| Fantasy Fiction posted May 20, 2012 | Chapters: |
...36 37 -38- 
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Many eyes, many secrets
A chapter in the book Gima The Beginning
Gima Finale: The Valley Takes Sides
by barkingdog
Dear Reader: This is actually Fantasy-Adventure but there is no category for it on FanStory. . Scenes are meant to arouse a range of emotions. I hope that they do. Thank you for reading. Enjoy.:) barking dog
Previously: Jacknel, Rolak and the Enforcers followed Trell, the Warriors and Dissidents to Apple Valley where a battle is in progress. Jacknel, the coward that he is, has only been a spectator until he sees Blathen ...
CHAPTER 38 Final Chapter
Jacknel disappears from his front row seat in the cornfield when he spots Blathen, who’s decided that it’s time to hurry back to the cabin and do as he’s been told—'stand guard.'
Jacknel bursts into the cabin, slamming Blathen behind the door. Thunder and lightning clear their throats in the distance.
“Blathen.” Gima moves to get her son. Unable to reach him, she huddles motionless over Zee on the floor. Jacknel? She can barely believe who she sees.
Jacknel growls, “So ... mutant sow, you’re alive.”
His spasmodic lid twitches. Then in one swift move forward, he grabs her hair. “Gotcha, sweetness. My ‘boys’ have missed you.”
Gima drops Zee, landing him on the nearby pelts.
Jacknel jerks her up and presses his merry members close. Gima gasps. The tendons in her neck strain outward, close to breaking. Then she grabs hold of his arm, relaxing his upward pull. Putrid breaths puff in her face; he snaps his dental nightmare and cajoles, “You’re mine. You’ve always been mine.”
Needless to say not enjoying being squashed and ignored, Blathen, tough and resilent, gets to his feet and jumps side to side, teeth barred, snarling to fight. Jacknel nonchalantly kicks him aside. “Your little turd amuses me.” Blathen flies, crashing against the cabin wall, stunned. His eye blurs and head whooshes white noise.
"Ah," Jacknel wheezes and picks up Zee, “and what do we have here?”
Gima struggles, screaming. “No, not him.”
Aroused by her fear, Jacknel continues. “Now, I know how to make you scream.” He holds Zee upside down and shakes him like a bag of gold critons. Zee yowls, long shrill tones. "Quite the squealer—this little white mouse. Human perhaps?" Jacknel's bulbous tongue slurps back his increasing drool, and his collectors circle, savoring Zee, the human morsel. One of them wraps around his neck. The other across his eyes.
Gima pleads, “Stop, no.” Still in Jacknel’s grasp, she reaches for Zee, grabbing at air.
“You want this?” Jacknel pinches, piercing pearly white skin. Zee cries louder, rousing Blathen.
Blathen wobbles to his feet, wipes blood from his eye and takes a deep breath.
Jacknel sees the rare red vermel, drops Zee and reaches for the new treasure. “Or maybe you want this one?”
Not the least hospitable, Blathen puffs and spews, trying to look regal and not laugh. This strange, rather rude intruder appears easy to fool.
“Son of a Cobra.” Jacknel’s sallow cheek melts, baring bone. “You’ll die for that.”
He throws Gima to the wall and pulls his saber. Blathen dodges under the pelts and finds his usual peek-hole. Gima grabs Jacknel's leg, unhinges her jaw and latches on to his calf.
Jacknel snatches a dusty cylindrical clay object from the deer horn wall-shelf and smashes it over Gima's head. Her bite releases and eyes narrow with concern as she scrambles for the object once hidden in the clay. The priceless relic, stolen during Trell's escape from Sadie's, lays on the floor.
Blathen sees it. Shiny. He rubs a curved claw on his chin.
The relic is still disguised as a ruby and diamond encrusted, gold handled dagger in a red and blue alum scabbard. Jacknel picks it up. An artefact, stolen from Bellow City will be worth something when returned. A perfect fit, he slips the relic into a strap on his leather trousers that have long been missing their silver stiletto.
Intent on finding Blathen, Jacknel moves toward the pelts. Now, to flush out the red one. With sadistic fervor, he crunches Zee’s hand underfoot. Zee squalls.
Jacknel's collectors spiral down to lap up the onslaught of tears. His eye closes and he sways, intoxicated by the taste of human pain. "Superior vintage," he laughs manically. Jacknel pierces deeper this time, and Zee lets out a blood-curdling cry to challenge the banshees.
“Screams … the cabin.” Trell kicks Rolak’s corpse and runs unarmed from the fray. Beh gallops past him and rips the cabin door from its hinges, sending a fearsome drooling roar through two-inch enamel daggers.
“Gods of my fathers' fathers, a Plesacian,” Jacknel thwortles and backs up. No time to carve the little fat pig.
Without time for words, Trell lets fly a round-house kick to Jacknel’s confused expression, propelling the fiend against the back wall with a bloody thud. Jacknel drops his saber; he bends to get it.
