Masters of the Arches

That first night after Nika's kidnapping, Vincent and Verla didn't sleep at all. They remained on guard all night just in case the birdmen should come on foot and attack them again.

Morning found them in a depressed mood and after eating a little, they moved southward along the length of the gorge.

The temperature was cooler in the gorge and when they wanted to rest they could easily find shade under the small trees growing there.

It was during one of these rest periods - which were now very frequent since both had been without water for almost a day now - that Verla discovered a small hole between two large rocks lying against the steep slope. Since it was late in the day, they both figured that it would be worth investigating just in case it could provide them a safe place to spend the night.

Vincent threw a small rock inside the hole and he listened. They heard it rolled a while, then came back to them the distinct sound as it hit a wall or something hard. This was followed by an echo, which was an indication that there was a large space deep inside.

Vincent figured that it he tried hard enough, he could squeeze into the hole with some lost of skin probably, but since Verla was a lot thinner than he was, he let her crawl within to investigate. No sooner was she through the hole that she shouted to Vincent for him to push their knapsacks through and she asked him to follow her inside since she could see a very large room ahead. But more important still, she also added that the walls were coated with moisture.

Five minutes later Vincent had moved some smaller rocks out of the way and he gradually managed to squeeze his larger body through the hole. It had taken a lot of effort, but he was finally through. As soon as he stood next to Verla he found himself in a large rectangular cave. Even in the dim light which was coming through the small opening of the entrance hole, he could tell that the excavation had been man-made since the granite walls were much too regular for a natural phenomena.

True enough, there was much dampness inside and water droplets were coating the walls everywhere. They even found a few places where water was dripping from the ceiling, a few drops at the time. It took them only a few minutes to place all of their available containers under the dripping water.

Sleep came easily to both of them that night. It was the first time for many days that they had been able to swallow five or six mouthfuls of water at a time. Ever since they had undertaken the crossing of the dry plain they had never been able to fully quench their thirst. But now all of their water bags and bottles were full of the precious liquid and sleep was the most urgent thing that they needed now.

Morning came with some of its light filtering into their hiding place. Now that the problem of the water had been solved, and after a restful night, the memories of the previous days with the lost of Nika, hit them fully. But they both knew that they could not do anything about it. From now on, only her memory would live in their mind and at this moment that memory was evoking silent grief.

The previous evening they had been so preoccupied with the collection of water that they hadn't bothered to explore too much of the place they were in. So Vincent decided to have a look around, he took the flashlight from his knapsack and he proceeded to aim the beam of light everywhere. It was about ten feet high and close to twenty feet wide and much longer than it was wide.

One side consisted of a pile of rocks that reached to the ceiling and Vincent figured that the rocks must have fallen when part of the roof collapsed.

It was thus logical to expect that there should be something on the other side of the fallen rocks pile. He thus climbed to the very top and he began to roll aside a few of the larger rocks.

He soon had exposed a dark hole leading into another chamber. When he sent the beam of light through that new hole, he was amazed to see what look like a wide passage with a very flat surface for the floor and walls. In all appearances, it was a wide tunnel since his beam of light wouldn't fall on anything when he pointed it to his right. On his left a huge door of some kind blocked the tunnel while on his right the excavation seem to go on farther than his light beam could reach.

Where it led and for what purpose it had been constructed, he hadn't the faintest idea. It was all very mysterious to him and in the back of his mind he was inclined to associate those responsible for the construction of this tunnel with the ones that had built the arches.

He came down from the pile of rocks and he explained to Verla what he had just discovered.

"We must make a decision. We can make one of three choices." But before he had time to continue she said in a determined voice.

"We will do what you decide."

"No. Our lives might depend on the decision we take now, it is only fair that you have your say about it."

"I will go with you, whatever you choose."

She took a step closer to him and she took his hand in hers just like Nika would have done had she been there. Verla then added.

"It is not for a woman to question the decision of her man, but it is her duty to accept that decision."

Vincent then realized that she was proclaiming herself to be his woman and he felt very proud of her at that moment. With much emotion in his voice he said to her.

"Just the same, let me explain the three choices we have. First we can go through that hole and follow that tunnel, but there is no way to know what we will find at the end. Second, we can continue southward outside in the mountain in the hope that we could possibly find Nika. Thirdly we can take the water and turn back to the edge of the plain. With the extra water bags from the birdmen we could easily make it back there."

Looking at her while he let her think about what he had just said, he admired her beautiful gray eyes and her high cheeks bones. It took much of his willpower not to stare at her splendid breasts so close to his reach and so voluptuous in their appearance. Each sphere of flesh was topped at its exact center with a nipple as big as his thumb and he could feel the effect it was having on him as his hardness began to twitch in his pants. At last he said to her.

"If you decide to go back I will go with you until we cross the desert, then I will return back and look for Nika. I will not abandon her."

"I have already told you, I will go where you go. All of my people are probably dead now and so is Lomac. You are the only one left."

