by M H Ryan
But I had beautiful women. They were all around me. They were my wives, and as alluring as this creature was, she held our friends.
“Lyra, I take it?” I asked, glad my voice came off as authoritarian.
“Yes,” she said, her voice as silky as her clothes. “I’ve been waiting for you, for all of you, for so long.”
“Just give us Areo and Molly back right now, and we can be on our way,” I said.
Her sultry smile faded a tad and then became more wicked and broader. I suspected that was her genuine smile, a dangerous look that matched those bright, golden eyes.
“She said you might be demanding,” Lyra said.
“Who?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Lyra said. “I will take you to your friends. Follow me.”
She turned, and her backside was just as impressive as the front. The back of her dress opened a V, reaching down to the top of her ample ass. I watched her walk for a second until Eliza nudged me.
“We can’t trust her,” Eliza said. “She wants something from us.”
Once again, I wished I could sense females in the way I could males, but it didn’t take much insight to see that Lyra was hiding something.
“You got her?” I asked, glancing back to Carmen.
“She’s wrapped up like a Christmas package,” Carmen said, holding onto Emma’s hand.
“Okay, let’s keep a tight formation. Sherri and Aubrey, cover the back side, and I’ll take point,” I said and walked toward Lyra.
She stood at the opened bush, holding the side of it as if it was not a plant but drapery. Beyond her, blackness. She smiled, motioning for us to go inside.
“You first,” I said to Lyra.
She bowed and looked out, making a few hand gestures. Two monkeys jumped down from the trees and came to her side. They pulled the bush open a bit more as Lyra let go and stepped backward into the darkness. She all but disappeared in the cave except for those eyes. They stayed open, staring, and somehow inviting.
The monkeys blinked but made no other movement as they held the “door” for us. I took a few uneasy steps past them and into the cave.
Chapter 33
Kara crept up next to me, touching the round stone walls on either side of us. The walls curved in at the top, forming an archway a few feet above us. The stone had jagged lines and went into the darkness in the shape of a tube.
“This is a natural cave,” Kara whispered to me with a hand on the wall. “Nothing like Ben’s. There’s no ghosts here.”
So this wasn’t a man-made cave but some natural phenomenon.
“Could be a lava tube,” Hanna said. “It’s not impossible, and from the sound of many of these islands, it would make sense. These all could be part of a hot pocket, stuff bubbling up to the surface before moving on. In fact, there should be some active volcanos near here. That could place us somewhere near the Polynesian islands or even the Hawaiian part of the Ring of Fire. Well, provided that the geography is similar in this earth. I mean, millions of years ago, everything was quite different, even in our back yard, with the continental drift and all…” Hanna trailed off and took in interest at the ground.
“Thanks, Bill Nye,” Aubrey said.
“How about an F U, Aubrey?” Hanna said. “I’m so sorry I find what we’re in the most fascinating thing that has ever happened…to anyone.”
“Ladies, be nice and Hanna, I like hearing what you have to say about it,” I said.
“Me too,” Sherri said. “And I agree. This place is fascinating. I mean, where the hell else is there left on earth to explore the unknown? Every damn inch of the planet is posted up on the gram. Very little is surprising and most of it is a disappointment—fucking filters. Being here feels…fresh. Like we are truly experiencing something new.”
“Thanks, Sherri,” Hanna said. “Jack, I’ll keep a flame lit to light the way.”
“I’m not sure we’re going to need it,” I said as I probed deep into the cave with my senses and felt something powerful, not much unlike what I had felt at the other caves we’d been in. There was a seal somewhere in this cave, I was sure of it, and if that was the case, then I had a feeling we’d be seeing our glowing friends soon.
I led the way in, following a patient Lyra waiting just twenty feet ahead. As we got further into the cave, the light from the entrance lessened, and a now-familiar creature was glowing on the ceiling. A soft blue light emanated from it, and with each sound we made, they dimmed, as if frightened for a moment. Eliza and Kara kept to my sides, making for a tight space as the three of us walked in the narrowing hall.
