The Reluctant Warrior (5 page)

Jonathon emerged from a building just as they reached the centre of the compound. “Found anything of interest?” Jed called out.

“A few cooking pots, some rifles with ammunition, and two grenades.” He stepped off the verandah. “Underneath the hangar roof there’s what’s left of two helicopters and four airplanes.”

“It’s as if they left in a hurry,” Rex noted.

“I think they may have been attacked,” Jonathon said. “The compound’s littered with arrowheads, and some of the outer buildings have been burned down.”

“Arrows wouldn’t have been any defense against guns,” Rex said skeptically. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Jonathon shrugged his shoulders. “The place is deserted, so whoever attacked them must have been successful, primitive or not.”

“It also means Montrose and his men aren’t the only ones here.” Jed bent down and picked up an arrowhead. “It’s metal,” he pronounced. “So they’re not as primitive as we first thought.”

“Well, they’re dangerous whatever they are,” Rex stated bluntly. “We’ll have to be on our guard against them just as much as we’ll need to be against Montrose.”

“At least now we’ve got firearms,” Jonathon said.

Jed let the arrowhead drop from his hand. “Thank the Lord for small mercies.”

That night they camped beneath the biggest trees that Jed had ever laid eyes on. They made the sequoia he had seen in California look like mere saplings. But then everything here looked to be bigger than on the earth’s surface. The climate seemed to be perfect, and with that central sun he suspected that it never changed all year round. With no cold or overly hot periods to check the growth of animals and vegetation it was no wonder they were so large.

Jed remembered reading a book by a paleontologist a few years back who had discovered that the earth’s fauna and flora had been much larger than they are now. But some cataclysmic event had changed all that, and now everything up there on the surface was much smaller. He had also read in the same book that the atmosphere on the surface was once different as well. It didn’t rain; rather springs bubbled up through the earth’s surface and watered everything. The planet was shielded from the sun’s harsh rays by a thick barrier of water vapor, which no doubt created a type of greenhouse effect that caused everything to thrive. After the disaster had struck however, it had all turned to custard and the vapor barrier disappeared, allowing the sun to shine through hot and strong, upsetting the delicate balance of nature forever.

Jed peered up at this world’s sun and noticed that it still had its vapor barrier in place. The balance of nature had not been disrupted here. Things would be different here and he must learn to expect the unexpected.

He had to admit to himself that he had been more than a little surprised when they had discovered there were a primitive people living here. Montrose and his entourage he could understand, they had flown in. But how had the primitives got here? They couldn’t have walked in over the ice. They wouldn’t have had the modern equipment necessary to survive such a harsh trek. As it was, he and his friends had only made it here by a series of small miracles.

Montrose was yet another puzzle. If the original Montrose and his fourteen hundred men had been given an assignment here and completed it then he could understand why the base now lay in ruins. They would have abandoned it to return back to America. But that didn’t appear to be the case. The base had certainly been attacked and then abandoned.

Jed did a little mental arithmetic in his head. Judging by the decayed state of the compound and its buildings the conflict had taken place over sixty years ago, maybe longer. There was no way that the original Montrose, the one with the name plaque could still be alive, let alone active. Assuming he was at least thirty years old when he arrived here that would place him at around 97 years old. There was no doubt in Jed’s mind that it was not this Montrose that the dying soldier had warned them about. Perhaps the original Montrose had been a good man but his son or even grandson had turned bad, a renegade in a land without laws, or at least a land without the ability to enforce any laws.

Jed had so many questions, but no way of finding the answers. Not at the moment at least anyway. But he figured the longer they were forced to exist in this land inside the earth the more of its secrets they would learn. He only hoped they would live long enough to tell the tale.

The forest went on interminably, the trees getting bigger the deeper they went. Keeping the river just to the right of them they travelled for three days before emerging into a cleared area along the river bank. As Rex silently motioned to them to stop Jed immediately spied why. Four human bodies lay scattered on the grass of the clearing, and judging by the smell they had been dead for several days, it was with the greatest of reluctance that he walked over to investigate.

Slipping the rifle they had salvaged from the base off his shoulder and pulling back the bolt he scanned the area in imitation of his friends. “Caucasians’,” he said, glancing down at a bloated body, “but not army personal.”

Rex joined him while Jonathon kept an eye on the surrounding woods. “They’ve all been shot in the back of the head,” he noted, “execution style.”

“It’ll be Montrose, no doubt.”

“I’d say so. The trouble is I’m no longer sure whether the direction we’re travelling in is taking us away from Montrose or towards him.”

Rex was right. Montrose could just as easily be up ahead of them as behind them. It created a dilemma. Should they press on or turn back?

“There’s a canoe down by the river.” Jonathon had just spotted it. “It’d be easier and quicker than walking.”

“Put’s us out in the open,” Jed pointed out.

“Rather that than this endless forest. Our rations are low, so the sooner we can get back out in the open where we can hunt more easily the better.”

“He’s making sense,” Rex said, uncharacteristically. It was unlike him to agree with anything Jonathon said.

