Masters of the Arches Ch. 14

It felt wonderful to be under the sunlight again. Even though the temperature was very hot outside, they didn't mind the sweat on their skin. Having spent the last twenty days deep under the mountain, they were all experiencing a sincere pleasure to find themselves once again in close contact with nature, especially Nika and Verla.

The grass under their feet, the singing of the numerous birds, the whispering of the breeze as it passes through the many trees and even the insects crawling and flying everywhere were a welcome sight.

Both women had a broad smile on their lips and a look of satisfaction could be seen on their face. Those long days under the mountain had been far worst for them than they had been on Vincent. At least, in his case he was used to spent much of his time in a room under fluorescent tubes in an artificial surrounding. His two women were not used to this kind of restriction since they had seldom spent more than a day at a time under a roof.

But still, Vincent figured that the long stretch of time that they had remained deep underground under the constant guidance of Brumelle had not been a waste of time.

He had been instructed in the use of the bow, how to throw a spear and also how to act like a native of this world. Even his skin had been darkened a little with a special lotion that Brumelle had shown him how to prepare.

His hair-line which had been receding before he came to this world had now returned back to where it had been when he was twenty, his missing tooth at the back of his mouth was fully grown now and even the scar tissues on his right hand -- where he had once cut himself deeply on a piece of broken glass -- had completely healed and no trace of the scar could be detected.

Vincent had even gotten used to walk without boots and he knew that his feet, although still sensitive to the pressure of small rocks, would soon acquire a protective callous thickness as he walked on them.

To an outsider, he now appeared just like a native of this planet and this is exactly the impression he was trying to create of course. Brumelle had warned him that if Valdo ever learned that someone from outside of this world was on the planet, he would mobilize everyone he had working for him so as to discover his whereabouts and capture him. He would then make him talk so as to learn where the arch linking Earth to this world was located.

She explained to him that once Valdo learned that he had arrived into his world by mean of an arch, it would only be only a question of time before he was captured. It was therefore exceedingly important for Vincent that he should look like a native of this world.

After all, she told him, a stranger here mean that a Simultravel had been used somewhere and it also met a mean to find its location once that visitor could be made to talk. With the many drugs available to Valdo it would be an easy thing to make him talk.

Vincent didn't relish on the idea that as soon as he would be face to face with Valdo he was to kill him. His education had always been centered on the respect of human life, even animals lives were important to him.

Of course he had often gone hunting while on Earth, but it was always his skill against that of the game he was pursuing. He never shot a deer or any other animal that had no chance of escaping him. More important still, once a hunted animal was wounded, he always made it a point of honor to hunt it down so that it would not die suffering from its wound. Leaving a wounded animals to suffer was not his way, even if it met tracking it down for several hours.

Never had he killed a man in cold blood. The only men he had killed were those he had shot in this world and even then it had been a question of his life or theirs.

He had been warned by Brumelle that the only way to kill Valdo was to get close to him and to act swiftly without mercy. If he should act in a chivalrous manner, she had told him, so as to give him an even chance, he would loose since Valdo had all sorts of hidden weapons that Vincent had probably never heard off. He had to get close to him and create at the same time the impression that he was ignorant of all the weapons he would see around him.

Many hours had been spent studying maps and the habits of the natives so as to help them with their search. They were to travel south until they reached the land of the dark skin people, then south again for a long time through forests and plains, going into the land of many different tribes until they would reach the cold White Sea, which was situated near the south pole of the planet.

Because of the very small inclination of the planet on its axe of rotation, and also because of the fact that this world was a little closer to its sun than the Earth was, both poles were not as cold as their counterparts on Earth.

Brumelle told them that Valdo was living on an island in the middle of the White Sea. It was a body of water half frozen most of the time and eing so remote, it was impossible to reach his island without being detected. Built on this large island in the middle of that cold sea was an immense structure where Valdo lived. During the war, it had been the headquarters of those who were on Valdo's side. Now he was still using it as his base and although he had no army left, he still had a great number of slaves and people devoted to him. They either feared him or remained loyal to him because of the promises of wealth.

Of course, Brumelle also explained that these men had a limited usefulness to Valdo since they had no knowledge whatsoever of the use of modern weapons and they were also quite ignorant of the past events that had occurred on this world. He mostly made use of them to gather information and for his protection.

With the exception of his metal knife, and also Nika's knife, Vincent had left behind all of his weapons, -- as well as everything that also implied a modern technology -- he now had no compass and his only mean of guidance was the sun.

It was in the middle of the morning when they emerge from under the mountain and since they had a very long way to go, they got started on their mission immediately. Both women knew what was expected of them, and they considered it a privilege to be able to obey and serve the goddess of the mountain.

Beside, had Vincent forbade them to accompany him, he felt sure that both would have disobey him and would have followed his trail anyway. They now both considered themselves as his mate and the only way they would ever leave him now was for Vincent to break the tie with either or both of them in a ceremony. Of course this was the last thing that he wanted to do since he felt that he owed the fact that he was still alive to them and he would therefore prefer to die before parting with either of them.

