The Night Land, a Story Retold

by James Stoddard

  The pit, which was enormous, glowed with red-hot flames. We looked around, first behind us, where we did not see any indication of the approaching monster, then to the sides of the gorge.

  "We have to climb," I said.

  Naani nodded bravely, though her face went deathly pale. I remembered her fear of heights, but could not think of another plan.

  I studied the nearest wall of the gorge, then darted a few yards beyond the flame and scanned the other side. There was no time to make a proper decision, but the closer wall seemed to offer the most protection. I ran back to Naani.

  "Can you do it?" I asked.

  Her face was smudged with slime from the boulders and the dripping water; I had never seen her so pale. But she managed a wan smile. "If you help me."

  She went first, so I could catch her if she fell. The sides of the gorge were wet and slippery, and slimy growths blotched the stones. Her feet slid when she first tried to climb, but she found a firm footing and pushed herself up.

  "Do not look down," I told her, when she tried to turn her head.

  "All right." Her voice quavered.

  I was unable to follow my own advice, however, and kept glancing over my shoulder, expecting to see the monster entering the circle of light.

  For a few minutes the climb went well, until Naani reached a difficult way where an enormous ledge jutted out from the cliff. Boulders had lodged on it, and a huge one stood just at the edge, looking as if it might tumble at any moment. I suddenly realized that if our efforts disturbed its equilibrium, we were right in its path.

  Even as I thought of this, Naani reached a place lacking a handhold. Because it sloped slightly inward, it was not particularly steep, but she looked up at the boulder, apparently seeing it for the first time, then looked down at me. When she saw how high we were, her eyes widened and her face turned white; even in the dim light I could see her hands trembling. She sobbed and pulled her body flat against the rocks. Once or twice, she tried to get back on her haunches, but her courage failed.

  "I can't move!"

  In my concern about our pursuer I had fallen slightly behind. Now I scrambled up to help her. My haste almost proved my undoing, for I missed a handhold, lost my footing, and slid down. I clutched vainly at the rocks, my armor rattling as I fell; I thought I was about to plummet all the way to the bottom. At last, almost twenty yards down, I stopped my descent by catching my foot between two boulders.

  Once I had a firm hold again, I looked up and gasped. The boulder above us seemed to totter, as if disturbed by my fall. Naani lay stretched over the rocks right beneath it, quietly sobbing and calling my name. She must have thought I was about to die.

  "I'm all right," I called up to her, hoping my voice sounded steady. "Naani, listen to me. You need to move to the left, away from the boulder."

  "I can't!"

  "You can. The ground slopes in where you are. You won't fall. Raise yourself up and pull to the left."

  Even as I spoke I climbed back toward her, going as swiftly as I dared, but more cautiously to avoid sliding again. Her eyes were closed; I could see her shuddering.

  "I can't! I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I can't."

  One never knows the fears of another; such things are impossible to judge. Because heights never bothered me, I had foolishly scorned Naani's terror. We never know when we will meet something that sends us into panic, something another might think inconsequential.

  "I'm coming," I said. "I'm coming. Just stay where you are."

  I could not tell if the boulder still teetered, but I moved as efficiently as possible to keep from disturbing the formation.

  It seemed an eternity before I drew up beside her. She clutched the stones so hard her shoulders shook. I tried to take her hand, but she refused to release her grip.

  "I have you." I slipped my arm around her wrist. "You can let go."

  She clutched the stones. I glanced up at the looming boulder.

  "Naani, you have to let go. I have you. Relax."

  I reached over and kissed her cheek. Gradually, she opened her eyes. We lay almost face to face.

  "I'm here. Let go."

  I felt her whole body slacken as she finally released her grip.

  "I'll help you up. I've got you."

  Together we moved to the left, out of the boulder's path. A moment later we climbed onto the very ledge where the stone perched, a broad way, with more than enough room for both of us to stand. Naani got as far away from the lip as she could and sat with her back to the cliff while I dropped to my knees a foot from the edge. Our exertions had left us breathless. She tried to speak once or twice, but could not get the words out.

