I’d managed to get my toes far enough under the strap that I was able to lift it onto my foot. Now it was a matter of pulling it up slowly enough not to drop it, but fast enough to not be eaten before it could help me.
The sabertooth and T-Rex were both slowly circling in my direction, and I had only seconds before they’d be on me, so I worked the key up to my greedy fingertips, and immediately dropped it. But in a moment of supreme luck it fell, and bounced right into the keyhole. I grabbed it and held fast before it could slip free, then cranked it around carefully but quickly, until it stopped moving. Saying a quick prayer, I pressed harder until I felt the key begin to bend, and twist.
Damn it. It wasn’t opening.
I continued to turn, increasing pressure to force the tines, beginning to fear the key would snap before doing its job. A last glance toward my attackers told me it wouldn’t matter; I had no time left to wait. I gave the key one last shove, and rather than continuing to give, and breaking, the little miracle did its job and the cuffs fell open.
Behind me I heard one of the howling animals growl, open a mouth and blow hot breath against the side of my head. Without looking, moving faster than I’ve ever moved, I leaped around and behind the pylon beside where the woman was cowering. She shot a look up at me, eyes filled with terror, cheeks soaked with tears, shaking violently, teeth chattering like castanets. Her expression changed to instant shock as the pylon we crouched behind suddenly jolted on its foundation, rocked, and fell over toward us both, nearly trapping her beneath it as it fell.
We both leaped back. So much for our shield. A second impact, a horrific snarl, and suddenly the ground was shaking. Behind the toppled pylon we saw flashing claws, flying fur, a blur of white fangs, and the whip of a leathery tail.
Apparently the two creatures had turned on one another.
A ferocious battle now raged between them; claws slashed fur, teeth ripped deeply into blood red flesh, and all in such an insane whirl of speed and hostility that it was impossible to tell which animal had the upper hand. Their bodies vibrated with ferocity, fanged mouths locked into one another, clawed feet raking away hair and meat and cartilage.
After one particularly savage twist of the head by the T-Rex, blood began to spurt in a small geyser from the neck of the shrieking cat. As the immense feline lost momentary advantage, the T-Rex jerked again and tossed the enormous tiger high into the air, but the massive beast, now soaked crimson, only seemed angrier, landed easily on all fours, and dove back into the battle with no apparent loss of strength or intensity.
The woman and I now spent most of our time keeping out of the way of the two rampaging monsters, but as the fight raged on with no end in sight, I saw her begin to move carefully forward—stepping slowly so as not to draw attention. I knew what she was doing. The spears had fallen near to where the monsters raged, and she hoped to get hold of one. Letting her take the lead, I crept forward just as cautiously toward the second lance.
The tiger was now upon the Rex’s narrow back, clamping on to the huge neck with its powerful teeth, chewing and scissoring its blade-like fangs, sawing deeply into the screaming Rex’s pulpy flesh. At the same time the cat’s long, powerful talons tore the dinosaur’s heavy hide into bloody ribbons.
For a moment the T-Rex thing stumbled about the arena howling and quivering with pain and fury, its splayed, bird-like feet spread wide, its tail lashing angrily side to side. Finally, in a mad orgy of bucking it went careening around the arena in a frantic effort to unseat its deadly rider, and nearly trampled the girl in the process.
All its efforts to rid itself of the tiger seemed futile, until in desperation the Rex threw itself to the ground, and rolled over. This caught the sabertooth completely by surprise. It slammed into the earth, was winded, and from the sound of things, cracked a few bones. With a hissing shriek it lost its hold and then, before the cat could right itself, something inside it apparently painfully damaged, the great Rex was up again. Bent in agony, furiously charging its enemy, jaws wide, the dinosaur dove onto its opponent. Its sword-like teeth dug deep into the sabertooth’s neck, and inertia slid the two animals across the arena floor where they slammed into a wall, the tiger viciously pinned.