Five days after they had departed from the depth of the mountain where Brumelle was, they were walking on the bank of a river. They could easily see the other side which was about five or six hundred feet away. The river was barring their progress south and they knew that they would have to cross it somehow.

By late afternoon, they were still following the river downstream in the hope of finding an easy place to get to the other side. On a common accord it was then decided that they would make camp for the night on its shore.

"I think we should stay here a day or two," said Vincent. "There is plenty of games around here and it would be a good idea to built up a reserve of smoke meat, we don't know what we will find ahead of us."

The two women were in agreement with him and they all got to work immediately setting up camp on the wide bank of the river. Before it got completely dark, he cut many length of small vines that were plentiful everywhere, and he set half a dozen traps so as to catch small games.

That night they took turn to keep guard while the other two were sleeping. While one of his two women was keeping watch, he made love to the other, then in the middle of the night when they exchanged placed he once again made love to the other. Ever since he had set foot on this world, it seemed to him that his sexual energy and his craving for sex had greatly increased.

He didn't expect any trouble from them because of the fact that he was regularly making love to both of them and they each were fully aware of that fact too. Neither of the two girls appeared jealous of the other, on the contrary they were good friends and there was genuine love between them. After all, it was very common in this world for men or women to have more than one mate. On Earth he knew that it would have been considered a pervert thing to do to make love to both women within the same night, especially with one of them still within hearing range of the copulating couple.

While the three of them had been under the protection of Brumelle, he hadn't dared make love to either of them since he couldn't predict how the lovely Brumelle would react. But now that they were free from the watchful eyes of the computer, he was getting carried away with his sexual ardor and he knew that he was quickly going to develop a taste for this sort of 'ménage a trois'.

The next morning, while the women were preparing breakfast -- consisting of fruits and boiled roots -- he went to check his traps. He had two rabbits and a strange looking animal almost as big as a pig but with a black fur and dangerous looking teeth.

While the women got busy cleaning and smoking the meat, he went to investigate ahead along the bank of the river so as to find out if he could discover a place where they could cross on the other side. But there were no suitable place in sight and he knew that they would still have to follow the river for a while yet.

They remained all of that day resting and smoking the meat that they had, when they resumed their trip south the following day, they had a good reserve of meat which they carried on their back tied with flexible vines and wrapped in large leaves.

The mountain from where Vincent had entered into this world was situated well into the northern hemisphere of the planet and their destination was completely at the other pole and it met that they had a very long way to go. They were still walking along the bank of the river and it became evident that the further they went downstream, the wider the river was getting.

Soon, the bank where they were walking was nothing more than a thin strip of sand covered with boulders and rocks everywhere. The further they went, the larger were the boulders while the sand was getting thinner all the time.

Once in a while Vincent would climb on a tall rock and look around so as to see if the topography of the land was changing ahead of them. But everywhere he could see it was the same. Everywhere he looked it was barren land with no trees in sight and very little vegetation, big rocks were everywhere to be seen and it appeared to him that the surrounding region was being flooded periodically by the river, judging by the lack of top soil.

In the middle of the afternoon, the heat was almost unbearable, and when they finally stopped to make camp in a spot among a group of boulders, they were all very exhausted. Vincent didn't like the idea of making camp too close to the river. For one thing he didn't know what dangers to expect from the amphibian life of the river. So far he hadn't seen anything resembling an alligator, but still he didn't want to take any chance.

Before going to sleep that night, they build a fire and ate some of the fresh meat - not smoked yet - they had been carrying with them. Early the next morning, they were back once again walking on the narrow bank of the river.

After less than an hour it became quite evident that it would be just about impossible for them to travel along the now completely rocks covered bank for much longer. On both sides of the river the sand had all but disappeared, it had been replaced by rocks of all seize and even the river itself was narrower and moving faster.

They managed to walk still further. Now the river had dug a channel into the bedrock, making it absolutely impossible for them to move the way they had been going. They had only two alternatives. One was to get further inland and walk over the land for a while -- which he rather not do on account of the suffocating heat -- while their other option was to construct some kind of a raft and ride the river while at the same time they could cross on the other side.

Vincent was not too keen about the raft option either since he still recalled the almost catastrophic end of his last trip on a raft when it had almost ended in tragedy for him and Nika. But the raft option was still more appealing to him than walking over the barren and suffocating desert land.

After all he now had a fairly good idea where he was and what to expect ahead since Brumelle had explained to him the general topography of the country ahead of them.

It took them the rest of the day to construct their raft which consisted of four logs -- there were plenty of dead wood on the bank -- tied with thick vines that grew almost everywhere among the rocks along the river. By mid morning of the next day they got on the raft and he pushed them by mean of a crooked pole until the river began to carry them downstream.

