preparing for the next attack. "Even local ones?"

He was glad that I was getting his drift. "Yes. You know the Timpanogos Cave?" he asked, then coming in with a munetsuki thrust.

I blocked it and approached with a yokomenuchi strike. "Yes--are you saying that all the legends about Timpanogos are true? Would seem like they all contradict each other."

Sims countered my strike. "Well, they all are based on real events. Timpanac and Ucanogos were real people. And their heart is still in the cave?"

I made the final blow for the technique, then dropped my guard. "Wait," I exhaled, "the heart is real?"

"It still beats."

"But I've seen it! It's just...rock!"

"Beats a bit slower now than it used to."

"And no one noticed?" I stood looking incredulously at my sensei.

"If you saw it beat, would you go out and tell the rest of the world?" Sims eyes narrowed. "People aren't that bold. Besides, we have been guarding it for quite a while. It is just recently that we had to close the cave--you know, for 'trail reconstruction.'"

"What's happening?" I ask, returning to my starting position again.

Sims shook his head. "Sit. We need your help for a night, maybe more. The heart's been beating more frequently now. Every minute instead of every week. Something is happening, but we don't know what. No one knows what this means."

"And how am I supposed to help?"

"Just sit and wait. Wander in the cave a bit. A senior member of the Templar will be there to keep you company and assist you if anything seems to go awry."

"Just sit and wait?" I raise my eyebrow in confusion. "For how long?"

"From evening until morning starting Wednesday."

"But I just...do nothing?"

"Yes," Sims glared. "Don't be fooled by the complexity of doing nothing."



=Part Two=

THA-BUMP.

A sudden chill entered the canyon air as the last drop of sunlight dipped below the mountains in the west. For the most part, the canyon was absent of traffic as I winded through the curves of the road in my jeep. Classic rock tunes played on the radio, and sometimes I would sing along to the song if I knew it. My heart was racing a little--I didn't know what to expect from this night.

And to think that stalactite called the "heart" was alive. The thought of it was creeping me out--was it biological? Or just some strange geological phenomenon? I glanced up at the cliffs on both sides of the canyon, thinking to myself. Thousands upon thousands of years ago, this was a very volcanic region. It is evident in the geological profile seen in the canyon walls: layers of layers of rock that contort and twist in almost unnatural ways, like one of those circus freaks that can bend themselves in strange shapes, bend joints backwards and fit into boxes that look way too small for them.

THA-BUMP.

A few of the first evening stars had begun appearing in the sky by the time I got to the parking lot and visitor center. I parked in a stall, turned the keys and removed them, pulled a brown fleece and lambskin hoody, a flashlight, and my katana from the backseat, put the parking break on, and closed the door behind me. The trail to the cave wasn't very long at all--only a mile and a half. The difficult part is that the trail is pretty steep and has numerous switch backs.



Something on the entire way up bugged me, like my heart was skipping beats, or like I forgot to breathe every other step. It took me roughly an hour to get to the main entrance of the cave. A strong, wooden door covers both ground entrances (the other ground entrance I had passed on the way up, however locked), both usually locked up with chains and an old padlock. There is an open entrance about ten or fifteen feet above the main entrance, but it was fairly hard to get to without climbing gear or ropes. The main entrance, however, was unlocked tonight. I lifted the latch of the door and pulled the heavy hunk of wood open. Beyond the door was sheer darkness.

THA-BUMP.

What was that?, I wondered. I felt something...something weird. I shined my light into the darkness, seeing a glimmer from the railing installed along the main path. All I had to do now was stick to the main footpath, which will lead me to the chamber with the heart of Timpanogos. Darkness seemed to surround me like water as I pulled shut the door and walked further into the unknown. I usually had enough headroom and there were only a couple of narrow places--I did find myself running into some rock now and then. But I enjoyed thoroughly how the soda straw stalactites and helictites glittered like diamonds when I shined my light on them.

THA-BUMP.

A shiver ran down my spine when I saw light ahead. I felt the strange combination of hot sweat and cool cave air on my forehead as I entered the light-basked chamber.

