Chapter 14

It felt wonderful to be out in the sunlight again. Even though the temperature was very hot outside, they didn't mind the sweat on their skin. Having spent the last twenty days deep under the mountain, they were all experiencing a sincere joy to find themselves once again in close contact with nature, especially Nika and Verla.

The grass under their feet, the singing of the numerous birds, the whispering of the breeze as it passes through the many trees and even the insects crawling and flying everywhere were a welcome sight.

Both women had broad smiles on their lips and a look of satisfaction on their faces. Those long days under the mountain had been far worse for them than Vincent. At least, in his case he was used to spending much time inside under fluorescent tubes and in artificial surroundings, but his two women were not used to this kind of restriction since they had seldom spent more than a day at a time under a roof.

But still, Vincent figured that the long stretch of time that they had remained deep underground under the constant guidance of Brumelle had not been a waste of time.

He had been instructed in the use of the bow, how to throw a spear and also how to act like a native of this world. Even his skin had been darkened a little with a special lotion that Brumelle had shown him how to prepare.

His hair-line which had been receding before he came to this world had now returned to where it had been when he was twenty. His missing tooth at the back of his mouth was fully grown now and even the scar tissues on his right hand - where he had once cut himself deeply on a piece of broken glass - had completely healed with no trace of the scar.

Vincent had even gotten used to walking without boots and he knew that his feet, although still sensitive to the pressure of small rocks, would soon acquire a think callous thickness as he walked more on them.

To an outsider, he now appeared just like a native of this planet and this is exactly the impression he was trying to create. Brumelle had warned him that if Valdo ever learned that someone from outside of this world was on the planet, he would mobilize everyone he had working for him to discover his whereabouts and capture him. He would then make him talk so he could learn where the arch linking Earth to this world was located.

She also explained to him that once Valdo realized that he had arrived in this world by means of an arch, it would be only a question of time before he was captured. It was therefore exceedingly important for Vincent that he should look like a native of this world.

After all, she told him, a stranger here meant that Simultravel had been used somewhere and it also meant there was a means to find its location once that visitor could be made to talk. With the many drugs available to Valdo it would be an easy thing to make him talk.

Vincent didn't relish the idea that as soon as he was face to face with Valdo he was to kill him. His education had always been centered on the respect of human life. Even animals' lives were important to him.

Of course he had often gone hunting while on Earth, but it was always his skill against that of the game he was pursuing. He never shot a deer or any other animal that had no chance of escaping him. More important still, once a hunted animal was wounded, he always made it a point of honour to hunt it down so that it would not die suffering from its wound. Leaving a wounded animal to suffer was not his way, even if it met tracking it down for several hours.

Never had he killed a man in cold blood. The only men he had killed were those he had shot in this world and even then it had been a question of his life or theirs.

He had been warned by Brumelle that the only way to kill Valdo was to get close to him and to act swiftly without mercy. If he were to act in a chivalrous manner, she had told him, so as to give him an even chance, he was sure to lose since Valdo had all sorts of hidden weapons that Vincent had probably never heard of. He had to get close to him and create at the same time the impression that he was ignorant of all the weapons he would see around him.

Many hours had been spent studying maps and the habits of the natives to help them along their trip. They were to travel south until they reached the land of the dark skin people, then south again for a long time through forests and plains, going into the land of many different tribes until they reached the cold White Sea, which was situated near the south pole of the planet.

Because of the very small inclination of the planet on its axis of rotation, and also because of the fact that this world was a little closer to its sun than was the Earth, neither pole was as cold as its counterpart on Earth.

Valdo was living on an island in the middle of the White Sea, which was a body of water half frozen for most of the time. Being so remote, it was impossible to reach his island without being detected. Built on this large island in the middle of that sea was an immense structure where Valdo lived. During the war, it had been the headquarters of those who were on Valdo's side. Now he was still using it as his base and although he had no army left, he still had a great number of slaves and people devoted to him. They either feared him or remained loyal to him because of the promises of wealth.

Of course, Brumelle also explained that these men had a limited usefulness to Valdo since they had no knowledge whatsoever of the use of modern weapons and they were also quite ignorant of the past events of this world. He mostly made use of them to gather information and for his protection.

