The Call

By Diana Sautelle

In the remote outback of South Australia, twenty-year-old Eden Price has found the land hes been dreaming of for many years. From the moment of his arrival, he becomes a part of the dramatic events unfolding there. Befriended by two locals, he is suddenly thrown into an intense journey towards self-acceptance. Meanwhile, others find his abandoned car, and he is reported missing. After a major flood hits the region, a massive search is launched to find him, culminating in explosive encounters and the reliving of long-ago tragic events that still haunt the locals.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Jul 22, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514498040

Diana Sautelle

Australian composer and musician Diana Sautelle lived for many years in the Flinders Ranges, outback South Australia, which has been a source of inspiration for much of her music and writing. She has received awards and international commissions for her compositions and was also named as an outstanding nominee on the South Australian Women’s Honour Roll for her contributions to creative cross-cultural engagement.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Diana Sautelle.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-5144-9803-3

                eBook          978-1-5144-9804-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 07/20/2016

Xlibris

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Contents

Part I

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Part II

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

Part III

17

18

19

20

Part IV

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

Part V

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

Epilogue

To my Adnyamathanha family – my Aunties, my sisters, our choir, and Uncle Leo - who shared so much

PART I

1

From the crest of the hill, Eden gazed out across the landscape. Rugged mountains of brown and ochre were staggered between rolling hills, sweeping around in an enormous arch that curved to form the horizon in the west. High, sharp peaks, inter-fused with smaller, rounded hills, wove together across the distant skyline like two distinct scenes superimposed one upon the other. They stood together like the ancient memories of separate strands within the same story – like a meeting place in the timeless making of this country.

Eden took a deep, satisfied breath as he turned his gaze northward. Directly ahead he saw more of the flat plains he had become familiar with. Dotted in greens and browns, this was the same landscape he’d been observing for the last hundred kilometres. Far below, dense rows of giant gums followed the bends of creek beds, surprisingly tall and lush trees in comparison with the surrounding vegetation. And on from the plains were more mountains. Jagged peaks, peculiar angles, strange-yet-beautiful formations latticed shadows and shapes across the vast landscape. A pale golden light played on the air – glowing softly, magically, it seemed – as colours became reflections, became the subtle hues of a translucent light that suffused everything in the extensive valley. Nothing was untouched by this glow.

Taking another deep breath, Eden turned his gaze slowly towards the east in anticipation. At the sight of the towering mountain range sweeping across the eastern horizon, relief, delight, and awe all registered at the same moment, and laughing out loud, he dropped to his knees. The entire scene was exactly as he had dreamt it. Transfixed, he dashed away the tears that had sprung to his eyes, and stared intently across at the range in wonder.

He could not imagine what bizarre and unlikely event must have occurred to form these mountains. Deep in the primordial shaping of this continent, a force had moved with such power and geometrical precision that it had composed a monolithic image of the ocean. Resembling massive petrified waves, mountains towered like a mighty tidal force about to break over an outback land. They hung, strangely suspended above their inland shore, enigmatic and mysterious. The surfaces of the slopes were stark and sheer and, from where Eden stood, looked impossible to climb. Even if he had not held this image within his mind for so long, he would still have been awestruck by the vision of the range; it was unique and breath-taking. Throwing up his arms, he leapt up in excitement and yelled across to the mountains, Yes! I’ve seen you! And you are real!

In all directions, the scene before him was just as he had dreamt it: every mountain, every angle, every bend and twist in the creek beds wandering across the scene below. In his dreams he had seen the same deep, dark purples, the soft violets, and all the shades of brown, from the rich shadowy browns to tans and soft oranges, from the hues of ochre to gold. For so long Eden’s mind had been touched by this sight, and now he stood within it.

Suddenly, close by, a subtle shimmering in the atmosphere was followed in an instant by an audible snapping in the air. Mesmerised by the sight of the distant mountains, Eden unconsciously ignored this for a brief moment – this is Australia, the hot, dry continent, where the heat often played strange tricks upon the air. Yet the shimmering persisted, intensifying for a few more moments, and then, within another split second, the bright crackling of an electrical current burst out into the atmosphere just a metre from where he stood. A fluid, translucent shape immediately appeared, resolving rapidly into the vivid, yet transparent, image of a human being.

