"It was just an ordinary puzzle book, the kind you could get
anywhere.
He recalled it was a gift from his granddaughter, who always
seemed to be encouraging him to do tasks like this to keep his mind
active. He turned the page and began the next puzzle. As he
steadily worked his way through it, the words began to make him
think of something else, something from long ago, something he
never spoke of. He looked again at the title and he remembered.
Now in his mind he went back, back to the year of his
grandfather’s death. Back to when as requested he alone was
sent with the man’s ashes to the remote mountain he was so
fond of. As he began his journey back through the woods a thick,
dense, rolling fog began to settle around him, making him blind to
all of his surroundings; except for a narrow path that opened up
ahead, that he set about to follow.
After what seemed like miles he noticed a figure emerging in the
short distance in front of him. At first he thought it looked like
a small child, but as the mist began to clear from around its head
he saw that it appeared to look like a man. A very little man who
looked old, incredibly old, ancient. It sat on a ledge covered by a
curtain of cobwebs giving the appearance of a stone throne. Its
filthy long, tangled silver hair, as well as its mangy beard fell
over the edge several feet to the ground. Looking into its cold
empty eyes, the young man stood frozen in fear. Numb and
speechless, like knowing what a fly must feel while facing the
approaching spider.
“Your Grandfather was a very clever man, he was.” It
said in a voice that seemed to chill the bone marrow.
“We made a wager once, a bet we did. . . . A gamble for a
treasure of gold. . . He won our little game, he did. . . . He said
I was to settle up with you. . . Only leave you alone. . . . let
you be, I must.” It said shaking its head.
It smiled a terrible toothless smirk and let out a laugh that
screeched out over the mountain like the last death cry of a
mortally wounded animal. “Ha, Ha, Ha . . . we never decided
on how, when or where this debt of mine would be paid, we did not.
. . Ha, Ha, Ha”
With complete seriousness it now looked into the young man eyes
and said;
“Listen up boy, listen good. Someday someone you love will
bring you the key. Puzzled at first, soon you will see. To find
your treasure you must descend. After looking to what’s left
at the rainbows end.”
The young man stared as it put its head back and roared again
with laughter slowly disappearing behind the fog and vanished like
a wisp of smoke.
Later that day a young man emerged from a mountain afraid. Later
in life an older man now understood."
You can check your answers for this puzzle on Geochecker.com.
