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#which i shall not examine too closely because down that train of thought lies only madness
egophiliac · 4 months
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Just an idea
What about yuu with a paradox pokemon becuase of the whole thing about being from different worlds
ooh, I hadn't thought about that, but I like it! like, I think Grim fills the role of Yuu's pokemon (or vice-versa) (somehow) but I kind of love the idea that he's some kind of far-removed Paradox or alternate-timeline version of another pokemon or something. honestly, there would probably be a lot of theories about what exactly he is! mostly it involves throwing a lot of pokeballs at him and seeing what happens.
also just for fun I want to make him slightly more pokemon-proportioned:
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(he would still have to be the one who actually battles though)
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Number Two (Sebastian Stan x Reader)
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MASTERLIST
Characters: Sebastian Stan x Female!Reader (AU)
Summary: Reader hopes and dreams to be the first choice, but she ended up being an option.
Warning: Angsty, cussing, INFIDELITY, sugar daddy kinda relationship? I mean, well. You'll understand it soon after reading this. Italics meant a flashback in the end alright? I shall give you guys some angst yooooo!! Y/N means your name. 
Words: 2,386
A/N: I’m posting the ones I haven’t posted yet from Wattpad as I take my break. Might be taking one more week of break too. Hehehehe. 
REBLOG, COMMENT OR GIVE IT A LIKE, IF YOU’VE LIKED THIS SHORT ONESHOT! THANK YOU!
Disclaimer: PNG’s used in edits are not mine even the GIF’s too.
MY WORKS ARE NOT TO BE POSTED ON ANY OTHER WEBSITES. My official username in Wattpad is “TATATHEPOTATO” and that’s the only other site I have aside from Tumblr. Thank you, Tater tots!
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Kisses, feather like kisses were peppered on the back of your neck. His warmth enveloping around you, those comforting arms stuck on your waist, making you feel jello on the knees, soon enough to buckle and be weak for him.
"Draga," Sebastian lowly spoke ever so sweetly, still peppering you with kisses as he stood behind you, watching your skillful hands do the job in making dinner. His presence was making you weak, too weak for your own good. You hummed a reply, your complete focus wholly on the vegetables you were chopping. Sebastian's thumbs were slowly caressing your waist, his lips hidden behind the front of his teeth as he was anxiously trying to think how to word everything out better.
Better words that would not leave your heart in misery and in pain.
"I...I--Well," He stuttered, his heart skipping a beat. The image of you in his huge polo was making him want to stay, it was making it worth enough for another pathetic lie to be said for the latter. You were perfect in his eyes, despite of the stomach flabs, your height and especially your big, wonderful heart.
Y/N was the epitome of every man's dream, her attitude and personality was making him stay. Yet, why didn't he pick you in the first place?
"You're going?" You calmly uttered, your knife stopping halfway from cutting a tomato, a painful smile lifting the ends of your lips, wanting nothing more than to frown and show him how he was hurting you, crushing your big, innocent heart.
He hesitatingly nodded, his lips in a tight thin line. Sebastian wanted nothing more than to stay, he wanted to cherish this sweet, mirthful moment with you. But, why didn't he? Why did he still chose her?
"Yeah. She texted---told me we had reservations at eight in which I totally forgot about, she even said I asked for it the other night but it slipped out of my mind," He forgot, you thought. Even though you didn't want to cheer and be happy that you were making him forget her, you still did. Your heart clapped from the mistake he did.
Yet, why did it still hurt?
"Well," You sighed, spinning around to see Sebastian pouting, his mind currently in a conflicted battle. "---you better get going, Love."
Love. It was the truth. You already love him with all your heart, and the more this..relationship of your continues, the more it becomes difficult to let go. Not that you plan on doing that soon.
"You sure you're not mad?" He stared into your eyes, it was technically the window to everybody's soul and from his perspective..All he saw was your positive, loving self. Never seeing the wounds hidden behind those E/C eyes of yours. Nonetheless, it was hurting him to leave you either.
"No, I'm not." Lies. It was all lies because all you ever felt in that exact moment was pain. All you wanted to do was lock himself up in your apartment, wanting to scream at him as you hoped to be his choice, and not his option. "---you need to go," You fidgeted with the collars of his polo, eyes trained on his Steele blue eyes that you so wanted not to forget before it vanish soon, the other woman having the bigger privilege to stare at his gorgeous blue eyes all night.
The truth was making your heart itch in vain.
"But, I'm keeping this polo of yours. It's comfy," You joked, forcing yourself to smile. His pout turned into a chuckle, that's right. That's what you wanted his last image to be, his beautiful laugh. "You're seriously going to make me come out shirtless?"
"Oh come on, you have tons of shirts inside my closet. You can seriously have a sleepover and not be worried about having no clothes to wear the next day," All you could ever do was dream that he could sleep beside you all night, keep him tuck beside you with your love. However, he never did. A few times, sure. But, he always went back to her. He always comes back home.
And your only wish in your life was to finally be his home, where he could come home to you and only you.
All Sebastian could ever do was chuckle. It was a phrase that he could never answer back, he wanted to have that moment with you too. But, the knot he had with her was making everything impossible.
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"Try not to finish everything for me, I'm coming over again tomorrow," He smiled, the painful happiness reaching his eyes. Sebastian leaned down to give you a deep kiss, he so wanted more than just a kiss, but his phone kept vibrating inside his pockets and it was frustrating him.
The softness of your lips made him kiss you another, trapping that softness in between his teeth, softly tugging the flesh as he rested his forehead on yours, sharing exasperated breaths with you. After that breathtaking kiss, you were a goner. Definitely making your knees buckle behind you but you toughly stood on your ground.
"I love you," Sebastian voiced out completely breathless, like he was scared that somebody else would hear. Though the meaning behind those words made everything worth the sins. It made everything better. "I love you more," and it was the truth. You loved him more than he ever could do.
Sebastian left the apartment, not forgetting to give you another kiss before he went out and about. Back to where he was supposed to be. You bit your lip in sadness, your eyes turning hot and cloudy, tears threatening to fall as you stared at the ceiling, trying your hardest not to but everything you see was reminding you of him.
Your apartment, your clothes, your credit card, and basically everything. It was all from him, he bought everything for you, just for you to be his.
Even though, he wasn't rightfully yours to call.
"Fuck," You whined out, on the verge of tears as you held the curves of your waist. You held your nose bridge, trying to stop the tears from falling because you didn't want to cry. All you ever wanted was to embrace the positiveness, yet as you remember the previous rendezvous, the reality was making you down in the dumps. "---G-Guess I have to eat by myself then," You stuttered, taking small, grudging steps towards your refrigerator.
The freezer slapped open, taking out the beef you saw something shiny in the middle of the cave like, cold ice. Your fingers delicately touching the shiny jewelry sitting in the middle of your freezer, digging it out of the cold compartment. Your fingertips painfully feeling how cold the jewelry was.
He probably wanted the time to stop, even wanted her feelings for him to turn cold so that was why he chucked it in the freezer. What a dork, you thought out loud mindlessly. Shaking your head, you examined the jewelry resting in the middle of your palm and wanted nothing but to throw it away. 
Sebastian's wedding ring.
Despite of how he was trying to keep it away from him. It still hurt to see it up close and on the palm of your hand. Why? Because in the words of the country's law.
You were still number two, and will never be his lawful woman.
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"Welcome to Starbucks, what will be your order for today, Ma'am?" You energetically welcomed the new customer standing in front of you. She was a beautiful woman, perfect even. Her features were proportional and sharp, blonde hair wavy looking like she just had curled it with a curling iron five minutes ago. The woman had a physique of a sexy model, curvy and busty.
She was the entire opposite of you. Certainly even older than you.
"One Cinnamon Dolcè Lattè," She spoke with a raspy, sexy thread of her voice. It was probably her tone of voice, God had gifted her with a tone of voice like Scarlett Johansson. You nodded with a friendly smile, tapping her order up on the monitor screen laying in front. "Will that may be all, ma'am?"
"Oh, and a Caffè Americano," The beautiful woman added. You punched her orders and remained eye contact with her. "Anything else?" She clucked her tongue, taking a glance at the menu above her. You tapped your foot in habit as you wait for more orders to come.
"One Gluten free breakfast sandwich," She nonchalantly answered. When you thought she would order more, she began whipping her pretty head around, appearing to find a friend.
The woman's emotionless face lit up when she got a glance of the man she was waiting for. Her demeanor changed and especially her voice which turned higher and jolly. "Babe!" She called her boyfriend jogging towards to where she was. Your eyes went straight to the man's shoes. Grey Nike running shoes, black jogger shorts and a grey shirt, his white beats clung around his neck. You knew that style of outfit whenever he goes for a run, you knew those thighs...
Your breath became labored, palms began to sweat and your throat turned dry when you saw a very familiar face that was slowly coming closer. He certainly didn't felt your presence as he haven't got a glimpse of your dumbfounded face.
Sebastian laid his gorgeous Steele blue eyes on her, those eyes that have been staring at you lovingly the other night. Now, those orbs were fixated on a woman who he tied the knot with. A woman who was the first choice and not an option. "You want something?" The woman batted her eyelashes up at him and you wanted nothing more than to run off and escape from the nightmare happening in front of you. Yet, you couldn't because your feet stood cold and unmoving on the ground. Your eyebrows were furrowed as your eyes were trained on the sweaty, precious man that you love.
"Nah, I'm good. Thanks," He nonchalantly muttered, eyes still on her and you wanted him to look into your eyes instead. Just like how he does. The woman snapped her head in your direction, skimmed her eyes from your face towards your name tag. Her whole demeanor turned smug, a coy smile tugging her lips in a tight smirk. "That may be all.." She paused, reading your name before you saw a mischievous glint behind those eyes. "---Y/N,"
With just one mention of your name, it had Sebastian's eyes concentrated on you. His mouth forming a tight, thin line from the realization that you were right in front of him, from them, from his wife. His broad shoulders fell and became slacked when his eyes connected with yours. Everything came crashing down.
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It's definitely a small world after all. Destiny was giving you the agonizing pleasure to see the lawfully wedded wife face to face, making your make-believe world  disappear in just a snap.
Your eyes turned hot and your heart felt like Thanos was gripping your heart with his gauntlet. You knew Sebastian felt and saw the vulnerability you just launched. The world turned hazy and steady around you, even the noise buzzing around the coffee shop was slowly fading away, your focus only on the couple in front of you.
So, it was her. His wife still smiled so innocently, looking naive yet those smiles of hers..Hatred came with it, being the first emotion you see behind her eyes when she brought her walls down.  
She knew.
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"I’ve always wanted to be a Stan," You muttered beneath your breath as Sebastian hovered above you, his lips lightly ghosting on top of yours. His medium length hair cascaded around his beautiful face, caving in his gifted features as he looked damn breathtaking. Sebastian lightly pecked your lips, your hands shamelessly caressing his protruding bare firm chest, trailing down his fit torso.
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He avoided looking into your eyes, staring at your lips instead. He knew how your eyes were sparkling in aspiration and it was hurting him to answer the truth.
"You know that'll just complicate things, right?" He gave out a forced smile.
"I know, Seb. I was just kidding,"
You only gave a smile back as you trapped him in a heated kiss, dissipating the ache surrounding your sinful soul. Creating an unrestrained relationship with a married man was completely obnoxious, never have you imagined doing this all your life.
But, you loved him. You love him a little too much and it was too late to stop now because you would rather be the person he runs to and not the person he comes home to. You'd rather be labeled as an option than be labeled as nothing.
Only you can dream about being a Stan and you never know when you'll get tired of wishing when it'll come true...
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Taglist for every Sebastian thing I write (LMAO): @silverkitten547​ @crazybutconfidentaf​
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ashintheairlikesnow · 4 years
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Disaster Lads, Part Four: Tucker Likes a Show
The fourth part of my AU collab with @whumpiary where Cass (Ace) and Kauri meet. Read Part One, Part Two, and Part Three for context!
In Part Four, Tucker gets to know Cass’s new friend. A certain shark smells blood in the water.
CW: Referenced past noncon, referenced past dubcon, conditioning, PTSD/trauma response, attempted drugging, mind control, threatened noncon, head injury
Tagging Kauri’s crew:  @maybeawhumpblog, @pepperonyscience, @haro-whumps, @18-toe-beans, @burtlederp, @finder-of-rings, @giggly-evil-puppy, @whimpers-and-whumpers, @moose-teeth, @whump-it, @lumpofwhump, @pumpkinthefangirl, @spiffythespook, @slaintetowhump, @astrobly
They’ve only been asleep for a handful of hours when the sliding door slams open. Cass sits up immediately at the sound, awake and heart pounding before Tucker even has the chance to thump the timered light back on.
“Rise and shine, Ace, we have a lot to-“ Tucker’s voice cuts off as he takes in the scene before him. He tilts his head to the side, blinks, a dangerous smile curling his mouth. “What the fuck is this?”
Cass shifts just barely closer to Kauri beside him, legs curling up to shield the other man just slightly but refusing to look directly at him. He keeps his eyes locked on Tucker’s every movement as the door slides closed.
“None of your business,” Cass spits, voice husked from sleep.
The door slides shut with a soft click and Cass feels himself tense, breath caught in his throat.
“Everything that happens in this room is my business, Ace.”
“It’s Saturday, Tucker.”
“Consider yourself permanently on call,” he says with a shrug, hands sliding into his pockets as he walks forward “Now I’m dying to know… Who’s this?”
Kauri swims out of sleep with difficulty - it’s been a while since he’s slept in a bed where he didn’t feel the need to doze, his body had been making the most of the early hours of the morning to get whatever real rest he could. At first, he doesn’t really know what he’s hearing - some voice he doesn’t recognize, maybe Cass is on the phone or something or maybe he missed there being a TV last night - he just shifts around, pushing himself up on one elbow, blinking blearily upwards.
Only to stare up at a man who is incredibly well-dressed for six AM on a Saturday and who is staring right back at him, with a smile that Kauri really, really doesn’t like. His eyes drop almost immediately to focus on the man’s neckline, a safer place than his eyes. 
Kauri skims his gaze across the room - but shirt and pants have both been thrown haphazardly off the bed, too far to reach without getting up. 
His heart is starting to pound already - he knows that look, he lived under that look for a long time - and Kauri shifts slightly backwards in the bed, as though putting distance between them would help. “I-I’m sorry, I’ll just, um, I can go-”
“Oh, no no, there’s no need to rush off,” Tucker says, voice lilting sweetly as he sits on the edge of the bed “I think you and I should get acquainted.”
“Thought you said we had shit to do,” Cass interjects.
“And then you decided to bring something more interesting home.”
Cass holds the man’s gaze, back straight and tense. He feels like he’s walking a tight-rope and some bastard is hitting one end repeatedly just to see how well he’ll keep balance. A very specific bastard with blonde hair and glasses.
“Want to give us a moment to get decent?”
Tucker shrugs like it’s a non-issue, eyes flitting to the bed sheet that one of them — probably Cass — had thankfully pulled up in their sleep. “You’re covered up aren’t you?”
For now.
Cass suddenly, desperately wants to reach for Kauri underneath the sheet, hold his hand, give his arm a quick squeeze, tell him it’s fine, it’s okay, I’m handling it, don’t worry. But he’s played this game before. He knows how much worse it can get when you show your hand. So he pulls himself further from Kauri, instead, wrapping his hands around his knees as he glares at his minder.
“What’s his name?” Tucker asks, questioned aimed at Cass even though he’s looking at Kauri like he plans to dissect him.
“Daniel.”
Tucker slides his eyes over Kauri’s shrinking form, looking amused, before looking back at Cass. “I think you’re lying to me.”
Cass raises his chin, shrugs, wild hair framing his face and brushing along tense shoulders. Prove it. Tucker smiles, pulling a face like Cassius should know better than that which, really, he should.
The man focuses all of his attention onto Kauri, tilting his head forward and keeping his voice soft and careful like he’s talking to some scared animal. 
“Why don’t you tell me, sweetheart… Is Cassius lying to me?” 
Kauri feels an absurd, half-hysterical, wild urge to slide onto his knees on the floor, where he’s supposed to be when the handlers come into the room. Something about the plain white walls that had been reassuring last night suddenly feels too tight, closing in on him. 
Kauri’s shoulders hunch, self-protective, and he presses himself back against the wall, as far from Tucker as he can get, but there’s nowhere else to go. 
“He-... he, um, he-...” Kauri swallows, hard. Fix it, make nice, be good, 645898, be good. “I told him my name was Daniel,” He lies fast, and he’s still good at it, it sounds sincere. “He’s not lying, I l-lied to him… I-” His voice catches, and he clears his throat, nervously. “I lied to him, sir. He didn’t lie to you.”
Be good. Be good, you have to be good for them.
“My n-name is Kauri, sir.”
Cass can’t help himself from crumbling as Kauri starts speaking, he folds forward, hands rubbing over his face. Shut up, shut up, just shut the fuck up, you’re gonna make this so much worse.
“Oh, he’s a loyal little puppy isn’t he? Lying for you like that,” Tucker says. Already it’s worse. Cass stares at the bed sheets, shaking his head like that’ll make it go away. He can feel Kauri’s need to placate rolling off of him in waves. Be good. Make nice. It’s only gonna get worse, worse, worse.  “How long did it take you to train that? Or did you just… you know…"
Tucker taps his temple twice, smiling like the devil. Cass glares. He should say something. He should move. He should stand and get dressed and throw Kauri his clothes and haul him the fuck out of here. But he doesn’t. He never fucking does with Tucker. He doesn’t know how.
“Kauri. I like that name,” Tucker says with the shark grin, looking back at his new toy. "I like the ‘sir’, too. You should be taking notes, Ace."
Tucker tilts his head, examining both men thoroughly. Cass glowering, Kauri cowering. Two little kicked dogs. What a fun fucking morning this was turning out to be.
“Tell me, Kauri, did Ace tell you what he does here? What he does to people? Or did you just...” his eyes trail down the young man’s half exposed body, practically sneering with judgement, disgust. “Get straight to business?”
Kauri tries - he does - but he wilts under the sneer, one hand moving to rub at the wicked scar across his collarbone, reflexively pressing against the metal plate still hidden under his skin, the part that couldn't be removed. 
He's tucked into the corner, as far from Tucker as he can get, but it's not far enough. Wide blue eyes skip to his and then away again, unable to focus on any one thing. 
Tucker talks just like a handler. Looks at him the same way, like he's not a person at all. Is he one? Kauri can't help the creeping doubt. 
"No, sir," He says, softly. Voice not quite trembling. "Yes, sir. We didn't t-talk about that."
“Well then you're in for a treat,” Tucker tuts. The longer he speaks to Kauri, the closer his manner and tone draws to that of someone talking to a frightened child. Cass hates him for it, and still he doesn’t do a single thing. 
“What do you think, Ace?” Tucker says, voice lilting playfully as he stands up from the bed. Cass is shaking his head before Tucker even suggests what is to come next, staring furiously at the bed sheets, jaw locked tight. “Shall we play puppets?”
Cass slams his eyes shut. No. No, no, no, fucking no. Kauri is good. Kauri is good and he doesn’t deserve this. Letting him stay was meant to be a good deed for Christ’s sake. Meant to be a way to get him off a goddamn park bench and Cass should have known. He should have known this would happen. 
“Why don’t you ask him to stand up for me?”
“Ask him yourself,” Cass grinds out. He'll do whatever you ask. You don't need me to do shit because he'll do whatever you want. 
“Is that really what you want?"
Cass looks up, gaze sharp and biting. He looks like he wants to say a great number of things but knows he won't be the one punished for whatever he spits out. He deflates, just barely, eyes dropping again. “At least give him his fucking clothes, Tuck.”
“Play nice and I’ll think about it,” Tucker shrugs. “But either you make him stand up right now, or I will.”
Kauri hasn’t moved. He’s still pushed up against the wall, tucked into the corner as though there’s any protection to be had there, his eyes flickering from Cass to Tucker and back again as though watching a strange and terrifying game being played in front of him. 
Every time he tries to open his mouth to offer to just do what Tucker says, one of them speaks again, and his mouth snaps back shut. He can’t keep up with them, they’re moving too fast. They both know the game, and Kauri has no idea what it is, and he doesn’t know how to be good unless you tell him how. 
He doesn’t want to move from the wall. It’s the only bit of free will he has left, his absolute certainty that he wants to stay as far away from Tucker as he can. “I, I don’t want to stand up-”
Cass finally, finally looks at Kauri. He wants to communicate everything he possibly can in the half a second he can bear to hold his gaze but all he can think is I’m sorry. This is my fault. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry, "Kᴀᴜʀɪ, sᴛᴀɴᴅ ᴜᴘ."
Cass speaks and Kauri’s moving immediately, it’s nearly instantaneous, even as he’s hyper-aware of his own nakedness he slides off the bed and is standing, hugging himself tightly to hide the barcode inside his left wrist, keeping it pressed against his right side along his ribcage. 
“Wh-what-... wait-”
"Make him sit."
"Kᴀᴜʀɪ, sɪᴛ.”
Kauri’s eyes are as wide as saucers, staring at Cass as he sits down, abruptly, without even a hint of conscious thought before he does so.
"Make him stand."
"Kᴀᴜʀɪ, sᴛᴀɴᴅ."
And Kauri’s back up again, still staring at Cass. All at once Kauri realizes that he’s not going anywhere unless Tucker, whoever he was - some kind of handler, definitely, although not exactly the same kind - wants him to leave.
Tucker laughs, leaning against the wall like he was watching a dog perform a particularly impressive trick. He makes eye contact with Cass, turns his finger slowly. Cass resists the urge to roll his eyes before giving the direction. 
"Kᴀᴜʀɪ, ᴛᴜʀɴ ɪɴ ᴀ ᴄɪʀᴄʟᴇ," Cass’ eyes flit to Tucker, who tilts his head, mouthing something, and adds. “Sʟᴏᴡʟʏ.”
Tucker watches Kauri move, smiling like he’s watching a show dog perform a perfectly well practiced trick.
Kauri turns, hunched over still hugging himself. There are scars, here and there - small ones, moments Owen lost control and didn’t hold himself back enough. They’re tiny things, easy to miss in dim semi-darkness, but obvious in the light. And the deep twist of scarring along his collarbone. The dark brown leather bracelet is the only thing on his body, and Kauri - who is trained out of shame, who had been carefully and violently nurtured into feeling no shame for things like this at all - is bright red by the time he’s facing Tucker again. 
He doesn’t usually care - but in front of Tucker, he suddenly wants nothing more than to put his clothes back on. More clothes, even, to pull something of Cass’s on so he can be even more covered, even less laid bare. 
"It's okay Kauri, I know this is probably a little confusing," he says, mock sympathy painting his voice as he comes forward to hold the man’s jaw, long fingers squishing his cheeks together. "See this is what Cassius does. He reaches into people's heads and he makes them do the things I want them to do. Like magic.”
He grabs Kauri by the arms, grip bruising, and turns him to face where Cassius sits on the bed, hands locked around his knees, eyes hollow and refusing to look anywhere but the sheets. Kauri goes perfectly tense, every muscle rigid, but the idea of disobeying - of trying to free himself - is a distant, foggy thought he can’t slip his fingers around. 
“To be honest, that's probably how he got you here in the first place. Just crept into your head and made you feel like you wanted it,” Tucker murmurs in Kauri’s ear, just barely loud enough for Cass to hear it too. His voice is flat, devoid of the mocking lightness in it before. Full instead of utter disdain. “He doesn’t need fancy drugs, he doesn’t need threats. Just his voice. Isn’t that clever of him?”
“You’re lying,” Kauri says, voice shaking but there’s a sudden flat certainty there. Every… every time Cass makes him do something, he says his name first. Kauri picks up on that fast. His name, and then the command, and then he does it. He hadn’t understood why he grabbed the asshole in the bar’s arm, but he does now – Cass had said his name first, then the command. 
But Cass hadn’t been commanding him hardly at all after that. And he hadn’t said his name that way, not up against the wall in the alley. 
Cass closes his eyes, takes a deep breath. He can't stop shaking his head. This was meant to be a good thing. One good thing. Of course Tucker has to twist that away too. His stomach is turning just from the implication of what’s being said.
It hadn’t been like that. He doesn’t do that. But it doesn’t matter whether he did or it didn’t, did it? He could have. He might have. That was all it took to lose trust.
 "You do have good taste, Ace, I'll give you that. He looks kind of like that guy from Dimmer Switch, don't you think?”  Tucker says, holding Kauri at arms length as he circles him slowly, the perfect picture of power and vulnerability. Predator and prey. His hand skims across the glossy pink scar on Kauri’s clavicle with morbid curiosity as he speaks, Tucker’s eyes light up with all the glee of a fucking kid on Christmas as an idea suddenly hits him. “Ooh, I know. We should make him punch the wall like in the breakdown scene. You know, the one where he breaks his hand?”
“No,” Kauri says, weakly. He hasn’t seen the movie, though he knows everything that happens in it. Owen has told him the plot over and over again, piece by piece, breaking it down. But he can’t watch the movie, because he might see Vince’s face. 
“St-stop it.” He tries to find real strength for his voice, even as being so close to a handler - any handler, it never mattered if it was his handler, they were all always hurting him - makes him feel like a trainee all over again. “You’re just trying to ruin him having something nice. Stop it.”
“You’re right. That’s exactly what I’m trying to do,” Tucker says with a smile. “And look, I think it’s working, don’t you?”
Cass looks up at that, glaring at Tucker with full venom. He can feel adrenaline crackling through his veins. When it came to fight or flight, Cassius had barely ever chosen anything but the former in his life, but he knows better by now than to try and act on it. He wants to launch himself at Tucker’s smug fucking face and bash it into the floor until even the thought of smiling like that makes him flinch.
Instead he re-adjusts the iron-grip on his own wrist, focusses so hard on Tucker that he doesn’t risk glancing at the person he’s hauled into all of this.
“You’ve made your fucking point, Tuck, just let him go,” he grinds out, voice flat and empty despite the rage in his eyes.
“Oh, I will. But first, I want to watch him hit the wall until his pretty hand breaks,” he says. He grabs Kauri’s wrist, hand wrapping around the leather bracelet. He brings Kauri’s arm up to eye level, quirking an eyebrow with mocking apathy. “What? He get you into bed so fast you couldn’t even take off your accessories?”
Kauri has a snarl on his face, growing anger on Cass’s behalf - Kauri knows what it means to sink into yourself, he knows the feeling written all over Cass’s face. Kauri has been that person too many times, it’s nearly all he knows, all he remembers except for the people he’d met after he ran away.
But when Tucker grabs his wrist, Kauri freezes, and the anger fades under a low-level, growing panic. He jerks his wrist, trying to free it from Tucker’s grip.
“What if he d-did?” Kauri asks, breathless, trying to cover up the panic by lacing his voice with as much anger as he can pull back into himself. “Are y-...” He has to gasp in a breath to make the words more than a whisper, fighting the drumbeat in his mind of stop it stop being bad stop being defiant make nice make nice be good be a good boy stop it. “Are you fucking jealous or something? You want in on me, too?”
Tucker scoffs, almost impressed by the little outburst. He takes a moment to rake his eyes over Kauri's naked body, "What would you do if I did, hm?"
Cass feels his blood freeze.
His hands twitch, trying to pre-empt whatever's about to happen. He doesn't dare move yet, he doesn't dare look away. He wishes for once, just for once, that he could feel what Tucker wanted, that he could know what he was thinking.
You're not my type. That's what Tucker says. That's what he's always fucking said with every dick joke, every innuendo, every half-intoxicated pass Cass might've made at him he'd smirk and shut him down with a simple you're not my type.
But Cass was an acquired taste, really, wasn't he? Loud mouthed and defiant. A penchant for violence. Rough around the edges in every sense of the word. But that wasn't Kauri.
Kauri, who blushed easily and stumbled over his words like a school boy with a crush. Kauri, who'd fucking melted at being called good. Kauri, who even right now, even attempting to dig for something aggressive was shaking with waves of make nice, make nice, make nice. Was that what Tucker wanted? Was that his goddamn type?
"You look like you're about to faint, little puppet," Tucker continues, hand just as tight around Kauri's wrist. "What would you even do if I decided I wanted you?"
Kauri feels the weight of eyes on his body, he always has. A sense of feeling complete if someone wants him, is thinking about him, will touch him like this. Even people he hates. Even the handlers pressing him up against cold white walls was better than nothing. 
And there had been so much nothing.
“I’m not about to faint,” Kauri says, his voice still too soft, too airy, but his eyes lock on Tucker’s and hold. Barely. “Y-you’re still just trying to hurt him. You don’t like that he… that he got to be happy for a second. Besides… you don’t need to be jealous.” 
He steps forward, calling Tucker’s bluff, pushing into his personal space now, cocking his head to the side in the practiced little head-tilt, trained into him until he can do it without even knowing it, looking up at Tucker with wide blue eyes focused only on him. 
Handlers who want you to fight don’t like it when you don’t. Kauri wants to see which kind of handler Tucker is.
“What makes you think I’d say no?”
I can’t. But you don’t need to know that.
Tucker laughs.
"Oh I like this one, Ace," he says. "He's good at playing slut, isn't he? Is that how you bonded?"
Tucker sweeps a foot out, a quick kick to the side of Kauri's legs to have his knees buckling, crumbling to the floor. Kauri goes down hard with a soft cry, his knees cracking into the hard floor with a sickening lick of pain up his thighs that’s entirely too familiar. 
Cassius starts forward, ready to get to his feet before he stops himself just as suddenly. He has no way of knowing what will happen here if he makes the wrong move. He has no way of knowing who else in the Facility is up yet, who else might be called in. It wouldn't be the first time someone caught trespassing was signed up for clinical testing the next day.  
"Tucker, that's enough," he croaks. It's so weak.
Tucker shifts his gaze lazily to Cassius' face, giving him a bored sort of appraisal. "Or what?"
He laces his fingers through dark curls and yanks Kauri's head back hard and fast, his other hand trailing a line down his throat.
"See I don't think he would say no," he muses "I think he'd say please."
Kauri swallows, hard, his heart threatening to pound its way right out of his chest, feeling oddly distant and foggy now. Being scared won’t fix it. Being good won’t fix it. He’s trapped with Owen who can’t be pleased, who will only get upset, whose hands will go around his neck-
He flinches back from the hand on his throat like Tucker might burn him with it - or choke him - and lets out a broken cry, before he clenches his hands into fists and tries to, to think. But being trapped with Owen means being trapped with what Owen did. Which makes him angry.
“You might not b-be able to understand me,” He says, his voice still mostly air but it’s pissed-off air and that has to count for something, “Since I’d b-bite your dick off if you tried, I’ve d-done it before.”
He moves with Tucker’s hand, tilting his head far back, and spits at his face.
Tucker slams Kauri's head into the metal bed-frame without a pause for thought, the crack so loud it's like a gunshot ringing out in the tiny room.
Kauri cries out as his head connects, a bright flash of white behind his eyes with the pain on its heels, and slumps against the bed, the world a dizzying spin around him, throbbing pain and a trickle of something he can feel run down the side of his temple.
Tucker reels back, pulling his leg back to kick Kauri in the stomach. And Cass moves. He's on his feet and shoving Tucker backwards before he can think better of it.
"Tucker, don't," he says, terse and frantic. "Don't. I'll do whatever you want, alright?"
He doesn't look at Kauri. Kauri doesn't exist.
"I'll do whatever the fuck you want. I won't complain, I won't make a fuss. I'll stay on grounds, I'll go to the fucking meetings, whatever the fuck you want. Just... Just don't."
He feels cut loose, terrified and more vulnerable than he's been in forever but he refuses to show it, face curled into a snarl, voice harsh and biting. Tucker laughs, pulling off his tie with one hand, eyes wild.
"That little bargain might've tempted me earlier, Ace, but your friend here fucked up. He fucked up bad. And I plan on rectifying that little misstep."
“Wh-why is it…” Kauri’s voice trails off, slurred oddly, and he looks up at Tucker without standing up, bright red blood trickling down from a slice across his temple  into his right eye. He blinks it away, or tries, reaching up to wipe at it with his hand. “... that err’... ev’rybody can call me a slut but I’m n-never ‘lowed t’be mad about it?”
His ears were ringing, sort of, a weird muffled sound that existed inside his skull and not outside it. Kauri shifted back, wiping at his head again. 
Something jarred loose, with the blow to his head. Somewhere under Kauri’s panic is a darker, cynical, harder-edged anger, a pulsing want to defy, fight back, kick and scratch and bite until they remember he’s a person, not a pet, they can’t take his name away from him only they can and they did and Kauri’s weakness ended up stronger than the boy he had once been.
“Why are you… all… th’ same?”
“Act like a slut, people will call you a slut,” Tucker says, eyes still on Cassius. “Isn’t that right, Ace?”
Cass shrugs, crossing his arms, “Been begging for you to call me a slut for years and you still won’t.”
Tucker smiles, taking a few steps backwards so he can survey them both. Cass doesn’t miss the way Tucker is carefully winding his tie around his knuckles. Can’t risk bruising the hand he shakes with, can he now?
“Either way,” he says “I think all three of us know that the only way this one isn’t headed straight to jail for trespassing is if you both sit down, shut up, and play nice.”
Cass does his very best not to flinch. He’s schooled by now, at keeping his face blank and passive even as his heart starts racing. Something must flicker behind his eyes, though, or maybe Kauri’s face shifts behind him, because Tucker relaxes back on his heels, the satisfaction of finding a new chink in the armour painting his face with that insufferable smugness.
“Oh, we don’t like that, do we?” he says. “Sit down. Now. Or I get out my phone, and I’ll escort your friend downstairs to wait for the cops myself.”
Part of Kauri is astute enough to think, small men like hurting smaller ones to feel big, but the words never make it out of his mouth, because the part of him that knows things isn’t the part that keeps him alive sometimes, and the good boy deeper down steps up to the plate to force the words back down his throat.
His eyes are caught on the tie wrapped around the man’s knuckles - Owen does that sometimes, when he has a meeting the next day.
“So that’s… th’ trade?” Kauri manages, still slurred but getting better. He doesn’t move off the floor for now, but sits back on his heels, sliding easily into Position Two, hands on his thighs, kneeling on the floor. Muscle memory. He doesn’t have to think.
“Y-you… get off on th’ blood… and I get to leave?”
Damn it. Kauri winces as soon as the words are out of his mouth. He feels like his brain is going to split into two, and he knows better than to talk back to handlers, but he can’t stop himself. It feels like before all over again, like training. 
“If blood g-gets you hard-”
Stop it stop it stop it why am I still talking jesus Kauri stop
“-then you’ve got bigger problems than the slut you’re making bleed.”
Tucker laughs lightly, walking forward to stand directly in front of Kauri and tangle his fingers through his curls. Kauri shudders, trying to pull back, but Tucker’s grip is too strong. 
“He’s funny, this one, isn’t he?” he says. A hard tug to pull the man’s head back, wide blue eyes locked on his, Kauri’s mouth slightly open as he pulls in quick, shallow breaths. “Or at least, he thinks he is.”
“I don’t think I’m-”
The first backhand hits with the low thud of knuckles hitting cheekbone. One. Kauri’s head snaps to the side, moving with the slap rather than trying to brace himself against it, making it hurt less than it would otherwise. Cassius locks his gaze carefully on a patch on the floor, sets his jaw, and folds into himself. Two. Kauri grunts, this time, the barest hint of sound. Cass hears the hits beside him, counts as they land, despite himself. But he can’t bring himself to give a shit. Three.
Another grunt, higher-pitched, closer to a cry.
What the fuck did it matter? Cass thought. People got hurt all the time. Kauri had been hurt before. He’d get over it. 
Four.
It wasn’t Cass’ fucking fault. He’d warned Kauri back at the bar, back at the burger joint. He’d said it again and again. I’m not nice. And Kauri had come back with him anyway. wasn’t his fucking fault.
“You know what, I think, Ace?” Tucker says after five, panting just barely. Cass registers dimly that Kauri’s probably hurt by now. But five hits wasn’t many. They hadn’t all been to the head. He’d survive. “I think Kauri, needs some help calming down.”
Kauri, one side of his face bright red from Tucker’s hand, makes a soft, distressed sound. He knows three ways they’ll calm him down, the handlers, when he’s bad. They fuck him or drug him or hurt him until he’s too injured to speak. Fucking is the only thing that doesn’t make him feel worse, the only thing that feels better.
He doesn’t want the man, but it never matters what he wants, in the end.
Cass blinks slowly, eyes blank and bored as he turns to look at the blonde man standing beside him. He snorts a laugh. Looks to his left. There are a couple bottles of different pills on the bedside table. A few sleeves in the drawer, too. 
“What ones do you want?” 
“You’re the expert, Ace, just something to smooth the rough edges” 
He grabs a bottle on the edge. It’s only Valium. But Kauri’s slim enough. He pops off the lid and passes it over.
“Don’t have many left so don’t waste ‘em,” he says. His voice is flat, apathetic. “One’ll fuck him up plenty.”
“Two it is, then,” Tucker says, finally releasing Kauri’s hair to fish out the pills before grabbing at his jaw. “Here we go. Open nice and wide for me.”
Kauri doesn’t expect Cass to help. It’s clear what they are to each other, he and the man. Cass is the trainee. The man, Tucker, is the handler.
Kauri knows how that works. He’s watched a lot of trainees get hurt right in front of him and never helped, either. Not after they hurt him so badly he knew not to try again.
Kauri jerks back from the grip as best he can, gritting his teeth together and turning his head away. He doesn’t try to spit any words now, because that would mean opening his mouth. And that means pills. He can’t read the words on the pill bottle, has no idea what the man is going to give him - what they’re both going to give him.
"Kauri, just take the pills," Cass says, halfway numb. The quicker he took them, the quicker he'd be out of here. The quicker he was out of here, the quicker they would both be able to forget the fact they ever met.
Kauri freezes, for a breath, but the words don't have the weight of a real command. But…
He stares at the pills and opens his mouth anyway, like he had been commanded, letting Tucker force them into his mouth before he snaps it shut.
"Good boy," Tucker says, patting Kauri on the cheek with a smile. 
His mouth fills with bitterness and his stomach twists, saliva flooding his mouth, as he shifts the pills carefully around to slide them under his tongue and keep them there. If Tucker turns away - even just for a second - he can spit them into his palm and throw them under Cass's bed with no one the wiser. 
He even has one more skill.
He speaks, and he's so good at this you can't tell between the slur of the pills he's hiding and how he slurred before.
"Takes a big man t'drug a small one." 
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fangirl-inthe-us · 4 years
Text
A Rough Day
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Not my gif
Cal Kestis x Reader
Masterlist
Summary: It was a normal workday until you get a horrifying feeling which thrusts you into a journey you didn’t think would ever happen.
Author’s Note: Ahhhhhh! I’m so excited! I wrote this as fast as I could. I had finals and I had a wedding to go to but I have finished it! So, this is a companion to Early Morning. After this fic, I’m gonna work on my mini-series called Before The Purge. I’ll make a post talking more about it. Without further ado, I present A Rough Day.
Nothing out of the ordinary had happened. My day had gone by as it usually does. I woke up, got ready, said goodbye to Cal, and went to work. I was assigned to cut some stuff. A below-average workday. Only, it wasn’t.
I go to work on time. I Was assigned to work beside my usual crew and did what was expected of me. I was working on a small thing when it hit me. A shockwave of fear punched rammed right through me.
Momentarily, I couldn’t breathe. It was like I forgot how to. My hands were trembling and I was numb all over. When I remembered how to breathe, my breaths came out in short quick. My body became tingly and a layer of sweat formed. I looked around to see if it was something around me. Nothing.
That’s when I closed my eyes. I focused on the force around me. I knew that this wasn’t the best idea but that’s what had to be causing this.
Focusing, I realized that it wasn’t me who was actually feeling the fear. However, It was someone nearby. The person shared a need to move. They were fearful and needed to get away. Confused, I opened my eyes.
I tried to ignore the feeling. I really just wanted to finish this job so that I could spend a nice evening with my boyfriend. Unfortunately, this damn feeling was pushing me to move. It was as if the force was telling me to figure out who was causing these distracting feelings.
With a huff, I walked over to my boss. I knew I couldn’t continue to work until I got over this. I told her that I wasn’t feeling well and that I was gonna head home. with drawn eyebrows, she told me to get better.
I hurried to the slowly approaching train. If I didn’t catch this one, there wouldn’t be another for the next thirty minutes. I hopped on as soon as I could. Once I walked in, I noticed something strange. The feeling was more intense but it was coming from a bit further down the train cart.
When I looked in that direction, I saw that Cal and Prauf were sitting down on a bench. The two were tensely whispering to each other. Neither of them had noticed my presence. I made myself known when I walked up to them. Cal was the first one to look up.
He whipped his head up with wide eyes. I raised an eyebrow. He only shook his head and then let it drop down. He rested his forearms on his thighs. This was not in Cal’s character to be this moody.
“What’s going on? I can feel your worry from miles away,” Literally, I mentally snorted.
“It’s…. it’s nothing,” Cal’s head was still pointed at the ground.
“We, uh, had a mishap at work. Don’t worry though! We’re fine,”
“Oookay, scoot.” I motioned towards Cal. Once he had moved, I sat between the two. “Are you sure you’re alright?” I was eyeing Cal.
“Yeah, I’m… um. I’m going to have to talk to you once we get home,”
“Oh, okay. Nothing bad I hope.” The only thing I got was a tight-lipped smile.
Cal rested his head on my shoulder. I watched as he fell asleep. When I knew that he couldn’t hear us, I turned to Prauf.
“Spill,” I squinted my eyes at him.
“Okay, okay. We were working on some star destroyer-”
“I know Cal told me this morning,”
“Well, our boss came up to me and told me about some problem they were having with the hauler clamps,” I pinched the bridge of my nose as I listened.
“Prauf, you know how dangerous that is,”
“They were gonna double our pay if we fixed the problem. We thought that’d be nice. Cal was hesitant but I talked him into it. It’s my fault,”
“No, it’s not. It was Cal’s choice to go. He decided to put himself into that danger.” Prauf just huffed like he didn’t believe it.
“Anyway, we go up. There were a few complications but we made it up there. What we found was amazing. It was a damaged Jedi fighter! I couldn’t help but think of the price we’d get for the thing but Cal got real defensive about it. Suddenly, one of the bolts snap. Next thing I know is that we’re falling. I grab onto the ledge while Cal’s leg gets caught in some wire. Then I lose my grip and I’m falling, yet again. This is where it gets blurry,” Prauf was looking into space trying to remember what happened, “Cal reached out and I slowed down. Nothing around me slowed down. It was just me. Anyway, I get pinned on this platform and Cal drops down to save me. We make it to a safe spot and he’s helping me get up.” Prauf stoped so I could process.
“What do you mean you slowed down?”
“I wasn’t falling so fast. It was as if time slowed down for my body. Y/N, Cal used the force.”
My eyes widen and I took a deep breath. Everything made sense now. The little things Cal would do. His reactions to when I would mention the force or anything Jedi related. He was like me. He was a Jedi.
“It makes sense now,” I whispered.
“What do you mean?”
“As you can tell, I got off work early today,”
“Yeah,”
“Well, I was spontaneously hit with this fear. It was a gut-wrenching, body numbing fear. I forgot how to breathe it was so bad. I couldn't figure out what it was until….” I paused, “Until I focused my mind. I lied to my boss so I could go figure out what it was. Or rather who it was.”
“I still don’t get what you’re trying to say,”
I looked at Prauf directly in the eyes, “Prauf, I’m a Jedi too,” His eyes widened.
“Wha- what do you mean you’re a Jedi?” Prauf was whisper yelling while eyeing our surroundings.
“I escaped to this planet so that the imperials wouldn’t find me. My master was killed on a planet far away from me. He was on the Jedi council business and I was left alone. I was barely a padawan at the time. I was almost killed but I got away.”
“You always said that the force works in mysterious ways. This just emphasizes that.” He was smiling a sad smile.
“Yeah,” I moved my gaze to Cal’s sleeping form,” He’s going to try to leave me. He won’t want to throw me into this mess.”
“You’re not going to let that happen. You’re like him. You’re in the same amount of danger as him.”
“Yep, and I’ll be damned if I let him leave me behind. He’s stuck with me. Especially after this whole debacle.” With that, I leaned back to rest my eyes.
It didn’t last long. Cal’s body jerked forward as our train cart came to a stop. He looked at both Prauf and I. We just shrugged. Standing up together, we examined everyone else around us. No one seemed to know what was going on.
Two stormtroopers walked in and glanced at everyone in the cart. “Everybody up. Identification ready,”
One of the troopers walked further into the cart when he stopped he voiced, “Move out and line up.”
In front of me, Cal’s body was tense. I followed him as he followed the workers in front of him. Once we were outside, the troopers had us lined up. Cal was to my right while Prauf was to my left.
The first thing that hit me was the rain. I hadn’t recognized it until it quite literally hitting me in the face. When We were in our standing positions, it had begun to roll off my face and onto my poncho. My hair was drenched in Matter of seconds.
When everyone was settled in their place, the troopers walked over to their comrades. One spoke to the other. I could barely hear what said. Not just because they were so far away but because the rain was muffling it.
“Tell the two that we got them lined up and we’re ready.” The stormtrooper that was listening nodded and spoke into a mic.
“That doesn’t sound good,” I whispered loud enough for both Prauf and Cal to hear.
It was at that moment that two imperial ships landed several feet ahead of us. Within a matter of seconds, one rather slim looking inquisitor jumped out of her ship while the other walked down a landing dock. Neither of them looked friendly.
Examining the two, the sim one held a confident stance while the other inquisitor gave a rough and tough appearance. Rough and tough, I noticed, had a lot more armor than Slim did. I assumed this was because Rough and tough liked to jump into battle while Slim was more of a calculated fighter.
“Is this all of them?” Slim voiced as the two of them walked closer to our line up.
She had an aura about her. Both of them did. It didn’t give me any good feelings and from the way everyone else looked, I could say that we all were feeling it.
“Yes, Second Sister.” After hearing this, Slim or better, the Second Sister sighed. It was jumbled because of her voice module.
“We seek a dangerous fugitive. This is no common anarchist but a devotee of the treasonous Jedi Order. Failure to turn over this traitor will result in a charge of sedition. Turn yourself in or everyone present shall face summary execution” As the Second Sister spoke, she pranced around us. It was as if she enjoyed this. If she wasn’t wearing a helmet, I’m pretty sure there would be a sadistic smirk on her face.
Suddenly, guns were aimed at our faces. The troopers around us were ready for the order to shoot and kill. I eyed Cal. Unfortunately, he didn’t look so good. His eyes were frantically flicking from the troopers, to the inquisitors, and to me.
