by Dave Hazel
Mykal didn’t want to get outside the cover of the trees because then his men would know he was invisible. He saw some of them take aim with their rifles to protect him, but he hoped they wouldn’t shoot. He aimed his Glock 17 at one of the four nipping at the sloth and planned to shoot it in the hind quarters so as not to kill the creature, but then he knew he would cause the wild dog to suffer intensely by leaving it wounded. His intent was not to be cruel but to rescue the terrified sloth.
He readjusted his pistol and fired off two rounds. The sound went unnoticed due to the silencer attached to the handgun he had taken from one of the ‘Untouchables’ he obliterated back in the world. The first round missed when the dog jumped back from biting at the sloth. The second struck one of the dogs in the ribs and slammed it to the sand with a painful yelp. The dog flopped into one of the other dogs and reflexively snapped its jaws at the nearest which happened to be a fellow member of the pack.
Suddenly two of the wild dogs turned on the injured animal and ripped into its body with their deadly fangs. Once they bit into the wounded creature and latched on tightly they shook their heads like frenzied sharks and tore chunks away from the pack mate. The wounded dog tried to fight back, though it barely held onto life from the .40 caliber slug that slammed into its body. The two that crouched and snarled at Mykal’s position turned to watch the vicious fight that broke out.
One of the four that still went after the sloth didn’t seemed deterred but what took place among the pack mates and rushed towed the sloth in an attempt to bring down the sloth permanently. Mykal aimed and shot the wild dog in the side of the head. He was suddenly filled with rage because he didn’t want to hurt the wild dogs, but he wasn’t going to allow them to make a meal of the weaker furry sloth.
The dog that had been struck in the head flipped and hit the ground hard. Its legs kicked wildly but it wasn’t getting up. Mykal thought himself visible and pulled his sword which suddenly burst into a bright red flame. He jumped out from behind the trees and charged the four remaining dogs while yelling loudly and swinging the glowing red blade. The animals all turned to him and at first the four wild dogs stood their ground to defend their position, but Mykal swung the fiery blade and struck a rock which seemed to explode sending little pieces of rock in all directions.
Mykal charged at the dogs and if they just stood there or if they were to attack him he would chop and slice them to pieces. He wanted to scare them away so he wouldn’t have to kill the animals. He knew they were doing just what wild dogs were supposed to do, but he made the decision to rescue the sloth. He continued to yell and swing his sword while he charged the dogs and at the same time some of the men following Roy Jr.’s lead charged out at them yelling and swinging their weapons in the air an attempt to show the dogs they were badly outnumbered and facing danger.
The four wild dogs turned and ran with their tails between their legs, yelping all the way. They left two of their pack dead on the beach in two separate pools of blood. The sloth gave out a frightful cry.
When Mykal heard the terror of the cry it hurt him inside but he couldn’t let the men see his emotions. He stopped the flame of his sword and stopped moving. He held his hand up to stop the others so they wouldn’t frighten the sloth any more than it was already terrified. He waited a moment for the noise to calm down and slowly met with Roy Jr. to creep up to the furry creature gently. The sloth turned its head in all directions to see where its danger may come from. The cute little face still held the friendly, welcoming, expression it had in the beginning.
“It’s okay little guy,” Mykal whispered and held out his hand as if he was talking to a small child. “We’re not gonna hurt ya,” Mykal added and heard Mathis explain to Captain Diaz all that took place.
“You’ll be okay lil’ feller,” Roy Jr. said to help Mykal coax the strange animal into trusting them. “We ain’ts gonna hurt you. You’re such a cute lil’ feller,” he added and sounded like he, too, was talking to a little child.
The creature seemed to wrap tighter on to the tree branch stuck into the sand. It gave another cry and Mykal felt it sounded like a child calling for his mother. It made him feel terrible because he only wanted to help. When Mykal and Roy Jr. came close enough to touch the creature they continued to speak softly and gently and the others began to move toward them quietly and slowly.