"Very well, if this is what you want then we will go into that hole and we will follow that tunnel. It seemed to be going toward the south and this is the direction that the birdmen went with Nika. We might as well travel south in the tunnel, for one thing it will be much easier and I think it will be much safer as well."

While he helped her pass through the hole he had just opened on top of the pile of rocks, he made contact more than once with her breasts and he couldn't prevent himself from finding pleasure whenever this happened.

Once they were in the main tunnel he had to use his flashlight and since he didn't have any spare batteries, he switched it on only a few seconds at a time and this only once in a while. Thus they had to walk in the darkness much of the time. He figured that the batteries were going to last much longer if he did this.

The width of the tunnel was at least twenty feet wide with a height that must have been ten feet. As for the floor it seemed level when they were walking on it but when he sent the beam of light far ahead of them he could detect a noticeable downward inclination to it.

Walking on a flat and hard surface was quite a change from the soft sand they had been traveling on for the last several days. Even though they were in total darkness much of the time, they seemed to be covering a lot more distance in the same length of time. Of course he no longer had to carry Verla on his back, but she still held on to his shoulder most of the time so as to take some of the weight off her healing right leg.

By Vincent's watch, they had been walking in the tunnel for a couple of hours now and still it was going deeper. Even if the angle of depression was small, it was still going deeper into the ground and its appearance was always the same with no exit in sight yet.

Now that the water problem was solved, - there was dripping water in many places - Vincent began thinking about their food supply. They had a few slabs of dried smoked meat remaining, half a dozen cans of food which he was keeping as a last resort, dehydrated eggs, biscuits and half a pound of coffee. It was enough to last them at least a week.

When they stopped to eat, he made use of this opportunity to examine more closely the material of the floor and walls of the tunnel. It was some kind of dark green plastic which was extremely hard; he couldn't scratch it even with his knife. He was aware that technology to produce this sort of material was certainly not known in his world and this help to confirmed his belief that the builders of the Arches and of this tunnel were the same.

They rested for an hour and then they resumed walking. He was now holding Verla around the waist to help her walk, soon he could feel the warmth of her body as one of her breasts kept rubbing against his shirt.

He soon began to experience a strong need for her. It bothered him to be subjected to these feelings, especially so soon after the lost of Nika, but he couldn't do anything about how his body was reacting and he had to cope with the guilt he also felt. He did realize though that sooner or later he was going to make love to Verla.

When they stopped for the night, they stretched on the floor of the tunnel and he did make love to her. As soon as she was lying on Nika's sleeping bag next to him, she reached for his hand. This soon led to Vincent kissing her and after a while he crawled on top of her. At last he was able to feel her breasts with his open hands, those same breasts that had been tempting him so much in the last couple of days.

They were fuller than those of Nika and when he got his hardness deep into her, she immediately threw her legs around his waists and he could feel the urgency of her need for him. Yes, she was so tight and yet so slippery and while he was pumping into her, he couldn't prevent his mind from thinking about the many different men she must have had in her long life and more important still, how old could she be. But despite the fact that she must have had numerous sex partners, - at least half of the men in the village of Haski had fucked her for one thing - she was as tight as a teenager on her graduation prom.

It then occurred to him that this must have something to do with the rejuvenation properties of this world. Beside the extremely quick healing of his broken leg a while back, he also had a new tooth in his mouth to confirm this fact.

While he made love to her, she declared to him that ever since the death of Lomac she had been hoping that he would make love to her. She even told him that after Lomac's death, Nika had offered to share him with her since it was very common in her world to share a man or a woman when it was necessary. Had they been less concerned about the dangers and the water problem she would have accepted her offer.

The next day, she could walk much better and they covered even more distance. His watch indicated that it was in the middle of the afternoon when they discovered that the floor was no longer slopping down but was now curving up a little.

"I think we are about to reach the end soon." Said Vincent.

"But the tunnel has been slopping downward for a long time before now, so it will probably take as much time for us to get to the level of the floor of the valley outside." She replied.

She was right of course but at least they could now see a possible end to the tunnel. They went on for two more days and still it kept on slopping upward. They were now using the flashlight less and less since the beam had begun to show signs of diminishing intensity.

Then on the third day after the floor of the tunnel had begun tilting upward, they began to see the shapes of things around them even if the light was out. This was true especially when they looked ahead where they could see a gentle curvature in the tunnel's walls.

Gradually it became lighter until the tunnel was perfectly lit. It was a diffused light that seemed to come from the walls and ceiling, but apart from that, they saw no other changes while the tunnel continued very straight ahead of them.

For the second night in a row, they slept inside the lighted tunnel. The temperature was quite comfortable and now the humidity also seemed to be controlled.

After a restful nights sleep, they both awoke full of energy. As soon as they finished eating a few slices of dried smoked meat and a couple of biscuits, they got under way again. As they progress further the light became even more intense and they began to see decorations on the walls.