The place smelled of wet wood and damp dirt. It also had a must to it, and a metallic smell. The ground felt moist under my bare feet, and the glowing creatures above gave the tunnel a blue glow that mixed with the flickering orange light coming from Hanna.
A cool, steady breeze blew in from below, and I kept hearing a crackling sound—similar to what the great divide sounded like, as if stones were breaking and smashing into each other, but much softer, quieter. The sound echoed around the tunnel, making it impossible to discern where it came from.
We passed a hole in the wall about the big enough that I could crawl into, a few feet off the floor. Kara moved away from the hole, holding her hands close to her chest. The illuminating creatures weren’t in that offshoot, making it a black hole that forced my imagination to come up with the worst of creatures just lurking in the dark. I did sense something in the distant, but it wasn’t like anything I’d ever felt before. That same feeling seemed to be coming from all around us. It made the hairs stand up on my arms as I tried to figure out what was hiding.
“I don’t like this place,” Cass said. “We should have stayed at our camp and cut our losses.”
“Shut up, you,” Aubrey said. “We could have left your ass behind in a snake pit, remember?”
“No, I don’t,” Cass said.
“If you two don’t stop, I’m going to paddle you both,” I said. “This island is affecting us, and if we let it, we’ll be at each other’s throats, so don’t let it. Not another negative word from anyone.”
They grumbled but kept quiet.
“A bit further,” Lyra said, turning back and showing us those golden eyes.
The flat trail began to curve downward and narrow. Kara and I stayed up front while Eliza got behind me. I glanced back to do a quick headcount. They were all there, looking nervous but determined. Sherri smiled and gave me a thumbs up.
“This is so cool,” Sherri whispered, looking at the ceiling, reaching for the glow but not able to touch it.
“Hey, how much further there, silky?” Aubrey yelled out to Lyra, dimming the cave as she did.
“Not much further,” Lyra said.
We followed her for a few more minutes, curving and leading down further into the cave. The ceiling had less of the glowing things, giving Hanna’s light the chance to dominate. The change in color gave the walls a dark gray or even black appearance.
I kept an inventory of the many offshoots, heading in all directions. Kara caught me looking down a rather large, dark hall, and I came to a stop, thinking I heard something in there. I also felt something too small and distant to be as close as it sounded. A scratching noise echoed through the void.
A mass of creatures were moving with us. Too far away to accurately discern, but they were behind us, above, below and to the sides. A heavy feeling pressed against my chest.
“Something is in here with us. Watch everywhere,” I said.
“Great,” Aubrey said.
The girls adjust their weapons and the worried looks on their faces deepened.
Hanna split her fire and sent one small flame down one of the halls. It floated, lighting the space around it. Something large moved in the fading darkness but disappeared with the scratching sound bouncing all around the cave. I thought I saw a pair of eyes. The light flew forward and hit the wall at the end of the tunnel, dripping down the black rocks. It wasn’t the en
d of the tunnel, but a curve in another direction.
“You see that?” Hanna asked.
“Saw something,” Kara said.
“It looked at me,” Cass said in a whisper. “Can we leave this tunnel?”
“We’ve passed many tunnels, and they look the same,” Shaya said. “I had a friend that swam into a cave system. She never came back out.”
“Dang, that’s terrible,” Sherry said.
Shaya shrugged and looked into the darkness of the tunnel.
I looked back the way we came and heard that same scratching sound even louder. The creatures on the ceiling dimmed in response.
“Don’t worry. I know the way out. I got us,” Kara said as her hand glided along the rocks.
I’m glad that made one of us because I wasn’t sure if I could get us back out the way we came in.
That clicking sound came from the dark hall and then lessened as if it was moving away. I reached out and sensed something in the darkness, faint and small. Maybe a crab…I felt many of them all around us. They seemed too small to be making that much noise, though.
“Watch the side tunnels,” I said, sending out a thought wave to whatever it was that we were not to be feared.