Blathen’s eye clears. Now’s my chance. He jumps on Jacknel’s towering hump. His numerous, sharp teeth and claws rip Jacknel’s cape and clothing to bare the aroused, erect hump. Blathen strikes, sinking his double-row points into Jacknel’s rubbery fat. The torturer knows pain. Blathen shakes his head to tear and, finally, tastes his first bitter vermel flesh. The pungent flavor prompts Blathen’s claws to fully extend for maximum grip.
Unable to reach Blathen who's perched far up on the top of his rounded back, Jacknel curses and spins. Blathen enjoys the ride.
Like a frisky little rat, Blathen anchors each move and pulls himself to Jacknel’s head. With one firm bite, he removes the angry tower’s right ear, and chews. Blathen giggles and with his mouth drooling red into the hole where there had once been an ear, Blathen whispers in vermel, “All the better to hear me with,” recalled from one of Hunter’s stories. He snickers and, spitting out Jacknel’s diamond-stud ear-ring to bounce on the floor, he takes one of his sharpened, wolf bones from his belt.
Jacknel curses, “Earth’s demons take you.” Now accessible to reach, Jacknel grabs Blathen’s legs and attempts to rip him in half like a wishbone. Blathen hisses and stabs Jacknel’s forearm. Jacknel drops him and Beh bats Jacknel like a black fly with purple-caped wings toward the counter.
Gima crawls frantically toward Jacknel’s saber but can only reach one of Blathen’s sharpened bones under the pelts. She grabs the polished bone, crouches and growls, pushing Zee behind her. Trell’s second kick thrusts Jacknel toward Gima, and Trell grabs the saber. Gima plunges the polished bone in Jacknel’s thigh just as Trell slices the seething, Arena master’s arm.
Jacknel breaks for the door with Beh not far behind. They run through the battlefield, and Jacknel disappears into the welcome height of the seeding corn.
A dark funnel is forming in the northwest. Leaves, blood red, gold and brown, whip from the ground. Trell and Beh are drawn into a skirmish in which Hunter and Brita are far outnumbered. Trell deals with one.
Beh charges two. The enforcement officers can only poke him with daggers—mere nips to his thick pelt and layer of fat. He boxes them senseless, mere playthings, and then rises up to his full five feet stature to hold a fat one up by its oblong head. It’s time to play a game. Shalu approaches, knowing this game.
The terrified enforcer kicks and screams, swinging in the air. “Plasacian,” he yells as if anyone would help him. His comrades who watch cower at the far side of the field.
Shalu only wants to play. She bats the plump stomach that Beh waves in front of her. She licks the blood she draws while Beh shakes and twirls the mutilated plaything until the body drops off. WUFF! Beh drops the head ... bored, knowing he has another held gently underfoot.
The second of Beh’s ‘toys ‘watches, struggling, helpless, against the bear’s large clawed paw. Suddenly, Beh hears thunder, and instinct interrupts the game. He looks at the distant twirling specter and smells rain. One more boom of thunder and a clash of lightening that sizzles a sycamore, and Beh rushes off toward the east forest and the den he knew as a cub. His foot squashes the second toy like a fouled honey hive.
More thunder, the wind picks up and rain pours. Shalu screams a long warning and sprints into the dense forest after Beh. She remembers to bring the head. It trails a lung and two hearts from its neck.
“The cellar, Hunter.” Asmel, his hair standing on end, yells pointing at the approaching funnel.
Hunter nods. In the distance, the dark tongue, jumping from side to side, moves closer. Asmel and Hunter hurriedly motion and call to the remaining warriors and dissidents. “Come.” They quickly follow the two men.
The several surviving and wounded enforcers wonder at the abrupt retreat as they watch the tornado twist large oaks from their roots in this land of monsters and death.
Her leather tunic and hair beating in the wind, Gima holds open the underground cellar door. She signs, “Go … Hurry,” in repetitive, succinct motions.
“Everyone in,” Trell chorts.
“Quick,” echoes through the group.
Asmel and Hunter herd the wounded, dying and those carrying the slain to safety beneath the blood-stained floor boards above. The Under Earth’s Warriors and Vermel Dissidents welcome the dark dampness, so like their forsaken underground homes. Packed together, back to front, they stand clinging to each other, fearing these could be their last moments.
A mighty roar approaches, a sound greater than any ‘tracky-car’ they’ve ever heard on the rails between Warik’s compound and Jacknel’s Arena. The trap door above rattles and quivers in its attempts to abandon lock and hinges; dust sucks up through its cracks. As sudden as it came, the sound is gone.
The twister turns toward the field. The earth rumbles and superstitions of the Under Earth’s religion take hold. Massive oaks lift in the distance and debris whips in mini-tornadoes around the remaining enforcers. Paralyzed by fear, while storm winds grow stronger, the dying and a few uninjured crouch, clinging to useless weapons.
Hail as hard as walnuts, and most the size of a fist, pound their backs to bleeding. Rain floods the field to their knees. Those unable to rise drown. The remaining few attach collectors to mumble their last chants to gods who don’t exist here. The dark tongue touches down for Rolak, slurps the rest up like soup, and jumps into the cornfield.
Jacknel clutches Sadie’s relic, suspecting it has power and may save him. He hobbles quickly toward the cave’s tunneled safety. The twister halts as if deciding direction and, seeing Jacknel, chases him, nipping brusquely at his heels. “Gods! Where in this torment are MY gods?” He shakes the ornate alum scabbard with only a dagger’s handle, hoping to release its magic. Nothing.