“I think it’s time for someone came forward.” Out of the blue, Prauf stepped out. I made an attempt to grab him as well as Cal. He flashed us a warning glance. I let go of his arm. “I, uh… I have been working on this heap a long time. Way before the war. We refit and rebuilt ships.”
I listened to Prauf talk all while keeping an eye on Cal. He was moving an awful lot. I didn’t want him making any stupid mistakes. So, without anyone noticing, I reached over and grabbed Cal's hand. I gave his hand a squeeze for reassurance.
When I let go, I watched as he reached behind him. It didn’t click until a few more seconds. He was reaching for his lightsaber. He was going to do something stupid. I reached for my own. I wasn’t going to let this idiot kill himself. Though, I doubt the two of us could take on one inquisitor. Let alone two.
“We were the best in the galaxy.” Prauf turned toward the Second Sister, “Then came the Empire. And engineers… Became scrappers. The workers- They just started getting worked…” Prauf looked back a Cal.
“Prauf…” Cal let out.
I looked back at Cal. From the angle I could see, Cal had something in his right hand. Assuming that it was his saber, I pulled mine out. Without revealing it, I kept my arm tucked to my side.
“We all know the truth.” Prauf turned back to the Second Sister, “We’re just… Too afraid to say it. To the Empire… we’re all just expendable.” Prauf briefly motioned to the Second Sister.
“Yes, you are.” Instantly, the Second Sister was pulling out her lightsaber and thrusting it into Prauf.
The sight took my breath away. I just stood there for a second. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I could even say anything. I was just stuck.
For Cal it was different. He yelled out for Prauf. As soon as it happened, Cal was whipping out his saber and running right for the Second Sister. This snapped me out of my trance.
“Look at this. A lightsaber.” Cal’s saber collides with the Second Sisters. I ignited mine, “Oh, two lightsabers. Two Jedi scum.”
Just as I’m about to watch Cal’s back, He is thrust into Rough and Tough. Suddenly, I was moving too. The Second Sister had gotten a hold of me. She was soon repeating what she did with Cal.
Rough and Tough had us both within her clutches. She looked at both of us. A smirk shaped her lips.
“I found the Jedi.” As soon as she stopped speaking, we were falling.
Cal had fallen unconscious when the Second Sister threw him to Rough and Tough. As we fell he came back to it. His lightsaber ignited and I tried not to get hit. When we hit the train, his saber retracted.
Two troopers were in the cart that we fell in. Taking them out was quick and easy. Mater Plo would have looked down on killing them. But we had to move quickly. Saving both ourselves and the troopers was not an option.
I retract my lightsaber just as Cal is walking up to me. He has his brows drawn and he’s eyeing me. His jaw is set as he looked into my eyes. He was thinking about what to say. I try to smile but it comes out as a grimace.
“You have some explaining to do.”
“I get that you’re confused but you have no right to be mad at me. You never explained that you were a Jedi. How was I supposed to know you were one so I could tell you?” Cal’s jaw went lax. He sighed and dropped his head.
“You’re right. I’m just in shock over the whole thing. You’re… You’re like me. A Jedi.” The last part came out as a whisper. I smiled.
Before I could say anything, I heard more Stormtrooper chatter. I knew that we had to move. At any time, The Second Sister could find us.
“As much as I’m loving this right now, we really need to move.” I watched as Cal’s eyes went from soft to focused and determined.
(:)
We had taken a few troopers down. Moving on, we reached a platform outside. There were a couple of storage units that were tied down to the platform. As we walked onto the platform, I watched as an imperial ship flew out of nowhere. It stopped just a few feet ahead of us.
I was too busy looking at the ship when the ship started to fire at us. Cal had to drag me behind one of the storage units. We stayed there for a minute to catch our breath.
“The ship has a cooling time. If we can get behind the storage units in front of us, we can make it to the door.” Cal had grabbed my face to get my attention. When he let go, I gave him a nod to signal I had heard him.
After the next round of shots, Cal and I ran for the other storage units. We did this until we were a few feet behind the door. There was barely any cover for one of us. If we were to keep going, we’d have to time this right.
As the ship was firing its last few shots, I grabbed ahold of Cal’s hand and tugged him with me. He quickly regained his feet and we were running through the door. Once we made it, I made sure that Cal wasn’t hit. Thankfully, he wasn’t and we were moving again.
We had just stepped out of the next cart when the ship from before was firing and taking out the next open train carts. Part of it was still connected and thankfully it was climbable. Cal led the way with me in tow.
We had to traverse around the broken bit by moving down. In the midst of doing that we were shot at by the imperial ship. This rattled us and I lost my grip. Before I could fall to my death, Cal caught me. His hand held a death grip on my arm. On the other hand, Cal was also grasping onto the platform for dear life.
I was close enough to grip the bottom part of the platform and pulled myself up. Cal was then leading the way again.
With great difficulty, the two of us made it to another platform. In spite of our struggles, the imperial ship was waiting for us at the platform. Right as it was about to fire at us, an unknown ship flew in and shot the imperial ship down.
The unknown ship came to fly next to us. A door was opened and a woman stood by the door.
“We're here to help.”
“Who are you?!”
“No time! Keep moving!” The woman pointed forwards, “We’ll pick you up when we can.” The ship was then flying off.
Cal looked to me and I just gave him a shrug. Suddenly, the Second Sister’s ship was flying in the unknown ship’s direction. I watched it as it disappeared. Then, a tug was given to my arm. Cal was trying to get me to move.
(:)
Cal and I had reached the top of the train. As we walked across it, the Second Sister’s ship flew around the train. I watched as it made a turn.
“This can’t be good.” I let out.
The ship then fired several rounds onto the train. I watched as the explosions caused the train to get derailed. Jostled, I lost my footing and I landed on my butt. With the angle of the carts, we were riding down them like one would with a slide.
The wind around us made my hair blow away from my face which allowed for the rain to hit me. Some droplets fell into my eyes and I frantically tried to wipe them away.
When I cleared my vision, I saw we were heading for an enclosed cart. We slid through a few until we reached the final platform. Panic filled me at the sight of the drop.
Fortunately for us, the unknown ship from before had flown in. The woman stood ready to catch us. When Cal reached the end, the woman yelled for him to jump. Cal caught the ledge of the ship. I, on the other hand, timed it right and rolled into the platform.
The woman and I were carefully moving closer to Cal’s form. Before she, or I, could get to him, Cal slipped and was falling. I cried out for him. I fell to the ground. I watched as he fell.
Cal found a droid that was flying around and grabbed onto it. His added weight was too much for the little droid and the two started to fall slowly. I didn’t get to see what happened after that. The woman was pulling me up and dragging me into her ship.
“I need you to calm down.” The woman had her hands on my shoulders. She was trying to get me to focus on her.
“We have to get him” I breathed out.
“I know-”
“We have to go now! An inquisitor is after us and I can’t- I can’t leave him.”
“Listen! We will get him, but I need you to calm down and to sit down. We’re going to be moving fast and you’re gonna get hurt if you don’t sit down!” That shut me up.
Without another word, I followed the woman. In the cockpit, there were several chairs open. I look the one that was to the left. The woman took a seat in front of me.
“Okay, Greez you’re gonna have to book it. The boy fell-”
“What?” The pilot exclaimed as he quickly turned around. Looking at the pilot, I saw that he was a Latero.
“He’s fine. I saw that he landed on one of the platforms below. We just have to go down there and pick him up.”
“That’s not good. I just saw an Inquisitor’s ship head in that direction.” At the mention of the inquisitor’s I tensed up. My hands gripped onto my chair.
“You’re just telling me now?” The woman yelled at Greez.
“You two were having a bit of an argument and I didn’t want to intervene. At least you know now.” I heard the woman scoffed.
As all this went down, Greez was moving the ship to where Cal had fallen. I watched as Greez moved the ship with ease. The man made flying look easy.
From the corner of my eye, I could see the woman turned to me. I moved my attention to her. She looked like she wanted to say something.
“My name is Cere Junda. You’ve probably caught on that this is Greez Dritus. I’ll explain more when we have your friend.” I gave her a nod.
“My name is Y/N Y/L/N.”
“We’re approaching the spot. It doesn’t look so good out there. An inquisitor is fighting the boy.” Greez brought the ship over to where Cal was. Without thinking, Greez fired at the two.
I watched as Cal went flying into the air. He wasn’t hit by the shots but the impact from his fall made him lose his focus. It looked like he had hit his head pretty bad.
I jumped up from my seat and ran to the door. Opening it, I yelled for Cal. “Cal! Get on board!”
Pulling himself up, Cal was hurrying to the ship. I watched as the Second Sister’s lightsaber ignited behind Cal. I tried to do a force push but all my nothing happened. It didn’t even make her flinch.
Cal had made it unto the ship. Unfortunately, the Second Sister was running right towards the ship. I was suddenly shoved out of the way. Cere had pulled me further into the ship and pushed the button to close the door. It wasn’t quick enough. The Second Sister would make it on the ship.
Within seconds, Cere was pulling out a blaster and firing at the Second Sister. The door was almost closed when a lightsaber mark streaked across it.
Greez pulled away from the platform. When we all thought we were safe, the Second Sister came out of nowhere and started to control the ship with the force. Cere was smart enough to run up and pull the control. Instantly, the ship was forced to the side. It was enough to shake off the inquisitor. When she was gone, I watched as Greez took the opportunity to fly off the planet and into outer space.
I whipped around to look at Cal. He was looking at me too but he was still a little shaken. I moved closer to him. When I reached him, I grabbed his face and pulled him to me. I smashed my lips to his. The kiss snapped Cal out of his shock. Soon, he was wrapping his arms around me.
The kiss conveyed all the emotion we both were feeling. I tangled my hands into his hair and he pulled me closer. When the kiss ended Cal rested his forehead on mine. We were simply taking in all that just happened. We were both safe.
Someone cleared their throat. We were so caught up in the moment, We had forgotten about the other two people on the ship. Pulling apart, I looked into the cockpit. Cere and Greez were awkwardly standing there waiting for us to notice them. With a chuckle, I flashed a small smile to Cal.
Cal was back in his protective mode. He didn’t know who these guys were. I didn’t really either. All I knew was their names that they were showing us kindness. They did just save our lives after all.
“Sorry,” I let out.
“No problem. Just… grab some seat.” Greez spoke. He then jumped up into his captain's chair.
“Thanks for the help, but who are you people?” Cal was walking toward Cere. She had moved to the seating area outside the cockpit.
Greez looked back at us. He pressed a few buttons and was moving to where Cere was. Cere nodded at the man.
“My name is Cere Junda. And this is my captain, Greez Dritus.” Cal was listening as he surveyed the ship.
“How ya doin’?” Greez voiced. His voice sounded a little unsure. He eyed Cal as he scrutinized the ship. “Yeah, the Mantis is my ship but you better pay attention to this lady here.” Greez kept his eyes on Cal but pointed to Cere.
Finishing up his examination of the Mantis, Cal had turned back around to look at Cere and Greez. I reached for Cal’s hand just like I did when we lined up. I didn’t let go this time.
“So…. Who are you?” Both Cere and Greez looked at Cal expectantly.
“Cal Kestis.” Cal had let go of my hand and had begun to pace. Still taking quick breaths he asked, “Who was that back there?” Cal pointed to the door and gave a stern look to Cere.
“An imperial inquisitor.” I interjected.
“How-” Cal narrowed his eyes at me.
“One hunted me down right after the Order fell. It’s a long story. But to sum it up, I was being hunted and to get away I got some help from a few Mandalorian friends. They’re how I ended up on Bracca.” All three members seemed impressed. Cal held something else in his eyes. They held a sadness I couldn’t understand.
“As Y/N said, she’s an inquisitor.” Cere continued, “She’s a Force user hunting Jedi survivors. And now that she knows who you are, she will not stop until she destroys you.” Cere made sure to look at both of us as she talked.
“How do you know so much? And why’d you help us?”
“We track imperial communications. We heard the inquisitors were heading to Bracca. So we made our move.”
“Oh, yeah? What’s the bounty on Jedi these days anyway?” I could tell Cal was reaching his tipping point.
“That’s gratitude for ya.” Greez was also getting fed up with this conversation.
“Look I get it. You’ve been surviving on your own for so long that it’s impossible to trust anyone. And it’s what’s kept you alive. But this is about something bigger than just surviving.”
“Like What?” Breathed out, Cal.
“Like rebuilding the Jedi Order.”
I couldn’t believe that she said that. From what I’ve heard, the Jedi Order was destroyed. There wasn’t anyone to rebuild it. As far as I know, Cal and I could be the only Jedi left. And We’re just two broken padawans. That’s not gonna be much help when rebuilding a new Order.
Cal must have thought otherwise. “You two? Anybody else?” There was a light that was brought back to his eyes.
“Oh, we’re not good enough for you?” Greez had lifted his arms up in defense.
“The Jedi council?” I asked. Who knows, the things I heard could just be rumors. Maybe there’s still some Jedi out there.
From the look on Cere’s face, it showed that the rumors were true. There was no council and we were all that’s left. Cal, on the other hand, hadn’t caught on. He was looking at Cere with hope. He wanted to believe there was still a council.
“They’re gone.” She looked at both of us. When she saw my expression, she redirected her gaze to Cal.
“Oh.” Was all Cal let out. He was too disappointed to say anything else. There was a pause before he spoke again. “so, we’re all you’ve got.”
“Captain. Set a course for Bogano.” Cere didn’t break her eye contact with either of us.
“Aye, Aye.” With that, Greez was sitting back into his captain's chair.
“In the meantime, try and relax.” Extending her hand, Cere motioned for us to explore, “Go, you’re safe. For now.” Nothing happened after that. Cere went to sit with Greez. This left Cal and me to do our own thing.
“There’s a bed in the back. It’s small but you two could try and get some sort of sleep.” Greez shouted as Cal started to move.
“Thanks, Greez,” I said before I followed Cal.
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1stunseeliefaelass · 4 years
Text
Darksiders Arthurian Tales Revisited
Chapter 9: Revelations
Death sighed, "In some ways it was, no need for a ruckus."
Meanwhile the Wendigo behind them began snarling as it transformed back into its 'normal' state. Death then approached it cautiously, Harvester still poised to strike it down.
The words it said next surprised everyone, "Thank you........"
All of a sudden Merlin popped into the space with seemingly no aid from a portal, "Ok I've finally figured out what this bastard. Oh hi." That last part being said in quite the nervous tone.
Morgen and Death looked at him surprised whilst Aspen shook her head, "Why is it everytime I get involved with others....YOU...happen to be involved with them?"
"Maybe because they're coming to a genius. Who just so happened to figure out what the hell that guy is. It's a Wendigo, kind of sort of....went on dream journey and got his mind fucked up. And then got fixed in poor fashion."
"Right.....and I suppose you have a plan to help with this?" Aspen asks him a bit untrusting.
"Well I mean....technically these things are omnivores. I dunno how to help this thing any further. Given the fact that it looks to be.....alright?"
Aspen facepalmed, "In other words, all you had was information about the creature and NOTHING ELSE. Ugh, probably got distracted by some lass or other."
"A, I was always fascinated at the fact that these guys are more amongst us druids than the brutish monsters most are accustomed to. And I also, no I haven't, I would've been stuck in my house for the past twenty-four hours, I am forty-eight hours exhausted."
"How marvelous. So what's the point of this information then?" Aspen inquires.
Merlin is unaware as Morgen approaches the Wendigo curiously but cautiously as well, and answers Aspen, "Meaning their cannibalistic tendencies are curbed..."
"Greatly.." The Wendigo hissed before Merlin could say it.
Morgen meanwhile felt a strong pull for some reason, only being stopped by Death and held back. The look in his eyes seemed to suggest concern, "What in Creation are you doing?"
"Something strong's calling me, quite incessantly in fact. It's just pulling me."
Death however grabbed her outstretched arm, "And where exactly is this 'call' pulling you? Cause to me this could be a trap."
The Wendigo looks up at him, "I won't bite....I know what's happening. Kind of....although it is rare to see one of your kind here."
Morgen looked at him quizzically, "What do you mean by...one of my kind...?"
The Wendigo suddenly paused with concern then told her quickly, "Crap....I have to go... if you need my help...I'll be in Alaska." With that he sprouts owl wings before flying into a portal he made. Once it shuts, Death notices Merlin examining Morgen up and down.
Aspen then grabs him by the ear and Death places Morgen behind him, "What the hell are you doing?"
"Owowowowow! What the HELL Aspen?" Merlin asked her.
"Asked the old pervy mage." Aspen sighs.
"I was NOT being pervy, just being fucking curious is all. Now would you please let go of my fucking ear?!" Merlin got out angrily.
"And you thought saying you were...'curious' was supposed to help your case?"
"I dunno, just seems a little bit off given what the Wendigo just said. Made me a little bit worried, and I just wanted to see what it was." Merlin pled.
"I did feel a strange pull towards the Wendigo, should I be concerned?" Morgen inquires nervous.
"I don't know yet. I need to do a further examination." Merlin insists.
Death holds her close on instinct, "Given her current history, that may not be a good idea."
Morgen was surprised at first but as Death didn't let go she started to enjoy it a little. Blushing all the more as she did so. Feeling his rough hands on her back was so soothing. After a moment she let out a satisfied exhale, which he felt on his chest quite easily.
Merlin of course says this gem before Death can say anything, "I think you're enjoying that a little bit too much over there my lady."
Death's own reaction, was to go red behind his mask, and go dumbfounded, "What exactly do you mean by that?"
"How long since you've been with a woman to have forgotten what THAT sound means?" Merlin questions him.
Death thinks on it briefly then looks down at Morgen, "Uhm......you wanna say something?"
"Well uh.......uhm.......ah......oh dear....." Morgen gets out in her massive embarrassment.
Death begins to back up, thinking that may help things. Letting Morgen go he tells her, "I'm sorry about that."
"I don't mind it, in fact I.....that is I......uhmmmm....." Morgen began before looking at Aspen and Merlin watching her, and she blurted out, "It was soothing ok?!"
Morgen then shuts her mouth quickly as Death looks back at her, "Uhmmmm well then I.....you're welcome...this is first time anyone's ever said that....about me."
Merlin gets a coy smile then tells Death, "I have something to talk with ya about. Now get over here before I start embarrassing ya even further."
Death quickly jogs over to him and goes on a walk, "Is there a reason that you wish to speak with me NOW?"
"Ok first off you do realize that's she's pining for ya right?" Merlin inquires only for Death to be silent, caught off guard by the question, "Oh my god....you don't. How daft are ya, I just need to ask."
"I can tell, believe me."
"Ok how long has it been since you've been with a woman? That has forced anything on you?" Merlin questions him.
"Uhm I.....I can't really seem to recall. That's why I'm here."
"Ooooooooh. So you need some memory magic eh? What exactly for?" Merlin asked him.
"I've been having visions, dreams, recollections, came here to see if they were memories or if they were just small dreams." Death explains.
"You do realize I could give ya a memory potion that could snap you back into normal recollections."
Death somehow...understands this, "So what you're saying is this potion will make me remember that which has been locked away?"
"Make ya remember all that you've lost? Yes. It helped me remember what happened while I was having a black out. Helped me avoid many an awkward conversation."
"Did NOT need to KNOW that. Of all things, THAT was the last thing I needed to hear." Death expresses in an uncomfortable tone.
"Look this'll help, trust me. If it helps me it'll help you." Merlin states before walking off then coming right back...,"Op nevermind, just in case something goes wrong."
"What?"
"Oh nothing to worry about Horseman, trust me. Just drink it." Merlin explains.
Death finally does so and ends up downing it all. Merlin tries to stop him but is too late. Death then begins to have a massive headache of pain, but somehow has the fortitude to remain standing. Which only concerns Merlin all the more as Death remembers all the locked up memories. The repressed ones with Lilith hit him all over again accompanied by him pulling through with only occasional growl in pain. Death then starts to weep softly, surprising all but Aspen. He sees Wren as the nurse that once saved his life, to the warrior she eventually became due to his advice to her, then when seeing the memory of her being dead he begins to weep harder. Then he actually begins to calm down a bit as he remembers his little baby daughter. The memories of holding her in his arms, when she was taken, and surprisingly when Absalom told him he searched for her and that she'd died.
"I need to go find her now!" Death shouted to his brother within the memory.
"It's too late brother. " Absalom begins whilst handing him a torn piece of the fabric Death had wrapped her in. It was bloodied as well, "This is all we found, what was left. Best to forget it, and move on. Besides her Mother was a Fae, nothing to be writing home about."
"You didn't look hard enough, you must've missed something." Death begged in a mix of denial and anger.
"Oh please, it was a Hag, since when do they leave anything behind."
"I promised to keep her safe! I promised! Not let me go! Let me go hunt! I can find her!" Death pleaded.
"Hunt all you want brother, you'll find nothing. I'm sorry for your...loss. But for the sake of us all brother, leave it in the past. It's nothing worth...crying about now."
Death shouted, "She was my child!"
"And I've had many children myself. The weak shall perish, only the strong shall survive. You don't see me mourning them do you?"
Death however finally just screamed at him, "SHE WAS MY FIRST ABSALOM! AND IT'S MY FAULT SHE'S DEAD! WHAT DO YOU HONESTLY EXPECT OF ME?! TO BECOME THE HEARTLESS MONSTER LIKE YOU ARE NOW?! TO NOT CARE JUST LIKE YOU DO?!"
Absalom puts the axe down and walks up to him, "You wound me for thinking I don't care. I think on what's best for our people. And right now I'm thinking about what's best for you. Let it go."
Death enraged, only shouted, "IF I FIND OUT, THAT YOU IN ANY WAY HAD ANY PART OF THIS...."
"Keep your threats to yourself Death, before you find them being shoved down your throat."
With that the memory ends as Death runs off in his rage. Death then comes to back in Aspen's forest. A mix of emotions going through his mind, particularly anger, as Absalom was indeed lying. And this time, Death could tell he was.
He immediately asked Aspen in a darkened tone, "Do you have any trees here that you need cut down?"
"No Horseman, but perhaps Merlin can send you to a room or dimension full of things to destroy?" Aspen suggests gently.
"Uuuuummmmmm.....I've a training room you could like. It'll base the enemies on your memories. You know, if you're pissed off at someone, you can technically take care of em. Not the real deal, but it'll help." Merlin explains.
"Just send me in there." Death says simply with a growl.
Merlin does so, leaving Death to face a memory of Absalom.
"Remember what I said I'd do to you if you lied to me? I found out you lied about my daughter!" Death shouts already starting the barrage.
Morgen and the others wait for him to return for quite a long while. Morgen begins to grow worried as time goes on. Suddenly Death appears from the room after asking Merlin to bring him back. Morgen stands straight up and asks, "Are you alright?"
"I'm a lot better now than I was a few minutes ago. I need to take care of a few things, I'll take you back in case happens." Death tells her in a depressed state.
Morgen only nods and allows him to bring her back to Vortigern's home. Once they return she heads inside as Death hurries off into the northeast.
When she gets inside at last, she hears Strife ask her a bit coyly, "So how'd it go?"
"It went well, but I think the memories are....more painful than he expected. He's headed northeast from here, if you want to go check on him." Morgen explains somberly.
"So where is he now? Or is he being private about that?"
"He spoke no words on the way back, he just left without a word as well. Only heading northeast on Despair as I walked inside." Morgen replies.
"Great. Also, uhm...did you encounter any problems while you were out?"
"We finally took care of the Wendigo, he won't be bothering anyone now. He's gone home." Morgen says.
"Huh? Explain."
Morgen does so, and notices Strife getting confused at first. Then when mentioning the memories and how he screamed in anger at the end of them coming back to him, Strife looked worried.
"You hear any names being screamed at all?"
"Only once, and I heard the name Absalom. I don't know it, but he sounded severely angry and hurt by something he did. Something about a child." Morgen explains as best she can.
Wide eyed, Strife said, "Aw shit. So he's remembering that now, great."
"What's wrong with that memory exactly?"
"Not my place, that's something he needs to tell you. Whenever he's out of his moods." Strife tells her before heading outside.
Strife decides ultimately that Death should talk to somebody right now. That he needs to talk to someone. So he rides out with Mayhem to find Death. Tracking Death through the tracks Despair left behind. Before too long, Death managed to find a secluded cabin. One that had ultimately seen far better days. Hell it actually looked as though it had been vandalized recently. Death looks around for any missing valuables and finds a specific locket he gave to Wren long ago is indeed missing. He knew because it was usually hung above the fireplace. Then he hears something in the basement. He goes downstairs with Harvester, finding a typical bandit easily enough.
"If you wish to live, drop everything you've gained from here, and leave." Death growled to him.
The man did obey and quickly took off in a panic. Death then goes through the bag of stolen goods and begins to place them back in their proper places. Feeling happy memories from some, and sad memories from others. The locket he glances over for a time, and he chooses to look into it. This locket had Wren's memories of him within it, and he decides watch through them. And then he saw the memory Wren had of the last time he saw her alive. He saw the beautiful cliffside cave they'd been in, with a gorgeous aurora borealis in the sky. The memory went well, then Death heard the part he was dreading.
"I wish we could stay this way forever." He heard Wren say to him.
"Unfortunately forever doesn't seem to last that long."
Wren then sighed, "Death you could just stay here. You don't have to leave. No one's forcing you to..."
"I kinda have to. Responsibilities unfortunately, besides Absalom would drag me out of here and kill you if I ever abandoned everyone. I'm sorry, but unfortunately responsibilities have dictated that I need to go."
"Death please, you gave my life more purpose than being a warrior ever brought. Than being a lonely nurse in my home brought. I need you, please don't leave me." Wren pleads with him.
"Take solace in the fact that I will return. But I can't stay, I have to go. Now please, let's not this any harder, ok?"
Wren then holds him tightly, sobbing into his chest. This lasted for some time as he comforted her. Finally Wren told him softly, "Death, I love you. Please promise you'll return to me soon."
"I'll try." Death told her before gently kissing her, then Wren asked of him,
"Before you go, please do one thing for me. So I can bare this loneliness."
"What is that?"
"Impregnate me. Please." Wren begged him.
"Uh.....huh. It's gonna be a little bit different but, I think I have my ways." Death expresses with a chuckle before they got to it.
After this Death saw them have their moment of passion and how he left her at home at the end of the night. He closes the locket, and places his head in his hands.
"Staying was the choice I should've made. I'm sorry."
Suddenly he heard a light knock, and turned his head growling in an undetermined emotion.
"Hey cool it dude, it's only me." Strife calmly states.
"Why are you here? How the hell did you find me? And to top it all off, how much of that did you hear?"
"Small bit. Came here cause I thought you might need somebody to talk to." Strife tells him.
"Riiiiiight. And you didn't think I wouldn't be in the mood?"
"Uh huh. As for how I found you, got the direction you went in, and you didn't help things by not hiding Despair's tracks."
"Just.....just leave me to this. So I can do something I didn't do a long time ago." Death implored him.
"Hey, I'm coming in. And I'm not leaving, not while Uther's still running around. Besides, you shouldn't be alone while like this. If you want me quiet, that's fine. But I'm not leaving bro. I'm staying right here with ya."
"Fine, but silence is what I'm seeking now." Death calmly said.
Strife then sat down on a chair behind the couch Death was sat on. Remaining quiet as Death asked him to. Strife occasionally glanced his way, noticing the pain he felt in his current body language. Strife soon decided to do some maintenance on his guns to pass the time. Better than the ringing in his ears that often came with prolonged silence. While there was the occasional click of parts or a metallic tink, Death didn't seem to mind it. If anything he couldn't blame Strife for passing the time that way. He only kept staring at the locket for what seemed like hours, in fact it was quite a long time before Death finally sighed. Strife paused, listening intently for whatever his brother may say at last.
"Thanks, for being silent and being here."
"You're welcome. Feel free to stick around, I'm not done cleaning Mercy here." Strife told him.
Death nods then heads outside, finding a patch of gravestones nearby. He goes up to one in particular, looking at it in silent reverence. Then suddenly, he noticed the grave site itself had freshly disturbed dirt. As if someone had been digging recently. Slowly gaining a look of concern mixed with shock, then he turned Harvester into a shovel. He needed to see for sure that she was intact, that nothing was taken. That SHE wasn't taken. Then upon reaching the hollow hole where she'd been placed eons before, he found no body. Fearing the worst had been done, Death backs away in pure shock. Then upon collapsing into a sitting position, he heard Strife hurry outside.
"Yo you alright out here, what the hell's going on?!"
Death can only point to show Strife what's wrong.
Strife then hurried over and examined the exhumed coffin. Which currently had a hole through the top, as if someone had punched through it, "Ok, where did the body go? And what the hell happened to the coffin?"
"I left her here....I could've sworn it was right here."
Strife then walked up to his brother then kneeled, "Dude snap out of it.", shaking Death in the process.
"Waaaugh....What? What what?"
"Bro, coffin. Look at it." Strife tells him.
Death does so reluctantly and actually sees the coffin lid's hole. This only raises even more questions though, "How could there be a hole? Why is it looking as if it's from the inside? Did I bury her alive? No that can't be right, I felt no pulse on her.....she never breathed.....Maybe some weird version of a coma? No that's ridiculous. Uhm uh....."
"Wait a minute, what happened?"
Death takes a moment to breathe and asks Strife, "If I tell you this, can I trust you to keep quiet about it?"
"Remember Lilith? Kept my mouth shut about that. I still think you should Fury and War though."
"I'm still afraid that they'll try to avenge me. And end up as playthings, like I did."
"A, you don't give those two enough credit. B, you beat yourself up way too much. And C, War's way too smart for that." Strife explains.
"What about Fury?"
"Eh....mixed response to that one. But me and War will keep her 'calm' and in close proximity in case she actually does go after her. Trust me, you've got to worry about when it comes to those two, ok?" Strife assures him.
"You think they'll react to it ok? That they won't....be ashamed of me because of what happened to me?"
"They know just as well as us how fucked up Lilith is. How evil, twisted, and manipulative that BITCH can be. I also know they won't shame you for something that wasn't your fault. I didn't, and I never will. You didn't deserve that, not one second of those three days." Strife states calmly.
"Thank you."
"So you gonna start explaining this whole place to me?" Strife asks.
"Remember the fact that I, had a daughter once?"
Strife cocked his head skeptically, "You? Having a kid?"
Death only sighs and then tells Strife, "Remove the helm, I'll show you."
"A, it's a visor. B, give me a second to unhook it."
Once Strife got it off of him, Death then showed him the memories of Wren, the last time he saw her alive, his reaction to a letter she sent about her pregnancy, and the day he found her dead. Next came his memories of their little daughter. How he held her, the anklet she was given based on Nephilim tradition, the Hag that took her from him, and Absalom's bullshit towards Death. Only then did Strife remember for himself. He remembered how depressed Death had become. How he'd rarely eat unless forced to, almost never speaking, and just obsessing over the piece of fabric. Even to the point he wrapped it around a tiny felt doll made to look like an infant. He always kept it in a little box with a ring he'd made for Wren a long time ago. One he never got to give her. It was a pewter feather that wrapped around the finger with the vein of said feather being blue glowstone. Wren had once said it was her favorite.
"Dude, don't this the wrong way. I thought you were screwing around with her. I didn't know it was serious! If I knew it was, I wouldn't even have allowed Aspen to take your memories. Or even allowed to go attempt it." Strife expressed sympathetically.
Death only shook his head, "Not your fault, I just made the choice. But she's missing."
"Yeah, strangely. You don't think that she pushed her way out?"
"I don't know. I don't even see how that's even possible. She was dead, no pulse, no signs of life, nothing." Death stated.
"Well maybe it was so faint you didn't notice it?" Strife asks cautiously.
"I checked. I used my magic in order to see if there was life in her. I sensed NOTHING. No matter how many times I checked, or how many times I actually prayed. There was no life."
"Yeesh, talk about a horror story. Apparently somebody up and died and came back? Humans talk about crap like this." Strife remarked.
"Yes but those stories are about elderly people, and someone who's tied to the Creator. Not someone who's young and had no relations to him." Death insisted.
Course behind both Horseman, a young woman had just returned with a hand pulled wagon behind her. Upon seeing Death however, she quietly lowered the wagon down and began to back away towards the house. Not wanting to be seen, especially not now.
Death suddenly senses life nearby, "We're not alone."
He then turns around and nearly throws Harvester in that direction. Only to hear a familiar voice shout to him, "Wait! Death calm down!"
Death did so, slowly, and lowered Harvester. Once he did, he saw someone he never thought he would again. In his shock and disbelief, he dropped his scythes, "I uh....I...Wren?"
"Hello Death." Wren told him, looking as though nothing had happened to her.
Death immediately comes up and begins checking her over. He finds no signs of dirt, she isn't wearing the dress he found and buried her in, he then checks for any Necromancy. To his further shock, there are no signs of that magic having been used on her. He does notice her knuckles looked scratched up and a bit swollen, as if she'd punched something and broken them recently.
"I think you need to start explaining something to me."
"Yeah, last my brother knew, you were DEAD." Strife adds on.
Wren sighed and looked up at him, "I once told you I was a Fae, but that was a lie. I'm not a Fae at all, I'm an Arcaneian. From the realm once called Arcaena. You know of the race I'm sure, having fought them before."
"Yeah, one of your Generals nearly killed. In fact that's how we met."
Wren nods, "Yes, I recall readily. You came to me battered beyond all belief, a sleek sword through your chest. I even remember how many times you tried getting out of bed."
"Yeah....but how does any of that explain you being ALIVE?!"
"Calm down and I'll get there. Arcaneians have an ability to resurrect after a long time. For some it takes longer than others. The only catch, you can only do so a few times. Should you reach a particular age, you'll just die. You won't have anymore chances." Wren tells him calmly.
"Oh, are there any other things that I should know about?" Death inquired.
"We have tattoos that only reveal themselves on Arcaena. And should we indeed die we turn into a weapon that only has a shadow of our personality. What we were in life, is barely a memory, if even that. It's actually....kind of terrifying to think about." Wren tells him sounding a bit nervous.
"Oh GRAND....great, so.....that's a.....lot to take in actually." Death says being reminded of the Grand Abominations briefly.
"I know it's a bit like those....'devices' you were involved with. But it's not the same thing, it's different I assure you. It's only a scary concept for me."
Death sighed before asking, "So...how powerful are these weapons?"
"The Abominations were more powerful than them overall. But they can get to massive destruction levels if they're an old construct or weapon, if they're original body or soul is extremely powerful enough to boost them to that degree, or when they become mystically charged enough."
Death looks at her a bit wide eyed, "You have any examples of these?"
"Yes actually. Although I'm.....reluctant to bring them up." Wren told him nervously, staring at the graves of her family members.
Death observes them a bit and questions, "If I dig them up, am I going to find these 'things' you were talking about?"
"I would assume so....but please reconsider. Let's just leave them be please....." Wren pleads with him.
Death can see the fear in her eyes, and it's never been something he got used to, "We won't touch them. Why are you, terrified to begin with?"
"To look upon them......is to acknowledge my own eventual fate. And there's barely anything left of their original selves in those weapons now......It used to give me nightmares....about what may happen to me....and when I was stuck in that grave.....I had to listen to them.....speaking to me....." Wren tells him in a fearful tone.
Death hugs her, holding her closely, "If I knew, I would not have buried. I only need to ask one more question? What would've happened if I had cremated you on the pyre?"
"It wouldn't have done anything really, only made my recovery longer. And probably more painful too." Wren expresses simply, calming down a slight.
"Glad I buried you." Death states stroking her back, "So....how have you been doing these past few...eons now?"
"I only came out recently. Aside from being scared shitless in that dirt, I have been just gathering supplies and keeping a low profile mostly."
Death then thinks a moment, before asking Strife telepathically, "Would it be good to tell her about our daughter?"
"I dunno dude this is up to you. It may be a BAD idea, but if you wanna go for it then go for it. She's probably gonna find out on her own eventually anyway."
Death swallows hard, dreading what he's inevitably having to tell her, "Wren....I'm not sure if you heard me. But when I found our daughter......I promised you I'd keep her safe. Do you.....remember that?"
"I remember hearing your voice once. Although it was long ago, and you sounded devastated. That's about it. Why? What happened?" Wren questioned him concerned.
"I......I couldn't......I......I failed.....I failed you Wren......I failed our daughter......a Hag took her.....and I couldn't.....stop her......My brother refused to let me.....go find our little one.......I don't know her fate......but I.......I fear what it may be. I'm so sorry......I'm so sorry Wren....." Death told her falling to his knees.
"So she's gone? You've never found her?" Wren implored him.
"I tried everything.....I couldn't find her.....I even tried finding Hag, and I found no remains either. Given the current information I got.....I'm glad I never any remains or strange weapons. So there's some hope at least......I'm....I'm so sorry.....I....wish I could've saved her. Please forgive me...."
Wren knelt with him and this time was the one doing the holding, "We'll find her Death, one way or another. Just please don't blame yourself. You did all you could for her."
Strife turns around and walks off, clearly trying to hide his choked up voice, "I just need to....go over there for a minute.....I need a little minute to myself....got something in my eye....not going to be looking good. And uh....I'll help finding her too. Besides, she's family too right?"
"Yeah, she's family." Death expressed calmly as he stood up, "Also, when we get back to the others...."
"Don't tell em? Got it."
Death decides to wait until another time to explain the situation with Morgen. Wanting to wait to find out more about how he feels towards her. Wren of course has it in her mind to go hunting through various Hag nests.
Course Death has Despair come to his side and asks Wren, "Do you...want to come along? I know how you are about...being alone and all."
"You'd let me come along?" Wren asks surprised.
"It's the least I can do after essentially burying you alive....so yeah...Besides we've got decent food there." Death states.
"Very well, just let me grab some things from inside." Wren says hurrying to gather some belongings.
She takes the locket and naturally takes her current weapon. Course she also takes the sword that was in Death's back once. Having kept it because it asked her to. She then hurries out, with Death helping her onto Despair's saddle. Once Strife mounts up, they hurry off. Death wanted to ask what she brought, but chose to inquire on it later. When they finally returned, Morgen caught glimpse of them. When noticing Wren on Despair's saddle, she felt a twinge of jealousy coming on. If anyone was around they'd notice her eyes had gained a bit of emerald green alongside the usual amethyst purple.
Barrcus turned the corner and found her looking out the window. Seeing her eye color he asked her, "And who seems to be the holder of your jealous gaze?"
Morgen sighs, "The woman with Death there, she's probably important to him. I'm worried they might be....close."
"And what do you wish me to do, in order to help alleviate those emotions?"
"Nothing. Beyond maybe advice....if you have any council for me." Morgen requests.
"You should probably tell him at some point, about your feelings for him. That way it could give him a way of dealing with how he may be feeling. Or it could give him incentive to figure out what he's feeling. Either way, you'll know and either put your feelings aside or explore them. Just be patient, and don't go that fast. Just take it slow, for both of you."
"Thank you Barrcus. Would you recommend I speak with the woman as well? Maybe to get to know her and prevent resentment?" Morgen suggests.
"That indeed is a wise choice. As long as you keep your emotions in check. Just be the understanding woman I know you are."
"Of course, I'll be mindful of myself. Thank you." Morgen expressed with a sweet hug, which Barrcus reciprocated despite his pain.
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kennysatyr · 4 years
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Rise Of The Damsel: Part 2
TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of absent parents, transitioning, blood, insufficiant medical procedures, and death.
(Author Note: Sorry I haven't had a consistant posting schudeule I've been going through some things but for some reason finsihed this hope you enjoy it please like and share when you get the chance.If you want to join my crew just send me a message)
06/13/1999 10:56 AM She woke up in an unfamiliar place she had no clue where she was she remembered what the goddess made her do suddenly “Oh good you are awake” an androgynous person stood at the door they looked slightly older, red tattoo’s on their face, she is missing an eye yet her eyelid was sewn shut, no hair is wearing a blue kimono they walked slowly towards her “I came to retrieve you for meeting with the general” she was confused “Is this the-” “Yes it is dear Osirus told us you were coming, of course, we had to get the goddess out of you we let you rest” Khadijah got up walked towards the person then saw a mirror she was shocked by what she saw her old body wasn’t seen she saw a woman’s body instead of a man’s she had breast and female genitalia she started to tear up the woman behind her started walking up to her, “Osirus told us you desired a female’s body so while you were asleep we made you one” Khadijah looked at her and said, “Do you know how long I have dreamed about having this body?” “Are you pleased with it” “I very much am” tears started streaming down her face happy ones. 11:15 AM Khadijah and the person walked into a tent candle were lit a desk was surrounded by other people they were obviously debating with each other one noticed them “Our warrior is here” they all looked at them “Amaterasu bring her closer” they both walked closer to the table the people parted to let them through Khadijah looked around to see it was mostly women and androgenous people most missing eyes, hands and other parts covered in scars “Welcome Khadijah” she looked it was an older woman with a gold crown greying brown hair wrinkles visible on her face “You are at the lotus army headquarters I am the leader Hera” Khadijah immediately tried to bow Hera smiled “No need for that child let me introduce you” Hera pointed at the woman next to her “Amaterasu is the main leader of defense here” she pointed to a woman east of her this woman had lavender skin and dark hair “That is Artemis my left-hand woman her voice was taken during the war so she speaks in sign language” Artemis signed “Hello newcomer” Hera pointed to a caramel skinned woman with one eye scars covering her body “That is Sekhmet the goddess who possesed and brought you here” the woman nodded “Everyone else here is a soilder the empty seats are to preserve the memory of those lost” Khadijah didn’t know what to say “I know it is a lot to take in do you have any questions?” “No not at the moment” “Good now come with me and we shall discuss your duties here” she goes to open a curtain entrance and gestures for her to come in Khadijah obeyed Hera looked at the other goddesses “You are all dismissed” she closes the curtain. The room was like the previous ones just with more pictures on the walls and incense burning a desk lies in the middle of the room with a lotus flower engraved Hera sits down behind it and says “Sit down dear” she complied once again she put her hands on the table twiddling her thumbs she was nervous she didn’t know what she’d say to a goddess Hera has a stack of papers most were blueprints on her desk and looks at her “So are you enjoying the new body?” “Yes but ho-” “Most of us have experience in medical things and magic so it really wasn’t too hard and we like to cater to our soldier’s needs here” she put her hand on Khadijah’s and rubbed her thumb against her hand in a comforting way “now there is a reason I wanted to talk to you privately” “To tell me what my role is here?” “That and well I must ask a private question” She felt a chill go down her spine “How close were you to your mother?” she thought about that question she hasn’t been asked that question in years when she was young she used to be teased about it calling her “unwanted” and that her mom hated her and that’s why she left and she answered “Well I am not sure, to be honest, I never really knew her I only know pictures and stories of her from my father who tears up even thinking of her” the mood became melancholy “well I can tell you, me and her were close” she felt a small glimmer of hope, yet inquisitive “You saw how I had a chair beside me empty?” she nodded “Well that spot was for your mother” “Was she a mortal?” “Absolutely not,” she said firmly Khadijah looked down at her hands they somehow seemed different now “Now would you like the full extent?” she questioned herself, but so far the answer yes helped her “Yes” Hera breathed in and out “Well we do not know if she is dead or alive she dropped off the grid a while ago no oracles can find her, after the battle against the god Tezcatlipoca she disappeared” “How long ago was this?” “Four-teen years ago” she was shocked this was how long it’d been since she left her and her father how long it has been since she had felt a motherly touch she clenched her fist “What was her name?” “Morrigan she was the goddess of death, crows, war, and fate” “Didn’t death gods not be involved?” “Morrigan was a... Different kind and she wouldn’t stand for the inequality which made her perfect as my right hand” Khadijah was silent she thought about this she thought of her last memory with her mother her father begged her not to leave and her mother gave her one last kiss on her Khadijahs forehead before she left their lives forever “I’m sorry if this opened up a wound for you” Khadijah noticed that thinking about that made a tear fall down her face “It’s alright I shouldn’t have repressed this” “However she could be alive out there and you could meet her” “That is true” “Would you like me to change the subject?” “Yes please” Hera nodded her head let go of Khadijah’s hand “You first will be trained here to fight” “You are assuming I cannot now?” “Well if you can we will make you better then you were before we would make you indestructible” she was intrigued “Now you will be training with the war goddesses we have to offer and if you’d like we can also teach you magic and the secrets of it” “I can do without magic” “Alright then now any questions?” “Well one” Hera raised a brow Khadijah continued “Would I be able to go home?” “Well you’d have to stay till your training is done, mostly because of where the gods found you and we need to be cautious” Khadijah nodded “However we will have you stay in a tent here at the camp and I’ll have you have a visit with our doctor Dembe because we want to be sure what we will need to do to make you the best” she then slides a picture of a map of the camp and it was honestly bigger then she thought it’d be “Now I enjoyed this talk, Khadijah, but after you go home please promise one thing?” Khad looked at her “You’ll always keep contact with us” “I will,” she said in an affirmative way. 11:50 AM She had finally found her way to the medicine tent instead of a regular curtain it was beaded she pushed them inside she saw bones possibly human incense lit a bottle of rum a shelf full of bottles all of the different colors, a cauldron in the middle of the room “Lost?” she turns around she is now facing a woman a beautiful one her skin was dark but had light skin pigments that make her face look like she was wearing a skull piercing blue eyes “N-no” “You must be the new recruit” her voice was heavily accented yet sounded heavenly to Khadijah “Yes, I am are you Dembe?” “Yes, and why are you standing around? Come in” she grabbed Khad’s arm and almost dragged her to a chair on the side of the room and sat her down and immediately started putting her hands on her face, her hands were cold Khadijah blushed “Why are you, nervous child?” “S-Sorry I-i do not use to seeing” the woman raised her eyebrow “Seeing what?” Khadijah nervously “S-someone as beautiful as you” the woman smiled a bit and started to open Khadijah’s eyes “If I wasn’t doing a check-up I would’ve been more flattered” then opened her mouth “Good teeth, however” she immediately grabbed a pair of tweezers “Hold still this will only take a second” she then grabbed something in her mouth and violently ripped it out Khadijah immediately Yelped in pain “AHH” “Interesting” Khadijah looked it was a chip “H-how?” Dembe threw it on the ground and crushed it “Tracking device is weak” “T-Tracking?” “They must’ve put it in you while you were asleep” Dembe then proceeded to examine her “How do you like this body?” Khadijah was a bit thrown off “Hmm?” “You came here with a man’s body and now a woman’s how does it feel” “Tremendous actually” “Good you are actually one of the first where this ritual was successful here” Khadijah got confused “Ritual?” she started trying to feel Khadijah’s heartbeat “Yes the sorcerers here gathered to give you your proper body I assisted actually, but only in gathering what was needed because I can only bring back the dead” “Interesting” “What?” “Sorry I am not used to being around magic users” “With time you will adjust” “Hopefully I just found out why my mom left today after not knowing for fourteen years” “Well at least you know she had a reason my father just shows up for a while drinks some alcohol smokes a cigar then leaves,” she said as she rolled her eyes “Rough relationship I guess?” Dembe smirked “yeah right he barely has one with his own wife and djol kaka” “Your mother?” “Nope my mother passed a long time ago he still cheats on his wife constantly” “Oh” “How is your relationship with your father?” She hadn’t even thought of him all day “He is the only parent I have, but since I was a child he’s been nothing but supportive” “He sounds like a good one” “Very I haven’t talked to him in so long” Dembe nodded and said “Well your checkup is done and you are in good condition however I’ll give you something for your tooth” Khadijah forgot about her tooth Dembe walked to some cabinets started looking through her cabinets she pulled out a root “Ginger should help” she walked back to Khadijah and handed it to her “You could eat it or crush it up and make tea” “Thank you” “No problem” Dembe was about to walk away when “Since this is no longer a check-up-” “Yes I’d love to spend some time when I’m free” Khad was astonished “How did you know?” Dembe smirked “It’s not every day you find someone as pretty as you” Khadijah blushed.