“He really is an ugly little bugger, isn’t he?” Roy Jr. giggled softly.
“He’s a cutie-pie though,” Mykal chuckled, because Roy Jr. was right. The creature was ugly. “He does stink some too, don’t he?” Mykal added and nodded to all the bugs crawling on the thick hairy body.
The sloth gave a weaker mournful cry while slowly looking back and forth between the two of them. It didn’t sound as distressed as when they first heard the creature. The sloth ignored the long leaf Roy Jr. offered to its face.
Mykal slowly reached out and gently stroked the creature’s head. It surprised him how coarse the hair felt. It made Mykal smile when the sloth turned to him and looked as if it smiled at him, but that was the creature’s normal expression. Since they were on the other side of Towbar’s world, Mykal hoped the creature would let go of the tree and say “thank you for saving me from such a deadly peril,” and then go on its way. Talking creatures wouldn’t be out of the question in Towbar’s world, especially on this side of Towbar’s world.
Some of the men gathered around to get a closer look at the creature. It looked frightened but seemed to be more at ease around several men gently stroking it rather than several wild dogs biting at it.
“What do you think we oughta do with this thing Mykal?” Randy asked while he petted the odd looking animal. “Do you think we should just let it go and leave it alone? Or should we try to do something with it?”
“Man oh man, this little thing reeks,” Roy Jr. laughed after sniffing the air. “But he sure is a cute lil’ feller. If he didn’t stink so bad I would like to have one of these things as a pet.”
“Yeah right,” Randy chided his older brother. “Just like that time you brought home a pet ferret. The little thing stunk up his room and he finally pushed it off on Baby Ray to take care of it,” he said and suddenly looked saddened at the mention of their younger brother Baby Ray who had been killed during the first few days of the first trip to Towbar’s world.
“Yeah, but I’m older now,” Roy Jr. shot back as an attempt not to dwell on Baby Ray.
“I think we should just let it go,” Mykal said and looked down the beach. “I don’t think those wild dogs are gonna come back. We can’t take him with us.”
“Do you think we should just move it closer to the trees in case those dogs do come back?” Mathis asked.
“Yeah, do that,” Mykal said to a couple of the Marines. “Mathis, tell Diaz we can start moving out. Tell him we did our good deed for the day,” he added with a laugh but he really felt good about rescuing the strange animal from the dogs that would easily have ripped it apart.
Sergeant Baines picked up the animal like a small child and the creature wrapped his long arms around him but avoided digging its claws into the man’s back. It seemed to know they were not going to hurt it. When Baines set the slot down near the trees along the gorge wall it held its happy, friendly, expression and watched Baines walk away.
Mykal was overwhelmed with sadness at the idea of leaving the creature behind and he couldn’t understand it. He had no attachment to the odd looking beast. He knew he couldn’t keep it as a pet and it wasn’t an equal that could help them but he felt broken inside as if he was abandoning a child. He looked down at the golden band around his middle finger and knew the ring was tugging on his emotions. ‘But why?’ he wondered. ‘If it’s not sentimental sappy sadness, it’s murderous rage. Why can’t I control this?’
“Is there a problem my friend?” Towbar asked.
“No,” he lied. “I’m just glad we kept the creature from being killed by those wild dogs.”
“You have a good hea
rt my friend.”
Mykal didn’t want to hear it. “Okay guys, let’s get moving,” he said and started to walk. He fought desperately not to look back at the strange creature. He knew he had to pull away and not look back. He had a mission to complete and Doninka was that mission.
3.
Several hours later they were still walking down the beach. The distance between the water and the actual gorge walls had widened considerably meaning both the sandy beach and the ground where the trees were widened with much more land. Mykal looked up at the top of the gorge and saw the hills had become mountains. They had traveled a considerable distance and the landscape atop the gorge had changed. Mykal didn’t want to climb the mountain. Across the river there were mountains on the other side also but they were not near as high as those on this side of the river.