It was nothing very elaborate since in consisted of a series of lines arranged into different patterns and in bright colors. Then the light itself seemed to be changing in color and in intensity as they went on further.

Then all of a sudden they came to a large room where the tunnel ended. It was as large as an Olympic pool and straight ahead, on the far side of the room they could see an immense rectangular door. It was very similar to the one they had seen at the other end of the tunnel. When Vincent tried to open the huge door, it wouldn't move in any way and no amount of pounding or prying would make it swing or slide open.

On the wall at their left, was another door but much smaller. It was barely high enough to allow a man of Vincent's height to go through, but that door opened of its own the second that Vincent stood in front of it.

It slid into the wall without any noise whatsoever and on the other side they could see a small room made of the same materiel as the tunnel. In the very center of the room was an arch identical to the two that Vincent had already seen. The one near his house and the other on this world where he had been transported from his own world. This was proof enough for him to confirm that the builders of the arches and those that drilled the tunnel were the same.

Verla had never seen any of the arches yet and she whispered to Vincent that she didn't like what she was seeing. She even suggested that they should go back into tunnel the way they had come.

It was as if an inner sense within her was warning her against the possible dangers of the arch she was now looking at. He later learned from her that in most of the tribes there were stories or songs that talked about similar circular arches. In the many stories or songs about them, they were always said to be things of evil and people were warned to keep away from them at all cost.

Of course Vincent knew that the instant that they were going to walk under its shiny contour they would be transported somewhere else. But the question that he could not answer was where would it take them?

It took him many minutes to discuss that matter with Verla. He tried to explain to her what the arch would do, but it was too much for her to understand. At last she agreed to follow him even if in her mind it did mean death for both of them.

As expected, the instant that they walk through the small door, the panel slid back into place thus blocking their retreat to the tunnel. He then placed his arm around Verla's shoulders so as to reassure her and they both stepped at the same time on the familiar plate of the arch with all of their baggages in hand.

While Verla was pressing herself against him he could feel her trembling, at the same time he also experienced the familiar tinkling throughout his body. A second later they were facing a dark wall; at least this is what he though it was at first.

It was almost completely dark where they were except for the light coming from two round holes in the wall high above them. It was not sunlight but more like the dim light from a big wood fire that was flickering with some of its light being diffused through both holes. But then he realized that he could hear chanting coming from the other side of the wall where the two holes were.

It took him many long seconds to recover from the shock and also for his eyes to adjust to the relative darkness. Right away he proceeded to climb up the rough wall so as to have a closer look through the two holes.

The higher he went the louder the chanting became and it occurred to him that the sounds of the chanting they were hearing was coming through the two holes above his head.

The wall was not made of the same plastic material as that of the tunnel, but was made of stones and the climb was not difficult at all. It became evident to him then that he was in some kind of a structure in which stones had been placed in such a way so as to make a sort of stair-way leading to the two holes.

Verla was following him up toward the two holes and as they got closer they realized that two holes were much bigger than they had first judge them to be. Each being at least five feet in diameter.

Just underneath the two holes, there was a long stone shelf about three feet wide going the length of both holes which were separated by a distance of about ten feet. Vincent and Verla each stood under a hole and at the same time they peeked on the other side. What they saw through the holes turned their blood cold. They were looking down from a height of about fifty feet and they had a perfect view of an immense room with statues and decorations everywhere. Just ahead at the far end of this enormous room, they could see sunlight coming through a wide opened, half-circular doorway.

But what attracted their attention the most was the large group of people just under them and what they were about to do. About eighty of the small statured birdmen were standing in a wide circle with their arms raised, they were chanting a monotonous incantation. Behind them, also chanting were a large number of men, women and even a few children. Everyone seemed as though in a trance and all had their hands over their head and were mumbling the same thing over and over again.

In the center of the circle stood two of the birdmen and they were holding a female by each arm. It was quite evident that the woman was more than reluctant to cooperate since she was struggling all the time. They were in the process of leading her toward an arch that stood in the center of the circle of men, it was an exact replica of all the arches that Vincent had seen so far.

The woman's body had been painted with numerous patterns and it was evident to see that while she was struggling, she was very scared. When she turned her face toward Vincent and Verla they were horrified to see that it was Nika.

Both Verla and Vincent recognize her at the same time. She was now just a few feet in front of the circular plate of the arch. Vincent knew that she was afraid of the arch since she knew exactly what it would do to her. She was certainly aware that she would be taken instantly to a place that she believed would be just like hell and she was doing all she could to prevent them from pushing her on the plate.

Vincent didn't dare to hesitate another second. He worked the bolt of his rifle and as soon as a cartridge was loaded in the chamber, he told Verla to get ready. He explained to her that she was to climb through the hole as soon as he had fired the rifle. She was then to follow him on the other side and into the large room.

He took aim at one of the men holding Nika and he pulled the trigger. But he saw to his horror that she had just lost the fight at that moment since she had just been shoved on the plate even as he was pulling trigger.