He hobbles on, dragging his leg, leaving a blood trail behind him. Nature’s fury licks it up. Jacknel’s allegiance wavers. He looks at the twisted multi-layer face in the dark funnel and pleads, “Greater than any lesser gods below, oh monstrous demon here above, let me live.”
Mother earth undulates with laughter. Her twister burps and spits pine shingles, a table, lanterns, wolf skull drums and sharp bones at the quaking coward.
Terror over rides Jacknel’s physical pain. He dashes toward the cave, only fifty feet away. But faster, the twister whistles and jumps ahead of him.—Whoosh— Ruel’s hand lifts from its gateway's tethers. It flies, waving, flapping toward him. Then—SLAP—its lethal claw blinds him before speeding upward.
Sightless, Jacknel feels along the mountain side until he finds the edge of the cave’s entrance. “Ha! Bitch, I’ve beaten you, now.” He derides the Upper Earth. “I’ll return to the gods who love me.” Waving the faux dagger at nothing, he screeches a challenge, “Trell, come and get it.”
On cue, the funnel's roar quiets when the earth reproaches Jacknel's lunacy, “You tarry to brag, to taunt? You fool.”
This demon speaks? Jacknel wills his leaden feet away from the voice. He inches into the cave’s opening and hits his head on the doorway.
“Jacknel?”
“Demon?” Jacknel drops the relic and can take only one step more before panic stops further retreat. He stands blind, catatonic, mute, tattered and bleeding. The cool air his only comfort. He takes a breath. I’m not beaten. I’m never beaten.
There’s a shuffling, a scurrying. The sound disappears. Tunnel rats … the way back. Jacknel tries to turn and follow them. He can’t move.
Suddenly, coal eyes sparkle. Jacknel hears the entrance crumble. Mountain laughs and closes the door.
The tunnel floor tickles under his feet. The vibrations increase. His eye falls to dangle by its umbilical like nerve. He can do nothing. Fear binds him to the spot. The floor gurgles, spits, slides and he’s gone. Centuries old, dark walls give way.
Blathen, jumping fearlessly from tree to tree behind the tornado, had followed, again not heeding his father. He had followed, not the fool but the shiny relic. He pulls up his woven, hemp-fabric hood to shelter from the sun and tells no one what he’s seen. He guards secrets well, and it is his time to do so.
********
Gas lights flicker on the steel wall, and snoring is loud in the cages of the Arena’s alley. An agile, silent, mist cloaked form enters the alley gate to dart past trailing eyes in the freak show cages. He pushes open Jacknel’s office door.
Only this one has returned from the Valley. The one who always watches from the shadows had trailed behind, unseen in the cornfield, and then had run ahead of the storm to disappear in the tunnels. He had seen it all.
Knowledge is fortune in Bellow City … in Under Earth it is power.
Telek, Jacknel’s dutiful assistant, puts on Jacknel’s key-belt, takes out and opens the cash box and rests his feet on top of the desk. A broad grin breaks across his craggy face as the coins ring though his fingers.
He takes out his notepad, pops in his favorite arnag gum— So much to do, and so little time—
He lays the red and blue scabbard on the desk, fingers its jeweled handle and writes:
Number one …
THE END …
Dear Reviewers,
I would sincerely like to thank each and everyone of you for being such wonderful readers and reviewers. Without your excellent reviews that corrected many horrific mistakes and encouraged me to continue, we'd have never made it to the end.
This is a much yours as it is mine.
The cast of 'Gima' thank you in Blathen's favorite color. :) barking dog
Love,
e
Dear Reader: This is actually Fantasy-Adventure but there is no category for it on FanStory. . Scenes are meant to arouse a range of emotions. I hope that they do. Thank you for reading. Enjoy.:) barking dog
Previously: Jacknel, Rolak and the Enforcers followed Trell, the Warriors and Dissidents to Apple Valley where a battle is in progress. Jacknel, the coward that he is, has only been a spectator until he sees Blathen ...
CHAPTER 38 Final Chapter
Jacknel disappears from his front row seat in the cornfield when he spots Blathen, who’s decided that it’s time to hurry back to the cabin and do as he’s been told—'stand guard.'
Jacknel bursts into the cabin, slamming Blathen behind the door. Thunder and lightning clear their throats in the distance.
“Blathen.” Gima moves to get her son. Unable to reach him, she huddles motionless over Zee on the floor. Jacknel? She can barely believe who she sees.
Jacknel growls, “So ... mutant sow, you’re alive.”
His spasmodic lid twitches. Then in one swift move forward, he grabs her hair. “Gotcha, sweetness. My ‘boys’ have missed you.”
Gima drops Zee, landing him on the nearby pelts.
Jacknel jerks her up and presses his merry members close. Gima gasps. The tendons in her neck strain outward, close to breaking. Then she grabs hold of his arm, relaxing his upward pull. Putrid breaths puff in her face; he snaps his dental nightmare and cajoles, “You’re mine. You’ve always been mine.”