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aeducanwrites · 5 years
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In response to the  @dapromptexchange prompt, also found here on AO3:
“With the mark comes increasingly severe chronic pain - pain like the Inquisitor has never experienced. They keep it under wraps, though, not wanting to appear weak or have anyone pity them. But some days are worse than others and their intake of potions made by the healers plus their own herbal remedies and even alcohol are beginning to become noticeable to others. How does their LI find out and help them? If it is Solas, does he feel guilty for causing this?”
Pairing: Cassandra Pentaghast x Female Trevelyan
Words: 3540
Rating: T
---
Elera Trevelyan was woken up to the feeling of fire in her veins and sudden breathlessness, her private quarters—usually dimly lit by the moon’s light—aglow with a sickly green hue. She grabbed the pillow behind her in time to shove her face into it and muffle her agonized scream, body curling into a tight ball and arm convulsing freely as the pulses from the mark on her hand came steadily. She wasn’t sure how long it was until the pulses slowed and finally stopped, but by then Elera was covered in sweat and her throat felt raw. Her entire arm twitched from the after effects of the mark’s spasms, veins still feeling like fire but slowly ebbing into the dull throb she normally felt on good days.
If tonight’s episode was anything to go by, today would not be a good day.
Elera sighed in defeat and reached over to her bedside table, tugging the drawer open and pulling out a small bowl, a cloth, and a half-empty bottle of Tevinter wine Dorian had gotten her for her birthday. With a wave of her hand the bowl was filled with water, and she began the tedious process of wiping the sweat from her brow and checking on her arm, the same as every night. A few weeks back she’d found blood oozing from a battle-earned wound, reopened from the intensity of the mark’s spasms, but tonight she was lucky. Instead of blood, she noticed what looked like several scars creeping their way up her arm, tinted the same shade of green as the mark on her hand.
Elera grabbed the wine bottle, uncorked it, and chugged straight from the bottle.
She’d deal with the panic that would no doubt come in the morning. The moon was still bright in the sky, way too early an hour for her to be up, and at the moment Elera wanted nothing more than to sleep. She set the bottle aside and curled back under her covers, covering her hand with the pillow she’d screamed into to block out the light glow from her palm.
Just another average night for the Inquisitor. 
***
Elera had a routine.
It started at Maker-knew-when at night when her mark decided she needed a little more pain in her life, a pain so sharp that when it had first happened her scream was enough to summon some guards who believed she was being murdered. Solas had assured her that once the Breach had been closed, the pulses were sure to stop and she’d finally get a full night’s rest, and--fool that she was—Elera had believed him. She’d suffered the pitying glances from her fellow troops and supposed worshipers each day while at Haven as she made her way from her cabin to the healer for a potion or two, then later to the tavern for a stiff drink. Blackwall had often joined her once he’d been recruited to their cause, the two of them swapping stories about their home and the biggest creatures they’d fought; a real dick-measuring contest. The Iron Bull, of course, beat them all once he figured out her routine, though half the time she wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth. Properly drunk, Elera would stumble back to her cabin, stare at reports that she didn’t know half of the words of, and collapse onto her bed to cycle through the day again. Missions were a little more difficult, but Solas was a competent potions-brewer and Dorian always had a flask on him, either of them helping her through depending on her party for that trip.
The pain didn’t stop with the Breach, though, but Skyhold didn’t need to know that. She was no longer Elera Trevelyan, Herald of Andraste, which was daunting enough on its own. She was Inquisitor Elera Trevelyan, leader of the Inquisition and a figure all of Thedas was to look up to if Corypheus was to be stopped. Showing pain wasn’t an option for her, so she had to hide it.
Her pain-filled nights never stopped, but it was easier to hide that with how secluded her quarters were from the rest of the hold. Elera had given the staff strict orders to only clean when she gave the go-ahead to stop any accidental discovery, and so far they had obeyed. From her room she made her rounds, gritting her teeth against the throbbing that seemed to increase in pace and intensity when she was near Solas for a reason she couldn’t understand. Perhaps it was lucky she always looked stressed or tense, because no one bothered asking why her jaw was clenched enough to hurt, nor why she kept her hands clasped behind her back when she could help it. By the time she got to Cassandra the surgeon would finally be in sight, and Elera told herself that was the only reason her heart leapt in excitement. It was never the way Cassandra swung at her training dummies that made her react that way, with her toned muscles flexing in the rising Orlesian sun under a loose shirt that hung just right (because she didn’t always wear armor, contrary to popular belief). Nor was it the way Cassandra would startle slightly when she noticed Elera approaching, a slight smile touching her lips in acknowledgement.
No, it was because the surgeon had the stronger healing potions that she’d always been awful at making herself. It had nothing to do with her ill-fated crush on Seeker Pentaghast. 
That never fooled the surgeon, of course, not after the woman saw Elera run into a wall several times already as Cassandra swung at the practice dummy with well-practiced ease, stopping just short of chopping its head off or puncturing it beyond repair. It was embarrassing, to say the least, and she was proud when it didn’t happen again, the only embarrassing aspect of the morning being that Cassandra caught her staring and smiled at her. 
Smiled. Elera could swoon from a smile like that. 
She entered the surgeon’s building and quickly shut the door behind her, ignoring the older woman’s chuckle as she took a few breaths to slow her heart rate. When she was certain her flushing had stopped, Elera finally looked to the surgeon, an older woman with a kind smile that reminded her of her mother. She remembered vague details about her family, having been eight when she was brought to the Ostwick Circle, but she was certain her mother had a smile like Surgeon Rein. 
“Hiding from your object of affection again, Lady Trevelyan?” Rein teased, and Elera brushes the hair out her face with her good hand to compose herself. 
“Please, I haven’t been a lady in twenty-seven years,” she responded, sitting on one of the free cots and smiling warmly at the surgeon. “Do you have the potion ready, Rein?”
Rein’s smile faded, and she grabbed the potion from the top shelf with practiced ease. “I always do, my lady. How was the pain last night?”
A flash of intense pain sparked through the mark at the thought of the previous night, and she stifled her gasp by clenching her jaw tight. “It was worse than previous nights, I admit. Unfortunately, I can say that I’ve had it worse than this.”
The surgeon tutted and knelt before Elera, examining the mark and tracing the branches from it that traveled up her arm, tinted the mark’s unique shade of green even when the mark itself was otherwise dormant. “There’s only so much I can do to help with this matter, my lady. Perhaps Solas would be able to relieve some pain that my potions and tonics cannot.”
“No,” Elera said quickly, almost tanking her hand from the woman but just barely resisting. “It is bearable with what you’re able to provide, I promise.”
“It is spreading, Elera. It cannot be that bearable if it is consuming more of your arm each day.”
Elera swallowed thickly and looked away. She knew the surgeon was correct, that seeing Solas was likely the best solution for whatever was going on, but she didn’t want any of her companions to see her as lesser for being unable to handle the mark. She didn’t want Cassandra to see her as lesser, more truthfully. If it affected her field work, however, and endangered her teammates…
“I’ll consider it,” she finally said, voice trembling slightly. “I owe it to the people I fight beside, don’t I?”
Rein smiled gently and nodded. “They will be more understanding than you believe, my lady. Even your Seeker.”
“She’s not my Seeker, Rein. Nor am I a lady.”
“If either of those become true statements, then I will follow them as such. Until then, you are of House Trevelyan, a noble household, and I shall respect you as such—mage or not. Likewise, if you confess your affection to Seeker Pentaghast and she does not reciprocate, I will stop referring to her as yours. Believe me, though: she holds more affection toward you than you believe.”
Elera gave the surgeon a small smile and nodded. “Thank you. I’ll let you know if I’m right and you’re not.”
Rein smiled cheekily and stood, brushing the dirt off of her knees. “I would expect nothing less of you, my lady. 
***
In the end, it was her own stubbornness that revealed her pain to her companions, rather than her approaching Solas for help like Rein had suggested. 
Elera had meant to go to Solas, honestly, but soon after meeting with the surgeon her advisors had told her the sooner she got to Crestwood the better. The humidity and general dreariness of the place didn’t do anything for her mood, let alone the pain that seemed to worsen in bad weather. Though the constant rain had ceased after she’d helped get rid of the large Rift in Old Crestwood, it still rained about as much as the Storm Coast, and hunting down the Rifts she’d missed the last time they were there in such bad weather wasn’t the best. Varric and Solas were arguing with one another a few feet ahead over Cole, something that was becoming increasingly common between the two of them, and at her side, Cassandra huffed. 
“They’ll never agree,” she said. “I do not know why they bother arguing circles around each other every day.”
“They both care about Cole in their own way,” Elera said, smiling fondly at the two men. “Solas keeps treating him like a spirit, and Varric a human, so they’re bound to disagree.”
“But he is a spirit,” Cassandra said, brows furrowing. 
“He’s the most human spirit I’ve met. Unless Cole says something to me, and so long as Cole is treated kindly, then why does it matter?”
“I suppose you have a point. You can be the one to get that in their heads though.” Cassandra nodded at the men, and Elera laughed, bumping her arm against the Seeker’s fondly. For a moment she thought she saw a light flush on her cheeks, but that had to be because of the weather. Armor could get hot, and humidity did nothing to lower the heat of Crestwood. The silence dragged between the two of them for a time, only filled with Varric and Solas’ arguing and the pattering of rain against the cobblestone path they walked along, and it was comfortable in a way that Elera only felt in Cassandra’s company. 
Which should’ve been weird, considering when they first met Cassandra was holding her prisoner, but no one was perfect. 
A familiar green hue flickered up ahead, and Elera tensed, reaching back and grabbing her staff from its holster on her back. Her companions did the same at once, their eyes to Elera for the okay. They had a routine: she would aim her mark at the Rift to drain its power and weaken the demons that came from it while the others attacked them, join them while the demons were down until the Rift reaches full power again, rinse and repeat. It was only a matter of getting close enough to start the process, and Elera muffled the sound of her footsteps as she inched closer. 
The mark flared as it usually did around a Rift, but rather than tingling it felt ready to burst, and she shoved her hand at the Rift to close it. The mark burned as it sucked the power out of the Rift, and Elera let out a scream, clutching her forearm and dropping her staff—a critical mistake. The demons were going after her at once, but her companions made swift work of the majority of them. Cassandra used her shield to block the ice beam a despair demon shot her way, glancing at Elera as she cast a barrier around them both. 
“Are you alright?” Cassandra asked, though it was more of a shout so she could be heard above the demons’ shrieks. Elera nodded quickly and brought herself to her feet, grabbing her staff and casting a bolt of lightening toward the despair demon. 
“I’ll be okay,” she responded. “Go help the others. I’ll be alright here.”
Cassandra seemed hesitant but conceded a moment later, nodding and running toward the pride demon trying to attack Varric. Sweat was on Elera’s brow, and she wiped at it before continuing with their routine. Fire, attack, weaken the Rift, repeat. It was elementary at this point, but each time she weakened the Rift she nearly collapsed again. Even while fighting her companions kept sending her worried looks, but Elera just downed a health potion and continued her onslaught until the Rift was weakened enough to close. Her knees were weak and her breathing was heavy, but she shoved her hand at the Rift anyway to close it; somehow, it hurt worse than just draining it did. She tried to swallow back a scream but ultimately failed, sounding more strangled because of her effort and feeling as though her arm was about to fall off. 
If this was death, she’d gladly take it, though she’d miss seeing Cassandra every morning. A small price to pay for relief from this. 
When the Rift closed she fell to her knees, arms wrapping around her to keep her from falling any further. Elera looked up and saw worry in Cassandra’s eyes, said eyes flickering between Elera’s face and her left hand. So much for a secret, she mused internally. 
“Are you alright?” Cassandra asked, and Elera laughed painfully. 
“No, not really,” she admitted truthfully before passing out, the last thing she heard being Cassandra ordering Solas to look her over for injuries. 
***
Elera woke Maker knew how long later in an Inquisition camp, the red tent ceiling instead of her scrappy brown travel tent giving it away. She was in her night clothes and covered by what felt like two blankets, both pulled up to her chin and still managing to cover her short figure. It could’ve been a normal stop at camp, truthfully, but then she remembered the Rift and winced. That was certainly a way to reveal how much pain she’d been in since Haven, and not the way she’d intended by far, but what was done was done. She groaned and tried to sit up, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her. 
Cassandra. 
Elera winced and lay back down, staring up at the other woman uncertainly. The contemplative look on Cassandra’s face could mean anything, she’d come to learn over the past year, so she had no idea what to expect. It didn’t seem like she was inclined to speak, though, so Elera wet her lips and asked,
“How long have I been asleep?”
“About half a day,” Cassandra responded. Elera’s mind froze. 
“Did you say half a day? Seriously?”
The Seeker raised an eyebrow. “Would I lie to you?”
She winced and sighed. The unlike you went unsaid but was certainly understood. “I’m just surprised. I haven’t slept that long in… in a while.”
“Because of your mark?”
“Yes, because of my mark.”
“Why didn’t you tell me it troubles you?” Cassandra asked, looking genuinely hurt. Elera’s heart broke; she hadn’t wanted to hurt Cassandra. “We could have gotten you proper help if we had known you suffered.”
“I didn’t want to worry any of you,” she admitted quietly. “I’ve dealt with pain before. It hurt like this back at Haven, and I couldn’t stand the pitying looks everyone gave me, Cassandra. I don’t want pity. I can’t stand it.” 
“I believe you mix pity with concern,” Cassandra said slowly, pulling the blankets back from Elera and lifting up her left hand. Elera tensed, ready for pain to flare up, but was surprised to feel nothing but vague pins and needles along her arm. When she sat up that time Cassandra didn’t stop her, instead using her finger to trace the veiny branches that emerged from the mark to just above her wrist. She watched silently as she did so, uncertain of what to make of the situation. “I too often find myself mistaking concern for pity,” she continued, eyes flickering up to meet Elera’s own. “As a Seeker, we are meant to withstand enormous pain without flinching to do what needs to be done. As a Pentaghast, I am expected of the same for far less noble intentions. During my time with the Inquisition, I have taken a great deal of hits that led me to sustain serious injuries. Did you pity me while I was in pain?”
“No,” Elera said quickly, eyes widening. “I thought about dragging you by the ear to lay down and rest though.”
Cassandra chuckled and nodded. “I suspected as much. Tell me, then, why you would believe we would pity you, when you obviously do not pity us while we are in pain?”
“I—” She hesitated, looking away and rubbing her neck with her free hand. “I don’t know. In the Circle, when someone was ill or in pain we hid it in case a Templar saw and used our weakness as an excuse for punishment: Tranquility, because we couldn’t fight back, isolation under the guise of keeping disease from others, sometimes worse just because they could.”
“That is repulsive.”
“That was reality,” she countered, frowning. “I know you and Cullen wanted me to side with the Templars while closing the Breach, but between what was happening in Redcliffe and my experiences in a Circle personally, how could I not support the mages? Maker, I couldn’t show it, but when I heard Kirkwall’s Chantry went in flames and the Gallows were destroyed by the infighting I was ecstatic. Would Andraste and the Maker want a world like this?”
It was Cassandra’s turn to frown, and they both watched each other for a moment, neither trying to make the first move. Elera could slowly accept that she saw concern, not pity, but if the mark brought enough pain to knock her unconscious, what good was she as Inquisitor? She swallowed thickly and closed her eyes. 
“So—”
“Elera—”
They both chuckled a bit awkwardly, and Elera nodded. “You first.”
Cassandra nodded and gripped Elera’s marked hand loosely in both of hers, her eyes intense as she looked at her. “I wish you had told me. I have… I have come to care for you a great deal since we founded the Inquisition, and seeing you collapse on the battlefield not from an enemy, but from this mark, terrified me.” She paused. “I do not want to see you come to harm, and if your pain is more chronic than temporary I wish to help you however I can.”
“Seeing you every morning helps me,” she murmured, blushing when Cassandra grinned. Slowly, as if she could scare Elera away with any sudden moves (which was possible, given her history), the Seeker brought the hand she held up to her lips and brushed them across her knuckles, her cheeks a deep crimson red. 
“Is that why I’ve seen you run into walls while looking my way?” Cassandra teased, and Elera giggled to hide (or show) her embarrassment, nodding and leaning closer to the other woman. 
“Perhaps.” Elera steeled her resolve and took a deep breath as she said, “Cassandra, I’ve come to care for you deeply as well. If I may, could I take you to lunch or dinner sometime? Just the two of us? There’s this little restaurant in Val Royeaux I’d love to try with you.”
“I would like that.”
The tent flap opened to the two of them grinning like idiots at one another, and Elera didn’t even mind when she heard Varric laugh at them. “You two finally got over yourselves, huh? Good for you. Hey Chuckles, she’s awake.”
She vaguely heard Solas explain how he’d cut off the majority of the pain she felt through the Fade and agreed to seeing him every few days to keep the mark from spreading any more than it already had, her mind more focused on the fact that she had a date with Cassandra. 
Surgeon Rein would be delighted to be able to say ‘I told you so’. Elera couldn’t find it in herself to mind.
27 notes · View notes
divagonzo · 5 years
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Pawn - Ch. 2 of Beloved
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Ao3 // FF.net
Ch. 1 - Bishop’s Castle
A/N: In honor of Ronald B. Weasley’s 39th Birthday... Ch. 2 of Beloved - Pawn. Y’all gonna hate me for posting this for his birthday but that was the goal the entire time.
Rated M/18/NC-17 for later chapters but also some triggering aspects starting in chapter one. Trigger warning tags will be applied at the bottom of this post.
(And I’m going to make the Tumblr version Ace safe but have its full version on Ao3.)
Tagging @xweasleyfraserx, @remedial-potions ,@weasleymama @kingronw @vivithefolle @austenpoppy @melimelrockswell1204 @ashleopardd @hillnerd
since people asked to be tagged when this first went around. (Sorry @justsaya for the extra tag.)
Not two seconds later, two medi-warlocks came rushing in while carrying a magical gurney. They rolled Ron onto it, smearing blood all over the black and white tile floor. Harry stood, aching, watching Ron be carted inside. Unnatural coldness, much like when he would be in the vicinity of Dementors, washed over his mind and body. Not even the copper tang of stench on his robes could break the enormous grip on his heart.
“You’re injured. Come inside.”
Harry blinked and looked to his left. An elderly medi-witch was standing at his shoulder, gently holding onto him. He hadn’t realized he was swaying back in forth, standing stock still, staring at the closed double doors.
“I – “ Harry couldn’t talk, explain everything including what he was feeling. “I – “
“Let’s get you checked out. Come with me,” the elderly witch prompted his arm gently to move him, make him walk into the ward. They were in the same emergency ward, across the expansive room, the separating sheet ignored so the various healers could move unimpeded. She motioned him to sit up on the sterile bed across the room. Every time she moved to stand in front of Harry, he’d move aside, trying to watch what the Healers were doing to Ron.
“Sit Still, Mr. Potter. I have to make sure you’re not injured.”
“I’m not,” Harry kept his eyes on the bed not three meters away. So many Healers were in the room tending Ron. In their haste, his arm slipped down, a glint of reflected light on the hammered goblin silver wedding band he wore on his left hand. He told Harry one early morning, after a mission that went south, that he never took his ring off. He’d promised Hermione that it would only come off if he quit breathing. Everyone in attendance at the wedding heard him and celebrated this moment as part of his vows.
It looked like it might happen this night.
“There’s so much blood,” he said to himself while watching healers working frantically to staunch his wounds. “How can one man have so much?”
“Mr. Potter, please, look this way.”
Harry turned and saw caring eyes and a warm expression. How could this medi-witch focus on him when his best friend and part of his heart was lying on another gurney not three meters away, dying from a terrible mistake that should have never happened in the first bloody place?
“Those are the best healers on staff, Mr. Potter. They’ll save him. They’ve done the occasional miracle with someone. I know they’ll do it again for him.”
“You can’t know that!” Harry felt mortification flush across his face for yelling at the matron medi-witch tending him. “Sorry. I shouldn’t yell at you. You’re not the reason why we are in here.”
“I know.” Harry tried to turn but the witch in question stood in his way, forcing him to look upwards toward her face. “The sooner you let me finish making sure you’re ok the sooner you can help him.” She pointed her wand at his chest, performing a complicated incantation silently. Gold threads wound around his head, chest, and shoulders, coiling inside him like he’d taken a long pull from a good bottle of mead.
“Hurry, we’re losing him,” an ethereal voice erupted in the silence.
“Ron!” He tried to stand and felt his knees give way. He grabbed onto the side of the examination bed desperately, feeling his eyes closing and his breathing slowing down. “The hell you do to me, witch?” He growled before collapsing back onto the side of the bed behind him. His hands were failing him at the one time he needed them most of all. “Ron,” he yelled but it came out slurred.
“Nothing, Mr. Potter. Magic is imbued into the bed. It’s to prevent falls for patients. You’re to stay there ‘til I release you. Now sit back on the bed and the feeling shall pass.”
Harry did as asked, and sure enough, the fatigue and wobbly knees quit bothering him. “That’s my friend there, my best mate!” He bit his tongue because he raised his voice at the medi-witch trying to see to him. “Sorry, but –“
“I understand Mr. Potter. They’re doing everything they can for him. Everyone here knows how close you are to Mr. Weasley. We know that he’s -”
“It’s not like that,” Harry blushed, “not like that at all. I mean, I am married to his sister and all.”
“Really?” she wove her wand around his head while watching the gold glitter shimmer from his hair. “The Prophet said that you two were having an affair and that the Weasley girl, the one who is the Harpy’s Chaser, is a beard for you; same with Miss Granger.”
“They’re vicious lies,” he snarled. “It’s not like that,” Harry kept staring at the gaggle of Healers tending Ron. “I’m closer to him than my wife, I admit that. But we’re not like that.” Harry peered past her hip and saw clothes flying off of his friend’s torso, all soaked. “I love him as a brother and I know he feels the same towards me. His wife knows that too, along with mine. It’s not a closely guarded secret, I reckon.”
“Ah, well,” the medi-witch completed her assessment before stowing her wand. “Well, let’s get your tidied up some. You look grotty and wretched.”
Harry looked down in the harsh sterile lights of the Auror emergency ward and bit off a rather pungent curse. His boots were entirely soaked along with the knees of his trouser legs, the arms of his jumper up to his elbows, along with his hands entirely caked with dried blood. Ron’s blood. He’d not held him the last time he was like this, paralyzed with inaction when he was badly splinched.
"What's happened to him?"
"Splinched," said Hermione, her fingers already busy at Ron's sleeve, where the blood was wettest and darkest.
Harry watched, horrified, as she tore open Ron's shirt. He always thought of splinching as something comical but this... his insides crawled unpleasantly as Hermione laid bare Ron's upper arm, where a great chunk of flesh was missing, scooped cleanly away as though by a knife.
"Harry, quickly, in my bag, there's a small bottle labeled 'Essence of Dittany - "
"Bag, right."
It was pure dumb luck that Hermione kept her head when they were losing Ron the last time and he was paralyzed with fear. The fear was still there, coiled around him like Nagini in Bathilda Bagshot’s house that fateful Christmas night. Only this time there was nothing to let the fear go until Ron woke, if he ever did.
“Ron bought me these boots,” Harry said to no one in particular. “Christmas gift in 1998. The goblins were still being tossers and he had saved up galleons. I asked for some trainers, cheap ones, just to get through training, and instead, he took me to this place Hermione took him and got these for me.”
“He obviously cares for you,” the medi-witch regarded Harry kindly, “and you for him. If you promise to stay put, I’ll go pick up some spares for you. You’re a, what 30 x 32? And a Medium shirt? Size 10 boot?”
“I guess. I’ve not bought clothes in a while. Anything you get me will be fine.”
The matron toddled off while Harry sat glued to his bed, watching a gaggle of lime green robed healers working feverishly on Ron. The mission and everyone else could fuck right off if anything permanent happened to Ron. Watching Cedric die in front of him was bad enough. So was Sirius. Countless others. So many faces drifted across his mental eye, each one wearing a sad smile.
None of them held a candle to Ron. Ron, his best friend, the one who stood there when he was his worst and being a git and still being his brother, he needed Ron desperately, like that night he pulled him from the lake when the locket was trying to strangle him.
His enormous laugh when he found something so funny.
His electric smile when he was caught out thinking of Hermione, and getting the mickey taken from him by the other blokes in the department.
Ron’s natural talent in the kitchen, taking over when Kreacher was off duty, whipping up meals for the four of them at odd hours of the night and morning and cooking for them without complaint.
His raucous bawdy humour which made Ginny laugh and Hermione roll her eyes fondly at him.
Everyone laughed at Ron’s uncanny ability in impersonating various people in the department, using considerable cheek, bringing tears and laughter to the eyes of everyone listening. He is a natural comedian much of the time.
The fact that Ron, no matter how much he bitterly complains about the pay, the hours, the work conditions, the missions they go on – he goes anyway and gives 110% on every single mission.
Ron, standing in the finest wizarding robes money could buy, watching Hermione being walked down the aisle by her father, her Mum sitting on the front row, proud as she could be, even if mum and daughter were still at odds most of the time. Harry smiled watching the tears of joy flowing down his friends face and feeling no shame to show how happy he was.
Ron standing there looking like he’d won the life’s lottery when Hermione said yes finally.
Ron looking like complete shite after helping rescue his Mum, impersonating her while others extracted her out of captivity, and taking a beating few lived through.
So many important moments in his life were shared with this larger than life friend and yet he’s lying on the gurney, Merlin knows how bad off, and he’d never told Ron how much he meant to him, how much –
“Mr. Potter, a change of clothes. We’ll send the other items out for laundry and send them by parcel to the address on the records.”
“That’s fine,” he intoned wordlessly while watching the Healers. Each second felt like a lifetime. Taking his eyes off of the healers would be so many lifetimes. He watched with anticipation, racing to strip out of the soiled jumper, dress shirt, and vest underneath. He shoved the white t-shirt on, hoping he didn’t miss anything.
“That should do it,” someone spoke up from the other bed. Three Healers, in matching green robes, stepped back, looking like they were assessing on how well they crafted a broken masterpiece. They stepped away from Ron and Harry got his first glance at his best mate.
Harry gasped. Ron was as pale as an Inferius, with a bedsheet pulled up to under his arms lying on his chest. The old brain scars stood out vividly on his arms, looking almost angry compared to the sallow pallor of his skin. But his face was the worst. His eyes were bandaged over and his nose was such an unnatural shade of purple that an aubergine would cringe. His cheeks were still crusted with dried blood and the only ear he could see was mottled horribly. Why hadn’t they healed his bruises?
Anger raged through his heart and soul, desiring nothing more than to bludgeon the one who did this to Ron, without concern or care except that he would get into trouble. If Jones didn’t murder Trowbridge he’d do it without remourse.
George would finally be able to make one ear jokes to Ron.
That rude thought doused any anger he felt instantly.
Trowbridge would wait. Ron needed him.
Harry took his glasses off and wiped them on the clean vest in his hands before putting the slightly cleaner glasses back on his face.  “Healer, there’s a problem,” Harry spoke up.
The three of them turned and saw what Harry had seen: ichor oozing from his ear.
“Damn it! Get Greengrass up here Now!” the lead Healer yelled at the other medi-witch in the room. She raced out at a full sprint.
“What’s wrong?”
“Get him out of here!” the other Healer yelled, pulling his wand out of his robes and closing off Harry’s view of what was happening. A white opaque dividing curtain snapped into place.
“Someone tell me, what’s wrong?”
“Come with me, Mr. Potter.”
“I’m not leaving him here.”
“If you don’t leave now I will stun you and keep you out.”
“No, don’t. I can’t leave.”
“Get him out of here,” the third healer yelled, turning his head towards Harry.
He knew that look all too well: Fear, Panic, Anger, Terror, Impotence, Panic.
Harry felt something snap in his chest, like a thin twig was stepped on under his boot-clad foot. The room went cold and grey between heartbeats.
He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t watch if his best friend was going to perish this night.
“I’ll leave,” he said finally.
His best friend needed him and he couldn’t bear to see him perish. He was such a fucking coward compared to Ron. Ron shouted down Voldemort but he couldn’t watch his friend at the worst moment of his life.
With a gentility that would make any Mum proud, the medi-witch escorted him from the room, listening to the healers barking orders at a third medi-witch present, getting supplies for immediate surgery.
Harry walked with leaden steps towards the waiting room, a place he was all-too-familiar with. Softer chairs had replaced the hard plastic ones, where the family could take a kip if necessary along with a Floo-connected Fireplace and a desk full of parchment, quills, and inkwells.
Fuck. He’d have to tell Hermione if Jones or Robards hadn’t already reached her. Shit.
“Fuck, why did this have to happen right after your birthday, Ron?” Harry grumbled. “Last weekend was incredible and now this? Fuck!”
Even the frightening concept of telling Hermione didn’t remove the grey from his vision. Nothing mattered.
He should be scared. They were married less than a year now, only because Hermione finally figured everything out and pulled her fingers out and said yes. She’d be a terror and yet he wasn’t scared of her reaction.
Losing Ron terrified him more than anything else, even facing down Riddle out in the forest the second time.
And Mom and Dad. They needed to know. Hell, the entire family needed to be told.
Harry stood in the middle of the room, trying to strain his ears to hear what might be happening in the ward. But he knew better. The room was magically sealed, blocked off from the waiting room. Only silence talked to him.
His heart beat against his ribs, reminding him that while he was still whole, Ron wasn’t.
Bugger. He had to tell everyone. Who did he need to call first? He checked his watch and saw it was after 2 am. No one would be awake, not even George who was a notorious night owl, working in his invention lab for the shop, or Fleur who was finally getting sleep since Louis was sleeping through the night now, even if her husband was away in China on a trip for the bank.
The fire roared to life and Director Robards stepped out, brushing the dust off of his robes and away from his boots. “How is he?”
Harry could hug Director Gawain Robards with the lack of ceremony or protocol. He needed the focus to keep from melting down. “I dunno, sir. He seemed to be stable but then something happened and they kicked me out. I – “Harry’s voice hitched, hard. “I dunno if he’s going to make it.” Two tears escaped. He didn’t bother wiping them away.
Vile words dripped from his lips, words that Ron would appreciate being spoken on his behalf. Of course, Harry learned them from Dudley and Ron.
Robards nodded. “He will. He’s got a good fighting spirit about him. Anyone who tells Jones off is made of stern stuff.”
“You could be wrong.”
“I rarely am. Jones tells me quite a bit if you can believe that. She praises him often, even when she wants to kick his arse to Glasgow.”
“Way Ron says it, she hates him so much. She rides his arse so hard he can’t do his job and he can barely tie the laces on his boots without getting his arse reamed out by her.”
“Nah, she doesn’t. She’s hardest on those who are the best.” Robards looked at the opaque windows into the ward, seeing nothing. “She’s training him for promotion, just like she is for you. Bugger, I wish someone would come out here and tell us what’s going on.”
Harry grunted in agreement. “But she’s 10 times harder on him than she is on me.”
“He lacks something you have in abundance: confidence. But he has skills you don’t, such as his planning and how to adapt when things go sideways. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he’s a seer, the way he can see events unfold before they happen and change the situation for the better. His mind works differently, piecing things together to make an analysis and a determination that is almost never wrong. That’s why I put the two of you together on most missions. You balance one another out brilliantly.”
“Does he know all of this?” Harry felt his emotional walls shaking.
“She’ll praise him in debriefings but instead, he’ll only focus on the negative. He’ll chew on that ‘til he’s green in the face. I’ve watched him perform brilliant magic but because he didn’t fill out the arresting paperwork exactly right and get called on that, he’ll be upset with that over the accolades and praise.”
“Yeah, he’s been like that a long time, I reckon.”
“Well if he didn’t have such a complex he’d probably be senior now.”
“Really?” Harry turned back towards the glass wall, blocking their view. Harry felt the first cracks breaking in his heart. “Shite, sir, he knows and I still feel like a nancy boy, wishing to have told him how I felt, how I should have spoken up to keep Trowbridge off the mission tonight. I didn’t, because I trusted Jones, and look what happened.”
“Trowbridge is facing an inquiry. His actions injured an Auror on a mission. If I have anything to say about it, he’ll be demoted and put on duty in Azkaban. He’s dangerous with a wand and if we didn’t need warm bodies on duty in places I’d personally make him redundant.”
“He hurt Ron. I want to do things to him that would get me made redundant and thrown in Azkaban.”
“He’s not worth your anger, Potter. Besides, there probably won’t be enough left once Jones is done with him. He might turn in his wand after this. He should. He’s been on thin ice for a year now because of repeated problems. I dunno how he stayed on with the Ministry this long, frankly.”
The fireplace roared to life with green flames matching Harry’s eyes. He watched as Hemera Jones, his Senior Auror, and mentor, stepped out of the fireplace looking grotty. “How is he?” with no preamble and her usual gruff way of speaking. She looked worse for wear, with her braids appearing to be halfway ripped apart, her jacked shredded, and her boots caked with mud. “We cornered Grey and got her subdued. She’s safely contained but she nearly tried to bite me. Good thing that I’m faster than a werewolf bite.” She saw Harry staring widely at him. “Now I can respect Weasley for what he did to help kill Greyback. Fighting off a werewolf with only one hand and a wand is hard as shite.”
Robards looked at her jacket. “You still need to be checked out. I don't want any accidents after tonight.”
“Sorted, once we know about Weasley. Anything?”
Harry answered first. “I dunno. I’ve been out here for an hour with the Director. They’ve not said a thing.”
“Nothing? For an hour? That’s odd.”
“Yeah, I know.”
The fireplace roared to life again. Harry stopped when he saw who it was: One very irate and utterly pissed off Hermione Granger-Weasley. “Where the hell is my Husband?” Her eyes narrowed. “Why the hell did I have to find out about him from her and not you?”
Harry recoiled.
“Oh, shite,” was all he could say.
28 notes · View notes
cha0ticmimzy · 5 years
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Here Lies The Abyss, part I
Author’s Notes: Word slips out from the soldiers about just who Sylthana is, and what she’s done. Cullen chooses the wrong time to approach her about it.  Word Count: 1943 Warnings: Spoilers for Here Lies The Abyss, and slight gore? Not really much of anything. 
“So, it’s true?” Cullen asked, voice soft as Sylthana carefully examined her blades. He’d been surprised when he’d entered her chambers only to find her entire bed and the desk covered with various blades of different sizes and poisons- so many poisons. “Your past?”
“Yes.” Came the simple reply as the rogue stood, holding a blade up to the light. It was crafted in such a way that down the center lay a vein that held poison. The poison was poured into it by the handle- a small panel that could be pressed upon, opening the chamber to hold the poison. Far safer compared to simply dousing a blade in poison and calling it a day! “I was a blade for hire. You knew that already.”
“No.” Cullen shook his head, leaning back against the wall beside the fireplace. “You know that isn’t what I meant, Sylthana.”
“What do you want me to say, Cullen?” She exclaimed, spinning around to face her lover. “That I’ve killed more men than you have? That I’m the creature parents tell their children of to get them to behave? That I could put the Antivan Crows to shame with some of the murders I’ve done?
"Or do you wish to hear of the exact details? How I’ve flayed men alive while they screamed out their secrets? How I’ve broken bones, pulled out nails, all to send a message or for coin?” Cullen’s face had paled, but she didn’t stop. He wanted the truth- he would have it. “Or better yet, what about the time I was sent to Orlais to slaughter an entire family while they slept? All aside from the child? I’ve done horrible things, Cullen. And once this whole… Shit show is over, chances are- I’ll do them again.”
Cullen was silent, studying the woman before him. Fierce- he’d known that from the first time he’d seen her, in the War Room. Terrifying- yes, he knew that as well, from watching her training against Solas and Varric’s attacks. Monstrous? The thought had never crossed his mind. But now, know that she was the Shadow of Fereldan- that she was a murderer, and a very accomplished one at that… It sent a chill across his skin. Heat, anger, coursing through his veins.
“I’m not a good person.” Sylthana whispered, oceanic hues dark with subdued anger. “I won’t pretend as if I’m some saint. I’m not.”
Cullen frowned, finding himself at a loss for words. She wasn’t a horrible person, nor a monster. But he couldn’t ignore the horrors of what she had done.
“… If you aren’t going to say anything, leave.” Her voice broke through the silence, and he noticed that she was shaking. He wanted to reach out, to touch her, but- “Leave. Now.”
“… You aren’t a horrible person.” He murmured before he turned, making his way down the stairs quietly. He tried to ignore it, tried his best- but the sound of her sobs pierced the silence, then came the sound of glass shattering. Brow furrowing, he opened the door- and closed it. Let her think he left.
He would wait.
She didn’t need to be alone.
Three weeks. Three weeks had passed since that night. Three weeks since Sylthana had told Cullen to leave- and he left. Or, well- he didn’t leave. She knew he didn’t: after she’d stopped crying, she could hear him occasionally shift.
In the morning, though, he was gone.
She avoided him as much as she could, but eventually, she had to see him. She had to, because Adamant. Because of that damned mission. They needed to see what was happening, and Cullen’s men would be there. He would be there, leading his men. So would Hawke, and King Alistair. Two men she never thought she’d meet.
How odd, that in just a few months, all of this would happen.
Swallowing down her pride, she finished packing away her weapons and potions, pausing to stare at the coin Cullen had given her.
She slid the coin into a hidden inner pocket within her armor before leaving her quarters.
The Western Approach was hot, and sandy, and hot. Too bright, too. Solas stood to her right, Cassandra to her left, and Bull directly behind. Perfectly flanking her. Before her, the fortress stood- tall, imposing. Something was wrong- she could feel it in the air. The wind didn’t blow here, as if nature itself had sensed something was wrong.
Hawke and Alistair met her at the entrance, both men tall and menacing, yet holding a worried air about them. Hawke explained that blood magic was being performed, and that he would take pointe as she and Alistair went in first.
The sight of the fade rift made her blood curdle as her mark reacted to it.
“Inquisitor! So glad you could make it. Lord Livius Erimond de Virantium, at your service.” The man spoke, voice holding hints of a Tevene accent, as he bowed low at the waist. A mockery. Just the sight of him was enough to cause her skin to c r a w l. How disgusting.
“I’m guess you’re not a Warden,” Alistair spoke up beside her, drawing her gaze to the king.
“But you are. The one Clarell let slip.” Erimond spat out, disgust lacing his words. “And you found the Inquisitor and came to stop me. Shall we see how that goes?” He sneered.
“Looks like you’ve already done some of my work f o r me.” Sylthana chimed in, a cold, cruel smirk curling her lips.
“What, him? We simply needed his blood. Oh- were you hoping to garner sympathy? Maybe make the Warden feel a bit of remorse? Wardens, hands up!” As if puppets upon a string, the remaining wardens lifted their left hands. Sylthana bared her teeth in disgust as she drew out her blade. “Hands down.”
“Corypheus has enslaved them.” Alistair snarled out, disgust evident within his voice.
“They did this to themselves. You see, the Calling had the Wardens terrified. They looked everywhere for help.” Erimond shrugged, as if it explained everything. Sylthana found herself hating the man more with every passing second.
“Including Tevinter.” Alistair finished, eyes narrowing.
“Yes, and since it was my Master who put the Calling into their little heads, we and the venatori were prepared.” The snake of a man continued to speak. All Sylthana could picture as slicing his throat open and letting him choke upon his own blood. “I went to Clarell full of sympathy, and together, we came up with a plan.” A moment passed as his words sunk in to those present. “Raise a demon army, march into the Deep Roads, and kill the Old Gods before they wake.”
Horror settled upon her bones. Beside her, she felt Alistair stiffen. Solas hissed softly, and Bull let out a disgusted grunt.
“Ah, I was wondering when the demon army would show up!” She pitched in, sarcasm coating her words. Behind her, she could hear Solas’ approving chuckle.
“You… Knew about it, did you? Well then!” Erimond was thrown off his game. A sly smirk curled Sylthana’s lips as she listened to the waver in his voice. “Here you are. Sadly for the Wardens, the binding ritual I taught their mages has a side effect. They’re now my master’s slaves!
"This was a test. Once the remaining wardens complete the ritual, the army will conquer Thedas!” Erimond finished.
A snarl curled her lip upwards, a sharpened incisor gleaning in the desert sun. “That’s all I needed to know!” She all but growled out, bloodlust filling her veins.
Erimond smirked. “Oh, please,” voice saccharin, he tossed a hand up, red coating it before Sylthana’s mark activated. Pain ripped through her, causing her to let out a yelp as she doubled over, grasping her wrist.
“The Elder One showed me how to deal with you in the event that you were foolish enough to interfere again.” She collapsed, knees thudding against stone harsh enough to make her teeth clack before she doubled over. It felt as if liquid lightning were filling her veins. She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. “That mark you bear? The Anchor that lets you pass safely through the Veil? You stole that from my Master. He’s been forced to seek other ways to seek access to the Veil.” Erimond explained, seething with hatred.
Sylthana let out a soft gasp as the pain subsided. Slowly, she rose to her feet- only to allow the Anchor to activate, closing the rift before her. “You talk far too much.” She murmured, more to herself than anything, as Erimond began to scamper away like a dog with its tail between its legs.
“Kill them!” Erimond called out in command. Battle broke out, demons and wardens alike fighting. It ended just as quickly as it started, however- Sylthana tried not to think of the innocent, confused wardens whose lives had been stolen from them.
Hawke jogged forward, blood splattered across his armor. “They refused to listen to reason,” he explained.
“You were right,” Alistair began, “thanks to the ritual, the Wardens are enslaved to Corypheus.”
Sylthana didn’t want to admit the sympathy she felt as she left the Western Approach.
Skyhold was chaos when she returned. Soldiers were readying themselves for battle, healers were scattered here and there. Scouts were constantly coming and go to and fro. She almost missed the Western Approach.
Had it not been for the blood magic.
Quietly, she slipped away, hiding within her chambers for a moment of peace. Which didn’t last long, for the sound of her door opening reached her. Heavy footfalls thudded upon the stairs, armor clinking with each step. Cullen. She knew it before she could even see his blond hair appear.
“Josephine told me where you were. I… Hope I’m not intruding?” He stood awkwardly at the top of the stairs, as if he were ready to take off the moment she dismissed him. It sent a jolt of pain through her, but she dismissed it quickly.
“What is it?” She asked as she began to clean her blades. Cullen shifted his weight before approaching slowly, akin to how one would approach a wild animal. It made her want to laugh. Then again, perhaps that’s what she was- some sort of wild animal.
“I… Wanted to check in and see how you were.” His voice was so soft, so gentle. Oh, how it pained her to have hurt him. 
Sighing, she turned, sapphire gaze taking in the worry upon his face. “I’m fine. Tired from the journey back, but fine otherwise. Have Josephine and Leliana gone to the War Room already?” She asked, turning to strip off her armor. It wasn’t as if she were stripling down completely just enough to get the heavy breastplate and chainmail off. Yet, she still heard him move, turning his back to her.
A gentleman.
“They have.”
“Good.” Armor successfully taken off, she turned, and went to move past him. That is, until she paused mid step and looked up at him. “Cullen… I’m sorry.”
“You needn’t-”
“I do. I’m sorry. And I promise, we will talk- after all of this. Let’s get through this, and then we can talk.” A nervous weight settled upon her shoulders as she studied his expression. Relief danced with worry in his eyes, but he still nodded. Slowly, he grasped her hand and raised it to his lips, brushing a kiss to her knuckles.
“Of course. Lead the way, Inquisitor.”
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96 start
Toral had driven him crazy and it hasn't taken her long. The moment Lance saw her, he was annoyed... and then the girl went and opened her mouth and things went further down south. Looking to Keith, his husband just shrugged as the Olkari guard clicked Toral's cuffs into place
"What are you doing?! Where are you taking me!?"
"We have to go off world and you're coming with us"
"I don't want to go"
"Yeah yeah, I know. You're too busy planning Lotor's demise"
"You have no idea how dangerous he is! He kills innocent people!"
"Toral, I have more than an idea of what he's capable of doing, but right now, we need him"
"Then you're going to end up dead! How can Allura ally herself with him?!"
Struggling in the arms of the Olkari, the girl was kicking out in an attempt to kick everything
"Toral, where you came from, did you guys ever open a rift?"
"I don't know. Why don't you tell me!"
"We did and we released something bad into this reality. Without Lotor's help right now, we can't fight back and we can't save people. I know you're angry, and I know you're confused, but do you know the saying "keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer"
"What kind of rubbish it that? We should kill our enemies!"
"Allura wouldn't want her daughter to be a murderer"
"I can't let him live! You had no idea what I had to go through to set that trap, and your stupid friend ruined it!"
"That stupid friend is Allura's boyfriend"
The look on Toral's face was priceless, and she was temperarily rendered mute
"That's right. In this reality, Allura doesn't get with Lotor, and you aren't born"
"That doesn't matter. Lotor is bad and you're all still stupid"
 The stupid conversation wouldn't leave Lance's brain. It played annoyingly and repeatedly on loop as they escorted her down to the prisoner pods. It wasn't a great solution, but it was the only one they had for now. Once Lotor had parted ways, the could pull her out again...his head throbbing at the thought of a free Toral. Watching her frozen form behind the glass, Lance once again felt bad for silencing her. She was just a kid who had no one to help and guide her.
