Masters of the Arches Ch. 16

For the first two days after they had arrived in Cold Wind's village, most of their time was spent celebrating the return of the chief's son. Vincent and his two women were treated with honor and with much respect for having rescued and helped Cold Wind in escaping.

Round Stone, who was Cold Wind's father, gave to Vincent and also to both women, all sort of gifts including many arrows and pelts.

It had been a very touching sight to see father and son reunited and there was no doubt in Vincent's mind that these people loved and respected their leader. At the end of the festivities on the first evening, much to Vincent Surprise, Round Stone offered his eldest daughter to Vincent so that he could spend the night with her.

At first Vincent didn't want to accept Round Stone gift, but Nika made him understand that it would be considered as an insult to both, father and daughter, if he were to refuse. Nika did urge him to accept as she explained to him that it was quite common to be offered such a gift, the chief was placing on him a great honor in offering him his daughter for the night.

He was to learn later that the chief's daughter had undergone a fertility ritual and it was hoped that she would get pregnant from Vincent, and thus perpetuate his presence in the village by mean of his descendants.

Indeed it was impossible for him to refuse such an honor and he discovered later that both Nika and Verla had also each been offered a warrior of the village to spend the night with. Much to Vincent's surprise they both had also accepted. It thus only confirmed what he already knew, mainly that the rules of morality on this world were quite different than what they were on Earth

On the second day he was finally able to talk to Kowa in the middle of the village, even if it was only for a few minutes. Of course he had explained to the women before they entered the village that they were to remove their metal knife and hide them. He didn't want anyone starting to ask them questions about these metal knives since metal was unknown to the natives of this world.

During these few minutes with Kowa, he became even more convinced that the sorcerer had something to hide. The first question that Kowa asked him was why he wanted to travel in the direction of the south. It was the sort of question one did not ask in this world. A man or a woman's business was a private matter and it was no one else affair. It was thus extremely unethical from the sorcerer's part to inquire about his reason to travel south.

But beside his curiosity, he was a very friendly person and one felt immediately at ease in his presence. He had a facility with words and this by itself was quite uncommon, this plus his being in possession of the magic box were probably the reasons that he had risen to the position of the village sorcerer in less than two or three years.

At last, on the third day, the village life return to a more normal pattern where groups of men went hunting while women got busy taking care of the few children, cooking and the making of garments. Vincent was thus able to walk about in the village and to observe Kowa more closely. After the chief, Kowa was the most important person in the village and everyone treated him with respect, it was also evident that many were actually afraid of his magic.

In the middle of the afternoon Vincent got the visit from one of Kowa's women. She had a message from Kowa. She said that the sorcerer wanted to talk to him again about important matters and that he should follow her to his hut.

Vincent didn't like this sort of invitation that seemed more like an order than anything else, but he was anxious to talk to him again and this was his chance, so he did follow her. Of course before leaving he explained to Nika and Verla where he was going just in case something was to happen to him. He then followed the almost completely naked woman between the rows of huts until they were in front of Kowa's hut in the centre of the village.

As soon as he entered the hut following the woman, he was able to make his mind about Kowa. On a small shelf made of thin sticks, supported by two thick branches, was a manufactured object of black plastic-like material and leather. Although Vincent was not familiar with the model, it was very evident that it was some sort of radio. There were three knobs in front and a tiny hand microphone which was hooked on its side support attached to the radio.

For a few seconds Vincent's eyes rested on the high-tech electronic and before he was finally able to look elsewhere it was already too late since he knew that Kowa had already noticed him recognizing the radio. It then occurred to him that the radio had purposely been place there so that Kowa, who was sitting on an animal skin on the ground, could watch his reaction. It had been a test and he had failed miserably.

There was now no doubt in Vincent's mind that Kowa knew that he had knowledge of the use of the radio. His staring at the radio for these long seconds, then his fast reaction in looking somewhere else when he realized that Kowa was observing him, had plainly revealed the fact that he had previous knowledge of its use.

As soon as the woman left, the sorcerer invited him to sit on the fur in front of him. He then went right to the point.

" My questioning you, the last time we talked, about your reason for traveling south must have seemed bad manners from my part and I apologize for this. The only reason I wanted to know is because I will soon be going in that direction also. My asking was only to let you know this and to offer you the possibility of us traveling together. But unfortunately I was interrupted by our chief before I could explain this."

Vincent did remember indeed that Round Stone had seemed much displeased when the sorcerer had questioned him about his reason for going south, and he had interrupted the conversation by asking Vincent if he would follow him so that he could be introduced to the rest of his family.

" You don't need to explain, no offence was taken and to answer your question, we are traveling south because we are looking for Nika's tribe. She was separated from them a while back and we were told that they did move into that direction."

" Well my offer still stands. If you wish it, we could be trekking together for a while at least, I have a good knowledge of that region and I do know what dangers are to be expected there."

" You mean you will leave your position here as second to the chief so that you can accompany us? "

" It is not the way it looks. I am leaving only for a while, I will return. My people live far to the south and I have not seen them in five years. Beside they might be able to help you find the tribe you are looking for."