Needless to say not enjoying being squashed and ignored, Blathen, tough and resilent, gets to his feet and jumps side to side, teeth barred, snarling to fight. Jacknel nonchalantly kicks him aside. “Your little turd amuses me.” Blathen flies, crashing against the cabin wall, stunned. His eye blurs and head whooshes white noise.
"Ah," Jacknel wheezes and picks up Zee, “and what do we have here?”
Gima struggles, screaming. “No, not him.”
Aroused by her fear, Jacknel continues. “Now, I know how to make you scream.” He holds Zee upside down and shakes him like a bag of gold critons. Zee yowls, long shrill tones. "Quite the squealer—this little white mouse. Human perhaps?" Jacknel's bulbous tongue slurps back his increasing drool, and his collectors circle, savoring Zee, the human morsel. One of them wraps around his neck. The other across his eyes.
Gima pleads, “Stop, no.” Still in Jacknel’s grasp, she reaches for Zee, grabbing at air.
“You want this?” Jacknel pinches, piercing pearly white skin. Zee cries louder, rousing Blathen.
Blathen wobbles to his feet, wipes blood from his eye and takes a deep breath.
Jacknel sees the rare red vermel, drops Zee and reaches for the new treasure. “Or maybe you want this one?”
Not the least hospitable, Blathen puffs and spews, trying to look regal and not laugh. This strange, rather rude intruder appears easy to fool.
“Son of a Cobra.” Jacknel’s sallow cheek melts, baring bone. “You’ll die for that.”
He throws Gima to the wall and pulls his saber. Blathen dodges under the pelts and finds his usual peek-hole. Gima grabs Jacknel's leg, unhinges her jaw and latches on to his calf.
Jacknel snatches a dusty cylindrical clay object from the deer horn wall-shelf and smashes it over Gima's head. Her bite releases and eyes narrow with concern as she scrambles for the object once hidden in the clay. The priceless relic, stolen during Trell's escape from Sadie's, lays on the floor.
Blathen sees it. Shiny. He rubs a curved claw on his chin.
The relic is still disguised as a ruby and diamond encrusted, gold handled dagger in a red and blue alum scabbard. Jacknel picks it up. An artefact, stolen from Bellow City will be worth something when returned. A perfect fit, he slips the relic into a strap on his leather trousers that have long been missing their silver stiletto.
Intent on finding Blathen, Jacknel moves toward the pelts. Now, to flush out the red one. With sadistic fervor, he crunches Zee’s hand underfoot. Zee squalls.
Jacknel's collectors spiral down to lap up the onslaught of tears. His eye closes and he sways, intoxicated by the taste of human pain. "Superior vintage," he laughs manically. Jacknel pierces deeper this time, and Zee lets out a blood-curdling cry to challenge the banshees.
“Screams … the cabin.” Trell kicks Rolak’s corpse and runs unarmed from the fray. Beh gallops past him and rips the cabin door from its hinges, sending a fearsome drooling roar through two-inch enamel daggers.
“Gods of my fathers' fathers, a Plesacian,” Jacknel thwortles and backs up. No time to carve the little fat pig.
Without time for words, Trell lets fly a round-house kick to Jacknel’s confused expression, propelling the fiend against the back wall with a bloody thud. Jacknel drops his saber; he bends to get it.
Blathen’s eye clears. Now’s my chance. He jumps on Jacknel’s towering hump. His numerous, sharp teeth and claws rip Jacknel’s cape and clothing to bare the aroused, erect hump. Blathen strikes, sinking his double-row points into Jacknel’s rubbery fat. The torturer knows pain. Blathen shakes his head to tear and, finally, tastes his first bitter vermel flesh. The pungent flavor prompts Blathen’s claws to fully extend for maximum grip.
Unable to reach Blathen who's perched far up on the top of his rounded back, Jacknel curses and spins. Blathen enjoys the ride.
Like a frisky little rat, Blathen anchors each move and pulls himself to Jacknel’s head. With one firm bite, he removes the angry tower’s right ear, and chews. Blathen giggles and with his mouth drooling red into the hole where there had once been an ear, Blathen whispers in vermel, “All the better to hear me with,” recalled from one of Hunter’s stories. He snickers and, spitting out Jacknel’s diamond-stud ear-ring to bounce on the floor, he takes one of his sharpened, wolf bones from his belt.
Jacknel curses, “Earth’s demons take you.” Now accessible to reach, Jacknel grabs Blathen’s legs and attempts to rip him in half like a wishbone. Blathen hisses and stabs Jacknel’s forearm. Jacknel drops him and Beh bats Jacknel like a black fly with purple-caped wings toward the counter.
Gima crawls frantically toward Jacknel’s saber but can only reach one of Blathen’s sharpened bones under the pelts. She grabs the polished bone, crouches and growls, pushing Zee behind her. Trell’s second kick thrusts Jacknel toward Gima, and Trell grabs the saber. Gima plunges the polished bone in Jacknel’s thigh just as Trell slices the seething, Arena master’s arm.
Jacknel breaks for the door with Beh not far behind. They run through the battlefield, and Jacknel disappears into the welcome height of the seeding corn.
