Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Write for the FANTASY and/or SCI FI Genre (10/16/14)
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TITLE: Incident At Szczerba Pass | Previous Challenge Entry
By Virginia Lee Bliss
10/23/14 -
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If I stay here, I’ll die of hunger and thirst. Or be eaten by a wolf. But if I leave…
Eighteen-year-old Private Władek Król knew all too well that if he left the cave, the Germans would find him.
Only two days earlier, Germany had invaded Poland. Władek’s company defended along the Tatras Mountain Range, near the Giewont Mountains. Polish forces fought bravely but suffered severe losses. The Germans took prisoner those still living.
Somehow, Władek escaped. Spotting the mouth of a cave he staggered inside. Frightened and hungry though he was, exhaustion soon overcame him and he fell into a deep sleep.
“Clip-clop, clip-clop…” Aroused from his slumber by the sound of hoof beats, he peered from the entrance of the cave to behold a man dressed, not as a soldier of 1939, but in eleventh century armor. With his black steed, handlebar moustache, long curling black hair, and bejeweled sword, the stranger cut an impressive figure indeed.
“Good evening, my friend.” The stranger raised his shield in greeting. “You fight for the freedom of Poland?”
Władek nodded.
“We will lose many battles. But fifty years hence, Poland will be free.”
“Fifty years?”
“You will live to see that day. But now, you must follow my instructions. The enemy keeps vigil, so you must not depart this cave until the third sunrise. The Brave One will see to your needs.”
“The Brave One?”
The stranger smiled, then turned his horse and rode off. Władek watched him from the cave, until the rider disappeared into the distance, and he could no longer hear the hoof beats.
What to do? He remembered the stranger’s warning.
As if in answer to his dilemma, there appeared before him a sight more fearsome even than the dark stranger.
A snow leopard.
Władek’s intestines churned; his hair stood on end.
I never thought to see a snow leopard in the Tatras. I’m sure she’s hungry…Well…better to grace the dinner table of this noble beast, than to die at the hands of the Nazis.
Władek crossed himself. Gripping his knife, he prayed for God’s protection.
She was so close, he could see each black rosette on her gray coat.
In his fear and exhaustion, Władek fancied he saw pity in her haunting gray eyes.
To his utter astonishment, the great cat turned and left the cave.
Half an hour later, she returned, a fresh-killed hare in her mouth, which she laid at Władek’s feet.
Władek thought of Ceśka, the family cat. Always bearing “gifts” of dead mice. His mother said that was a cat’s way of taking care of humans.
He found some wood in the cavern and made a fire. He cooked and ate the hare, his new friend watching him all the while. He noticed for the first time, stalactites—yellow, pink, blue, purple, green—and stalagmites like columns and tiny castles. They glittered in the flickering firelight, transforming the cave into an enchanted sanctuary.
The snow leopard padded soundlessly into the cave’s interior. She returned shortly, her gargantuan paw prints wet.
Water! Władek ventured in the direction from whence the beast had come, until he encountered a shimmering turquoise pool.
His hunger and thirst satisfied, he lay down to sleep, one eye open, watching the cat. She curled up beside him, wrapping his feet in her enormous tail.
For the next two days and nights, the snow leopard brought him hares and kept him company.
Upon the third sunrise, Władek, remembering the words of the dark stranger, made ready to depart. His friend had left him a hare for breakfast, but she herself was nowhere in sight.
Just outside the cave was the bejeweled sword. Upon closer examination, he noticed that it was chipped.
Władek walked a distance to where he could see the profile of the “Sleeping Knight” formed by the peaks of Great Giewont and Long Giewont. Between the peaks lay Szczerba Pass.
Szczerbiec—the Chipper! The sword that Bolesław, the first king of Poland, had chipped on the Golden Gate of Kiev. The sword that became the coronation sword of Polish kings. The sword for which Szczerba Pass was named.
As the legend of the “Sleeping Knight” had promised, King Bolesław awoke to assist Poland in her hour of need.
Władek gazed at the Giewont peaks, shrouded in mists. For just an instant, he saw the Brave One peering at him. She smiled.
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
This story is based on a Polish legend.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
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Loving you in and through and because of the Christ, Judi
1 Timothy 3:16 KJV