  "I'm sorry," she finally managed, running her hands over her eyes. "I panicked. I feel so foolish."

  "Don't be embarrassed. We made it."

  She glanced up. "Is it coming?"

  I looked over the edge. It surprised me how small the fire-pit looked. Our fear had propelled us to a great height in a remarkably short time. The bottom of the gorge lay partially obscured by the haze of fumes, the smoke rising even to where we were.

  "I don't see it," I said. "We should be safe."

  "No, we're not. We have to defend ourselves. The slug can climb. It has followed us this far; the cliff won't stop it."

  I became suddenly angry. "It can't climb this high."

  "We don't know that."

  "Do you think," I asked, my voice rising, "my diskos can stop something the size of a warship?"

  "I think we need a plan."

  Our anger, borne of stress and fear, flamed in our eyes, and died just as quickly, leaving me feeling like an oaf.

  "You're right," I said. "What can we do?"

  I glanced back down the cliff and my breath froze in my lungs, for something was moving on the far side of the fire-pit. The monstrous head of a white, blotched slug came into the light. Its eyes, which were on stalks long as poles, jutted forward and down, so that it seemed to be looking at the cavern floor. We were so high up it seemed as if I gazed upon a shell-less snail moving among a vegetable garden. Even from this distance I could smell its stench.

  Naani, who had crawled up beside me, clutched my arm, startling me. I glanced at her, but her eyes were locked on the beast.

  As it moved into the light, we saw its body was the same blotched, unhealthy shade of white. Why some should be black and others white, I do not know, but that was the way of it. As it advanced, it moved its eyes among the boulders, searching, its gargantuan head swaying from side to side. No doubt it was looking for us.

  The haze kept us from seeing it clearly. Sometimes it disappeared, only to rise again out of the smoke. I cannot convey the sheer size of the creature and the horror it instilled.

  Despite the obscurity, both Naani and I saw when it abruptly opened its maw—a mouth large enough to drive a wagon through—revealing a white tongue wide as a barge. It lapped up a snake from among the boulders like a frog snapping up a fly. The serpent, which must have been enormous to be visible from such a height, writhed in vain, and vanished in a moment.

  The slug continued its search without pausing. Its crawling seemed slow when seen from such a height, but it crossed the gorge floor so rapidly that I finally understood why it had been able to overtake us. Its head, as it swayed, was so large it literally moved from one side of the canyon to the other. Its breath, the source of the stench, puffed out in drifting clouds.

  It set its tongue among the boulders and licked up another snake thick as a man's body. The thought struck me, even in my horror, that Naani and I were fortunate not to have stumbled onto one of the serpents in the dark, and I knew if we ever escaped the slug, the gloom would hold a new terror.

  The beast passed so close to the fire-pit we could see the massive wrinkling muscles of its skin. It brought its head around to our side of the gorge, gathered its tremendous body, then thrust itself upward, climbing toward the ledge where we crouched. As it scaled the cliff, its eye stalks moved back and fo
rth, searching the crannies and caves pocking the cliffside. The smell grew as it approached; this close its skin resembled a white, mildewed hill. I glanced at my diskos, which suddenly seemed a puny weapon compared to the monster's bulk, as if I was an ancient knight, pitting my pitiful sword against the leather hide of a dragon. Despite the diskos' power, I knew it could never harm such a primitive beast. Nor would our shelter protect us from its terrible tongue.

  Looking around in desperation, Naani and I both fixed our eyes on the tottering boulder at the same time.

  "We have to push it over!" she said.

  I scrambled to the rim of the ledge, right beside the boulder, and looked down. As near as I could judge, the slug crawled directly beneath the stone.

  Together, Naani and I braced ourselves against the rock and heaved, but it was far too massive. We flailed away at it while the slug drew ever closer. Clearly, my earlier fear of the boulder crashing down upon us had been unfounded.

  "We've got to work together!" Naani said. "We're wasting our strength. We need to be as high as possible against the stone."

