“We considered that,” replied Wilson. “The answer is no.”
“I’d say that what you describe would violate the law of conservation of mass,” deduced Ron.
“It seems like it,” interjected Karl, “but that can’t be. There has to be something we’re missing.”
“Joining this team will be an adventure,” promised Wilson, “and I’m inviting you to join us. You have several skills that we can use both engineering and medical.”
“I agree with Dr. Wilson,” said Connie. “I’d like for you to join us too.”
“As would I,” said Karl.
“Your mother was always a good partner to have by my side in surgery,” said Wilson. “Why she never became a surgeon herself I’ll never understand. She was intuitive, knowledgeable, not afraid to make suggestions when we got into a tight situation. I learned to trust her intuition, because she was right far more often than she was wrong. I’ve always felt comfortable having a Griego by my side. Are you ready to join us?”
Ron smiled broadly. “How can I turn down an offer like that? I like a challenge. I accept.”
“Excellent,” said Wilson. “You’ll have the office right next to mine, not that you’ll be there very often. I suspect that we’ll keep you very busy running tests and analyzing data. Welcome to the team.”
The others applauded politely. Ron was certain that Dr. Wilson was right. This would be an adventure. There was something incredible about this research, he was certain of it. Perhaps his skills would shed some light upon this mystery.
Chapter 5:
Further Excerpts from the Personal Journal of Miss Debbie Langmuir
My Bible time became a nightly thing for me. It really didn’t take much time to get through the four gospels and into Acts, then into Romans. It gave me a peace I hadn’t experienced before. I read on and waited for the next miracle.
During the day I looked for any evidence of a change in Lukor. It was subtle but it was there. He seemed to have more patience with us humans in the days that followed. He was slower to anger for one thing. I prayed for him every night; that God would grant him understanding.
It was about two weeks after the incident of the falling beam, near the end of another exhausting day. We were surprised when Lukor called an end to our labors a good two hours ahead of schedule.
Our ankles were shackled together as was the usual procedure for taking us back to our cells, but that wasn’t where we were going.
Lukor stood before our group. The expression upon his face was stern. “We will be traveling through tunnels that you have not been in before,” he began. “It is important that you stay tight together and move as quickly as possible. There are dangers in this region, cave beasts with an appetite for human flesh. I and the other wulvers are your only protection against them. I strongly suggest that you follow our every command.”
The procession began. The wulvers were all about us. There were far more of them than usually escorted us. I felt uneasy. I think we all did.
“Where you figure they’re taking us?” whispered David, who was right ahead of me in the procession.
I only shrugged, I mean, how could I have guessed? I only knew that the twisting corridor led steadily downward, that the air became cooler, but more humid with each passing minute. It must have been half an hour before we heard it, echoing from the walls; the roaring sound of running water.
Another couple minutes brought us to a great tunnel with about a dozen very large glowing crystals mounted upon the walls. Here and there the tunnel also glowed a faint green. What I saw before me was unbelievable. On the other side of a shoreline of gray sand and boulder, was an underground river, a hundred feet wide at least. It flowed through a huge tunnel with a beach on both sides and gigantic stalactites hanging from the ceiling. The waters before us flowed gently enough, but both upstream and down were narrower rapids like the Colorado River. They could easily have swept a careless person away.
Lukor stood upon a large boulder before us. “Ya’ll listen ta me and listen well.” His voice was loud and threatening, he had everyone’s attention. “I’ll give ya a time to step forth into the river, to get a drink of good water, to wash the filth from ya. You humans smell too foul, we shall fix that here and now. I give ya this solemn warning; don’t wander far from da shore, nor any distance up or down stream. You’ll be chained together still. I’ll not have the lot of ya swept away ta yer death. Now be about it, ya don’t have much time.”
The guards moved us forward, across the sandy beach, and into the waters beyond. God, I swear it had been months since I had felt so good. The waters were clear and cool. We didn’t wade very far out. The waters were hardly waist deep. The stream turned brown as the filth of months was washed from our bodies and clothing.