They let the river take care of the raft for the rest of the day stopping only to make camp on a small island in the middle of the river. By the middle of their second day, they noticed that the current was carrying them much faster while the sandy bank of the river on both side was slowly beginning to reappear once again.

Vincent figured that there would be no real advantage in leaving the raft now, even if it was moving in a southwesterly direction and not directly south. They were covering much greater distances than they would if they were walking, and this with much less effort.

In the middle of the afternoon of the second day, the dense tropical forest had appeared again on both sides of the river. They knew from Brumelle's information that the river led to a large lake, which in turn did connect to another lake.

When they set up camp that late afternoon, Vincent told himself that they would have to abandon the raft soon since he had no intention of sailing the dangerous waters of the lake with their precarious embarkation. Even though Brumelle hadn't mention any special dangers, Vincent knew that he couldn't rely too much on her information since the last time anyone had fed any data into her memory bank it must have been many thousands of years earlier and a lot of things had changed since then.

As for the natives living around the very large lake, anything could be possible and Vincent prepared himself for the worst. That night while they were lying under a partly cloudy sky, they heard the faint sounds of beating drums in the distance.

The regular repeating and rhythmic sound that seemed to make the air itself vibrate, came from the south. When he got up to look at the night sky in the direction from which the monotonous sound came, he saw the deep red reflection on the low clouds from many camp fires. He figured that there was a large village situated directly on their path.

Every one in the trio soon became edgy and nervous, and even though Vincent spent half the night keeping watch, the two women had trouble sleeping since the regular beating of the far off drums had a sinister effect on them.

The following day, they left the lake and were once more moving downstream on the river. They tried as best as they could to maintain the raft as close as possible to the southern shore of the river so that if the need should arise for them to leave the raft quickly, it would be easier and faster to do if they were close to the shore.

It was around noon when the river made a ninety degrees turn toward the west. Before they could stop the raft or push it toward shore, they were well on another lake. Previous to this sharp turn, the land on both side of the river had been covered with tall trees and judging by what he sat, the game seemed plentiful everywhere they happened to looked.

One minute they were on the raft going downstream and the next after they turn the sharp bent of the river they emerged on the water of the lake. Vincent could barely see the other shore ahead of them while on his right as well as on his left he saw only water. Of course there were no traces of building anywhere to be seen. He was stunned by the beauty of this wilderness.

Before they began to drift too far they proceeded to push the raft with the poll and they paddled with their hand until the raft began to approach the south shore of the lake. Many long minutes later and after much effort, they were able to reach the sandy beach of the lake.

"We will unload the bundles of smoked meat on the beach and we will hide them under the cover of the undergrowth, then we will cut the vines holding the raft together and release the logs, that way no one will know that we are here."

"Why don't we just pull it on shore a little. It might be useful later?" Said Nika.

"No. We mustn't leave any traces of our being here. I have a bad feeling about this place. Beside the drums we heard last night mean that there must be people around here."

"Yes you are right, I didn't think about this."

Once the few possessions they had, including the smoked meat was hidden among the small bushes growing near the sandy beach, they got to work with the cutting of the vines holding the logs together. Vincent and Nika still had their metal knives that Vincent had bought on his world. As a matter of fact it was the only thing that they had from Earth, all the rest of their belonging had been left underground on the advise of Brumelle.

Once the logs were free from the restraining vines, they pushed them one by one into the water of the lake. Next, they took a few branches and they erased their footprints from the surface of the sand. Vincent doubted very much that it could fool an experienced eye, but under the circumstance it was the best they could do.

While Vincent carried the bundles of meat on his back with his knife within easy reach, they walked in a single file deeper into the forest. Nika went in front with her bow ready and half stretched with an arrow while Verla walked behind them with her spear in hand.

Their progress was slow since they had to change direction often either because of the rough terrain or because of fallen trees. Much of the vegetation around them was unknown to Vincent.

In the middle of the afternoon, they reached a small clearing in the middle of the forest. He was surprised to see both women rush to a group of small trees loaded with fist seizes pink fruits. Both girls seemed to know what the fruits were and they did not hesitated a second to bite into them.

After tasting one, Vincent discovered that they were simply delicious. It occurred to him that he could make a fortune growing these fruits on earth. The inside was of a darker shade of pink and it was very juicy and sweet.

One of the baskets that Nika had made with vines a couple of days before, was filled with the delicious fruits. When Vincent asked them the name of these succulent fruits, Verla said they were called "fruits of life" since they were usually found in the least expected places and on numerous occasions they had save the life of half starved travelers.

They made camp an hour later near a small stream in a section of the forest where the trees were less densely pack. Of course no fire was lit that night and they had to eat their meat cold with some of the "fruits of life".

As soon as it was dark, the air became filled with the sound of the forest with its many predators hunting. Then later in the evening they heard a chilling cry of pain that made their blood turn cold.