Beneath Crimson Mists

James Abraham Carter

It was evening, and by the light of a full moon John Lance eagerly walked up the driveway leading to the home of professor Alex Raymond, who was the foremost experimental physicist of the day. Lance was a student of the professor, and also his assistant, working with the savant on a personal project being undertaken in the man’s private laboratory at the rear of his modest bungalow.

Raymond was a brilliant man, but some of his ideas struck his colleagues as exceedingly odd and the professor, sensitive about his standing with his peers, was keeping his current project under wraps until he had perfected the Inter-dimensional Portal Generator, as he had named it.

Theoretically, the machine, when complete, would breach the barrier that separated the multiverses - the hypothetical set of all universes whose existence was suggested by some cosmological theories. In short, the device would enable people to travel to parallel realities as easily as stepping through a door to another room, provided the mechanism could be made to work, that is.

Lance wasn’t here to see Raymond but rather Iris, his daughter. She still lived with her father, which Lance thought was a little odd considering she was 21, the same age as him. Iris was an attractive woman and Lance had been enamoured by her beauty. They’d gotten to know each other over the past two months during which he’d been working with the professor as his assistant, and Lance had at last worked up the courage to ask her out.

The problem was that he’d broken his mobile phone and couldn’t remember the professor’s number or that of his daughter. Lance could have waited until morning, but being a little shy and awkward around girls he feared that he might have lost his resolve by then. It was better to ask now while he had the courage. He hoped his unannounced arrival wouldn’t be an inconvenience.

Lance arrived at the door. The house was in darkness. It was only 7:46pm, too early for bed. Could they be out? Disappointment deflated him for a moment, then he glimpsed a trace of light shining through the side gate leading to the rear. Lance walked to it and peered through the palings. The light was coming from a window of the professor’s back yard laboratory.

For a moment Lance debated whether he should intrude. Knocking on the man’s front door was one thing, entering his yard uninvited was another. The young man turned away, unwilling to trespass. He was on the verge of departing when a faint cry made him stop. Had someone been injured? Lance thought of the machine. It was experimental, untested, anything might go wrong.

Quickly, Lance opened the gate, ran to the shed and peered through its small window. He gasped in shock and disbelief at what he saw. The cry had been one of pleasure, not pain. Raymond and his daughter were both completely naked. The professor sat on a chair. Iris, gasping in delight straddled him, vigorously riding his shaft, burying it deep in her anus as her father sucked one pert breast while vigorously rubbing her clitoris. The girl experienced a trembling moaning orgasm. She collapsed into her father’s arms. Raymond thrust deep and also climaxed. The couple relaxed, arms around each other. They kissed tenderly like normal lovers.

Lance, who had been paralyzed, came out of his shock. Both father and daughter had seemed completely normal, but behind the facade of ordinariness and respectability hid something truly dreadful. How a brilliant man like Raymond could act in such a sordid and unnatural way was beyond the young man’s understanding. And then there was Iris who seemed a willing and enthusiastic participant. He stepped back from the window, his emotions in complete turmoil.

His movement drew the professor’s gaze. Raymond swore. Iris turned and gasped in fear. Her father thrust her off, raced for the door of the shed, a wild look upon his bearded face. Lance turned to run, but the professor was out the door like a charging lion. He pounced on the young man and flattened him with a tackle worthy of a gridiron player.

The breath was driven from Lance’s lungs. He lay gasping helplessly as Raymond, a much larger man, slung him across his shoulders and carried him within the shed.

“Dad, what are we going to do?” asked Iris, clearly in a panic.

“I’ll get rid of him using the machine,” replied her father as he walked towards the device. “I got it to work this afternoon.”

Raymond dumped Lance in the device’s transition chamber - a large cube of silvery rods with studded spheres ten inches across protruding from each corner. He then moved to the control panel.

Lance, in a wild panic, tried to struggle up. “Iris,” he weakly gasped. “You don’t have to be a part of this. Call the police…”

“I won’t have my father going to prison,” she angrily cried, cutting him off. “We became lovers when I was sixteen. The world won’t understand. I’ll do anything to protect him and what we have.”

Lance, spurred by utter terror, managed to get to his knees. Desperately, he tried to leap from the transition chamber. Raymond flicked a switch before he could. A deep humming filled the cube. There was a tremendous flash of golden light. When the flare faded the machine was completely empty.

**********

One moment Lance was in the cube, the next he was somewhere else. The transition had been instantaneous and without any sensation of movement. He was still in a crouch, on the verge of making a frenzied leap. The young man slowly stood and looked around in astonishment. Above him was a sky of glowing crimson mist. There was no sign of a sun. Neither was there moon or stars.

Beneath his feet was a black rock whose texture reminded him of pumice. The stone had lucid crystal clusters sprouting here and there, many of the hexagonal prisms rising to knee height. Lance turned in a circle. All around him tall geological formations of the same dark mineral soared from the earth in the manner of knife-like stalagmites, creating a maze of ravines and canyons. Thorny dome shaped shrubs of vivid citrine sprouted from the arid landscape, growing more thickly along the banks of a river of purple fluid that wound its way between the towering stony spires and onwards toward an amethyst sea.

