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From: mandil_k@hotmail.com (mandil)
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NNTP-Posting-Date: 5 Mar 2002 19:15:15 GMT
Subject: {ASSM} Masters of the Arches  chapter 11
Date: Tue,  5 Mar 2002 19:10:09 -0500
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Masters of the Arches
by Mandil



                                     Chapter 11








That first night after Nika's kidnapping, Vincent and Verla didn't
sleep at all. They remained on guard all night in case the birdmen
should come on foot and attack them again.

Morning found them in a depressed mood and after eating a little, they
moved southward along the length of the gorge.

The temperature was cooler in the gorge and when they wanted to rest
they could easily find shade under the many trees growing there.

It was during one of these rest periods - which were now very frequent
since both had been without water for almost a day now - that Verla
discovered a small hole between two large rocks lying against the
steep slope. Since it was late in the day, they both figured that it
would be worth investigating since it could provide them a safe place
to spend the night.

They threw a small rock inside the hole and listened. They heard it
rolled a while, then came back to them the distinct sound as it hit a
wall or something hard. They then heard an echo, which was a sure sign
that there was a large space deep inside.

Vincent figured that it he tried hard enough, he could squeeze into
the hole with some lost of skin probably, but since Verla was a lot
thinner than he was, he let her crawl inside to investigate. No sooner
was she through the hole that she shouted to Vincent to push their
knapsacks inside and she asked him to follow her inside since she
could see a very large room ahead, but more important still, she also
added that the walls were coated with moisture.

Five minutes later Vincent had moved some smaller rocks out of the way
and had managed to squeeze his larger body through the hole. It had
taken a lot of effort, but he was finally through. As soon as he stood
next to Verla he found himself in a large rectangular cave. Even in
the dim light coming through the small opening of the entrance hole,
he could tell that the excavation had been man- made since the granite
walls were much too regular.

True enough, there was much dampness inside and water droplets were
coating the rocks everywhere. They even found a few places where water
was dripping from the ceiling, a few drops at the time. It took them
only a few minutes to place all their available containers under the
dripping water.

Sleep came easily to both that night. It was the first time for many
days that they had been able to swallow five or six mouthfuls of water
at a time. Ever since they had undertaken the crossing of the dry
plain they had never been able to fully quench their thirst. But now
all of their water bags and bottles were full of the precious liquid
and sleep was the most urgent thing that they needed now.

Morning came with some of its light filtering into their hiding place.
Now that the problem of the water had been solved, and after a restful
night, the memories of the previous day with the lost of Nika, hit
them fully. But they both knew that they could not do anything about
it. Now, only her memory would live in their mind and that memory was
now evoking silent grief.

The previous evening they had been so preoccupied with the collection
of water that they hadn't bothered to explore too much the place they
were in at the moment. Vincent took the flashlight from his knapsack
and he proceeded to look around the cave. It was about ten feet high
and close to twenty feet wide and much longer than it was wide.

One side consisted of a pile of rocks that reached to the ceiling.
Vincent believed that the rocks must have fallen when part of the roof
collapsed.

He thus figured that there should be something on the other side of
the fallen rocks pile, so he climbed to the very top and he began to
roll aside a few of the larger rocks.

He soon had exposed a dark hole leading into another chamber. When he
sent the beam of light through that new hole, he was amazed to see
what look like a wide passage with a very flat surface for the floor
and walls. In all appearances, it was a wide tunnel since his beam of
light wouldn't fall on anything when he pointed it to his right. On
his left a huge door of some kind blocked the tunnel, but on his right
it seem to go on farther than his light beam could reach.

Where it led and for what purpose it had been constructed, he hadn't
the faintest idea. It was all very mysterious to him and in the back
of his mind he tended to associate those responsible for the
construction of this tunnel with the ones that had built the arches.

Vincent came down the pile of rocks and he explained to Verla what he
had just discovered.

"We must make a decision. We can make one of three choices." But
before he had time to continue she said in a determined voice.

"We will do what you decide." 

"No. Our lives might depend on what we decide now and it is only fair
that you have your say about it."

"I will go with you, whatever you choose." 

She took a step closer to him and she took his hand in hers just like
Nika would have done had she been there. Nika then added.