Eden leapt back in alarm. Quite suddenly, from nowhere, the mirage of a person stood directly in front of him, wavering upon the air. Gasping, Eden stepped back further, shocked.

For a long and intense moment all was silent, and then the image spoke.

Welcome, it said, smiling, as it slowly extended its hand outward in an open, flowing gesture of greeting.

Eden stammered incoherently as the image continued to smile at him – a smile that radiated such warmth and beauty that it instantaneously penetrated Eden’s apprehension. Urgently assessing this sudden, impossible occurrence, he realised that what he sensed was not danger, but a wave of energy emanating from the apparition that was filled with a pure, unspeakable emotion – it was almost tangible in its power. Eden knew in a flashing awareness that if he was to name it, he would call it tenderness, an indescribable depth of tenderness.

He stopped still, taking a deep breath, and the visitor again spoke. Welcome. I am very pleased you have found your way.

Eden swallowed. His shock and disbelief had been replaced by a pressing need to understand, and his words tumbled out in a rush. Is this … happening? he stammered. "Is this … real?"

The other smiled lightly, shrugging. Real? How can it not be? I welcome you.

Eden laughed out loud, incredulous. "But it’s you who’s suddenly appeared!" His mind was racing ahead, questioning: He can’t be from the dreams – he wasn’t in the dreams. Where did he come from? What is he? Quickly searching his mind, he shook his head in consternation.

"Who are you? Are you a vision, or …?" Eden was unable to find the words.

All things are visions, the image said softly, yet some may simply be clearer to us than others.

Eden gazed at him blankly. But where did you come from?

The stranger responded with a heart-warming smile, and another nonchalant shrug.

The landscape, I would think.

The landscape … Eden echoed in a whisper, frowning deeply. He shook his head again, perplexed. But who are you?

Lifting his hands in a gentle gesture, the stranger answered, Oh, I am an element, probably.

Eden stood back. An element? What do you mean? You seem human. How did you get here?

The apparition tilted his head in a sweet, casual manner. I imagine it would have been the same way you did.

Eden stared intently at the shimmering person standing before him, in complete confusion. He said nothing for a few long seconds, and then he voiced an abrupt, alarming thought. Well, are you human? he asked carefully. I mean, are you from Earth?

The other laughed. Almost! Speaking in a low-pitched, melodious voice, he accented his words with flowing movements of his hands.

Eden watched as fleeting images and pictures appeared in the space between them when the stranger spoke. Eden studied the man – if indeed he could be called a man. He might have been a tall boy or an older youth whose face was still very young. Yet his voice was deep, and there was the impression that he only existed on the shimmering plane, as his image shifted constantly, slightly wavering in a disconcerting pulse that made focusing upon him difficult. He was a transparent, flickering shape that became clearer with each gentle pulse and then grew fainter again in a continuous motion.

Eden realised he could see straight through him, right down to the landscape beyond.

Mystified, disturbed – mesmerised – Eden abruptly sat on the ground, his thoughts reflecting the strangeness of this sudden encounter. I can see his words, he mused. He shapes pictures in the air with his hands, and they are almost as clear as he is.

Eden needed to understand whether this apparition had leapt up unexpectedly from his own mind or he was experiencing the appearance of something, or someone, whose source was utterly separate from himself. At other times in his life strange and inexplicable things had occurred, yet he sensed, deeply, that this visitation, this event, was inextricably linked to finding the place from his dreams. Either way, he thought finally, whether he is part of me or separate from me, this must surely be connected to having finally arrived in the land I have been dreaming of for so many years. Yet perhaps, he wondered, as he watched the image in thoughtful silence, this person is not here at all – perhaps he is only in my imagination. But how could that be so? Eden didn’t think that was possible, not really, for how could any vision be so unique, so exceptional, and yet be his own creation?