Lance sat down hard. Raymond’s device had worked, too well in fact. He was on longer on Earth, and undoubtedly had no chance of ever returning to it. It was like a horrible nightmare. But the solidity of the stone beneath his buttocks made it painfully clear that this was no madman’s dream.

The young man brought his bolting emotions under control. The best revenge he could have on Raymond and his daughter was to survive. The police would investigate his disappearance. The trail would eventually lead to the professor and Iris. The truth would out sooner or later. All the fools had done was bought themselves some time.

Lance got to his feet and walked towards the river of purple fluid. The day (if it could be called that) was very hot. Without water he’d soon die in this arid environment. He reached the stream and knelt, looking into the transparent amethyst liquid. Was it drinkable or deadly poison? There was only one way to find out.

He gingerly dipped a finger in the liquid. It was cool to the touch. It didn’t burn his skin so it wasn’t acidic or alkaline. Carefully, he tasted his wet digit. It had a slightly sweetish taste with a touch of spiciness. Growing bolder, he drank a small amount of the fluid with cupped hands and waited. After half an hour he still felt fine. Lance quenched his growing thirst with more. Unless it was a very slow acting poison it should be fit to drink.

Having located the equivalent of water, Lance now turned his attention to finding food. The thorny dome shaped shrubs of vivid citrine bore clusters of teardrop fruit that were bright sapphire in colour. These, after testing in the manner of the amethyst liquid, proved palatable but somewhat bland. Lance grew more confident he could survive in this alien environment.

**********

An unascertainable amount of time had passed. There was no day or night in this strange reality, only the eternally glowing crimson sky. Lance’s body had toughened as a result of his primitive lifestyle, indicating that possibly many months had passed. He had made a crude knife by breaking one of the crystals, and was glad that he was armed with this jagged shard, for there were strange animals that lurked in the ravines formed by the towering blade-like geological formations.

One such creature had attacked. He’d been dozing when some subtle sense had detected the presence of the thing. Lance had opened his eyes to see the horror scuttling at him. It’s black serpentine body, four feet in length, was supported by six legs. The head resembled that of a barracuda. Its green eyes - faceted jewels of malevolence - were fixed hungrily upon him.

The thing released the catapult-limb tucked beneath its belly. It sprang at Lance, mouth gaping, fangs gleaming wetly. Luckily, the young man had been sleeping crude knife in hand. He swung up the shard. Razor sharp crystal struck, nearly decapitating the horror. The force of the blow flung it aside. It crashed to the ground, jetting green blood and died writhing in its emerald gore.

That had been three sleeps ago, his only way of measuring time. Lance was following the river that flowed towards the sea, seeking to escape the claustrophobic maze of canyons and ravines. Currently, he was in a ravine that was fairly straight and in the distance, about a mile away, was the glittering expanse that was his goal.

At the moment he had paused his march and was standing by a shrub. Lance was about to breakfast on its fruit when the sound of stones rattling down the slight declivity made him turn about.

The creature standing behind him made him gasp. It was human-like in form. Its head was covered in black growths resembling a hedgehog’s spines. Shorter spines formed eyebrows on the face - cat like in appearance due to high cheekbones and the shape of the ears and nose. Its large eyes were amber. Its skin was tawny like a lion, but hair free. The being possessed three breasts - two positioned in the manner of a human woman with the third in the middle. Broad hips also indicated she was female.

The alien woman was clad in a brief loincloth of black fabric that did little to hide her muscular physique. Her feet were shod by sandals. A large orange gemstone, the only jewelry that she wore, was bound to her forehead by a cord. She was armed with a glassy spear in her right hand and a narrow oval parrying shield of the same green crystalline substance in her right.

The hairs on Lance’s nape stood on end when the strange woman opened her mouth and howled like a wolf. Her feral cry was swiftly answered. As if by magic half a dozen others of her kind swiftly emerged from among the rocks and bushes. Lance was surrounded by alien Amazons before he could even think about running. The warriors spears were leveled at him and he dropped his knife and raised his hands in prudent surrender.

This didn’t seem to satisfy the woman who’d discovered him. She cast aside her weapons and approached, speaking to him in an aggressive tone. The words, of course, were completely unintelligible. The language, with its sing-song rhythm, reminded Lance of Asian tongues.

“I’m sorry,” he responded. “I’ve no idea what you’re saying at all.”

The woman turned to her female companions and uttered a command. They stepped back and held their spears horizontally, forming a ring around Lance and his interrogator. She then uttered a wild yell and lunged at Lance, catching him in a wrestling hold. Lance barely avoided being flung to the ground. He’d taken up the sport of freestyle wrestling, and it was this knowledge that had saved him from immediate defeat.

The pair grappled furiously. Lance found his opponent to be amazingly strong. The young man gasped in pain when she sunk her teeth into his ear. Obviously, there were no rules to the game. Well, two could play at that. Lance responded by poking her in the eye. She cried out, let go of his bleeding ear. Swiftly, he stamped on her foot, electing another howl. Lance then threw her across his hip. She hit the ground hard. Then he was on the woman, twisting her limb into a painful armlock that immediately immobilized her.

The woman’s companions stepped forward and pressed their spears against him in dire warning. He let go and his opponent stood, glaring at him. Losing gracefully obviously wasn’t her style. She gathered her weapons and angrily shouted commands. The party moved off, forcing Lance ahead of them with their weapons.