  *
After an uneventful trip out to the Academy planet, Lance was ready to get down there and do some real snooping. Coran was staying behind with the boys, while Krolia would be returning to work after their tour of the campus. Shiro and Allura were both going to join one of her classes for the day, while Pidge and Hunk had begged to see the tech. The only ones who didn't know what to do with themselves was he and Keith. He knew Keith would love to spend the day training with his mum, but alpha wouldn't let him just wander the school alone, even though Lotor offered to give him a much more extended tour. Knowing the risks, Lance would have said yes purely for the information he could gather, but Keith had said no, and that was that.
 Taking Lotor's ship, and one of the Altean ships from hangar, they descended to the planet with no worries, and it was a shock to his system to see how much had changed. The grassy green lawns around the campus were now filled with flowers, and the whole place seemed to sparkle like a long lost treasure washed clean. Even Coran with the case of the slipperies and a cloth couldn't have managed to get everything so perfect. Touching the craft down effortlessly, Keith narrowed his eyes with a growl 
"What is it? Do you sense something?"
"No. It just annoys me how perfect this place is, when so many people are out there suffering"
Oh...
"Well, if we ever get around to killing Lotor off, we can totally kick all the Galra out and turn it over to the rebel forces"
"Lance, you do remember that there are some Galra that wish for peace"
"I know Krolia. It's just we never seem to find them when we need them"
"We better move, the others are already climbing from Lotor's ship"
"Lance, you've got your Bayard, right?"
"No Keith I don't. I lost it somewhere between the tenth and the hundredth time you asked me"
"I just don't want you getting into trouble"
"Mum, please tell him I won't"
"I could, but we both know you"
"I feel so mocked and hurt right now"
"No you don't"
"No. Not really. I never did ask, but how was Toral this morning?"
"A pain in the arse. I'm not even joking"
"I wish I could have talked to her, I have ways to make her talk"
"Mum. You can't just beat people we don't like up"
"Why not?"
"Because it's not nice"
"Boo. Lance, you used to be fun"
"I am fun! That's it. I want Hunk. He'd laugh"
"Yes, but he'd be laughing at you, not with you"
"Lance, I think you just got burnt by Krolia"
"I think I did too"
 Following Keith and Krolia out the ship, the cool crispness of the air filled his lungs as Lance took a deep breath. Scanning the surrounding area, there were way too many high open spaces for him to relax. If anyone here was against their alliance, the spot they were standing at would make an excellent place to shoot them down. It culprit could be far away before they could even react... the imaginary scenario sent a shiver down his spine, and his hand moved to his Bayard 
"Lance?"
"Sorry. I was just caught up in my own thoughts. Let's join the others"
With a fake smile, Lance moved past Krolia and Keith, jogging over to Hunk and Pidge as Lotor started explaining
"My father was the one who founded this academy over three thousand years ago. For generations it sole purpose was to teach the Galra the ways of torture and bloodshed. Since my ascension to the throne, I have replaced the staff with those who have pledged their loyalty to me. I wish for our people to know more than just senseless violence"
"I still can't believe you never told us about this place. It's massive"
"I assure you it wasn't meant as deception on my part. I merely have so many sectors to govern, that I overlooked this one project of mine. Shall we begin the tour?"
"Yes. I must admit that I am very interested in the history and culture of your people"
"It was once much richer than it is now, though I hope to change that. As one of the few to have lived as long as I have, there is much younger Galra have forgotten"
Sweeping ahead of them, Lotor guided them to main campus building. Stepping inside, Lance's stomach turned as a kaleidoscope of scents assaulted his nose. Did these people not know how to take a bath? Swallowing down his rising nausea, Lance kept his mouth firmly shut, but also eyed places he could potentially throw up in if he needed. There were several sad looking plants in the reception, all of which looked one strong wind away from crumbling to dust, and all of which had large pots... ok. So if he was going to vomit, aim for the plants
"As I haven't been in power for long, you will find the hallways rather sparse as I have had all previous spoils of war removed"
"Like gold?"
"Not quite"
Hunk deflated slightly 
"You're not going to say severed heads, are you?"
"There's no need to repeat what you have already said"
Who keeps served heads around?! Ugh. That was revolting. Nope. He couldn't even think about them without imagining rot and maggots. Gagging, he half turned and coughed weakly as he tried to hide it
"Lance?"
"Sorry. Ignore me. You were saying something about the new curriculum?"
"Yes. In addition to the combat classes taught by Krolia, we have all manner of subjects. Art, music, history, religion... the important ones"
Lotor beamed at Allura, and Allura's face reddened as she quickly looked to Shiro 
"We also have two wings devoted purely to science, and testing of quintessence, as well as the black entity that came through the rift"
"You what?! You captured some? How? What's it like? What are you using to examine it?"
"Pidge, calm down"
"I believe I already gave you permission to examine the laboratories. For now, why don't I continue"
 Lance had never been great at school. He was too much of a dreamer for that, and he was too busy keeping his omega side hidden, while trying desperately to make everyone around him happy. It'd been suffocating. Having to lie. Having to hide. Having to be someone he really wasn't. He'd gotten so caught in his own lies that he'd lost sight of who he was and who he wanted to be. Half listening, the tour came to an end before he was ready, and he found himself back outside with just Keith and Lotor for company
"Now, as I was saying. I must insist you stay away from any locked doors. Not all Galra have accepted humans as allies, though they are trying. We can't push aside millennia of warring in a blink of an eye"
"Got it. Keith, what do you want to do?"
"I was thinking we could spend some time out here, before joining Shiro and Allura"
"Alright. This is where I leave you. I will be in the main administration building if you need me"
"Thanks Lotor"
Walking away as if he had no cares, Lance sank down to the grass
"Baby, what's wrong? You're pale?"
"Just the smell of so many Galra. It's fine though. But I might have missed the others leaving"
"I noticed. Let's wait a little while and then we'll go check that building out"
"Is that wise?"
"We can say we got lost. Lotor didn't mention it, or go near it"
"Alright. I don't think I want to go back into the main building anyway. Did you notice his three goons were in there?"
"Which three?"
"The three we had prisoner for a bit. They were huddled together over a table, but the moment they saw me, they pulled the blinds down"
"I didn't notice at all. I was too busy wondering if you were about to pass out"
"It felt like it. This is nice though. Is Lotor gone?"
"He's already inside again"
"Then we should go now. It means more time poking around, though I'm not getting the same feeling I did before"
"Do you think it was because of the quintessence?"
"Maybe, but I have no intention of going near the stuff"
"Good. Let's keep it that way. No matter what happens, I want you to avoid it, even if I was to be hurt"
"I couldn't do that"
"I don't want you getting hurt"
"I mean, I don't think I could physically do it. I would leap in before I even realised"
"We'll try to realise in time"
"I don't know if my brain is wired that way. Help me back up"
Taking his hand, Keith pulled him up. They'd both agreed to play it professional, and not give away their relationship to so many foreign Galra. Still, he had to force himself to walk forward, away from Keith, before he kissed him.
  *
Keith stared at the imposingly purple building
"How are we supposed to get in?"
"I have no idea"
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kentmwz-blog · 3 years
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The vested interests of our age, which, from all kinds of motives, desire to maintain traditional values or to get new values set up in their place, have constructed a wonderful machine, which we shall call the Great Stereopticon. It is the function of this machine to project selected pictures of life in the hope that what is seen will be imitated. All of us of the West who are within the long reach of technology are sitting in the audience. We are told the time to laugh and the time to cry, and signs are not wanting that the audience grows ever more responsive to its cues. A great point is sometimes made of the fact that modern man no longer sees above his head a revolving dome with fixed stars and glimpses of the primum mobile. True enough, but he sees something similar when he looks at his daily newspaper. He sees the events of the day refracted through a medium which colors them as effectively as the cosmology of the medieval scientist determined his view of the starry heavens. The newspaper is a man-made cosmos of the world of events around us at the time. For the average reader it is a construct with a set of significances which he no more thinks of examining than did his pious forebear of the thirteenth century— whom he pities for sitting in medieval darkness— think of questioning the cosmology. This modern man, too, lives under a dome, whose theoretical aspect has been made to harmonize with a materialistic conception of the world. And he employs its conjunctions and oppositions to explain the occurrences of his time with all the confidence of the now supplanted disciple of astrology. The Great Stereopticon, like most gadgets, has been progressively improved and added to until today it is a machine of three parts: the press, the motion picture, and the radio. Together they present a version of life quite as controlled as that taught by medieval religionists, though feeble in moral inspiration, as we shall see. It is now our object to look at the effects of each in turn. No one is prepared to understand the influence of journalism on the public mind until he appreciates the fact that the newspaper is a spawn of the machine. A mechanism itself, it has ever been closely linked with the kind of exploitation, financial and political, which accompanies industrialism. The press is the great scribe, possessed of that preponderance of means which technology always provides. The ease with which it multiplies stereotypes makes it the ideal servant of progress. It thrives on an endlessness of dissemination. Its progeny, like the frogs of Egypt, come up into our very kneading troughs. But, just because the mechanical victory of the press is so complete, we are likely to ignore the conditions on which its work proceeds. I serve notice, therefore, that we here approach a question of blasphemous nature, a question whose mere asking disturbs the deepest complacency of the age. And that is: Has the art of writing proved an unmixed blessing? The thought challenges so many assumptions that to consider it requires almost a fresh orientation in philosophy; but we must recall that it occurred to Plato, who answered the question in the negative. With him it concerned the issue of whether philosophy should be written down, and his conclusion was that philosophy exists best in discourse between persons, the truth leaping up between them “like a flame.” In explanation of this important point he makes Socrates relate a myth about the Egyptian god Theuth, a mighty inventor, who carried his inventions before King Thamus, desiring that they be made available to the people. Some of the inventions the King praised; but he stood firmly against that of writing, declaring that it could be only a means of propagating false knowledge and an encouragement to forgetfulness. Socrates adds the view that anyone who leaves writing behind on the supposition that it will be “intelligible or certain” or who believes that writing is better than knowledge present to the mind is badly mistaken. Now Plato was disturbed by written discourse because it has “no reticences or proprieties toward different classes of persons” and because, if an individual goes to it with a question in his mind, it “always gives one unvarying answer.” And we find him making in the seventh Epistle the extraordinary statement that “no intelligent man will ever be so bold as to put into language those things which his reason has contemplated, especially not into a form that is unalterable,— which must be the case with what is expressed in written symbols.” Obviously, here is a paradox, and the present writer is aware of risking another in a book which calls attention to the sin of writing. The answer to the problem seems to be that written discourse is under a limitation and that whether we wish to accept that limitation to secure other advantages must be decided after due reference to purposes and circumstances. In the Good Society it is quite possible that man will not be so dependent on the written word. In any case, for Plato, truth was a living thing, never wholly captured by men even in animated discourse and in its purest form, certainly, never brought to paper. In our day it would seem that a contrary presumption has grown up. The more firmly an utterance is stereotyped, the more likely it is to win credit. It is assumed that engines as expensive and as powerful as the modern printing press will naturally be placed in the hands of men of knowledge. Faith in the printed word has raised journalists to the rank of oracles; yet could there be a better description of them than these lines from the Phaedrus: “They will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome, having the reputation of knowledge without the reality”? If the realization of truth is the product of a meeting of minds, we may be skeptical of the physical ability of the mechanism to propagate it as long as that propagation is limited to the printing and distribution of stories which give “one unvarying answer.” And this circumstance brings up at once the question of the intention of the rulers of the press. There is much to indicate that modern publication wishes to minimize discussion. Despite many artful pretensions to the contrary, it does not want an exchange of views, save perhaps on academic matters. Instead, it encourages men to read in the hope that they will absorb. For one thing, there is the technique of display, with its implied evaluations. This does more of the average man’s thinking for him than he suspects. For another, there is the stereotyping of whole phrases. These are carefully chosen not to stimulate reflection but to evoke stock responses of approbation or disapprobation. Headlines and advertising teem with them, and we seem to approach a point at which failure to make the stock response is regarded as faintly treasonable, like refusal to salute the flag. Especially do the journals of mass circulation exploit the automatic response. So journalism becomes a monstrous discourse of Protagoras, which charms by hypnotizing and thwarts that participation without which one is not a thinking man. If our newspaper reader were trained to look for assumptions, if he were conscious of the rhetoric in lively reporting, we might not fear this product of the printer’s art; but that would be to grant that he is educated. As the modern world is organized, the ordinary reader seems to lose means of private judgment, and the decay of conversation has about destroyed the practice of dialectic. Consequently the habit of credulity grows. There is yet another circumstance which raises grave doubts about the contribution of journalism to the public weal. Newspapers are under strong pressure to distort in the interest of holding attention. I think we might well afford to overlook the pressure of advertisers upon news and editorial policy. This source of distortion has been fully described and is perhaps sufficiently discounted; but there is at work a far more insidious urge to exaggerate and to color beyond necessity. It is an inescapable fact that newspapers thrive on friction and conflict. One has only to survey the headlines of some popular journal, often presented symbolically in red, to note the kind of thing which is considered news. Behind the big story there nearly always lies a battle of some sort. Conflict, after all, is the essence of drama, and it is a truism that newspapers deliberately start and prolong quarrels; by allegation, by artful quotation, by the accentuation of unimportant differences, they create antagonism where none was felt to exist before. And this is profitable practically, for the opportunity to dramatize a fight is an opportunity for news. Journalism, on the whole, is glad to see a quarrel start and sorry to see it end. In the more sensational publications this spirit of passion and violence, manifested in a certain recklessness of diction, with vivid verbs and fortissimo adjectives, creeps into the very language. By the attention it gives their misdeeds it makes criminals heroic and politicians larger than life. I have felt that the way in which newspapers raked over every aspect of Adolf Hitler’s life and personality since the end of the war shows that they really have missed him; they now have no one to play anti-Christ against the bourgeois righteousness they represent.
Weaver, Richard M. (2013-11-04). Ideas Have Consequences: Expanded Edition. University of Chicago Press. Kindle Edition.
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delicrieux · 7 years
Text
amortentia [young!tom riddle x reader]
premise: two students start developing feelings for one another despite having too many secrets to count. tws for this chapter: implied childhood trauma word count: 2.8k
amortentia masterpost | masterlist | music
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1. the boy from the train
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A light breeze caressed the back of your neck as your fingers dug into the hard red cushion of the train seat. Ever so slightly, you leaned forward to stare at the blurring scenery behind the window.
Echoes of chatter and muggle songs reached your ears from outside the compartment, muted and muddled by the shut door. In the swaying autumn flowers, the last notes of summer already fading, you saw the delicate arch of your mother's hand as she waved you goodbye.
There was something haunting about that memory, new as it was. Just as August gave away to September, so had you traded childish slacks for a prestigious uniform. So young, yet slowly coming with the grips of tweenhood. Realizations boiled there, somewhere in your mind, along with your mother's strange smile -- neither kind nor forceful, it was a perfectly imperfect, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the still and waxen medieval portraits created by muggles.
It was an honest goodbye made by a dishonest person. So young, barely eleven, and yet you knew as much. Without her shadow looming above you, the possibilities were endless. The prospect both frightened and excited you.
Finally, London houses blew by and nothing but plains of dewy green vistas greeted the window. You pulled away and shifted, hitting the back of the seat and feeling the whole train pleasantly rumble down your spine. Lonely but not alone, you sat with three other soon-to-be Hogwarts students - housemates even, perhaps? - that were just as round-faced and doe eyed and joyful as any kid at the prospect of learning magic.
All but one.
The boy beside you, reserved and appearing somewhat cold, was excluded from the buzz of shared happiness, from the forming sense of camaraderie that would fall apart as soon as the Sorting Hat dispersed the fresh crop among the four Houses. Was it a conscious, self-excommunication you could not yet phantom, nor the strange swirl of feelings the boy inspired within you. Somewhat restless, somewhat uncertain of your balance on the seat, you pressed yourself close to that cold window, as if to shy away from the boy and the sense of something that lingered in the air around him. As if inhaling it would be poisonous.
If you could return to that moment, you would recognize those feelings as trepidation. But in 1938, it was just confusion with a clumsily racing heart.
You tried acting graceful with your subtle retreat, not too obvious lest he notices and thinks ill of you somehow. Mother always said that manners were most important and distancing yourself completely would surely displease her. Even if her watchful eye evaded you then, she would know. She always knew. It is a mother's horrible burden to know the failures of her child.
The first quiet snicker between the two boys in front of you grew louder - their hushed whispers no longer hushed nor whispers - and their heads, previously drawn close together conspiratorially, then faced you and the boy by your side without hiding wicked grins that implied nothing but trouble.
Your heart stood still for a moment, rendered useless by overwhelming fear. A thought sprung to you that they knew, that they had noticed somehow, and instantly you reeled onto what could have betrayed you: your eyes, your nose, the way you carry yourself? Where had the resemblance between you and your mother manifested so strongly to earn their ire?
Shall they hate you without so much as a word exchanged?
'We are not very much alike.' You wanted to inform them, soothe their anger with you, 'Father says so, too, and my father has never lied. No, we are not very much alike at all, I assure you.'
But their eyes never strayed in your direction, rather narrowed down on the pale-faced child sharing a seat with you. There was relief when you realized they meant you no harm, that your secret laid hidden behind a linen shirt and a cashmere sweater. And then there was a sickly uncomfortable feeling rooted deep within you, one that made your mouth dry and cower in your little corner. Later, this feeling would be given a name and easily recognized: shame.
"We were just talking," One of the shorter boys spoke up, accent thick and freckled cheeks red with mischief. Scottish, you thought, warily glancing between the two, "about who might be the strongest wizard here."
"'S me, of course." The other piped up, beady eyes gleaming with pride, "Mum said I started reading runes at three. Said I got that talent from my father. He works at the Ministry."
"Sounds like a big fat lie to me, else my father would know yours." The first replied with a playful nudge, "I cast my first spell when I was two. Nearly set the house on fire."
"Nearly? Nothing to brag about if only nearly." The second chimed. With the agility and poise of a poor actor, he suddenly asked, "Oi, you." Not in reference to you, no, you were blissfully excluded from this equation, "What of you, then? Which do you think is stronger?"
There was a slight, tense pause. It was obvious from their demeanor and their harshly sculpted words that the boys did not care for your companion's opinion; that they only spoke to him to tease him; that they, somehow, figured he is less than.
"Neither."
Words could be cruel, yes, but just how cold they could be always surprised you. A single word, uttered in that rasp, unimpressed tone chilled you. It was the first time you had heard him speak, confined to his indifferent silence as he was. You glanced at him on instinct.
And when you saw him, you could not look away.
He was pale, somewhat ill, missing the golden sheen children had when playing outside in sunlight for hours. Not even a blush or a hint of rose anywhere on his sharp features--cold and unfriendly, just like his voice, just like his whole presence. It was slightly off putting, but not enough to deter your inspection. You trailed the outline of his clothing, catching a few loose seams and fried fabric around the shoulders – they were not new, presentable, but hardly fashionable. You understood why he would come under scrutiny by the two.
Perhaps he felt your probing stare because his eyes flickered in your direction, evergreen and glimmering, the only remotely lively thing about him. Instantly you were transported to the dark forests surrounding fortresses you had seen in fairy tales of moving pictures -- how dark they were in the shade until first sunlight warmed them, making them appear almost inviting. They grew in mazes, spirals, uncanny shapes to lure the unsuspecting into deadly adventure.
You were the lost traveler and he the omnipotent nature basking in its private secrets. How terribly your heart tumbled when those eyes connected with yours. You could only look away so quick.
"What did you say?" One of the boys leaned closer, pretending to have misheard, "Couldn't quite catch that."
"No, I think we heard him right," the other said, "see, I think he thinks he's so clever. Probably thinks he's stronger, too."
A fake gasp, "He wouldn't! Scrawny thing like that, can barely cast a spell I recon."
"Can't cast spells if you're almost mute, too, now, can you? Oi! Know any other words, or just one?"
A shared laugh between the two and taut silence from your end. If this affected your companion at all was impossible to tell. He revealed nothing, sat silent with a bored expression, and it was that expression that seemed to egg the boys on to continue their jeering.
Perhaps he really did not care. But you did. You were uncomfortable with listening to insults and even more uncomfortable being invisible. The sight of this verbal violence wounded you. Could they not shed their daggers and wait for the Sorting to end at the very least? Must they begin their tyranny now?
"Leave him be." You finally snapped, surprising even yourself: where had such strength come from? "I am the strongest here, obviously, for I had to listen to this nonsense and not say a word. Now what I think is that you should go ask someone else's opinion, from a different compartment, of course. I am sure there you will meet an insufferable match." A pause, "Well? Go!"
Perhaps it was your harsh tone that prompted them into action, perhaps it was the stomach-churning embarrassment they felt that showed so evidently on their faces, but with one last deadly glare directed at the boy - as if he was the problem, not them - the two slid the compartment's door open and left in a cloud of incomprehensible angry huffs and whispers. The door clicked shut. Silence engulfed the two of you again.
"...That was not necessary."
His voice was unmasked, yet when you looked at him you saw no change in his elusive expression. Despite the hint of relief, a little promise of 'thank you' hidden somewhere in his dismissal, something was still not quite right.
But you were content with a slow yet rocky start, and gave him a shy smile, not meeting his eyes in fear of another delirious tumble of your heart.
"It was," You insisted, though not unkindly, "...they fancy causing a ruckus, I can tell... I am (Name) (Lastname), by the way." You introduced, daring a glance into that evergreen forest that stories are made of, "...Pleasure." You extended your hand for him to shake, hoping he would ignore the slight quiver of your fingers. For a moment all he did was examine it, as if contemplating should he touch it or not. Lastly, he hooked his fingers around yours.
"Tom. Tom Riddle."
1943
The windows are tinted dark with black clouds. The small room is drowning in hot, white fumes that smell like lavender and incense and coffee grounds; an occasional rosy flash of colour makes the classroom swim, as if it is going vertigo. Light drumming of cold rain reaches your ears, but what melody it sings you cannot tell – no one can bear to keep their mouth shut in Divination.
A hard nudge on your shoulder and your head slips from your hand, "Did you see?"
Sleepy from the heat and with a mild headache from overlapping scents, you throw a lazy glance at your friend sitting on the other side of the small round table. Briefly you wonder how can Katherine be so chipper on such drowsy weather. Judging by the twinkle in her eyes, the question was repeated, and possibly not once.
Wordless, you sweep the classroom to find what she is referring to. Seeing you at a loss, Katherine leans in, crossing her arms over her chest, her clever features illuminated by the bleak pink glow of the crystal ball, "Over there, by the fire..." She trails off quietly, urging you to observe your housemates closer lest you miss out on something inconsequential yet scandalous.
The Slytherin House is seated among piled books, haphazardly thrown about colorful shawls, Indian rugs, and potted greenery. Closest to the fireplace and entirely drenched in sweat, some of your housemates sit on plush pillows by coffee tables. Only those that were never late to class managed to find a spare table with proper seats.
By the windows, on the other side of the classroom, Hufflepuff made its home. Hardly an interesting topic, even less worthy of your sleepy attention.
You scan your surroundings, not particularly caring if anyone was to notice your stare through the tangle of smoke. Nothing out the ordinary, "Who?"
Katherine gives a whine, half annoyed half excited to deliver the news, "Who else if not Tom?"
"...Tom?" You question, turning to her. "Tom Riddle?"
Katherine nods, her dark brown curls bouncing around her sun kissed face. She leans closer and whispers, "He was looking at you again. In that wistful way he does...Oh, you are so lucky, (Name). I'd curse you if I was any more jealous." She add in a playful jest, "Me and, well, the rest of the school, I suppose. You're most lucky we are such good friends." She finishes with a wink.
She was always a character: playful, snobbish, a bit mean but in a harmless way. Coming from a rich family from Austria, Katherine is familiar with expensive views and handsome boys attending her family's annual balls. A feast of grotesque grandeur and posh personalities, or so you were informed.
Someone as Tom Riddle fits beautifully into Katherine's polished life, like a lost puzzle piece returned to create a magnificent paysage. She is a pretty girl, if not a tad dense. Her delusions often spark terrible rumors that shake the whole castle for months. She revels in all of it, that notoriety. As fitting for a Slytherin.
This is why Katherine's insistence on Tom's secretly harbored affection for you feels more like a joke rather than an actual possibility; a glass bubble that was always meant to shatter. How happily she snickers at the absurdity at the thought, and how she craves for you to buy into it, if only for a moment.
But you never do. And today, you are too tired to even humor her, "He was not." comes your dry reply, yet your eyes stray in his direction anyway. It is not difficult to locate him in the crowd of students. You always possess a vague idea of where he is, as absurd as that sounds. It is like a six sense you had acquired that chilly morning years ago, on the train, sparked by a handshake and eyes that kept wandering back to one another.
Over the years you spoke with him little, confined to your world as he was crafting a whole new one around himself. By the time any meaningful friendships could form, he was already out of reach.
You can feel Katherine roll her eyes, and with a curt sigh the shorter girl leans out and crosses her legs behind the table, softly hitting you in the process.
"Oh come now, don't be so glum. I would never lie to you, now, would I?" The lopsided smile she gives you informs otherwise, "Well, perhaps..." She says with a heavy sigh, as if divulging some terrible secret, "Perhaps he was looking at me, and I was mistaken. If so, my (Name)," Her hand snatches yours and squeezes gently, "I am terribly sorry."
Her gaze on you is short lived as she tilts her head to the side, keen on admiring him, "He is most dreamy though, isn't he?"
"Dreamy? Yes, but..." You murmur, "Can you not feel it?"
"Feel what? The discontent glares of my rivals?"
You crack a smile, "No, not that...It is just...something about him...something different." You glance at him, sat with his dearest friend, laughing quietly about one thing or another, "Would you not agree?" Katherine's expression turns thoughtful and after a brief pause she nods.
"Oh yes, completely different..." She says, "He's so perfect it's hardly fair." Then, she, releasing her hold on you and leaning back in her seat, smiles in a ditzy, love-sick way; the same way you used to grin as a kid dreaming of Prince Charming, "Tom...Tom Riddle...Katherine Carlotte Riddle? How does it sound, (Name)?"
"Sounds like a symptom of hysteria. Inform your mother, or shall I send her an owl instead?" Your playful words are met with a scoff and a good natured chuckle.
But curiosity quipped, you cannot help but sneak a glance at him, only to find him staring right back. There is a barely notable smile on his lips, head dipped downwards listening intently to a tale weaved by his seatmate. Perhaps Katherine had been right about him looking – your eyes connect, the only thing truly clear through the curtain of fumes being his magnificent green irises that halt all thoughts you had had prior. You offer him a shy smile before pulling away.
"Just you wait, though." Katherine mumbles, missing this small exchange as she flips through her coursebook,  "I'll have him confessing his love to me in no time."
"Are you certain it will not be the other way around?" You ask with a raised brow. You can tell it takes everything she has in her to not smack your arm or throw her teacup in your direction.
"You are terrible, (Lastname). "
"Yet you love me still."
"Merlin, that I do. The most, in fact, well-...After our dearest Tom, of course."
"Certainly," You answer, gazing down into the depths of your teacup where your impending future lays written in tea leaves. Somehow, even if their meaning is lost on you, you know it is intertwined with him, "would not want it any other way."
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PROLOGUE
In the first place please bear in mind that I do not expect you to believe this story. Nor could you wonder had you witnessed a recent experience of mine when, in the armor of blissful and stupendous ignorance, I gaily narrated the gist of it to a Fellow of the Royal Geological Society on the occasion of my last trip to London.
You would surely have thought that I had been detected in no less a heinous crime than the purloining of the Crown Jewels from the Tower, or putting poison in the coffee of His Majesty the King.
The erudite gentleman in whom I confided congealed before I was half through!—it is all that saved him from exploding—and my dreams of an Honorary Fellowship, gold medals, and a niche in the Hall of Fame faded into the thin, cold air of his arctic atmosphere.
But I believe the story, and so would you, and so would the learned Fellow of the Royal Geological Society, had you and he heard it from the lips of the man who told it to me. Had you seen, as I did, the fire of truth in those gray eyes; had you felt the ring of sincerity in that quiet voice; had you realized the pathos of it all—you, too, would believe. You would not have needed the final ocular proof that I had—the weird rhamphorhynchus-like creature which he had brought back with him from the inner world.
I came upon him quite suddenly, and no less unexpectedly, upon the rim of the great Sahara Desert. He was standing before a goat-skin tent amidst a clump of date palms within a tiny oasis. Close by was an Arab douar of some eight or ten tents.
I had come down from the north to hunt lion. My party consisted of a dozen children of the desert—I was the only "white" man. As we approached the little clump of verdure I saw the man come from his tent and with hand-shaded eyes peer intently at us. At sight of me he advanced rapidly to meet us.
"A white man!" he cried. "May the good Lord be praised! I have been watching you for hours, hoping against hope that this time there would be a white man. Tell me the date. What year is it?"
And when I had told him he staggered as though he had been struck full in the face, so that he was compelled to grasp my stirrup leather for support.
"It cannot be!" he cried after a moment. "It cannot be! Tell me that you are mistaken, or that you are but joking."
"I am telling you the truth, my friend," I replied. "Why should I deceive a stranger, or attempt to, in so simple a matter as the date?"
For some time he stood in silence, with bowed head.
"Ten years!" he murmured, at last. "Ten years, and I thought that at the most it could be scarce more than one!" That night he told me his story—the story that I give you here as nearly in his own words as I can recall them.
I
TOWARD THE ETERNAL FIRES
I was born in Connecticut about thirty years ago. My name is David Innes. My father was a wealthy mine owner. When I was nineteen he died. All his property was to be mine when I had attained my majority—provided that I had devoted the two years intervening in close application to the great business I was to inherit.
I did my best to fulfil the last wishes of my parent—not because of the inheritance, but because I loved and honored my father. For six months I toiled in the mines and in the counting-rooms, for I wished to know every minute detail of the business.
Then Perry interested me in his invention. He was an old fellow who had devoted the better part of a long life to the perfection of a mechanical subterranean prospector. As relaxation he studied paleontology. I looked over his plans, listened to his arguments, inspected his working model—and then, convinced, I advanced the funds necessary to construct a full-sized, practical prospector.
I shall not go into the details of its construction—it lies out there in the desert now—about two miles from here. Tomorrow you may care to ride out and see it. Roughly, it is a steel cylinder a hundred feet long, and jointed so that it may turn and twist through solid rock if need be. At one end is a mighty revolving drill operated by an engine which Perry said generated more power to the cubic inch than any other engine did to the cubic foot. I remember that he used to claim that that invention alone would make us fabulously wealthy—we were going to make the whole thing public after the successful issue of our first secret trial—but Perry never returned from that trial trip, and I only after ten years.
I recall as it were but yesterday the night of that momentous occasion upon which we were to test the practicality of that wondrous invention. It was near midnight when we repaired to the lofty tower in which Perry had constructed his "iron mole" as he was wont to call the thing. The great nose rested upon the bare earth of the floor. We passed through the doors into the outer jacket, secured them, and then passing on into the cabin, which contained the controlling mechanism within the inner tube, switched on the electric lights.
Perry looked to his generator; to the great tanks that held the life-giving chemicals with which he was to manufacture fresh air to replace that which we consumed in breathing; to his instruments for recording temperatures, speed, distance, and for examining the materials through which we were to pass.
He tested the steering device, and overlooked the mighty cogs which transmitted its marvelous velocity to the giant drill at the nose of his strange craft.
Our seats, into which we strapped ourselves, were so arranged upon transverse bars that we would be upright whether the craft were ploughing her way downward into the bowels of the earth, or running horizontally along some great seam of coal, or rising vertically toward the surface again.
At length all was ready. Perry bowed his head in prayer. For a moment we were silent, and then the old man's hand grasped the starting lever. There was a frightful roaring beneath us—the giant frame trembled and vibrated—there was a rush of sound as the loose earth passed up through the hollow space between the inner and outer jackets to be deposited in our wake. We were off!
The noise was deafening. The sensation was frightful. For a full minute neither of us could do aught but cling with the proverbial desperation of the drowning man to the handrails of our swinging seats. Then Perry glanced at the thermometer.
"Gad!" he cried, "it cannot be possible—quick! What does the distance meter read?"
That and the speedometer were both on my side of the cabin, and as I turned to take a reading from the former I could see Perry muttering.
"Ten degrees rise—it cannot be possible!" and then I saw him tug frantically upon the steering wheel.
As I finally found the tiny needle in the dim light I translated Perry's evident excitement, and my heart sank within me. But when I spoke I hid the fear which haunted me. "It will be seven hundred feet, Perry," I said, "by the time you can turn her into the horizontal."
"You'd better lend me a hand then, my boy," he replied, "for I cannot budge her out of the vertical alone. God give that our combined strength may be equal to the task, for else we are lost."
I wormed my way to the old man's side with never a doubt but that the great wheel would yield on the instant to the power of my young and vigorous muscles. Nor was my belief mere vanity, for always had my physique been the envy and despair of my fellows. And for that very reason it had waxed even greater than nature had intended, since my natural pride in my great strength had led me to care for and develop my body and my muscles by every means within my power. What with boxing, football, and baseball, I had been in training since childhood.
And so it was with the utmost confidence that I laid hold of the huge iron rim; but though I threw every ounce of my strength into it, my best effort was as unavailing as Perry's had been—the thing would not budge—the grim, insensate, horrible thing that was holding us upon the straight road to death!
At length I gave up the useless struggle, and without a word returned to my seat. There was no need for words—at least none that I could imagine, unless Perry desired to pray. And I was quite sure that he would, for he never left an opportunity neglected where he might sandwich in a prayer. He prayed when he arose in the morning, he prayed before he ate, he prayed when he had finished eating, and before he went to bed at night he prayed again. In between he often found excuses to pray even when the provocation seemed far-fetched to my worldly eyes—now that he was about to die I felt positive that I should witness a perfect orgy of prayer—if one may allude with such a simile to so solemn an act.
But to my astonishment I discovered that with death staring him in the face Abner Perry was transformed into a new being. From his lips there flowed—not prayer—but a clear and limpid stream of undiluted profanity, and it was all directed at that quietly stubborn piece of unyielding mechanism.
"I should think, Perry," I chided, "that a man of your professed religiousness would rather be at his prayers than cursing in the presence of imminent death."
"Death!" he cried. "Death is it that appalls you? That is nothing by comparison with the loss the world must suffer. Why, David within this iron cylinder we have demonstrated possibilities that science has scarce dreamed. We have harnessed a new principle, and with it animated a piece of steel with the power of ten thousand men. That two lives will be snuffed out is nothing to the world calamity that entombs in the bowels of the earth the discoveries that I have made and proved in the successful construction of the thing that is now carrying us farther and farther toward the eternal central fires."
I am frank to admit that for myself I was much more concerned with our own immediate future than with any problematic loss which the world might be about to suffer. The world was at least ignorant of its bereavement, while to me it was a real and terrible actuality.
"What can we do?" I asked, hiding my perturbation beneath the mask of a low and level voice.
"We may stop here, and die of asphyxiation when our atmosphere tanks are empty," replied Perry, "or we may continue on with the slight hope that we may later sufficiently deflect the prospector from the vertical to carry us along the arc of a great circle which must eventually return us to the surface. If we succeed in so doing before we reach the higher internal temperature we may even yet survive. There would seem to me to be about one chance in several million that we shall succeed—otherwise we shall die more quickly but no more surely than as though we sat supinely waiting for the torture of a slow and horrible death."
I glanced at the thermometer. It registered 110 degrees. While we were talking the mighty iron mole had bored its way over a mile into the rock of the earth's crust.
"Let us continue on, then," I replied. "It should soon be over at this rate. You never intimated that the speed of this thing would be so high, Perry. Didn't you know it?"
"No," he answered. "I could not figure the speed exactly, for I had no instrument for measuring the mighty power of my generator. I reasoned, however, that we should make about five hundred yards an hour."
"And we are making seven miles an hour," I concluded for him, as I sat with my eyes upon the distance meter. "How thick is the Earth's crust, Perry?" I asked.
"There are almost as many conjectures as to that as there are geologists," was his answer. "One estimates it thirty miles, because the internal heat, increasing at the rate of about one degree to each sixty to seventy feet depth, would be sufficient to fuse the most refractory substances at that distance beneath the surface. Another finds that the phenomena of precession and nutation require that the earth, if not entirely solid, must at least have a shell not less than eight hundred to a thousand miles in thickness. So there you are. You may take your choice."
"And if it should prove solid?" I asked.
"It will be all the same to us in the end, David," replied Perry. "At the best our fuel will suffice to carry us but three or four days, while our atmosphere cannot last to exceed three. Neither, then, is sufficient to bear us in the safety through eight thousand miles of rock to the antipodes."
"If the crust is of sufficient thickness we shall come to a final stop between six and seven hundred miles beneath the earth's surface; but during the last hundred and fifty miles of our journey we shall be corpses. Am I correct?" I asked.
"Quite correct, David. Are you frightened?"
"I do not know. It all has come so suddenly that I scarce believe that either of us realizes the real terrors of our position. I feel that I should be reduced to panic; but yet I am not. I imagine that the shock has been so great as to partially stun our sensibilities."
Again I turned to the thermometer. The mercury was rising with less rapidity. It was now but 140 degrees, although we had penetrated to a depth of nearly four miles. I told Perry, and he smiled.
"We have shattered one theory at least," was his only comment, and then he returned to his self-assumed occupation of fluently cursing the steering wheel. I once heard a pirate swear, but his best efforts would have seemed like those of a tyro alongside of Perry's masterful and scientific imprecations.
Once more I tried my hand at the wheel, but I might as well have essayed to swing the earth itself. At my suggestion Perry stopped the generator, and as we came to rest I again threw all my strength into a supreme effort to move the thing even a hair's breadth—but the results were as barren as when we had been traveling at top speed.
I shook my head sadly, and motioned to the starting lever. Perry pulled it toward him, and once again we were plunging downward toward eternity at the rate of seven miles an hour. I sat with my eyes glued to the thermometer and the distance meter. The mercury was rising very slowly now, though even at 145 degrees it was almost unbearable within the narrow confines of our metal prison.
About noon, or twelve hours after our start upon this unfortunate journey, we had bored to a depth of eighty-four miles, at which point the mercury registered 153 degrees F.
Perry was becoming more hopeful, although upon what meager food he sustained his optimism I could not conjecture. From cursing he had turned to singing—I felt that the strain had at last affected his mind. For several hours we had not spoken except as he asked me for the readings of the instruments from time to time, and I announced them. My thoughts were filled with vain regrets. I recalled numerous acts of my past life which I should have been glad to have had a few more years to live down. There was the affair in the Latin Commons at Andover when Calhoun and I had put gunpowder in the stove—and nearly killed one of the masters. And then—but what was the use, I was about to die and atone for all these things and several more. Already the heat was sufficient to give me a foretaste of the hereafter. A few more degrees and I felt that I should lose consciousness.
"What are the readings now, David?" Perry's voice broke in upon my somber reflections.
"Ninety miles and 153 degrees," I replied.
"Gad, but we've knocked that thirty-mile-crust theory into a cocked hat!" he cried gleefully.
"Precious lot of good it will do us," I growled back.
"But my boy," he continued, "doesn't that temperature reading mean anything to you? Why it hasn't gone up in six miles. Think of it, son!"
"Yes, I'm thinking of it," I answered; "but what difference will it make when our air supply is exhausted whether the temperature is 153 degrees or 153,000? We'll be just as dead, and no one will know the difference, anyhow." But I must admit that for some unaccountable reason the stationary temperature did renew my waning hope. What I hoped for I could not have explained, nor did I try. The very fact, as Perry took pains to explain, of the blasting of several very exact and learned scientific hypotheses made it apparent that we could not know what lay before us within the bowels of the earth, and so we might continue to hope for the best, at least until we were dead—when hope would no longer be essential to our happiness. It was very good, and logical reasoning, and so I embraced it.
At one hundred miles the temperature had dropped to 152 1/2 degrees! When I announced it Perry reached over and hugged me.
From then on until noon of the second day, it continued to drop until it became as uncomfortably cold as it had been unbearably hot before. At the depth of two hundred and forty miles our nostrils were assailed by almost overpowering ammonia fumes, and the temperature had dropped to ten below zero! We suffered nearly two hours of this intense and bitter cold, until at about two hundred and forty-five miles from the surface of the earth we entered a stratum of solid ice, when the mercury quickly rose to 32 degrees. During the next three hours we passed through ten miles of ice, eventually emerging into another series of ammonia-impregnated strata, where the mercury again fell to ten degrees below zero.
Slowly it rose once more until we were convinced that at last we were nearing the molten interior of the earth. At four hundred miles the temperature had reached 153 degrees. Feverishly I watched the thermometer. Slowly it rose. Perry had ceased singing and was at last praying.
Our hopes had received such a deathblow that the gradually increasing heat seemed to our distorted imaginations much greater than it really was. For another hour I saw that pitiless column of mercury rise and rise until at four hundred and ten miles it stood at 153 degrees. Now it was that we began to hang upon those readings in almost breathless anxiety.
One hundred and fifty-three degrees had been the maximum temperature above the ice stratum. Would it stop at this point again, or would it continue its merciless climb? We knew that there was no hope, and yet with the persistence of life itself we continued to hope against practical certainty.
Already the air tanks were at low ebb—there was barely enough of the precious gases to sustain us for another twelve hours. But would we be alive to know or care? It seemed incredible.
At four hundred and twenty miles I took another reading.
"Perry!" I shouted. "Perry, man! She's going down! She's going down! She's 152 degrees again."
"Gad!" he cried. "What can it mean? Can the earth be cold at the center?"
"I do not know, Perry," I answered; "but thank God, if I am to die it shall not be by fire—that is all that I have feared. I can face the thought of any death but that."
Down, down went the mercury until it stood as low as it had seven miles from the surface of the earth, and then of a sudden the realization broke upon us that death was very near. Perry was the first to discover it. I saw him fussing with the valves that regulate the air supply. And at the same time I experienced difficulty in breathing. My head felt dizzy—my limbs heavy.
I saw Perry crumple in his seat. He gave himself a shake and sat erect again. Then he turned toward me.
"Good-bye, David," he said. "I guess this is the end," and then he smiled and closed his eyes.
"Good-bye, Perry, and good luck to you," I answered, smiling back at him. But I fought off that awful lethargy. I was very young—I did not want to die.
For an hour I battled against the cruelly enveloping death that surrounded me upon all sides. At first I found that by climbing high into the framework above me I could find more of the precious life-giving elements, and for a while these sustained me. It must have been an hour after Perry had succumbed that I at last came to the realization that I could no longer carry on this unequal struggle against the inevitable.
With my last flickering ray of consciousness I turned mechanically toward the distance meter. It stood at exactly five hundred miles from the earth's surface—and then of a sudden the huge thing that bore us came to a stop. The rattle of hurtling rock through the hollow jacket ceased. The wild racing of the giant drill betokened that it was running loose in air—and then another truth flashed upon me. The point of the prospector was above us. Slowly it dawned on me that since passing through the ice strata it had been above. We had turned in the ice and sped upward toward the earth's crust. Thank God! We were safe!
I put my nose to the intake pipe through which samples were to have been taken during the passage of the prospector through the earth, and my fondest hopes were realized—a flood of fresh air was pouring into the iron cabin. The reaction left me in a state of collapse, and I lost consciousness. II
A STRANGE WORLD
I was unconscious little more than an instant, for as I lunged forward from the crossbeam to which I had been clinging, and fell with a crash to the floor of the cabin, the shock brought me to myself.
My first concern was with Perry. I was horrified at the thought that upon the very threshold of salvation he might be dead. Tearing open his shirt I placed my ear to his breast. I could have cried with relief—his heart was beating quite regularly.
At the water tank I wetted my handkerchief, slapping it smartly across his forehead and face several times. In a moment I was rewarded by the raising of his lids. For a time he lay wide-eyed and quite uncomprehending. Then his scattered wits slowly foregathered, and he sat up sniffing the air with an expression of wonderment upon his face.
"Why, David," he cried at last, "it's air, as sure as I live. Why—why what does it mean? Where in the world are we? What has happened?"
"It means that we're back at the surface all right, Perry," I cried; "but where, I don't know. I haven't opened her up yet. Been too busy reviving you. Lord, man, but you had a close squeak!"
"You say we're back at the surface, David? How can that be? How long have I been unconscious?"
"Not long. We turned in the ice stratum. Don't you recall the sudden whirling of our seats? After that the drill was above you instead of below. We didn't notice it at the time; but I recall it now."
"You mean to say that we turned back in the ice stratum, David? That is not possible. The prospector cannot turn unless its nose is deflected from the outside—by some external force or resistance—the steering wheel within would have moved in response. The steering wheel has not budged, David, since we started. You know that."
I did know it; but here we were with our drill racing in pure air, and copious volumes of it pouring into the cabin.
"We couldn't have turned in the ice stratum, Perry, I know as well as you," I replied; "but the fact remains that we did, for here we are this minute at the surface of the earth again, and I am going out to see just where."
"Better wait till morning, David—it must be midnight now."
I glanced at the chronometer.
"Half after twelve. We have been out seventy-two hours, so it must be midnight. Nevertheless I am going to have a look at the blessed sky that I had given up all hope of ever seeing again," and so saying I lifted the bars from the inner door, and swung it open. There was quite a quantity of loose material in the jacket, and this I had to remove with a shovel to get at the opposite door in the outer shell.
In a short time I had removed enough of the earth and rock to the floor of the cabin to expose the door beyond. Perry was directly behind me as I threw it open. The upper half was above the surface of the ground. With an expression of surprise I turned and looked at Perry—it was broad day-light without!
"Something seems to have gone wrong either with our calculations or the chronometer," I said. Perry shook his head—there was a strange expression in his eyes.
"Let's have a look beyond that door, David," he cried.
Together we stepped out to stand in silent contemplation of a landscape at once weird and beautiful. Before us a low and level shore stretched down to a silent sea. As far as the eye could reach the surface of the water was dotted with countless tiny isles—some of towering, barren, granitic rock—others resplendent in gorgeous trappings of tropical vegetation, myriad starred with the magnificent splendor of vivid blooms.
Behind us rose a dark and forbidding wood of giant arborescent ferns intermingled with the commoner types of a primeval tropical forest. Huge creepers depended in great loops from tree to tree, dense under-brush overgrew a tangled mass of fallen trunks and branches. Upon the outer verge we could see the same splendid coloring of countless blossoms that glorified the islands, but within the dense shadows all seemed dark and gloomy as the grave.
And upon all the noonday sun poured its torrid rays out of a cloudless sky.
"Where on earth can we be?" I asked, turning to Perry.