  I saw she was right, for we had been pushing from a position on our hands and knees, to steady ourselves against the fall. "Very well. Together. We'll push beginning right . . . now!"

  We stood and struggled against the boulder, straining with all our strength. For a long moment nothing happened, and I thrust so hard I felt the blood pounding in my forehead. We roared together in our efforts, snarling like Night Hounds.

  Just when it seemed my arms and legs would give way, the rock moved with a loud grinding that drove us to new efforts.

  Abruptly the stone fell, and Naani and I clutched at one another to keep from tumbling with it. We collapsed at the lip of the ledge, then pulled ourselves back, but I managed to catch sight of the boulder as it careened down. For an awful instant, it took a tremendous bounce, and looked as if it would miss the slug, but it struck on the humped portion of the monster's back, just behind the head, driving through its soft skin like an arrow, vanishing into its vitals.

  The slug bellowed with a noise like the sound of rushing wind. Its expelled breath sent blood and matter rising in a steaming, reeking cloud.

  Crying in pain, it released its hold and sank backward, even as the echoes of the boulder thundered through the gorge. Its death screams reverberated like a hundred monsters dying at once, resonating out of the depths of the Rift into the eternal darkness of the upper world. After walking though the silent canyons for so long, that terrible cacophony astonished me. Naani pressed her hands against her ears and I bent my head down to my chest.

  As the last reflections died away, we knelt on the ledge, trembling in each others' arms, looking down at the white mass of the slug's quivering corpse. With the returning silence, Naani, cradled against my chest, undoubtedly remembering the ancient world, said, "How embarrassing it would have been to be eaten by a snail."

  It took a moment for me to comprehend, but then I broke into laughter. "A terrible thing. What would they put on our memory tokens?"

  We knelt, laughing and holding one another, our hearts still hammering from exertion and fear.

  "You realize we have to climb down from here?" Naani finally asked.

  I moaned and looked at the canyon floor. It would not be easy.

  ***

  All during our descent, I marveled at the way the power of desperation had allowed us to scale the cliff so quickly without falling to our deaths, for the climb took more than an hour and required us to rest on ledges three times before we reached the bottom. Naani demonstrated great courage, despite being ashen-faced throughout the entire ordeal. Once, when she seemed to reach the end of her strength, I thought for a terrible moment she was about to fall, but even then, as I rushed up to steady her, she did not cry for help.

  We reached the canyon floor a hundred paces from the horrid heap of the slug's corpse, and hurried away at once, for its body still twitched and the stench was almost unbearable. But now that I knew about the enormous serpents, I became doubly anxious for Naani's safety.

  "I should carry you," I said.

  "I'm strong enough."

  "You look exhausted," I reached over and tried to pick her up, but she slapped my armored wrist.

  "You need to be able to reach your weapon."

  "I don't want you getting too weary."

  "You don't want me eaten by a snake, you mean."

  "That’s true. My armor can protect me against bites, but you haven't any defense."

  "But if you pick me up and we meet a snake, you will need to free your hands for fighting."

  "I still think I should carry you."

  "I think you're wrong."

  I stopped and we stood glaring at one another, she fiercely stubborn, my pride slightly wounded.

  "I am right, aren't I?" she said. "Isn't it sensible?"

  "It . . . I suppose—"

  "I'll walk close behind you. Will that be good enough?"

  The battle with the slug and the arduous descent had been a terrible ordeal, and both our nerves were frayed. I wanted to shout that I was supposed to be her defender. How strange it is to love a woman so desperately, to feel two souls as one, and wish to strangle her at the same moment. No doubt she felt the same.

  Still, she spoke quite mildly, and Mirdath had always been the practical one, while I led with my heart and counted the consequences after.

  "Very well," I mumbled. "Follow closely."

  I went sulking along, half wanting a snake to appear to terrify her, half terrified I would fail to protect her if one did. Unwilling to tolerate my moping, she hooked her fingers in my belt and began to tease me.

  "Yah," she whispered. "Get along, mule."