Lance considered making a break of it, but dismissed the idea. If he tried that he’d only get a spear in the back. For the moment accompanying them seemed the best thing to do, and quite frankly he was curious to learn more about these people. In addition he was craving companionship. He had no desire to wander aimlessly and alone about this strange world for the rest of his life.

Eventually, they reached the purple sea. It stretched out to the horizon, which was far less curved than that of Earth, indicating this world was significantly greater in diameter. The party turned to the left and marched along the coast of crystalline pink sand which glittered like myriad diamonds beneath the glowing crimson sky. To Lance it was a strange scene of alien beauty.

A sleep later they reached the black citadel. It was built into the side of a soaring cliff, and was accessed by a switchback trail that climbed precipitously to its height. They mounted the path and, after a trying ascent came before the stronghold’s gate. Black crenelated walls and towers loomed above them. The entrance was a narrow slit sealed by a solid slab of stone which slid into the earth upon the utterance of a shouted password.

They passed within and Lance’s life among these strange people commenced.

**********

Lance paused his cutting of the stone with the diamond hard crystal saw he was using. The citadel was being strengthened and he was being used as slave labour for its improvement. 411 sleeps had passed since his arrival at the fortress. In Earth terms he guessed it must have been about a year. During this time the hard labour of cutting and hauling stone and assisting at the forge, hammering the strange malleable crystal, which was more like metal than glass, had developed his physique to the point where he looked more like a champion body builder rather than a physics student.

Here, on this world of Chu, a matriarchal system predominated. Women ruled and men worked. The males were more muscular than than the females because of hard labour, but due to a strange biological quirk were largely of a more placid and non-violent temperament. Consequently, when threats manifested it was the women who fought resulting in a society of Amazons.

The fortress was a huge rectangular complex that housed 3000 people. The walls soared into the air to a height of a hundred feet and were buttressed by watchtowers at regular intervals. All windows faced the central courtyard around which were the living quarters, built up the curtain walls of the citadel in levels like the floors of an apartment. Windows and doorways were closed by stone slabs that pivoted on a central axis, and were locked in place by sliding crystal bolts.

The stronghold was entirely utilitarian. There were no decorations to soften the rugged harshness of the black stone from which it was constructed. The only good thing that Lance could say of it was that the bleak interior was well illuminated by glowing crystals that shed a soft amber light upon the spartan but spacious rooms.

Food, resembling giant bioluminescent fungi, was grown in subterranean chambers beneath the citadel - a series of natural caverns that had been interconnected by tunneling. One such cavern possessed a large lake that was the fortress’s water supply. The entire system was a surreal place of stalactites and stalagmites, and wondrous crystal formations that supplied the raw materials for tools and weapons.

The crack of a whip made Lance jump. He turned and saw Lastia staring at him. This was the woman he’d wrestled with. She was also kansan (chief) of the Annari, her tribe, one of many peoples that inhabited the coast. By now he’d mastered the language and so when she spoke to him he understood perfectly.

“Back to work, slave,” she snapped.

Lance felt like wrenching the whip from her hands and breaking it. But prudence prevailed and he recommenced his task of stone cutting. Lastia held a grudge because he’d beaten her. He hadn’t known it at the time, but when he’d cast aside the jagged shard and raised his hands it had been a challenge to a dual by unarmed combat. This was unprecedented for a male, and when he’d beaten her it had been a tremendous shock. She’d been thoroughly humiliated. The only reason why he wasn’t dead was because as victor the law prevented her from killing him.

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t get revenge in other ways. She’d had him work much harder than the other males, labouring at back breaking tasks with hardly any rest, probably in the hope he’d die from exhaustion. Lance puzzled over the fact that he hadn’t succumbed to his Herculean labors. He could only speculate that the alien environment interacted with his human physiology to create within him incredible strength and stamina.

As he was sawing the stone, a sudden dimming in the natural light made him look up. He gasped in surprise. The ever glowing red sky-mist was quickly changing, becoming darker. Cries of alarm sounded. Amazons raced to the battlements and lit the large cressets affixed to its crenelations. Flames leaped, but they were a feeble glow that did little to push back the smothering darkness. The warriors bravely thrust their long spears to the midnight sky, watching intently.

The Annari males, by contrast, were in a panic. They dashed for the shelter of the portico that surrounded the fortress’s courtyard. Blackness had now descended completely on the world. Dark shapes, invisible in the gloom, swooped on membranous wings from the ebon sky. Objects fell from their claws, smashed against the cressets, shattered. Flames were extinguished by foaming liquid. What little light they gave vanished. Reality was plunged into impenetrable darkness.

Lance stumbled blindly in the pitch blackness. He bumped into someone. A shape swept towards him. Talons clutched him. He cried out in fear and pain. The person beside him echoed his terror. Both were hoisted into the air. The ground dropped away with sickening and dizzying speed. Then they were in the sky-mist, enveloped by its Stygian blackness.

Lance heard the frightened breathing of his fellow captive. Both of them were still alive, at least for the moment.

“What manner of creature has captured us?” he asked his unseen companion, refusing to give up hope of survival.