Eden let out a large breath. So … he said eventually, you speak as though it’s me who’s come to you – as though you were already here. Although you’re not fully here at all. And you say you’ve come from the landscape, yet you appear as a human. And I can’t recall ever having seen you before …

The young man shrugged, closing his eyes. He was searching the memory of his dreams for a hint, a quality that would stir recognition. Perhaps he had dreamt of this being but just could not recall it now?

He looked back up at the image, feeling tempted to reach out and touch it, to make sure it was really there, but he knew that such an action might cause it to vanish. Insubstantial and ethereal, the mirage continued to vibrate before him, its expression still filled with a glow of warmth and friendliness.

Eden suddenly tossed his hands up lightly, as though dismissing his own thoughts. Well, you must be a vision I haven’t actually had, he stated.

The image smiled, nodding down at Eden. That is possible, is it not?

Eden raised his eyebrows. But how could it be possible?

Perhaps it is just simply that I have not been clear to you before. That is all.

"But wouldn’t that mean you already existed before I’d seen you? Eden appealed. And if you existed before I saw you, wouldn’t that mean you must be from somewhere else?"

Where else is there, Eden?

The young man paused.

All is else. Else is everywhere, the apparition commented.

Else is everywhere? Eden sat still for a few moments, staring into the distance. Then an expression of keen regard crossed his face. Well, he said, "outer space is everywhere. So you could be from somewhere else, like outer space."

Tilting his head playfully, the image answered with shining eyes. Yes, perhaps that is true, but also, perhaps it is not, he said softly. Outer space may also be known as inner space. As without, so within. We may find many strangers within.

From within? Eden echoed quietly.

The image nodded, saying, From the outside, inside – and from the inside, outside.

Eden studied the ephemeral being for a few moments, bemused. This visitor, whilst communicating so willingly, had so far not really answered anything at all. He scratched his face, frowning.

Well, okay, are you are part of myself, then?

The stranger looked into his eyes. We are all a part of each other. Perhaps I am just from a dream that you cannot recall. Or perhaps part of a dream that you are only now dreaming.

Eden stared at him in alarm, How do you know about the dreams?

The image shrugged, I could be a part of them, somehow, he suggested.

Eden shook his head in utter bewilderment. "But how? You’ve never been in the dreams, not that I can remember."

Yet how could I know of them otherwise, Eden? queried the apparition.

But you’ve never been in any of the dreams, the young man insisted, as he stood quickly, and how do you know my name? He forced the question towards the stranger. Tell me what’s going on, will you—

Raising his hands in a calming gesture, the image answered, Perhaps it is just that you did not see me in your dreams, Eden. I cannot tell, for it is you who have dreamt, not me.

Eden waved away the statement. Tell me how you know my name. His voice shook.

The image looked at him serenely, saying, How could I not?

Eden stared back at him, speechless. Torn between alarm and disbelief, between frustration and wonder, he struggled to form his words. How can you know my name, when I don’t even know you? I mean, I don’t even know if you’re really here, do I?

The man gazed into Eden’s eyes. Do you not know me? he asked.

The young man moved his head from side to side, momentarily overcome. He looked away quickly, staring blankly into the distance, absolutely uncertain of what he was feeling. Then he returned his gaze to the stranger and watched silently. He had no idea what to think, what to say, or what it was any more that he wanted to know. He suddenly threw up his hands in a gesture of capitulation and burst into laughter. "OK, I give up! Just tell me, please – do you exist beyond … beyond myself? Just tell me if you’re real."

Gently, the hands of the image danced before him as he spoke. All things are real, Eden, he told him, Some things just seem more real than others. I am here, whilst I may also be equally not here. How will we ever know? You decide.

Large, deep blue eyes penetrated the young man’s gaze, and for an instant Eden caught sight of the vast landscape they stood upon reflected within them. A deep warmth and calmness emanated towards Eden. He stared into the beautiful eyes of the stranger. I can see the land in your eyes, he uttered softly, and that is real.

The other nodded.

Eden shrugged, "But I don’t know your name or why you are here."

The image smiled tenderly. Yet you know why you are here, do you not? And I am very pleased that you have found your way. He looked past Eden to the countryside below them, and an expression of sheer joy came into his face. Isn’t this the most astounding landscape? he said, sweeping his arm around in a circle to take in the full view. In so doing, he immediately became overwhelmed by an intense wavering vibration, and disappeared as quickly as he had appeared.