I made the best of it, kneeling down, trying to wash my filthy gray dress, then my hair, it was wonderful. David splashed me playfully. I laughed. For the first time in a very long while, I laughed a wispery laugh. It was contagious. I hadn’t heard so much laughter since I had come to this place.
I gazed at David and he gazed back at me. It was an opportunity that neither of us could pass up. We moved toward each other, pulling on chains, inching ever closer. We embraced tightly, my heart soared. He kissed me. No one stopped us.
I dreamed of being at his side in the waters of a cool mountain lake, looking forward to an intimate evening together, sharing our love. God, how I missed my freedom, especially now.
After a few moments we separated. I looked around, wondering where the water came from, where it went. Did it come from the surface? Was it a route out of here? What looked like a twig floated past. It seemed to support the idea that this stream had its source in the daylight realm. Somewhere above our heads was a world of light, a world with trees and grass, a world of life. Yeah, but how far away was that surface, could it be reached? I looked upstream. Quite a way up there the water roared through a narrow tunnel, a tunnel lacking any sort of a shoreline. One could not begin to fight such a current, even if one could free themselves of their chains. I turned away. I guess it would have been too much to ask. This river wasn’t the way out.
It was over all too soon. The guards ordered us from the waters, lined us up for the return trip to our cells.
I was soaking wet as we began the trip back. I felt so refreshed, so alive. Yet my joy turned to fear as I heard the unearthly howl up ahead. I can only call the sound a howl, though that word hardly describes it. It was like no sound I’d ever heard on Earth. I think I’d heard it here in the caverns before but in the distance, not nearly so close as this.
The wulvers came to an abrupt halt and immediately drew their swords. They seemed very nervous. Whatever was out there was bad, really bad. They just stood there as the howl repeated. Was it closer this time? I think it was. David reached back and took my hand in his.
Lukor scanned our surroundings carefully before motioning to his warriors to move forward once more. We moved quietly.
Then the howl was heard again. It was coming closer whatever it was. I heard the words of a wulver warrior next to me. It was a word I’d heard before.
“Ciudache,” he murmured, fear in his voice.
“Tighten up yer ranks, all of ya!” commanded Lukor, taking a long metal spear in his hand. He gazed into the darkness ahead. “Remember they can be quick. Don’t let em catch ya off guard. Go for the throat, it’s their weakest spot.”
Several other wulvers took up stations at his side, spears in hand. They seemed both tense and ready.
I gazed at the shackle about my right ankle, at the chain that joined me both to David and Gwen. If this beast broke through the lines of the wulvers we were ripe for the slaughter, shackled and helpless. I was scared, really scared. I prayed silently that I might live to see another day. Then something amazing happened; my fear seemed to flow away from me. I can’t explain it any other way. I felt a peace. No, it was more than just a peace, I felt a presence. No, it was more than
just that. I felt protected.
There was another growl, still closer. No, it was more like some sort of high pitched scream, as the cavern began to shake as if a train was thundering down upon us. I gripped David’s hand even as I gazed into the darkness. I was only the fifth from the front. I’d be one of the first to go. No I wasn’t going to die. I was going to survive; I was sure of it.
There was a bright flash of light, then another from somewhere up ahead. There was another ear piercing scream, more light then nothing. The echoes died away, yet the warriors in the front remained ready to throw their spears.
It was over a minute before they cautiously advanced once more. We all moved forward. There was something in the corridor ahead, a huge form that hadn’t been there before. Then the light of the crystals held by the wulvers illuminated it. I gasped as its head came into view.
I’d never seen anything like this. Its head was almost insect-like, or maybe dragon-like. I say almost. It had I don’t know how many orange eyes placed all over its elongated snake shaped head. A pair of white mandibles extended from either side of a huge mouth filled with sharp curved teeth. A wide black tongue, insanely long, hung out at least six or seven feet from its mouth. Fully extended it might have stretched even further. Maybe it used that long tongue to reach out and grab its prey. I’m just not sure.