The great cat clawed fiercely at the already ragged head of its adversary until eyes and lips were all but gone, and nothing more than a few stringy, red lumps of ragged, bloody flesh were left dangling from its skull. But the dinosaur held. It wasn’t done. Through all the agony of that excruciating, murderous punishment the Rex-thing stood nearly motionless, jamming down its adversary, its only movement to occasionally drive those teeth deeper and harder into the bleeding abdomen of the giant cat.
That’s when the girl leaped in—apparently deciding that the blind Rex would now be the easiest to defeat—and jammed her spear into the monster’s heart.
The Rex-thing withdrew its jaws from the cat and raised its gory, sightless head, crying out horribly. I guess the crazy girl missed everything vital, or the dinosaur had no heart, because with a shriek that chilled my spine the ruined beast turned to run blindly and crazily about the arena. Pounding and leaping, screaming and bellowing, the poor, dying thing eventually circled back toward us. As it did, I jammed the back end of the spear I’d picked up into the dirt, and aimed it so that the dinosaur would run straight into the sharp end.
Impaling itself, it screamed insanely, but still wouldn’t die.
Stopping only momentarily the beast shot quickly to the side where it slammed into the gate that had earlier contained the sabertooth. The great wooden door dislodged, and fell to become a kind of ramp that allowed the maddened creature to scrabble up and out of the arena, practically into Bruk’s lap. An Angara was crushed only inches in front of my hairy friend, the panther man’s head exploding brains and blood in all directions. A male slave was impaled on a thrashing tooth and the crying, sightless Rex snapped his jaws mercilessly like a garbage disposal until the man’s body became nothing more than silent flying bits of flesh scattering over several other slaves frenziedly trying to escape.
The girl took my hand and pulled me away, back toward the center of the arena. Fearful for my friends, I resisted her, madly scanning the insanity of the crowd for Milton and Elia—Bruk having apparently gotten away. The girl continued to yank me impatiently, and before long I saw the wisdom in her effort, turned and ran with her away from the enraged and flailing dinosaur.
The terrified crowd formed a wall of frightened flesh in all directions. More slaves were crushed as the lunatic Rex struggled to escape its pain. Its head swung back down, and around, tossing aside countless numbers of screaming slaves.
Back in the arena the sabertooth had gotten to its feet, and like the Rex had decided the best way to escape its own misery was through the stadium seating. Terror and panic ruled the day.
Seeing no other choice, our escape cut off on three sides, a wall blocking the fourth, bodies piling up in all directions, every exit packed with the dead and the dying, I leapt forward dragging the girl behind me, and pulled us atop the back of the gigantic prehistoric tiger. She resisted, of course, but I insisted, and before long we were atop the senselessly wandering, dying creature.
“HOLD ON!” I commanded.
She did, both of us gripping bloody fur and torn flesh like reigns, my mind racing with the question of how this could possibly be any better than where we’d been. I had convinced the girl, but I hadn’t convinced myself. The thinking had been it had a better chance of clearing a path out of here than we did, and if we were on it, it couldn’t hurt us. But I was no longer so sure.
As the thing staggered forward, I finally saw Milton and Elia, one pawed limb of the sabertooth stepping mindlessly toward them. Milton stared at me and froze in the worst possible place, his hand holding Elia motionless beside him. Cursing, I yanked on the bits of ragged meat clasped in my hands in an effort to redirect the thing, and I’ll be damned if it didn’t actually work. Rising up momentarily like a bucking bronco
, the prehistoric beast arched its back toward the pain I was inflicting, and moved away from my two friends, just as I’d hoped.
Releasing my grip on the monster’s back, it resumed clawing its way through the frantic crowd, around the arena seats and eventually headed back toward the Grigori area, which was now empty of the winged masters of Pangea. The raging sabertooth seemed to have no more of an idea how to escape than I did.
Crazed with pain, and nearly dead, the sabertooth suddenly lurched forward at top speed, going exactly nowhere as fast as it could. With quick jerks on its raw flesh I attempted to guide it at the queen’s special doorway—now clotted with slave bodies, Angara, and a Grigori or two—hoping the wall might be thinner in that area.
