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Masters of the Archesby Mandil
Chapter 3
The look of the place didn't reassure him at all. He told himself that he was going to penetrate only a few miles inside this sinister forest. Then it was his intention to turn back, with or without Nika.
Their progress was difficult once they entered the gloomy forest. They had to walk around the big trees or climb over the mounds of soil that the thick roots had created. For those reasons it was impossible to walk in a straight line for any length of time. To make matters worse, the ground was littered with dead branches and sometimes a giant, fallen tree would block their path completely.
After about an hour of difficult progress within the forest they suddenly heard the sound made by the breaking of small branches far ahead of them. It was a repetitive sound. Vincent knew that many feet, breaking twigs or dead branches that littered the floor of the forest were producing these noises. It was very similar to the sound that he had heard when he first encountered the Arons the previous day and now both he and Nika heard it at the same time.
They immediately took cover in the low foliage next to one of the enormous trees and remained motionless for a while. Soon, not more than fifty feet from where they were hidden, a group of twenty to twenty five of the ugly creatures that Nika had called Arons, appeared as they walked in a single file.
They were walking in a north-westerly direction, almost in the exact direction from which Vincent and Nika had come from. The group was entirely made of adult males and aside from the noises they made while walking, none of them was talking, grunting or whatever. Soon the smell of the creatures reached the hiding duo and it reminded Vincent of the smell of rotten meat.
The creatures disappeared into the dense growth of the forest as quickly as they had appeared. But before Vincent or Nika had a chance to get out of their hiding place, a second group of Arons appeared. This time it consisted of females and young ones. Except for the noise made as their great weight broke the dead branches on the ground as they walked, Vincent was surprised to see how quiet they were. As with the previous group, there was no talking whatsoever and no laughing of course. Even the children remained in a single file keeping pace with the rest of the group.
It occurred to Vincent that if they were on the move all the time as it seemed to be, their survival did depend on strict discipline and of course in paying a lot of attention to their surrounding when they moved from place to place. The fact that they were so careful did tend to prove that they certainly had enemies. Had it not been because of the unavoidable noises made by their feet as they walked, Vincent and Nika certainly wouldn't have heard them until too late.
They both remained carefully hidden for another ten minutes to make sure that there were no more of them coming their way. Finally, when they went to the spot where they had last seen the Arons, they discovered a well-used path in the forest. It went between the trees turning here and there, and by its appearance it had been in used for a great many years judging by the depth of the eroded ground of the trail in some places.
That did it for Vincent. There was no way that he was going to go further without being better prepared and more knowledgeable about the dangers to be expected in this place. For one thing he wanted to ask Nika questions about the topography of the terrain ahead of them, but he didn't understand her language at all. Then he had no idea as to where she was trying to take him. This plus the fact that he only had three dozen bullets left for his rifle, did scared him some. As for the food, it was almost all gone now except for half a bag of biscuits and two remaining cans of meatballs.
He took her hand and he pulled her gently toward the general direction of the north where he could still barely see - whenever there was a clearing in the foliage - the tip of the mountain that marked the entrance into his world. It was his intention to make her understand that this was where he wanted to go. She resisted him and he could see fright written all over her face.
She then began to talk very fast in her language. Of course, there was no way for him to understand what she was trying to tell him but it was quite evident that she wanted him to follow her in their original direction.
When he realised that there was no use in insisting, he released her hand and began to walk toward the north on a path parallel to the direction they had watched the Arons come. Even though he could hear her shouting at him and probably pleading with him, he didn't bothered to turn or look back. He just kept on walking ahead. After a couple of minutes, he did glance back to see where she had gone, but she was walking behind him. She no longer protested and she just quietly followed him.
They proceeded toward the high mountain by a different path, one that was well off the trail of the Arons. That night they both slept in the sleeping bag in a spot that was well hidden near a large rock. While they were in the sleeping bag together Vincent had the impression that Nika was doing all in her power to arouse him sexually, but he was much too tired to pay much attention to her advances.
When he woke up the next morning, he had one of his arms around her while at the same time his other hand was pressing her left breast. He had placed his hand over her bare breast while sleeping and he couldn't recall when he had done so. Now, fully awake, he became extremely aroused as she still slept in his arms. He had never married - being too busy trying to make money - and even though he had taken a few women to bed with him, he had little experience with the opposite sex.
At that very moment, while he could feel the warmth and softness of her breast as she slept half on top of him, he was tempted to take one of her brown nipples in his mouth and make love to her. After all, she had given him many signs that she was willing to let him have his way with her but he couldn't get over the fact that she was barely twenty while he was forty-four. Why would she want to make love to him?
They ate the last of the biscuits - Nika was crazy about them - and they drank water from the bottle he had filled from a small stream that they had crossed the previous day. They were just about ready to leave when Vincent noticed many small fragments of stones sparkling on the ground. Had he been on his world he would simply have dismissed them since he would have concluded that they were broken glass. But there was no glass here. At least he had not seen any yet.
Bending down, he picked up a few of the shining stones. Much to his surprise, he realised that they were unpolished diamonds. Some were as big as peas. There must have been thousands of them lying there on the ground just a few feet in front of the big rock where they had chosen to stretch their sleeping bag. Before leaving he did gather a few dozen of them and shoved them into his pockets.
