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From: mandil_k@hotmail.com (mandil)
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Subject: {ASSM} Masters of the Arches   chapter 15
Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 23:10:03 -0400
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.                      Masters of the Arches

                           Chapter 15

 

Vincent watched the unfortunate soul jerking and bulking his body
against the post that held him standing while he released a terrible
shout of pain in the night. It was such a sinister scream that it made
the skin on the back of Vincent's neck twitch in reaction to the
plaintive sound.
 

The flame at the end of the wood stick was being held in contact
against the prisoner's side for as long as he was conscious, then as
soon as he passed out it was removed. It was evident that his
assailants wanted to cause the maximum of pain, but at the same time
they wanted to keep him alive as long as possible so that more pain
could be inflicted on him later.

Vincent instantly experienced a deep hatred for these people who were
capable of such cruelties on other humans. He also wished that he
could do something for the unfortunate souls that were tied to the
posts. But he was alone and he was fully aware that any attempt from
his part to help them would only result in his being captured and
being tortured also.

Beside, he had to think of his two women. It pained him to think what
would happen to them if they should happen to fall into the hands of
these barbarous people.

While he was having these thoughts, he saw two men walking toward one
of the posts to which a woman was tied.

They roughly untied her and they hit her a couple of time. Then one of
the two men got behind her and he penetrated her while the other one
was holding her in a half bent manner as he forced her to take his
erection into her mouth

 By the time they were done with her, half a dozen men were waiting
behind them so as to take their turn with the woman.

It was quite evident to Vincent that the whole village was celebrating
an event or something and they were having a feast for that occasion.
There was evidently a lot of food everywhere judging by the many fires
having pots and roasting animals over them.

While there was dancing here and there around the many fires, almost
everyone was holding a clay cup that held some sort of beverage. 
Vincent figured that they had probably won a great victory and they
were busy expressing their joy by over eating and over drinking and
also by torturing some of the prisoners they had caught in that
battle.

Vincent then noticed something he had not realized yet. Most of the
villagers seemed to be intoxicated, probably on account of the drink
that everyone was enjoying. Once in a while he would see someone go to
one of the several large clay jars that were at the end of the line of
posts. With the clay cup in one hand Vincent watched them dip it into
one of the large jars and thus filled it with the potent brew.

For the next hour, he carefully watched them dancing and eating while
they performed many others acts of cruelty on the prisoners. Before
Vincent decided to return back to his camp, he figured that about half
of the prisoners were now dead; some of them had been decapitated and
their head was being paraded around at the end of long poles.

On his way back, just as he got on the trail, a guard discovered him.
It wasn't really a fair fight since the guard was half drunk. The
guard must have been sitting on the ground with his back to a tree
right near the trail when Vincent went pass him.

For the first few seconds the guard must have though that Vincent was
someone from the village and he didn't react at all. By the time he
realized that he was looking at a stranger, it was too late for him.
As soon as he got to his feet and proceeded to take possession of his
spear which was resting against the same tree he had his back against
a few seconds before, Vincent threw his knife at him. The guard felt
quietly to the ground with the handle of the knife sticking out of his
neck. He was dead by the time he reached the ground.

Vincent pulled the body of the guard by both legs until he was
completely hidden by the vegetation off the trail.

When he got back to his two women a short while later, they were
exceedingly happy to see him. By then he was almost an hour late and
they both had been worried that something might have happen to him.

He described to them what he had just witnessed, then he suggested
that they break camp immediately and begin to walk south so as to be
as far away as possible from the village while they were all
celebrating. He explained to them that it would be far less dangerous
to risk an encounter with a night predator in the forest rather than
risking the possibility of being made prisoners by these cruel people.

They immediately began walking. Instead of going west, they went
directly south and on the same path he had taken only a couple of
hours before. Nika asked him why they were passing so close to the
village instead of making a wide detour around it.

"For one thing," said Vincent" I doubt that at the moment we will have
much trouble from anyone in the village. By now they are all drunk and
sleeping, beside even if we should be discovered they wouldn't be in a
condition to follow us. It will be much safer if we stay close to
their camp for a while since the noise they are making will scare away
many of the night predators."