  She did this until my ill temper vanished, partially because our people had forgotten both the horse and mule hundreds of centuries before, and it seemed to me as if it was Mirdath rather than Naani who said the words. It made me realize how foolish I was acting at a time when I needed all my concentration to lead us through the dark. I reached back and squeezed her hand.

  "I'm a cretin," I whispered.

  "You're my hero."

  ***

  Two hours later we passed beyond the darkness, fumes, and stink of the enclosed portion of the gorge, back into a region of numerous fire-holes. With the return of more light, my fear of the serpents lessened somewhat, but I still kept Naani close behind me.

  Despite our weariness from over nineteen hours of travel, we were elated to escape the land of the slugs. We joked softly with one another, and her sweet laughter echoed among the stones. It may seem strange, our jesting amid so much terror, but we were young and learning to love each other all over again. Besides, we had seen enough danger to grow as callused to it as anyone can.

  Our search for a resting place took another hour. With a grimace, Naani pointed up toward a cave fifty feet off the ground. "We could go there."

  "Can you stand another climb?"

  She tilted her chin up and managed a brave smile. "It can't be as bad as the last one. I don't like it, but I'm nearly asleep on my feet."

  Two fire-holes lay close by a warm spring that formed a water basin. We looked on the water with longing, for we reeked of the scent of the slugs, and knew we would have to bathe before we could rest. I searched the rocks, but did not find anything harmful.

  "Keep watch while I investigate the cave," I said.

  "All right."

  The climb proved an easy one, and the cave was clean and dry, without any holes to hide creeping things. When I poked my head back out, I saw Naani below me, head upturned, minding me instead of the gorge.

  "You're not watching," I called.

  She grinned. "Sorry. Will it do?"

  "It will. You aren't much of a sentry." Despite my attempt at humor, I hurried back to her, nervous at leaving her unprotected.

  Upon examination, the pool turned out to be the right temperature for bathing. Though the water was so clear that I could see all
the way to the bottom, just to be safe I checked its depth with the handle of my diskos, and found it shallow enough for wading. I sniffed the water, then tasted it.

  "Eaugh! Not the best for drinking, but clean enough, I think. You can wash while I keep watch."

  When she hesitated I clasped her hand. "I'll be right here, with my back turned."

  She smiled shyly. As I have said, we were a modest people, and our having been married before left us more than a little confused.

  "Hurry," I ordered needlessly. "It bothers me to have you out of sight."

  She took the cloak from my shoulders to wash it, and I stood leaning on my diskos, watching and listening, facing the gorge. Presently I heard her splashing in the water. She hummed an ancient song, the words of which I could not quite recall. Something about lilies, I thought. I was struggling to remember when her scream pierced me to the heart.

  I spun around and saw her scrambling toward the side of the basin, while a serpent thick as my arm rose out of some hidden cavity in the depths.

  I leapt into the pool, scooped her wet and naked into my arms, and turned my back to the serpent so my armor could protect her from its fangs. It struck at my thigh, the jar of its heavy head nearly knocking me over. I let the blow carry me forward, so I could set Naani down away from the monster, then turned, my chest burning with fury, and seized the serpent's head with my gloved hand even as it tried to strike again. In one motion, I tossed it to the opposite shore, then waded across and killed it with my diskos, taking a divot out of the rocks with the force of my blow.

  As it flapped helplessly in its death throes, I waded back to Naani, who had wrapped herself in my cloak.

  "Are you all right?" I asked.

  "Yes. It startled me. Did it bite you?"

  I pulled myself beside her and hugged her to my armor, probably hurting her somewhat in my fervor. We sat holding one another a moment, both trembling, our hearts pounding. I could not help but think, with terrible remorse, how I had wished her to be frightened by a snake only a few hours before.

  Gradually, we composed ourselves, and then laughed a little in elation. She actually recovered first and prepared a meal of tablets and water to give us some comfort. Before she went to work, she belted the cloak about her waist, and looked very pretty, with her hair wet and lovely at her shoulders.