A dark funnel is forming in the northwest. Leaves, blood red, gold and brown, whip from the ground. Trell and Beh are drawn into a skirmish in which Hunter and Brita are far outnumbered. Trell deals with one.
Beh charges two. The enforcement officers can only poke him with daggers—mere nips to his thick pelt and layer of fat. He boxes them senseless, mere playthings, and then rises up to his full five feet stature to hold a fat one up by its oblong head. It’s time to play a game. Shalu approaches, knowing this game.
The terrified enforcer kicks and screams, swinging in the air. “Plasacian,” he yells as if anyone would help him. His comrades who watch cower at the far side of the field.
Shalu only wants to play. She bats the plump stomach that Beh waves in front of her. She licks the blood she draws while Beh shakes and twirls the mutilated plaything until the body drops off. WUFF! Beh drops the head ... bored, knowing he has another held gently underfoot.
The second of Beh’s ‘toys ‘watches, struggling, helpless, against the bear’s large clawed paw. Suddenly, Beh hears thunder, and instinct interrupts the game. He looks at the distant twirling specter and smells rain. One more boom of thunder and a clash of lightening that sizzles a sycamore, and Beh rushes off toward the east forest and the den he knew as a cub. His foot squashes the second toy like a fouled honey hive.
More thunder, the wind picks up and rain pours. Shalu screams a long warning and sprints into the dense forest after Beh. She remembers to bring the head. It trails a lung and two hearts from its neck.
“The cellar, Hunter.” Asmel, his hair standing on end, yells pointing at the approaching funnel.
Hunter nods. In the distance, the dark tongue, jumping from side to side, moves closer. Asmel and Hunter hurriedly motion and call to the remaining warriors and dissidents. “Come.” They quickly follow the two men.
The several surviving and wounded enforcers wonder at the abrupt retreat as they watch the tornado twist large oaks from their roots in this land of monsters and death.
Her leather tunic and hair beating in the wind, Gima holds open the underground cellar door. She signs, “Go … Hurry,” in repetitive, succinct motions.
“Everyone in,” Trell chorts.
“Quick,” echoes through the group.
Asmel and Hunter herd the wounded, dying and those carrying the slain to safety beneath the blood-stained floor boards above. The Under Earth’s Warriors and Vermel Dissidents welcome the dark dampness, so like their forsaken underground homes. Packed together, back to front, they stand clinging to each other, fearing these could be their last moments.
A mighty roar approaches, a sound greater than any ‘tracky-car’ they’ve ever heard on the rails between Warik’s compound and Jacknel’s Arena. The trap door above rattles and quivers in its attempts to abandon lock and hinges; dust sucks up through its cracks. As sudden as it came, the sound is gone.
The twister turns toward the field. The earth rumbles and superstitions of the Under Earth’s religion take hold. Massive oaks lift in the distance and debris whips in mini-tornadoes around the remaining enforcers. Paralyzed by fear, while storm winds grow stronger, the dying and a few uninjured crouch, clinging to useless weapons.
Hail as hard as walnuts, and most the size of a fist, pound their backs to bleeding. Rain floods the field to their knees. Those unable to rise drown. The remaining few attach collectors to mumble their last chants to gods who don’t exist here. The dark tongue touches down for Rolak, slurps the rest up like soup, and jumps into the cornfield.
Jacknel clutches Sadie’s relic, suspecting it has power and may save him. He hobbles quickly toward the cave’s tunneled safety. The twister halts as if deciding direction and, seeing Jacknel, chases him, nipping brusquely at his heels. “Gods! Where in this torment are MY gods?” He shakes the ornate alum scabbard with only a dagger’s handle, hoping to release its magic. Nothing.
He hobbles on, dragging his leg, leaving a blood trail behind him. Nature’s fury licks it up. Jacknel’s allegiance wavers. He looks at the twisted multi-layer face in the dark funnel and pleads, “Greater than any lesser gods below, oh monstrous demon here above, let me live.”
Mother earth undulates with laughter. Her twister burps and spits pine shingles, a table, lanterns, wolf skull drums and sharp bones at the quaking coward.
Terror over rides Jacknel’s physical pain. He dashes toward the cave, only fifty feet away. But faster, the twister whistles and jumps ahead of him.—Whoosh— Ruel’s hand lifts from its gateway's tethers. It flies, waving, flapping toward him. Then—SLAP—its lethal claw blinds him before speeding upward.
Sightless, Jacknel feels along the mountain side until he finds the edge of the cave’s entrance. “Ha! Bitch, I’ve beaten you, now.” He derides the Upper Earth. “I’ll return to the gods who love me.” Waving the faux dagger at nothing, he screeches a challenge, “Trell, come and get it.”
On cue, the funnel's roar quiets when the earth reproaches Jacknel's lunacy, “You tarry to brag, to taunt? You fool.”
This demon speaks? Jacknel wills his leaden feet away from the voice. He inches into the cave’s opening and hits his head on the doorway.
“Jacknel?”
“Demon?” Jacknel drops the relic and can take only one step more before panic stops further retreat. He stands blind, catatonic, mute, tattered and bleeding. The cool air his only comfort. He takes a breath. I’m not beaten. I’m never beaten.