The skin of its head and long neck appeared almost rock-like. It had long front legs that were directed forward so as to act like arms with clawed hands to grab onto its prey. I was surprised to find four more legs behind this first pair. The body was elongated but didn’t take the form of an insect, despite its six legs. Indeed, this beast was more lizard-like. Upon its thick curved tail was a barbed stinger. I quickly realized that this thing was dead. Dark yellow blood oozed and even gushed from several huge rents in its side. Whatever had happened to it had happened just now, and whatever had done this to this beast was probably real close.
Then something else caught my eye, just for a fraction of a second. There was movement in the near total darkness of the cavern just beyond the beast. It was there and then gone. Lukor directed the light of his crystal into the void a second or so later but it revealed nothing.
“Who’s out there?” yelled Lukor.
No reply answered his summons. Whoever they were they were gone now.
Lukor and several others approached the long necked beast that must surely have stretched out for eighteen or twenty feet from head to stinger. He held his spear in readiness in the event there was still some life left in this creature. There wasn’t.
“Tis a big one, captain,” said Lemnock.
“I’ve seen bigger,” replied Lukor, “but it is big. I think it was waiting to ambush us.”
“But it ner got the chance,” observed Lemnock, “someone or something else got to it first, and that something didn’t take very long to kill it.”
“Tis true,” replied Lukor, “but who or what? I’d posted no sentries, and look at these wounds.” Lukor motioned to a pair of deep slashes into the beast’s side. The edges of the wide gash appeared as if burned. “They were not made with a simple sword. Whatever made these slashes was very hot.”
A third warrior approached. “Ya think this was done by a beast of a kind we’ve not seen before?”
Lukor hesitated. “No, I don’t think so. A beast kills for food. Whatever killed this ciudache didn’t kill it for food. It just left it here. Maybe it was defending itself.”
“Maybe it was defending us,” I whispered.
Apparently Lukor had heard me. He glanced over in my direction but he didn’t say anything, at least not to me.
“But whoever they were they wished not to be seen by the likes of us,” said Lukor to Lemnock.
“Drells?” asked Lemnock.
“Nonsense,” said Lukor. “The drells would ner go out of their way to help us. No, this is something else.” He gazed out into the darkness and then back at the entourage behind him. “We can linger here no longer, we need to get these humans to safety. Let us move on. I’ll send a party back to carve up this beast later. So much good meat is not to be wasted.”
Our group was on the move once more, but this time far more cautiously, aware of every noise around them. I and the others were never so glad to get back to our cells and be safely locked in.
I considered the events of the day, as exciting and terrifying as they had been. Something different was happening here, of that much I was certain. Had a new player just entered the game of life and death in the caverns? Maybe. Strangely, I was at peace about it. That night I slept like I hadn’t slept for months.
The following evening found something new on our dinner plates; meat, and a generous portion of it too. It didn’t take a genius to figure out its source. It was pretty good, really, better than I’d imagined. It tasted a lot like beef. Then again we were all so hungry. Knowing what it was didn’t stop us from enjoying it. We were all feasting on the thing that had intended to feast on us.
During the months that followed, Lukor had us taken to the river several more times, though the events of that first journey were never repeated. It became something we all looked forward to. To us, it was the greatest of luxuries, helping us to continue on, but the work still took its toll. Those who collapsed, who could work no longer, were still hauled away to their doom. They were replaced with fresh recruits from the land of the living, from the heaven we left behind.
How Gwen continued on during those many months, I can hardly guess. I’d never seen a child with such courage.
It was the middle of April when Gwen finally collapsed of exhaustion. The task wulver rushed to the little girl’s side, his whip in hand.
“Get up, ya lazy little wench!” he screamed, poised to lash her.
“Please, have a care,” pleaded Camron, “she’s but a child.”
