Witi Ihimaera - Sky Dancer

And there were birds everywhere. Piping in the ferns. Flitting through the sunlit interior. Singing, always singing.

Ke- eet, ke- eet. Kraak kraak kraak. Stit stit stit. Tweep, tw- eep, tw- eep, too too too! And who are you, too too too!

The path ascended to a ridge. When Skylark and Arnie reached the top, they took their bearings. Arnie noted that the land slipped away in a natural gradient towards a V-shaped trap below.

When it rained, Skylark remembered, the water must have washed all the bones of the birds down there.

Arnie was already descending into the trap. “We should strike the entrance of the cave soon,” he said.

Ye-es, too too too. Not far, not far. Hurry, hurry hurry twee twee twee.

Sure enough, five minutes later, Skylark and Arnie came across a barrier on the path: entrance prohibited. authorised personnel only beyond this point. Arnie stepped over the barrier. Skylark followed him. They came to another sign: don’t even think of going any further. They ignored it and rounded a bend.

“There it is,” Arnie said.

For a moment, Skylark didn’t know what to think. The entrance was to the left of the path. One slab of rock was cantilevered on top of another. The entrance was the gap between.

“Ah well,” Arnie said. “Here goes.” Before Skylark could stop him, he was on his back, edging his way into the gap, and letting out an ear-splitting scream.

“Arnie. Arnie! ” Skylark yelled.

She scrabbled after him, pressing herself through the gap. Arnie was lying motionless on the floor of the cave.

“Oh, Arnie! Wake up. Please.”

Then Arnie began to shake. At first, Skylark thought he was in some sort of delirium. But Arnie couldn’t contain his laughter. “That was a dirty trick,” Skylark seethed.

“You must admit it worked. If I hadn’t done it, you’d still be outside deciding whether or not to follow me.”

Arnie dusted himself off, switched on his torch, and indicated to Skylark that she should switch on hers. Steps led down into the underground. “Let’s get going on our journey to the centre of the earth,” he said.

Arnie led the way down into the underworld. “I think we’re in the main channel,” he said. He had expected complete darkness. Instead, the entire descent was bathed in a bluish light. “Can you see, Skylark? Smaller channels are draining down into the channel from all sides. They must lead to potholes on the surface. The light is coming from them.”

“There’s glow worms down here too,” Skylark whispered, pointing to where the darkness was dotted with light like sparkling diamonds.

They continued the descent deep into the earth. Ahead, Skylark could see more light. But how could that be? Where would light come from at this depth? It was so powerful that Arnie’s profile was lit by it. Then Skylark felt a draught on her face, and knew that something wonderful was about to happen.

Arnie was caught in the same emotion. He grinned at her, and she grinned back. They took two more steps forward. Ahead, the channel opened up on both sides of them like a curtain. A rock jutted out.

“There it is, Skylark,” Arnie said, his voice hushed with awe. “The Cathedral of the Birds.”

Nani Deedee described it to me once, Lottie had said. The light shim-mering on all those millions of fragile bones. She thought she was in some holy place —

Skylark was overcome by what she saw before her. She and Arnie were in a huge underground amphitheatre that in darkness seemed to stretch on forever and ever. Right in the middle of it was a slender glittering tower. The tower was made entirely of delicate bones which, at the ceiling, twisted, curled, interlocked and splayed across the dome like thousands of angel wings. Each wing had begun its formation from one of the thousands of potholes feeding into the dome. The light, coming through the holes in the ceiling, glowed on the bones. Where the bones were moist with water seepage they sparkled, sending glittering flashes from bone to bone in a fascinating and ever-changing interplay of beauty.

That wasn’t all. Around the tower were smaller sculptures of extraordinary and unearthly beauty. They had been constructed from other bones that had either fallen from the central tower or, perhaps, from other potholes in the ceiling. Some seemed to be kneeling angels in prayer in that place. Others seemed to be flying figures reaching up to the light.

“Come on,” Arnie said. He took Skylark’s hand and they descended to the amphitheatre floor. Treading carefully, they made their way toward the central tower. The closer they got, the higher and larger it became. The light played and shimmered around it, on it and through it.

Suddenly the tower blazed and, in a chiaroscuro of brilliance, Skylark saw that at its base was a carving in the shape of a giant bird with wings outstretched, beak open in challenge and claws splayed ready for attack. It was as tall as she was.

As soon as she saw the symbol, Skylark knew what she had to do. For a moment she hesitated, both scared and shocked to know that she’d actually made it this far — and that this was only the beginning of her journey. “Oh Mum,” she whimpered. Then she took a deep breath, said a silent prayer and placed the feather which Birdy had given her on the left wing of the symbol. The beak from Joe, she put on the beak of the carved bird. She decided to leave the claw given to her by Hoki around her neck.

There was just one task left to do. Gently Skylark pushed Arnie away from the carving. “I think this is where I go on alone,” Skylark said.

“What?” Arnie asked. “No. I won’t let you.” He took a few steps back towards the carving.

“No, Arnie,” Skylark said. “There’s only room for one of us. Can’t you see?”

“Give a guy a break! How can you do what you have to do without me? We’ve come all this way together. I’ve grown used to you, can’t you see that? We’re a good team.” Arnie’s face was pale with anxiety. “I don’t care what you say,” he continued, compressing his lips. “I’m coming along as your co-pilot and that’s that. Just let anybody try to stop me.”

He came towards her but she pushed him hard and he fell back on the floor. “No, Arnie. Thank you for bringing me this far. But from here I’m flying solo.”

With that, Skylark stepped into the shape of the bird. At that moment torchlight flashed through the amphitheatre. “You aren’t going anywhere, Missy,” a voice said.

Up on the rock jutting out and overlooking the amphitheatre were the two rangers. They began to clamber down the stairway, making their way towards the base of the tower.

“That settles it,” Arnie said. He jumped into the bird shape, put his feather and beak alongside Skylark’s, stepped behind her and put his arms around her.

“What are you doing!” Skylark yelled. “Let me go!”

“I’ve got two choices. Either I stay here and get arrested or I go with you and take my chances wherever we end up. We’ve been tandem once. It can work again.”

“Oh no you don’t,” Skylark roared. “Once is enough.” She was trying everything to wriggle out of Arnie’s arms. Every time she wriggled his grip got tighter. “Wait up, Arnie, hang on a minute, let go of me —”

It was too late. Skylark felt dizzy. Her eyesight blurred. Her voice caught in her throat. For some strange reason the room seemed to be growing larger. And what was this? She seemed to be growing smaller. She tried to protest again but all that came out was a slight chirrup and flutter. The air shifted and next moment, Skylark found herself looking out of the rim of her right shoe. She let out a guffaw of laughter.