"About time you got here," nagged a female voice. "You took the longer route, I see."

"Sorry," I apologized. "I didn't see that the other entrance was unlocked."

"I didn't mean that." The woman, sitting on one of the smooth surfaces on the side of the cave stood up, dusted herself off a little, and extended her hand. "You are Sims' initiate, then?"

"Aedan." I met her hand. "Yes ma'am. Aedan Llewellyn."

"Don't you yes ma'am me. I'm Nord. Myrra Nord." I got a good look at her in the light of her lantern. She was a little shorter than I was--maybe five-foot-ten. And possibly in her thirties already, but not that much older than I was. Her hair was a frizzled mess, but such an appealing strawberry-blonde color. A pleasant face, stern experession, and really fair skin.

THA-BUMP.



"Feel that, Llewellyn?" Nord gestured to the enormous white stalactite on the side of the walkway. "It was the heartbeat of the mountain."

I walked down a small slope so that I could be close enough to it and tenderly put my hand on its surface. "It still feels like rock."

"You wouldn't expect a heart like this to survive this long if it were fleshy and pink, now, would ya?"

"I suppose not."

Nord returned to her previous seat and popped some peanuts from her pocket into her mouth. "You brought your katana, I see. Is it magical?"

"No. Isn't that it's a katana cool enough? I mean, you need to jump through all sorts of hoops to get it exported from Japan."

"Hmm. Some things can't be killed unless you have an enchanted sword. Or hammer. Or fist." She pulled out a few more peanuts from her pocket and popped them in her mouth one by one.

THA-BUMP.

"It moved!" I exclaimed. "I think I saw it move!"

"Yep," Nord replied in monotone. "Mmm-hmm."

"So...we are just supposed to sit here and watch it?"

Nord glared at me with a warning in her eyes. "Are you supposing we do something different?"

"Well, we could, ah..." I caught her tense expression, daring me to say something more. (My intentions were good--honest!) This was not the time for a joke, I realized; she was hurting inside. Something in her past, I figured. "Maybe practice our swordsmanship? I haven't practiced against something other than a katana, so it might be good for me."

Relaxing, she reached over her shoulder to grab the hilt of her sword and unsheathed a long, silvery sword. "This is my claidheamh mòr. A claymore. Forged by one of the fewest remaining people of the old religion in the 17th century. This is no toy like your katana, Llewellyn. If it struck the metal of your sword, it would shatter it." Then with a wink, she added, "It was also forged in the heart of Mount Doom in Mordor."

THA-BUMP.

I was too fixated on the sword to play along with her joke. The sword seemed to glow in the lantern's light--I almost could have believed that it would have glowed without the aid of the lantern. "How many enchanted swords do you suppose there are?"

"Probably hundreds. Of course," she resheathed her sword, "there's a group at HQ that are working on producing their own magical swords. Not too easy to do, you see? Gotta shed some precious blood, sacrifice something valueable, or be some great and powerful wizard like Merlin. And I don't even think that Merlin could pull it off--had to get it from Gaia. Or the Lady of the Lake. Whatever."

THA-BUMP.

"How very convenient that it beats only during our breaks. It'd be really annoying if it was interrupting right in the middle of a sentence." Nord grinned. We both broke into laughter simultaneously.

The conversation varied a bit over the next hour. We talked about our "regular" lives outside of the whole Templar experience. Nord had gone to school years ago at Utah State and came out with a degree in business management. She said she didn't do a thing with it, and currently she was working for some department store in Park City for the past few years. She didn't want to dive into much else about her life, and I had exhausted my own history, so she pulled out a deck of cards and we began playing whatever games we could think of at the moment.

THA-BUMP.

"Does it seem like the heart is beating more frequently to you?" I piped up, noticing perhaps a slight change.

"I don't know." We waited a while and counted the seconds between beats.

THA-BUMP.

"You know, I do think it's faster. By a few seconds, that is."

I stared at the heart, seeing it move slowly, breathing, against the darkness of the chambers that lay behind and below it.

THA-BUMP.

