Masters of the Arches

This story was posted a few years ago on another site under my pen name of mandil.

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That night Vincent dreamed about the mysterious girl that had saved his life near the river. In his dream he saw her voluptuous breasts and her shoulder- length hair as she ran on her long slim legs with only a small piece of animal skin covering her lower body. He wasn't able to see all of the details of her face in his dream but he knew that she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

He got up at nine the following morning. As soon as he was shaved and dressed, he prepared himself a generous breakfast of eggs and bacon. After that he proceeded to prepare himself for his next visits to the mysterious world of the arch.

He got his knapsack out of the closet then he proceeded to fill it with the things that he figured he would need for a trip of a few days. Since he had no dehydrated food in the house -- which would have been perfect for such a trip -- he had to make do with half a dozen cans of foodstuff and two bags of dry biscuits that were in his cupboard.

Next, he filled a large plastic bottle with water and this, along with his hunting knife, he added to the contents of his knapsack. With the experience he already had with outside living, he knew that he was going to need matches and ammunition also, so a box of wooden matches and a box of 303 cartridges were added to his backpack. Folding his sleeping bag in a tight roll, he then attached it on top of it all.

At ten that morning, he left the house with the knapsack in one hand and his rifle -- with a telescopic sight -- in the other. Dressed in beige jeans and a brown windbreaker he crawled through the tight hole then he walked straight to the transmission plate. He didn't even hesitate a second. He stepped on it as soon as he was in front of it.

This time he made the trip as if it was the most natural of things in the world. A minute later he was emerging out of the cave into this other world, wherever it was, with complete confidence in himself. Judging by the height of the sun in the sky, he figured it most have been early morning on this beautiful world, this fact told him that the length of a day in this land wasn't the same as what it was on Earth. It was probably shorter by a few hours.

He had been very confident when he exited the cave. Why should he not be? After all he had a rifle in his hand and he considered himself an expert hunter. He also had a few days of food in reserve and more important still, it was a long time indeed since he had felt as good as he was feeling at that moment.

He immediately undertook the descent down to the foot of the mountain and as soon as he reached the flat plain below, he began to walk in the direction of the river. The minute that he stood on the exact spot where he had jump into the river the previous day, he proceeded to look for the footmarks of the woman who had save his life. The prints were still there, very visible in the clay. Then farther ahead, downstream, he saw other prints of the woman, those were leading toward the forest. He figured that she must have gotten out of the river somewhere at this point and walked over to hide into the forest after she had warn him about the charging beast.

After reaching the line where the plain and the forest met, he came upon a well used trail which seemed to go on for ever curving here and there in- between the tall trees. He followed the well-marked trail for half an hour, as he did so he noticed that most of the trees were unfamiliar to him and all would be considered giants on Earth. Some did look like palm trees but were much higher and thicker than anything he had ever seen. Even the underbrush looked very different from what he was used to see on his world. The great variety and abundance of fruits that were growing everywhere was surprising, even in the shade he could see strange fruits and flowers growing everywhere.

After a few miles, the trail separated into two different branches. Not knowing which one to take, he stopped and took the opportunity to rest and eat a little. Ever since leaving the cave he had been walking on this world and this was almost four hours ago now and he was hungry. Of course, he was too much of an expert hunter to stop in the middle of a well used trail, he was aware of the danger of coming face to face with whatever animals were using it. It would have been just about the same as stopping his car in a middle of a well-used road on his world. After all, he knew nothing about the fauna that had been responsible for the creation of the trail, there could be many dangers involved in stopping to rest right in the path and in full view of whatever beast was using it. He still had in mind the incident of the previous day when he had just barely escaped with his life from such an unknown beast.

He thus turned on his left and he got off the trail. After walking a couple hundred yards perpendicular to the trail, he found a spot under a tree with low branches. He sat comfortably on the thick grass and proceeded to open a can of meatballs. He ate his food cold of course, making a fire would imply smoke and he didn't want to attract any attention to his presence in the forest right now. As he ate he looked around and he thought that he could identify a few plants, but the great majority of the flora that he could see was completely new to him. Even the grass he was sitting on was thick and soft and very different from what he was used to see on his world.

All of a sudden, he heard a series of sharps snapping sounds that he couldn't identify. A few seconds later, he was able to tell that someone or something was approaching and what he was hearing was the sounds of feet that were breaking small dead branches that had fallen on the hard ground of the trail. He reached for his rifle immediately and he threw himself flat on the grass. A few seconds later he heard voices or deep grunts, but he couldn't really identify the language or whether they were male or female voices.

He quietly remained hidden where he was, figuring that he was at a safe distance from the trail. While his heart was beating fast he congratulated himself for having taken the precaution of getting off the trail. He was well hidden where he was behind the low branches of a tree and completely invisible from the trail and unless those that were coming purposely got off the trail, they wouldn't see him.

His eyes were focused on the spot where he knew the trail to be. Then all of a sudden he saw four ugly creatures coming on the left fork, which was the branch of the trail that was closest to him.