"It is not for a woman to question the decision of her man, but it is
her duty to accept that decision."

Vincent then realized that she was proclaiming herself to be his woman
and he felt very proud of her at that moment. With much emotion in his
voice he said to her.

"Just the same, let me explain the three choices we have. First we can
go through that hole and follow that tunnel, but there is no way to
know what we will find at the end. Second, we can continue southward
outside in the mountain in the hope that we could possibly find Nika.
Thirdly we can take the water and turn back from where we came. With
the extra water bags from the birdmen we could easily make it back
there."

Looking at her as he let her think about what he had just said, he
admired her beautiful gray eyes and her high cheeks bones. It took
much of his willpower not to stare at her splendid breasts so close to
his reach and so voluptuous in their appearance. Each sphere of flesh
was topped at its exact center with a nipple as big as his thumb and
he could feel the effect it was having on him as his hardness began to
twitch in his pants. At last he said to her.

"If you decide to go back I will go with you until we cross the
desert, then I will return back and look for Nika. I will not abandon
her."

"I have already told you, I will go where you go. All of my people are
probably dead now and so is Lomac. You are the only one left."

"Very well, if this is what you want then we will go into that hole
and we will follow that tunnel. It seemed to be going toward the south
and this is the direction that the birdmen went with Nika. We might as
well travel south in the tunnel, for one thing it will be much easier
and I think it will be much safer as well."

While he helped her pass through the hole, he was in contact more than
once with her breasts and he couldn’t prevent himself from
finding pleasure whenever this happened.

Once they were in the main tunnel he had to use his flashlight and
since he didn't have any spare batteries, he switched it on for only a
few seconds at a time and this only once in a while. Thus they had to
walk in the darkness much of the time. He figured that the batteries
were going to last much longer if he did this.

The width of the tunnel was at least twenty feet wide with a height
that must have been ten feet. As for the floor it seemed level when
they were walking on it but when he sent the beam of light far ahead
of them they could detect a noticeable downward inclination to it.

Walking on a flat and hard surface was quite a change from the soft
sand they had been traveling on for the last several days. Even though
they were in total darkness much of the time, they seemed to be
covering a lot more distance in the same length of time. Of course he
no longer had to carry Verla on his back, but she still held on to his
shoulder most of the time so as to take some of the weight off her
healing leg.

By Vincent's watch, they had been walking in the tunnel for a couple
of hours now and still it was going deeper. Even if it was a small
angle of depression, it was going deeper into the ground and its
appearance was always the same with no exit in sight yet.

Now that the water problem was solved, - there was dripping water at
many places - Vincent began thinking about their food supply. They had
a few slabs of dried smoked meat remaining, half a dozen cans of food
which he was keeping as a last resort, dehydrated eggs, biscuits and
half a pound of coffee. It was enough to last them at least a week.

When they stopped to eat, he made use of this opportunity to examine
more closely the material of the floor and walls of the tunnel. It was
some kind of dark green plastic that was extremely hard; he couldn't
scratch it even with his knife. He was aware that technology to
produce this sort of material was certainly not known in his world.

They rested for an hour and then resumed walking. He was now holding
Verla around the waist to help her walk, soon he could feel the warmth
of her body as one of her breasts kept rubbing against his shirt.

He then began to experience an intimate need for her. It bothered him
to be subjected to these feelings, especially so soon after the lost
of Nika, but he couldn't do anything about how his body was reacting
and he had to cope with the guilt he also felt. He did realize though
that sooner or later he was going to make love to Verla.

When they stopped for the night, they stretched on the floor of the
tunnel and he did make love to her. As soon as she was lying on Nika's
sleeping bag next to him, she reached for his hand. This soon led to
Vincent kissing her and after a while he crawled on top of her. At
last he was able to feel the breasts, those same breasts that had been
tempting him so much in the last couple of days.

They breasts were fuller than those of Nika and when he got his
hardness deep into her, she immediately threw her legs around his
waists and he could feel the urgency in her. Yes, she was so tight and
yet so slippery and as he was pumping into her he couldn't prevent his
mind from thinking about the many different man she had had and more
important still, how old she was. But despite the fact that she must
have had numerous sex partners, - at least half the village of Haski
had fucked her for one thing - she was as tight as a teenager at her
graduation prom.