My steed slammed into the wall, shattering the stone enclosure completely and exploding open a hole big enough for a truck.
A bit of debris hit me, no real harm done, and after a few more desperate steps across the rubble, and the bodies trapped beneath it, the tiger finally collapsed to the floor and died quickly with a final, gurgling breath. The once fearsome creature was now nothing more than a lifeless pile of colorful hair and wet, red meat.
From my perch on its back I turned to see what had happened to the others. Ignoring everyone, the guards had joined in the general rush for the exits, slaves were still screaming and scattering in all directions and no direction, some being chased by the bloody and frantic Rex, which continued to stumble about aimlessly. Milton, Elia and Bruk were nowhere to be seen, all hopefully doing their level best to stay alive.
I hopped down from the dead cat and ran along the arena’s outer corridor, the girl following closely behind. We passed several exits choked with fear mad slaves and Angara, none apparently aware that they were now fairly safe on this side of the arena wall.
But—thankfully in this case—that’s how panic affects a crowd.
Toward the back of the amphitheater we found a little used exit, and made our way outside the building. Once in the open my adrenaline began to subside, and I felt instead a surge of hope. This was the event we’d most needed. On the far side of the arena I could still hear the howls of the T-Rex, and the screams of the humans. No Angara would stand still long enough to recognize that I was an unescorted slave who might be doing something he shouldn’t.
I discovered a mostly clear doorway leading from the arena to the outer stairs that would take us to the street, and still followed by the girl, stepped out into the open city. Near the top of the steps I once more sighted my friends. They were across the avenue, near the opposite end of a huge mass of milling, frightened humans and Angara. Milton, Elia and Bruk were all safe, all alive, standing with the others and listening to the dying cries of the blinded T-Rex. Everyone was nervously waiting for the last embers of horror to die away.
I considered running over to them and bringing them with me. The three of us could easily use this opportunity to escape. But Milton still might not want to leave, might not even be able to keep up with a frantic, running getaway—at the very least it would be an argument—and our chance might be lost. My sudden notoriety also changed things. The fact that I had made myself a target as the thief of the Grigori’s most precious book would make it impossible for us all once the insanity of this moment settled down. They would come for me. Come for them.
I couldn’t endanger them that way.
And just as importantly, Milton was right. He and Elia were both safer here than out there where what had just happened in the arena moments ago could happen at any time, and with no warning. Inside Emibi death was certainly a constant possibility. Out there, it was inevitable.
I took one, last, loving look at all of them, and felt deeply saddened, even more so as they turned to head back into the building where Milton worked.
The girl tugged at my hand.
“We should go,” she said.
And she was right. We should.
Playing the part of terrified slaves, I motioned for her to follow me, and ran toward the entrance to the city. When I reached an Angara, I pointed frantically—as did others near me—back toward the arena, and yelled “Creature! Loose!” and as the Angara looked that way, deciding what to do, the girl and I exchanged smiles, and continued our race for the city’s exit. Most of the Angara yelled for other, nearby guards, indicating that they should all head in the direction of the arena. Not necessarily to help, but more just to be near enough for a good view in case anything interesting happened. Before long, there were no Angara anywhere near the gates of Emibi.
The girl and I reached the base of the seemingly endless steps leading up and out of the city, and into the wilds of Pangea. I looked around at the streets that had—since my arrival—been almost perpetually crowded with humans, panther-men, or the occasional Grigori. They were now almost entirely deserted, only a single runner heading off in the direction of the now out of sight arena.
It was almost too easy.
With cautious, careful steps, the girl and I began to ascend the stairs, upward, upward, out of captivity toward the outside world, and the eternal noonday sun of Pangea.