They were humanoid in general appearance, but human they were definitely not. They were over seven feet tall and each of them must have weighed at least three hundred pounds. Their long, thick arms were hanging at their side and they all held a long wooden spear in one hand. As they got closer, he noticed that most of their body was covered with thick black hair, with only a small portion of their faces being hairless.

They were creatures out of a nightmare. With their low foreheads, which came down to the bridges of their flat noses and their dull gray eyes, they were a strange and scary sight indeed. None of them was wearing clothing and as they approached closer to his hiding place, he thought that he could actually smell them. This was soon confirmed as a foul odor of unwashed fur and rotten meat assailed his nostrils.

But the thing that attracted his attention the most as they got closer to him, was the bundle that the two creatures in the middle were carrying. On their shoulders was a thick pole from which hung a human female. The pole had been placed along the length of her back and both of her hands and feet were tied to the pole, she was thus hanging with her face toward the ground.

Vincent knew that it must have been very uncomfortable for her to be carried that way since her weight was pulling her shoulders together at her back. Was it possible, thought Vincent, that they had chosen that position to tie her so as to make her suffer? They probably had done this on purpose, he told himself. As soon as they were on the section of the trail that was the closest to where he was, he recognized the woman. She was the same one that had saved his life the previous day.

At least her general body features were that of the same woman and so was the color of her hair. Hanging the way she was with her hands and feet tied to the pole, her breasts were pointing down. Furthermore she had lost the only piece of clothing she had been wearing the previous day. She was completely naked now and even though she must have been in terrible pain Vincent didn't hear her make a single sound as she was roughly being carried away.

He couldn't wait any longer; he knew that he had to save her. So, taking aim at the first of the creatures, the one that was ahead of the group of four, he fired. The noise of his shot was extremely loud in the forest, and long after the echo had died down he finally saw the giant begin to fall to the ground on the side of the trail.

It did remind him of a tall tree that was being cut down as gravity slowly had its effect on it. Before the giant had completely reached the ground, the two that had been carrying the woman dropped her to the ground and went to investigate what had happened to their companion who had drop his spear and was no longer moving. Rifle in hand, Vincent got up and he advanced toward the remaining three.

"Release her at once." He said to them as he pointed his rifle in the general direction of the trio.

His boldness seemed to surprise them. It was also evident that they were now afraid of him after having witnessed what had happened to their dead comrade. They remained motionless for a few seconds, as if their slow brains were trying to process the information that their senses were registering.

Suddenly, one of the remaining three, the one closest to Vincent, began to charge him with his spear which was raised above his head almost ready to throw. As soon as he was twenty feet from Vincent, he threw his spear. It missed him by only a couple of inches as the stone tip imbedded itself in the bark of a tree next to Vincent. The strength behind the spear must have been great indeed since Vincent could see that the stone tip had disappeared at least two inches into the bark of the tree.

Once again, the forest resounded with the noise of his rifle and the daring giant felt to the ground with a large hole between his eyes. The third one also came rushing down toward Vincent a few seconds later and he went down like the two others before he had a chance to throw his spear.

Vincent looked in the direction of the last ugly creature and slowly began to walk toward him. The hairy primate simply turned around grunting angrily and he ran away in the direction from which they had just come.

Before going to investigate to see if the girl was hurt, Vincent waited a few minutes. He looked in every direction around him to make sure that there were no more of these smelly brutes coming on the trail. Satisfied that there was no longer any danger, he went to his packsack and took out his knife. Then he went to the girl who was now lying on her side with the pole still along the length of her back. She was staring at him, but he could tell that she didn't seem to fear him. She had probably recognized him and by now she must have figured that he was her friend.

Vincent immediately got busy cutting the leather strips that were binding her hands and feet to the pole. She had a lot of difficulty standing on her legs and Vincent could tell that moving her legs and arms must have been causing her a lot of pain. He did help her to walk a few steps and he then had his first good chance to examine her. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Her facial features were perfect. He supposed that she was twenty at the most. The fact that she was completely naked was making him nervous and he couldn't prevent himself from looking at her perfect breasts. After a while he did manage to keep his eyes off her breasts but then he noticed her triangle of brown hair.

All of a sudden, as if an invisible signal had been given, she began to talk in a strange language. Of course he couldn't make out a single word that she was saying, and he reacted exactly as she had done when he had first spoken to her a minute or so earlier. He just stared at her, but as he did so, he couldn't prevent himself from admiring her beauty as well as her voluptuous body.

Her breasts, even though they would have been considered size C on his world, were high on her chest and not sagging in the least. As she stood there completely naked in front of him it didn't seem to bother her in the least.

She was trying to tell him something but there was no way for him to understand what she was trying to convey to him. When she realized that she was getting nowhere with her talking to him, she took Vincent's hand in her own hand and she began to pull him off the trail.

They stopped to pick his knapsack and she led him in a perpendicular direction to the trail, and soon they were deep in the forest until they were about half a mile from the trail. Vincent was not too worried about getting lost since he could still see -- whenever the forest was not too dense -- the mountain peak from where he had appeared in this world.