“Mathis, get on the horn and ask Diaz what’s going on.”
“Right away Mykal,” Mathis replied and spoke into the radio.”
“What’s going on Myk?” Roy Jr. asked.
“I just wanna to find out what we’re doing. It’s gonna be getting dark soon and I’m not sure what the plan is for the night.”
“Hey Mykal, Captain Diaz would like to talk to you,” Mathis said and offered him the handset.
“Myk here,” he said and continued to look in all directions. He was amazed at all the bright colors along the gorge walls. Not only were there bright and colorful flowers and plants, but even the gorge walls seemed to have different colors to them.
“Diaz here. I’m talking with Lanorear and the Elves. Lanorear seems to think the best thing for us is to go through the mountain,” he said and paused to give Mykal a moment to catch his breath.
“What?” He asked and his first thought was the experience they had about a month ago where they were trapped under the mountain being chased by Goblins. He lost Boris under that last mountain. “Under the mountain?”
“I explained to them our last situation with being stuck under a mountain and that we do not want to face something like that again,” Diaz explained. “They were sympathetic to our adversity and assured me that we should not have the same type of problems. Starling, Leeno and Blair agreed with Lanorear and said we should be able to save five, six or maybe seven days travel time by going under the mountain.”
“How long did they say it should take us to go under the mountain?” Mykal asked with a sigh.
“Two days, but we could possibly be through in a little more than a day and a half.”
“Will they guarantee us there will be no danger?”
Captain Diaz gave a slight laugh. “That’s what I asked and they looked at me like I was asking them a foolish question. Obviously they said they could not give any assurances. One, they haven’t been through the mountain in many years. Two, since we are on this side of Towbar’s world and in the land under the rule of who you call Ziggy Stardust, they said there is no telling what could happen from one day to the next.”
“I understand. Damn,” he said and gave a sigh. He paused to think. “Do you know what makes the gorge walls so colorful?” He said more to the Dosch brothers to stall to give him a few more moments to think.
“I actually had a couple of the men go check it out,” Diaz answered through the radio. “It’s actually moss or some kind of fungus growing on the rocks of the gorge walls.”
“Well that’s one mystery solved for me,” Mykal laughed. “Are the Hawkmen going to go under the mountain with us?”
“The Hawkmen said they would help lead the way,” Diaz replied. “We should be at the entrance to the mountain in the next couple of hours.”
“So do you wanna camp out for the night before we go into the mountain?” Mykal asked and wondered if they should ever enter the mountain. He suddenly realized he was acting like Captain William Roberts who turned out to be an emotional stumbling block at every turn when they faced a similar situation the first time they were lost on this side of Towbar’s world. ‘I shoulda killed that friggin idiot,’ he hissed in thought at the idea of William’s name. Just the thought of William brought up the hurt over the loss of his close friend Boris and the fact that William would have betrayed him and killed him to keep him quiet. He couldn’t understand why he sensed such an intense hatred every time he thought of William Roberts. William should be dead, but just the thought of the man or the mention of his name ignited a fiery abhorrence that verged on murderous rage. He glanced down at the special important ring and knew the gold band was partly to blame though he did truly have his reasons for wanting to unleash hell fire type revenge.
“I was going to wait until we reached the entrance before we made any kind of decision.”
“I agree,” Mykal replied to Captain Diaz. “Let’s keep going then and we’ll see what happens when we get there,” he added and all of a sudden his tone was different.
Mathis and the Dosch brothers clearly saw that his attitude and mood change. “Something wrong Myk?” Roy Jr. asked.
“No. Honest. It’s just something on my mind,” he said and stormed off to walk by himself.
Towbar followed him. “What troubles you my friend? Do you not desire to go into the mountains?”
“No, no,” Mykal sighed and looked happy Towbar did follow him. “We’ll do whatever we have to do about going or not going into the mountain. “William popped into my mind and it pissed me off. I shoulda killed that scumbag when I had the chance. And I know I must have said that to you a hundred times, but I regret letting the Goblins take him prisoner. Do you think he could still be alive?”