For some moments the old man did not reply. He stood with bowed head, buried in deep thought. But at last he spoke.
"David," he said, "I am not so sure that we are on earth."
"What do you mean Perry?" I cried. "Do you think that we are dead, and this is heaven?" He smiled, and turning, pointing to the nose of the prospector protruding from the ground at our backs.
"But for that, David, I might believe that we were indeed come to the country beyond the Styx. The prospector renders that theory untenable—it, certainly, could never have gone to heaven. However I am willing to concede that we actually may be in another world from that which we have always known. If we are not on earth, there is every reason to believe that we may be in it."
"We may have quartered through the earth's crust and come out upon some tropical island of the West Indies," I suggested. Again Perry shook his head.
"Let us wait and see, David," he replied, "and in the meantime suppose we do a bit of exploring up and down the coast—we may find a native who can enlighten us."
As we walked along the beach Perry gazed long and earnestly across the water. Evidently he was wrestling with a mighty problem.
"David," he said abruptly, "do you perceive anything unusual about the horizon?"
As I looked I began to appreciate the reason for the strangeness of the landscape that had haunted me from the first with an illusive suggestion of the bizarre and unnatural—there was no horizon! As far as the eye could reach out the sea continued and upon its bosom floated tiny islands, those in the distance reduced to mere specks; but ever beyond them was the sea, until the impression became quite real that one was looking up at the most distant point that the eyes could fathom—the distance was lost in the distance. That was all—there was no clear-cut horizontal line marking the dip of the globe below the line of vision.
"A great light is commencing to break on me," continued Perry, taking out his watch. "I believe that I have partially solved the riddle. It is now two o'clock. When we emerged from the prospector the sun was directly above us. Where is it now?"
I glanced up to find the great orb still motionless in the center of the heaven. And such a sun! I had scarcely noticed it before. Fully thrice the size of the sun I had known throughout my life, and apparently so near that the sight of it carried the conviction that one might almost reach up and touch it.
"My God, Perry, where are we?" I exclaimed. "This thing is beginning to get on my nerves."
"I think that I may state quite positively, David," he commenced, "that we are—" but he got no further. From behind us in the vicinity of the prospector there came the most thunderous, awe-inspiring roar that ever had fallen upon my ears. With one accord we turned to discover the author of that fearsome noise.
Had I still retained the suspicion that we were on earth the sight that met my eyes would quite entirely have banished it. Emerging from the forest was a colossal beast which closely resembled a bear. It was fully as large as the largest elephant and with great forepaws armed with huge claws. Its nose, or snout, depended nearly a foot below its lower jaw, much after the manner of a rudimentary trunk. The giant body was covered by a coat of thick, shaggy hair.
Roaring horribly it came toward us at a ponderous, shuffling trot. I turned to Perry to suggest that it might be wise to seek other surroundings—the idea had evidently occurred to Perry previously, for he was already a hundred paces away, and with each second his prodigious bounds increased the distance. I had never guessed what latent speed possibilities the old gentleman possessed.
I saw that he was headed toward a little point of the forest which ran out toward the sea not far from where we had been standing, and as the mighty creature, the sight of which had galvanized him into such remarkable action, was forging steadily toward me. I set off after Perry, though at a somewhat more decorous pace. It was evident that the massive beast pursuing us was not built for speed, so all that I considered necessary was to gain the trees sufficiently ahead of it to enable me to climb to the safety of some great branch before it came up.
Notwithstanding our danger I could not help but laugh at Perry's frantic capers as he essayed to gain the safety of the lower branches of the trees he now had reached. The stems were bare for a distance of some fifteen feet—at least on those trees which Perry attempted to ascend, for the suggestion of safety carried by the larger of the forest giants had evidently attracted him to them. A dozen times he scrambled up the trunks like a huge cat only to fall back to the ground once more, and with each failure he cast a horrified glance over his shoulder at the oncoming brute, simultaneously emitting terror-stricken shrieks that awoke the echoes of the grim forest.
At length he spied a dangling creeper about the bigness of one's wrist, and when I reached the trees he was racing madly up it, hand over hand. He had almost reached the lowest branch of the tree from which the creeper depended when the thing parted beneath his weight and he fell sprawling at my feet.
The misfortune now was no longer amusing, for the beast was already too close to us for comfort. Seizing Perry by the shoulder I dragged him to his feet, and rushing to a smaller tree—one that he could easily encircle with his arms and legs—I boosted him as far up as I could, and then left him to his fate, for a glance over my shoulder revealed the awful beast almost upon me.
It was the great size of the thing alone that saved me. Its enormous bulk rendered it too slow upon its feet to cope with the agility of my young muscles, and so I was enabled to dodge out of its way and run completely behind it before its slow wits could direct it in pursuit.
The few seconds of grace that this gave me found me safely lodged in the branches of a tree a few paces from that in which Perry had at last found a haven.
Did I say safely lodged? At the time I thought we were quite safe, and so did Perry. He was praying—raising his voice in thanksgiving at our deliverance—and had just completed a sort of paeon of gratitude that the thing couldn't climb a tree when without warning it reared up beneath him on its enormous tail and hind feet, and reached those fearfully armed paws quite to the branch upon which he crouched.
The accompanying roar was all but drowned in Perry's scream of fright, and he came near tumbling headlong into the gaping jaws beneath him, so precipitate was his impetuous haste to vacate the dangerous limb. It was with a deep sigh of relief that I saw him gain a higher branch in safety.
And then the brute did that which froze us both anew with horror. Grasping the tree's stem with his powerful paws he dragged down with all the great weight of his huge bulk and all the irresistible force of those mighty muscles. Slowly, but surely, the stem began to bend toward him. Inch by inch he worked his paws upward as the tree leaned more and more from the perpendicular. Perry clung chattering in a panic of terror. Higher and higher into the bending and swaying tree he clambered. More and more rapidly was the tree top inclining toward the ground.
I saw now why the great brute was armed with such enormous paws. The use that he was putting them to was precisely that for which nature had intended them. The sloth-like creature was herbivorous, and to feed that mighty carcass entire trees must be stripped of their foliage. The reason for its attacking us might easily be accounted for on the supposition of an ugly disposition such as that which the fierce and stupid rhinoceros of Africa possesses. But these were later reflections. At the moment I was too frantic with apprehension on Perry's behalf to consider aught other than a means to save him from the death that loomed so close.
Realizing that I could outdistance the clumsy brute in the open, I dropped from my leafy sanctuary intent only on distracting the thing's attention from Perry long enough to enable the old man to gain the safety of a larger tree. There were many close by which not even the terrific strength of that titanic monster could bend.
As I touched the ground I snatched a broken limb from the tangled mass that matted the jungle-like floor of the forest and, leaping unnoticed behind the shaggy back, dealt the brute a terrific blow. My plan worked like magic. From the previous slowness of the beast I had been led to look for no such marvelous agility as he now displayed. Releasing his hold upon the tree he dropped on all fours and at the same time swung his great, wicked tail with a force that would have broken every bone in my body had it struck me; but, fortunately, I had turned to flee at the very instant that I felt my blow land upon the towering back.
As it started in pursuit of me I made the mistake of running along the edge of the forest rather than making for the open beach. In a moment I was knee-deep in rotting vegetation, and the awful thing behind me was gaining rapidly as I floundered and fell in my efforts to extricate myself.
A fallen log gave me an instant's advantage, for climbing upon it I leaped to another a few paces farther on, and in this way was able to keep clear of the mush that carpeted the surrounding ground. But the zigzag course that this necessitated was placing such a heavy handicap upon me that my pursuer was steadily gaining upon me.
Suddenly from behind I heard a tumult of howls, and sharp, piercing barks—much the sound that a pack of wolves raises when in full cry. Involuntarily I glanced backward to discover the origin of this new and menacing note with the result that I missed my footing and went sprawling once more upon my face in the deep muck.
My mammoth enemy was so close by this time that I knew I must feel the weight of one of his terrible paws before I could rise, but to my surprise the blow did not fall upon me. The howling and snapping and barking of the new element which had been infused into the melee now seemed centered quite close behind me, and as I raised myself upon my hands and glanced around I saw what it was that had distracted the Dyryth, as I afterward learned the thing is called, from my trail.
It was surrounded by a pack of some hundred wolf-like creatures—wild dogs they seemed—that rushed growling and snapping in upon it from all sides, so that they sank their white fangs into the slow brute and were away again before it could reach them with its huge paws or sweeping tail.
But these were not all that my startled eyes perceived. Chattering and gibbering through the lower branches of the trees came a company of manlike creatures evidently urging on the dog pack. They were to all appearances strikingly similar in aspect to the Negro of Africa. Their skins were very black, and their features much like those of the more pronounced Negroid type except that the head receded more rapidly above the eyes, leaving little or no forehead. Their arms were rather longer and their legs shorter in proportion to the torso than in man, and later I noticed that their great toes protruded at right angles from their feet—because of their arboreal habits, I presume. Behind them trailed long, slender tails which they used in climbing quite as much as they did either their hands or feet.
I had stumbled to my feet the moment that I discovered that the wolf-dogs were holding the dyryth at bay. At sight of me several of the savage creatures left off worrying the great brute to come slinking with bared fangs toward me, and as I turned to run toward the trees again to seek safety among the lower branches, I saw a number of the man-apes leaping and chattering in the foliage of the nearest tree.
Between them and the beasts behind me there was little choice, but at least there was a doubt as to the reception these grotesque parodies on humanity would accord me, while there was none as to the fate which awaited me beneath the grinning fangs of my fierce pursuers.
And so I raced on toward the trees intending to pass beneath that which held the man-things and take refuge in another farther on; but the wolf-dogs were very close behind me—so close that I had despaired of escaping them, when one of the creatures in the tree above swung down headforemost, his tail looped about a great limb, and grasping me beneath my armpits swung me in safety up among his fellows.
There they fell to examining me with the utmost excitement and curiosity. They picked at my clothing, my hair, and my flesh. They turned me about to see if I had a tail, and when they discovered that I was not so equipped they fell into roars of laughter. Their teeth were very large and white and even, except for the upper canines which were a trifle longer than the others—protruding just a bit when the mouth was closed.
When they had examined me for a few moments one of them discovered that my clothing was not a part of me, with the result that garment by garment they tore it from me amidst peals of the wildest laughter. Apelike, they essayed to don the apparel themselves, but their ingenuity was not sufficient to the task and so they gave it up.
In the meantime I had been straining my eyes to catch a glimpse of Perry, but nowhere about could I see him, although the clump of trees in which he had first taken refuge was in full view. I was much exercised by fear that something had befallen him, and though I called his name aloud several times there was no response.
Tired at last of playing with my clothing the creatures threw it to the ground, and catching me, one on either side, by an arm, started off at a most terrifying pace through the tree tops. Never have I experienced such a journey before or since—even now I oftentimes awake from a deep sleep haunted by the horrid remembrance of that awful experience.
From tree to tree the agile creatures sprang like flying squirrels, while the cold sweat stood upon my brow as I glimpsed the depths beneath, into which a single misstep on the part of either of my bearers would hurl me. As they bore me along, my mind was occupied with a thousand bewildering thoughts. What had become of Perry? Would I ever see him again? What were the intentions of these half-human things into whose hands I had fallen? Were they inhabitants of the same world into which I had been born? No! It could not be. But yet where else? I had not left that earth—of that I was sure. Still neither could I reconcile the things which I had seen to a belief that I was still in the world of my birth. With a sigh I gave it up. III
A CHANGE OF MASTERS
We must have traveled several miles through the dark and dismal wood when we came suddenly upon a dense village built high among the branches of the trees. As we approached it my escort broke into wild shouting which was immediately answered from within, and a moment later a swarm of creatures of the same strange race as those who had captured me poured out to meet us. Again I was the center of a wildly chattering horde. I was pulled this way and that. Pinched, pounded, and thumped until I was black and blue, yet I do not think that their treatment was dictated by either cruelty or malice—I was a curiosity, a freak, a new plaything, and their childish minds required the added evidence of all their senses to back up the testimony of their eyes.
Presently they dragged me within the village, which consisted of several hundred rude shelters of boughs and leaves supported upon the branches of the trees.
Between the huts, which sometimes formed crooked streets, were dead branches and the trunks of small trees which connected the huts upon one tree to those within adjoining trees; the whole network of huts and pathways forming an almost solid flooring a good fifty feet above the ground.
I wondered why these agile creatures required connecting bridges between the trees, but later when I saw the motley aggregation of half-savage beasts which they kept within their village I realized the necessity for the pathways. There were a number of the same vicious wolf-dogs which we had left worrying the dyryth, and many goatlike animals whose distended udders explained the reasons for their presence.
My guard halted before one of the huts into which I was pushed; then two of the creatures squatted down before the entrance—to prevent my escape, doubtless. Though where I should have escaped to I certainly had not the remotest conception. I had no more than entered the dark shadows of the interior than there fell upon my ears the tones of a familiar voice, in prayer.
"Perry!" I cried. "Dear old Perry! Thank the Lord you are safe."
"David! Can it be possible that you escaped?" And the old man stumbled toward me and threw his arms about me.
He had seen me fall before the dyryth, and then he had been seized by a number of the ape-creatures and borne through the tree tops to their village. His captors had been as inquisitive as to his strange clothing as had mine, with the same result. As we looked at each other we could not help but laugh.
"With a tail, David," remarked Perry, "you would make a very handsome ape."
"Maybe we can borrow a couple," I rejoined. "They seem to be quite the thing this season. I wonder what the creatures intend doing with us, Perry. They don't seem really savage. What do you suppose they can be? You were about to tell me where we are when that great hairy frigate bore down upon us—have you really any idea at all?"
"Yes, David," he replied, "I know precisely where we are. We have made a magnificent discovery, my boy! We have proved that the earth is hollow. We have passed entirely through its crust to the inner world."
"Perry, you are mad!"
"Not at all, David. For two hundred and fifty miles our prospector bore us through the crust beneath our outer world. At that point it reached the center of gravity of the five-hundred-mile-thick crust. Up to that point we had been descending—direction is, of course, merely relative. Then at the moment that our seats revolved—the thing that made you believe that we had turned about and were speeding upward—we passed the center of gravity and, though we did not alter the direction of our progress, yet we were in reality moving upward—toward the surface of the inner world. Does not the strange fauna and flora which we have seen convince you that you are not in the world of your birth? And the horizon—could it present the strange aspects which we both noted unless we were indeed standing upon the inside surface of a sphere?"
"But the sun, Perry!" I urged. "How in the world can the sun shine through five hundred miles of solid crust?"
"It is not the sun of the outer world that we see here. It is another sun—an entirely different sun—that casts its eternal noonday effulgence upon the face of the inner world. Look at it now, David—if you can see it from the doorway of this hut—and you will see that it is still in the exact center of the heavens. We have been here for many hours—yet it is still noon.
"And withal it is very simple, David. The earth was once a nebulous mass. It cooled, and as it cooled it shrank. At length a thin crust of solid matter formed upon its outer surface—a sort of shell; but within it was partially molten matter and highly expanded gases. As it continued to cool, what happened? Centrifugal force burled the particles of the nebulous center toward the crust as rapidly as they approached a solid state. You have seen the same principle practically applied in the modern cream separator. Presently there was only a small super-heated core of gaseous matter remaining within a huge vacant interior left by the contraction of the cooling gases. The equal attraction of the solid crust from all directions maintained this luminous core in the exact center of the hollow globe. What remains of it is the sun you saw today—a relatively tiny thing at the exact center of the earth. Equally to every part of this inner world it diffuses its perpetual noonday light and torrid heat.
"This inner world must have cooled sufficiently to support animal life long ages after life appeared upon the outer crust, but that the same agencies were at work here is evident from the similar forms of both animal and vegetable creation which we have already seen. Take the great beast which attacked us, for example. Unquestionably a counterpart of the Megatherium of the post-Pliocene period of the outer crust, whose fossilized skeleton has been found in South America."
"But the grotesque inhabitants of this forest?" I urged. "Surely they have no counterpart in the earth's history."
"Who can tell?" he rejoined. "They may constitute the link between ape and man, all traces of which have been swallowed by the countless convulsions which have racked the outer crust, or they may be merely the result of evolution along slightly different lines—either is quite possible."
Further speculation was interrupted by the appearance of several of our captors before the entrance of the hut. Two of them entered and dragged us forth. The perilous pathways and the surrounding trees were filled with the black ape-men, their females, and their young. There was not an ornament, a weapon, or a garment among the lot.
"Quite low in the scale of creation," commented Perry.
"Quite high enough to play the deuce with us, though," I replied. "Now what do you suppose they intend doing with us?"
We were not long in learning. As on the occasion of our trip to the village we were seized by a couple of the powerful creatures and whirled away through the tree tops, while about us and in our wake raced a chattering, jabbering, grinning horde of sleek, black ape-things.
Twice my bearers missed their footing, and my heart ceased beating as we plunged toward instant death among the tangled deadwood beneath. But on both occasions those lithe, powerful tails reached out and found sustaining branches, nor did either of the creatures loosen their grasp upon me. In fact, it seemed that the incidents were of no greater moment to them than would be the stubbing of one's toe at a street crossing in the outer world—they but laughed uproariously and sped on with me.
For some time they continued through the forest—how long I could not guess for I was learning, what was later borne very forcefully to my mind, that time ceases to be a factor the moment means for measuring it cease to exist. Our watches were gone, and we were living beneath a stationary sun. Already I was puzzled to compute the period of time which had elapsed since we broke through the crust of the inner world. It might be hours, or it might be days—who in the world could tell where it was always noon! By the sun, no time had elapsed—but my judgment told me that we must have been several hours in this strange world.
Presently the forest terminated, and we came out upon a level plain. A short distance before us rose a few low, rocky hills. Toward these our captors urged us, and after a short time led us through a narrow pass into a tiny, circular valley. Here they got down to work, and we were soon convinced that if we were not to die to make a Roman holiday, we were to die for some other purpose. The attitude of our captors altered immediately as they entered the natural arena within the rocky hills. Their laughter ceased. Grim ferocity marked their bestial faces—bared fangs menaced us.
We were placed in the center of the amphitheater—the thousand creatures forming a great ring about us. Then a wolf-dog was brought—hyaenadon Perry called it—and turned loose with us inside the circle. The thing's body was as large as that of a full-grown mastiff, its legs were short and powerful, and its jaws broad and strong. Dark, shaggy hair covered its back and sides, while its breast and belly were quite white. As it slunk toward us it presented a most formidable aspect with its upcurled lips baring its mighty fangs.
Perry was on his knees, praying. I stooped and picked up a small stone. At my movement the beast veered off a bit and commenced circling us. Evidently it had been a target for stones before. The ape-things were dancing up and down urging the brute on with savage cries, until at last, seeing that I did not throw, he charged us.
At Andover, and later at Yale, I had pitched on winning ball teams. My speed and control must both have been above the ordinary, for I made such a record during my senior year at college that overtures were made to me in behalf of one of the great major-league teams; but in the tightest pitch that ever had confronted me in the past I had never been in such need for control as now.
As I wound up for the delivery, I held my nerves and muscles under absolute command, though the grinning jaws were hurtling toward me at terrific speed. And then I let go, with every ounce of my weight and muscle and science in back of that throw. The stone caught the hyaenodon full upon the end of the nose, and sent him bowling over upon his back.
At the same instant a chorus of shrieks and howls arose from the circle of spectators, so that for a moment I thought that the upsetting of their champion was the cause; but in this I soon saw that I was mistaken. As I looked, the ape-things broke in all directions toward the surrounding hills, and then I distinguished the real cause of their perturbation. Behind them, streaming through the pass which leads into the valley, came a swarm of hairy men—gorilla-like creatures armed with spears and hatchets, and bearing long, oval shields. Like demons they set upon the ape-things, and before them the hyaenodon, which had now regained its senses and its feet, fled howling with fright. Past us swept the pursued and the pursuers, nor did the hairy ones accord us more than a passing glance until the arena had been emptied of its former occupants. Then they returned to us, and one who seemed to have authority among them directed that we be brought with them.
When we had passed out of the amphitheater onto the great plain we saw a caravan of men and women—human beings like ourselves—and for the first time hope and relief filled my heart, until I could have cried out in the exuberance of my happiness. It is true that they were a half-naked, wild-appearing aggregation; but they at least were fashioned along the same lines as ourselves—there was nothing grotesque or horrible about them as about the other creatures in this strange, weird world.
But as we came closer, our hearts sank once more, for we discovered that the poor wretches were chained neck to neck in a long line, and that the gorilla-men were their guards. With little ceremony Perry and I were chained at the end of the line, and without further ado the interrupted march was resumed.
Up to this time the excitement had kept us both up; but now the tiresome monotony of the long march across the sun-baked plain brought on all the agonies consequent to a long-denied sleep. On and on we stumbled beneath that hateful noonday sun. If we fell we were prodded with a sharp point. Our companions in chains did not stumble. They strode along proudly erect. Occasionally they would exchange words with one another in a monosyllabic language. They were a noble-appearing race with well-formed heads and perfect physiques. The men were heavily bearded, tall and muscular; the women, smaller and more gracefully molded, with great masses of raven hair caught into loose knots upon their heads. The features of both sexes were well proportioned—there was not a face among them that would have been called even plain if judged by earthly standards. They wore no ornaments; but this I later learned was due to the fact that their captors had stripped them of everything of value. As garmenture the women possessed a single robe of some light-colored, spotted hide, rather similar in appearance to a leopard's skin. This they wore either supported entirely about the waist by a leathern thong, so that it hung partially below the knee on one side, or possibly looped gracefully across one shoulder. Their feet were shod with skin sandals. The men wore loin cloths of the hide of some shaggy beast, long ends of which depended before and behind nearly to the ground. In some instances these ends were finished with the strong talons of the beast from which the hides had been taken.
Our guards, whom I already have described as gorilla-like men, were rather lighter in build than a gorilla, but even so they were indeed mighty creatures. Their arms and legs were proportioned more in conformity with human standards, but their entire bodies were covered with shaggy, brown hair, and their faces were quite as brutal as those of the few stuffed specimens of the gorilla which I had seen in the museums at home.
Their only redeeming feature lay in the development of the head above and back of the ears. In this respect they were not one whit less human than we. They were clothed in a sort of tunic of light cloth which reached to the knees. Beneath this they wore only a loin cloth of the same material, while their feet were shod with thick hide of some mammoth creature of this inner world.
Their arms and necks were encircled by many ornaments of metal—silver predominating—and on their tunics were sewn the heads of tiny reptiles in odd and rather artistic designs. They talked among themselves as they marched along on either side of us, but in a language which I perceived differed from that employed by our fellow prisoners. When they addressed the latter they used what appeared to be a third language, and which I later learned is a mongrel tongue rather analogous to the Pidgin-English of the Chinese coolie.
How far we marched I have no conception, nor has Perry. Both of us were asleep much of the time for hours before a halt was called—then we dropped in our tracks. I say "for hours," but how may one measure time where time does not exist! When our march commenced the sun stood at zenith. When we halted our shadows still pointed toward nadir. Whether an instant or an eternity of earthly time elapsed who may say. That march may have occupied nine years and eleven months of the ten years that I spent in the inner world, or it may have been accomplished in the fraction of a second—I cannot tell. But this I do know that since you have told me that ten years have elapsed since I departed from this earth I have lost all respect for time—I am commencing to doubt that such a thing exists other than in the weak, finite mind of man.
IV
DIAN THE BEAUTIFUL
When our guards aroused us from sleep we were much refreshed. They gave us food. Strips of dried meat it was, but it put new life and strength into us, so that now we too marched with high-held heads, and took noble strides. At least I did, for I was young and proud; but poor Perry hated walking. On earth I had often seen him call a cab to travel a square—he was paying for it now, and his old legs wobbled so that I put my arm about him and half carried him through the balance of those frightful marches.
The country began to change at last, and we wound up out of the level plain through mighty mountains of virgin granite. The tropical verdure of the lowlands was replaced by hardier vegetation, but even here the effects of constant heat and light were apparent in the immensity of the trees and the profusion of foliage and blooms. Crystal streams roared through their rocky channels, fed by the perpetual snows which we could see far above us. Above the snowcapped heights hung masses of heavy clouds. It was these, Perry explained, which evidently served the double purpose of replenishing the melting snows and protecting them from the direct rays of the sun.
By this time we had picked up a smattering of the bastard language in which our guards addressed us, as well as making good headway in the rather charming tongue of our co-captives. Directly ahead of me in the chain gang was a young woman. Three feet of chain linked us together in a forced companionship which I, at least, soon rejoiced in. For I found her a willing teacher, and from her I learned the language of her tribe, and much of the life and customs of the inner world—at least that part of it with which she was familiar.
She told me that she was called Dian the Beautiful, and that she belonged to the tribe of Amoz, which dwells in the cliffs above the Darel Az, or shallow sea.
"How came you here?" I asked her.
"I was running away from Jubal the Ugly One," she answered, as though that was explanation quite sufficient.
"Who is Jubal the Ugly One?" I asked. "And why did you run away from him?"
She looked at me in surprise.
"Why does a woman run away from a man?" she answered my question with another.
"They do not, where I come from," I replied. "Sometimes they run after them."
But she could not understand. Nor could I get her to grasp the fact that I was of another world. She was quite as positive that creation was originated solely to produce her own kind and the world she lived in as are many of the outer world.
"But Jubal," I insisted. "Tell me about him, and why you ran away to be chained by the neck and scourged across the face of a world."
"Jubal the Ugly One placed his trophy before my father's house. It was the head of a mighty tandor. It remained there and no greater trophy was placed beside it. So I knew that Jubal the Ugly One would come and take me as his mate. None other so powerful wished me, or they would have slain a mightier beast and thus have won me from Jubal. My father is not a mighty hunter. Once he was, but a sadok tossed him, and never again had he the full use of his right arm. My brother, Dacor the Strong One, had gone to the land of Sari to steal a mate for himself. Thus there was none, father, brother, or lover, to save me from Jubal the Ugly One, and I ran away and hid among the hills that skirt the land of Amoz. And there these Sagoths found me and made me captive."
"What will they do with you?" I asked. "Where are they taking us?"
Again she looked her incredulity.
"I can almost believe that you are of another world," she said, "for otherwise such ignorance were inexplicable. Do you really mean that you do not know that the Sagoths are the creatures of the Mahars—the mighty Mahars who think they own Pellucidar and all that walks or grows upon its surface, or creeps or burrows beneath, or swims within its lakes and oceans, or flies through its air? Next you will be telling me that you never before heard of the Mahars!"
I was loath to do it, and further incur her scorn; but there was no alternative if I were to absorb knowledge, so I made a clean breast of my pitiful ignorance as to the mighty Mahars. She was shocked. But she did her very best to enlighten me, though much that she said was as Greek would have been to her. She described the Mahars largely by comparisons. In this way they were like unto thipdars, in that to the hairless lidi.
About all I gleaned of them was that they were quite hideous, had wings, and webbed feet; lived in cities built beneath the ground; could swim under water for great distances, and were very, very wise. The Sagoths were their weapons of offense and defense, and the races like herself were their hands and feet—they were the slaves and servants who did all the manual labor. The Mahars were the heads—the brains—of the inner world. I longed to see this wondrous race of supermen.
Perry learned the language with me. When we halted, as we occasionally did, though sometimes the halts seemed ages apart, he would join in the conversation, as would Ghak the Hairy One, he who was chained just ahead of Dian the Beautiful. Ahead of Ghak was Hooja the Sly One. He too entered the conversation occasionally. Most of his remarks were directed toward Dian the Beautiful. It didn't take half an eye to see that he had developed a bad case; but the girl appeared totally oblivious to his thinly veiled advances. Did I say thinly veiled? There is a race of men in New Zealand, or Australia, I have forgotten which, who indicate their preference for the lady of their affections by banging her over the head with a bludgeon. By comparison with this method Hooja's lovemaking might be called thinly veiled. At first it caused me to blush violently although I have seen several Old Years out at Rectors, and in other less fashionable places off Broadway, and in Vienna, and Hamburg.
But the girl! She was magnificent. It was easy to see that she considered herself as entirely above and apart from her present surroundings and company. She talked with me, and with Perry, and with the taciturn Ghak because we were respectful; but she couldn't even see Hooja the Sly One, much less hear him, and that made him furious. He tried to get one of the Sagoths to move the girl up ahead of him in the slave gang, but the fellow only poked him with his spear and told him that he had selected the girl for his own property—that he would buy her from the Mahars as soon as they reached Phutra. Phutra, it seemed, was the city of our destination.
After passing over the first chain of mountains we skirted a salt sea, upon whose bosom swam countless horrid things. Seal-like creatures there were with long necks stretching ten and more feet above their enormous bodies and whose snake heads were split with gaping mouths bristling with countless fangs. There were huge tortoises too, paddling about among these other reptiles, which Perry said were Plesiosaurs of the Lias. I didn't question his veracity—they might have been most anything.
Dian told me they were tandorazes, or tandors of the sea, and that the other, and more fearsome reptiles, which occasionally rose from the deep to do battle with them, were azdyryths, or sea-dyryths—Perry called them Ichthyosaurs. They resembled a whale with the head of an alligator.
I had forgotten what little geology I had studied at school—about all that remained was an impression of horror that the illustrations of restored prehistoric monsters had made upon me, and a well-defined belief that any man with a pig's shank and a vivid imagination could "restore" most any sort of paleolithic monster he saw fit, and take rank as a first class paleontologist. But when I saw these sleek, shiny carcasses shimmering in the sunlight as they emerged from the ocean, shaking their giant heads; when I saw the waters roll from their sinuous bodies in miniature waterfalls as they glided hither and thither, now upon the surface, now half submerged; as I saw them meet, open-mouthed, hissing and snorting, in their titanic and interminable warring I realized how futile is man's poor, weak imagination by comparison with Nature's incredible genius.
And Perry! He was absolutely flabbergasted. He said so himself.
"David," he remarked, after we had marched for a long time beside that awful sea. "David, I used to teach geology, and I thought that I believed what I taught; but now I see that I did not believe it—that it is impossible for man to believe such things as these unless he sees them with his own eyes. We take things for granted, perhaps, because we are told them over and over again, and have no way of disproving them—like religions, for example; but we don't believe them, we only think we do. If you ever get back to the outer world you will find that the geologists and paleontologists will be the first to set you down a liar, for they know that no such creatures as they restore ever existed. It is all right to imagine them as existing in an equally imaginary epoch—but now? poof!"
At the next halt Hooja the Sly One managed to find enough slack chain to permit him to worm himself back quite close to Dian. We were all standing, and as he edged near the girl she turned her back upon him in such a truly earthly feminine manner that I could scarce repress a smile; but it was a short-lived smile for on the instant the Sly One's hand fell upon the girl's bare arm, jerking her roughly toward him.
I was not then familiar with the customs or social ethics which prevailed within Pellucidar; but even so I did not need the appealing look which the girl shot to me from her magnificent eyes to influence my subsequent act. What the Sly One's intention was I paused not to inquire; but instead, before he could lay hold of her with his other hand, I placed a right to the point of his jaw that felled him in his tracks.
A roar of approval went up from those of the other prisoners and the Sagoths who had witnessed the brief drama; not, as I later learned, because I had championed the girl, but for the neat and, to them, astounding method by which I had bested Hooja.
And the girl? At first she looked at me with wide, wondering eyes, and then she dropped her head, her face half averted, and a delicate flush suffused her cheek. For a moment she stood thus in silence, and then her head went high, and she turned her back upon me as she had upon Hooja. Some of the prisoners laughed, and I saw the face of Ghak the Hairy One go very black as he looked at me searchingly. And what I could see of Dian's cheek went suddenly from red to white.
Immediately after we resumed the march, and though I realized that in some way I had offended Dian the Beautiful I could not prevail upon her to talk with me that I might learn wherein I had erred—in fact I might quite as well have been addressing a sphinx for all the attention I got. At last my own foolish pride stepped in and prevented my making any further attempts, and thus a companionship that without my realizing it had come to mean a great deal to me was cut off. Thereafter I confined my conversation to Perry. Hooja did not renew his advances toward the girl, nor did he again venture near me.
Again the weary and apparently interminable marching became a perfect nightmare of horrors to me. The more firmly fixed became the realization that the girl's friendship had meant so much to me, the more I came to miss it; and the more impregnable the barrier of silly pride. But I was very young and would not ask Ghak for the explanation which I was sure he could give, and that might have made everything all right again.
On the march, or during halts, Dian refused consistently to notice me—when her eyes wandered in my direction she looked either over my head or directly through me. At last I became desperate, and determined to swallow my self-esteem, and again beg her to tell me how I had offended, and how I might make reparation. I made up my mind that I should do this at the next halt. We were approaching another range of mountains at the time, and when we reached them, instead of winding across them through some high-flung pass we entered a mighty natural tunnel—a series of labyrinthine grottoes, dark as Erebus.
The guards had no torches or light of any description. In fact we had seen no artificial light or sign of fire since we had entered Pellucidar. In a land of perpetual noon there is no need of light above ground, yet I marveled that they had no means of lighting their way through these dark, subterranean passages. So we crept along at a snail's pace, with much stumbling and falling—the guards keeping up a singsong chant ahead of us, interspersed with certain high notes which I found always indicated rough places and turns.
Halts were now more frequent, but I did not wish to speak to Dian until I could see from the expression of her face how she was receiving my apologies. At last a faint glow ahead forewarned us of the end of the tunnel, for which I for one was devoutly thankful. Then at a sudden turn we emerged into the full light of the noonday sun.
But with it came a sudden realization of what meant to me a real catastrophe—Dian was gone, and with her a half-dozen other prisoners. The guards saw it too, and the ferocity of their rage was terrible to behold. Their awesome, bestial faces were contorted in the most diabolical expressions, as they accused each other of responsibility for the loss. Finally they fell upon us, beating us with their spear shafts, and hatchets. They had already killed two near the head of the line, and were like to have finished the balance of us when their leader finally put a stop to the brutal slaughter. Never in all my life had I witnessed a more horrible exhibition of bestial rage—I thanked God that Dian had not been one of those left to endure it.
Of the twelve prisoners who had been chained ahead of me each alternate one had been freed commencing with Dian. Hooja was gone. Ghak remained. What could it mean? How had it been accomplished? The commander of the guards was investigating. Soon he discovered that the rude locks which had held the neckbands in place had been deftly picked.
"Hooja the Sly One," murmured Ghak, who was now next to me in line. "He has taken the girl that you would not have," he continued, glancing at me.
"That I would not have!" I cried. "What do you mean?"
He looked at me closely for a moment.
"I have doubted your story that you are from another world," he said at last, "but yet upon no other grounds could your ignorance of the ways of Pellucidar be explained. Do you really mean that you do not know that you offended the Beautiful One, and how?"
"I do not know, Ghak," I replied.
"Then shall I tell you. When a man of Pellucidar intervenes between another man and the woman the other man would have, the woman belongs to the victor. Dian the Beautiful belongs to you. You should have claimed her or released her. Had you taken her hand, it would have indicated your desire to make her your mate, and had you raised her hand above her head and then dropped it, it would have meant that you did not wish her for a mate and that you released her from all obligation to you. By doing neither you have put upon her the greatest affront that a man may put upon a woman. Now she is your slave. No man will take her as mate, or may take her honorably, until he shall have overcome you in combat, and men do not choose slave women as their mates—at least not the men of Pellucidar."
"I did not know, Ghak," I cried. "I did not know. Not for all Pellucidar would I have harmed Dian the Beautiful by word, or look, or act of mine. I do not want her as my slave. I do not want her as my—" but here I stopped. The vision of that sweet and innocent face floated before me amidst the soft mists of imagination, and where I had on the second believed that I clung only to the memory of a gentle friendship I had lost, yet now it seemed that it would have been disloyalty to her to have said that I did not want Dian the Beautiful as my mate. I had not thought of her except as a welcome friend in a strange, cruel world. Even now I did not think that I loved her.
I believe Ghak must have read the truth more in my expression than in my words, for presently he laid his hand upon my shoulder.
"Man of another world," he said, "I believe you. Lips may lie, but when the heart speaks through the eyes it tells only the truth. Your heart has spoken to me. I know now that you meant no affront to Dian the Beautiful. She is not of my tribe; but her mother is my sister. She does not know it—her mother was stolen by Dian's father who came with many others of the tribe of Amoz to battle with us for our women—the most beautiful women of Pellucidar. Then was her father king of Amoz, and her mother was daughter of the king of Sari—to whose power I, his son, have succeeded. Dian is the daughter of kings, though her father is no longer king since the sadok tossed him and Jubal the Ugly One wrested his kingship from him. Because of her lineage the wrong you did her was greatly magnified in the eyes of all who saw it. She will never forgive you."
I asked Ghak if there was not some way in which I could release the girl from the bondage and ignominy I had unwittingly placed upon her.
"If ever you find her, yes," he answered. "Merely to raise her hand above her head and drop it in the presence of others is sufficient to release her; but how may you ever find her, you who are doomed to a life of slavery yourself in the buried city of Phutra?"
"Is there no escape?" I asked.
"Hooja the Sly One escaped and took the others with him," replied Ghak. "But there are no more dark places on the way to Phutra, and once there it is not so easy—the Mahars are very wise. Even if one escaped from Phutra there are the thipdars—they would find you, and then—" the Hairy One shuddered. "No, you will never escape the Mahars."
It was a cheerful prospect. I asked Perry what he thought about it; but he only shrugged his shoulders and continued a longwinded prayer he had been at for some time. He was wont to say that the only redeeming feature of our captivity was the ample time it gave him for the improvisation of prayers—it was becoming an obsession with him. The Sagoths had begun to take notice of his habit of declaiming throughout entire marches. One of them asked him what he was saying—to whom he was talking. The question gave me an idea, so I answered quickly before Perry could say anything.
"Do not interrupt him," I said. "He is a very holy man in the world from which we come. He is speaking to spirits which you cannot see—do not interrupt him or they will spring out of the air upon you and rend you limb from limb—like that," and I jumped toward the great brute with a loud "Boo!" that sent him stumbling backward.
I took a long chance, I realized, but if we could make any capital out of Perry's harmless mania I wanted to make it while the making was prime. It worked splendidly. The Sagoths treated us both with marked respect during the balance of the journey, and then passed the word along to their masters, the Mahars.
Two marches after this episode we came to the city of Phutra. The entrance to it was marked by two lofty towers of granite, which guarded a flight of steps leading to the buried city. Sagoths were on guard here as well as at a hundred or more other towers scattered about over a large plain.
V
SLAVES
As we descended the broad staircase which led to the main avenue of Phutra I caught my first sight of the dominant race of the inner world. Involuntarily I shrank back as one of the creatures approached to inspect us. A more hideous thing it would be impossible to imagine. The all-powerful Mahars of Pellucidar are great reptiles, some six or eight feet in length, with long narrow heads and great round eyes. Their beak-like mouths are lined with sharp, white fangs, and the backs of their huge, lizard bodies are serrated into bony ridges from their necks to the end of their long tails. Their feet are equipped with three webbed toes, while from the fore feet membranous wings, which are attached to their bodies just in front of the hind legs, protrude at an angle of 45 degrees toward the rear, ending in sharp points several feet above their bodies.
I glanced at Perry as the thing passed me to inspect him. The old man was gazing at the horrid creature with wide astonished eyes. When it passed on, he turned to me.
"A rhamphorhynchus of the Middle Olitic, David," he said, "but, gad, how enormous! The largest remains we ever have discovered have never indicated a size greater than that attained by an ordinary crow."
As we continued on through the main avenue of Phutra we saw many thousand of the creatures coming and going upon their daily duties. They paid but little attention to us. Phutra is laid out underground with a regularity that indicates remarkable engineering skill. It is hewn from solid limestone strata. The streets are broad and of a uniform height of twenty feet. At intervals tubes pierce the roof of this underground city, and by means of lenses and reflectors transmit the sunlight, softened and diffused, to dispel what would otherwise be Cimmerian darkness. In like manner air is introduced.
Perry and I were taken, with Ghak, to a large public building, where one of the Sagoths who had formed our guard explained to a Maharan official the circumstances surrounding our capture. The method of communication between these two was remarkable in that no spoken words were exchanged. They employed a species of sign language. As I was to learn later, the Mahars have no ears, not any spoken language. Among themselves they communicate by means of what Perry says must be a sixth sense which is cognizant of a fourth dimension.
I never did quite grasp him, though he endeavored to explain it to me upon numerous occasions. I suggested telepathy, but he said no, that it was not telepathy since they could only communicate when in each others' presence, nor could they talk with the Sagoths or the other inhabitants of Pellucidar by the same method they used to converse with one another.
"What they do," said Perry, "is to project their thoughts into the fourth dimension, when they become appreciable to the sixth sense of their listener. Do I make myself quite clear?"
"You do not, Perry," I replied. He shook his head in despair, and returned to his work. They had set us to carrying a great accumulation of Maharan literature from one apartment to another, and there arranging it upon shelves. I suggested to Perry that we were in the public library of Phutra, but later, as he commenced to discover the key to their written language, he assured me that we were handling the ancient archives of the race.
During this period my thoughts were continually upon Dian the Beautiful. I was, of course, glad that she had escaped the Mahars, and the fate that had been suggested by the Sagoth who had threatened to purchase her upon our arrival at Phutra. I often wondered if the little party of fugitives had been overtaken by the guards who had returned to search for them. Sometimes I was not so sure but that I should have been more contented to know that Dian was here in Phutra, than to think of her at the mercy of Hooja the Sly One. Ghak, Perry, and I often talked together of possible escape, but the Sarian was so steeped in his lifelong belief that no one could escape from the Mahars except by a miracle, that he was not much aid to us—his attitude was of one who waits for the miracle to come to him.
At my suggestion Perry and I fashioned some swords of scraps of iron which we discovered among some rubbish in the cells where we slept, for we were permitted almost unrestrained freedom of action within the limits of the building to which we had been assigned. So great were the number of slaves who waited upon the inhabitants of Phutra that none of us was apt to be overburdened with work, nor were our masters unkind to us.
We hid our new weapons beneath the skins which formed our beds, and then Perry conceived the idea of making bows and arrows—weapons apparently unknown within Pellucidar. Next came shields; but these I found it easier to steal from the walls of the outer guardroom of the building.
We had completed these arrangements for our protection after leaving Phutra when the Sagoths who had been sent to recapture the escaped prisoners returned with four of them, of whom Hooja was one. Dian and two others had eluded them. It so happened that Hooja was confined in the same building with us. He told Ghak that he had not seen Dian or the others after releasing them within the dark grotto. What had become of them he had not the faintest conception—they might be wandering yet, lost within the labyrinthine tunnel, if not dead from starvation.
I was now still further apprehensive as to the fate of Dian, and at this time, I imagine, came the first realization that my affection for the girl might be prompted by more than friendship. During my waking hours she was constantly the subject of my thoughts, and when I slept her dear face haunted my dreams. More than ever was I determined to escape the Mahars.
"Perry," I confided to the old man, "if I have to search every inch of this diminutive world I am going to find Dian the Beautiful and right the wrong I unintentionally did her." That was the excuse I made for Perry's benefit.
"Diminutive world!" he scoffed. "You don't know what you are talking about, my boy," and then he showed me a map of Pellucidar which he had recently discovered among the manuscript he was arranging.
"Look," he cried, pointing to it, "this is evidently water, and all this land. Do you notice the general configuration of the two areas? Where the oceans are upon the outer crust, is land here. These relatively small areas of ocean follow the general lines of the continents of the outer world.
"We know that the crust of the globe is 500 miles in thickness; then the inside diameter of Pellucidar must be 7,000 miles, and the superficial area 165,480,000 square miles. Three-fourths of this is land. Think of it! A land area of 124,110,000 square miles! Our own world contains but 53,000,000 square miles of land, the balance of its surface being covered by water. Just as we often compare nations by their relative land areas, so if we compare these two worlds in the same way we have the strange anomaly of a larger world within a smaller one!
"Where within vast Pellucidar would you search for your Dian? Without stars, or moon, or changing sun how could you find her even though you knew where she might be found?"
The proposition was a corker. It quite took my breath away; but I found that it left me all the more determined to attempt it.
"If Ghak will accompany us we may be able to do it," I suggested.
Perry and I sought him out and put the question straight to him.
"Ghak," I said, "we are determined to escape from this bondage. Will you accompany us?"
"They will set the thipdars upon us," he said, "and then we shall be killed; but—" he hesitated—"I would take the chance if I thought that I might possibly escape and return to my own people."
"Could you find your way back to your own land?" asked Perry. "And could you aid David in his search for Dian?"
"Yes."
"But how," persisted Perry, "could you travel to strange country without heavenly bodies or a compass to guide you?"
Ghak didn't know what Perry meant by heavenly bodies or a compass, but he assured us that you might blindfold any man of Pellucidar and carry him to the farthermost corner of the world, yet he would be able to come directly to his own home again by the shortest route. He seemed surprised to think that we found anything wonderful in it. Perry said it must be some sort of homing instinct such as is possessed by certain breeds of earthly pigeons. I didn't know, of course, but it gave me an idea.
"Then Dian could have found her way directly to her own people?" I asked.
"Surely," replied Ghak, "unless some mighty beast of prey killed her."
I was for making the attempted escape at once, but both Perry and Ghak counseled waiting for some propitious accident which would insure us some small degree of success. I didn't see what accident could befall a whole community in a land of perpetual day-light where the inhabitants had no fixed habits of sleep. Why, I am sure that some of the Mahars never sleep, while others may, at long intervals, crawl into the dark recesses beneath their dwellings and curl up in protracted slumber. Perry says that if a Mahar stays awake for three years he will make up all his lost sleep in a long year's snooze. That may be all true, but I never saw but three of them asleep, and it was the sight of these three that gave me a suggestion for our means of escape.
I had been searching about far below the levels that we slaves were supposed to frequent—possibly fifty feet beneath the main floor of the building—among a network of corridors and apartments, when I came suddenly upon three Mahars curled up upon a bed of skins. At first I thought they were dead, but later their regular breathing convinced me of my error. Like a flash the thought came to me of the marvelous opportunity these sleeping reptiles offered as a means of eluding the watchfulness of our captors and the Sagoth guards.
Hastening back to Perry where he pored over a musty pile of, to me, meaningless hieroglyphics, I explained my plan to him. To my surprise he was horrified.
"It would be murder, David," he cried.
"Murder to kill a reptilian monster?" I asked in astonishment.
"Here they are not monsters, David," he replied. "Here they are the dominant race—we are the 'monsters'—the lower orders. In Pellucidar evolution has progressed along different lines than upon the outer earth. These terrible convulsions of nature time and time again wiped out the existing species—but for this fact some monster of the Saurozoic epoch might rule today upon our own world. We see here what might well have occurred in our own history had conditions been what they have been here.