They continued to walk off the trail in the same direction for the rest of the afternoon and as they did he kept on enjoying the sight of her naked body. Her face was very exotic and exceedingly beautiful and there was no doubt in his mind that on his world she would be considered a very beautiful woman indeed. She had large green eyes and high cheekbones; a mouth made for kissing with thick sensual lips. Her complexion was light and her long brown hair added to her graceful way of walking -- very straight and with a foot in front of the other -- reminding him of an Egyptian queen as she walked very straight next to him. She was almost as tall as he was and while he held her hand, he tried to imagine how the people of Montcalm would react if they could see him now walking hand in hand with this naked beauty.

Every time that she would turned her head toward him and realized that his eyes were on her breasts, she would smile teasingly at him. There were no longer any doubts in Vincent's mind that by now she had noticed the bulge at the front of his pants and he knew that she was aware that her nakedness was exiting him.

She was still leading him when they came out of the forest and found themselves over rocky ground covered with very little grass and a few smaller trees here and there. There were large boulders everywhere to be seen and the trees became less dense as they moved ahead. The further they went, the higher were the boulders. Some were even the size of large houses.

They went up a path between two large rock formations until they were standing in front of a small cave-like depression that went about fifteen feet deep into the rock. This shelter had been used before since the floor was littered with bones of all kinds. While Vincent sat on a rock in front of the wide entrance and began to unpack food from his backpack, the girl went deeper within to clean a space for them.

Using his knife, he opened two cans of meatballs with sauce. He gave one can to the girl and he began to eat from the other one with the help of his knife. She watched him eat for a few seconds then she examined the can in her hand. The metal of the can as well as the bright colors on the paper around it seemed to fascinate her. She turned it around a couple of times, and she even tried to press it with both hands. But hunger won out over her curiosity and soon she dipped two fingers into her food and she began to eat eagerly.

Vincent watched her eat while he finished the contents of his own can. Judging by the rate at which she was shoving meatballs into her mouth, it was evident that this was her first meal in a long time. When both cans were empty, and the last trace of gravy had been licked from the cans, he took the bottle of water from his bag and offered her a drink. It wasn't the first time that she drank from the transparent plastic bottle and once again she seem fascinated by the fact that she could see the water inside the bottle.

They then both sat on the same large rock in front of the shelter and he tried to communicate with her. He was able to learn by using his fingers and pointing at her, that her name was Nika. Then by mean of different signs, she was able to make him understand that the ugly humanoids, which he had killed, were called Arons. He next taught her to pronounce his own name as well as a few other English words.

Before they fully realized it, the sun was down and darkness was gradually setting in on them. With the sun gone, Vincent could tell that it was getting much colder and since Nika was completely naked, he began to gather wood to build a fire. But the girl prevented him from doing this. He figured that she knew more about the dangers in this place than he did and he gave up on the idea of lighting a fire. Since there was nothing else to do, he therefore proceeded to unroll his sleeping bag. After stretching it on the floor in the spot that she had cleaned previously, he tried to make her understand that he wanted her to get inside. But she refused to comply.

Finally in desperation, he removed his windbreaker and placed it on her shoulders. Then he crawled inside the sleeping bag to show her what he was expecting of her. As soon as he was well inside the bag, Nika stretched herself near him and she finally tried to crawl next to him inside the sleeping bag.

Even though it was a one-place bag, he made room for her as best as he could. Because of the fact that the girl was rather slim they were both able to cuddle inside. But Vincent did feel very uncomfortable since he felt her naked breasts pressing against his side. However, since they were both very tired, they soon felt asleep.

He was the first one to open his eyes the next morning. During the night they had moved a little and Nika was now lying half on top of him while he was on his back. He couldn't recall having ever sleep so soundly before. He felt rested and also very cozy at that moment. But now that he was awake, he began to feel very embarrassed. He now had a huge erection and he realized that as soon as Nika would come out of her deep sleep she would notice this. Furthermore, even if his organ was still inside of his pants, it was being pressed in-between Nika's lower body and his own thigh, which did not help matters.

The minute that he saw her opening her eyes, he made her understand that he wanted to get out of the sleeping bag. When he slipped past her once the zipper was opened all the way, he saw her examining the front of his pants and he knew that she couldn't fail to notice the bulge there. It was an extremely ill at ease Vincent that walked toward the bushes to urinate. But while he was emptying his bladder, Nika walked next to him.

She was still completely naked, after a few seconds she squatted next to him and she began to relieve herself without the least embarrassment whatsoever. He could even hear her jet of piss as it hit the ground. When he looked at her, she once again smiled at him with that naughty look on her face.

Victor supposed that in her society, which was one of extreme closeness with nature, it was probably the most normal of things to do to be relieving oneself even if others were staring. For Nika, there was probably nothing to be ashamed in doing this. Beside, she went about naked all the time, so why should she care if he did see her doing this most natural thing.

He gathered the few possessions that they had and they both prepared themselves to walk again. She wanted to continue in the same direction they had been going the previous day, but it was almost in the opposite direction from the mountain from which Vincent had arrived in her world. They were thus getting farther away from the only way back to his world.