Masters of the Arches Ch. 14

It was a human cry and it seemed to come from less than a quarter of a mile from their position. More screaming then followed the initial one and soon the beating of drums began again. But this time they could tell that it came from a place very close to them.

There was no doubt in Vincent's mind that someone was being tortured. Once in a while they could also hear the cheering of a crowd and each time it was followed by the intense screaming. The cries of pain made Vincent half sick, especially when the screaming was that of a woman.

After long minutes, when no one dared to talk, he finally said.

"I must go and have a look at the source of these screams."

"Please don't go," said Verla, "they must have people on guard and they will capture you."

"No, I will be careful. I will not let them see me. That computer called Brumelle did teach me every skills in the art of moving undetected at night and even in daytime. Beside we must know what to expect ahead of us."

"We don't have to move directly into their path. Tomorrow we could simply walk west for a while then turn south again." Said Nika.

"If we do that each and every time we come to a village or to a little danger, it will take us a very long time to find Valdo. Beside who knows, we might still get into greater danger if we go west for a while as you propose."

They both knew that he was right and they stopped arguing.

He didn't bother to take the bow or Verla's spear since it would be very difficult at night to send an arrow straight to its marks. Instead he took his knife and a short spear from Verla and he disappeared into the forest.

Only a couple of hundred feet from where they had established camp, he discovered a trail that led in the general direction of the screaming. He remained on the trail until the sound of the drums got nearer, then he got off the trail on his right where the forest was very dense.

He figured that it was more than probable that this trail and any other leading to the village would be guarded. The ground was getting higher as he went ahead on a parallel path about a thousand feet off the trail, then he reached the top of a small hill on which grew many small trees and he finally discovered the source of the screaming.

He saw about a dozen human forms tied to a line of posts. Each post being about ten feet from the next. A very large fire was burning in front of the line of posts and many smaller one could also be seen here and there throughout the village. The light from the big fire was throwing sinister shadows everywhere and it was illuminating many of the huts in the background.

There must have been four or five hundreds people standing in a half circle around the fire as well as around the posts where the unfortunate souls were tied.

While most of the crowd was chanting and dancing, Vincent saw one of the man take a large stick from the fire and when he pulled it out there were flames burning at one end.

All at once the crowd became very quiet. The man then performed a complicated series of steps then quite loudly he recited a few incantations.

Next, with a wicked smile - which Vincent could clearly see from where he was hidden - he slowly approached one of the human forms tied to one of the posts, he then held the flame of the burning stick against the side of the human form.

(to be continued)