"Yes, it is," I affirmed. The lantern began to flicker.

Nord reached for the lantern and jostled the knob. "Dang thing should have plenty of fuel. Maybe it just had a air bubble or something."

THA-BUMP.

I saw a flicker in the darkness. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Nord questioned, still more concerned about the lantern at the moment.

"I thought...I thought I saw eyes."

THA-BUMP.

The lantern flickered more. The eyes revealed themselves again briefly. "I saw them again! The eyes!"

"Oh, it's probably just some critter. They say there have been sightings of raccoons, bears, and rats in the cavern. Besides, there are many entrances to this cave system. They're free to come and go as th-"

THA-BUMP.

"-ey will."

"I suppose you're right," I sighed. "I wonder what it is. Cougar, maybe?"

"Who cares? If we leave it alone, it will leave us alone." The lantern went out. "Oh, **** it all!" she cursed.

I switched on my flashlight, much dimmer in comparison. "I wish I had brought a better light," I admitted.

THA-BUMP.

I swung my flashlight towards the heart, and shouted in surprise. The humanoid creature standing by the heart shrieked, the high-pitched sound echoing throughout the cave, and ran back down the slope into the darkness. The wendigo, I feared. No, I realized, it looked nothing like a wendigo.

"Oh, this is b-bad," Nord stuttered. "Zombies."

"Zombies?" I yelled, stress levels rising. "REALLY?! How did they-"

THA-BUMP.

My flashlight fizzled out for a second. I heard legions of whispers all around us in the darkness, and I swung my flashlight around, trying to find the source of these whispers. Again, my flashlight fizzled out, seemingly for good. I groped my way through the darkness trying to find where Nord was at. "Nord," I whispered. "Keep your back against mine."

"Llewellyn...that's not me."

My flashlight flickered on again.

THA-BUMP.

=Part Three=

When my flashlight flickered on, I saw a claymore pointed at my face. I immediately fell to the side, drawing out my katana into a guard position above my head. I heard Nord grunt as she thrusted the sword, missing me completely. This was not what I had in mind for friendly practice.

A wail. I turned just in time to see a zombie disintegrate into dust, falling below the tip of the claymore's blade. Oh, that's right, I realized, she wasn't trying to attack me--she was aiming at the monstrosity that was previously breathing down my neck.

There was another shriek coming from my right. I shined my flashlight in time to see another zombie galloping toward me. With a quick pivot, I let my sword fall on the zombie, the blade cutting cleanly through its body. The top half fell to the ground while the other half became disoriented and walked off in the other direction.

More shrieking and grunts from Nord's direction. I shined the light in her direction, seeing her take out two more zombies in a similar fashion to the first--as soon as the sword touched their decaying flesh, they were turned into dust.

Something boney grabbed my ankle. I turned and saw it was the zombie I had sliced before and it was pulling itself closer to my leg, preparing to take a bite. I let my sword fall on its neck, and its skull fell over and continued chomping.

"Nord!" I shouted. "Nord! My katana is doing crap!!" I took a swing at another zombie, handling the katana in a way I was trained not to do.

She glanced briefly in my direction. "Let's get out of here! NOW!"

I felt like shouting in agreement, but I was too busy chopping my current zombie into pieces and pulling free from the grasp of the other. I could almost feel the dozens that were approaching.

Swinging, thrusting, and running. We had to get out of the cave and fast. My flashlight was about to flicker out again, when we reached the last stretch of the cave, a narrow passage way along the fault line, however the entire passage way was slanted at an angle. Running wasn't easy at this point even though the path was mostly straight. I could see many of the zombies in the flicker of my light now climbing up above us on the part of the cave where the wall was almost level with the floor. "Almost there!" I announced.

I reached the door, gave it a good yank and stepped out into the moonlight. Turning, I didn't see Nord. I swore she was right behind me. "Hey! Nord!" I called into the cave.

"Right here!" she cried, slamming the door shut and putting her weight against it. I joined her. "I...I think I got bitten."

"Have you encountered zombies before?" I asked, catching up on breath.