There’s a shuffling, a scurrying. The sound disappears. Tunnel rats … the way back. Jacknel tries to turn and follow them. He can’t move.
Suddenly, coal eyes sparkle. Jacknel hears the entrance crumble. Mountain laughs and closes the door.
The tunnel floor tickles under his feet. The vibrations increase. His eye falls to dangle by its umbilical like nerve. He can do nothing. Fear binds him to the spot. The floor gurgles, spits, slides and he’s gone. Centuries old, dark walls give way.
Blathen, jumping fearlessly from tree to tree behind the tornado, had followed, again not heeding his father. He had followed, not the fool but the shiny relic. He pulls up his woven, hemp-fabric hood to shelter from the sun and tells no one what he’s seen. He guards secrets well, and it is his time to do so.
********
Gas lights flicker on the steel wall, and snoring is loud in the cages of the Arena’s alley. An agile, silent, mist cloaked form enters the alley gate to dart past trailing eyes in the freak show cages. He pushes open Jacknel’s office door.
Only this one has returned from the Valley. The one who always watches from the shadows had trailed behind, unseen in the cornfield, and then had run ahead of the storm to disappear in the tunnels. He had seen it all.
Knowledge is fortune in Bellow City … in Under Earth it is power.
Telek, Jacknel’s dutiful assistant, puts on Jacknel’s key-belt, takes out and opens the cash box and rests his feet on top of the desk. A broad grin breaks across his craggy face as the coins ring though his fingers.
He takes out his notepad, pops in his favorite arnag gum— So much to do, and so little time—
He lays the red and blue scabbard on the desk, fingers its jeweled handle and writes:
Number one …
THE END …
Dear Reviewers,
I would sincerely like to thank each and everyone of you for being such wonderful readers and reviewers. Without your excellent reviews that corrected many horrific mistakes and encouraged me to continue, we'd have never made it to the end.
This is a much yours as it is mine.
The cast of 'Gima' thank you in Blathen's favorite color. :) barking dog
Love,
e
 Recognized |
stiletto - a small dagger with a narrow tapering blade
Plesacian- folklore monster of the Vermel
tracky-car - a train like vehicle that travels the tracks between Upperton and Bellow City
Thank you MoonWillow for sharing 'Prying Eye.' It's perfect.
UNDER EARTH SPECIES:
Vertant-the off-spring of two Vermel; looks human.
Vermel-mutated humans who live in Under Earth; communicate via sign language and various sounds; noted by their single, particulate-collector naris; one eye; dark or red, coarse body hair; flat or twisted feet with three to six long toes; three fingered hands with long curving claw-like nails; pointed teeth in irregular, double rows; intelligent, but with strong base instincts.
Particulate collector - a Vermel adaptation to living in a polluted underground; mutation ; porous tubular filaments; can extend from the naris in a searching fashion; they both taste and smell; alert to emotions of other species; Verdants may or may not have remnants, nodes in nasal pharynx tissue(back of throat).
dissident-rebel, nonconformist, protester;
somebody who publicly disagrees with an established political or religious system or organization.
calabash- a gourd
cattail torch- cattails soaked in animal fat and dried can last up to six hours depending on their size.
gambian-as in gambian rat; a large rat species; pets in Under Earth
DRINKS & SMOKING
Elixirs:
Euphoric-Blue - arouses passion without arousing anger or fear
Green - calms aggression and base tendencies to mutilate, kill, cannibalize
Caramel-clarity(female enhancement)
Ruby-rigidity (male enhancement)
Violet- given to submissives, primarily Vertants, to change their behavior to aggressive in order to please the Vermel
customer at Club ErrOw's Chambers.
Fitzel- a carbonated alcoholic beverage; a light intoxication; makes one funny, silly, uninhibited, kind
Smoking- usually a mix of madine and sedderthal Hallucinogenic fungi grown in Bellow City
Fazil- a smoking or chewing compound that stains the teeth
Arnag-a fungus grown as food; a favorite rubber-chew flavor
Tartanulum - a tasty smoking compound containing spiders
Madine and sedderthal- a narcotic laced smoke; one drifts into mindlessness for a time; no thought, no worries.
Verbenium - a pill; dissolves under the tongue to speed orgasm; used when time is of the essence.
LOCATIONS:
Under Earth- a civilization that exists totally under ground; Vermel territory.
Bellow City- located in Under Earth.
Jacknel's Arena- where Hunter and Trell were trained and exploited as 'Man' and 'Man #2'.
Club ErrOw- a dance club downstairs; Chambers for coupling are upstairs.
Sadie's Palace - a night spot where Vertant males are displayed for Vermel viewing and pleasure; masterbation columns are very popular in the Mural Room as is the free elixir bar.
Alitian - Sir Alitus was the atrium's designer
CHARACTERS:
Gima-a Vertant; rescued and raised by Hunter and Asmel
Trell- a Vertant; raised by Vermel, escaped to Upper Earth; has not yet learned to speak but has learned to understand it from Gima, his mate.
Blathen- Gima and Trell's Vermel son; single, particulate-collector naris, one eye; on the hierarchy of Vermel his appearance labels him a Prime-One.