With the exception of his metal knife, and also Nika's knife, Vincent had left behind all of his weapons, - as well as everything that did imply a modern technology. He now had no compass and his only mean of guidance was the sun.

It was in the middle of the morning when they emerged from under the mountain and since they had a very long way to go, they got started on their mission immediately. Both women knew what was expected of them, and they considered it a privilege to be able to obey and serve the goddess of the mountain.

Besides, had Vincent forbidden them to accompany him, he felt sure that both would have disobeyed him and followed his trail anyway. They now both considered themselves as his mates and the only way they would ever leave him now was for Vincent to break the tie with either or both of them in a ceremony. Of course this was the last thing that he wanted to do since he felt that he owed his life to them and he would therefore prefer to die before parting with either of them.

Five days after they had departed from the depth of the mountain where Brumelle was, they were walking on the bank of a river. They could easily see the other side which was about five or six hundred feet away. The river was barring their progress south and they knew that they would have to cross it somehow.

By late afternoon, they were still following the river downstream in the hope of finding an easy place to get on the other side. On a common accord it was then decided that they would make camp for the night on its shore.

"I think we should stay here a day or two," said Vincent. "There is plenty of games around here and it would be a good idea to built up a reserve of smoked meat. We don't know what we will find ahead of us."

The two women were in agreement with him and they all got to work immediately setting up camp on the wide bank of the river. Before it got completely dark, he cut many lengths of small vines that were plentiful everywhere, and he set half a dozen traps to catch small game.

That night they took turns keeping guard and sleeping. While one of his two women was keeping watch, he made love to the other. Then in the middle of the night when they exchanged places he once again made love to the other. Ever since he had set foot on this world, it seemed to him that his sexual energy and appetite had greatly increased.

He did not expect any trouble from them because of the fact that he was regularly making love to both of them and they each were fully aware of that fact too. Neither of the two girls was jealous of the other, on the contrary they were good friends and there was genuine love between them. After all, it was very common in this world for men or women to have more than one mate. On Earth he knew that it would have been considered a perverted thing to make love to both women the same night, especially with the one on guard still within hearing range of the copulating couple.

While the three of them had been under the protection of Brumelle, he hadn't dared make love to either of them since he couldn't predict how the lovely Brumelle would react. But now that they were free from the watchful eyes of the computer, he was getting carried away with his sexual ardour and he knew that he was quickly going to develop a taste for this sort of 'ménage a trois'.

The next morning, while his women were preparing breakfast - consisting of fruits and boiled roots - he went to check his traps. He had two rabbits and a strange looking animal almost as big as a pig but with black fur and dangerous looking teeth.

While the women got busy cleaning and smoking the meat, he went to investigate ahead along the bank of the river to find out if he could discover a place where they could cross to the other side. But there were no suitable places in sight and he knew that they would still have to follow the river for a while yet.

They remained all that day resting and smoking the meat they had. When they resumed their trip south the following day, they had a good reserve of meat which they carried on their backs tied with flexible vines and wrapped in large leaves.

The mountain from where Vincent had entered into this world was situated far into the northern hemisphere of the planet and their destination was completely at the other pole. It meant that they had a very long way to go. They were still walking along the bank of the river and it became evident that the farther they went downstream, the wider the river was getting.

Soon, the bank of the river where they were walking was nothing more than a thin strip of sand covered with boulders and rocks everywhere. The farther they went, the larger were the boulders while the sand bank was getting thinner all the time.

Once in a while Vincent would climb on a tall rock and look around to see if the topography of the land was changing ahead of them. But everywhere he could see it was the same. Everywhere he looked it was barren land with no trees in sight and very little vegetation. Big rocks were everywhere, and it appeared to him that the surrounding region was subjected to periodic flooding by the river, judging by the lack of topsoil.

In the middle of the afternoon, the heat was almost unbearable, and when they did stop to make camp in a spot among a group of boulders, they were all very exhausted. Vincent didn't like the idea of making camp too close to the river. For one thing, he didn't know what dangers to expect from the amphibian life of the river. So far he hadn't seen anything resembling a gator but still he didn't want to take any chances.

Before going to sleep they built a fire and ate some of the fresh meat - not smoked yet - they had been carrying with them. Early the next morning, they were once again walking on the narrow bank of the river.