Jed looked down at the bodies. “What about them?”

“All we can do is pile rocks over them like we did for the soldier.” Rex glanced down at the river. “There’s plenty down there.”

Later, as they paddled down river Jed had to confess that although he hadn’t liked the idea of using the canoe they had made good time. With the current pushing them along swiftly he sensed it wouldn’t be long before they left the forest. He had no idea what was waiting for them once they did, but he was resigned to the fact that their deaths might be the ultimate outcome.

Two days later as they emerged from the cover of the forest and paddled cautiously through the open prairie land Jed felt compelled to make a suggestion. “We’re sitting ducks out here like this. I’m for pulling into the bank and checking out the lay of the land.”

Rex pulled his paddle out of the water and rested it across the canoe. “I’m okay with that,” he glanced over his shoulder at Jonathon, “how about you?”

“Sounds good to me, I’ve done enough paddling these past two days to last me a lifetime.”

Scrambling up the bank they took their first good look at the land this side of the forest. Not more than 300 yards away lay a ruined stone farmhouse with an equally dilapidated barn crumbling away beside it. Breaching the top of the bank the three men carefully made their way towards it.

“Been abandoned as long as the airbase,” Rex said. “Maybe they had some sort of war going on that forced both sides to abandon their homes.”

“67 years is a long time for a war to be carried on.” Jed bent down and picked up a spent cartridge. “It’s Montrose who drove these people out.”

Rex gazed out across the fields. “I can see other buildings further ahead. But I’m willing to bet they’ll all be in a similar state.”

Jed walked over to where he was and followed his line of sight. “Shall we keep moving?”

“We might as well there’s nothing to keep us here, and we need to go where the game is plentiful.”

“If we keep to the farmhouses I think we’ll be all right,” Jed said. “They’ve been derelict for so long I doubt anyone will be patrolling them.”

Rex slung his rifle across his shoulder. “Let’s take our chances amongst the farmhouses then.”

Every building they came to told the same story. Long deserted the decades since had worked their decaying fingers into the stone and timber dwellings, and once cultivated fields lay silently succumbing to the brush and weeds, which would eventually reclaim them for the forest that they had once been carved from. If it had not been for his gratitude for not having died a bitter death back on the ice then Jed could have wished himself not in this place. The very desolation filled him with sorrow, a sorrow he couldn’t fully understand but felt acutely nonetheless.

Something puzzled him about these abandoned farms. There were no animals. Not even wild ones. Where were they? From what he had read, when people moved out of an area the wild creatures gradually reclaimed it for themselves. Six or more decades had passed in this place and yet not as much as a wild deer or a pig had he seen. The contrast between here and the prairie they had traversed when they first crossed over into the interior was immense. The prairie back there had been teeming with wildlife. It was certainly a mystery.

Without them realizing, the river had meandered back towards the farmland and was snaking its way stealthily towards the path they were on. They were just breaking out of the cover of a small grove of trees when Rex who had been scouting on ahead signaled for them to take cover. Jed and Jonathon went straight to ground and wriggled through the long grass to join Rex who was peering intently at a spot down by the river.

“Montrose’s men,” he whispered. “There’s another canoe down there and it looks like they’ve captured a couple of the natives.”

Jed took the situation in. Two men in army uniforms were rough-handling a young woman while three others had forced a young man onto his knees. A fourth, obviously the one in charge, was shouting something at him that Jed couldn’t quite make out. Whatever it was, he obviously wasn’t getting the response from the native that he desired and so pulled a pistol from his hip holster and placed it against the man’s head.

Jed didn’t stop to think; swinging his rifle up and pulling back the bolt he took aim and fired. The savage kick of the stock against his shoulder surprised him almost as much as the fact that the bullet found its mark. Rex and Jonathon immediately followed his lead, and three more men lay dead on the shingle bank beside the river.

The woman’s two captors tossed her savagely aside and took cover in a group of bushes. The slightest movement attracted Jed’s attention and so firing without hesitation at it was gratified to see a khaki clad figure pitch forward and slide to a halt on the gravel. He feverishly jerked at the jammed bolt as a second figure broke cover and made a run for it. “Drop him,” he yelled, “or he’ll let Montrose know we’re here.”

Rex didn’t need any encouragement, he took careful aim and fired, and Jed was relieved to see the fellow spin suddenly around and crash heavily to the ground. By the time the three friends had got to their feet and made their way down to the river to the native the female had joined him.

“It’s all right,” Jed said softly, approaching the pair slowly. “We won’t harm you.”

“They’re not likely to speak English,” Rex warned. “So keep your eye on them, they may be armed.”

The male looked them up and down, and Jed could tell he was intrigued by their thermal clothing. “Friends,” Jed said, “we are friends.”

The male was tall. Jed estimated him to be around 6 foot 7, and his female companion would have been all of 6 foot 2. Jed himself at 6 foot 4 had always been considered tall, but he had the feeling that in this world where everything was big he would be lucky to be average height.

“Are you Sky-Gods too?” the male asked.