“It is a dark-beast,” replied the other, and by her voice Lance knew it was Lastia. “They come when the heavens go black, swooping from the sky to capture any living thing that they can.”

“Where are we being taken?”

“I do not know,” she replied. “The dark-beasts are masters of our world. We try and defend ourselves, but in the blackness we are blind, helpless. The cressets we have do not provide enough illumination by which to fight. Those who have been captured are never seen again. Most likely they are killed and eaten.”

The conversation ended on this grim note. Lastia had withdrawn into herself. Lance’s attempts at further speech were met with silence. The woman seemed overwhelmed by what had befallen her, for she was now in the clutches of what to her was the Devil incarnate.

Time passed. The sky-mist began to brighten and soon became its normal crimson self, once more shedding its ruddy light upon the amethyst ocean over which they flew. The returned illumination also disclosed the nature of the dark-beast in all its awfulness. The thing was bat-like in form, but covered in fine gray scales rather than fur. The bony head, with its antenna, bulging compound eyes and mandibles, resembled that of an ant. The thing had six limbs - hind feet, wings, and human-like arms and hands attached to additional shoulders that were independent of those involved in the flapping of its pinions.

The creature, the size of a small aircraft, bent its head and looked at them. Lance shuddered when he saw something akin to intelligence in its faceted eyes. He broke contact with its awful gaze and looked around. Lance saw that the dark-beast which carried them was a the head of a V-shaped formation of six more, and he thanked whatever gods there were that the other horrid creatures had come away from the raid empty handed.

Shortly, a towering needle-like formation honeycombed with holes came into view. It rose from the purple sea to touch the crimson sky, raking the glowing heavens with its stupendous height. The dark-beast carrying them soared to the high pinnacle while its companions dived to the tower’s base where the turbulent sea raged in an unending battle with the stone.

Soon, they were speeding towards one of the large holes in the summit. The dark-beast slowed its flight and they swept within the entrance of a huge cavern. The thing hovered over a deep pit occupying most of the cave floor. It released them and they tumbled in with frightened cries and crashed upon giant fungi that broke their fall.

Lance slid off the giant domed cap of a pale blue thallophyte and landed feet first on the ground. He saw Lastia tumble head first. Lance leaped beneath the falling woman and caught her in his strong arms.

“Are you hurt?” he asked with genuine concern.

She looked at him strangely. “Why do you care? We are enemies.”

“We have a mutual enemy in the dark-beasts,” he replied as he put her down. “That makes us allies. Let’s explore the pit. There may be a way out.”

“The Purple Sea lies between this place and my citadel. It is a barrier we cannot cross. Escape from the dark-beasts is impossible. They are the masters of Chu.”

“Look,” replied Lance in frustration. “Hope is lost only when you give up hope. Maybe that’s why no one has escaped before. We can either wait placidly for them to kill us or we can fight. I’d rather fight. Don’t let their so called Masters of the World status intimidate you to the point of inaction.”

The woman grew thoughtful. “Perhaps you are right,” she said. “Let us search.”

The moved to the wall of the pit, forcing their way through the closely growing stalks of the fungi. Suddenly, Lastia gasped in horror. Lance peered over her shoulder. Before them was the carcass of an animal like the one that had attacked him in the ravine, except four times as large. It was smothered with pale blue tendrils that had unfurled from the base of the stalks to smother it in a web of slowly squirming threads. Naked bone could be seen here and there where the flesh had been dissolved.

“It’s been eaten by the fungi,” gasped Lastia in revulsion. “But how? The tendrils move so slowly they can easily be avoided.”

“Not in sleep,” replied Lance, grimly. “This must be a kind of vegetable garden, probably one of hundreds, and we’re the fertilizer. Come on, let’s keep searching for a way out.”

A complete circuit of the pit failed to reveal any escape path. The walls were high and smooth, and the tallest fungi were well below the edge of the depression. Adding to their worry was the fact that when they stood still for more than a few minutes the strange fungi sensed their inactivity, and began to unfurl their tendrils which slowly wriggled towards them with an unnerving serpentine motion.

The only useful thing that Lance had found during the exploration of the pit was the broken thigh bone of an unknown creature. It had a jagged end - an improvised weapon. He’d slipped it into the rope belt of his loincloth.

“Being forced to constantly move will soon tire us,” observed Lastia, despairingly. “It’s only a matter of time before we succumb to these obnoxious growths.”

“I’ve an Idea,” replied Lance as he squatted. “We need to get above the threat. Climb on on my shoulders. I’ll lift you so you can grab the fungal cap. This one’s flat, not domed, so it should be easier. Haul yourself up and I’ll follow.”

Lastia quickly complied and Lance raised her up. Carefully, she balanced on his shoulders and grabbed the cap. But it was a slow and difficult task to find purchase on the smooth slippery growth. Lance looked down. Fear touched him. The fungal tendrils were sliding towards him, getting ever closer.

“Hurry,” he called to the woman.

With an effort Lastia managed to get a clawing grip on the cap. Her muscles bulged as she hauled herself up. A piece broke off in her fingers. She hung by one hand for a moment, cursing. The woman grabbed again, and secured a better grip. Up she went.