"Life within Pellucidar is far younger than upon the outer crust. Here man has but reached a stage analogous to the Stone Age of our own world's history, but for countless millions of years these reptiles have been progressing. Possibly it is the sixth sense which I am sure they possess that has given them an advantage over the other and more frightfully armed of their fellows; but this we may never know. They look upon us as we look upon the beasts of our fields, and I learn from their written records that other races of Mahars feed upon men—they keep them in great droves, as we keep cattle. They breed them most carefully, and when they are quite fat, they kill and eat them."
I shuddered.
"What is there horrible about it, David?" the old man asked. "They understand us no better than we understand the lower animals of our own world. Why, I have come across here very learned discussions of the question as to whether gilaks, that is men, have any means of communication. One writer claims that we do not even reason—that our every act is mechanical, or instinctive. The dominant race of Pellucidar, David, have not yet learned that men converse among themselves, or reason. Because we do not converse as they do it is beyond them to imagine that we converse at all. It is thus that we reason in relation to the brutes of our own world. They know that the Sagoths have a spoken language, but they cannot comprehend it, or how it manifests itself, since they have no auditory apparatus. They believe that the motions of the lips alone convey the meaning. That the Sagoths can communicate with us is incomprehensible to them.
"Yes, David," he concluded, "it would entail murder to carry out your plan."
"Very well then, Perry." I replied. "I shall become a murderer."
He got me to go over the plan again most carefully, and for some reason which was not at the time clear to me insisted upon a very careful description of the apartments and corridors I had just explored.
"I wonder, David," he said at length, "as you are determined to carry out your wild scheme, if we could not accomplish something of very real and lasting benefit for the human race of Pellucidar at the same time. Listen, I have learned much of a most surprising nature from these archives of the Mahars. That you may not appreciate my plan I shall briefly outline the history of the race.
"Once the males were all-powerful, but ages ago the females, little by little, assumed the mastery. For other ages no noticeable change took place in the race of Mahars. It continued to progress under the intelligent and beneficent rule of the ladies. Science took vast strides. This was especially true of the sciences which we know as biology and eugenics. Finally a certain female scientist announced the fact that she had discovered a method whereby eggs might be fertilized by chemical means after they were laid—all true reptiles, you know, are hatched from eggs.
"What happened? Immediately the necessity for males ceased to exist—the race was no longer dependent upon them. More ages elapsed until at the present time we find a race consisting exclusively of females. But here is the point. The secret of this chemical formula is kept by a single race of Mahars. It is in the city of Phutra, and unless I am greatly in error I judge from your description of the vaults through which you passed today that it lies hidden in the cellar of this building.
"For two reasons they hide it away and guard it jealously. First, because upon it depends the very life of the race of Mahars, and second, owing to the fact that when it was public property as at first so many were experimenting with it that the danger of over-population became very grave.
"David, if we can escape, and at the same time take with us this great secret what will we not have accomplished for the human race within Pellucidar!" The very thought of it fairly overpowered me. Why, we two would be the means of placing the men of the inner world in their rightful place among created things. Only the Sagoths would then stand between them and absolute supremacy, and I was not quite sure but that the Sagoths owed all their power to the greater intelligence of the Mahars—I could not believe that these gorilla-like beasts were the mental superiors of the human race of Pellucidar.
"Why, Perry," I exclaimed, "you and I may reclaim a whole world! Together we can lead the races of men out of the darkness of ignorance into the light of advancement and civilization. At one step we may carry them from the Age of Stone to the twentieth century. It's marvelous—absolutely marvelous just to think about it."
"David," said the old man, "I believe that God sent us here for just that purpose—it shall be my life work to teach them His word—to lead them into the light of His mercy while we are training their hearts and hands in the ways of culture and civilization."
"You are right, Perry," I said, "and while you are teaching them to pray I'll be teaching them to fight, and between us we'll make a race of men that will be an honor to us both."
Ghak had entered the apartment some time before we concluded our conversation, and now he wanted to know what we were so excited about. Perry thought we had best not tell him too much, and so I only explained that I had a plan for escape. When I had outlined it to him, he seemed about as horror-struck as Perry had been; but for a different reason. The Hairy One only considered the horrible fate that would be ours were we discovered; but at last I prevailed upon him to accept my plan as the only feasible one, and when I had assured him that I would take all the responsibility for it were we captured, he accorded a reluctant assent.
VI
THE BEGINNING OF HORROR
Within Pellucidar one time is as good as another. There were no nights to mask our attempted escape. All must be done in broad day-light—all but the work I had to do in the apartment beneath the building. So we determined to put our plan to an immediate test lest the Mahars who made it possible should awake before I reached them; but we were doomed to disappointment, for no sooner had we reached the main floor of the building on our way to the pits beneath, than we encountered hurrying bands of slaves being hastened under strong Sagoth guard out of the edifice to the avenue beyond.
Other Sagoths were darting hither and thither in search of other slaves, and the moment that we appeared we were pounced upon and hustled into the line of marching humans.
What the purpose or nature of the general exodus we did not know, but presently through the line of captives ran the rumor that two escaped slaves had been recaptured—a man and a woman—and that we were marching to witness their punishment, for the man had killed a Sagoth of the detachment that had pursued and overtaken them.
At the intelligence my heart sprang to my throat, for I was sure that the two were of those who escaped in the dark grotto with Hooja the Sly One, and that Dian must be the woman. Ghak thought so too, as did Perry.
"Is there naught that we may do to save her?" I asked Ghak.
"Naught," he replied.
Along the crowded avenue we marched, the guards showing unusual cruelty toward us, as though we, too, had been implicated in the murder of their fellow. The occasion was to serve as an object-lesson to all other slaves of the danger and futility of attempted escape, and the fatal consequences of taking the life of a superior being, and so I imagine that Sagoths felt amply justified in making the entire proceeding as uncomfortable and painful to us as possible.
They jabbed us with their spears and struck at us with the hatchets at the least provocation, and at no provocation at all. It was a most uncomfortable half-hour that we spent before we were finally herded through a low entrance into a huge building the center of which was given up to a good-sized arena. Benches surrounded this open space upon three sides, and along the fourth were heaped huge bowlders which rose in receding tiers toward the roof.
At first I couldn't make out the purpose of this mighty pile of rock, unless it were intended as a rough and picturesque background for the scenes which were enacted in the arena before it, but presently, after the wooden benches had been pretty well filled by slaves and Sagoths, I discovered the purpose of the bowlders, for then the Mahars began to file into the enclosure.
They marched directly across the arena toward the rocks upon the opposite side, where, spreading their bat-like wings, they rose above the high wall of the pit, settling down upon the bowlders above. These were the reserved seats, the boxes of the elect.
Reptiles that they are, the rough surface of a great stone is to them as plush as upholstery to us. Here they lolled, blinking their hideous eyes, and doubtless conversing with one another in their sixth-sense-fourth-dimension language.
For the first time I beheld their queen. She differed from the others in no feature that was appreciable to my earthly eyes, in fact all Mahars look alike to me: but when she crossed the arena after the balance of her female subjects had found their bowlders, she was preceded by a score of huge Sagoths, the largest I ever had seen, and on either side of her waddled a huge thipdar, while behind came another score of Sagoth guardsmen.
At the barrier the Sagoths clambered up the steep side with truly apelike agility, while behind them the haughty queen rose upon her wings with her two frightful dragons close beside her, and settled down upon the largest bowlder of them all in the exact center of that side of the amphitheater which is reserved for the dominant race. Here she squatted, a most repulsive and uninteresting queen; though doubtless quite as well assured of her beauty and divine right to rule as the proudest monarch of the outer world.
And then the music started—music without sound! The Mahars cannot hear, so the drums and fifes and horns of earthly bands are unknown among them. The "band" consists of a score or more Mahars. It filed out in the center of the arena where the creatures upon the rocks might see it, and there it performed for fifteen or twenty minutes.
Their technic consisted in waving their tails and moving their heads in a regular succession of measured movements resulting in a cadence which evidently pleased the eye of the Mahar as the cadence of our own instrumental music pleases our ears. Sometimes the band took measured steps in unison to one side or the other, or backward and again forward—it all seemed very silly and meaningless to me, but at the end of the first piece the Mahars upon the rocks showed the first indications of enthusiasm that I had seen displayed by the dominant race of Pellucidar. They beat their great wings up and down, and smote their rocky perches with their mighty tails until the ground shook. Then the band started another piece, and all was again as silent as the grave. That was one great beauty about Mahar music—if you didn't happen to like a piece that was being played all you had to do was shut your eyes.
When the band had exhausted its repertory it took wing and settled upon the rocks above and behind the queen. Then the business of the day was on. A man and woman were pushed into the arena by a couple of Sagoth guardsmen. I leaned forward in my seat to scrutinize the female—hoping against hope that she might prove to be another than Dian the Beautiful. Her back was toward me for a while, and the sight of the great mass of raven hair piled high upon her head filled me with alarm.
Presently a door in one side of the arena wall was opened to admit a huge, shaggy, bull-like creature.
"A Bos," whispered Perry, excitedly. "His kind roamed the outer crust with the cave bear and the mammoth ages and ages ago. We have been carried back a million years, David, to the childhood of a planet—is it not wondrous?"
But I saw only the raven hair of a half-naked girl, and my heart stood still in dumb misery at the sight of her, nor had I any eyes for the wonders of natural history. But for Perry and Ghak I should have leaped to the floor of the arena and shared whatever fate lay in store for this priceless treasure of the Stone Age.
With the advent of the Bos—they call the thing a thag within Pellucidar—two spears were tossed into the arena at the feet of the prisoners. It seemed to me that a bean shooter would have been as effective against the mighty monster as these pitiful weapons.
As the animal approached the two, bellowing and pawing the ground with the strength of many earthly bulls, another door directly beneath us was opened, and from it issued the most terrific roar that ever had fallen upon my outraged ears. I could not at first see the beast from which emanated this fearsome challenge, but the sound had the effect of bringing the two victims around with a sudden start, and then I saw the girl's face—she was not Dian! I could have wept for relief.
And now, as the two stood frozen in terror, I saw the author of that fearsome sound creeping stealthily into view. It was a huge tiger—such as hunted the great Bos through the jungles primeval when the world was young. In contour and markings it was not unlike the noblest of the Bengals of our own world, but as its dimensions were exaggerated to colossal proportions so too were its colorings exaggerated. Its vivid yellows fairly screamed aloud; its whites were as eider down; its blacks glossy as the finest anthracite coal, and its coat long and shaggy as a mountain goat. That it is a beautiful animal there is no gainsaying, but if its size and colors are magnified here within Pellucidar, so is the ferocity of its disposition. It is not the occasional member of its species that is a man hunter—all are man hunters; but they do not confine their foraging to man alone, for there is no flesh or fish within Pellucidar that they will not eat with relish in the constant efforts which they make to furnish their huge carcasses with sufficient sustenance to maintain their mighty thews.
Upon one side of the doomed pair the thag bellowed and advanced, and upon the other tarag, the frightful, crept toward them with gaping mouth and dripping fangs.
The man seized the spears, handing one of them to the woman. At the sound of the roaring of the tiger the bull's bellowing became a veritable frenzy of rageful noise. Never in my life had I heard such an infernal din as the two brutes made, and to think it was all lost upon the hideous reptiles for whom the show was staged!
The thag was charging now from one side, and the tarag from the other. The two puny things standing between them seemed already lost, but at the very moment that the beasts were upon them the man grasped his companion by the arm and together they leaped to one side, while the frenzied creatures came together like locomotives in collision.
There ensued a battle royal which for sustained and frightful ferocity transcends the power of imagination or description. Time and again the colossal bull tossed the enormous tiger high into the air, but each time that the huge cat touched the ground he returned to the encounter with apparently undiminished strength, and seemingly increased ire.
For a while the man and woman busied themselves only with keeping out of the way of the two creatures, but finally I saw them separate and each creep stealthily toward one of the combatants. The tiger was now upon the bull's broad back, clinging to the huge neck with powerful fangs while its long, strong talons ripped the heavy hide into shreds and ribbons.
For a moment the bull stood bellowing and quivering with pain and rage, its cloven hoofs widespread, its tail lashing viciously from side to side, and then, in a mad orgy of bucking it went careening about the arena in frenzied attempt to unseat its rending rider. It was with difficulty that the girl avoided the first mad rush of the wounded animal.
All its efforts to rid itself of the tiger seemed futile, until in desperation it threw itself upon the ground, rolling over and over. A little of this so disconcerted the tiger, knocking its breath from it I imagine, that it lost its hold and then, quick as a cat, the great thag was up again and had buried those mighty horns deep in the tarag's abdomen, pinning him to the floor of the arena.
The great cat clawed at the shaggy head until eyes and ears were gone, and naught but a few strips of ragged, bloody flesh remained upon the skull. Yet through all the agony of that fearful punishment the thag still stood motionless pinning down his adversary, and then the man leaped in, seeing that the blind bull would be the least formidable enemy, and ran his spear through the tarag's heart.
As the animal's fierce clawing ceased, the bull raised his gory, sightless head, and with a horrid roar ran headlong across the arena. With great leaps and bounds he came, straight toward the arena wall directly beneath where we sat, and then accident carried him, in one of his mighty springs, completely over the barrier into the midst of the slaves and Sagoths just in front of us. Swinging his bloody horns from side to side the beast cut a wide swath before him straight upward toward our seats. Before him slaves and gorilla-men fought in mad stampede to escape the menace of the creature's death agonies, for such only could that frightful charge have been.
Forgetful of us, our guards joined in the general rush for the exits, many of which pierced the wall of the amphitheater behind us. Perry, Ghak, and I became separated in the chaos which reigned for a few moments after the beast cleared the wall of the arena, each intent upon saving his own hide.
I ran to the right, passing several exits choked with the fear mad mob that were battling to escape. One would have thought that an entire herd of thags was loose behind them, rather than a single blinded, dying beast; but such is the effect of panic upon a crowd. VII
FREEDOM
Once out of the direct path of the animal, fear of it left me, but another emotion as quickly gripped me—hope of escape that the demoralized condition of the guards made possible for the instant.
I thought of Perry, but for the hope that I might better encompass his release if myself free I should have put the thought of freedom from me at once. As it was I hastened on toward the right searching for an exit toward which no Sagoths were fleeing, and at last I found it—a low, narrow aperture leading into a dark corridor.
Without thought of the possible consequence, I darted into the shadows of the tunnel, feeling my way along through the gloom for some distance. The noises of the amphitheater had grown fainter and fainter until now all was as silent as the tomb about me. Faint light filtered from above through occasional ventilating and lighting tubes, but it was scarce sufficient to enable my human eyes to cope with the darkness, and so I was forced to move with extreme care, feeling my way along step by step with a hand upon the wall beside me.
Presently the light increased and a moment later, to my delight, I came upon a flight of steps leading upward, at the top of which the brilliant light of the noonday sun shone through an opening in the ground.
Cautiously I crept up the stairway to the tunnel's end, and peering out saw the broad plain of Phutra before me. The numerous lofty, granite towers which mark the several entrances to the subterranean city were all in front of me—behind, the plain stretched level and unbroken to the nearby foothills. I had come to the surface, then, beyond the city, and my chances for escape seemed much enhanced.
My first impulse was to await darkness before attempting to cross the plain, so deeply implanted are habits of thought; but of a sudden I recollected the perpetual noonday brilliance which envelopes Pellucidar, and with a smile I stepped forth into the day-light.
Rank grass, waist high, grows upon the plain of Phutra—the gorgeous flowering grass of the inner world, each particular blade of which is tipped with a tiny, five-pointed blossom—brilliant little stars of varying colors that twinkle in the green foliage to add still another charm to the weird, yet lovely, landscape.
But then the only aspect which attracted me was the distant hills in which I hoped to find sanctuary, and so I hastened on, trampling the myriad beauties beneath my hurrying feet. Perry says that the force of gravity is less upon the surface of the inner world than upon that of the outer. He explained it all to me once, but I was never particularly brilliant in such matters and so most of it has escaped me. As I recall it the difference is due in some part to the counter-attraction of that portion of the earth's crust directly opposite the spot upon the face of Pellucidar at which one's calculations are being made. Be that as it may, it always seemed to me that I moved with greater speed and agility within Pellucidar than upon the outer surface—there was a certain airy lightness of step that was most pleasing, and a feeling of bodily detachment which I can only compare with that occasionally experienced in dreams.
And as I crossed Phutra's flower-bespangled plain that time I seemed almost to fly, though how much of the sensation was due to Perry's suggestion and how much to actuality I am sure I do not know. The more I thought of Perry the less pleasure I took in my new-found freedom. There could be no liberty for me within Pellucidar unless the old man shared it with me, and only the hope that I might find some way to encompass his release kept me from turning back to Phutra.
Just how I was to help Perry I could scarce imagine, but I hoped that some fortuitous circumstance might solve the problem for me. It was quite evident however that little less than a miracle could aid me, for what could I accomplish in this strange world, naked and unarmed? It was even doubtful that I could retrace my steps to Phutra should I once pass beyond view of the plain, and even were that possible, what aid could I bring to Perry no matter how far I wandered?
The case looked more and more hopeless the longer I viewed it, yet with a stubborn persistency I forged ahead toward the foothills. Behind me no sign of pursuit developed, before me I saw no living thing. It was as though I moved through a dead and forgotten world.
I have no idea, of course, how long it took me to reach the limit of the plain, but at last I entered the foothills, following a pretty little canyon upward toward the mountains. Beside me frolicked a laughing brooklet, hurrying upon its noisy way down to the silent sea. In its quieter pools I discovered many small fish, of four-or five-pound weight I should imagine. In appearance, except as to size and color, they were not unlike the whale of our own seas. As I watched them playing about I discovered, not only that they suckled their young, but that at intervals they rose to the surface to breathe as well as to feed upon certain grasses and a strange, scarlet lichen which grew upon the rocks just above the water line.
It was this last habit that gave me the opportunity I craved to capture one of these herbivorous cetaceans—that is what Perry calls them—and make as good a meal as one can on raw, warm-blooded fish; but I had become rather used, by this time, to the eating of food in its natural state, though I still balked on the eyes and entrails, much to the amusement of Ghak, to whom I always passed these delicacies.
Crouching beside the brook, I waited until one of the diminutive purple whales rose to nibble at the long grasses which overhung the water, and then, like the beast of prey that man really is, I sprang upon my victim, appeasing my hunger while he yet wriggled to escape.
Then I drank from the clear pool, and after washing my hands and face continued my flight. Above the source of the brook I encountered a rugged climb to the summit of a long ridge. Beyond was a steep declivity to the shore of a placid, inland sea, upon the quiet surface of which lay several beautiful islands.
The view was charming in the extreme, and as no man or beast was to be seen that might threaten my new-found liberty, I slid over the edge of the bluff, and half sliding, half falling, dropped into the delightful valley, the very aspect of which seemed to offer a haven of peace and security.
The gently sloping beach along which I walked was thickly strewn with strangely shaped, colored shells; some empty, others still housing as varied a multitude of mollusks as ever might have drawn out their sluggish lives along the silent shores of the antediluvian seas of the outer crust. As I walked I could not but compare myself with the first man of that other world, so complete the solitude which surrounded me, so primal and untouched the virgin wonders and beauties of adolescent nature. I felt myself a second Adam wending my lonely way through the childhood of a world, searching for my Eve, and at the thought there rose before my mind's eye the exquisite outlines of a perfect face surmounted by a loose pile of wondrous, raven hair.
As I walked, my eyes were bent upon the beach so that it was not until I had come quite upon it that I discovered that which shattered all my beautiful dream of solitude and safety and peace and primal overlordship. The thing was a hollowed log drawn upon the sands, and in the bottom of it lay a crude paddle.
The rude shock of awakening to what doubtless might prove some new form of danger was still upon me when I heard a rattling of loose stones from the direction of the bluff, and turning my eyes in that direction I beheld the author of the disturbance, a great copper-colored man, running rapidly toward me.
There was that in the haste with which he came which seemed quite sufficiently menacing, so that I did not need the added evidence of brandishing spear and scowling face to warn me that I was in no safe position, but whither to flee was indeed a momentous question.
The speed of the fellow seemed to preclude the possibility of escaping him upon the open beach. There was but a single alternative—the rude skiff—and with a celerity which equaled his, I pushed the thing into the sea and as it floated gave a final shove and clambered in over the end.
A cry of rage rose from the owner of the primitive craft, and an instant later his heavy, stone-tipped spear grazed my shoulder and buried itself in the bow of the boat beyond. Then I grasped the paddle, and with feverish haste urged the awkward, wobbly thing out upon the surface of the sea.
A glance over my shoulder showed me that the copper-colored one had plunged in after me and was swimming rapidly in pursuit. His mighty strokes bade fair to close up the distance between us in short order, for at best I could make but slow progress with my unfamiliar craft, which nosed stubbornly in every direction but that which I desired to follow, so that fully half my energy was expended in turning its blunt prow back into the course.
I had covered some hundred yards from shore when it became evident that my pursuer must grasp the stern of the skiff within the next half-dozen strokes. In a frenzy of despair, I bent to the grandfather of all paddles in a hopeless effort to escape, and still the copper giant behind me gained and gained.
His hand was reaching upward for the stern when I saw a sleek, sinuous body shoot from the depths below. The man saw it too, and the look of terror that overspread his face assured me that I need have no further concern as to him, for the fear of certain death was in his look.
And then about him coiled the great, slimy folds of a hideous monster of that prehistoric deep—a mighty serpent of the sea, with fanged jaws, and darting forked tongue, with bulging eyes, and bony protuberances upon head and snout that formed short, stout horns.
As I looked at that hopeless struggle my eyes met those of the doomed man, and I could have sworn that in his I saw an expression of hopeless appeal. But whether I did or not there swept through me a sudden compassion for the fellow. He was indeed a brother-man, and that he might have killed me with pleasure had he caught me was forgotten in the extremity of his danger.
Unconsciously I had ceased paddling as the serpent rose to engage my pursuer, so now the skiff still drifted close beside the two. The monster seemed to be but playing with his victim before he closed his awful jaws upon him and dragged him down to his dark den beneath the surface to devour him. The huge, snakelike body coiled and uncoiled about its prey. The hideous, gaping jaws snapped in the victim's face. The forked tongue, lightning-like, ran in and out upon the copper skin.
Nobly the giant battled for his life, beating with his stone hatchet against the bony armor that covered that frightful carcass; but for all the damage he inflicted he might as well have struck with his open palm.
At last I could endure no longer to sit supinely by while a fellowman was dragged down to a horrible death by that repulsive reptile. Embedded in the prow of the skiff lay the spear that had been cast after me by him whom I suddenly desired to save. With a wrench I tore it loose, and standing upright in the wobbly log drove it with all the strength of my two arms straight into the gaping jaws of the hydrophidian.
With a loud hiss the creature abandoned its prey to turn upon me, but the spear, imbedded in its throat, prevented it from seizing me though it came near to overturning the skiff in its mad efforts to reach me.
VIII
THE MAHAR TEMPLE
The aborigine, apparently uninjured, climbed quickly into the skiff, and seizing the spear with me helped to hold off the infuriated creature. Blood from the wounded reptile was now crimsoning the waters about us and soon from the weakening struggles it became evident that I had inflicted a death wound upon it. Presently its efforts to reach us ceased entirely, and with a few convulsive movements it turned upon its back quite dead.
And then there came to me a sudden realization of the predicament in which I had placed myself. I was entirely within the power of the savage man whose skiff I had stolen. Still clinging to the spear I looked into his face to find him scrutinizing me intently, and there we stood for some several minutes, each clinging tenaciously to the weapon the while we gazed in stupid wonderment at each other.
What was in his mind I do not know, but in my own was merely the question as to how soon the fellow would recommence hostilities.
Presently he spoke to me, but in a tongue which I was unable to translate. I shook my head in an effort to indicate my ignorance of his language, at the same time addressing him in the bastard tongue that the Sagoths use to converse with the human slaves of the Mahars.
To my delight he understood and answered me in the same jargon.
"What do you want of my spear?" he asked.
"Only to keep you from running it through me," I replied.
"I would not do that," he said, "for you have just saved my life," and with that he released his hold upon it and squatted down in the bottom of the skiff.
"Who are you," he continued, "and from what country do you come?"
I too sat down, laying the spear between us, and tried to explain how I came to Pellucidar, and wherefrom, but it was as impossible for him to grasp or believe the strange tale I told him as I fear it is for you upon the outer crust to believe in the existence of the inner world. To him it seemed quite ridiculous to imagine that there was another world far beneath his feet peopled by beings similar to himself, and he laughed uproariously the more he thought upon it. But it was ever thus. That which has never come within the scope of our really pitifully meager world-experience cannot be—our finite minds cannot grasp that which may not exist in accordance with the conditions which obtain about us upon the outside of the insignificant grain of dust which wends its tiny way among the bowlders of the universe—the speck of moist dirt we so proudly call the World.
So I gave it up and asked him about himself. He said he was a Mezop, and that his name was Ja.
"Who are the Mezops?" I asked. "Where do they live?"
He looked at me in surprise.
"I might indeed believe that you were from another world," he said, "for who of Pellucidar could be so ignorant! The Mezops live upon the islands of the seas. In so far as I ever have heard no Mezop lives elsewhere, and no others than Mezops dwell upon islands, but of course it may be different in other far-distant lands. I do not know. At any rate in this sea and those near by it is true that only people of my race inhabit the islands.
"We are fishermen, though we be great hunters as well, often going to the mainland in search of the game that is scarce upon all but the larger islands. And we are warriors also," he added proudly. "Even the Sagoths of the Mahars fear us. Once, when Pellucidar was young, the Sagoths were wont to capture us for slaves as they do the other men of Pellucidar, it is handed down from father to son among us that this is so; but we fought so desperately and slew so many Sagoths, and those of us that were captured killed so many Mahars in their own cities that at last they learned that it were better to leave us alone, and later came the time that the Mahars became too indolent even to catch their own fish, except for amusement, and then they needed us to supply their wants, and so a truce was made between the races. Now they give us certain things which we are unable to produce in return for the fish that we catch, and the Mezops and the Mahars live in peace.
"The great ones even come to our islands. It is there, far from the prying eyes of their own Sagoths, that they practice their religious rites in the temples they have builded there with our assistance. If you live among us you will doubtless see the manner of their worship, which is strange indeed, and most unpleasant for the poor slaves they bring to take part in it."
As Ja talked I had an excellent opportunity to inspect him more closely. He was a huge fellow, standing I should say six feet six or seven inches, well developed and of a coppery red not unlike that of our own North American Indian, nor were his features dissimilar to theirs. He had the aquiline nose found among many of the higher tribes, the prominent cheek bones, and black hair and eyes, but his mouth and lips were better molded. All in all, Ja was an impressive and handsome creature, and he talked well too, even in the miserable makeshift language we were compelled to use.
During our conversation Ja had taken the paddle and was propelling the skiff with vigorous strokes toward a large island that lay some half-mile from the mainland. The skill with which he handled his crude and awkward craft elicited my deepest admiration, since it had been so short a time before that I had made such pitiful work of it.
As we touched the pretty, level beach Ja leaped out and I followed him. Together we dragged the skiff far up into the bushes that grew beyond the sand.
"We must hide our canoes," explained Ja, "for the Mezops of Luana are always at war with us and would steal them if they found them," he nodded toward an island farther out at sea, and at so great a distance that it seemed but a blur hanging in the distant sky. The upward curve of the surface of Pellucidar was constantly revealing the impossible to the surprised eyes of the outer-earthly. To see land and water curving upward in the distance until it seemed to stand on edge where it melted into the distant sky, and to feel that seas and mountains hung suspended directly above one's head required such a complete reversal of the perceptive and reasoning faculties as almost to stupefy one.
No sooner had we hidden the canoe than Ja plunged into the jungle, presently emerging into a narrow but well-defined trail which wound hither and thither much after the manner of the highways of all primitive folk, but there was one peculiarity about this Mezop trail which I was later to find distinguished them from all other trails that I ever have seen within or without the earth.
It would run on, plain and clear and well defined to end suddenly in the midst of a tangle of matted jungle, then Ja would turn directly back in his tracks for a little distance, spring into a tree, climb through it to the other side, drop onto a fallen log, leap over a low bush and alight once more upon a distinct trail which he would follow back for a short distance only to turn directly about and retrace his steps until after a mile or less this new pathway ended as suddenly and mysteriously as the former section. Then he would pass again across some media which would reveal no spoor, to take up the broken thread of the trail beyond.
As the purpose of this remarkable avenue dawned upon me I could not but admire the native shrewdness of the ancient progenitor of the Mezops who hit upon this novel plan to throw his enemies from his track and delay or thwart them in their attempts to follow him to his deep-buried cities.
To you of the outer earth it might seem a slow and tortuous method of traveling through the jungle, but were you of Pellucidar you would realize that time is no factor where time does not exist. So labyrinthine are the windings of these trails, so varied the connecting links and the distances which one must retrace one's steps from the paths' ends to find them that a Mezop often reaches man's estate before he is familiar even with those which lead from his own city to the sea.
In fact three-fourths of the education of the young male Mezop consists in familiarizing himself with these jungle avenues, and the status of an adult is largely determined by the number of trails which he can follow upon his own island. The females never learn them, since from birth to death they never leave the clearing in which the village of their nativity is situated except they be taken to mate by a male from another village, or captured in war by the enemies of their tribe.
After proceeding through the jungle for what must have been upward of five miles we emerged suddenly into a large clearing in the exact center of which stood as strange an appearing village as one might well imagine.
Large trees had been chopped down fifteen or twenty feet above the ground, and upon the tops of them spherical habitations of woven twigs, mud covered, had been built. Each ball-like house was surmounted by some manner of carven image, which Ja told me indicated the identity of the owner.
Horizontal slits, six inches high and two or three feet wide, served to admit light and ventilation. The entrances to the house were through small apertures in the bases of the trees and thence upward by rude ladders through the hollow trunks to the rooms above. The houses varied in size from two to several rooms. The largest that I entered was divided into two floors and eight apartments.
All about the village, between it and the jungle, lay beautifully cultivated fields in which the Mezops raised such cereals, fruits, and vegetables as they required. Women and children were working in these gardens as we crossed toward the village. At sight of Ja they saluted deferentially, but to me they paid not the slightest attention. Among them and about the outer verge of the cultivated area were many warriors. These too saluted Ja, by touching the points of their spears to the ground directly before them.
Ja conducted me to a large house in the center of the village—the house with eight rooms—and taking me up into it gave me food and drink. There I met his mate, a comely girl with a nursing baby in her arms. Ja told her of how I had saved his life, and she was thereafter most kind and hospitable toward me, even permitting me to hold and amuse the tiny bundle of humanity whom Ja told me would one day rule the tribe, for Ja, it seemed, was the chief of the community.
We had eaten and rested, and I had slept, much to Ja's amusement, for it seemed that he seldom if ever did so, and then the red man proposed that I accompany him to the temple of the Mahars which lay not far from his village. "We are not supposed to visit it," he said; "but the great ones cannot hear and if we keep well out of sight they need never know that we have been there. For my part I hate them and always have, but the other chieftains of the island think it best that we continue to maintain the amicable relations which exist between the two races; otherwise I should like nothing better than to lead my warriors amongst the hideous creatures and exterminate them—Pellucidar would be a better place to live were there none of them."
I wholly concurred in Ja's belief, but it seemed that it might be a difficult matter to exterminate the dominant race of Pellucidar. Thus conversing we followed the intricate trail toward the temple, which we came upon in a small clearing surrounded by enormous trees similar to those which must have flourished upon the outer crust during the carboniferous age.
Here was a mighty temple of hewn rock built in the shape of a rough oval with rounded roof in which were several large openings. No doors or windows were visible in the sides of the structure, nor was there need of any, except one entrance for the slaves, since, as Ja explained, the Mahars flew to and from their place of ceremonial, entering and leaving the building by means of the apertures in the roof.
"But," added Ja, "there is an entrance near the base of which even the Mahars know nothing. Come," and he led me across the clearing and about the end to a pile of loose rock which lay against the foot of the wall. Here he removed a couple of large bowlders, revealing a small opening which led straight within the building, or so it seemed, though as I entered after Ja I discovered myself in a narrow place of extreme darkness.
"We are within the outer wall," said Ja. "It is hollow. Follow me closely."
The red man groped ahead a few paces and then began to ascend a primitive ladder similar to that which leads from the ground to the upper stories of his house. We ascended for some forty feet when the interior of the space between the walls commenced to grow lighter and presently we came opposite an opening in the inner wall which gave us an unobstructed view of the entire interior of the temple.
The lower floor was an enormous tank of clear water in which numerous hideous Mahars swam lazily up and down. Artificial islands of granite rock dotted this artificial sea, and upon several of them I saw men and women like myself.
"What are the human beings doing here?" I asked.
"Wait and you shall see," replied Ja. "They are to take a leading part in the ceremonies which will follow the advent of the queen. You may be thankful that you are not upon the same side of the wall as they."
Scarcely had he spoken than we heard a great fluttering of wings above and a moment later a long procession of the frightful reptiles of Pellucidar winged slowly and majestically through the large central opening in the roof and circled in stately manner about the temple.
There were several Mahars first, and then at least twenty awe-inspiring pterodactyls—thipdars, they are called within Pellucidar. Behind these came the queen, flanked by other thipdars as she had been when she entered the amphitheater at Phutra.
Three times they wheeled about the interior of the oval chamber, to settle finally upon the damp, cold bowlders that fringe the outer edge of the pool. In the center of one side the largest rock was reserved for the queen, and here she took her place surrounded by her terrible guard.
All lay quiet for several minutes after settling to their places. One might have imagined them in silent prayer. The poor slaves upon the diminutive islands watched the horrid creatures with wide eyes. The men, for the most part, stood erect and stately with folded arms, awaiting their doom; but the women and children clung to one another, hiding behind the males. They are a noble-looking race, these cave men of Pellucidar, and if our progenitors were as they, the human race of the outer crust has deteriorated rather than improved with the march of the ages. All they lack is opportunity. We have opportunity, and little else.
Now the queen moved. She raised her ugly head, looking about; then very slowly she crawled to the edge of her throne and slid noiselessly into the water. Up and down the long tank she swam, turning at the ends as you have seen captive seals turn in their tiny tanks, turning upon their backs and diving below the surface.
Nearer and nearer to the island she came until at last she remained at rest before the largest, which was directly opposite her throne. Raising her hideous head from the water she fixed her great, round eyes upon the slaves. They were fat and sleek, for they had been brought from a distant Mahar city where human beings are kept in droves, and bred and fattened, as we breed and fatten beef cattle.
The queen fixed her gaze upon a plump young maiden. Her victim tried to turn away, hiding her face in her hands and kneeling behind a woman; but the reptile, with unblinking eyes, stared on with such fixity that I could have sworn her vision penetrated the woman, and the girl's arms to reach at last the very center of her brain.
Slowly the reptile's head commenced to move to and fro, but the eyes never ceased to bore toward the frightened girl, and then the victim responded. She turned wide, fear-haunted eyes toward the Mahar queen, slowly she rose to her feet, and then as though dragged by some unseen power she moved as one in a trance straight toward the reptile, her glassy eyes fixed upon those of her captor. To the water's edge she came, nor did she even pause, but stepped into the shallows beside the little island. On she moved toward the Mahar, who now slowly retreated as though leading her victim on. The water rose to the girl's knees, and still she advanced, chained by that clammy eye. Now the water was at her waist; now her armpits. Her fellows upon the island looked on in horror, helpless to avert her doom in which they saw a forecast of their own.
The Mahar sank now till only the long upper bill and eyes were exposed above the surface of the water, and the girl had advanced until the end of that repulsive beak was but an inch or two from her face, her horror-filled eyes riveted upon those of the reptile.
Now the water passed above the girl's mouth and nose—her eyes and forehead all that showed—yet still she walked on after the retreating Mahar. The queen's head slowly disappeared beneath the surface and after it went the eyes of her victim—only a slow ripple widened toward the shores to mark where the two vanished.
For a time all was silence within the temple. The slaves were motionless in terror. The Mahars watched the surface of the water for the reappearance of their queen, and presently at one end of the tank her head rose slowly into view. She was backing toward the surface, her eyes fixed before her as they had been when she dragged the helpless girl to her doom.
And then to my utter amazement I saw the forehead and eyes of the maiden come slowly out of the depths, following the gaze of the reptile just as when she had disappeared beneath the surface. On and on came the girl until she stood in water that reached barely to her knees, and though she had been beneath the surface sufficient time to have drowned her thrice over there was no indication, other than her dripping hair and glistening body, that she had been submerged at all.
Again and again the queen led the girl into the depths and out again, until the uncanny weirdness of the thing got on my nerves so that I could have leaped into the tank to the child's rescue had I not taken a firm hold of myself.
Once they were below much longer than usual, and when they came to the surface I was horrified to see that one of the girl's arms was gone—gnawed completely off at the shoulder—but the poor thing gave no indication of realizing pain, only the horror in her set eyes seemed intensified.
The next time they appeared the other arm was gone, and then the breasts, and then a part of the face—it was awful. The poor creatures on the islands awaiting their fate tried to cover their eyes with their hands to hide the fearful sight, but now I saw that they too were under the hypnotic spell of the reptiles, so that they could only crouch in terror with their eyes fixed upon the terrible thing that was transpiring before them.
Finally the queen was under much longer than ever before, and when she rose she came alone and swam sleepily toward her bowlder. The moment she mounted it seemed to be the signal for the other Mahars to enter the tank, and then commenced, upon a larger scale, a repetition of the uncanny performance through which the queen had led her victim.
Only the women and children fell prey to the Mahars—they being the weakest and most tender—and when they had satisfied their appetite for human flesh, some of them devouring two and three of the slaves, there were only a score of full-grown men left, and I thought that for some reason these were to be spared, but such was far from the case, for as the last Mahar crawled to her rock the queen's thipdars darted into the air, circled the temple once and then, hissing like steam engines, swooped down upon the remaining slaves.
There was no hypnotism here—just the plain, brutal ferocity of the beast of prey, tearing, rending, and gulping its meat, but at that it was less horrible than the uncanny method of the Mahars. By the time the thipdars had disposed of the last of the slaves the Mahars were all asleep upon their rocks, and a moment later the great pterodactyls swung back to their posts beside the queen, and themselves dropped into slumber.
"I thought the Mahars seldom, if ever, slept," I said to Ja.
"They do many things in this temple which they do not do elsewhere," he replied. "The Mahars of Phutra are not supposed to eat human flesh, yet slaves are brought here by thousands and almost always you will find Mahars on hand to consume them. I imagine that they do not bring their Sagoths here, because they are ashamed of the practice, which is supposed to obtain only among the least advanced of their race; but I would wager my canoe against a broken paddle that there is no Mahar but eats human flesh whenever she can get it."
"Why should they object to eating human flesh," I asked, "if it is true that they look upon us as lower animals?"
"It is not because they consider us their equals that they are supposed to look with abhorrence upon those who eat our flesh," replied Ja; "it is merely that we are warm-blooded animals. They would not think of eating the meat of a thag, which we consider such a delicacy, any more than I would think of eating a snake. As a matter of fact it is difficult to explain just why this sentiment should exist among them."
"I wonder if they left a single victim," I remarked, leaning far out of the opening in the rocky wall to inspect the temple better. Directly below me the water lapped the very side of the wall, there being a break in the bowlders at this point as there was at several other places about the side of the temple.
My hands were resting upon a small piece of granite which formed a part of the wall, and all my weight upon it proved too much for it. It slipped and I lunged forward. There was nothing to save myself and I plunged headforemost into the water below.
Fortunately the tank was deep at this point, and I suffered no injury from the fall, but as I was rising to the surface my mind filled with the horrors of my position as I thought of the terrible doom which awaited me the moment the eyes of the reptiles fell upon the creature that had disturbed their slumber.
As long as I could I remained beneath the surface, swimming rapidly in the direction of the islands that I might prolong my life to the utmost. At last I was forced to rise for air, and as I cast a terrified glance in the direction of the Mahars and the thipdars I was almost stunned to see that not a single one remained upon the rocks where I had last seen them, nor as I searched the temple with my eyes could I discern any within it.
For a moment I was puzzled to account for the thing, until I realized that the reptiles, being deaf, could not have been disturbed by the noise my body made when it hit the water, and that as there is no such thing as time within Pellucidar there was no telling how long I had been beneath the surface. It was a difficult thing to attempt to figure out by earthly standards—this matter of elapsed time—but when I set myself to it I began to realize that I might have been submerged a second or a month or not at all. You have no conception of the strange contradictions and impossibilities which arise when all methods of measuring time, as we know them upon earth, are non-existent.
I was about to congratulate myself upon the miracle which had saved me for the moment, when the memory of the hypnotic powers of the Mahars filled me with apprehension lest they be practicing their uncanny art upon me to the end that I merely imagined that I was alone in the temple. At the thought cold sweat broke out upon me from every pore, and as I crawled from the water onto one of the tiny islands I was trembling like a leaf—you cannot imagine the awful horror which even the simple thought of the repulsive Mahars of Pellucidar induces in the human mind, and to feel that you are in their power—that they are crawling, slimy, and abhorrent, to drag you down beneath the waters and devour you! It is frightful.
But they did not come, and at last I came to the conclusion that I was indeed alone within the temple. How long I should be alone was the next question to assail me as I swam frantically about once more in search of a means to escape.
Several times I called to Ja, but he must have left after I tumbled into the tank, for I received no response to my cries. Doubtless he had felt as certain of my doom when he saw me topple from our hiding place as I had, and lest he too should be discovered, had hastened from the temple and back to his village.
I knew that there must be some entrance to the building beside the doorways in the roof, for it did not seem reasonable to believe that the thousands of slaves which were brought here to feed the Mahars the human flesh they craved would all be carried through the air, and so I continued my search until at last it was rewarded by the discovery of several loose granite blocks in the masonry at one end of the temple.
A little effort proved sufficient to dislodge enough of these stones to permit me to crawl through into the clearing, and a moment later I had scurried across the intervening space to the dense jungle beyond.
Here I sank panting and trembling upon the matted grasses beneath the giant trees, for I felt that I had escaped from the grinning fangs of death out of the depths of my own grave. Whatever dangers lay hidden in this island jungle, there could be none so fearsome as those which I had just escaped. I knew that I could meet death bravely enough if it but came in the form of some familiar beast or man—anything other than the hideous and uncanny Mahars.
IX
THE FACE OF DEATH
I must have fallen asleep from exhaustion. When I awoke I was very hungry, and after busying myself searching for fruit for a while, I set off through the jungle to find the beach. I knew that the island was not so large but that I could easily find the sea if I did but move in a straight line, but there came the difficulty as there was no way in which I could direct my course and hold it, the sun, of course, being always directly above my head, and the trees so thickly set that I could see no distant object which might serve to guide me in a straight line.
As it was I must have walked for a great distance since I ate four times and slept twice before I reached the sea, but at last I did so, and my pleasure at the sight of it was greatly enhanced by the chance discovery of a hidden canoe among the bushes through which I had stumbled just prior to coming upon the beach.
I can tell you that it did not take me long to pull that awkward craft down to the water and shove it far out from shore. My experience with Ja had taught me that if I were to steal another canoe I must be quick about it and get far beyond the owner's reach as soon as possible.
I must have come out upon the opposite side of the island from that at which Ja and I had entered it, for the mainland was nowhere in sight. For a long time I paddled around the shore, though well out, before I saw the mainland in the distance. At the sight of it I lost no time in directing my course toward it, for I had long since made up my mind to return to Phutra and give myself up that I might be once more with Perry and Ghak the Hairy One.
I felt that I was a fool ever to have attempted to escape alone, especially in view of the fact that our plans were already well formulated to make a break for freedom together. Of course I realized that the chances of the success of our proposed venture were slim indeed, but I knew that I never could enjoy freedom without Perry so long as the old man lived, and I had learned that the probability that I might find him was less than slight.
Had Perry been dead, I should gladly have pitted my strength and wit against the savage and primordial world in which I found myself. I could have lived in seclusion within some rocky cave until I had found the means to outfit myself with the crude weapons of the Stone Age, and then set out in search of her whose image had now become the constant companion of my waking hours, and the central and beloved figure of my dreams.
But, to the best of my knowledge, Perry still lived and it was my duty and wish to be again with him, that we might share the dangers and vicissitudes of the strange world we had discovered. And Ghak, too; the great, shaggy man had found a place in the hearts of us both, for he was indeed every inch a man and king. Uncouth, perhaps, and brutal, too, if judged too harshly by the standards of effete twentieth-century civilization, but withal noble, dignified, chivalrous, and loveable.
Chance carried me to the very beach upon which I had discovered Ja's canoe, and a short time later I was scrambling up the steep bank to retrace my steps from the plain of Phutra. But my troubles came when I entered the canyon beyond the summit, for here I found that several of them centered at the point where I crossed the divide, and which one I had traversed to reach the pass I could not for the life of me remember.
It was all a matter of chance and so I set off down that which seemed the easiest going, and in this I made the same mistake that many of us do in selecting the path along which we shall follow out the course of our lives, and again learned that it is not always best to follow the line of least resistance.
By the time I had eaten eight meals and slept twice I was convinced that I was upon the wrong trail, for between Phutra and the inland sea I had not slept at all, and had eaten but once. To retrace my steps to the summit of the divide and explore another canyon seemed the only solution of my problem, but a sudden widening and levelness of the canyon just before me seemed to suggest that it was about to open into a level country, and with the lure of discovery strong upon me I decided to proceed but a short distance farther before I turned back.
The next turn of the canyon brought me to its mouth, and before me I saw a narrow plain leading down to an ocean. At my right the side of the canyon continued to the water's edge, the valley lying to my left, and the foot of it running gradually into the sea, where it formed a broad level beach.
Clumps of strange trees dotted the landscape here and there almost to the water, and rank grass and ferns grew between. From the nature of the vegetation I was convinced that the land between the ocean and the foothills was swampy, though directly before me it seemed dry enough all the way to the sandy strip along which the restless waters advanced and retreated.
Curiosity prompted me to walk down to the beach, for the scene was very beautiful. As I passed along beside the deep and tangled vegetation of the swamp I thought that I saw a movement of the ferns at my left, but though I stopped a moment to look it was not repeated, and if anything lay hid there my eyes could not penetrate the dense foliage to discern it.