*     *     *

Eden sat motionless for a full thirty minutes after the apparition had vanished. He couldn’t move and had no thought to try. The enormous sky above him seemed to reach down and enter his mind, stretching his thoughts and expanding his senses. He had known for a long time that this landscape, should he be able to find it, would hold something significant for him. He hadn’t known whether he would ever find the land from his dreams, and he was now absorbing the experience which had occurred within seconds of his arrival there. He sat quietly for some time. He wasn’t disturbed by what had happened, but he was intrigued. The experience had not left him troubled - it had simply added more depth and dimension to an event which had already thrilled him – finding this land and finding this hilltop. If he was from my dreams, Eden thought eventually, I have no memory of him at all. Yet one does not remember all of one’s dreams. I would understand more if I knew who he was.

The desire he had been following, and which had guided him to this hilltop, was a passion born of his own dreams. As much as he did not question his journey he did not doubt now that the shining, shimmering image he had encountered was yet another unknowable aspect belonging to the same secrets. Eden had never been forced to question the truth of otherness. Indeed, Eden often saw things which others claimed did not exist, and he had ceased wondering whether or not he was imagining things. It was not the first time he had seen a human apparition. Long ago he had learnt that not everyone’s eyes perceived another layer of images dancing and flickering and flitting across the tangible substances of the physical world. He had stopped telling others about his visions. They were difficult to describe, and it had become disheartening to relate the occurrences to blank, unbelieving faces, faces which registered more and more doubt the further into his explanations he went. It had been many years since he had exposed himself to the disbelief and suspicion his visions seemed to elicit.

Eden looked out again across the expanse of countryside. The view in all directions was wondrous. Full of contradiction and contrast, the shapes and patterns and colours of the landscape had a mesmerising effect upon him. It is like a landscape from another planet, he thought. There is nowhere else like it I have ever seen. And now that I am here, what am I looking for? It is enough to see that this place really exists – yet why have I known of it for so many years?

The land itself seemed to speak. Even in the immense silence, nature itself was so intense that it almost seemed to be yelling at him. He could barely think for the presence of this place.

The warmth of the sun and the peace of his surroundings lulled him into a vague, vacant mood. He leant his head onto his drawn-up knees and rested. The atmosphere was so strong and so silent that soon Eden fell into a dreamy state, his thoughts floating away as he sank into sleep. After a short time he came back to the surface, and then, in a state of complete relaxation, he leant over slowly until he was lying on the ground. He drifted back into a deep and dreamless sleep.

Something had woken him, a sound or a movement. Eden quickly sat up and looked around, but there was not a soul in sight. He was alone on the top of the hill, with the low afternoon sun glowing warmly on his face. He caught a flash of light off to the side, and then another brief flicker from the ground nearby. Of course, he remembered, the shining crystal rocks of his dreams. They were all over this hill.

He surveyed the nearby surface of the hilltop and saw a multitude of shining crystalline forms lying scattered in all directions. Eden reached for the closest one, lifting it up to the light. It was quartz crystal, and on closer inspection it appeared to be not just a single lump of rock, but thousands of tiny crystalline shapes held together to form small cylindrical tubes. He examined it with interest. It resembled a strange sea creature, like an anemone constructed from minute particles of fossilised crystal, and he was reminded that long ago, where he stood, there had once been a vast interior sea. Glancing around he saw that many of the stones were similar to the one he held, whilst a few were solid pieces of quartz crystal. Some of these were very large and still partially buried under the hard, dry surface of the hilltop. Jutting out of the ground, they sparkled in the sun, dazzling and glinting as the sunlight refracted and bounced off their surfaces. The smaller fossil-like pieces twinkled in amongst the other rocks and grasses. My dreams were very accurate, thought Eden. Even the stones are here.