The tendril touched Lance’s ankle, began to wrap itself around his leg in burning contact. He swore in pain and revulsion at its acidic touch. Lastia scrambled fully from his shoulders. Lance bent an tore the horrid tendril away. Others were reaching fore him. Fear lent him strength. He leaped, arms up-flung. Lastia caught his wrists. She hauled mightily, pulling him up onto the flat cap. They both collapsed, breathing hard form their strenuous exertions.

“What now?” asked Lastia when she’d recovered enough breath to speak.

“If I’m right about this being a vegetable garden, then the dark-beasts must harvest the fungi. When that happens we may be able to escape.”

As it transpired they didn’t have long to wait. Perhaps ten minutes had passed when they heard the sound of enormous wings beating rapidly. A dark-beast flew into the cavern. Both captives lay flat and observed the thing intently. It hovered like a hummingbird above one fungus and then thrust the long rod it held into the flesh of the cap, boring out a cylinder of food. This was then transferred to a net bag slung around its neck.

“I don’t think these creatures can see as well as we can,” said Lance, thinking of the monster’s compound eyes. “It’s back is now to us. If we spring from cap to cap we might be able to sneak up on it. If we can grab hold of it we might be able to ride it out of here.”

“You are mad,” she replied with feeling.

“Do you have a better plan?” he asked.

“No,” she sourly admitted.

The couple began their stealthy approach. They’d made two jumps when the dark-beast turned. Both fell flat. They waited tensely in breathless silence. The thing gave no indication that it had seen them. It turned. Again they advanced. The dark-beast was one jump away. It moved lower, disappearing beneath their line of sight. They gained the next fungus and peered over the cap’s edge. It was about five feet below them.

“Climb on my back” ordered Lance. “I’m going to jump and land between its wings, then grab onto its neck.

Now Lastia knew for sure that her companion was definitely insane. The dark-beast’s wings were a blur of motion. The slightest miscalculation and they’d be fatally swatted by its beating pinions. Still, it would probably be a quicker death than being slowly digested by carnivorous fungi.

The woman did as he asked. Lance clenched the jagged thigh bone between his teeth. He jumped. Luck was with them. He fell between the beating wings without being struck and slammed against the dark-beasts scaly back. Quickly, he wrapped his arms about its neck and hung on tight.

The monster soared in panic, it flew wildly about the cavern in a mad attempt to dislodge the unknown things that clung tenaciously to it. Its hands reached to rip away Lance’s arms locked about its throat.

Lastia saw the danger. She grabbed the jagged bone clenched between Lance’s teeth and with it stabbed the monster’s reaching hands. The thing hissed in pain. Its crazed flight became even more erratic. It took all of Lance’s strength to maintain his hold upon it. The dark-beast crashed head first into the cavern wall and fell upon the ground. Its wings beat feebly for a moment, then stilled in death.

The two riders lay limply, the breath knocked out of them by the solid impact. Within a minute both could move again. They climbed off the carcass. Lastia slid into Lance’s arms as he helped her off. Her warm breasts pressed against him. Her face was very close to his. He kissed her in an act of spontaneity. Her full lips were as soft and as inviting as those of a human woman.

Lastia touched her lips, shocked by the effect the kiss had upon her. Her pulse had quickened. She could feel the lips of her vulva opening and the wetness oozing as her large retractable dome-shaped clitoris sprang from its cavity. So aroused was she that had she been alone she would have masturbated. Never before had a man made her react so quickly and powerfully. At the time neither realized that to Lastia’s people human saliva was a potent aphrodisiac. The woman looked at Lance, somewhat unnerved and more confused than offended.

“Why did you do that?” she asked.

“Because you’re a pretty woman, and I’m very glad that we’re still alive.” he responded with a smile.

“Oh,” she replied, now quite flustered. With an effort Lastia reigned in her bolting desire. This was definitely not the time or place for amorous activities. And furthermore this slave wasn’t even of her people. She tried hate him as she had before. But now found she couldn’t, which was even more disturbing.

The troubled woman looked around, breaking free of her perturbing thoughts.

“There’s an entrance to a large tunnel over there,” she said, pointing. “More dark-beasts may arrive. We can’t risk staying here.”

“I agree,” responded Lance as he retrieved the jagged bone. “Let’s see where it leads.”

They set off down the gloomy passage, and had traversed its length for about a hundred feet when they arrived at an intersecting branch. Lastia gasped as a dark-beast emerged from the left hand way.

The thing scuttled swiftly towards them, propelling itself using its hind feet and the wrists of its bat-like pinions, which were tucked into pockets of scaly skin when not in use. The clawed hands of its second pair of arms darted at Lance and his companion with the swiftness of a striking cobra. Lance swing the bone. Its jagged point stabbed the horror’s forearm. The monster hissed.

“Run,” he cried to Lastia.

The woman ignored him. She grabbed a lump of stone and hurled it at the thing. The rock struck one bulging compound eye. The lens shattered like glass. The monster screamed shrilly. It staggered sideways and collapsed as two more of its kind rushed the unsuspecting couple from the right hand way.

Both were seized by the creatures. The bone dagger was torn from Lance’s grasp. He struggled mightily. But despite his enormous strength the vice-like grip of his captors thwarted all attempts at escape. They were carried down the right hand passage, which began to steeply rise, and after about six hundred feet entered the spacious chamber at the apex of the soaring tower.