It then occurred to him that it must have something to do with the
rejuvenation properties of this world. Beside the extremely quick
healing of his broken leg a while back, he also had a new tooth in his
mouth to confirm this fact.

While he made love to her, she declared to him that ever since the
death of Lomac she had been hoping that he would make love to her. She
even told him that after Lomac's death, Nika had offered to share him
with her since it was very common in her world to share a man or a
woman when it was necessary. Had they been less concerned about the
dangers and the water problem she would have accepted.

The next day, she could walk much better and they covered even more
distance. His watch indicated that it was in the middle of the
afternoon when they discovered that the floor was no longer slopping
down but was now curving up a little.

"I think we are about to reach the end soon." Said Vincent. 

"But the tunnel has been slopping downward for a long time, so it will
probably take as much time for us to get to the level of the floor of
the valley outside." She replied.

She was right of course but at least they could now see a possible end
to the tunnel. They went on for two more days and still it kept on
slopping upward. They were now using the flashlight less and less
since the beam had begun to show signs of diminishing intensity.

Then on the third day after the floor of the tunnel had begun tilting
upward, they began to see the shapes of things around them even if the
light was out. This was true especially when they looked ahead where
they could see a gentle curvature in the tunnel's walls.

Gradually it became lighter until the tunnel was perfectly lit. It was
a diffused light that seemed to come from the walls and ceiling, but
apart from that, they saw no other changes while the tunnel continued
very straight ahead of them.

For the second night in a row, they slept inside the lighted tunnel.
The temperature was quite comfortable and now the humidity also seemed
to be controlled.

After a restful nights sleep, they both awoke full of energy. As soon
as they finished eating a few slices of dried smoked meat and a couple
of biscuits, they got under way again. As they progress further the
light became even more intense and they began to see decorations on
the walls.

It was nothing very elaborate since in consisted of a series of lines
arranged into different patterns and in bright colors. Then the light
itself seemed to be changing in color and in intensity as if it was
accompanying a silent and slow symphony.

Then all of a sudden they came to a large room where the tunnel ended.
It was as large as an Olympic pool and straight ahead, on the far side
of the room they could see an immense rectangular door that seemed
shut tight. When Vincent tried to open the huge door, it wouldn't move
in any way and no amount of pounding or prying would make it swing or
slide open.

On the wall at their left, was another door but much smaller. It was
barely high enough to allow a man of Vincent's height to go through,
but that door opened of its own the second that Vincent stood in front
of it.

It slid into the wall without any noise whatsoever and on the other
side they could see a small room made of the same materiel as the
tunnel and in the very center of the room was an arch identical to the
two that Vincent had already seen. The one near his house and the
other on this world where he had been transported from his own world.

Verla had never seen any of the arches yet, she whispered to Vincent
that she did not like what she was seeing. She even suggested that
they should go back into tunnel the way they had come.

It was as if an inner sense within her was warning her against the
possible dangers of the arch she was now looking at. He later learned
from her that in most of the tribes there were stories or songs that
talked about similar circular arches. In the many stories or songs
about them, they were always said to be things of evil and people were
warned to keep away from them at all cost.

Vincent was certain that the minute they would walk under its shiny
contour they would be transported somewhere else. But the question
that came to his mind was where?

It took him many minutes to discuss that matter with Verla. He tried
to explain to her what the arch would do, but it was too much for her
to understand. At last she agreed to follow him even if it did mean
death to both of them.

As expected, the instant that they walk through the door, the panel
slid back into place thus blocking their retreat to the tunnel. He
then placed his arm around Verla's shoulders so as to reassure her and
they both stepped at the same time on the familiar plate of the arch.

While Verla was pressing herself against him he could feel her
trembling, at the same time he also experienced the familiar tinkling
throughout his body. A second later they were facing a dark wall; at
least this is what he though it was at first.

It was almost completely dark where they were except for the light
coming from two round holes in the wall high above them. It was not
sunlight but more like the dim light from a wood fire that was
flickering and which was being diffused through both holes. But then
he realized that he could hear chanting coming from the other side of
the wall where the two holes were.

It took him many long seconds to recover from the shock and also for
his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Right away he proceeded to climb
up the rough wall so as to have a closer look through the two holes.