"No. I don't think these were created by a contagion, though," she said, examining the bite on her left forearm. "Something else."

"Have you heard about the Nachzehrer?" I asked and she shook her head. "It's sort of a vampire-zombie mix. Used to be a lot of them in Germany, especially in the northern part. It usually would awaken if the deceased person died of suicide or in an accident--kinda like a ghost with a history, you know?" I sheathed my sword again, keeping my shoulder against the door still. "I don't these are the same type, because the Nachzehrer drains life out of people and anything living around it. Those are just dead bodies."

"Not just dead bodies," Nord brought up, "but enchanted. It's the only explanation to why my sword had success in destroying these zombies and yours did not."

"So someone--or something--is enchanting them to...say, are you sure you're okay? You are bleeding all over the place."

She was putting as much pressure as she could on the bite wound. "I think they hit the main artery."

I pulled the hood string out of my hoodie and began tying it tightly around her upper arm as a sort of a tourniquet. "We need to get you to a hospital." I pulled out my cellphone, realizing that the battery was dead. "Crap."

"She fumbled with her own cellphone, and shook her head. "We're out of range. I forget this is a bad spot."

We took a few moments to breathe, then tried to figure out more about the situation.

"Where did they all come from?" I wondered. "It's not like you can spontaneously create zombies. Unless they're golems..."

"And there haven't been that many missing people in the cave over the years," Nord pointed out.

"Maybe," I suggested, "there is a chamber that served as an Indian burial site somewhere in the network of caves. It's the only thing that makes sense to me. And it seems like the closest explanation consistant with the legend."

Nord nodded, agreeing. "Probably. However, we can't just let them run wild, can we? If we leave the door, we will be running and fighting our whole way down. And there's no sense in fighting them." I tried to muster the power to heal her while we threw suggestions back and forth, but nothing seemed like the best thing to do.

I looked up at the constellation Cassiopia. "It looks like its around two or three in the morning," I estimated. "Waiting until dawn is...wait..." The answer finally came to me. "I know what to do. Oh, crap! Crap, crap, crap!"

"What?" Nord stared at me confused.

"Can...can you keep the zombies distracted? On this end?"

"What do you mean 'on this end?' You are NOT going back in there."

"Someone has to. It's the heart, Nord." I removed my katana and shoved it into her hand. "The heart is what is giving the zombies life. I need your sword."

"WHAT? No! You can't wield...I mean, you can't destroy...you are batshit crazy!"

"Maybe. But I can always heal, right?" I forcibly removed her clench from the claymore. "You are already hurt, you can't destroy it yourself."

"What if I pass out? I don't know how long I can hold this!"

"It's better if you pass out here than in there." I rattled my flashlight, causing it to flicker a bit. After opening it, extending the spring inside and wetting the battery contacts, I put it back together and turned it back on. "I will move as fast as I can, okay? Be right back." I jogged down the trail to where it met up with the main trail, and despite my body's refusal to, I jogged up to the other entrance, sweating profusely. There were no traces of zombies at this end, so I was probably going to be all right. I yanked on the old door again, closing it as I entered the first room.

As I made my way through the cave, I realized just how tiring and heavy the claymore was compared to my katana. What was I thinking? I could never fight with a sword like this! I had no training! I could try to use it like a katana, but ultimately, it would just get in the way and slow me down even more. I felt determined that after this night I would do all in my power to get an enchanted katana in my grasp.

The future wasn't looking bright, and neither was my flashlight. I knew I was nearing the chamber with the heart, and I think it had something to do with the flashlight flicker. I needed to do something about that too--maybe bring a lighter the next time I needed a light.

I heard the shrieks before I felt the boney fingers digging into my skin. The zombies took me for surprise and I dropped the flashlight in the process, and it rolled into a crevice. I felt a bite on my ear. Another in my leg. Something clawing at my gut. Clawing at my back. Icy fingers at my throat.