Here another dark-beast awaited their arrival. This creature was many times the size of the two monsters holding them. It was also set apart from the rest by a jewel-like emerald organ set between its bulging eyes.

Lance and his companion were placed before the dark-beast’s queen. A greenish ray shot forth from the jewel-like organ between her eyes and bathed the pair in its weird and paralyzing glow. Then the monsters that had captured them departed, leaving both at the mercy of an even greater horror.

The Earthman tried to fight against the paralysis without success. Fear struck him. He couldn’t move a muscle. Then, to add to his terror an alien mind began to probe his brain with tendrils of psychic force, invading his thoughts, riffling his memories like a callous spy bent on stealing anything of value.

As Lance fought against this intrusion another dark-beast emerged from behind the monstrous queen. This second creature was the king - far smaller than the queen - a mindless bundle of instincts only good for reproductive duties. The thing approached Lastia. It sensed she was female. The king grabbed the paralyzed terrified woman and carried her to a dark corner of the chamber.

From the corner of his eye Lance glimpsed the swift abduction. Fear for Lastia seized him. He redoubled his efforts to break the queen’s paralysis, to resist the invasion of his mind. He knew his companion was at the mercy of the horrid creature and he dreaded what the monster might do to her. Then, from the shadows a scream rang out, which gave birth in the frantic man to all manner of dreadful imaginings.

**********

Lasita, still paralyzed from the ray, was cast upon the ground by her monstrous abductor. The thing tore away her loincloth. It began to explore her body with its scaly hands. She tried to scream but couldn’t. It clasped her breasts brutally squeezing them, wrenching them. Lastia was in agony, but couldn’t move a muscle. The king lost interest in these strange protuberances. It’s hands moved lower.

Inwardly, the woman cried in terror as it spread her legs apart. The horror was now in familiar territory. It’s tentacle-like phallus slid from its body. The huge organ reared like a cobra about to strike. Lastia felt the paralysis begin to ease. The kings phallus darted for her vulva like a striking serpent. Lastia covered herself in time. The phallus struck her hand with bruising force. She grabbed the organ and wrenched mightily.

A hiss of agony erupted from the king’s mandibles. The thing collapsed. Lastia scrambled free. But the horror made a swift recovery. It was on its feet. It cornered her before she could escape. The thing came at the woman as she pressed her back to the wall. It closed in mandibles gaping for the kill.

As the monster rushed towards her Lastia’s hand touched a crystal on the wall. The woman sought to break it free as a weapon, and in so doing recognized the crimson mineral. An idea came to mind. She tore the crystal gem from her headband, tightly closed her eyes, and touched it to the other stone.

A tremendous flash of light erupted in a silent explosion of blinding brightness. The only sound was that of heavy bodies thudding to the floor. Lastia opened her eyes, her vision largely free of the flare’s afterimages. She was amazed. Both king and queen had fallen unconscious to the ground. Lastia had hoped that the flash of light would dazzle the king thus allowing her to elude the monster and come to Lance’s aid. She hadn’t expected the effects to be this dramatic.

Thoughts of Lance spurred her to his side. He’d regained movement and was in the process of struggling to his feet. She helped him stand and he leaned on her.

“What happened?” he asked holding his head, which ached abominably from the queen’s mental probing.

“I see,” he said after Lastia had explained. “Are those minerals common in your land? Is the flash a brief burst or does the light continue so long as the gems are in contact?”

“Yes to both your questions,” she replied. Why do you ask?”

“We’re going to need them to defeat these monsters,” he answered. “I’ve recovered now. Follow me. Quickly, before they awaken.”

Lance swiftly moved towards the entrance to a tunnel, Lastia by his side. They entered and began to walk along its upward sloping length.

“There are creatures where I’m from called ants,” he continued. “The dark-beasts are much like them. This is a colony ruled by a queen. The rest of her brood are mindless workers. They have no real intelligence, only instincts to obey their ruler.

“This does not apply to the queen.” Lance shuddered for a moment as he recalled the vast and cold intellect that had violated his mind with its hideous probing. “She has stolen knowledge from my brain by invading it with her mental powers,” he continued. “And with this knowledge she will be able to build better weapons an pose an even greater danger to this world.

“But with the linking of our minds I also gained some knowledge of her thoughts. We are the first who have successfully escaped the fungus gardens, killing one dark-beast in the process. The queen now considers us a menace. If some can resist then there might be others as well. She now plans to exterminate all of us to neutralize the threat.

“The darkening of the sky-mist isn’t natural,” he explained. “There’s a machine at the apex of this tower that sends a ray into the heavens. This enables the creatures to raid under the cover of darkness. That’s where we are going now. We must destroy this device and then escape. It will give us time to prepare, for the queen means to immediately attack.”

“Why not go back and kill her now?” asked Lastia. She’s unconscious and vulnerable.”

“A good idea, but with what?” replied Lance. “She’s the size of an animal called an elephant on my world. Her skin is covered by tough scales. If she was flying, which I doubt is possible given her size, we could employ the minerals to knock her out and she’d be killed by the fall. This technique is the one we’ll use to defeat her drones. Ah, here we are.”