Jed hadn’t expected to hear himself addressed in his native tongue and so was momentarily lost for words. “No, we’re not,” he said, when he had recovered enough to find his voice.

“You are not Noragin, nor Yakros. You must be Sky-Gods.” He hesitated. “And yet,” he cast his eyes over the bodies of his captors, “you kill the Sky-Gods.”

“We are not Sky-Gods,” Jed repeated.

“Then where do you come from?”

Jed thought quickly. How could he explain to this primitive where he came from? “I…we… come from another world, a world beyond the ice.”

“That is where our people came from,” he answered excitedly. “Have you come to take us home?”

“No,” Jed said quickly. “We came here by accident.”

The fellows face dropped. “So you cannot return to the place of your ancestors either.”

“No, we can’t,” Jed confessed. “We are looking for somewhere to live where we’ll be safe from the Sky-Gods.”

“Ah,” he nodded his head solemnly. “They are everywhere, and so are their Yakros pigs.” He had spat the name out between clenched teeth, so Jed guessed the Yakros must be in cahoots with Montrose. “You come with us, we will keep you safe.”

Rex stepped forward. “We must bury them first.”

The big man looked at him with disgust. “Sky-Gods don’t deserve to be buried. They are filth.”

“We don’t want Montrose to know we’re here,” Rex explained. “So we need to hide the bodies.”

Jed noticed the man’s eyes narrow at the mention of Montrose. He looked briefly at the body lying at his feet before nodding. “There is a dry well not far from here. We can throw the bodies down there. Montrose will not find them then.”

The woman whispered something into his ear. “My sister reminds me of my manners,” he said. “We must thank you for saving our lives. We are now in your debt.”

Jed held out his hand. “I am Jed.” The man took his hand. “This is Rex, and Jonathon.”

“I am Erik, and this is Amora.”

For the first time Jed turned his attention to the female and was immediately struck by her beauty. Piercing blue eyes peeped out at him from beneath a luxurious mane of golden hair, and when she smiled shyly at him she revealed the most perfect set of white teeth he had ever seen. He took her hand in his. “Hello, Amora.”

She blushed deeply. “I am happy to meet you, Jed.”

He reluctantly tore his eyes away from the elegant creature. “Show us where this well is, Erik.”

An hour later as they were all crammed into Erik’s canoe and heading swiftly downriver, Jed noticed that Amora could handle the paddle just as effectively as her brother. He watched her shapely body as she worked the paddle expertly from left to right and back again, and for the first time since being here his thoughts drifted back to Cassie. He even fancied he missed her a little. But as pretty as Cassie was, she was no match for this girl. She was all a man could possibly desire, and then some.

He was still struggling to get his head around the fact that all this was taking place inside the earth, actually in the very bowels of this great planet itself, and the hardest thing was he was forced to discard everything he had been taught. The earth did not contain a molten core, nor was the temperature what you would expect it to be. In fact, the temperature was very pleasant.

He had to stop himself from laughing out loud. The thought of making it back home and telling the world that not only was the earth hollow but peopled as well had more than a touch of hilarity about it. He had no difficulty believing he would be regarded as either a nut or a charlatan.

As they paddled further on a story he had read as a younger man came back to him. Two Norwegian fisherman, father and son they were, he couldn’t remember the older man’s name but the son’s was Olaf. They had sailed too far north on a fishing trip and discovered themselves amongst the icebergs of the Arctic. Navigating through, they came to a warmer region that took them through the entrance to the interior of the earth. There they met giants, both human and animal before sailing out the south polar entrance. When their ship was wrecked the father drowned while Olaf survived by taking refuge on an iceberg until he was picked up by a whaler. When he got back to Norway and told his story he was locked up in a mental asylum for 28 long years.

Jed had thoroughly enjoyed the account but had confined it to the realms of fantasy. Until now that is. Poor Olaf, to see what he had seen and not be believed was bad enough. But to be incarcerated for it was the ultimate indignity. He had read of others who had claimed they had been here too. And now, he could add himself to that list. The difference for him being he had no way of getting back home to tell his story.

The canoe had just left the open spaces behind and was gliding into the forest; the slap of paddles and an occasional screech from a bird the only sounds to be heard. Less than an hour downstream they pulled into the bank and helped their new friends drag the canoe several hundred yards through the forest.

“We will leave it in that cave,” Erik said, pointing to a narrow opening in a large rock formation amongst the trees. “We must keep our canoes here so the Sky-Gods will not find them.”

With the canoe safely nestled amongst the others they followed Erik and his lovely sister along a winding track through the trees, until they reached a village spread out beneath the feet of the forest giants. The sentries must have spotted them long before judging by the commotion that was just now reaching their ears. Minutes later they were engulfed by dozens of children, and they were all eager to see and touch these strangely dressed foreigners. Apparently, their fear of strangers was non-existent, and Jed wished he could say the same for the men. Many were coming to the door of their dwelling with a weapon in hand to meet this new threat.

“They are friends,” Erik called out. “They come from over the ice. They come to help us fight the Sky-Gods.”