In his mind, Vincent began to debate whether he should accept Kowa's proposition or not. He now knew that Kowa's only reason to join his group was so that he could spy on them and also probably to report their progress by mean of his radio.

On the other hand, he reasoned that it would be preferable to have him traveling with them instead of having him follow them, this way he could at least keep an eye on him. Beside, Vincent wanted to find out who it was that he was spying for. The fact that he had an electronic transmitter in his possession surely met that Valdo was behind this, but still Vincent needed more proof of this.

It was then agreed that the following day, at dawn the four of them -- Kowa would be leaving his two women behind -- would leave by canoe. Kowa explained that they would save a lot of time and hardship if they were to travel on a river that emptied into the lake. The waters of that river were merging with those of the lake at its very southern tip. After entering the mouth of the river, they could go upstream for at least three hundred miles in a generally southern direction before it went east.

The following morning, most of the residents of the village were gathered on the shore of the lake so as to wish them all a safe trip and to thanks them one again for rescuing Cold Wind. Round Stone and Cold Wind said goodbye to them in the fashion of their people -- facing them each in turn with a hand on each of their shoulders -- and they bid them farewell while extracting from them a promise that they would return to the village as soon as possible.

The canoe, like other floating embarkation constructed by the people of the village, was made of plants fibres, which consisted of long strips of the bark of a particular kind of trees. The many joints were coated with a yellowish resin so as to prevent water from entering the delicate craft. As soon as the bottom of the canoe was loaded with their supplies of dry meat, fruits and nuts of all kind, their weapons were finally loaded.

As expected, Kowa had a bundle containing his private possession all wrapped in a pelt and Vincent was positive that inside was his small transmitter radio.

In a little more than two hours, with the four of them paddling, they reached the southern tip of the lake where the river emptied into the water of the lake. They had covered a distance of forty miles by then; it had taken Vincent well over a day to walk that distance though the dense forest on his way to the village with Cold Wind.

Under the guidance of Kowa, they entered the mouth of the river that was to be their highway for the next three hundred miles. Their speed on the river was not as great as on the lake since they were going upstream and even if the current wasn't very strong, it did added a little on their paddling effort. They managed to cover another 20 miles before it was too dark.

The following day they got another 40 mile or so upstream and as Kowa explained to them, they still could expect to travel on the river for at least another two hundred miles. Of course he did not use the mile as the unit of distance, but Vincent had no difficulties converting his unit of distance into his more familiar unit of distance.

It was on their second night stop, with their camp established near the river, that Vincent discovered definite proofs of Kowa's true alliance.

Previously the sorcerer had insisted in taking the last shift of guard duty, it was just after Vincent's turn. The moment that Vincent pretended to be asleep, he saw him reach for his carefully wrapped bundle and he watched him through half opened eyes quietly walking away into the darkness of the forest.

No sooner had Kowa disappeared that Vincent got up and he quietly woke both Nika and Verla. After explaining to them what he had seen, he told them to remain where they were and to wait for him while he went in pursuit of Kowa.

Even though he couldn't see any track, he went in the general direction in which he had last seen him enter the forest and after a couple of minutes he did see his black silhouette against a gray boulder.

While being very careful so that he didn't make any kind of noises while walking, he went toward Kowa until he was about 30 feet from him. He then hid in the low foliages and waited.

Kowa had the radio in his hands and he was busy adjusting the settings by turning a dial. In the starlight Vincent could also see the outline of a small parabolic antenna that had been placed on a rock nearby. It was most probably connected to the radio my mean of a wire that Vincent couldn't see. It therefore met that there were satellites in orbit around this world and the small parabolic antenna had thus been previously aimed in the proper elevation as well as the proper angle so as to use one of the satellites as a mean of reflecting the radio signal to whomever it was intended for.

Vincent would have given a lot to be able to examine closely this compact device that was a manufactured product from a completely different civilization than his own.

" Tiger One this is Baby Nine. Tiger One this is Baby Nine."

A few second later Kowa began to talk again. Vincent couldn't tell if he was holding a microphone in his hand or not but it was evident that he had a hearing devise in his ears since there seamed to be no apparent answer from the radio as he stood very still for long seconds. Then once again he began to talk.

" My position is about ninety miles (given in units of distance of his world of course) up the White River. I am traveling with a man and two women and by the look of it I think that the man is an outsider. For one thing, he seemed to be ignorant of many of the things that we all take for granted here and further more he is in a great hurry to be getting south to some unspecified destination. But most important, he does know what a radio is and when he saw mine he had much difficulties hiding his surprise even though he did not ask any questions about it."

Again there was a pause, this time it was much longer. It became clear to Vincent that Kowa was receiving his instructions as to what to do next.

" Very well I will stay with them until the ambush. "

Another long pause.

" Don't worry, I will not keep them out of sight, you can depend on me. "

Once more he was quiet while he listen to further instructions.

" Yes I will contact you again tomorrow at the same time, and I will tell you our exact position. Baby Nine signing off."

There were no doubts now in Vincent mind, Kowa was a spy and he wanted to harm them. They were going to be ambushed, but the fact that he was supposed to signal their position again the following night met that the ambush was not going to take place on the following day.