The wulver turned angrily toward the young Scotsman, striking him across the neck with his whip, before focusing his attention once more upon Gwen. He had struck her only twice, when a powerful hand grabbed his wrist.
“Leave her alone, you beast!” cried Marci, striking the wulver to the floor with a single blow of her fist. “If you’re going to pick on anyone, pick on someone more your size, you coward!”
The wulver’s nose was covered in blood, he seemed shocked and disoriented. “You’ll pay dearly fer that, wench,” he roared.
“Yeah, and here’s the first payment!” Marci replied, kicking him between the legs as hard as her shackles would allow.
The wulver let out a scream unlike any I’d ever heard. Marci grabbed his whip. David and I rushed toward Gwen, but the crack of a second wulver’s lash drove us back. Within seconds, three of the angry beasts had surrounded Marci. I knew then that she was as good as dead.
“I’m not going to die without a fight!” she cried, in a whispery scream. She struck out with the whip at the nearest wulver, catching him squarely on the face. He shrieked and fell backward, hitting his head against the far wall.
I tried to rush to Marci’s side, but David held me back.
“No!” I cried, “I’ve gotta help her!”
“You’d die with her,” he replied, holding me all the more tightly. “Is that what you want?”
From somewhere, a rock was hurled at one of the other wulvers, hitting him in the middle of the chest. I watched in horror as Camron lunged at him, driving him to the ground. He hit the beast twice with his fist before it threw him to the side.
Rebellion had erupted, and I felt certain that it was about to spread out of control. Yet the other humans around me didn’t enter the fight. Many cowered away into the corner, or simply watched. One wulver and then another jumped on top of Camron, striking him again and again with their huge fists. More and more wulvers joined the fight, driving Marci back into a corner. For over a minute she held them at bay with her whip, but in the end, they overcame her by sheer numbers. They had struck her with their fists several times when Lukor arrived.
“
Stop!” he yelled, stepping into the midst of the confusion. He threw the guard atop Camron to the side and pulled a bloodied wulver from the fallen woman.
“The wench struck me!” cried the injured wulver, holding his bleeding nose. “I demand revenge!”
Lukor turned to Marci, fire in his eyes, “Well?”
“He was whipping Gwen,” she gasped, looking toward the fallen girl. “No one strikes that child!”
Lukor knelt at Gwen’s side. He gently turned her over and felt her pulse.
“Should we see that she’s taken ta the drells?” asked one of the task wulvers.
“No,” replied Lukor, “take her back to her cell. We’ll see if a couple day’s rest will bring her back her strength.” Lukor paused for a moment, then turned to the two guards who still held Marci firmly by her wrists. “Release her!” he growled. They reluctantly backed away as he looked toward Marci. “You’ll go with her. She’ll need someone to look after her.”
For a moment Marci seemed amazed. “Yes sir.”
Lukor turned to a guard standing near the far wall, “Drelan, escort them back to their cell.”
“Sir?” the wulver asked, in confusion.
“Did ya not hear me?” growled Lukor. “Need I repeat myself?”
“No, sir,” replied Drelan. “I understand. It will be done.”
“What are ya doing, captain?” complained the injured guard. “She’s dangerous, she’s broken da law.”
“I’ll not be needing to explain myself to ya, Lemnock,” he replied angrily.
The enraged wulver practically bit his tongue as he watched Marci rush to Gwen and kneel at her side, stroking the child’s long black hair. She picked the frail girl from the floor, cradling her gently in her arms.
Marci paused as she passed the mighty warrior, “Thank you, Captain Lukor.”
“Just go, we have a job to accomplish here.” Lukor watched for a moment as Drelan escorted the two humans down the corridor.
“What’s going ta happen ta discipline?” objected the injured guard, still holding his nose. “Ya can’t start treating em like, well, wulvers. I know that one of em might have saved yer life, but ya can’t do this. They’re just animals, sustenance for da drells.”
The Realm of the Drells Page 7