So I swung the sword blindly, hoping that I'd hit something--anything. The sword struck something soft--in an instant, it was gone. I circled the claymore around me, hitting nothing. My flashlight fizzled out and I felt more hands, more bites. The flashlight blinked on again, just briefly, however, and I the gaping jaws of a zombie, apparently unhinged his jaw. I brought the sword above my head and let it come down on the skull of the freak. More icy hands. I knew I wouldn't make it.

No. It was not my time to die. I knew that, although in that moment it all seemed hopeless. I could feel my blood pulsing heavily, the sound of screaming and the heart beat filling my ears. I was alone in the darkness with a flashlight that wouldn't shine, surrounded by an enemy that was tearing me to shreds, with a weapon that I couldn't wield.

I did what I do best in a moment of crisis like this: I prayed. I begged, I pleaded. I don't remember what I was praying exactly, but it was probably no different than a begger before the rich man. An overwhelming sense of unworthiness and guilt came over me. The guilt wasn't because of my unloyalties to my God, but rather to myself. I've gotten complacent. I've gotten lazy.

I was in control of my destiny, right? What have I done to take control? I let circumstance dictate the way my life should be lived. I stayed local because it was the easiest thing to do. I lived day to day just doing the bare minimum to survive schooling and work. The greatest decision I had made in the past several years was joining the Templars. Sure, I was a Templar--but was I destined to be -just- a Templar?

No, I decided. I was going to be the best Templar I could be. I could rise above the corruption and vanities that exist within the Templar. I could be so much greater.

Looking back now on this event, I am unable to say what caused the sudden faith in myself to grow, nor fully explain what happened next. In a way, I think it has to do with the faith I had found, whatever 'faith' a Templar would care to wield. The sword I still had clutching in my hand began to glow. I thought for a moment that it was heating up, but I felt no heat from it. I watched it turn quickly from a warm red to a cool blue, giving off more and more light until the zombies around me began shrieking in horror and backing off.

I felt utterly ragged and horrible. My skin was inflamed, and I felt blood trickling all over my body. With the strength I could muster, I rose back to my feet and glared at the frightened skull-like faces of the zombies. And smiled.

The Heart of Timpanogos hung only a few steps away, I realized. I had made it much closer than I had thought. I raised the sword high above my head in a guard-like position, and thrust in deep into the heart.

THA-BUMP.

I woke up with sun shining on my face. I wasn't sure where I was exactly.

"You damn fool."

My skin felt tight and my muscles tender. "Nord?" I asked.

"And me," a familiar voice grunted. Sims.

"Wha...what...happened?" I mustered to say.

"Good job, you destroyed one of the most famous stalactites this side of the US," Sims replied, frowning. "I have no idea how you managed to survive the damage it would have dealt you. You do not go around stabbing magical body parts with magical swords. Sometimes it's like mixing bleach and ammonia."

"I still think you are a fool, Llewellyn," I heard Nord's voice chime in. "A brave fool, but a fool nonetheless. And," she added, pointing straight into my face, "do NOT--I repeat, do NOT touch my sword again."

"So...I struck the heart..." I began to say, my throat parched dry.

"It broke. It split. Not beating anymore. I've got Slayter--a colleague of mine--in the cave examining the mess you two made. As soon as it broke, I imagine all your undead friends were powerless." He offered me a bottle of sun-warmed water, which I drank greedily. He continued, "The downside to this is that there is no good coverstory for this. Kids in the cave vandalizing? Unlikely, wouldn't have broken the heart. Earthquake? No one detected one."

"Sims," I sat up, looking at the heal job he must have done. "Thank you. I didn't think I was going to survive there for a sec."

"You almost didn't," Nord muttered. "Thankfully, when the zombies stopped scratching at the door, I thought that something went wrong. But I opened the door and only saw piles of bones. I groped my way through the cave until I came to the heart's chamber where I found you passed out with my sword. My lamp was working again. I couldn't carry you out myself, so I ran down the trail and called Sims. He came up as fast as possible."

"Then, thank you so very much," I told her. "I feel somewhat indebted to the both of you."

"SOMEWHAT?" Nord in her temper flared, drawing her sword. "Don't you EVER touch my sword again." With that, I felt a sharp pain as she rammed pommel of her sword to the side of my head.