Nika watched him in amazement as he did this. She couldn't understand why he was saving those stones.
Around noon of that day, they were almost at the foot of the high peak that hid the cave leading to his world. Nika was very nervous by then. She kept repeating over and over the word "vopa" as she pointed toward the solitary mountain-peak ahead of them. Then by late afternoon they were both standing in front of the entrance leading to the cave where the arch was hidden.
It then occurred to Vincent that he was going to have a problem with Nika. It was his intention to bring her to his world, but he didn't want to frighten her to death in the process. His intention was to come back again with her to explore her world. But first he wanted to rest for a while in the safety of his house and also he needed to get more food and especially ammunition for his rifle. During the next few days that he intended to spend in his cottage he also wanted to teach Nika a few words of English so that she could explain to him the dangers that he could expect to encounter when they got back to her world.
They ate the last of their food in front of the hidden entrance of the cave. There were still many grapes on the vines that hid the entrance and Nika seemed to be familiar with them and she did eat a couple. While they rested and ate, Vincent thought of a way to get her across to his world without frightening her too much.
As soon as they were finished eating, he removed everything from the knapsack and he placed the empty sack over her head. She didn't protest in the least. He then guided her inside the cave. It surprised him to see how submissive she was. She was trusting him with her life and he could tell by the way her body was now trembling that she was scared to death of this mountain. Still she let him guide her inside the cave.
She had complete trust in him and he felt a pang of love for her at that moment. He held her in his arms for a long minute once inside the cave. She was still shaking in fright when he gently led her toward the plate of the arch. He then lifted her in his arms and he stepped on the plate with her.
As soon as the numb sensation died away, he stepped off the plate while still holding her in his arms. He then gently let her step onto the floor of the cave and he slowly removed the knapsack from over her head. After kissing her gently on her forehead, he guided her toward the small exit near the floor.
It was quite a surprise for her when she saw his cottage. As they slowly walked toward it, she kept pressing herself very close to him as if seeking his protection. As soon as they got inside Vincent had a look around to see if everything was as it should be. Once he was satisfied that everything was as he had left it, he sat in his favourite chair and by means of signs with his hands he invited her to sit on the couch that was next to him.
It was now almost eleven in the morning. When they had eaten last in front of the cave on Nika's world it had been late afternoon. Of course to Vincent it was again one more proof that her world was in a completely different star system than the Earth. Even if the sun shining over this other world was very comparable to his own sun, the planet's period of revolution was not the same since the length of a day on her world was definitely shorter than the length of a day on his own world. Judging by the two days of her world's time that he had spent there, and the difference in time that his watch was showing when he was there, he estimated that her world had days of approximately twenty hours. This, of course, was the ultimate proof that the arch had been transporting him to a completely different world.
As soon as he felt rested enough, he went to the shed attached to the back of his cottage and started the generator. Then, taking two frozen steaks from the propane freezer, he cooked a good meal for both of them. His freezer and stove were gas operated so it was not necessary for the generator to be on all the time. Thus whenever he was away from his house for more than a couple of hours, he would always stop the generator.
While he was cooking their meal, Nika was busy examining and touching all that she could see in the house. Everything was so strange and mysterious to her. But it was the ice cubes in her glass of water that fascinated her most of all. She couldn't help herself from taking one in her hand and laughing loudly as she felt the ice melting on her fingers and hand. It was evident to Vincent that she had never seen ice before.
But seeing her going about completely naked in the house made him feel uncomfortable. He went into his room and he got her one of his white t-shirts and a pair of beige shorts that he used to wear when he was much younger and thinner. She was so pleased with both garments, which she considered as a present from him, that she ran into his arms and she began pressing her lips all over his face.
They ate in silence, and as soon as the meal was over he proceeded to teach her a few words of English. First he began by touching and naming different parts of his face and body. He next did the same thing with some of the articles that they were going to need when they were back on her world. Things such as rifle, water, knife, and so on.
Vincent noticed that once she had learned how to say the name of an item, she would never forget it afterward. He was also greatly surprised by the speed at which she was able to pronounce each word properly. He did try to learn a few words of her language, but it was a very difficult process for him since some of the words would end with a high pitch pronunciation. He discovered much later that the same word in her language had different meanings depending on the intensity and pitch that it was pronounced.
A couple of hours after they were done eating, she was able to compose a few very simple sentences.
That night they both slept in his bed since Nika insisted on sleeping next to him. He tried to make her sleep in the spare bedroom, but she wouldn't stay there by herself and a few minutes after he would leave the room, she would come back to his bed and curl next to him.
At last, he gave up and they both spent the night together.
The following morning while they were sitting at the table he once again taught her new words. As they ate breakfast, he would make her repeat the name of words he had taught her the previous day and he also added new one to her increasing vocabulary. She was learning much faster than he had dared hope, and having now learned a few verbs, Nika could make complete sentences.
They even went outside where he started a small fire using matches to teach her the words for the process of burning as well as the words for sticks and matches etc. His teaching went on for the rest of the day. By early evening of that second day on his world, he was able to learn from her that the mountain peak that they had climbed to get to the arch was "vopa", which meant sacred. Also it was the house of the gods. Each and every time that he would refer to the mountain he would see the fear in her eyes.
( end of chapter 3 )
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