“We need to keep moving,” Lyra said with her sultry tone.
We followed her along the path, but that scratching sound wasn’t going away. It seemed to be getting worse, the deeper we got into the cave.
“So, you knew that Ben guy, back at that bunker?” Benji asked.
Lyra looked over her shoulder. “Did he tell you who he was?”
“The king's son,” I said.
“Whoever the fuck the king is,” Cass whispered.
“Yeah, and you killed him,” Lyra said.
“He tried to kill us,” Benji said. “It was self-defense.”
“I’m not judging, sweetie. Thank you’s are in order. You freed my sister. I can feel her here, especially in you, Jack. You must have impressed her.”
“Uh, what?” I asked.
“Murrack, of course, darling. She likes you. I can tell,” Lyra said, almost teasing me.
“I think she saved us, back on the ship,” I said. “A creature attached itself to the bottom of the boat and was… messing with our heads somehow.”
“Oh yes, the Pollymard, a vile creature. Not many exist that I am aware of. Just another cast out from the king’s meddling’s.”
“You know the king?” Carmen asked.
“Yeah, and he’d like you,” Lyra said, slowing down a tad to look Carmen up and down. She seemed to pause at her mid-section. It was impressive, but it was more of a doctor's examination kind of look followed with a frown.
“Who or what is he?” I asked and felt Danforth’s journal in my pocket.
“He’s a man, much like you and nothing like you. The fact that you are still alive means something extraordinary here, my dear boy. You have a chance to stop him, if you decide to stay here.”
“Hell, no,” Cass chimed in. “We are getting the girls and bouncing up out of this place faster than a…”
“A hooker on heelies,” Emma said, finishing for Cass. “You know, them shoes with the rolly things on the bottom?”
Lyra smiled. “I like her, and yes, I plan to keep my promise. I can send you home, but I have to make sure one thing happens before I do. Now, children, we have to keep quiet now or else, we’ll agitate them. The tunnel glow soothes them.” Lyra pointed at the ceiling ahead.
The ceiling illuminated as the tunnel became quiet.
“What are they?” I whispered.
“They are attracted to my sisters and me. They… grow from what we are. Now, quiet boy, we’re almost there.”
“Bitch, nobody talks to Jack like that,” Aubrey said.
“He’s all man,” Sherri said.
The girls were all glaring at Lyra now. I wasn’t sure if we were even going to get to the end of this tunnel without blood being spilled.
“Ladies, it’s okay,” I said. “But if this is some sort of trick or trap you’re leading us into, this won’t end well for you.”
She smiled and took in each of the girls. “You’ve got a good group here with you, Jack. You better hold onto them with everything you have. The king will want them all. As far as me… well, my time here is short, so I apologize for any rudeness.” She gave a slight bow in my direction, turned back around, and walked deeper into the cave.
Another minute, with turns and steady descent, Lyra stopped at an opening that had light pouring out from it. The backlight lit her up, making the sheer drees all but disappear. I could see between her legs and the curvature of her backside. She turned back with a big smile and eyes for only me.
“We’ve reached the center,” Lyra said.
She stepped into the room, and as I neared the doorway, I took in the massive room that it opened up into.
The glowing creatures were everywhere, lighting up what was the centerpiece of the room in all its glory: a tree, a hundred feet wide, with twisted, green trunks moving and plunging into the stone and soil all across the expansive floor. The ceiling had to be a couple hundred feet up. The tree punched through the top of the cave and the rocks pressed against the massive trunk, cracked and broken. The tree had grown too large for the space and now broke it’s confining shell. Stacks of shattered rocks lay on the floor, some burying the bottom of the tree. Not a single branch stuck out from the trunk, and it had no leaves in the cave but I imagine it rose to something truly massive outside.
The humid room smelled of wet wood, as if someone had just dug up a tree and exposed the roots. I searched the room with all my senses, and it appeared to be empty, besides Lyra.
