by Guy d'Armen
Ardan did not waver a second and dived to the bottom of the lake, using his bamboo tube to breathe. Underwater, he was safe from the spider’s deadly attack!
Suddenly, he felt a shock and the bamboo was almost submerged; he realized that it had scraped against the creature’s belly and felt a wave of nausea. To be even more cautious and not attract further attention, he stopped swimming and started crawling very slowly on the bottom of the lake, gripping the massive salt rocks to help his progression.
He couldn’t see the direction in which he was going, but he tried as much as possible to move forward in a straight line.
After an interval of time that he evaluated to be about half-an-hour. He decided to take a curious peek above the surface of the water. He rose very slowly, letting only the top of his head emerge. He saw at once that the monster had gone, probably back to its lair. That meant that he could go faster by walking, but stayed ready to dive again at the least sign of trouble.
Indeed, he was twice forced to seek refuge underwater; whether the creature he saw was the same spider, or others, he didn’t try to guess, but just reveled in the satisfaction that his plan was working and he could cross the lake in relative safety.
Eventually, the lake became more shallow and water only reached his shoulders, then his waist, and he knew had made it across and reached the other side.
This bank was very different from what he had encountered before: it was mostly made up of a thick, foul-smelling black ooze. He noticed deposits of a red substance that he thought at first might have been blood, but which, upon closer examination, he determined to be minute aquatic creatures, protozoa and unicellular algae, that thrived there.
Ardan stepped out of the muck and looked for an exit. He saw a corridor carved into the rock with a flight of stone steps leading up, and took it.
As he reached the top, he stepped back in horror.
A giant snake, a python, three times normal size, barred the way, hissing threateningly, baring its sharp, backward-curving teeth.
The young man knew that if the snake caught him, he would be killed by constriction and asphyxiation within its coils in a matter of seconds; but he was still reluctant to backtrack and return to the lake. He looked around in a hurry and saw a series of half-rusted metal bars that had been sealed into the wall to make up a ladder, probably leading to some hidden observation post inside the mountain.
With a prodigious leap, he climbed several steps in a hurry just as the snake lunged forward.
He was now safely out of the reptile’s reach, but no closer to his goal. A quick look at the metal rungs of the ladder above him showed that several were missing, dislodged by time. For all intents and purposes, he seemed to be stuck there.
He was considering whether he could break the snake’s neck with a sharp blow of his bamboo when, suddenly, he heard a sinister laugh.
A Tartar warrior had just come out from the other end of the corridor. Armed with a bow and a quiver full of arrows, the new comer emitted a strange whistle that made the giant snake slither away. Obviously, it was its handler, charged with protecting the passage that led outside in the event anyone managed to avoid his monstrous “pet.”
The Tartar grinned evilly as he plucked an arrow from his quiver; it was all too obvious that he meant to shoot down Ardan where he stood.
The young man had nowhere to hide and could not flee; so he seized on a desperate plan and leaped into the void straight onto his attacker!
He had accurately timed his jump for he fell right on top of the man, sending them both sprawling to the ground.
Surprised by the attack, the Tartar was unable to strike back; Ardan quickly grabbed his opponent’s head and stunned him by slamming it hard against the stone ground.
As he got up, the young man grabbed the bow and quiver of the fallen Tartar. Then he made sure to tie the man’s wrists and ankles with his leather belts before stealthily continuing his walk towards freedom.
A few minutes later, he arrived at yet another flight of stone steps leading up. He had been right to progress with discretion for he saw the giant snake lying there, resting next to a stone column at the foot of the stairs.
Being careful not to make a sound, Ardan grabbed an arrow from the quiver, and drew the bow. He knew he would have only one shot; if he missed, the snake would rush to attack him.
The head of the snake made for a small target, and the young man was not as practiced at archery as he would have liked. His hand trembled a little as he adjusted his aim...
He released the arrow and saw the giant snake shake and tremble; for a second, he thought he might have missed and the monster was preparing to go after him, but then he saw the arrow planted into one of the snake’s eyes and realized his aim had been true!
The creature collapsed to the ground, dead. Its body shook feebly for another few minutes, then lay still.
Ardan jumped over the dead snake and rushed up the flight of steps. But instead of reaching the outside, he found himself in yet another cavern!
“I’m cursed!” he swore. “I’ll never get out of those caves! They’re worse than the Depths of Kyamo!”
But, suddenly, as he gazed at the “ceiling” above his head, he saw the roots of trees! That told him he wasn’t far from the surface!
He quickly explored the cave and found yet another flight of steps cleverly hidden behind a boulder.
“This time, I’ve found it!” he exclaimed. “This is Kyzyl Kaya’s secret entrance!”
He rushed up the stairs and was surprised to arrive inside a hollowed out tree trunk! The Red Wizard had obviously taken great pains to hide this secret entry into his underworld kingdom from the outside world.
It was easy to climb to the top of the tree. As he emerged among the branches, Ardan found himself starring at the stars in the night sky. An intense sentiment of elation filled his breast. He had never watched the stars with so much joy!
