The little group
dispiritedly began the long trek back to their last way-station. Angelo and
Dutch had no idea in which direction it lay. They were completely disorientated
because of all the running they had done around the edge of the swamp, but
Righteous was like an arrow to the target, his nose always pointing towards the
shrine. There was no point in trying to get to the mountains. The forest seemed
to stretch all the way round. The only thing to do was go back to the
waystation and work out another plan. At lunch they stopped under a tree and
sat down to consume the remaining few crumbs of manna they managed to scrape
from their pocket linings. That was it. If there wasn’t another storm soon they
were in trouble. Not that the prospect of food looked any more viable in the
swamp. Nothing they had seen there looked very edible; there’d been no fruit or
berries or birds, just stinky swamp water which no one in their right mind
would drink; and the mountains looked barren enough. So, nothing to cheer
about.
“Come on, up everyone.
We have to keep moving,” said Angelo. Truth was, they weren’t doing very well.
Everyone was exhausted and sore and they weren’t making very good time on the
return journey. In fact, Officer Angelo was pretty sure they weren’t going to
make it back. “We need to put a bit of effort into it chaps…” but no one was
listening to him anymore. Then he noticed how quiet it had become. No beetles
or flying things buzzing around, nary a grass stalk stirred.
“That doesn’t sound too
good,” said Rose, looking around her in trepidation. They could feel there was
something in the air.
Sweet Mary screamed at the
horrific looking creatures that suddenly seemed to rise up out of the landscape
and tower above them, like monsters from a lost world. Their impulse was to
run, but they were completely surrounded and the group could only huddle
together at the centre of the circle. Sweet Mary’s Null–wave mercifully removed
her from further fear and anxiety. The little band of humans stood back to
back, hemmed in by creatures that looked like giant, bipedal komodo dragons. These
Jurrasic-type reptiles had a strange mixture of green crocodile skin on their
backs and on their long tails, but their underbellies and their front parts
were soft and delicate and looked alarmingly like human skin though still
greenish in colour. These half-human, half-dragon-like creatures were even
taller than Righteous, some seven foot, standing upright on enormously powerful
legs with vicious claw-toed feet. In fact there was no foot to speak of, just
three giant claws on each leg. In contrast they had long thin forearms that
ended in delicately small prehensile hands like a monkey, and they were all
males. That much was obvious to the women’s dismay as they were all quite naked
with much the same equipment as a human male; just bigger. The girls didn’t
quite know what to do with their eyes. But if this wasn’t startling enough, the
‘piece de resistance’ was their long protruding wormlike snouts, which had a
round hole-come-mouth in the end that looked like a palpitating anus rimmed all
round by little, thin razor teeth. It was a sight to set all their anus’s palpitating.
“You don’t think this
could be a hallucination too, do you?” said Rose hopefully.
“Ah don’ think so,” said
Righteous. “I can feel them. I can see the bones they carrying.” It was then
everyone noticed the white swords tied to their waists with sinewy thongs. They
had been carved from the same material as the dragon statue, and they also
glowed, even in the daylight. These were sentient creatures thought Angelo; probably
soldiers.
The lizard men stood
calmly by and scrutinized the humans, their little fingers opening and closing.
They seemed to be in no hurry. Perhaps they were just assessing their
edibility.
“Oh Boy, we’re in for
trouble here,” mumbled Angelo. “Anyone have any ideas?”
“Not any good ones,”
replied Dutch, “except standing very still until we learn a bit more.”
“I hope they’re not
hungry,” said Rose, imagining the worst.
“Perhaps I should try
and talk to them?” said Angelo.
Dutch just shrugged her
shoulders. She still hadn’t recovered from her episode in the swamp. Sweet Mary
stood staring without a care in the world.
“Please be careful. Be
polite,” added Rose, clutching his arm and half hiding behind him. “And bow,
maybe. No don’t. But don’t look them in the eye in case they find that
confrontational…..but maybe do in case they think you’re being shifty….and
smile….no, maybe not…..maybe….”
“It’s alright Rose,”
smiled Angelo. “We have no idea what their customs are. I’ll just have to take a
chance.”
Bravely Angelo stepped
forward and addressed himself to the nearest of these strange creatures,
Two dark beady eyes on
either side of his snout watched Angelo approach.
“Hello. My name is
Angelo.”
He didn’t expect a coherent
reply, but he also didn’t expect what he got. The lizard hooted at him. He
simply extended his mouth like a trumpet and hooted. It wasn’t an aggressive sound,
even though it was loud to the extent that it disarranged Angelo’s hair, but it
obviously meant something. Trouble was, they had no idea what. Then Dutch, her
trauma from the previous night forgotten in the face of this strange new development,
stepped into the breach and came to stand next to Angelo.
“We don’t mean you any
harm,” she said, easing the laser gun from her pocket and holding it in plain
sight. If they recognized it as a weapon, well and good, it might serve to
deter them from attacking them. They weren’t to know that the laser charge had
long since dissipated and the thing was more than useless. Nothing daunted, the
lizards continued to survey them with a leisurely eye. They seemed to be
waiting for an answer and when none was forthcoming the lizard they had addressed
hooted again, turned on his tail and began to move away from them. At the same
time, the other side of the circle moved towards them.
Angelo took Rose’s hand
in his and pulled her close to him, not quite sure what was going to happen.
“They’re trying to herd
us,” said Dutch. “We better just follow him for now, until we know what we’re
up against.”
Rose held onto to her
beau and shuffled off after the weird alien creatures.
Dutch dropped back
beside Angelo and asked him what he thought.
“Dunno. They don’t feel
dangerous to me. I don’t think they mean us any harm. Well, not yet. But we are
definitely their captives.”
“What do you think they’re going to do with
us?” asked Rose, but no-one had an answer to give.
The creatures plodded
serenely on, their heavy reptilian tails dragging along the ground, swaying
gently from side to side. They walked awkwardly as if their evolution from four
on the floor to a room with a view was not quite finished. They had little
triangular ears on the top of their heads which could rotate about 180 degrees
and were constantly turning hither and thither. They didn’t have normal reptile
tongues for smelling the air, so Dutch guessed they relied more on sound and
sight like humans did. The big troubling factor in all this though was that
they seemed to be headed straight back to the swamp.