"I hope we do get to surprise a few of them," said Verla " it will
make me feel good to drive my spear in their cowardly hide."

"Who knows, your wish might come true. There is a good chance that we
will meet one or two guards on our way. So from now on let us make as
little noise as possible and watch the ground, if there are guards
they will probably be half drunk and lying in the bushes."

Soon they reached the spot where Vincent had killed one of the guards.
Then out of curiosity, Vincent guided both women to the top of the
hill where a few hours before he had been hidden and observing the
whole village.

What they saw now was a much different scene.  Everywhere they looked
they could see drunken and sleeping bodies on the ground and the few
that were still standing were  drinking and were in the process of
joining those already dead drunk lying everywhere.

As for the prisoners, there were only three of them that could be seen
still standing while being tied to the posts, the others were lying in
a lump at the foot of their respective post and some even had their
head cut off.

Vincent suddenly felt Verla's hand on his shoulder. She pointed in the
direction of the last post to which was still tied a standing
prisoner. There could be no doubt about it, the man was still alive.
He lifted his head for a few seconds and tried to move but he soon
collapsed after that effort.

"I think that we might be able to rescue him," said Vincent. 

"Yes, let us try. The large fire is dying down and the light at that
end is very dim."

"We will wait a little longer before attempting anything. No one is
feeding wood into the fire and it will be darker still in a little
while, beside it won't matter that much if we wait since they will all
be drunk soon."

Half an hour went by and by then there wasn't a single villager that
could be seen standing anywhere.  The huge fire was only a pile of
smouldering red-hot coals now.

As quietly as they could, they partly circled the village while all
the time walking in the forest. When they were opposite to the last
post, Vincent told the women to keep a sharp eye just in case someone
or a guard should appear. He then left his hiding spot and he began to
walk in a drunken manner toward the posts.

As soon as he reached the first form lying on the ground, he picked
the clay cup near the drunken body and he continued to walk while
pretending to drink from the bowl-size cup.

He did fit perfectly in the decors and his women had to admit that
anyone looking in his direction would mistake him as one of their own.

As he kept walking slowly he saw drunken bodies everywhere lying as
they had passed out falling on the ground. There were as many women as
men lying everywhere, some had actually passed out while they had been
in the process of copulating. He was surprised also to see that a
number of children were among those that were drunk.

So far on this world he had discovered that it was not common to see
many children at the same time. Since people tended to live until they
were very old - because of the lack of disease and of course because
of the Rad virus that constantly repaired the sick and even those that
had been injured - the only way people died was from an accident.

 For some reason that he still could not understand, it appeared that
there was a controlling element present on the planet, children were
being born only when the adult population began to decrease. The fact
that there were more children in this village than he had ever seen in
any other village on this planet probably met that many of these
people got killed while waging wars.

By the time he reached the last post, he had a fairly good idea of the
layout of the village and in the dim light he now saw the shaman dead
drunk lying on the ground. The same shaman that he had observed
earlier torturing the prisoners. He had seemed to be the spiritual
leader of the village and he had encouraged his people to cause pain
to the prisoners.

As soon as Vincent reached the prisoner who was still moving his head,
he cut the leather strips that bounded the man to the post and he held
him until he was stretched on the ground. The man had burned over half
of his body, but beside that he didn't seemed to have any broken bones
or deep cuts.

Vincent signalled to his women to come and join him. The two women
took the wounded man and they carried him toward the forest.

Vincent then slowly walked toward the next post. While getting there
he looked around  and he saw a disgusting scene. Everywhere his eyes
felt he could see traces of the celebration, many had even defecated
right there near the fire and they must have done this in full view or
everyone else. Then he saw limbs and blood from the prisoners on the
ground. He took his time to check the other prisoners, but all of them
were dead. Some having their head cut off completely.

All of a sudden, he felt a strong anger building deep inside. The more
he looked at the dead prisoners, the angrier he became. He make up his
mind to seek partial revenge and to give these inhumane people
something to think about for what they had done to their prisoners.

He took the shaman by the legs and he dragged him near one of the
large clay pot that held their potent brew. He then lifted the man and
threw him head first into the pot. There was a little resistance from
the shaman when his head hit the liquid, but Vincent forced his head
under until he felt his body relaxing and he knew that he was dead.