Presently I stood upon the beach looking out over the wide and lonely sea across whose forbidding bosom no human being had yet ventured, to discover what strange and mysterious lands lay beyond, or what its invisible islands held of riches, wonders, or adventure. What savage faces, what fierce and formidable beasts were this very instant watching the lapping of the waves upon its farther shore! How far did it extend? Perry had told me that the seas of Pellucidar were small in comparison with those of the outer crust, but even so this great ocean might stretch its broad expanse for thousands of miles. For countless ages it had rolled up and down its countless miles of shore, and yet today it remained all unknown beyond the tiny strip that was visible from its beaches.
The fascination of speculation was strong upon me. It was as though I had been carried back to the birth time of our own outer world to look upon its lands and seas ages before man had traversed either. Here was a new world, all untouched. It called to me to explore it. I was dreaming of the excitement and adventure which lay before us could Perry and I but escape the Mahars, when something, a slight noise I imagine, drew my attention behind me.
As I turned, romance, adventure, and discovery in the abstract took wing before the terrible embodiment of all three in concrete form that I beheld advancing upon me.
A huge, slimy amphibian it was, with toad-like body and the mighty jaws of an alligator. Its immense carcass must have weighed tons, and yet it moved swiftly and silently toward me. Upon one hand was the bluff that ran from the canyon to the sea, on the other the fearsome swamp from which the creature had sneaked upon me, behind lay the mighty untracked sea, and before me in the center of the narrow way that led to safety stood this huge mountain of terrible and menacing flesh.
A single glance at the thing was sufficient to assure me that I was facing one of those long-extinct, prehistoric creatures whose fossilized remains are found within the outer crust as far back as the Triassic formation, a gigantic labyrinthodon. And there I was, unarmed, and, with the exception of a loin cloth, as naked as I had come into the world. I could imagine how my first ancestor felt that distant, prehistoric morn that he encountered for the first time the terrifying progenitor of the thing that had me cornered now beside the restless, mysterious sea.
Unquestionably he had escaped, or I should not have been within Pellucidar or elsewhere, and I wished at that moment that he had handed down to me with the various attributes that I presumed I have inherited from him, the specific application of the instinct of self-preservation which saved him from the fate which loomed so close before me today.
To seek escape in the swamp or in the ocean would have been similar to jumping into a den of lions to escape one upon the outside. The sea and swamp both were doubtless alive with these mighty, carnivorous amphibians, and if not, the individual that menaced me would pursue me into either the sea or the swamp with equal facility.
There seemed nothing to do but stand supinely and await my end. I thought of Perry—how he would wonder what had become of me. I thought of my friends of the outer world, and of how they all would go on living their lives in total ignorance of the strange and terrible fate that had overtaken me, or unguessing the weird surroundings which had witnessed the last frightful agony of my extinction. And with these thoughts came a realization of how unimportant to the life and happiness of the world is the existence of any one of us. We may be snuffed out without an instant's warning, and for a brief day our friends speak of us with subdued voices. The following morning, while the first worm is busily engaged in testing the construction of our coffin, they are teeing up for the first hole to suffer more acute sorrow over a sliced ball than they did over our, to us, untimely demise. The labyrinthodon was coming more slowly now. He seemed to realize that escape for me was impossible, and I could have sworn that his huge, fanged jaws grinned in pleasurable appreciation of my predicament, or was it in anticipation of the juicy morsel which would so soon be pulp between those formidable teeth?
He was about fifty feet from me when I heard a voice calling to me from the direction of the bluff at my left. I looked and could have shouted in delight at the sight that met my eyes, for there stood Ja, waving frantically to me, and urging me to run for it to the cliff's base.
I had no idea that I should escape the monster that had marked me for his breakfast, but at least I should not die alone. Human eyes would watch me end. It was cold comfort I presume, but yet I derived some slight peace of mind from the contemplation of it.
To run seemed ridiculous, especially toward that steep and unscalable cliff, and yet I did so, and as I ran I saw Ja, agile as a monkey, crawl down the precipitous face of the rocks, clinging to small projections, and the tough creepers that had found root-hold here and there.
The labyrinthodon evidently thought that Ja was coming to double his portion of human flesh, so he was in no haste to pursue me to the cliff and frighten away this other tidbit. Instead he merely trotted along behind me.
As I approached the foot of the cliff I saw what Ja intended doing, but I doubted if the thing would prove successful. He had come down to within twenty feet of the bottom, and there, clinging with one hand to a small ledge, and with his feet resting, precariously upon tiny bushes that grew from the solid face of the rock, he lowered the point of his long spear until it hung some six feet above the ground.
To clamber up that slim shaft without dragging Ja down and precipitating both to the same doom from which the copper-colored one was attempting to save me seemed utterly impossible, and as I came near the spear I told Ja so, and that I could not risk him to try to save myself.
But he insisted that he knew what he was doing and was in no danger himself.
"The danger is still yours," he called, "for unless you move much more rapidly than you are now, the sithic will be upon you and drag you back before ever you are halfway up the spear—he can rear up and reach you with ease anywhere below where I stand."
Well, Ja should know his own business, I thought, and so I grasped the spear and clambered up toward the red man as rapidly as I could—being so far removed from my simian ancestors as I am. I imagine the slow-witted sithic, as Ja called him, suddenly realized our intentions and that he was quite likely to lose all his meal instead of having it doubled as he had hoped.
When he saw me clambering up that spear he let out a hiss that fairly shook the ground, and came charging after me at a terrific rate. I had reached the top of the spear by this time, or almost; another six inches would give me a hold on Ja's hand, when I felt a sudden wrench from below and glancing fearfully downward saw the mighty jaws of the monster close on the sharp point of the weapon.
I made a frantic effort to reach Ja's hand, the sithic gave a tremendous tug that came near to jerking Ja from his frail hold on the surface of the rock, the spear slipped from his fingers, and still clinging to it I plunged feet foremost toward my executioner.
At the instant that he felt the spear come away from Ja's hand the creature must have opened his huge jaws to catch me, for when I came down, still clinging to the butt end of the weapon, the point yet rested in his mouth and the result was that the sharpened end transfixed his lower jaw.
With the pain he snapped his mouth closed. I fell upon his snout, lost my hold upon the spear, rolled the length of his face and head, across his short neck onto his broad back and from there to the ground.
Scarce had I touched the earth than I was upon my feet, dashing madly for the path by which I had entered this horrible valley. A glance over my shoulder showed me the sithic engaged in pawing at the spear stuck through his lower jaw, and so busily engaged did he remain in this occupation that I had gained the safety of the cliff top before he was ready to take up the pursuit. When he did not discover me in sight within the valley he dashed, hissing into the rank vegetation of the swamp and that was the last I saw of him.
X
PHUTRA AGAIN
I hastened to the cliff edge above Ja and helped him to a secure footing. He would not listen to any thanks for his attempt to save me, which had come so near miscarrying.
"I had given you up for lost when you tumbled into the Mahar temple," he said, "for not even I could save you from their clutches, and you may imagine my surprise when on seeing a canoe dragged up upon the beach of the mainland I discovered your own footprints in the sand beside it.
"I immediately set out in search of you, knowing as I did that you must be entirely unarmed and defenseless against the many dangers which lurk upon the mainland both in the form of savage beasts and reptiles, and men as well. I had no difficulty in tracking you to this point. It is well that I arrived when I did."
"But why did you do it?" I asked, puzzled at this show of friendship on the part of a man of another world and a different race and color.
"You saved my life," he replied; "from that moment it became my duty to protect and befriend you. I would have been no true Mezop had I evaded my plain duty; but it was a pleasure in this instance for I like you. I wish that you would come and live with me. You shall become a member of my tribe. Among us there is the best of hunting and fishing, and you shall have, to choose a mate from, the most beautiful girls of Pellucidar. Will you come?"
I told him about Perry then, and Dian the Beautiful, and how my duty was to them first. Afterward I should return and visit him—if I could ever find his island.
"Oh, that is easy, my friend," he said. "You need merely to come to the foot of the highest peak of the Mountains of the Clouds. There you will find a river which flows into the Lural Az. Directly opposite the mouth of the river you will see three large islands far out, so far that they are barely discernible, the one to the extreme left as you face them from the mouth of the river is Anoroc, where I rule the tribe of Anoroc."
"But how am I to find the Mountains of the Clouds?" I asked. "Men say that they are visible from half Pellucidar," he replied.
"How large is Pellucidar?" I asked, wondering what sort of theory these primitive men had concerning the form and substance of their world.
"The Mahars say it is round, like the inside of a tola shell," he answered, "but that is ridiculous, since, were it true, we should fall back were we to travel far in any direction, and all the waters of Pellucidar would run to one spot and drown us. No, Pellucidar is quite flat and extends no man knows how far in all directions. At the edges, so my ancestors have reported and handed down to me, is a great wall that prevents the earth and waters from escaping over into the burning sea whereon Pellucidar floats; but I never have been so far from Anoroc as to have seen this wall with my own eyes. However, it is quite reasonable to believe that this is true, whereas there is no reason at all in the foolish belief of the Mahars. According to them Pellucidarians who live upon the opposite side walk always with their heads pointed downward!" and Ja laughed uproariously at the very thought.
It was plain to see that the human folk of this inner world had not advanced far in learning, and the thought that the ugly Mahars had so outstripped them was a very pathetic one indeed. I wondered how many ages it would take to lift these people out of their ignorance even were it given to Perry and me to attempt it. Possibly we would be killed for our pains as were those men of the outer world who dared challenge the dense ignorance and superstitions of the earth's younger days. But it was worth the effort if the opportunity ever presented itself.
And then it occurred to me that here was an opportunity—that I might make a small beginning upon Ja, who was my friend, and thus note the effect of my teaching upon a Pellucidarian.
"Ja," I said, "what would you say were I to tell you that in so far as the Mahars' theory of the shape of Pellucidar is concerned it is correct?"
"I would say," he replied, "that either you are a fool, or took me for one."
"But, Ja," I insisted, "if their theory is incorrect how do you account for the fact that I was able to pass through the earth from the outer crust to Pellucidar. If your theory is correct all is a sea of flame beneath us, where in no peoples could exist, and yet I come from a great world that is covered with human beings, and beasts, and birds, and fishes in mighty oceans."
"You live upon the under side of Pellucidar, and walk always with your head pointed downward?" he scoffed. "And were I to believe that, my friend, I should indeed be mad."
I attempted to explain the force of gravity to him, and by the means of the dropped fruit to illustrate how impossible it would be for a body to fall off the earth under any circumstances. He listened so intently that I thought I had made an impression, and started the train of thought that would lead him to a partial understanding of the truth. But I was mistaken.
"Your own illustration," he said finally, "proves the falsity of your theory." He dropped a fruit from his hand to the ground. "See," he said, "without support even this tiny fruit falls until it strikes something that stops it. If Pellucidar were not supported upon the flaming sea it too would fall as the fruit falls—you have proven it yourself!" He had me, that time—you could see it in his eye.
It seemed a hopeless job and I gave it up, temporarily at least, for when I contemplated the necessity explanation of our solar system and the universe I realized how futile it would be to attempt to picture to Ja or any other Pellucidarian the sun, the moon, the planets, and the countless stars. Those born within the inner world could no more conceive of such things than can we of the outer crust reduce to factors appreciable to our finite minds such terms as space and eternity.
"Well, Ja," I laughed, "whether we be walking with our feet up or down, here we are, and the question of greatest importance is not so much where we came from as where we are going now. For my part I wish that you could guide me to Phutra where I may give myself up to the Mahars once more that my friends and I may work out the plan of escape which the Sagoths interrupted when they gathered us together and drove us to the arena to witness the punishment of the slaves who killed the guardsman. I wish now that I had not left the arena for by this time my friends and I might have made good our escape, whereas this delay may mean the wrecking of all our plans, which depended for their consummation upon the continued sleep of the three Mahars who lay in the pit beneath the building in which we were confined."
"You would return to captivity?" cried Ja.
"My friends are there," I replied, "the only friends I have in Pellucidar, except yourself. What else may I do under the circumstances?"
He thought for a moment in silence. Then he shook his head sorrowfully.
"It is what a brave man and a good friend should do," he said; "yet it seems most foolish, for the Mahars will most certainly condemn you to death for running away, and so you will be accomplishing nothing for your friends by returning. Never in all my life have I heard of a prisoner returning to the Mahars of his own free will. There are but few who escape them, though some do, and these would rather die than be recaptured."
"I see no other way, Ja," I said, "though I can assure you that I would rather go to Sheol after Perry than to Phutra. However, Perry is much too pious to make the probability at all great that I should ever be called upon to rescue him from the former locality."
Ja asked me what Sheol was, and when I explained, as best I could, he said, "You are speaking of Molop Az, the flaming sea upon which Pellucidar floats. All the dead who are buried in the ground go there. Piece by piece they are carried down to Molop Az by the little demons who dwell there. We know this because when graves are opened we find that the bodies have been partially or entirely borne off. That is why we of Anoroc place our dead in high trees where the birds may find them and bear them bit by bit to the Dead World above the Land of Awful Shadow. If we kill an enemy we place his body in the ground that it may go to Molop Az."
As we talked we had been walking up the canyon down which I had come to the great ocean and the sithic. Ja did his best to dissuade me from returning to Phutra, but when he saw that I was determined to do so, he consented to guide me to a point from which I could see the plain where lay the city. To my surprise the distance was but short from the beach where I had again met Ja. It was evident that I had spent much time following the windings of a tortuous canon, while just beyond the ridge lay the city of Phutra near to which I must have come several times.
As we topped the ridge and saw the granite gate towers dotting the flowered plain at our feet Ja made a final effort to persuade me to abandon my mad purpose and return with him to Anoroc, but I was firm in my resolve, and at last he bid me good-bye, assured in his own mind that he was looking upon me for the last time.
I was sorry to part with Ja, for I had come to like him very much indeed. With his hidden city upon the island of Anoroc as a base, and his savage warriors as escort Perry and I could have accomplished much in the line of exploration, and I hoped that were we successful in our effort to escape we might return to Anoroc later.
There was, however, one great thing to be accomplished first—at least it was the great thing to me—the finding of Dian the Beautiful. I wanted to make amends for the affront I had put upon her in my ignorance, and I wanted to—well, I wanted to see her again, and to be with her.
Down the hillside I made my way into the gorgeous field of flowers, and then across the rolling land toward the shadowless columns that guard the ways to buried Phutra. At a quarter-mile from the nearest entrance I was discovered by the Sagoth guard, and in an instant four of the gorilla-men were dashing toward me.
Though they brandished their long spears and yelled like wild Comanches I paid not the slightest attention to them, walking quietly toward them as though unaware of their existence. My manner had the effect upon them that I had hoped, and as we came quite near together they ceased their savage shouting. It was evident that they had expected me to turn and flee at sight of them, thus presenting that which they most enjoyed, a moving human target at which to cast their spears.
"What do you here?" shouted one, and then as he recognized me, "Ho! It is the slave who claims to be from another world—he who escaped when the thag ran amuck within the amphitheater. But why do you return, having once made good your escape?"
"I did not 'escape'," I replied. "I but ran away to avoid the thag, as did others, and coming into a long passage I became confused and lost my way in the foothills beyond Phutra. Only now have I found my way back."
"And you come of your free will back to Phutra!" exclaimed one of the guardsmen.
"Where else might I go?" I asked. "I am a stranger within Pellucidar and know no other where than Phutra. Why should I not desire to be in Phutra? Am I not well fed and well treated? Am I not happy? What better lot could man desire?"
The Sagoths scratched their heads. This was a new one on them, and so being stupid brutes they took me to their masters whom they felt would be better fitted to solve the riddle of my return, for riddle they still considered it.
I had spoken to the Sagoths as I had for the purpose of throwing them off the scent of my purposed attempt at escape. If they thought that I was so satisfied with my lot within Phutra that I would voluntarily return when I had once had so excellent an opportunity to escape, they would never for an instant imagine that I could be occupied in arranging another escape immediately upon my return to the city.
So they led me before a slimy Mahar who clung to a slimy rock within the large room that was the thing's office. With cold, reptilian eyes the creature seemed to bore through the thin veneer of my deceit and read my inmost thoughts. It heeded the story which the Sagoths told of my return to Phutra, watching the gorilla-men's lips and fingers during the recital. Then it questioned me through one of the Sagoths.
"You say that you returned to Phutra of your own free will, because you think yourself better off here than elsewhere—do you not know that you may be the next chosen to give up your life in the interests of the wonderful scientific investigations that our learned ones are continually occupied with?"
I hadn't heard of anything of that nature, but I thought best not to admit it.
"I could be in no more danger here," I said, "than naked and unarmed in the savage jungles or upon the lonely plains of Pellucidar. I was fortunate, I think, to return to Phutra at all. As it was I barely escaped death within the jaws of a huge sithic. No, I am sure that I am safer in the hands of intelligent creatures such as rule Phutra. At least such would be the case in my own world, where human beings like myself rule supreme. There the higher races of man extend protection and hospitality to the stranger within their gates, and being a stranger here I naturally assumed that a like courtesy would be accorded me."
The Mahar looked at me in silence for some time after I ceased speaking and the Sagoth had translated my words to his master. The creature seemed deep in thought. Presently he communicated some message to the Sagoth. The latter turned, and motioning me to follow him, left the presence of the reptile. Behind and on either side of me marched the balance of the guard.
"What are they going to do with me?" I asked the fellow at my right.
"You are to appear before the learned ones who will question you regarding this strange world from which you say you come."
After a moment's silence he turned to me again.
"Do you happen to know," he asked, "what the Mahars do to slaves who lie to them?"
"No," I replied, "nor does it interest me, as I have no intention of lying to the Mahars."
"Then be careful that you don't repeat the impossible tale you told Sol-to-to just now—another world, indeed, where human beings rule!" he concluded in fine scorn.
"But it is the truth," I insisted. "From where else then did I come? I am not of Pellucidar. Anyone with half an eye could see that."
"It is your misfortune then," he remarked dryly, "that you may not be judged by one with but half an eye."
"What will they do with me," I asked, "if they do not have a mind to believe me?"
"You may be sentenced to the arena, or go to the pits to be used in research work by the learned ones," he replied.
"And what will they do with me there?" I persisted.
"No one knows except the Mahars and those who go to the pits with them, but as the latter never return, their knowledge does them but little good. It is said that the learned ones cut up their subjects while they are yet alive, thus learning many useful things. However I should not imagine that it would prove very useful to him who was being cut up; but of course this is all but conjecture. The chances are that ere long you will know much more about it than I," and he grinned as he spoke. The Sagoths have a well-developed sense of humor.
"And suppose it is the arena," I continued; "what then?"
"You saw the two who met the tarag and the thag the time that you escaped?" he said.
"Yes."
"Your end in the arena would be similar to what was intended for them," he explained, "though of course the same kinds of animals might not be employed."
"It is sure death in either event?" I asked.
"What becomes of those who go below with the learned ones I do not know, nor does any other," he replied; "but those who go to the arena may come out alive and thus regain their liberty, as did the two whom you saw."
"They gained their liberty? And how?"
"It is the custom of the Mahars to liberate those who remain alive within the arena after the beasts depart or are killed. Thus it has happened that several mighty warriors from far distant lands, whom we have captured on our slave raids, have battled the brutes turned in upon them and slain them, thereby winning their freedom. In the instance which you witnessed the beasts killed each other, but the result was the same—the man and woman were liberated, furnished with weapons, and started on their homeward journey. Upon the left shoulder of each a mark was burned—the mark of the Mahars—which will forever protect these two from slaving parties."
"There is a slender chance for me then if I be sent to the arena, and none at all if the learned ones drag me to the pits?"
"You are quite right," he replied; "but do not felicitate yourself too quickly should you be sent to the arena, for there is scarce one in a thousand who comes out alive."
To my surprise they returned me to the same building in which I had been confined with Perry and Ghak before my escape. At the doorway I was turned over to the guards there.
"He will doubtless be called before the investigators shortly," said he who had brought me back, "so have him in readiness."
The guards in whose hands I now found myself, upon hearing that I had returned of my own volition to Phutra evidently felt that it would be safe to give me liberty within the building as had been the custom before I had escaped, and so I was told to return to whatever duty had been mine formerly.
My first act was to hunt up Perry; whom I found poring as usual over the great tomes that he was supposed to be merely dusting and rearranging upon new shelves.
As I entered the room he glanced up and nodded pleasantly to me, only to resume his work as though I had never been away at all. I was both astonished and hurt at his indifference. And to think that I was risking death to return to him purely from a sense of duty and affection!
"Why, Perry!" I exclaimed, "haven't you a word for me after my long absence?"
"Long absence!" he repeated in evident astonishment. "What do you mean?"
"Are you crazy, Perry? Do you mean to say that you have not missed me since that time we were separated by the charging thag within the arena?"
"'That time'," he repeated. "Why man, I have but just returned from the arena! You reached here almost as soon as I. Had you been much later I should indeed have been worried, and as it is I had intended asking you about how you escaped the beast as soon as I had completed the translation of this most interesting passage."
"Perry, you are mad," I exclaimed. "Why, the Lord only knows how long I have been away. I have been to other lands, discovered a new race of humans within Pellucidar, seen the Mahars at their worship in their hidden temple, and barely escaped with my life from them and from a great labyrinthodon that I met afterward, following my long and tedious wanderings across an unknown world. I must have been away for months, Perry, and now you barely look up from your work when I return and insist that we have been separated but a moment. Is that any way to treat a friend? I'm surprised at you, Perry, and if I'd thought for a moment that you cared no more for me than this I should not have returned to chance death at the hands of the Mahars for your sake."
The old man looked at me for a long time before he spoke. There was a puzzled expression upon his wrinkled face, and a look of hurt sorrow in his eyes.
"David, my boy," he said, "how could you for a moment doubt my love for you? There is something strange here that I cannot understand. I know that I am not mad, and I am equally sure that you are not; but how in the world are we to account for the strange hallucinations that each of us seems to harbor relative to the passage of time since last we saw each other. You are positive that months have gone by, while to me it seems equally certain that not more than an hour ago I sat beside you in the amphitheater. Can it be that both of us are right and at the same time both are wrong? First tell me what time is, and then maybe I can solve our problem. Do you catch my meaning?"
I didn't and said so.
"Yes," continued the old man, "we are both right. To me, bent over my book here, there has been no lapse of time. I have done little or nothing to waste my energies and so have required neither food nor sleep, but you, on the contrary, have walked and fought and wasted strength and tissue which must needs be rebuilt by nutriment and food, and so, having eaten and slept many times since last you saw me you naturally measure the lapse of time largely by these acts. As a matter of fact, David, I am rapidly coming to the conviction that there is no such thing as time—surely there can be no time here within Pellucidar, where there are no means for measuring or recording time. Why, the Mahars themselves take no account of such a thing as time. I find here in all their literary works but a single tense, the present. There seems to be neither past nor future with them. Of course it is impossible for our outer-earthly minds to grasp such a condition, but our recent experiences seem to demonstrate its existence."
It was too big a subject for me, and I said so, but Perry seemed to enjoy nothing better than speculating upon it, and after listening with interest to my account of the adventures through which I had passed he returned once more to the subject, which he was enlarging upon with considerable fluency when he was interrupted by the entrance of a Sagoth.
"Come!" commanded the intruder, beckoning to me. "The investigators would speak with you."
"Good-bye, Perry!" I said, clasping the old man's hand. "There may be nothing but the present and no such thing as time, but I feel that I am about to take a trip into the hereafter from which I shall never return. If you and Ghak should manage to escape I want you to promise me that you will find Dian the Beautiful and tell her that with my last words I asked her forgiveness for the unintentional affront I put upon her, and that my one wish was to be spared long enough to right the wrong that I had done her."
Tears came to Perry's eyes.
"I cannot believe but that you will return, David," he said. "It would be awful to think of living out the balance of my life without you among these hateful and repulsive creatures. If you are taken away I shall never escape, for I feel that I am as well off here as I should be anywhere within this buried world. Good-bye, my boy, good-bye!" and then his old voice faltered and broke, and as he hid his face in his hands the Sagoth guardsman grasped me roughly by the shoulder and hustled me from the chamber.
XI
FOUR DEAD MAHARS
A moment later I was standing before a dozen Mahars—the social investigators of Phutra. They asked me many questions, through a Sagoth interpreter. I answered them all truthfully. They seemed particularly interested in my account of the outer earth and the strange vehicle which had brought Perry and me to Pellucidar. I thought that I had convinced them, and after they had sat in silence for a long time following my examination, I expected to be ordered returned to my quarters.
During this apparent silence they were debating through the medium of strange, unspoken language the merits of my tale. At last the head of the tribunal communicated the result of their conference to the officer in charge of the Sagoth guard.
"Come," he said to me, "you are sentenced to the experimental pits for having dared to insult the intelligence of the mighty ones with the ridiculous tale you have had the temerity to unfold to them."
"Do you mean that they do not believe me?" I asked, totally astonished.
"Believe you!" he laughed. "Do you mean to say that you expected any one to believe so impossible a lie?"
It was hopeless, and so I walked in silence beside my guard down through the dark corridors and runways toward my awful doom. At a low level we came upon a number of lighted chambers in which we saw many Mahars engaged in various occupations. To one of these chambers my guard escorted me, and before leaving they chained me to a side wall. There were other humans similarly chained. Upon a long table lay a victim even as I was ushered into the room. Several Mahars stood about the poor creature holding him down so that he could not move. Another, grasping a sharp knife with her three-toed fore foot, was laying open the victim's chest and abdomen. No anesthetic had been administered and the shrieks and groans of the tortured man were terrible to hear. This, indeed, was vivisection with a vengeance. Cold sweat broke out upon me as I realized that soon my turn would come. And to think that where there was no such thing as time I might easily imagine that my suffering was enduring for months before death finally released me!
The Mahars had paid not the slightest attention to me as I had been brought into the room. So deeply immersed were they in their work that I am sure they did not even know that the Sagoths had entered with me. The door was close by. Would that I could reach it! But those heavy chains precluded any such possibility. I looked about for some means of escape from my bonds. Upon the floor between me and the Mahars lay a tiny surgical instrument which one of them must have dropped. It looked not unlike a button-hook, but was much smaller, and its point was sharpened. A hundred times in my boyhood days had I picked locks with a button-hook. Could I but reach that little bit of polished steel I might yet effect at least a temporary escape.
Crawling to the limit of my chain, I found that by reaching one hand as far out as I could my fingers still fell an inch short of the coveted instrument. It was tantalizing! Stretch every fiber of my being as I would, I could not quite make it.
At last I turned about and extended one foot toward the object. My heart came to my throat! I could just touch the thing! But suppose that in my effort to drag it toward me I should accidentally shove it still farther away and thus entirely out of reach! Cold sweat broke out upon me from every pore. Slowly and cautiously I made the effort. My toes dropped upon the cold metal. Gradually I worked it toward me until I felt that it was within reach of my hand and a moment later I had turned about and the precious thing was in my grasp.
Assiduously I fell to work upon the Mahar lock that held my chain. It was pitifully simple. A child might have picked it, and a moment later I was free. The Mahars were now evidently completing their work at the table. One already turned away and was examining other victims, evidently with the intention of selecting the next subject.
Those at the table had their backs toward me. But for the creature walking toward us I might have escaped that moment. Slowly the thing approached me, when its attention was attracted by a huge slave chained a few yards to my right. Here the reptile stopped and commenced to go over the poor devil carefully, and as it did so its back turned toward me for an instant, and in that instant I gave two mighty leaps that carried me out of the chamber into the corridor beyond, down which I raced with all the speed I could command.
Where I was, or whither I was going, I knew not. My only thought was to place as much distance as possible between me and that frightful chamber of torture.
Presently I reduced my speed to a brisk walk, and later realizing the danger of running into some new predicament, were I not careful, I moved still more slowly and cautiously. After a time I came to a passage that seemed in some mysterious way familiar to me, and presently, chancing to glance within a chamber which led from the corridor I saw three Mahars curled up in slumber upon a bed of skins. I could have shouted aloud in joy and relief. It was the same corridor and the same Mahars that I had intended to have lead so important a role in our escape from Phutra. Providence had indeed been kind to me, for the reptiles still slept.
My one great danger now lay in returning to the upper levels in search of Perry and Ghak, but there was nothing else to be done, and so I hastened upward. When I came to the frequented portions of the building, I found a large burden of skins in a corner and these I lifted to my head, carrying them in such a way that ends and corners fell down about my shoulders completely hiding my face. Thus disguised I found Perry and Ghak together in the chamber where we had been wont to eat and sleep.
Both were glad to see me, it was needless to say, though of course they had known nothing of the fate that had been meted out to me by my judges. It was decided that no time should now be lost before attempting to put our plan of escape to the test, as I could not hope to remain hidden from the Sagoths long, nor could I forever carry that bale of skins about upon my head without arousing suspicion. However it seemed likely that it would carry me once more safely through the crowded passages and chambers of the upper levels, and so I set out with Perry and Ghak—the stench of the illy cured pelts fairly choking me.
Together we repaired to the first tier of corridors beneath the main floor of the buildings, and here Perry and Ghak halted to await me. The buildings are cut out of the solid limestone formation. There is nothing at all remarkable about their architecture. The rooms are sometimes rectangular, sometimes circular, and again oval in shape. The corridors which connect them are narrow and not always straight. The chambers are lighted by diffused sunlight reflected through tubes similar to those by which the avenues are lighted. The lower the tiers of chambers, the darker. Most of the corridors are entirely unlighted. The Mahars can see quite well in semidarkness.
Down to the main floor we encountered many Mahars, Sagoths, and slaves; but no attention was paid to us as we had become a part of the domestic life of the building. There was but a single entrance leading from the place into the avenue and this was well guarded by Sagoths—this doorway alone were we forbidden to pass. It is true that we were not supposed to enter the deeper corridors and apartments except on special occasions when we were instructed to do so; but as we were considered a lower order without intelligence there was little reason to fear that we could accomplish any harm by so doing, and so we were not hindered as we entered the corridor which led below.
Wrapped in a skin I carried three swords, and the two bows, and the arrows which Perry and I had fashioned. As many slaves bore skin-wrapped burdens to and fro my load attracted no comment. Where I left Ghak and Perry there were no other creatures in sight, and so I withdrew one sword from the package, and leaving the balance of the weapons with Perry, started on alone toward the lower levels.
Having come to the apartment in which the three Mahars slept I entered silently on tiptoe, forgetting that the creatures were without the sense of hearing. With a quick thrust through the heart I disposed of the first but my second thrust was not so fortunate, so that before I could kill the next of my victims it had hurled itself against the third, who sprang quickly up, facing me with wide-distended jaws. But fighting is not the occupation which the race of Mahars loves, and when the thing saw that I already had dispatched two of its companions, and that my sword was red with their blood, it made a dash to escape me. But I was too quick for it, and so, half hopping, half flying, it scurried down another corridor with me close upon its heels.
Its escape meant the utter ruin of our plan, and in all probability my instant death. This thought lent wings to my feet; but even at my best I could do no more than hold my own with the leaping thing before me.
Of a sudden it turned into an apartment on the right of the corridor, and an instant later as I rushed in I found myself facing two of the Mahars. The one who had been there when we entered had been occupied with a number of metal vessels, into which had been put powders and liquids as I judged from the array of flasks standing about upon the bench where it had been working. In an instant I realized what I had stumbled upon. It was the very room for the finding of which Perry had given me minute directions. It was the buried chamber in which was hidden the Great Secret of the race of Mahars. And on the bench beside the flasks lay the skin-bound book which held the only copy of the thing I was to have sought, after dispatching the three Mahars in their sleep.
There was no exit from the room other than the doorway in which I now stood facing the two frightful reptiles. Cornered, I knew that they would fight like demons, and they were well equipped to fight if fight they must. Together they launched themselves upon me, and though I ran one of them through the heart on the instant, the other fastened its gleaming fangs about my sword arm above the elbow, and then with her sharp talons commenced to rake me about the body, evidently intent upon disemboweling me. I saw that it was useless to hope that I might release my arm from that powerful, viselike grip which seemed to be severing my arm from my body. The pain I suffered was intense, but it only served to spur me to greater efforts to overcome my antagonist.
Back and forth across the floor we struggled—the Mahar dealing me terrific, cutting blows with her fore feet, while I attempted to protect my body with my left hand, at the same time watching for an opportunity to transfer my blade from my now useless sword hand to its rapidly weakening mate. At last I was successful, and with what seemed to me my last ounce of strength I ran the blade through the ugly body of my foe.
Soundless, as it had fought, it died, and though weak from pain and loss of blood, it was with an emotion of triumphant pride that I stepped across its convulsively stiffening corpse to snatch up the most potent secret of a world. A single glance assured me it was the very thing that Perry had described to me.
And as I grasped it did I think of what it meant to the human race of Pellucidar—did there flash through my mind the thought that countless generations of my own kind yet unborn would have reason to worship me for the thing that I had accomplished for them? I did not. I thought of a beautiful oval face, gazing out of limpid eyes, through a waving mass of jet-black hair. I thought of red, red lips, God-made for kissing. And of a sudden, apropos of nothing, standing there alone in the secret chamber of the Mahars of Pellucidar, I realized that I loved Dian the Beautiful.
XII
PURSUIT
For an instant I stood there thinking of her, and then, with a sigh, I tucked the book in the thong that supported my loin cloth, and turned to leave the apartment. At the bottom of the corridor which leads aloft from the lower chambers I whistled in accordance with the prearranged signal which was to announce to Perry and Ghak that I had been successful. A moment later they stood beside me, and to my surprise I saw that Hooja the Sly One accompanied them.
"He joined us," explained Perry, "and would not be denied. The fellow is a fox. He scents escape, and rather than be thwarted of our chance now I told him that I would bring him to you, and let you decide whether he might accompany us."
I had no love for Hooja, and no confidence in him. I was sure that if he thought it would profit him he would betray us; but I saw no way out of it now, and the fact that I had killed four Mahars instead of only the three I had expected to, made it possible to include the fellow in our scheme of escape.
"Very well," I said, "you may come with us, Hooja; but at the first intimation of treachery I shall run my sword through you. Do you understand?"
He said that he did.
Some time later we had removed the skins from the four Mahars, and so succeeded in crawling inside of them ourselves that there seemed an excellent chance for us to pass unnoticed from Phutra. It was not an easy thing to fasten the hides together where we had split them along the belly to remove them from their carcasses, but by remaining out until the others had all been sewed in with my help, and then leaving an aperture in the breast of Perry's skin through which he could pass his hands to sew me up, we were enabled to accomplish our design to really much better purpose than I had hoped. We managed to keep the heads erect by passing our swords up through the necks, and by the same means were enabled to move them about in a life-like manner. We had our greatest difficulty with the webbed feet, but even that problem was finally solved, so that when we moved about we did so quite naturally. Tiny holes punctured in the baggy throats into which our heads were thrust permitted us to see well enough to guide our progress.
Thus we started up toward the main floor of the building. Ghak headed the strange procession, then came Perry, followed by Hooja, while I brought up the rear, after admonishing Hooja that I had so arranged my sword that I could thrust it through the head of my disguise into his vitals were he to show any indication of faltering.
As the noise of hurrying feet warned me that we were entering the busy corridors of the main level, my heart came up into my mouth. It is with no sense of shame that I admit that I was frightened—never before in my life, nor since, did I experience any such agony of soulsearing fear and suspense as enveloped me. If it be possible to sweat blood, I sweat it then.
Slowly, after the manner of locomotion habitual to the Mahars, when they are not using their wings, we crept through throngs of busy slaves, Sagoths, and Mahars. After what seemed an eternity we reached the outer door which leads into the main avenue of Phutra. Many Sagoths loitered near the opening. They glanced at Ghak as he padded between them. Then Perry passed, and then Hooja. Now it was my turn, and then in a sudden fit of freezing terror I realized that the warm blood from my wounded arm was trickling down through the dead foot of the Mahar skin I wore and leaving its tell-tale mark upon the pavement, for I saw a Sagoth call a companion's attention to it.
The guard stepped before me and pointing to my bleeding foot spoke to me in the sign language which these two races employ as a means of communication. Even had I known what he was saying I could not have replied with the dead thing that covered me. I once had seen a great Mahar freeze a presumptuous Sagoth with a look. It seemed my only hope, and so I tried it. Stopping in my tracks I moved my sword so that it made the dead head appear to turn inquiring eyes upon the gorilla-man. For a long moment I stood perfectly still, eyeing the fellow with those dead eyes. Then I lowered the head and started slowly on. For a moment all hung in the balance, but before I touched him the guard stepped to one side, and I passed on out into the avenue.
On we went up the broad street, but now we were safe for the very numbers of our enemies that surrounded us on all sides. Fortunately, there was a great concourse of Mahars repairing to the shallow lake which lies a mile or more from the city. They go there to indulge their amphibian proclivities in diving for small fish, and enjoying the cool depths of the water. It is a fresh-water lake, shallow, and free from the larger reptiles which make the use of the great seas of Pellucidar impossible for any but their own kind.
In the thick of the crowd we passed up the steps and out onto the plain. For some distance Ghak remained with the stream that was traveling toward the lake, but finally, at the bottom of a little gully he halted, and there we remained until all had passed and we were alone. Then, still in our disguises, we set off directly away from Phutra.
The heat of the vertical rays of the sun was fast making our horrible prisons unbearable, so that after passing a low divide, and entering a sheltering forest, we finally discarded the Mahar skins that had brought us thus far in safety.
I shall not weary you with the details of that bitter and galling flight. How we traveled at a dogged run until we dropped in our tracks. How we were beset by strange and terrible beasts. How we barely escaped the cruel fangs of lions and tigers the size of which would dwarf into pitiful insignificance the greatest felines of the outer world.
On and on we raced, our one thought to put as much distance between ourselves and Phutra as possible. Ghak was leading us to his own land—the land of Sari. No sign of pursuit had developed, and yet we were sure that somewhere behind us relentless Sagoths were dogging our tracks. Ghak said they never failed to hunt down their quarry until they had captured it or themselves been turned back by a superior force.
Our only hope, he said, lay in reaching his tribe which was quite strong enough in their mountain fastness to beat off any number of Sagoths.
At last, after what seemed months, and may, I now realize, have been years, we came in sight of the dun escarpment which buttressed the foothills of Sari. At almost the same instant, Hooja, who looked ever quite as much behind as before, announced that he could see a body of men far behind us topping a low ridge in our wake. It was the long-expected pursuit.
I asked Ghak if we could make Sari in time to escape them.
"We may," he replied; "but you will find that the Sagoths can move with incredible swiftness, and as they are almost tireless they are doubtless much fresher than we. Then—" he paused, glancing at Perry.
I knew what he meant. The old man was exhausted. For much of the period of our flight either Ghak or I had half supported him on the march. With such a handicap, less fleet pursuers than the Sagoths might easily overtake us before we could scale the rugged heights which confronted us.
"You and Hooja go on ahead," I said. "Perry and I will make it if we are able. We cannot travel as rapidly as you two, and there is no reason why all should be lost because of that. It can't be helped—we have simply to face it."
"I will not desert a companion," was Ghak's simple reply. I hadn't known that this great, hairy, primeval man had any such nobility of character stowed away inside him. I had always liked him, but now to my liking was added honor and respect. Yes, and love.
But still I urged him to go on ahead, insisting that if he could reach his people he might be able to bring out a sufficient force to drive off the Sagoths and rescue Perry and myself.
No, he wouldn't leave us, and that was all there was to it, but he suggested that Hooja might hurry on and warn the Sarians of the king's danger. It didn't require much urging to start Hooja—the naked idea was enough to send him leaping on ahead of us into the foothills which we now had reached.
Perry realized that he was jeopardizing Ghak's life and mine and the old fellow fairly begged us to go on without him, although I knew that he was suffering a perfect anguish of terror at the thought of falling into the hands of the Sagoths. Ghak finally solved the problem, in part, by lifting Perry in his powerful arms and carrying him. While the act cut down Ghak's speed he still could travel faster thus than when half supporting the stumbling old man.
XIII
THE SLY ONE
The Sagoths were gaining on us rapidly, for once they had sighted us they had greatly increased their speed. On and on we stumbled up the narrow canyon that Ghak had chosen to approach the heights of Sari. On either side rose precipitous cliffs of gorgeous, parti-colored rock, while beneath our feet a thick mountain grass formed a soft and noiseless carpet. Since we had entered the canyon we had had no glimpse of our pursuers, and I was commencing to hope that they had lost our trail and that we would reach the now rapidly nearing cliffs in time to scale them before we should be overtaken.
Ahead we neither saw nor heard any sign which might betoken the success of Hooja's mission. By now he should have reached the outposts of the Sarians, and we should at least hear the savage cries of the tribesmen as they swarmed to arms in answer to their king's appeal for succor. In another moment the frowning cliffs ahead should be black with primeval warriors. But nothing of the kind happened—as a matter of fact the Sly One had betrayed us. At the moment that we expected to see Sarian spearmen charging to our relief at Hooja's back, the craven traitor was sneaking around the outskirts of the nearest Sarian village, that he might come up from the other side when it was too late to save us, claiming that he had become lost among the mountains.
Hooja still harbored ill will against me because of the blow I had struck in Dian's protection, and his malevolent spirit was equal to sacrificing us all that he might be revenged upon me.
As we drew nearer the barrier cliffs and no sign of rescuing Sarians appeared Ghak became both angry and alarmed, and presently as the sound of rapidly approaching pursuit fell upon our ears, he called to me over his shoulder that we were lost.
A backward glance gave me a glimpse of the first of the Sagoths at the far end of a considerable stretch of canyon through which we had just passed, and then a sudden turning shut the ugly creature from my view; but the loud howl of triumphant rage which rose behind us was evidence that the gorilla-man had sighted us.
Again the canyon veered sharply to the left, but to the right another branch ran on at a lesser deviation from the general direction, so that appeared more like the main canyon than the left-hand branch. The Sagoths were now not over two hundred and fifty yards behind us, and I saw that it was hopeless for us to expect to escape other than by a ruse. There was a bare chance of saving Ghak and Perry, and as I reached the branching of the canyon I took the chance.
Pausing there I waited until the foremost Sagoth hove into sight. Ghak and Perry had disappeared around a bend in the left-hand canyon, and as the Sagoth's savage yell announced that he had seen me I turned and fled up the right-hand branch. My ruse was successful, and the entire party of man-hunters raced headlong after me up one canyon while Ghak bore Perry to safety up the other.
Running has never been my particular athletic forte, and now when my very life depended upon fleetness of foot I cannot say that I ran any better than on the occasions when my pitiful base running had called down upon my head the rooter's raucous and reproachful cries of "Ice Wagon," and "Call a cab."
The Sagoths were gaining on me rapidly. There was one in particular, fleeter than his fellows, who was perilously close. The canyon had become a rocky slit, rising roughly at a steep angle toward what seemed a pass between two abutting peaks. What lay beyond I could not even guess—possibly a sheer drop of hundreds of feet into the corresponding valley upon the other side. Could it be that I had plunged into a cul-de-sac?
Realizing that I could not hope to outdistance the Sagoths to the top of the canyon I had determined to risk all in an attempt to check them temporarily, and to this end had unslung my rudely made bow and plucked an arrow from the skin quiver which hung behind my shoulder. As I fitted the shaft with my right hand I stopped and wheeled toward the gorilla-man.
In the world of my birth I never had drawn a shaft, but since our escape from Phutra I had kept the party supplied with small game by means of my arrows, and so, through necessity, had developed a fair degree of accuracy. During our flight from Phutra I had restrung my bow with a piece of heavy gut taken from a huge tiger which Ghak and I had worried and finally dispatched with arrows, spear, and sword. The hard wood of the bow was extremely tough and this, with the strength and elasticity of my new string, gave me unwonted confidence in my weapon.
Never had I greater need of steady nerves than then—never were my nerves and muscles under better control. I sighted as carefully and deliberately as though at a straw target. The Sagoth had never before seen a bow and arrow, but of a sudden it must have swept over his dull intellect that the thing I held toward him was some sort of engine of destruction, for he too came to a halt, simultaneously swinging his hatchet for a throw. It is one of the many methods in which they employ this weapon, and the accuracy of aim which they achieve, even under the most unfavorable circumstances, is little short of miraculous.
My shaft was drawn back its full length—my eye had centered its sharp point upon the left breast of my adversary; and then he launched his hatchet and I released my arrow. At the instant that our missiles flew I leaped to one side, but the Sagoth sprang forward to follow up his attack with a spear thrust. I felt the swish of the hatchet at it grazed my head, and at the same instant my shaft pierced the Sagoth's savage heart, and with a single groan he lunged almost at my feet—stone dead. Close behind him were two more—fifty yards perhaps—but the distance gave me time to snatch up the dead guardsman's shield, for the close call his hatchet had just given me had borne in upon me the urgent need I had for one. Those which I had purloined at Phutra we had not been able to bring along because their size precluded our concealing them within the skins of the Mahars which had brought us safely from the city.
With the shield slipped well up on my left arm I let fly with another arrow, which brought down a second Sagoth, and then as his fellow's hatchet sped toward me I caught it upon the shield, and fitted another shaft for him; but he did not wait to receive it. Instead, he turned and retreated toward the main body of gorilla-men. Evidently he had seen enough of me for the moment.
Once more I took up my flight, nor were the Sagoths apparently overanxious to press their pursuit so closely as before. Unmolested I reached the top of the canyon where I found a sheer drop of two or three hundred feet to the bottom of a rocky chasm; but on the left a narrow ledge rounded the shoulder of the overhanging cliff. Along this I advanced, and at a sudden turning, a few yards beyond the canyon's end, the path widened, and at my left I saw the opening to a large cave. Before, the ledge continued until it passed from sight about another projecting buttress of the mountain.
Here, I felt, I could defy an army, for but a single foeman could advance upon me at a time, nor could he know that I was awaiting him until he came full upon me around the corner of the turn. About me lay scattered stones crumbled from the cliff above. They were of various sizes and shapes, but enough were of handy dimensions for use as ammunition in lieu of my precious arrows. Gathering a number of stones into a little pile beside the mouth of the cave I waited the advance of the Sagoths.
As I stood there, tense and silent, listening for the first faint sound that should announce the approach of my enemies, a slight noise from within the cave's black depths attracted my attention. It might have been produced by the moving of the great body of some huge beast rising from the rock floor of its lair. At almost the same instant I thought that I caught the scraping of hide sandals upon the ledge beyond the turn. For the next few seconds my attention was considerably divided.
And then from the inky blackness at my right I saw two flaming eyes glaring into mine. They were on a level that was over two feet above my head. It is true that the beast who owned them might be standing upon a ledge within the cave, or that it might be rearing up upon its hind legs; but I had seen enough of the monsters of Pellucidar to know that I might be facing some new and frightful Titan whose dimensions and ferocity eclipsed those of any I had seen before.