They emerged onto the flat pinnacle of the stone spire. In the middle of the roughly circular area was the machine, and near it several unconscious dark-beasts, rendered senseless by the invisible component of the flash, which penetrated matter like a super x-ray.

Lance ignored the unconscious monsters and focused on the mechanism. It consisted of a cone of azure crystal about five feet tall and two in diameter at its base, which was supported by a glass tripod. Beneath the cone was a crimson globe, slightly smaller, that rested in a ring attached to the legs of the device. The globe was raised by a lever system, and when it touched the cone’s base a silver ray shot skyward from its point, and it was this strange energy that reacted with the sky-mist and caused it to become as black as night.

“Help me tip it over,” he said to Lastia. “It’s fragile and will shatter from the fall. Hopefully, it will take many sleeps for them to build another.”

The pair heaved mightily, dashed clear of the unbalanced mechanism. The machine toppled. It smashed noisily on the ground and sent shards of crystal flying in all directions. A dark -beast stirred in reaction to the noise. It rose unsteadily, then fell again, still somewhat dazed from the radiation flash.

Lance swore. “If it’s awake then the others won’t be far off from reviving. We’ve got to mount it now while its still groggy. This time I’ve got a better idea of how to control it.”

The pair dashed for the beast. Lance leaped on its back and grabbed its long antenna. Lasita swiftly followed and clung to him. The sensation of something clinging to it roused the creature from its daze. The dark-beast lurched skyward on flapping wings. Its flight was erratic, panicked. Lance hauled on its left antenna. The creature turned left. It turned right when he pulled the other. Pushing down on both antenna made it descend; pulling up made it ascend.

They were now very high. The dark-beast had settled under Lance’s masterful hands, and the dim outline of the mainland could be seen. Lance steered his weird mount in the direction of the coast. He was greatly relieved that his gamble had paid off and that he could control the creature. But he wasn’t totally at ease, for he knew that the confrontation with the monstrous queen and her dark brood would soon be upon them, and that victory was far from certain.

**********

Thirty four sleeps had passed since Lance and Lastia’s escape. Lastia’s return to the Annari settlement had been greeted with joy and amazement. No one had ever escaped from the dark-beast’s lair, and her people had given her up for dead. When she’d told of Lance’s role in their successful flight and his plan to protect her people from the queen’s genocidal revenge they were even more astonished.

The males in particular had been most profoundly effected by Lance’s example. They’d always been told that men were incapable of bravery, and that women must take the lead in matters of combat. Many men had lost female relatives to the depredations of the dark-beasts. Now, inspired by Lance’s actions, a significant number had demanded to play a role in the coming battle. The women had initially resisted, but Lance pointed out that every able bodied person would be required for the coming struggle, and in the face of his logical arguments they eventually relented in their objections.

The young man now stood on the battlements of Lastia’s citadel, gazing out across the Purple Sea. As of yet there had been no attack. An air of tense expectancy pervaded the settlement. Lance shifted his thoughtful gaze to the device he’d designed for the defence of the fortress, one of a dozen others positioned around the stronghold. It consisted of a hollow cylinder of frosted glass four feet in length and a foot in diameter mounted on a tripod stand. There was a cluster of crimson noi crystals in the bottom of the container. A large orange gemstone called a chennis hung on the outside, suspended from the rim of the cylinder by a chain.

To activate the device the operator simply dropped the chennis into the container, and when it came into contact with the noi crystals the strange radiation would be released with the frosted glass providing protection for the defenders from the blinding light. Knowledge of the device had been passed on to the other coastal communities. Many leaders of these settlements had been sceptical of the fantastic account of their escape from the dark-beasts, but when representatives had come and seen the captured creature their doubt had turned to astonished belief. Now every community was as prepared as they could be.

A sudden dimming of the sky-mist interrupted Lance’s thoughts. He looked up and stiffened with tense nervousness. The ever glowing firmament was quickly changing, becoming darker. The attack had begun. Cries of alarm sounded as Lance dashed to the cylinder and dropped the chennis into the container. Light flared, but not blinding thanks to the frosted glass. A beam, like that of a powerful searchlight erupted from the cylinder and shot vertically into the inky heavens. Other Amazon warriors were racing up the stairs and repeating Lance’s actions. In mere moments the citadel’s walls were aglow with light, a sharp contrast to the sky, now blacker than the blackest night.

Dark and sinister shapes swooped on membranous wings from the Stygian heavens. The dark-beasts had been on the wing well before the queen’s mechanism had blanketed the world in impenetrable gloom. Now, they dropped from the sky like dive bombers, murderous talons spread wide to deal swift death.

Lastia joined Lance on the battlements. They tensely watched the plummeting monsters, over a thousand strong. The woman swore. She saw that the head of each creature was enclosed by a mesh of silvery wire that worked like a Faraday cage - a countermeasure to the anaesthetic radiation of the gems. But Lance, knowing that the queen had probed his brain for knowledge, anticipated this possibility and had prepared.

Lastia shouted a command. Arrows were fitted to newly invented bows. Even the men were now armed.

“Let fly,” she cried.