Next he went to the biggest hut that he could see in the village. It
was much more decorated than the others and most of the round walls
were covered with pelts. Vincent figured that it must belong to the
chief. He pulled aside the flexible animal skin in front of the door
and he got inside. Lying on the ground, were four men and about a
dozen women, all were completely drunk and unconscious.

With his knife he slit the throat of the four men then he piled their
naked bodies one on top of the other. Both Nika and Verla had
previously explained to him that it was seen as a very bad sign in
this world for a man to die with his genital in contact with another
man. It met that his spirit would always roam the land in anger until
he was avenged of this supreme insult. Worst still, if his own tribe
didn't avenge him in as short a time as possible, very bad things
would happen to them all.

Before leaving the village he took four of the decapitated prisoner's
head and he tossed them in the other pots. He knew that what he had
just done was bound to scare the hell out of the whole village. They
would probably think that the spirits of the dead prisoners were
responsible for the presence of their head in the pots. The same
spirits that had killed their shaman and chief. After all, who else
would do such a thing?

For the rest of the night they walked, taking turn in carrying the
half dead prisoner. Once in a while the prisoner did regain conscience
and he was given water, but all the time he had to be carried since he
was much too weak to walk.

By dawn they had probably covered less than seven miles. They rested
for an hour near the edge of a plain while eating breakfast. Victor
was anxious to cross the plain as soon as possible since he knew that
once the villagers realized that one of their prisoners had manage to
escape, some of them would begin looking for him. Even if the village
was now without a chief it was more than probable that a few of the
warriors would realized that the death of their chief and shaman was
not the result of the spirits of the dead prisoners. They were bound
to figure that the missing prisoner had probably something to do with
it. These warriors, even if they would only be a few at first, would
probably begin searching for them as soon as they would be sober
enought.

Having walked all night carrying the sick man with them, they were
very tired, but just the same they did moved on and they undertook the
crossing of the plain. While Vincent walked on one side helping the
now conscious man to walk, Verla was on the other side holding part of
his weight.

 Nika walked in front of them with an arrow in readiness in case they
should run into a charging animal, which were everywhere to be seen.
There were many different herds of strange looking grass eater all
around them and hidden in the tall grass they could see predators of
these same herds also.

It took them more than an hour to cross the plain and to reach the
edge of a forest. By now the burned man was able to put much of his
weight on his feet and the fact that it had been easy walking on the
plain did permit them to reach the other side much faster than
predicted.

As soon as they reached the forest, Vincent looked back at the plain
from where they had come, he could clearly see the pressed grass where
they had walked. If they were being followed, he knew it would be easy
to get to them now. Even though they were all very tired and in need
of rest they now had no other choice except to keep on moving a little
further.

By noon they found themselves on the shore of the great lake once
again. Vincent was certain that they had traveled straight south ever
since leaving the village, after checking on the position of sun once
more he was relieved to see that indeed they had been moving south. It
met only one thing he told himself, the lake must be curving around
and therefore must be in the shape of a half moon.

Even though it was in the middle of the afternoon, it was getting
darker and soon it began to rain. Vincent knew that he had to take an
important decision now. Should they follow the shore of the lake or
turn back into the forest where it would certainly be much easier to
hide. On the other hand, walking on the sandy beaches of the lake was
going to be much easier and they would be able to cover a greater
distance in the same length of time even if they would leave tracks in
the sand. But returning back into the forest in the exhausted
condition they were at that moment was going to place them all at the
mercy of the beasts that were constantly hunting for preys. They
certainly would have trouble to defend themselves in the exhausted
state that they were now. He therefore opted for walking on the sandy
beaches of the great lake for a while.

A short while later, they noticed an island about five hundreds feet
from the shore of the lake.  It only they could reach the island
without leaving too many traces of their passage he told himself. He
figured that it would be a perfect place to rest in relative safety
for a few days until the prisoner they had rescue - whose name was
Cold Wind - could get a little better.

The only way they could reach the island and take Cold Wind with them
was to hold on to a tree trunk or a large log and paddle with their
hand until they got there. He finally explained to his women that his
intention was to cross over to the island and that they should look
for a large piece of wood to help them get there. They were all
careful to walk in the water of the lake so as to leave as little
prints as possible in the sand. Finally they found what they were
looking for.