“I do not know my friend. The only information I have is what you have relayed to me,” the giant said and looked confused. “You said you allowed the Goblins to take him prisoner. They may have killed him or they may have kept him as a slave. I can only guess whatever answer I may give.”
“Remember we both had those strange dreams about him at the same time?” Mykal said in reference to an incident at the end of last year.
“Yes, I remember. It is odd for me to dream because I do not normally dream. And I would say it is stranger yet that we both shared dreams in which William threatened us both at the same time. I would say that it is possible that he may still be alive based on your assumption William would have told the Goblins that he was working for the Zee-Meister. If that is--”
Mykal burst out with laughter and stopped Towbar from talking. Mykal heard Towbar call Zizmon-Tarl, the one and only evil Overlord, the Zee-Meister once before and it produced the same hilarious response when he used that term the first time. “I’m sorry, it’s just funny hearing you call the world’s worst evil bad guy, ‘the Zee-Meister’ in a normal conversation.”
“That is the name Mathis told me to use,” Towbar said and smiled. He actually broke his facial expression and started to laugh at Mykal’s laughter. “I do not understand the humor. However, I can see by your response that it must be very humorous.”
It made Mykal laugh even more since he knew Mathis was the one to tell Towbar to use that specific name. “I shoulda killed that low life,” Mykal said but his words were filled with laughter and didn’t sound serious.
“He could be under the control of the Evil One, thus he could be a slave and a puppet for him. The Evil One could have killed him also.”
“If I ever see him I’m gonna kill that scumbag. I don’t care what the situation is or where he is at,” he added while his humor trailed off. “I will kill that friggin low life where he stands.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN 01/16/1984
1. Monday, January 16th 1984
0558 hours, Gorge - Other Side Of Towbar’s World (9th Day)
Mykal had been sitting up when a Marine came to wake him.
“You’re up Sir? Captain Diaz told me to make sure you were up by oh six hundred hours Sir.”
“Yeah I’m up. Thanks, appreciate it.” Mykal said and rolled his head to stretch his neck and get the kink out. “Tell Captain Diaz I’ll be there in a few.”
; Mykal had been awake for at least ten minutes and sat there thinking of Doninka. He feared what might have happened to her, what could be happening to her, and what may yet happen to her. He was well aware he had to guard his thinking and not allow his emotions to dictate his actions. He was so grateful Towbar was here. Though the giant also had strong feelings for the girl, like that of a close big brother, Towbar would keep his emotions hidden. He felt his job was to keep the men focused on the mission of rescuing Doninka without allowing emotions to factor in.
Towbar walked into view with the Dosch brothers who both were carrying their MRE and eating them while they all came to ensure Mykal had been roused from his sleep. “What’s up guys?”
“I’m not one to complain Mykal,” Roy Jr. said with a slight laugh. “But these dang breakfast MREs are the worst.”
“But notice he’s still eating it,” Randy laughed.
“Well, I gots to eat something.”
“Wait a minute, I thought you guys made a big deal about having just the good MREs to be selected and to leave the bad ones back at the Pass?” Mykal asked and had to laugh at them.
“We did,” Randy said with a frustrated scoff. “They even wrote down the ones we wanted and especially the ones we didn’t want.”
“I think one of them ol’ jealous boys waited till we done turned our backs and crumpled up our list and said ‘Hell with them. Who the hell do them country boys think they is?’ You know what I mean?” Roy Jr. laughed at himself that their specially ordered meals were not packed for them.
“I don’t think someone did that on purpose,” Mykal laughed. “And why would you think they’re jealous?”
“Cuz they probably see it that we’re out here having ‘the grand ol’ times of our lives’ and they’re stuck there like shit-kickers taking our orders for special meals.”
“Ah Roy, I don’t think they’d do that,” Mykal continued to laugh at Roy Jr.’s perceived slight.