Over a thousand shafts leaped skyward. No longer blinded by darkness and with far more light than cressets, the defenders were on an equal if not better footing to their winged attackers. Arrows thudded into scaly bodies. Dark-beasts tumbled from the sky. More swept down, blindly and mindlessly obedient to the commands of their queen. Black spheres were released from talons. They struck the frosted cylinders, but the foaming liquid could not extinguish the blazing crystals light.

Another storm of arrows raked the swooping horrors. More monsters fell from the sky in a rain of feathered carcasses. Some got through the steady barrage of winging shafts. Men and women armed with long spears skewered some, fended off others, which were brought down by snipers armed with bows. But even so a few landed among the defenders, wreaking terrible havoc with sword and talon.

One dark-beast, its wing pierced by an arrow, crashed near Lasita. The creature staggered up. It scuttled at her on all fours. It clutched a sword in one clawed hand. Lastia thrust her spear at it. The monster swung its blade, shearing the haft in two with its tremendous stroke.

Lastia fell, knocked off balance by the power of the blow, nearly tumbling off the narrow battlements. The horror sprang at her, weapon swinging. Lance leaped, straddled the prostrate woman. He blocked the monster’s sweeping blade. Swords rang like struck crystal. Lance was nearly driven to his knees by the force of his bestial opponent. Desperately, he swung his weapon. Its crystalline edge slashed the dark-beast’s arm. The thing hissed, launched a furious counterattack.

Lastia scrambled clear, saw Lance was hard pressed by his horrid foe. The thing, fearless of death, rushed at him in a whirlwind of madly flashing strokes. The woman snatched up her severed spear as the dark-beast, with a might blow, sent Lance’s sword spinning from his hand. She lunged, hurling all her weight into the thrust. The spearhead sank into the dark-beast’s back.

The monster howled. It jerked around, tearing the spear from Lastia’s grip. The horror raised its weapon, preparing to strike her down with its dying breath. There was no time for Lance to retrieve his sword. In mere seconds the swinging blade would cleave Lastia in twain. The young man rushed in. He seized the mesh covering the monster’s skull. He tore the silvery wires away. Radiation hammered the dark-beast’s now defenceless brain. It collapsed, its falling blade grazing Lasita’s shoulder as she leaped away.

“Are you badly hurt?” Lance worriedly asked his companion as she clutched her injury and leaned against a crenelation.

“No,” replied Lastia as she looked warily about. The woman smiled. “The sky is free of dark-beasts. We’ve won,” she triumphantly announced.

Lance saw that it was true. A storm of arrows had swept the sky clean. The citadel was strewn with the carcasses of the monsters, and when he looked beyond the walls he saw a thousand more scattered across the landscape like fallen autumn leaves. But their side wasn’t without casualties. Lance saw some defenders had been crushed by falling night-beasts as they’d plummeted from the sky; others had been directly killed by the monsters. The Annari dead numbered in the hundreds.

“We’ve won the battle,” he thought. “But have we won the war?”

**********

Seven sleeps had passed since the battle, and all the reports from the other coastal communities were in. Some had suffered higher losses than the Annari, but all had inflicted significant casualties on the enemy. Lance had tallied the dark-beast fatalities and in total 10,506 of the monsters had been destroyed - 89 percent of the colony’s population. It was a significant defeat for the queen.

Lastia entered the room as Lance was pondering the results.

“You’re in a thoughtful mood,” she worriedly observed as she sat on the bench next to him. “Are your conclusions favourable to us?”

“Yes,” he replied, relief evident in his voice. “We’ve inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. I doubt the queen will continue her aggression. The only good thing I can say about her is that she possesses a coldly logical mind. There are no emotions - no hatred, no desire for revenge. I think the sensible conclusion she’ll reach is that we’re now too dangerous to assail. Provided we don’t provoke her by attacking she’ll probably leave us alone. Still, I could be wrong. We must remain forever vigilant, and maintain a superiority in armament by manufacturing the explosives and guns I told you about.”

“You have done much for us,” admitted Lastia. “I’m sorry I treated you badly. I am not yet mated. I will make amends by marrying you, and thereby elevate you to the position of consort. It is the greatest honor that I can bestow upon you for your services to me and my people.”

Needless to say Lance was shocked by this offer, which for him was totally unexpected. By now he had a better understanding of Annari culture. They were a pragmatic people. The idea of marrying for love was largely absent. For them marriage was an institution for the raising of children and the forging of bonds with other family units to strengthen social cohesion within the community and between other settlements. The emotion of love wasn’t absent. It just didn’t play as significant a role as it did in human culture.

Lance pondered her offer. The trials and ordeals they’d faced together had formed a bond between them. They were no longer enemies. Were they friends? Lance felt confident he could say yes to that. Could they be more than that? Lance decided he wanted to find out. But he also wanted to know Lastia’s true feelings.

“I am greatly honored,” he sincerely replied. “But what do you want? Are you offering marriage willingly or because you feel you have to?”

“Willingly,” she answered. “If I did not like you I would not have made this offer. I thought that would have been obvious.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m from a different culture. There is still much I have to learn about yours.”

Lastia smiled. “I wish to learn of yours also,” she replied. “Do you remember when you pressed your lips to mine? A kiss, I think you called it. It had a most pleasing effect upon me, one that I would like to experience again.”

Lance didn’t have to be asked a second time. They passionately embraced, and things proceeded most pleasurably for both from there.

THE END