The higher he went the louder the chanting was and it occured to him
that the noise he was hearing was coming through the two holes.

The wall was not made of the same plastic material as the tunnel, but
was made of stones and the climb was not difficult at all. It became
evident to him then that he was in some kind of structure in which
stones had been placed in such a way so as to make a sort of stair-
way leading to the two holes.

Verla was following him up toward the two holes and as they got closer
they discovered that they were much bigger than they had first judge
them to be. Each being at least five feet in diameter.

Just below the two openings, there was a long stone shelf about three
feet wide going the length of both holes which were separated by a
distance of about five feet. Vincent and Verla each stood under a hole
and at the same time they peeked on the other side. What they saw
through the holes turned their blood cold. They were looking down from
a height of about thirty feet and they had a perfect view of a large
room with statues and decorations everywhere. Just ahead at the far
end of the very large room they could see sunlight coming through a
wide opened doorway.

But what attracted their attention most was the large group of people
just under them and what they were about to do. About eighty of the
birdmen were standing in a wide circle with their arms raised and they
were chanting a monotonous incantation. Behind them, also chanting
were a large number of men, women and even a few children. Everyone
seemed as though in a trance and all had their hands over their head
and were mumbling the same thing over and over again.

In the center of the circle stood two of the birdmen and they were
holding a female by each arm. It was quite evident that the woman was
more than reluctant to cooperate and she was struggling all the time.
They were in the process of leading her toward an arch that stood in
the center of the circle of men, it was an exact replica of the arches
Vincent had seen so far.

The woman's body had been painted with numerous patterns and it was
evident to see as she struggled that she was very scared. Then she
turned her face toward Vincent and Verla. It was Nika.

Both Verla and Vincent recognize her at the same time. She was now
just a few feet in front of the circular plate of the arch. Vincent
knew that she was that scared because she knew exactly what the arch
would do to her. She was certainly aware that she would be taken
instantly to a place that she believed would be just like hell and she
was doing her best to prevent them from pushing her on the plate.

Vincent didn't not dare to hesitate another second. He worked the bolt
of his rifle and as soon as a cartridge was loaded in the chamber, he
told Verla to get ready. He explained to her that she was to climb
through the hole as soon as he had fired the rifle. She was then to
follow him on the other side and into the large room.

He took aim at one of the men holding Nika and he pulled the trigger.
But he saw to his horror that she had just lost the fight since she
had just been shoved on the plate even as he was pulling trigger.

As the noises of his shot ceased to resonate in the chamber, he
watched her disappear from the plate of the arch. Then before the
first man had fallen to the stone floor his companion had a hole in
his head.

The noises of the two shots was deafening inside the large room.
Before the crowd had fully recover from their surprise, he was
emerging from his hole.

He and Verla were now standing on a stone projection just on the other
side of the two hole. It them became evident to them that the two
holes from which they had just immerged were the eyes of an immense
stone statue of a bird. The polished stone on which they both stood
was its beak.

It was plain that their descend would be much more difficult than it
had been when they had climbed up the inside of the structure of the
statue of the bird. The stone surface on the outside was smooth and
polished. The only way to get down fast was to slide down the inclined
surface on the back of the bird of stone.

He did loose some skin on his arms in the process, but he managed to
land unharmed on the hard floor. As soon as he was on his feet again,
he drew his pistol from its holster. He had arrived down so quickly
that the people in the immense room had no time to organize
themselves.

Verla was soon standing on the floor next to him now and she
immediately threw her spear at the nearest birdman. She was in the
process of pulling it out of his chest when she was seized by two of
his companions. Once again Vincent fired two rapid shots, this time
from his pistol. The two men trying to grab Verla collapsed to the
floor.

What happened afterward was a series of pistol shots and much shouting
while people were running everywhere in confusion. Most of the women
and some of the men were trying to get out. But many of the men did
remained inside and he could see anger in their faces. He knew that it
was only a question of seconds before he and Verla would be captured
or killed.

He had only one option now and that was to get away from the enraged
crowd. He took Verla by the hand and they ran toward the plate of the
arch. They both jumped on the plate at the same time, just as a dozen
birdmen were about to reach them from different directions.




                                       ( end of chapter 11)

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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