He had left his “cottage” at “nightfall” and, visibly, the underground city was following the same circadian rhythm as the outside world. He guessed it must have been a couple hours after midnight and, suddenly, felt very tired. He decided to spend the rest of the night sleeping in the hollow between two large branches, on a hastily arranged bed of leaves.
For the first time since he had again met the Red Wizard, his sleep was peaceful and nightmare-free. He woke up fully rested a few minutes after dawn.
But what he saw then was a terrifying new scene! Even though he had escaped from Kyzyl Kaya’s secret city, its abominable creations weren’t yet done with him!
CHAPTER VIII
The Giant
No more than three feet away, a twenty-foot tall giant lay sleeping in the grass!
He had undoubtedly once been an ordinary native, but was now a true goliath.
Past his initial amazement, Ardan looked at the monster. He was indeed sleeping, as evidenced by snoring that sounded like the bellows of a forge.
Next to him was a giant bow and quiver full of arrows, proportioned to his size, that is to say as long as a Kirghiz lance.
Clearly, he was another of the Red Wizard’s achievements. After all, if he could grow spiders and snakes to giant size, why not human beings?
Ardan thought the giant must be the last—and probably deadliest!—of all of Kyzyl Kaya’s guardians.
His suspicions were immediately confirmed.
In the distance, he saw a normal-sized man advancing. He looked like a trapper who spent his time hunting in the woods.
The trapper saw the giant and uttered a cry of pure terror; then, he turned and began to run away.
But his screams had alerted the giant, who had been waking up. The monster got up and started chasing after the man. His strides were enormous and it took him only a few minutes to catch up with the trapper.
He grabbed the hapless hunter in his mighty paw and threw him violently to the ground, as a child might do to a doll that displeased him. Then, the horror continued as he repeatedly tram
pled the body until it was but a pulp.
Then, smiling an idiotic smile, the giant returned to his place under the tree, sat down next to his bow, cracked his fingers a few times, and began humming a local song.
I’ll never be able to get away without catching his eye, thought Ardan. And if he sees me, I’ll suffer the same fate as that poor huntsman...
The giant yawned—a sound not unlike the distant rumbling of thunder—and pulled out a jug of wine and some food from a lather satchel tied to his belt. He then proceeded to have breakfast.
Afterward, he stood up again and Ardan, still hiding in the foliage, realized the creature was as tall as the tree where he was hiding.
After an hour or so, the giant decided to walk away, maybe to stretch his legs, and Ardan saw an opportunity to get down the tree and slip away unnoticed.
As he was halfway down the tree, however, the giant stopped suddenly and turned around; he had forgotten his bow and arrows!
But as luck would have it, it was just when Ardan was about to step down from the tree.
The giant roared and grabbed his bow as the young man began to ran. But then, much to his surprise, his intended “prey” turned around and faced him.
Even more astonishing, the “prey” was now holding a bow and aiming an arrow at him!
The giant loosed an arrow but, in his state of confusion, his aim was poor and the projectile was lost in the trees.
Meanwhile, Ardan shot his own arrow, which would have blinded the giant in one eye, had he not swatted it away.
The giant roared again. He had never been confronted by such resistance. It confused him.
Ardan guessed correctly that, somehow, Kyzyl Kaya’s process had severely diminished the intelligence of the man who had been subjected to it, and while he grew to giant size, his intellect was little above that of an imbecile.
The young man shot another arrow, which the giant missed and which planted itself into his shoulder. It was not enough to wound the creature, but it would prove a constant, irritating annoyance, which was exactly what Ardan had hoped for.
The giant became so angry that, in a blind rage, he snapped his bow and trampled the quiver. Then, he proceeded to smash the trees in an ever-growing display of unbound fury.
In the meantime, Ardan had run through the forest, climbed another tree, and, jumping from branch to branch, was trying to put as much distance as possible between him and the angry colossus.
Looking for the “pygmy” who had dared defy him, the giant continued to smash his way through the forest, like an unchallenged behemoth.
Ardan heard the giant’s bellowing screams of rage and had to move faster and more nimbly between the trees to avoid being crushed.
After the giant had torn a tree, he was careful to trample its foliage to make sure his enemy could not escape.
He began to sweat profusely and pulled out a huge handkerchief—large as a bed sheet!—to wipe his brow.
Ardan reflected that if Kyzyl Kaya could create such monsters as he had seen that day, he truly could become master of the world. It only increased his determination to eliminate the mad scientist once and for all. But how could he do it? Without a gun, a rifle—an elephant rifle at least!—to get rid of the giant, he was trapped here just as surely as he had been in the underground city.
He looked at his bow and quiver—he had only three arrows left, not enough to disable seriously, much less kill, his enemy.
Meanwhile, the giant’s fury continued unabated; it was truly as if he had decided to uproot all the trees in order to just destroy the insolent pygmy who had dared hurt him!
Ardan looked around. He saw, with great concern, that the number of trees where he could reasonably hide was decreasing with every second.
Jumping from tree to tree, he decided to seek refuge in the strongest looking tree, the trunk of which was well over four feet in diameter, and hope for the best.
