The shadows beneath him moved, wavy and unrecognizable.
Something is down there!
She felt the terrified panic of the man. He thought, the Hydra was beneath, rising to get him.
But, this isn't the same ledge. It can't be the Hydra.
Besides, it was just a story. Unless the abyss connected to the sewer drop, no predator could slip into this valley.
Could it?
Anyway...the Hydra isn't real.
Yet this was not her human world...anything was possible.
His fear spread to her, and drove her to instant action. No matter what he was, or what he had done, he didn't deserve to die like this!
Gem crawled forward, her hand extended. Grabbing the groping fingers, she gave them a leverage. He clutched at the offered assistance, as a man desperate for his last breath of air, his grip like a steel vise...and nearly pulled her over with him.
She had no support. Fearful for her own safety, she eased back, leaving him clawing at the air, but fortunate for him, he got purchase with his second hand.
I need something to use to tie myself to...
Vines climbed along the outer stone, near the edge. With one of these, she tied her legs, then, with a second trailing end, she went forward again, allowing one of his seeking fists to get purchase on the rope-like branch. With her other hand, she reached out to clasp the hand against the ledge.
Slowly, inch by inch, his head, then his shoulders, came above the cliff. He was almost over, and then...
Behind him rose the most gruesome apparition: a horned, snake-like head of purple and green, eyes glowing red, jaws open, and dripping saliva. A second beside the first, and a third waving behind the others.
Gemma screamed; at the same time, so did Galar. But he was the nearer, and the first monster jaws...took his head.
Whether she reasoned out what she did, cannot be determined; that Galar was already dead with the first bite, would have been evident.
Gemma let go, at the same time as reflex released Galar's fist from the vine. His body flew back with the force of the two-fold liberation, tumbling into the abyss behind. The Hydra heads dived after it, anxious for the whole meal...forgetful of the second tasty morsel on the ledge.
Gemma slunk away to the farther most corner, behind a large rock, hugging herself, the faintest mewling sound escaping her, like a lost kitten fearful and lost.
And then, Loni was there; enfolding her in his arms; holding her, comforting her. Yet, Gemma believed it was part of her dream; a nightmare to torment her. Madness came close, haunting her, and finally, she escaped into oblivion.
Chapter 28
Loni was almost at the top of the ladder, when he heard the dreadful screams. It sounded like both Gemma and Galar were screaming at each other. When he popped his head above the hole into open air, all was ominously silent, except for a plaintive moaning from something hidden behind a huge rock in a far corner.
As Loni crawled out into the open, his eyes opened wide in disbelief, spying the rocky ledge, and the vision of the world beyond it; a place he had heard of only in his mother's stories: two moons on the horizon, the stars of the night sky in the shape of gigantic rings; trees with up-side-down roots, reaching upward, as if in supplication to a god that had forgotten them, and even in the distance, reptiles...not seen since prehistoric times; that should have been long extinct.
Those that had gone into the domes for shelter, a long time ago, had declared the surface unlivable, the atmosphere poisonous, but as Loni tested the air, he detected nothing deadly. All he smelled was the sweet scent of fresh rain; saw only the misting of moisture covering all within sight with a wet film.
He stepped out on to the slippery surface, fully expecting attack; awaiting Galar to speedily fall upon him, but all that his senses found, was the faint whimpering from behind the far sheltering rock in the corner.
Where is Galar? What did he do with Gem?
Cautiously, Loni approached the shelter, from behind which came the pitiful sound. Even before he saw her, his nose was assaulted by the most horrendous stench, evidencing her presence.
Who...what is this ugly creature? This cannot be...Gem!
She reeked like the sewer; her hair matted, and litterly moving with vermin. Lice!
The coveralls she wore were stiff with dried blood, fecal matter, and small scraps from animal kills. Her feet were bare, but unrecognizable as those belonging to a female, so covered in sewer slime, and caked dirt, were they.
She had curled away toward the wall, in a fetal position, her dirty, scratched, bare arms, wrapped across her almost non-existent chest; her raised knees covering, and near hiding, the swollen abdomen. But, Loni saw, anyway.
Oh, man! She is pregnant!
Loni shivered, fearing the worst. Galar had taken advantage.
He knew, this hapless woman could only be his Gem. Her skin coloring was not the tanned brown of the other race; it was white-blue like his own; the result of the introduction of his DNA match. If he doubted, even the slightest, there was her eyes, and even though, at this moment, they stared dark, and vacant, the whites shone in the half-light, as did his, and the centers were that beautiful turquoise blue...like his mother's.
When Loni crouched down beside her, Gem flinched in fear. Despite what that implied, Loni felt relief. It gave him confidence, she had not let Galar have his way with her...at least not easily.
She tried to crawl away, but there was nowhere to go. Cringing at the touch of her, the man pulled his