Zee-Gima's second son who looks human
Hunter- Nigel once a business man in the city; was captured and tortured by Ticum to become 'Man' in Jacknel's Arena in Bellow City; 'Papa' to Gima; suffers from PTSD.
Asmal- a survivalist; built a cabin in the mountains; rescued Hunter; raised Gima with Hunter; 'Papa-Azzy' to Gima
Ticum-Vermel;Jacknel's Circus trainer; beat and tortured Hunter; deceased
Trum- Vermel; Ticum's brother; Trell's trainer at Jacknel's Arena
Sadie- runs a display and pleasure house featuring male Vertants; Trolious's niece
Milim - Sadie's assistant a Vermel
Picar-Vertant at Sadie's
Jamie-Picar's Vertant lover; Sadie's favorite.
Mr. Arnst- Trell's abusive uncle; now a caznu(neutered)and no longer abusive
Rom- Arnst's younger companion, lover
Disposal Officer- Designated by numbers e.g. DO-45, DO-50; executioners; but they sell their prisoners, usually Vertants, on the black-market to various shady characters like Jacknel and Sadie for use in sport, entertainment, pleasure and artificial insemination collection and sales.
Trolious- Head of Ministerial Affairs
Lida - Trolious' wife
Larue P. Darlit - Assistant of Ministerial Affairs; canzu(involuntarilly castrated by Dyrel) Vermel
Brackus- Larue's Vertant charge and lover
Lem- the youngest Vertant to escape with Larue's help
Rolak- Chief Enforcement Officer
Pike-the lead bounty hunter; brought Gima to Jacknel; his cousin; now the tattooed-cobra, a circus freak.
Ruel- a member of Pike's bounty hunting party; attacked Gima at Mallard Lake, Pike killed him and hung him at the tunnel entrance, pointing the way to Under Earth.
Teleck-Jacknel's office assistant; a voyeur.
Mr. Colwin- Mr. C; manager at Club ErrOw
Beh- a black bear; male; followed Trell home; camp's mascot.
Shalu- a young female cougar
Warik- Jacknel's competition; his Warrior Training facilities are in Upperton
Vermel speech/sounds:
thwortle-a sound pattern distinctive to the Vermel; a combination of glottal stops, tongue click-clucks and snorts; an assertive pattern.
chort- throaty sounds varying in tonal inflection and duration; normal speech; he chorts=he says.
toning- saying; using a series of sounds other than speech
thrumping songs-songs Trell learned growing up in Bellow City, Under Earth; melodic, throaty, glottal.
thrump-a of singing pattern from the throat; Vertant and Vermel variation of humming.
Vocabulary:
particulate collector - a Vermel adaptation, mutation; porous tubular filaments; can extend from the naris in a searching fashion; they both taste and smell; alert to emotions of other species; Vertants may or may not have remnants; nodes in nasal pharynx tissue may be all that remain in Vertant.
Arnag-a fungus grown as food; a favorite rubber-chew flavor
Caznu-neutered male Vermel; usually gay and neutered by choice for the good of the gene pool by decree of Trolious ; castration is a common punishment regardless of sexual orientation.
And-End - Amen
Pernard- a Vermel curse
Dangle- a Vermel penis; they have two dangles.
Mintrinet - minute
alum- short for aluminium; usually recycled cans; a valued metal.
mold-blossom - a fungi; small, dark brown and caramel colored flowerettes cluster to form a large crysantehmum-type flower; its heavy, sweet decaying scent is used in perfumed oil.
Events:
Warrior Games - Under Earth competitions to the death; all are eligible, male, female, Vertant or Vermel; The odds are stacked in favor of the Vermel.
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. Plesacian- folklore monster of the Vermel
tracky-car - a train like vehicle that travels the tracks between Upperton and Bellow City
Thank you MoonWillow for sharing 'Prying Eye.' It's perfect.
UNDER EARTH SPECIES:
Vertant-the off-spring of two Vermel; looks human.
Vermel-mutated humans who live in Under Earth; communicate via sign language and various sounds; noted by their single, particulate-collector naris; one eye; dark or red, coarse body hair; flat or twisted feet with three to six long toes; three fingered hands with long curving claw-like nails; pointed teeth in irregular, double rows; intelligent, but with strong base instincts.
Particulate collector - a Vermel adaptation to living in a polluted underground; mutation ; porous tubular filaments; can extend from the naris in a searching fashion; they both taste and smell; alert to emotions of other species; Verdants may or may not have remnants, nodes in nasal pharynx tissue(back of throat).
dissident-rebel, nonconformist, protester;
somebody who publicly disagrees with an established political or religious system or organization.
calabash- a gourd
cattail torch- cattails soaked in animal fat and dried can last up to six hours depending on their size.
gambian-as in gambian rat; a large rat species; pets in Under Earth
DRINKS & SMOKING
Elixirs:
Euphoric-Blue - arouses passion without arousing anger or fear
Green - calms aggression and base tendencies to mutilate, kill, cannibalize
Caramel-clarity(female enhancement)
Ruby-rigidity (male enhancement)
Violet- given to submissives, primarily Vertants, to change their behavior to aggressive in order to please the Vermel
customer at Club ErrOw's Chambers.