A pile of stones led down from the entrance to the room and I started walking down them with Kara. She immediately took an interest in the rocks, running her hand over them until she reached a part of the tree trunk and root system that ran over much of the floor. She touched it and then let it go, stood and then stared at me with wide-eyed terror.
“What?” I asked as the other girls were coming into the room.
“This tree is ancient and alive…it is connected to Lyra somehow,” Kara said, touching the floor.
“This is the Tree of Olmera. Or it once was. It is the last of the Mother Trees,” Lyra said in a low voice that still echoed around the chamber.
“But it has been corrupted…something bad happened here, Jack,” Kara said. “Something has been feeding on it, sucking the life out of it for many years. Terrible beasts are even feeding on it now.”
“She’s right,” Lyra said. “And that is why I brought you here. That is why I needed you to come here. You have to burn this tree down before it is too late.”
“Say what now?” Aubrey asked.
“Burn the tree down. I can’t do it. It has to be you,” Lyra said.
I frowned and looked from the tree to her and then to Eliza. Eliza shrugged as if she didn’t see this coming.
“We don’t care about your tree problem. We’re here for our friends,” I said. “You dragged us down here, and if they aren’t here, we’re gone.”
“She’s right there,” Lyra said, pointing to the ground behind her.
Lying on the ground was a tube of what looked like cotton, about the size of a person.
“Are you serious?” Aubrey asked.
I rushed over to it and kneeled, touching the white threads. The thin strands stuck to the tips of my fingers and stretched, but didn’t break. I pulled some of the threads to the sides, unable to get through the layers. Small strands pulled free and I watched them float down from my hands.
“Spider web,” I said.
It wasn’t a bundle of cotton but a cocoon. She was in there. Her arms and legs made for bulges in the human-shaped confinement. I pulled out my knife and began to carefully cut the webbing as the other girls pressed in next to me.
“Holy moly,” Benji said.
“What the hell did this?” Eliza asked.
“The
spiders,” Lyra said in a casual tone. “Fortunately for her, I was able to get them to gorge on the tree. They were saving her for their mother’s batch of children hatching soon. Vile creatures, they are, but their mother is the worst.”
“Spiders?” Kara asked. “I hate spiders.”
“Me too,” Benji said, looking around for the arachnids.
“I thought I saw some webs in one of the tunnels,” Hanna said. “Is she alive?”
I reached a place on the web where it became too thin, too close to her skin, and I began to cut slowly, carefully. Cutting through a long section, I pulled it apart like, exposing her face.
“It’s Molly,” Sherri said.
I put my ear next to her mouth, and after a few seconds, a soft breath blew out into my ear.
“She’s breathing,” I said and moved to her neck with my knife. “Help me cut her loose.”
The thick strands stretched and pulled as I yanked the knife through the web locked in around her body. Eliza had her knife out and was cutting through the webbing at her legs, while Sherri and Aubrey pulled the section I’d already cut from her chest and ripped it open like a cardboard box. In a matter of seconds, we had the wrappings off her.
I pulled her loose from the cut and ripped webbings, freeing her. She still had on her a white bikini, tied off in ribbons at her sides. Her body looked pale, but she felt warm in my arms.
“If she’s hurt…” I said, holding her small, limp body in my arms as I faced Lyra.
“She should be okay with proper care, but I’m afraid we are running out of time, and I have to insist you burn this tree down now, as she is coming.”
“There are two of them. Where is the other one?” I asked.
“My primates were only able to obtain one of them. The Mulshar, unfortunately, took the other one,” Lyra said.
“Where is she?” Aubrey asked, pushing her spear toward Lyra.
Lyra didn’t flinch and only glanced at the stone-tipped spear.
“I suspect she is on her way to the king,” Lyra said. “She will be a powerful asset for him,” Lyra said. “But, please, my little ones, we must hurry. The spiders will be here soon, and this is not a very fortuitous place for you to be. I will not be able to stop them from hurting you.”