Chapter 2

That night he dreamt about the mysterious girl that had saved his life. In his dream he saw her voluptuous breasts and her shoulder-length hair as she ran on her long slim legs with her pubic area being covered only by a piece of animal skin. He wasn't able to see all of the details of her face in his dream but he knew that she was exceedingly beautiful.

Vincent got up at nine the following morning. He prepared himself a generous breakfast of eggs and bacon then he undertook the preparations for his third visits to the mysterious world of the arch.

He got his knapsack out of the closet then he proceeded to fill it with the things that he would need for a trip of a few days. Since he had no dehydrated food in the house - which would have been perfect for such a trip - he had to make do with half a dozen cans of foodstuff and two bags of dry biscuits that were in the cupboard.

Next, he filled a large plastic bottle with water and this, along with his hunting knife, he added to the contents of his knapsack. With the experience he already had with outside living, he knew that he was going to need matches and ammunition also, so a box of wooden matches and a box of 303 cartridges were added to his backpack. Folding his sleeping bag in a tight roll, he then attached it on top of it all.

At ten, he left the house with the knapsack in one hand and his rifle - with a telescopic sight - in the other. Dressed in jeans and a brown windbreaker he crawled through the tight hole then walked straight to the transmission plate. He didn't even hesitate a second. He stepped on it as soon as he was in front of it.

This time he made the trip as if it was the most natural of things. A minute later he was emerging out of the cave in this other place with complete confidence in himself. It was early morning on this beautiful world. He had a rifle in his hand, a few days of food in reserve and, more important still, it was a long time indeed since he felt as good as he was feeling at that moment.

He immediately undertook the descent down to the foot of the mountain and as soon as he was there he began to walk toward the river. The minute that he reached the exact spot where he had been the previous day, he proceeded to look for the footmarks of the woman. They were still there, very visible in the clay. Then farther ahead, downstream, he saw other prints of the woman and those were leading toward the forest.

Once he reached the limit of the dense forest ahead of him, he came upon a well-used trail that went curving in-between the tall trees. He followed the trail for half an hour and while he did so he noticed that some of the trees, like the spruces and pines were familiar to him, - although they would be considered giants of their kind on Earth. Others were complete new to him. Even the underbrush looked very different from what he was used to seeing. The great variety and abundance of fruits that were growing everywhere was stunning.

After a few miles, the trail separated into two different directions. Not knowing which branch to take, he stopped and took the opportunity to rest and eat a little. He had been walking for close to four hours now and he was hungry. Of course, he was too much of an expert hunter to know better than to stop and rest in the middle of a trail. It would have been like stopping his car in a middle of a well-used road. After all, he was completely ignorant of the fauna that had been responsible for the creation of the trail and he knew that there could be many dangers involved in stopping right in the middle of it. He still had in mind the incident of the previous day when he had just barely escaped from such an unknown animal.

He thus turned on his left and got off the trail. After walking a couple hundred yards he found a spot under a tree with low branches. He sat comfortably on the grass and proceeded to open a can of meatballs. He ate his food cold of course since making a fire would imply smoke and he didn't want to attract any attention to his presence in the forest right now.

As he ate he was able to identify a few more plants but the great majority of the flora that he could see was completely new to him. Even the grass he was sitting on was thick and soft and very different from what he was used to seeing on his world.

All of a sudden, he heard a series of low noises that he couldn't identify. A few seconds later, he was able to tell that the noises had been made by approaching feet on the hard soil as well as that of small branches being broken. He immediately threw himself flat on the grass after reaching for his rifle. Soon he heard deep voices, but he couldn't really identify the language or even if they were male or female voices.

He quietly remained hidden at a safe distance from the trail and while his heart was beating fast he congratulated himself for the precaution he had taken in getting off the trail. He was well hidden where he was behind the low branches of a tree and completely invisible from the trail.

His eyes were focused on the spot where he knew the trail to be. Then all of a sudden he saw four ugly creatures coming out from the left fork, the branch of the trail that was closest to him.

They were humanoid in general appearance, but human they were definitely not. They were over seven feet tall and each of them must have weighed at least three hundred pounds. Their long, thick arms were hanging at their side and they all held a long pointed spear in one hand. As they got closer, he noticed that their bodies were covered with thick black hair, with only a small portion of their faces being hairless.

They were creatures out of a nightmare. With their low foreheads, which came down to the bridges of their flat noses, they were a most fearsome sight indeed. None of them were wearing clothing and as they approached closer to his hiding spot, he thought that he could actually smell them. Soon a foul odour of unwashed fur and rotten meat assailed his nostrils.

But the thing that attracted his attention the most as they got closer to him, was the bundle that the two in the middle were carrying. On their shoulders was a thick pole from which hung a human female. The pole had been placed along the length of her back. Both of her hands and feet were tied to the pole and she was hanging with her face toward the ground.

Vincent knew that it must have been very uncomfortable for her, since her weight was pulling her shoulders together at her back. Was it possible, thought Vincent, that they had chosen that position to tie her so as to make her suffer? They probably had done this on purpose, he told himself.

As soon as they were on the section of the trail that was the closest to where he was, he recognized the woman. She was the same one that had saved his life the previous day.

At least her general body features were that of the same woman and so was the colour of her hair. Hanging the way she was with her hands and feet tied to the stick, her breasts were pointing down. Furthermore she had lost the only piece of clothing she had been wearing the previous day. She was completely naked now and even though she must have been in terrible pain Vincent didn't hear her make a single sound as she was roughly being carried.

He couldn't wait any longer; he had to save her. So, taking aim at the first of the creatures, the one that was ahead of the group, he fired. The noise of his shot was extremely loud in the forest, and long after the echo had died down he saw the giant begin to fall to the ground on the side of the trail.

It did remind him of a tall tree that was being cut down as gravity slowly had its effect. Before the giant had completely fallen to the ground, the two that had been carrying the woman dropped her on the spot and went to investigate what was happening to their companion who was still in the process of falling. Rifle in hand, Vincent got up and advanced toward the remaining three. "Release her at once," he said to them as he pointed his rifle in the general direction of the trio.

His boldness seemed to surprise them. It was also evident that they were now afraid of him after having witnessed what had happened to their dead comrade. They remained motionless for a few seconds, as if their slow brains were trying to process the information that their senses were registering.

Suddenly one of them began to rush toward Vincent. As soon as he was twenty feet from him, he threw his spear. It missed Vincent by only a couple of inches and the stone tip was imbedded in the bark of the tree next to him. The strength behind the spear must have been great indeed since Vincent could see that the stone tip had disappeared at least two inches into the bark of the tree.

Once again, the forest resounded with the noise of his rifle and the daring giant felt to the ground with a large hole between its eyes. The third one also came rushing down toward Vincent and he went down like the two previous ones.

Next Vincent looked in the direction of the last ugly creature and began walking toward him. The hairy beast simply turned around grunting angrily and ran away in the direction from which they had just come.

Before going to investigate to see if the girl was safe, Vincent waited a few minutes. He looked in every direction to make sure that there were no more of these smelly brutes coming on the trail. He next went to his packsack and took out his knife. Then he moved closer to the girl who was now lying on her side with the pole still along the length of her back.