When the giant came to that tree, he tried to uproot it, as he had dome with the others, but Ardan’s guess proved correct: the tree successfully withstood all of the creature’s efforts.
The young man briefly considered using his bow and try aiming for one of the giant’s eyes—the only way to permanently disable, or even kill, his foe; but the tree was shaking and there were too many branches and too much foliage to take an accurate shot. And missing would only reveal his position and make things worse.
So he decided to wait and hope the giant would eventually tire.
The monster tried various way to fell the tree: grabbing its lowest branches, catching it in a bear hug and pulling, putting his back against it and pushing with all his strength, but all failed. The giant swore, spat, growled and screamed, but in vain. The tree resisted all attempts to be uprooted.
Ardan thought he had won when he saw the giant walk away, but much to his chagrin, the brute returned quickly, holding a massive axe in his hand.
This could change the situation and doom the young man.
When the first blow of the axe struck the trunk, the tree was shaken so violently that Ardan almost lost his grip and fell.
Fortunately for him, the giant was clumsy, or the axe was defective, for when the second blow struck, the handle broke with a loud crack.
The axe was now useless!
The giant had another fit of rage. He grabbed the pieces of the axe, stomped on them, and threw them away in disgust.
Then, after a while, he felt tired and sat down, but never abandoned his watch, knowing that his “prey” was still hiding somewhere amongst the branches above.
Ardan realized that they were now at a standstill. Each had failed to kill the other, and neither could move away without accepting defeat.
The day was waning and it would soon be night.
There was no food to be found in the tree, but the young man was lucky to find a small pool of water to quench his thirst.
Then, like his enemy, he settled in for the night.
CHAPTER IX
An Unwilling Ally
At dawn, the stalemate between Ardan and the giant had not changed. The young man was still hiding inside the dense foliage of the trees, while his enemy was still looking for a way to bring him down and kill him.
The young man still had three arrows in his quiver, but realized they were nearly useless against the behemoth stalking him. Another means of escape was required, but hard as he thought, he could not come up with one.
Since the giant had broken his axe, he, too, seemed confused and frustrated. He was pacing in the woods below, making the trees tremble with his every step.
In the distance were the noises made by various wild animals hunting for prey, but unlike normal-sized humans who might have sought a refuge, the giant was unconcerned.
Ardan watched each and every of his foe’s movements, a hundred feet below his hiding place, at the intersection of three mighty branches. From there, he could easily reach other trees, so thick and dense was the interlacing network of limbs.
The young man watched in admiration—almost forgetting his predicament!—as a squirrel nimbly leaped from branch to branch from a neighboring cedar tree.
Suddenly, he felt a sting: a mosquito had just bitten him. The weather had turned more humid and clouds of mosquitoes and other insects were now spreading throughout the vegetation. These represented a potential threat just as dangerous as that of the monster below. Some of these could piece the skin and leave eggs behind that would grow into dangerous larvae.
More stings followed; but somehow, the giant—perhaps because of his thicker skin?—appeared unaffected. Once in a while he swatted the insects away with his huge hand. Even the largest bugs were less than a flea to him.
Ardan’s situation, on the other hand, was rapidly becoming untenable.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of broken branches—coming from behind him!
The young man turned around and was astonished to discover a large bear—a Siberian brown bear—no more than twenty yards awa
y. The beast had come through the branches, probably also seeking to avoid the giant below. Drawn by the presence of the rain water preserved in the hollows of the branches, the bear had come to quench his thirst and, perhaps, feast on a squirrel or two.
What am I going to do? thought Ardan. If that animal decides to come my way, I have no place to go, no room to maneuver...
But the bear showed no sign of wanting to dislodge the young man and, in fact, paid him no attention. After drinking his fill, the bear began to munch on some fruit.
Ardan knew that Siberian brown bears were notorious gluttons, and the animal would likely not leave until after eating all of the fruits, and perhaps taking a digestive nap as well. He was safe for the moment.
The young man knew that in any new situation, one should look for an opportunity, not an obstacle, and after some thought, he was suddenly struck by an inspiration. The plan was problematic at best, but he really had no choice.
As the bear was calmly continuing to gobble the fruits, Ardan took an arrow from his quiver and, using its sharp point, sawed through one of the smaller branches around him. By the time the branch could be broken, the point of the arrow had been dulled to the point of uselessness, but if his plan was to succeed, he would no longer need it anyway.
Then, he tied the remaining two arrows to the tip of the branch with a vine, and a paste made with wet leaves, which served as cement when it dried.
When he was done, he had made an improvised spear. Now the time had come to poke the bear!
Using the spear at arm’s length, Ardan began to poke the animal’s back, but all he got in return was a not altogether uncontented growl. The bear actually seemed to enjoy having his back scratched that way.
Just my luck, thought the young man.
He had to be careful not to harm the bear, but he needed to prod him into action. So he moved the tip of the spear towards the animal’s face and began to prick his ears.
Now the bear was no longer happy at the unwelcomed attention and started to issue a low growl that was an unmistakable warning sign of aggression.