With each step I became less cautious, and more excited, until—before long—I was laughing out loud along with my naked companion, and we were running with all our strength and heart toward…
* * *
FREEDOM
* * *
I STOOD STARING OUT ACROSS the broad plain that spread expansively before Emibi. The three lofty, granite towers that mark the entrances to the sunken city were behind us—ahead, the valley and meadow stretched level and serene all the way to the nearby foothills. We had reached the surface, beyond the city, and our chance at a life of liberty seemed certain.
My first impulse was to wait for darkness before attempting to cross the open flatland; but then I remembered the sun never sets in Pangea. I laughed at myself, the girl laughing along with me, not realizing that I wasn’t amused because of our situation. Smiling together we stepped out of the shadows of the Grigori city and into the perpetual sunshine.
“What are you called?” she asked me.
“Brandon. Brandon Mack. And you?”
“I am Nala the Desirable. Nice to meet you Brandon, Brandon the Mack.”
“No, uh…” but then I thought about it and decided to let it go. “Just Brandon. One Brandon.”
She stared at me confused.
“Brandon,” I said.
“Brandon,” she answered simply.
“Yes. Nice to meet you, Nala… the Desirable. Was the man in the arena your mate?”
She laughed. Very hard. So hard she had a difficult time composing herself.
“Oh, my, no,” she said, catching her breath. “Did you really think so? He was so ugly. Though he wanted me badly, at least to put his spear in. But he had nothing, and was not very brave.”
“Oh?” I said, a little surprised by her coldness. “He seemed rather brave to me. He died saving your life.”
She thought about it, then shrugged, not the least bit appreciative, or concerned.
“I’m glad he did,” she said, and that seemed to be the best she would offer the man who had made the ultimate sacrifice for her. “But it was the only time he showed bravery.”
“At least he showed it when it counted,” I said.
“I suppose.”
Nala and I moved down a pretty slope of grass and young trees that must have been cleared in the recent geologic past, perhaps by a passing glacier. It was more like a park hill than a naturally occurring phenomenon, and for a moment I wondered if the Grigori sent Angara out now and again to mow it, it was that neat and tidy.
We moved down the hill and into lush grasses that rose from barely to our ankles all the way up to thick, waist high fronds. The stalks dominated the meadowland—a gorgeous flowering savanna unique to the inner world. Every hundredth blade was tipped by tiny, five-pointed blossoms, brilliant little stars of purples and yellows that danced gently atop the green foliage like tiny stars, adding a de
ceptive charm to the weird, yet lovely, otherworldly landscape.
Nala bent and picked a few of the flowers, handing the bunch to me as we walked.
“A thank you for saving my life,” she said, smiling up at me.
Apparently she found me more attractive than the last man who’d saved her life.
“I have a mate,” I said.
“Not here,” she said, smiling with even more warmth.
I ignored the flirt and continued on with a little more speed to make it clear I was avoiding the naked girl’s sexual offer. To further close myself off I focused on the distant hills, and any areas that might hold a cave, or several of them. Bruk and I had worked out a plan with Milton that required one, and with luck that plan would take me straight to Nova.
Hurrying on, trampling the endless blossoms mercilessly beneath my rushing feet, I thought only of her beautiful face.
Milton had once said that the force of gravity was lower on the inner surface of the Earth than the outer. He explained it all to me in great detail, but it was all too much like those lectures back in school that I always had a hard time focusing on, and so most of whatever he said went over my head. Something to do with the counter-attraction of the opposite side of the earth’s crust overhead, I think.
Whatever. I definitely felt much stronger, like I could move faster and with greater agility. As I ran across Emibi’s flower-speckled lowland I seemed to fly, though how much of the sensation was due to Milton’s suggestion, and how much to my excitement at potentially finding Nova, I really have no idea.
The more I thought of Milton—and Elia, and Bruk—the less I enjoyed my newfound freedom. I could never be completely happy in Pangea until I knew that the old man was completely safe and as free as I; he, Elia, and Bruk. I had learned to love them all, I supposed. They would be safe for now, but someday I would find a way to go back, and release them from Grigori captivity.
The Hollow World: (Pangea, Book 1) Page 18