Fitzel- a carbonated alcoholic beverage; a light intoxication; makes one funny, silly, uninhibited, kind
Smoking- usually a mix of madine and sedderthal Hallucinogenic fungi grown in Bellow City
Fazil- a smoking or chewing compound that stains the teeth
Arnag-a fungus grown as food; a favorite rubber-chew flavor
Tartanulum - a tasty smoking compound containing spiders
Madine and sedderthal- a narcotic laced smoke; one drifts into mindlessness for a time; no thought, no worries.
Verbenium - a pill; dissolves under the tongue to speed orgasm; used when time is of the essence.
LOCATIONS:
Under Earth- a civilization that exists totally under ground; Vermel territory.
Bellow City- located in Under Earth.
Jacknel's Arena- where Hunter and Trell were trained and exploited as 'Man' and 'Man #2'.
Club ErrOw- a dance club downstairs; Chambers for coupling are upstairs.
Sadie's Palace - a night spot where Vertant males are displayed for Vermel viewing and pleasure; masterbation columns are very popular in the Mural Room as is the free elixir bar.
Alitian - Sir Alitus was the atrium's designer
CHARACTERS:
Gima-a Vertant; rescued and raised by Hunter and Asmel
Trell- a Vertant; raised by Vermel, escaped to Upper Earth; has not yet learned to speak but has learned to understand it from Gima, his mate.
Blathen- Gima and Trell's Vermel son; single, particulate-collector naris, one eye; on the hierarchy of Vermel his appearance labels him a Prime-One.
Zee-Gima's second son who looks human
Hunter- Nigel once a business man in the city; was captured and tortured by Ticum to become 'Man' in Jacknel's Arena in Bellow City; 'Papa' to Gima; suffers from PTSD.
Asmal- a survivalist; built a cabin in the mountains; rescued Hunter; raised Gima with Hunter; 'Papa-Azzy' to Gima
Ticum-Vermel;Jacknel's Circus trainer; beat and tortured Hunter; deceased
Trum- Vermel; Ticum's brother; Trell's trainer at Jacknel's Arena
Sadie- runs a display and pleasure house featuring male Vertants; Trolious's niece
Milim - Sadie's assistant a Vermel
Picar-Vertant at Sadie's
Jamie-Picar's Vertant lover; Sadie's favorite.
Mr. Arnst- Trell's abusive uncle; now a caznu(neutered)and no longer abusive
Rom- Arnst's younger companion, lover
Disposal Officer- Designated by numbers e.g. DO-45, DO-50; executioners; but they sell their prisoners, usually Vertants, on the black-market to various shady characters like Jacknel and Sadie for use in sport, entertainment, pleasure and artificial insemination collection and sales.
Trolious- Head of Ministerial Affairs
Lida - Trolious' wife
Larue P. Darlit - Assistant of Ministerial Affairs; canzu(involuntarilly castrated by Dyrel) Vermel
Brackus- Larue's Vertant charge and lover
Lem- the youngest Vertant to escape with Larue's help
Rolak- Chief Enforcement Officer
Pike-the lead bounty hunter; brought Gima to Jacknel; his cousin; now the tattooed-cobra, a circus freak.
Ruel- a member of Pike's bounty hunting party; attacked Gima at Mallard Lake, Pike killed him and hung him at the tunnel entrance, pointing the way to Under Earth.
Teleck-Jacknel's office assistant; a voyeur.
Mr. Colwin- Mr. C; manager at Club ErrOw
Beh- a black bear; male; followed Trell home; camp's mascot.
Shalu- a young female cougar
Warik- Jacknel's competition; his Warrior Training facilities are in Upperton
Vermel speech/sounds:
thwortle-a sound pattern distinctive to the Vermel; a combination of glottal stops, tongue click-clucks and snorts; an assertive pattern.
chort- throaty sounds varying in tonal inflection and duration; normal speech; he chorts=he says.
toning- saying; using a series of sounds other than speech
thrumping songs-songs Trell learned growing up in Bellow City, Under Earth; melodic, throaty, glottal.
thrump-a of singing pattern from the throat; Vertant and Vermel variation of humming.
Vocabulary:
particulate collector - a Vermel adaptation, mutation; porous tubular filaments; can extend from the naris in a searching fashion; they both taste and smell; alert to emotions of other species; Vertants may or may not have remnants; nodes in nasal pharynx tissue may be all that remain in Vertant.
Arnag-a fungus grown as food; a favorite rubber-chew flavor
Caznu-neutered male Vermel; usually gay and neutered by choice for the good of the gene pool by decree of Trolious ; castration is a common punishment regardless of sexual orientation.
And-End - Amen
Pernard- a Vermel curse
Dangle- a Vermel penis; they have two dangles.
Mintrinet - minute
alum- short for aluminium; usually recycled cans; a valued metal.
mold-blossom - a fungi; small, dark brown and caramel colored flowerettes cluster to form a large crysantehmum-type flower; its heavy, sweet decaying scent is used in perfumed oil.
Events:
Warrior Games - Under Earth competitions to the death; all are eligible, male, female, Vertant or Vermel; The odds are stacked in favor of the Vermel.
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