Whatever it was, it was coming slowly toward the entrance of the cave, and now, deep and forbidding, it uttered a low and ominous growl. I waited no longer to dispute possession of the ledge with the thing which owned that voice. The noise had not been loud—I doubt if the Sagoths heard it at all—but the suggestion of latent possibilities behind it was such that I knew it would only emanate from a gigantic and ferocious beast.
As I backed along the ledge I soon was past the mouth of the cave, where I no longer could see those fearful flaming eyes, but an instant later I caught sight of the fiendish face of a Sagoth as it warily advanced beyond the cliff's turn on the far side of the cave's mouth. As the fellow saw me he leaped along the ledge in pursuit, and after him came as many of his companions as could crowd upon each other's heels. At the same time the beast emerged from the cave, so that he and the Sagoths came face to face upon that narrow ledge.
The thing was an enormous cave bear, rearing its colossal bulk fully eight feet at the shoulder, while from the tip of its nose to the end of its stubby tail it was fully twelve feet in length. As it sighted the Sagoths it emitted a most frightful roar, and with open mouth charged full upon them. With a cry of terror the foremost gorilla-man turned to escape, but behind him he ran full upon his on-rushing companions.
The horror of the following seconds is indescribable. The Sagoth nearest the cave bear, finding his escape blocked, turned and leaped deliberately to an awful death upon the jagged rocks three hundred feet below. Then those giant jaws reached out and gathered in the next—there was a sickening sound of crushing bones, and the mangled corpse was dropped over the cliff's edge. Nor did the mighty beast even pause in his steady advance along the ledge.
Shrieking Sagoths were now leaping madly over the precipice to escape him, and the last I saw he rounded the turn still pursuing the demoralized remnant of the man hunters. For a long time I could hear the horrid roaring of the brute intermingled with the screams and shrieks of his victims, until finally the awful sounds dwindled and disappeared in the distance.
Later I learned from Ghak, who had finally come to his tribesmen and returned with a party to rescue me, that the ryth, as it is called, pursued the Sagoths until it had exterminated the entire band. Ghak was, of course, positive that I had fallen prey to the terrible creature, which, within Pellucidar, is truly the king of beasts.
Not caring to venture back into the canyon, where I might fall prey either to the cave bear or the Sagoths I continued on along the ledge, believing that by following around the mountain I could reach the land of Sari from another direction. But I evidently became confused by the twisting and turning of the canyons and gullies, for I did not come to the land of Sari then, nor for a long time thereafter.
XIV
THE GARDEN OF EDEN
With no heavenly guide, it is little wonder that I became confused and lost in the labyrinthine maze of those mighty hills. What, in reality, I did was to pass entirely through them and come out above the valley upon the farther side. I know that I wandered for a long time, until tired and hungry I came upon a small cave in the face of the limestone formation which had taken the place of the granite farther back.
The cave which took my fancy lay halfway up the precipitous side of a lofty cliff. The way to it was such that I knew no extremely formidable beast could frequent it, nor was it large enough to make a comfortable habitat for any but the smaller mammals or reptiles. Yet it was with the utmost caution that I crawled within its dark interior.
Here I found a rather large chamber, lighted by a narrow cleft in the rock above which let the sunlight filter in in sufficient quantities partially to dispel the utter darkness which I had expected. The cave was entirely empty, nor were there any signs of its having been recently occupied. The opening was comparatively small, so that after considerable effort I was able to lug up a bowlder from the valley below which entirely blocked it.
Then I returned again to the valley for an armful of grasses and on this trip was fortunate enough to knock over an orthopi, the diminutive horse of Pellucidar, a little animal about the size of a fox terrier, which abounds in all parts of the inner world. Thus, with food and bedding I returned to my lair, where after a meal of raw meat, to which I had now become quite accustomed, I dragged the bowlder before the entrance and curled myself upon a bed of grasses—a naked, primeval, cave man, as savagely primitive as my prehistoric progenitors.
I awoke rested but hungry, and pushing the bowlder aside crawled out upon the little rocky shelf which was my front porch. Before me spread a small but beautiful valley, through the center of which a clear and sparkling river wound its way down to an inland sea, the blue waters of which were just visible between the two mountain ranges which embraced this little paradise. The sides of the opposite hills were green with verdure, for a great forest clothed them to the foot of the red and yellow and copper green of the towering crags which formed their summit. The valley itself was carpeted with a luxuriant grass, while here and there patches of wild flowers made great splashes of vivid color against the prevailing green.
Dotted over the face of the valley were little clusters of palmlike trees—three or four together as a rule. Beneath these stood antelope, while others grazed in the open, or wandered gracefully to a nearby ford to drink. There were several species of this beautiful animal, the most magnificent somewhat resembling the giant eland of Africa, except that their spiral horns form a complete curve backward over their ears and then forward again beneath them, ending in sharp and formidable points some two feet before the face and above the eyes. In size they remind one of a pure bred Hereford bull, yet they are very agile and fast. The broad yellow bands that stripe the dark roan of their coats made me take them for zebra when I first saw them. All in all they are handsome animals, and added the finishing touch to the strange and lovely landscape that spread before my new home.
I had determined to make the cave my headquarters, and with it as a base make a systematic exploration of the surrounding country in search of the land of Sari. First I devoured the remainder of the carcass of the orthopi I had killed before my last sleep. Then I hid the Great Secret in a deep niche at the back of my cave, rolled the bowlder before my front door, and with bow, arrows, sword, and shield scrambled down into the peaceful valley.
The grazing herds moved to one side as I passed through them, the little orthopi evincing the greatest wariness and galloping to safest distances. All the animals stopped feeding as I approached, and after moving to what they considered a safe distance stood contemplating me with serious eyes and up-cocked ears. Once one of the old bull antelopes of the striped species lowered his head and bellowed angrily—even taking a few steps in my direction, so that I thought he meant to charge; but after I had passed, he resumed feeding as though nothing had disturbed him.
Near the lower end of the valley I passed a number of tapirs, and across the river saw a great sadok, the enormous double-horned progenitor of the modern rhinoceros. At the valley's end the cliffs upon the left ran out into the sea, so that to pass around them as I desired to do it was necessary to scale them in search of a ledge along which I might continue my journey. Some fifty feet from the base I came upon a projection which formed a natural path along the face of the cliff, and this I followed out over the sea toward the cliff's end.
Here the ledge inclined rapidly upward toward the top of the cliffs—the stratum which formed it evidently having been forced up at this steep angle when the mountains behind it were born. As I climbed carefully up the ascent my attention suddenly was attracted aloft by the sound of strange hissing, and what resembled the flapping of wings.
And at the first glance there broke upon my horrified vision the most frightful thing I had seen even within Pellucidar. It was a giant dragon such as is pictured in the legends and fairy tales of earth folk. Its huge body must have measured forty feet in length, while the bat-like wings that supported it in midair had a spread of fully thirty. Its gaping jaws were armed with long, sharp teeth, and its claw equipped with horrible talons.
The hissing noise which had first attracted my attention was issuing from its throat, and seemed to be directed at something beyond and below me which I could not see. The ledge upon which I stood terminated abruptly a few paces farther on, and as I reached the end I saw the cause of the reptile's agitation.
Some time in past ages an earthquake had produced a fault at this point, so that beyond the spot where I stood the strata had slipped down a matter of twenty feet. The result was that the continuation of my ledge lay twenty feet below me, where it ended as abruptly as did the end upon which I stood.
And here, evidently halted in flight by this insurmountable break in the ledge, stood the object of the creature's attack—a girl cowering upon the narrow platform, her face buried in her arms, as though to shut out the sight of the frightful death which hovered just above her.
The dragon was circling lower, and seemed about to dart in upon its prey. There was no time to be lost, scarce an instant in which to weigh the possible chances that I had against the awfully armed creature; but the sight of that frightened girl below me called out to all that was best in me, and the instinct for protection of the other sex, which nearly must have equaled the instinct of self-preservation in primeval man, drew me to the girl's side like an irresistible magnet.
Almost thoughtless of the consequences, I leaped from the end of the ledge upon which I stood, for the tiny shelf twenty feet below. At the same instant the dragon darted in toward the girl, but my sudden advent upon the scene must have startled him for he veered to one side, and then rose above us once more.
The noise I made as I landed beside her convinced the girl that the end had come, for she thought I was the dragon; but finally when no cruel fangs closed upon her she raised her eyes in astonishment. As they fell upon me the expression that came into them would be difficult to describe; but her feelings could scarcely have been one whit more complicated than my own—for the wide eyes that looked into mine were those of Dian the Beautiful.
"Dian!" I cried. "Dian! Thank God that I came in time."
"You?" she whispered, and then she hid her face again; nor could I tell whether she were glad or angry that I had come.
Once more the dragon was sweeping toward us, and so rapidly that I had no time to unsling my bow. All that I could do was to snatch up a rock, and hurl it at the thing's hideous face. Again my aim was true, and with a hiss of pain and rage the reptile wheeled once more and soared away.
Quickly I fitted an arrow now that I might be ready at the next attack, and as I did so I looked down at the girl, so that I surprised her in a surreptitious glance which she was stealing at me; but immediately, she again covered her face with her hands.
"Look at me, Dian," I pleaded. "Are you not glad to see me?"
She looked straight into my eyes.
"I hate you," she said, and then, as I was about to beg for a fair hearing she pointed over my shoulder. "The thipdar comes," she said, and I turned again to meet the reptile.
So this was a thipdar. I might have known it. The cruel bloodhound of the Mahars. The long-extinct pterodactyl of the outer world. But this time I met it with a weapon it never had faced before. I had selected my longest arrow, and with all my strength had bent the bow until the very tip of the shaft rested upon the thumb of my left hand, and then as the great creature darted toward us I let drive straight for that tough breast.
Hissing like the escape valve of a steam engine, the mighty creature fell turning and twisting into the sea below, my arrow buried completely in its carcass. I turned toward the girl. She was looking past me. It was evident that she had seen the thipdar die.
"Dian," I said, "won't you tell me that you are not sorry that I have found you?"
"I hate you," was her only reply; but I imagined that there was less vehemence in it than before—yet it might have been but my imagination.
"Why do you hate me, Dian?" I asked, but she did not answer me.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, "and what has happened to you since Hooja freed you from the Sagoths?"
At first I thought that she was going to ignore me entirely, but finally she thought better of it.
"I was again running away from Jubal the Ugly One," she said. "After I escaped from the Sagoths I made my way alone back to my own land; but on account of Jubal I did not dare enter the villages or let any of my friends know that I had returned for fear that Jubal might find out. By watching for a long time I found that my brother had not yet returned, and so I continued to live in a cave beside a valley which my race seldom frequents, awaiting the time that he should come back and free me from Jubal.
"But at last one of Jubal's hunters saw me as I was creeping toward my father's cave to see if my brother had yet returned and he gave the alarm and Jubal set out after me. He has been pursuing me across many lands. He cannot be far behind me now. When he comes he will kill you and carry me back to his cave. He is a terrible man. I have gone as far as I can go, and there is no escape," and she looked hopelessly up at the continuation of the ledge twenty feet above us.
"But he shall not have me," she suddenly cried, with great vehemence. "The sea is there"—she pointed over the edge of the cliff—"and the sea shall have me rather than Jubal."
"But I have you now Dian," I cried; "nor shall Jubal, nor any other have you, for you are mine," and I seized her hand, nor did I lift it above her head and let it fall in token of release.
She had risen to her feet, and was looking straight into my eyes with level gaze.
"I do not believe you," she said, "for if you meant it you would have done this when the others were present to witness it—then I should truly have been your mate; now there is no one to see you do it, for you know that without witnesses your act does not bind you to me," and she withdrew her hand from mine and turned away.
I tried to convince her that I was sincere, but she simply couldn't forget the humiliation that I had put upon her on that other occasion.
"If you mean all that you say you will have ample chance to prove it," she said, "if Jubal does not catch and kill you. I am in your power, and the treatment you accord me will be the best proof of your intentions toward me. I am not your mate, and again I tell you that I hate you, and that I should be glad if I never saw you again."
Dian certainly was candid. There was no gainsaying that. In fact I found candor and directness to be quite a marked characteristic of the cave men of Pellucidar. Finally I suggested that we make some attempt to gain my cave, where we might escape the searching Jubal, for I am free to admit that I had no considerable desire to meet the formidable and ferocious creature, of whose mighty prowess Dian had told me when I first met her. He it was who, armed with a puny knife, had met and killed a cave bear in a hand-to-hand struggle. It was Jubal who could cast his spear entirely through the armored carcass of the sadok at fifty paces. It was he who had crushed the skull of a charging dyryth with a single blow of his war club. No, I was not pining to meet the Ugly One-and it was quite certain that I should not go out and hunt for him; but the matter was taken out of my hands very quickly, as is often the way, and I did meet Jubal the Ugly One face to face.
This is how it happened. I had led Dian back along the ledge the way she had come, searching for a path that would lead us to the top of the cliff, for I knew that we could then cross over to the edge of my own little valley, where I felt certain we should find a means of ingress from the cliff top. As we proceeded along the ledge I gave Dian minute directions for finding my cave against the chance of something happening to me. I knew that she would be quite safely hidden away from pursuit once she gained the shelter of my lair, and the valley would afford her ample means of sustenance.
Also, I was very much piqued by her treatment of me. My heart was sad and heavy, and I wanted to make her feel badly by suggesting that something terrible might happen to me—that I might, in fact, be killed. But it didn't work worth a cent, at least as far as I could perceive. Dian simply shrugged those magnificent shoulders of hers, and murmured something to the effect that one was not rid of trouble so easily as that.
For a while I kept still. I was utterly squelched. And to think that I had twice protected her from attack—the last time risking my life to save hers. It was incredible that even a daughter of the Stone Age could be so ungrateful—so heartless; but maybe her heart partook of the qualities of her epoch.
Presently we found a rift in the cliff which had been widened and extended by the action of the water draining through it from the plateau above. It gave us a rather rough climb to the summit, but finally we stood upon the level mesa which stretched back for several miles to the mountain range. Behind us lay the broad inland sea, curving upward in the horizonless distance to merge into the blue of the sky, so that for all the world it looked as though the sea lapped back to arch completely over us and disappear beyond the distant mountains at our backs—the weird and uncanny aspect of the seascapes of Pellucidar balk description.
At our right lay a dense forest, but to the left the country was open and clear to the plateau's farther verge. It was in this direction that our way led, and we had turned to resume our journey when Dian touched my arm. I turned to her, thinking that she was about to make peace overtures; but I was mistaken.
"Jubal," she said, and nodded toward the forest.
I looked, and there, emerging from the dense wood, came a perfect whale of a man. He must have been seven feet tall, and proportioned accordingly. He still was too far off to distinguish his features.
"Run," I said to Dian. "I can engage him until you get a good start. Maybe I can hold him until you have gotten entirely away," and then, without a backward glance, I advanced to meet the Ugly One. I had hoped that Dian would have a kind word to say to me before she went, for she must have known that I was going to my death for her sake; but she never even so much as bid me good-bye, and it was with a heavy heart that I strode through the flower-bespangled grass to my doom.
When I had come close enough to Jubal to distinguish his features I understood how it was that he had earned the sobriquet of Ugly One. Apparently some fearful beast had ripped away one entire side of his face. The eye was gone, the nose, and all the flesh, so that his jaws and all his teeth were exposed and grinning through the horrible scar.
Formerly he may have been as good to look upon as the others of his handsome race, and it may be that the terrible result of this encounter had tended to sour an already strong and brutal character. However this may be it is quite certain that he was not a pretty sight, and now that his features, or what remained of them, were distorted in rage at the sight of Dian with another male, he was indeed most terrible to see—and much more terrible to meet.
He had broken into a run now, and as he advanced he raised his mighty spear, while I halted and fitting an arrow to my bow took as steady aim as I could. I was somewhat longer than usual, for I must confess that the sight of this awful man had wrought upon my nerves to such an extent that my knees were anything but steady. What chance had I against this mighty warrior for whom even the fiercest cave bear had no terrors! Could I hope to best one who slaughtered the sadok and dyryth single-handed! I shuddered; but, in fairness to myself, my fear was more for Dian than for my own fate.
And then the great brute launched his massive stone-tipped spear, and I raised my shield to break the force of its terrific velocity. The impact hurled me to my knees, but the shield had deflected the missile and I was unscathed. Jubal was rushing upon me now with the only remaining weapon that he carried—a murderous-looking knife. He was too close for a careful bowshot, but I let drive at him as he came, without taking aim. My arrow pierced the fleshy part of his thigh, inflicting a painful but not disabling wound. And then he was upon me.
My agility saved me for the instant. I ducked beneath his raised arm, and when he wheeled to come at me again he found a sword's point in his face. And a moment later he felt an inch or two of it in the muscles of his knife arm, so that thereafter he went more warily.
It was a duel of strategy now—the great, hairy man maneuvering to get inside my guard where he could bring those giant thews to play, while my wits were directed to the task of keeping him at arm's length. Thrice he rushed me, and thrice I caught his knife blow upon my shield. Each time my sword found his body—once penetrating to his lung. He was covered with blood by this time, and the internal hemorrhage induced paroxysms of coughing that brought the red stream through the hideous mouth and nose, covering his face and breast with bloody froth. He was a most unlovely spectacle, but he was far from dead.
As the duel continued I began to gain confidence, for, to be perfectly candid, I had not expected to survive the first rush of that monstrous engine of ungoverned rage and hatred. And I think that Jubal, from utter contempt of me, began to change to a feeling of respect, and then in his primitive mind there evidently loomed the thought that perhaps at last he had met his master, and was facing his end.
At any rate it is only upon this hypothesis that I can account for his next act, which was in the nature of a last resort—a sort of forlorn hope, which could only have been born of the belief that if he did not kill me quickly I should kill him. It happened on the occasion of his fourth charge, when, instead of striking at me with his knife, he dropped that weapon, and seizing my sword blade in both his hands wrenched the weapon from my grasp as easily as from a babe.
Flinging it far to one side he stood motionless for just an instant glaring into my face with such a horrid leer of malignant triumph as to almost unnerve me—then he sprang for me with his bare hands. But it was Jubal's day to learn new methods of warfare. For the first time he had seen a bow and arrows, never before that duel had he beheld a sword, and now he learned what a man who knows may do with his bare fists.
As he came for me, like a great bear, I ducked again beneath his outstretched arm, and as I came up planted as clean a blow upon his jaw as ever you have seen. Down went that great mountain of flesh sprawling upon the ground. He was so surprised and dazed that he lay there for several seconds before he made any attempt to rise, and I stood over him with another dose ready when he should gain his knees.
Up he came at last, almost roaring in his rage and mortification; but he didn't stay up—I let him have a left fair on the point of the jaw that sent him tumbling over on his back. By this time I think Jubal had gone mad with hate, for no sane man would have come back for more as many times as he did. Time after time I bowled him over as fast as he could stagger up, until toward the last he lay longer on the ground between blows, and each time came up weaker than before.
He was bleeding very profusely now from the wound in his lungs, and presently a terrific blow over the heart sent him reeling heavily to the ground, where he lay very still, and somehow I knew at once that Jubal the Ugly One would never get up again. But even as I looked upon that massive body lying there so grim and terrible in death, I could not believe that I, single-handed, had bested this slayer of fearful beasts—this gigantic ogre of the Stone Age.
Picking up my sword I leaned upon it, looking down on the dead body of my foeman, and as I thought of the battle I had just fought and won a great idea was born in my brain—the outcome of this and the suggestion that Perry had made within the city of Phutra. If skill and science could render a comparative pygmy the master of this mighty brute, what could not the brute's fellows accomplish with the same skill and science. Why all Pellucidar would be at their feet—and I would be their king and Dian their queen.
Dian! A little wave of doubt swept over me. It was quite within the possibilities of Dian to look down upon me even were I king. She was quite the most superior person I ever had met—with the most convincing way of letting you know that she was superior. Well, I could go to the cave, and tell her that I had killed Jubal, and then she might feel more kindly toward me, since I had freed her of her tormentor. I hoped that she had found the cave easily—it would be terrible had I lost her again, and I turned to gather up my shield and bow to hurry after her, when to my astonishment I found her standing not ten paces behind me.
"Girl!" I cried, "what are you doing here? I thought that you had gone to the cave, as I told you to do."
Up went her head, and the look that she gave me took all the majesty out of me, and left me feeling more like the palace janitor—if palaces have janitors.
"As you told me to do!" she cried, stamping her little foot. "I do as I please. I am the daughter of a king, and furthermore, I hate you."
I was dumbfounded—this was my thanks for saving her from Jubal! I turned and looked at the corpse. "May be that I saved you from a worse fate, old man," I said, but I guess it was lost on Dian, for she never seemed to notice it at all.
"Let us go to my cave," I said, "I am tired and hungry."
She followed along a pace behind me, neither of us speaking. I was too angry, and she evidently didn't care to converse with the lower orders. I was mad all the way through, as I had certainly felt that at least a word of thanks should have rewarded me, for I knew that even by her own standards, I must have done a very wonderful thing to have killed the redoubtable Jubal in a hand-to-hand encounter.
We had no difficulty in finding my lair, and then I went down into the valley and bowled over a small antelope, which I dragged up the steep ascent to the ledge before the door. Here we ate in silence. Occasionally I glanced at her, thinking that the sight of her tearing at raw flesh with her hands and teeth like some wild animal would cause a revulsion of my sentiments toward her; but to my surprise I found that she ate quite as daintily as the most civilized woman of my acquaintance, and finally I found myself gazing in foolish rapture at the beauties of her strong, white teeth. Such is love.
After our repast we went down to the river together and bathed our hands and faces, and then after drinking our fill went back to the cave. Without a word I crawled into the farthest corner and, curling up, was soon asleep.
When I awoke I found Dian sitting in the doorway looking out across the valley. As I came out she moved to one side to let me pass, but she had no word for me. I wanted to hate her, but I couldn't. Every time I looked at her something came up in my throat, so that I nearly choked. I had never been in love before, but I did not need any aid in diagnosing my case—I certainly had it and had it bad. God, how I loved that beautiful, disdainful, tantalizing, prehistoric girl!
After we had eaten again I asked Dian if she intended returning to her tribe now that Jubal was dead, but she shook her head sadly, and said that she did not dare, for there was still Jubal's brother to be considered—his oldest brother.
"What has he to do with it?" I asked. "Does he too want you, or has the option on you become a family heirloom, to be passed on down from generation to generation?"
She was not quite sure as to what I meant.
"It is probable," she said, "that they all will want revenge for the death of Jubal—there are seven of them—seven terrible men. Someone may have to kill them all, if I am to return to my people."
It began to look as though I had assumed a contract much too large for me—about seven sizes, in fact.
"Had Jubal any cousins?" I asked. It was just as well to know the worst at once.
"Yes," replied Dian, "but they don't count—they all have mates. Jubal's brothers have no mates because Jubal could get none for himself. He was so ugly that women ran away from him—some have even thrown themselves from the cliffs of Amoz into the Darel Az rather than mate with the Ugly One."
"But what had that to do with his brothers?" I asked.
"I forget that you are not of Pellucidar," said Dian, with a look of pity mixed with contempt, and the contempt seemed to be laid on a little thicker than the circumstance warranted—as though to make quite certain that I shouldn't overlook it. "You see," she continued, "a younger brother may not take a mate until all his older brothers have done so, unless the older brother waives his prerogative, which Jubal would not do, knowing that as long as he kept them single they would be all the keener in aiding him to secure a mate."
Noticing that Dian was becoming more communicative I began to entertain hopes that she might be warming up toward me a bit, although upon what slender thread I hung my hopes I soon discovered.
"As you dare not return to Amoz," I ventured, "what is to become of you since you cannot be happy here with me, hating me as you do?"
"I shall have to put up with you," she replied coldly, "until you see fit to go elsewhere and leave me in peace, then I shall get along very well alone."
I looked at her in utter amazement. It seemed incredible that even a prehistoric woman could be so cold and heartless and ungrateful. Then I arose.
"I shall leave you now," I said haughtily, "I have had quite enough of your ingratitude and your insults," and then I turned and strode majestically down toward the valley. I had taken a hundred steps in absolute silence, and then Dian spoke.
"I hate you!" she shouted, and her voice broke—in rage, I thought.
I was absolutely miserable, but I hadn't gone too far when I began to realize that I couldn't leave her alone there without protection, to hunt her own food amid the dangers of that savage world. She might hate me, and revile me, and heap indignity after indignity upon me, as she already had, until I should have hated her; but the pitiful fact remained that I loved her, and I couldn't leave her there alone.
The more I thought about it the madder I got, so that by the time I reached the valley I was furious, and the result of it was that I turned right around and went up that cliff again as fast as I had come down. I saw that Dian had left the ledge and gone within the cave, but I bolted right in after her. She was lying upon her face on the pile of grasses I had gathered for her bed. When she heard me enter she sprang to her feet like a tigress.
"I hate you!" she cried.
Coming from the brilliant light of the noonday sun into the semidarkness of the cave I could not see her features, and I was rather glad, for I disliked to think of the hate that I should have read there.
I never said a word to her at first. I just strode across the cave and grasped her by the wrists, and when she struggled, I put my arm around her so as to pinion her hands to her sides. She fought like a tigress, but I took my free hand and pushed her head back—I imagine that I had suddenly turned brute, that I had gone back a thousand million years, and was again a veritable cave man taking my mate by force—and then I kissed that beautiful mouth again and again.
"Dian," I cried, shaking her roughly, "I love you. Can't you understand that I love you? That I love you better than all else in this world or my own? That I am going to have you? That love like mine cannot be denied?"
I noticed that she lay very still in my arms now, and as my eyes became accustomed to the light I saw that she was smiling—a very contented, happy smile. I was thunderstruck. Then I realized that, very gently, she was trying to disengage her arms, and I loosened my grip upon them so that she could do so. Slowly they came up and stole about my neck, and then she drew my lips down to hers once more and held them there for a long time. At last she spoke.
"Why didn't you do this at first, David? I have been waiting so long."
"What!" I cried. "You said that you hated me!"
"Did you expect me to run into your arms, and say that I loved you before I knew that you loved me?" she asked.
"But I have told you right along that I love you," I said. "Love speaks in acts," she replied. "You could have made your mouth say what you wished it to say, but just now when you came and took me in your arms your heart spoke to mine in the language that a woman's heart understands. What a silly man you are, David?"
"Then you haven't hated me at all, Dian?" I asked.
"I have loved you always," she whispered, "from the first moment that I saw you, although I did not know it until that time you struck down Hooja the Sly One, and then spurned me."
"But I didn't spurn you, dear," I cried. "I didn't know your ways—I doubt if I do now. It seems incredible that you could have reviled me so, and yet have cared for me all the time."
"You might have known," she said, "when I did not run away from you that it was not hate which chained me to you. While you were battling with Jubal, I could have run to the edge of the forest, and when I learned the outcome of the combat it would have been a simple thing to have eluded you and returned to my own people."
"But Jubal's brothers—and cousins—" I reminded her, "how about them?"
She smiled, and hid her face on my shoulder.
"I had to tell you something, David," she whispered. "I must needs have some excuse for remaining near you."
"You little sinner!" I exclaimed. "And you have caused me all this anguish for nothing!"
"I have suffered even more," she answered simply, "for I thought that you did not love me, and I was helpless. I couldn't come to you and demand that my love be returned, as you have just come to me. Just now when you went away hope went with you. I was wretched, terrified, miserable, and my heart was breaking. I wept, and I have not done that before since my mother died," and now I saw that there was the moisture of tears about her eyes. It was near to making me cry myself when I thought of all that poor child had been through. Motherless and unprotected; hunted across a savage, primeval world by that hideous brute of a man; exposed to the attacks of the countless fearsome denizens of its mountains, its plains, and its jungles—it was a miracle that she had survived it all.
To me it was a revelation of the things my early forebears must have endured that the human race of the outer crust might survive. It made me very proud to think that I had won the love of such a woman. Of course she couldn't read or write; there was nothing cultured or refined about her as you judge culture and refinement; but she was the essence of all that is best in woman, for she was good, and brave, and noble, and virtuous. And she was all these things in spite of the fact that their observance entailed suffering and danger and possible death.
How much easier it would have been to have gone to Jubal in the first place! She would have been his lawful mate. She would have been queen in her own land—and it meant just as much to the cave woman to be a queen in the Stone Age as it does to the woman of today to be a queen now; it's all comparative glory any way you look at it, and if there were only half-naked savages on the outer crust today, you'd find that it would be considerable glory to be the wife a Dahomey chief.
I couldn't help but compare Dian's action with that of a splendid young woman I had known in New York—I mean splendid to look at and to talk to. She had been head over heels in love with a chum of mine—a clean, manly chap—but she had married a broken-down, disreputable old debauchee because he was a count in some dinky little European principality that was not even accorded a distinctive color by Rand McNally.
Yes, I was mighty proud of Dian.
After a time we decided to set out for Sari, as I was anxious to see Perry, and to know that all was right with him. I had told Dian about our plan of emancipating the human race of Pellucidar, and she was fairly wild over it. She said that if Dacor, her brother, would only return he could easily be king of Amoz, and that then he and Ghak could form an alliance. That would give us a flying start, for the Sarians and the Amozites were both very powerful tribes. Once they had been armed with swords, and bows and arrows, and trained in their use we were confident that they could overcome any tribe that seemed disinclined to join the great army of federated states with which we were planning to march upon the Mahars.
I explained the various destructive engines of war which Perry and I could construct after a little experimentation—gunpowder, rifles, cannon, and the like, and Dian would clap her hands, and throw her arms about my neck, and tell me what a wonderful thing I was. She was beginning to think that I was omnipotent although I really hadn't done anything but talk—but that is the way with women when they love. Perry used to say that if a fellow was one-tenth as remarkable as his wife or mother thought him, he would have the world by the tail with a down-hill drag.
The first time we started for Sari I stepped into a nest of poisonous vipers before we reached the valley. A little fellow stung me on the ankle, and Dian made me come back to the cave. She said that I mustn't exercise, or it might prove fatal—if it had been a full-grown snake that struck me she said, I wouldn't have moved a single pace from the nest—I'd have died in my tracks, so virulent is the poison. As it was I must have been laid up for quite a while, though Dian's poultices of herbs and leaves finally reduced the swelling and drew out the poison.
The episode proved most fortunate, however, as it gave me an idea which added a thousand-fold to the value of my arrows as missiles of offense and defense. As soon as I was able to be about again, I sought out some adult vipers of the species which had stung me, and having killed them, I extracted their virus, smearing it upon the tips of several arrows. Later I shot a hyaenodon with one of these, and though my arrow inflicted but a superficial flesh wound the beast crumpled in death almost immediately after he was hit.
We now set out once more for the land of the Sarians, and it was with feelings of sincere regret that we bade good-bye to our beautiful Garden of Eden, in the comparative peace and harmony of which we had lived the happiest moments of our lives. How long we had been there I did not know, for as I have told you, time had ceased to exist for me beneath that eternal noonday sun—it may have been an hour, or a month of earthly time; I do not know.
XV
BACK TO EARTH
We crossed the river and passed through the mountains beyond, and finally we came out upon a great level plain which stretched away as far as the eye could reach. I cannot tell you in what direction it stretched even if you would care to know, for all the while that I was within Pellucidar I never discovered any but local methods of indicating direction—there is no north, no south, no east, no west. Up is about the only direction which is well defined, and that, of course, is down to you of the outer crust. Since the sun neither rises nor sets there is no method of indicating direction beyond visible objects such as high mountains, forests, lakes, and seas.
The plain which lies beyond the white cliffs which flank the Darel Az upon the shore nearest the Mountains of the Clouds is about as near to any direction as any Pellucidarian can come. If you happen not to have heard of the Darel Az, or the white cliffs, or the Mountains of the Clouds you feel that there is something lacking, and long for the good old understandable northeast and southwest of the outer world.
We had barely entered the great plain when we discovered two enormous animals approaching us from a great distance. So far were they that we could not distinguish what manner of beasts they might be, but as they came closer, I saw that they were enormous quadrupeds, eighty or a hundred feet long, with tiny heads perched at the top of very long necks. Their heads must have been quite forty feet from the ground. The beasts moved very slowly—that is their action was slow—but their strides covered such a great distance that in reality they traveled considerably faster than a man walks.
As they drew still nearer we discovered that upon the back of each sat a human being. Then Dian knew what they were, though she never before had seen one.
"They are lidis from the land of the Thorians," she cried. "Thoria lies at the outer verge of the Land of Awful Shadow. The Thorians alone of all the races of Pellucidar ride the lidi, for nowhere else than beside the dark country are they found."
"What is the Land of Awful Shadow?" I asked.
"It is the land which lies beneath the Dead World," replied Dian; "the Dead World which hangs forever between the sun and Pellucidar above the Land of Awful Shadow. It is the Dead World which makes the great shadow upon this portion of Pellucidar."
I did not fully understand what she meant, nor am I sure that I do yet, for I have never been to that part of Pellucidar from which the Dead World is visible; but Perry says that it is the moon of Pellucidar—a tiny planet within a planet—and that it revolves around the earth's axis coincidently with the earth, and thus is always above the same spot within Pellucidar.
I remember that Perry was very much excited when I told him about this Dead World, for he seemed to think that it explained the hitherto inexplicable phenomena of nutation and the precession of the equinoxes.
When the two upon the lidis had come quite close to us we saw that one was a man and the other a woman. The former had held up his two hands, palms toward us, in sign of peace, and I had answered him in kind, when he suddenly gave a cry of astonishment and pleasure, and slipping from his enormous mount ran forward toward Dian, throwing his arms about her.
In an instant I was white with jealousy, but only for an instant; since Dian quickly drew the man toward me, telling him that I was David, her mate.
"And this is my brother, Dacor the Strong One, David," she said to me.
It appeared that the woman was Dacor's mate. He had found none to his liking among the Sari, nor farther on until he had come to the land of the Thoria, and there he had found and fought for this very lovely Thorian maiden whom he was bringing back to his own people.
When they had heard our story and our plans they decided to accompany us to Sari, that Dacor and Ghak might come to an agreement relative to an alliance, as Dacor was quite as enthusiastic about the proposed annihilation of the Mahars and Sagoths as either Dian or I.
After a journey which was, for Pellucidar, quite uneventful, we came to the first of the Sarian villages which consists of between one and two hundred artificial caves cut into the face of a great cliff. Here to our immense delight, we found both Perry and Ghak. The old man was quite overcome at sight of me for he had long since given me up as dead.
When I introduced Dian as my wife, he didn't quite know what to say, but he afterward remarked that with the pick of two worlds I could not have done better.
Ghak and Dacor reached a very amicable arrangement, and it was at a council of the head men of the various tribes of the Sari that the eventual form of government was tentatively agreed upon. Roughly, the various kingdoms were to remain virtually independent, but there was to be one great overlord, or emperor. It was decided that I should be the first of the dynasty of the emperors of Pellucidar.
We set about teaching the women how to make bows and arrows, and poison pouches. The young men hunted the vipers which provided the virus, and it was they who mined the iron ore, and fashioned the swords under Perry's direction. Rapidly the fever spread from one tribe to another until representatives from nations so far distant that the Sarians had never even heard of them came in to take the oath of allegiance which we required, and to learn the art of making the new weapons and using them.
We sent our young men out as instructors to every nation of the federation, and the movement had reached colossal proportions before the Mahars discovered it. The first intimation they had was when three of their great slave caravans were annihilated in rapid succession. They could not comprehend that the lower orders had suddenly developed a power which rendered them really formidable.
In one of the skirmishes with slave caravans some of our Sarians took a number of Sagoth prisoners, and among them were two who had been members of the guards within the building where we had been confined at Phutra. They told us that the Mahars were frantic with rage when they discovered what had taken place in the cellars of the buildings. The Sagoths knew that something very terrible had befallen their masters, but the Mahars had been most careful to see that no inkling of the true nature of their vital affliction reached beyond their own race. How long it would take for the race to become extinct it was impossible even to guess; but that this must eventually happen seemed inevitable.
The Mahars had offered fabulous rewards for the capture of any one of us alive, and at the same time had threatened to inflict the direst punishment upon whomever should harm us. The Sagoths could not understand these seemingly paradoxical instructions, though their purpose was quite evident to me. The Mahars wanted the Great Secret, and they knew that we alone could deliver it to them.
Perry's experiments in the manufacture of gunpowder and the fashioning of rifles had not progressed as rapidly as we had hoped—there was a whole lot about these two arts which Perry didn't know. We were both assured that the solution of these problems would advance the cause of civilization within Pellucidar thousands of years at a single stroke. Then there were various other arts and sciences which we wished to introduce, but our combined knowledge of them did not embrace the mechanical details which alone could render them of commercial, or practical value.
"David," said Perry, immediately after his latest failure to produce gunpowder that would even burn, "one of us must return to the outer world and bring back the information we lack. Here we have all the labor and materials for reproducing anything that ever has been produced above—what we lack is knowledge. Let us go back and get that knowledge in the shape of books—then this world will indeed be at our feet."
And so it was decided that I should return in the prospector, which still lay upon the edge of the forest at the point where we had first penetrated to the surface of the inner world. Dian would not listen to any arrangement for my going which did not include her, and I was not sorry that she wished to accompany me, for I wanted her to see my world, and I wanted my world to see her.
With a large force of men we marched to the great iron mole, which Perry soon had hoisted into position with its nose pointed back toward the outer crust. He went over all the machinery carefully. He replenished the air tanks, and manufactured oil for the engine. At last everything was ready, and we were about to set out when our pickets, a long, thin line of which had surrounded our camp at all times, reported that a great body of what appeared to be Sagoths and Mahars were approaching from the direction of Phutra.
Dian and I were ready to embark, but I was anxious to witness the first clash between two fair-sized armies of the opposing races of Pellucidar. I realized that this was to mark the historic beginning of a mighty struggle for possession of a world, and as the first emperor of Pellucidar I felt that it was not alone my duty, but my right, to be in the thick of that momentous struggle.
As the opposing army approached we saw that there were many Mahars with the Sagoth troops—an indication of the vast importance which the dominant race placed upon the outcome of this campaign, for it was not customary with them to take active part in the sorties which their creatures made for slaves—the only form of warfare which they waged upon the lower orders.
Ghak and Dacor were both with us, having come primarily to view the prospector. I placed Ghak with some of his Sarians on the right of our battle line. Dacor took the left, while I commanded the center. Behind us I stationed a sufficient reserve under one of Ghak's head men. The Sagoths advanced steadily with menacing spears, and I let them come until they were within easy bowshot before I gave the word to fire.
At the first volley of poison-tipped arrows the front ranks of the gorilla-men crumpled to the ground; but those behind charged over the prostrate forms of their comrades in a wild, mad rush to be upon us with their spears. A second volley stopped them for an instant, and then my reserve sprang through the openings in the firing line to engage them with sword and shield. The clumsy spears of the Sagoths were no match for the swords of the Sarian and Amozite, who turned the spear thrusts aside with their shields and leaped to close quarters with their lighter, handier weapons.
Ghak took his archers along the enemy's flank, and while the swordsmen engaged them in front, he poured volley after volley into their unprotected left. The Mahars did little real fighting, and were more in the way than otherwise, though occasionally one of them would fasten its powerful jaw upon the arm or leg of a Sarian.
The battle did not last a great while, for when Dacor and I led our men in upon the Sagoth's right with naked swords they were already so demoralized that they turned and fled before us. We pursued them for some time, taking many prisoners and recovering nearly a hundred slaves, among whom was Hooja the Sly One.
He told me that he had been captured while on his way to his own land; but that his life had been spared in hope that through him the Mahars would learn the whereabouts of their Great Secret. Ghak and I were inclined to think that the Sly One had been guiding this expedition to the land of Sari, where he thought that the book might be found in Perry's possession; but we had no proof of this and so we took him in and treated him as one of us, although none liked him. And how he rewarded my generosity you will presently learn.
There were a number of Mahars among our prisoners, and so fearful were our own people of them that they would not approach them unless completely covered from the sight of the reptiles by a piece of skin. Even Dian shared the popular superstition regarding the evil effects of exposure to the eyes of angry Mahars, and though I laughed at her fears I was willing enough to humor them if it would relieve her apprehension in any degree, and so she sat apart from the prospector, near which the Mahars had been chained, while Perry and I again inspected every portion of the mechanism.
At last I took my place in the driving seat, and called to one of the men without to fetch Dian. It happened that Hooja stood quite close to the doorway of the prospector, so that it was he who, without my knowledge, went to bring her; but how he succeeded in accomplishing the fiendish thing he did, I cannot guess, unless there were others in the plot to aid him. Nor can I believe that, since all my people were loyal to me and would have made short work of Hooja had he suggested the heartless scheme, even had he had time to acquaint another with it. It was all done so quickly that I may only believe that it was the result of sudden impulse, aided by a number of, to Hooja, fortuitous circumstances occurring at precisely the right moment.
All I know is that it was Hooja who brought Dian to the prospector, still wrapped from head to toe in the skin of an enormous cave lion which covered her since the Mahar prisoners had been brought into camp. He deposited his burden in the seat beside me. I was all ready to get under way. The good-byes had been said. Perry had grasped my hand in the last, long farewell. I closed and barred the outer and inner doors, took my seat again at the driving mechanism, and pulled the starting lever.
As before on that far-gone night that had witnessed our first trial of the iron monster, there was a frightful roaring beneath us—the giant frame trembled and vibrated—there was a rush of sound as the loose earth passed up through the hollow space between the inner and outer jackets to be deposited in our wake. Once more the thing was off.
But on the instant of departure I was nearly thrown from my seat by the sudden lurching of the prospector. At first I did not realize what had happened, but presently it dawned upon me that just before entering the crust the towering body had fallen through its supporting scaffolding, and that instead of entering the ground vertically we were plunging into it at a different angle. Where it would bring us out upon the upper crust I could not even conjecture. And then I turned to note the effect of this strange experience upon Dian. She still sat shrouded in the great skin.
"Come, come," I cried, laughing, "come out of your shell. No Mahar eyes can reach you here," and I leaned over and snatched the lion skin from her. And then I shrank back upon my seat in utter horror.
The thing beneath the skin was not Dian—it was a hideous Mahar. Instantly I realized the trick that Hooja had played upon me, and the purpose of it. Rid of me, forever as he doubtless thought, Dian would be at his mercy. Frantically I tore at the steering wheel in an effort to turn the prospector back toward Pellucidar; but, as on that other occasion, I could not budge the thing a hair.
It is needless to recount the horrors or the monotony of that journey. It varied but little from the former one which had brought us from the outer to the inner world. Because of the angle at which we had entered the ground the trip required nearly a day longer, and brought me out here upon the sand of the Sahara instead of in the United States as I had hoped.
For months I have been waiting here for a white man to come. I dared not leave the prospector for fear I should never be able to find it again—the shifting sands of the desert would soon cover it, and then my only hope of returning to my Dian and her Pellucidar would be gone forever.
That I ever shall see her again seems but remotely possible, for how may I know upon what part of Pellucidar my return journey may terminate—and how, without a north or south or an east or a west may I hope ever to find my way across that vast world to the tiny spot where my lost love lies grieving for me?
That is the story as David Innes told it to me in the goat-skin tent upon the rim of the great Sahara Desert. The next day he took me out to see the prospector—it was precisely as he had described it. So huge was it that it could have been brought to this inaccessible part of the world by no means of transportation that existed there—it could only have come in the way that David Innes said it came—up through the crust of the earth from the inner world of Pellucidar.
I spent a week with him, and then, abandoned my lion hunt, returned directly to the coast and hurried to London where I purchased a great quantity of stuff which he wished to take back to Pellucidar with him. There were books, rifles, revolvers, ammunition, cameras, chemicals, telephones, telegraph instruments, wire, tool and more books—books upon every subject under the sun. He said he wanted a library with which they could reproduce the wonders of the twentieth century in the Stone Age and if quantity counts for anything I got it for him.
I took the things back to Algeria myself, and accompanied them to the end of the railroad; but from here I was recalled to America upon important business. However, I was able to employ a very trustworthy man to take charge of the caravan—the same guide, in fact, who had accompanied me on the previous trip into the Sahara—and after writing a long letter to Innes in which I gave him my American address, I saw the expedition head south.
Among the other things which I sent to Innes was over five hundred miles of double, insulated wire of a very fine gauge. I had it packed on a special reel at his suggestion, as it was his idea that he could fasten one end here before he left and by paying it out through the end of the prospector lay a telegraph line between the outer and inner worlds. In my letter I told him to be sure to mark the terminus of the line very plainly with a high cairn, in case I was not able to reach him before he set out, so that I might easily find and communicate with him should he be so fortunate as to reach Pellucidar.
I received several letters from him after I returned to America—in fact he took advantage of every northward-passing caravan to drop me word of some sort. His last letter was written the day before he intended to depart. Here it is.
My Dear Friend:
Tomorrow I shall set out in quest of Pellucidar and Dian. That is if the Arabs don't get me. They have been very nasty of late. I don't know the cause, but on two occasions they have threatened my life. One, more friendly than the rest, told me today that they intended attacking me tonight. It would be unfortunate should anything of that sort happen now that I am so nearly ready to depart.
However, maybe I will be as well off, for the nearer the hour approaches, the slenderer my chances for success appear.
Here is the friendly Arab who is to take this letter north for me, so good-bye, and God bless you for your kindness to me.
The Arab tells me to hurry, for he sees a cloud of sand to the south—he thinks it is the party coming to murder me, and he doesn't want to be found with me. So good-bye again.
Yours,
David Innes.
A year later found me at the end of the railroad once more, headed for the spot where I had left Innes. My first disappointment was when I discovered that my old guide had died within a few weeks of my return, nor could I find any member of my former party who could lead me to the same spot.
For months I searched that scorching land, interviewing countless desert sheiks in the hope that at last I might find one who had heard of Innes and his wonderful iron mole. Constantly my eyes scanned the blinding waste of sand for the ricky cairn beneath which I was to find the wires leading to Pellucidar—but always was I unsuccessful.
And always do these awful questions harass me when I think of David Innes and his strange adventures.
Did the Arabs murder him, after all, just on the eve of his departure? Or, did he again turn the nose of his iron monster toward the inner world? Did he reach it, or lies he somewhere buried in the heart of the great crust? And if he did come again to Pellucidar was it to break through into the bottom of one of her great island seas, or among some savage race far, far from the land of his heart's desire?
Does the answer lie somewhere upon the bosom of the broad Sahara, at the end of two tiny wires, hidden beneath a lost cairn? I wonder.
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