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From: mandil_k@hotmail.com (mandil)
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Subject: {ASSM} Masters of the Arches   chapter 14
Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2002 03:10:04 -0400
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.                        Masters of the Arches
                               by Mandil



                               Chapter 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 joy 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 though Vincent. At least, in his case he was
used to spent much time inside under fluorescents tubes and in an
artificial surrounding, but 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 with 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 think callous thickness as he walked more 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 also explained to him that once Valdo  realizez 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 went 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 honour 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 was sure to 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 along their trip. 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.

Valdo was living on an island in the middle of the White Sea, which
was a body of water half frozen for most of the time. Being so remote,
it was impossible to reach his island without being detected. Built on
this large island in the middle of that 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
of 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 guiding himself was by using 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 on 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
lot of games around here and it would be a good idea to built up a
reserve of smoked 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 and 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 appetite had greatly increase.

He did not 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 was 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 ardour and he knew that he was quickly going to develop a taste
for this sort of 'm nage a trois'.

The next morning, while his 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 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 of the river 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
bank 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 did stop 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 a gator but still he didn't want to take any
chances.

Before going to sleep 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 moving faster.

 They managed to walk still further. Now the river had dug a channel
into the bedrock, making it absolutely impossible to travel the way
they had been going. They had only two alternatives. One was to 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 occasion 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 this option was
still more appealing to him than walking over the half desert land.

After all he now had a fairly good idea of 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 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 was 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, they began to see trees again on both
side of the river. They knew from Brumelle's imformation 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 near the 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.

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

Every one 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 tried as best as they could to maintain the
raft as close as possible to the southern shore so that if the need
should arise for them to leave the raft quickly, it would be easier
and faster.

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 the lake. Previous to this sharp turn, the land on
both side of the river had gradually became covered with grassy plains
and forests in some places and the games was 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 and he was stun 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 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 so that 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 all 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 - weaved with vines - that Nika had made 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 not growing so densely pack. Of course no
fire was lit 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.

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 parallele 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.


                           ( end of chapter 14 )

                      <http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/mandil/www/>

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