But still it now became very urgent that they should get away from Kowa and also destroy his transmitter.

All of a sudden, his thoughts were disturbed by a sharp noise that came behind him. He did recognize the sound as that of breaking twigs under the weight of someone's feet.

Everything was quiet again for long seconds and this was what bothered Vincent since if the noise had been cause by a walking animal he would certainly have heard it again. Only a human being, and especially one that was trying to be quiet, could have made that noise since after that initial loud snap which had probably been an accident, nothing was heard again.

While in the process of packing the transmitter back in his bundle, Kowa suddenly stopped moving. Worse still, he was now looking directly where Vincent was hiding; the noise had been emitted from the general direction where Vincent was hidden. To Kowa, the noise must have seemed to originate just about where Vincent was hiding.

For half a minute everything was very quiet in the night, even the normal noises of the forest seemed to have ceased. Now Vincent had the strange impression that there was more than one presence behind him. Even though he could not hear or see anything at his back, he just felt that they were there and waiting for him to make his move.

" Well, I will not walk right into their hands." He told himself, and he made up his mind to simply outwait them right where he was.

But Kowa did force him to move out of his hiding place. He saw his silhouette approaching toward his position in the foliages. Vincent knew that he now had only two options; one was to wait and let Kowa discover him while his other choice was to run away toward the source of the noise he had heard. He decided on his first option and he suddenly stood up and met Kowa coming toward him. At least he knew what to expect by walking toward him.

It was a mistake from his part. As soon as he was less than ten feet from Kowa and he was sure that the sorcerer had recognized him, he shouted at him so as to warn him of the danger behind him. But at the same time he saw that Kowa was holding some kind of hand gun in his hand, then all of a sudden his body became paralyzed and he felt to the ground.

He could still see and hear everything, but his body refused to move. Even breathing was difficult and he had to will his stomach muscles to dilate and contract so that air could enter his lungs. The act of breathing, which until then had been done without his thinking about it, was now requiring his complete concentration and even then his lungs were getting only the strict minimum of air.

Even while struggling to breath as he was, he realized that Kowa was not aware that there was some kind of danger behind them since he didn't even look behind Vincent. He also didn't even bother to check how Vincent was. Instead, he went to pick his pelt bundle from the ground, he had already put away his transmitter inside and he now placed his hand gun inside the bundle. This more than anything else convinced Vincent that Kowa had not heard his warning; otherwise he would at least have kept his gun in hand to defend himself.

Kowa then walked toward Vincent and with an evil smile on his lips he said to him.

" I see that you have discovered what I am up to. But don't let it worry you because it only mean that we will wait here instead of having to paddle another day up the river."

His hand next went in front of Vincent's eyes and in the starlight he saw Vincent closing his eyes in a normal reflex. He probably wanted to make sure that the paralyzing hold on him was not too strong and thus have him suffocate, as soon as he saw his eyes flinch he seemed satisfied with this reaction.

" There is one other thing I must do now. Your two beautiful companions will have to be paralyzed also. I was ordered to take good care of the three of you, but nothing is wrong with my having a little fun with your women while we wait."

" The Master want to interrogate all of you, then he will dispose of you in his favorite manner I suppose."

Even in the darkness, Vincent could see that he was smiling again; he was enjoying himself greatly and he was not trying to hide it.

He then disappeared from Vincent's field of vision. When he reappeared a minute later, he was holding his rolled bundle in his hand and he placed it on the ground at Vincent's feet. Again he went out of Vincent's field of vision. Less than ten seconds later Vincent heard a few branches cracking on his left and this was followed by a dull noise made when an arrow hit its marks.

A shout of pain and surprise came to Vincent's ears; next there was the sound of a falling body on the ground. Everything was then quiet.

Finally he heard footstep coming toward him, next he saw a face just a few inches over his own face and it was joined by another face. Of course he did recognize Verla and Nika who were now bent over him and trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

Both seemed relieved to see that his eyes were opened and moving but their joy soon changed to fear when they realized that he couldn't talk or move.

Between the two of them they were able to move him back to their camp site and they stretched him near the fire. While the two women were moving him, he had a glimpse of Kowa's body with an arrow sticking out of his chest; it was evident that he was dead.

He was glad to be near the fire since they now could hear the growling and moving of large predators in the forest. The smell of blood from Kowa's fatal wound was attracting night hunters from a radius of at least a couple of miles.

Both Nika and Verla examined him all over to see if they could find any trace of a wound. They seemed mystify by the fact that he could not talk of move, even though he seemed able to hear them and move his eyes.

All through the rest of the night they kept hearing the racket made by the beasts of the forest as they fought for the remains of Kowa's body. Vincent was hoping that his women had taken the precaution of bringing Kowa's bag with them, but at the moment he had no way to know that.

Of course they kept watch over him and they did place many logs into the fire so as to scare any predator that would venture too near their camp. By morning he began to feel the tip of his fingers and toes tingling as if they had been frozen and were coming back to life again. It was now much easier for him to breath and he could even turn his head slightly.