The sun was moving lower in the sky, and the mountains in the west were changing from the patchwork of browns and pinks and ochres to shaded greys. The folds and creases in the ranges were becoming dark shadows, while the line which followed the peaks of the mountains displayed a thin, bright golden band which silhouetted the horizon. The sky was slowly turning pink, and the valley below, gradually filling with a golden-rose light, glowed with deeper, stronger colours as the sunlight stretched its beams across to the eastern range. And in the east, all shone white. Everything in sight was being magically transformed by the rays of the sun and the deepening of the sky. Soft, glowing scenery rapidly became a radiant landscape of intense colours. Vivid, uncanny shapes, suggesting images from fantasy worlds, were developing across the entire scene, as the mountains and hills took on shadows and lights from the distant sun.

Eden watched. The atmosphere felt so strong and overpowering that it was almost visibly vibrating. He found it deep and strong and bright in this so-called barren land. Some people describe this country as dry and dead, he recalled. Perhaps they hadn’t been here, for he had never known so much life in colour before.

He knew he should leave before darkness began to envelop the landscape. The magnetic quality of the surroundings had held him spellbound for some time. He wondered then how far had he walked from the road; it might have been two kilometres or more. He had driven almost three hundred kilometres that day, and the further north he had travelled the more reminiscent of his dreams the landscape had become. He had driven on in excitement and anticipation.

After passing through Hawker, now over one hundred and fifty miles to the south, Eden had known with a certainty that he had chosen the right way. Climbing upward, the road had begun to cut a path directly into the mountains, and the land closed in on both sides. This was the road he had travelled in his sleep. At the summit, Eden had suddenly beheld the massive peaks and ridges of the Flinders Ranges. Shrouded in a soft, glowing light, the mysterious and ancient shapes struck skyward, rising in a severe and rocky silence. Eagerly he drove on, and he was soon following alongside the line of mountains as they bore northwards into the Australian outback. The enormous towering formations rolled and peaked in spectacular ridges and jagged escarpments, on and on for as far as the eye could see, sweeping up from the plains and rolling away in a stunning display of colours and shapes. They ran in a purple, violet, and blue procession, bare and rugged and rocky, their colours shifting and changing at every angle while the sunlight played upon them, revealing the reds, oranges, and creamy yellows in one moment and then drawing out the blues and greys, pinks and violets in another. Onward, for one hundred kilometres or more, the mountains folded and cracked in a continuous formation of valleys, crevices, and canyons, dissolving into a blur of blue as they joined the horizon.

Eden had never been this far north. Wilpena had been the extent of his travels, and that had been a long time ago, long before the dreams had started. Now the very essence of the land had begun to capture the feeling of his dreams. He had stopped frequently to stand out under the vast sky, gazing about in a deeply affected state as he experienced the intense presence of this land. He felt held within the grip of a deep, ancient silence which seemed to overwhelm his thinking and fill him with awe. Beyond knowing that this land was nearly as old as the earth itself, Eden had not known that it held a beauty which belied its bare, harsh contours. Defying its dramatic and inaccessible heights, it drew him in with a language of shapes and patterns which called to a place within his own spirit. His dreams had contained this beauty. They had been filled with this staggering and powerful silence – yet until now, Eden had never known if this land really existed.

As he drove further northward, the land began to capture more and more of his dreaming. Memories flashed before him, until soon they were no longer just fleeting images of his inner visions but fast becoming a synthesis of his inner and outer worlds. Eden’s consciousness shifted and altered as they became united, and he hummed quietly to himself as he drove on. A sense of complete peace had entered him. He knew he could not be far from the hill of crystals.

Passing through Parachilna, the road moved further away from the eastern range. The plains extended for miles in both directions, with the hills outlining the horizons to the east and the west. Eden observed the vegetation. Dense, scrubby bushes and small trees grew in the hard, dry brown earth. The rows of gums announced dry creek beds. Of enormous proportions, the gums stretched out their limbs on either side of the creek beds, making shadowy canopies over the creeks. Floods had exposed the roots of the trees by the embankments, and they curled and curved outwards, covered by the debris of leaves and small branches which they had trapped during the rains. The edges of the creek beds showed the distinct layers of rocks, soil, and leaves which had been accumulating over the years and years of droughts and floods in the extreme climactic conditions of this interior land.