It was a fifteen-foot length of wood that had once been part of a
medium size tree. Its roots at one end were still floating in the
water of the lake and it was an easy matter to push it further into
the lake.

They then helped Cold Wind to climb on his belly on the log and
Vincent tied a leather rope around his waist then he tied the other
end to his own waist. While both women took charge of the weapons and
of the food, they all pushed the log in deeper water until the water
became deeper.

As soon as they got on their way it began to rain in profusion. But
since there was practically no wind, Vincent ordered them to continue
to push the log until they were walking waist deep in the cold water
of the lake.

The rain was most welcome now since it was going to erase all the
their foot prints on the sandy beach.  Soon their feet were no longer
touching the bottom of the lake and they began to paddle with their
hand and swimming while trying to pull the log with them. After ten
minutes they were half way to the island but at the same time the
current in the channel was taking them on a parallel path to it. They
all knew that they had to move fast or risk missing the island
completely.

The momentum of the initial push when their feet were still touching
the bottom of the lake, had been enough to carry them a good hundred
feet toward the island, but now it was a tedious and exhausting
process of swimming and paddling along with the log so as to reduce
the distance to their destination.

Then the wind began to blow and the sky was soon crisscrossed with
lightning and there was even a perceptible drop in the temperature.
Twice, Cold Wind slipped off the log and Vincent had to help him back
on again. The waves were now beginning to hinder the progress of the
log while the current carried them to the very tip of the island. Just
as Vincent figured that they would miss the island completely, he felt
his feet touching the bottom of the lake. Then the two women were
standing on the bottom also and they began guiding the lot toward the
island.

No sooner was Cold Wind off the log that the current carried it away. 

Vincent then soon discover that it had been a wise decision to come to
the island. The side of the island closer to the mainland was made up
mostly of high rocks while the rest was covered with trees and grass.
Even if they were to walk around on their island in broad daylight -
as long as they remained behind the wall of rocks - they would not be
detected from the mainland.

There were many caves among the rocks and it was now their most urgent
priority to get out of the rain, the temperature had dropped even
further in the last ten minutes and everyone was shivering. They found
a large cave with an opening facing away from the mainland. After
Vincent checked it out to make sure that it was not occupy by one of
the big cats or something even more dangerous such as a pack of wolves
which were common in this world, they placed the now unconscious Cold
Wind well inside the cave. They next began pilling rocks in front of
the entrance to prevent any potential prowlers from getting inside
just in case there were any on the island.

For the next six days they remained hidden on the island. The little
food they had with them lasted for the first two days then they ate
raw fish from the lake. There was an abundance of aquatic life in the
lake and some of it was dangerous as Vincent discovered one day while
he was fishing.

 He had been busy pulling a fish out of the lake by mean of a bone
hook hidden in a scrap of meat. As he hauled the still struggling fish
out of the water, he was surprised to see the water of the lake at a
distance of ten or twelve feet behind the fish starting to bubble. 
Then all of a sudden a monstrous head covered with thick scales broke
the surface of the lake and it snapped the fish he was still holding
above the water. Of course he did loose his fish and when he later
examined the leather line, it was cut as neatly as if it had been done
with a knife.

While they were staying on the island there was no question of
building a fire since the smoke would certainly reveal their presence.
Cold Wind's burned scars were healing very well and far faster than
anything Vincent had ever seen. The Rad virus was doing its work well
and all the damaged tissues were being replaced perfectly and not a
scar would be left once the burned portion of skin would be healed
completely. Vincent had been told that the Rad virus would even grow
an arm or a leg if the need happened.

Cold Wind was soon feeling much better and within a week he was well
enough to walk without any help. He explained how he had been made
prisoner when a few dozens men of the Krowla tribe had ambushed him
and two of his companions. The Krowla had been using a sort of blowgun
that could send very short arrows that had their tips coated with a
paralysing substance. As soon as a man or an animal had his skin
pierced by the very thin arrow, he would become almost instantaneously
paralyse. The Krowla did not kill their prisoners immediately since
they preferred to keep them alive so that they could torture them
later. They believed that the pain endured by these unfortunate souls
was that much less pain that their tribe would have to suffer.