A large black wedge-tail eagle took flight from the side of the road as Eden’s car approached. Extending out the full length of its wings, it lifted up in one graceful and powerful movement and flew to a nearby treetop. Over the eastern plain a flock of white corellas were flying at great speed.

The land had become harsher and barer, the ground was harder, and the vegetation grew more spindly and sparser. The distance to the horizons lengthened as the landscape became flat and unvaried. The hills still lined the plains, though they were now far away – diminished in size, but unchanged in their fascinating array of colours and shapes. Ahead were more hills. Eden passed the Beltana turn-off. Still following the images from his dreams, he knew he was not far from the hill which marked the ending of his journey, for he was nearing the end of his dreaming.

As the road drew closer to the eastern hills and the land again began to undulate and dip, Eden’s mood changed from the contained and quietly assured state he’d been in for the past two hours to one of nervous apprehension, as a tingling excitement began to creep through his body. He spoke aloud to himself, and to the passing landscape - calling out to the bends and curves on the road as they perfectly reflected the pathway of his dreams.

The scenery again opened out, this time into a wide valley that was completely encircled by hills and mountains in every direction. To his right, Eden saw a bare, plain hillside interrupting the eastern view. This was the valley of his dreams!

He instantly he pulled off the road. Opening the door, he stood and surveyed the scene. The hill was not far away. Eden knew what he would see from the hilltop, and could barely contain his elation. Without thinking, he ran across the road and onto the flat plain which stretched for about a kilometre before him towards the hillside.

Laughing out loud as he ran, he dashed halfway to the foot of the hill before stopping. Panting – although more from his delirium of eagerness than from running – he calmed himself, and slowly walked up the slope of the hill. Unsure at some moments if he was again dreaming, or whether he was now being dreamt by the dreams of the ancient land around him - Eden was no longer merely awakening from a vision which had called to him persistently time after time; he was walking inside of the stirring call that he had been hearing for so long. As he reached the crest of the hill, tears sprang into his eyes, and he covered them, momentarily overwhelmed by the sight before him.

Eden had frequently dreamt this dream. He had stood and beheld the startling eastern range with its sheer rock face and remarkable formation. He had seen the shining crystal rocks that were now at his feet. He had stood and absorbed the landscape surrounding him, experiencing the depth and the silence of the countryside. And he had travelled the length of those astounding mountains in every dream to arrive at the hill of crystals. Yet he had been no further. From here, he had seen no more.

Eden stood and stretched. Breathing deeply, he felt extraordinarily content, as though through his breath he was being blended with the atmosphere of the valley. This is where my dreams ended, he thought. Yet now he knew that his journey would not be over until he had walked within this land.

2

Eden returned to his vehicle and drove on a little further to find a place to camp overnight. The evening was cool and the light very dim. He turned off the road, following the course of a wide creek bed, and parked under a canopy of large gum trees. After rummaging through several boxes of food to find a small amount of bread and fruit to eat, Eden crawled into his sleeping bag and lay down to rest. Although his mind was very active and his senses stimulated and alert, his body was very weary, and soon he drifted into a relaxed sleep. The silence surrounding him increased as the night deepened, and he slept on until dawn.

He was awakened by the sudden screeching and screaming of an enormous flock of white corellas flying into the canopy. They moved in a great flurry of wings and noisy activity from one tree to the next, shifting in and out the nearby gums. After eventually settling themselves for half a minute or more in the trees above, the entire flock then departed as one, screeching in unison as they headed out across the plains.

Eden climbed out of the car and stepped onto the moist, dewy ground. The sky showed beautiful pinks and greys as the sun rose slowly in the east. Nearby a kangaroo thudded through the bush, and then another. The second one stopped briefly to look at Eden and then followed on after her mate.

Under the canopy of trees the atmosphere was alive and glistening with early morning dampness. Eden shivered, his teeth chattering, and after returning to the car to find socks, boots, and more clothing, he gathered twigs and small branches to build a fire and set out his supplies for breakfast. He ate, and while a small billy of water warmed on the fire for tea, he contemplated his plans