On their way back to the Krowla camp, two other warriors from another
tribe and their women were also captured. Cold Wind had been held
prisoner for over a month and every four or five days they would tie
him and the other prisoners to a post in the centre of the village and
cause him pain either by mean of fire or by hitting them. He was aware
of one prisoner that had been in the Krowla's hands for over six
months but he had been killed the very night that Vincent had rescue
him.

The whole Krowla tribe had been celebrating the god of the lake that
night and since it was their most sacred god, the festivities had been
greater than usual.

The more that Vincent heard about the Krowla, the greater he felt his
dislike for these pitiless and coward people. It was the same with
Nika and Verla, both women knew tribes that had been known to be
cruel, but none of them even came close to the Krowla in this respect.

On the morning of the seventh day after their arrival on the island,
the left their safe sanctuary since Cold Wind had almost completely
recovered by then.

Vincent was the first to cross the narrow channel and after inspecting
the beach and the surrounding area, he signalled his companions to
cross and join him. They all knew that they were taking a chance in
swimming into the water of the lake. The incident of the fish that had
been stolen by the scaled creature was still fresh in their mind but
they had no other option if they intended to reach the mainland.

As soon as they had all cross over, they began walking south along the
beach once again. There was no use in trying to hide their tracks now
and their best option was to put as much distance as possible between
themselves and the Krowla's village.

For the next three days they walked on the hot sand on the shore of
the lake, stopping only once a day to hunt and eat. There were plenty
of games - only a few hundred yards away from the beach - in the dense
forest. To Vincent, most of the animal life - which was in abundance
everywhere - was completely new to him and he was fascinated to the
utmost by the different shapes and strange looking beasts.

 On the first day, Cold Wind brought down a short-legged animal, - he
had made a bow and a dozen arrows while on the island, - that did
resemble a giant fox but it was many time the size of a fox and with
much longer teeth. They cooked it and its meat tasted like nothing
Vincent has ever eaten before, even the raw meat was very palatable;
Cold Wind did prefer to eat it raw.

Soon they had a reserve of smoked meat and plenty of fruits and nuts.
To Vincent it was evident that the forest around the lake was a real
paradise for hunting.

On the third day after leaving the island, the reached the southern
tip of the lake.  Cold Wind told them that he was now familiar with
the country and that there were safe from the Krowla since they were
in the hunting ground of his own people who called themselves the
Tallon.

Cold Wind wanted them to follow him to his village, but it met that
they would have to walk over fifty miles north on the other side of
the lake.

"I am sorry Cold Wind, but your village is not on our path" said
Vincent to a disappointed Cold Wind.

"But you will be treated with honour and the whole village will want
to reward you for rescuing me. I am the only son of Round Stone who is
our chief. My father will be very disappointed at me for not insisting
that you follow me to our village."

"You must understand that it is very important that I go south, and I
must do so as quickly as possible. If it were possible we would be
more than willing to accompany you."

"Then I must go with you. You have saved my life and I can't return to
my people if you don't come with me."

"Tell me Cold Wind, " said Nika, " do you know many people from your
village that have gone far toward the south?"

"No. There are many bad tribes there; there are stories of strange
animals living in the many forests in that direction. Beside, all
those that went there never came back. But we do have someone living
with us who use to live in a land very far in the south."

"Really, and for how long has he been living in your village?" Asked
Vincent.

Cold Wind's face brightened when he realized that they might be
interested in meeting Kowa who was the village sorcerer.

"You can talk to him if you come with me, he will tell you everything
about the land far to the south. He is not from our people. Many years
ago he came to our village with a strange box that talk to him. He can
talk to the spirit within the box and when it answers back to him
everyone can hear the voice inside. He is the greatest sorcerer in the
world."

"A box that talks, how strange." Said Vincent.  

It was quite evident to Vincent that this box was the product of a
higher civilization and he figured that it might be worth the trip to
see and talk to this Kowa.

"Yes, you have convinced me Cold Wind, we will follow you to your
village and I will have a talk with this Kowa."

 

 

                    
                             (end of chapter 15)                
                         
                           <http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/mandil/www/>

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