Worlds Apart Part 6
**By the time she woke, the sun looked to have been up for a good few hours, the room was empty now of her companions, making her wonder if any of it had really happened at all. Stuffing the journal and remaining candles in her duffel, she headed back toward the bar. Everything was just as she had left it, the tinderbox was laying on the table by the window, adding it to her bag she scoured the room for more candles, feeling that if she really was in another time, they would be well needed later. Somehow she had managed to overlook a small door in the far corner of the room, thinking it might lead to a kitchen, and some well needed food, she decided that she had plenty of time to check it out before moving onward. Surely enough, there was a large kitchen just inside the door, along with what looked to be the entrance to the inn keepers private quarters. Not surprisingly, anything that had once resembled food had long since disappeared with the exception of a few dust covered bell jars, the contents of which she wasn't sure she wanted to discover. Ducking under the archway, she was greeted to the sight of a beautifully decorated great room, even through the layers of dust which covered everything in the room, the stark beauty of the items stood out in the morning light. Hung upon the far wall were several large rag covered bundles of different shapes and sizes. Lifting the one closest to her, she noted that the rags seemed to be coated with an oily substance. She immediately knew what was contained within the rags. Setting it upon the nearest table, she slowly unwrapped her prize, it was a sword whose blade measured about four feet in length, the wolf's head on the pommel had bright yellow eyes, that seemed to catch the sun from every angle, giving it the appearance of being alive. Upon the crossguard was the inscription, "In the absence of the gods, worship thy steel." Another bundle contained a scabbard and belt which , though brittle, were still serviceable. Intrigued by the pure beauty of the weapon, she took down the belt and scabbard, and slung it across her back. With two pistols at her sides, a shotgun in her hands and a sword across her back, she felt like a cross between a knight, and a cowboy. Chuckling at the thought, she made her way back outside to face whatever this world had in store for her head on. With her hand shielding her eyes from the suns glare, Jeri stepped out into the deserted street. The fresh paw prints in the dirt confirmed that last nights events was no dream, yet there seemed to be no sign of them now. Shouldering the bag, she followed the main road toward the large gate to the east, or at least she thought it was east. Reaching the great wall that surrounded the city took little time, figuring out how to open it with the gears rusted over on the other hand, took a bit longer. Finally she decided that there had to be another way to open the gate in case of damage to the winch, otherwise if something happened, the people would be unable to escape. The answer lie high up on the wall itself, a counterweight secured to the wall looked to be what was holding the gate in the closed position. "Oh joy," she thought aloud, "how the hell am I supposed to get up there?" After several unsuccessful attempts at free climbing the wall, the last of which resulted in a rather sore backside, the answer had literally bitten her in the ass. Pulling the pistol from underneath her, she giggled at herself for not thinking and took aim at the ring and hook that held the weight in place. Shattering the silence with a deafening report, the bullet struck the ring with the desired effect, sending the weight crashing to the ground and thereby raising the gate, much to the protest of the rusted gears.
The cart path was totally overgrown, leaving only the barest traces that it ever existed. The surrounding countryside was an endless plain of gently blowing grasses and low trees. "This is absolutely beautiful, I wonder if the old west looked this way before we destroyed it?" Breathing in the sweet smell of the grass and enjoying the clean air, she made her way along the path, in hopes of finding something that might give her a clue as to why she was here to begin with. Off in the distance, she could see the mountains that Johonas spoke of in his journal. "I wonder if they still exist, and if they do, are they still friendly?" The thought of meeting an unfriendly dragon didn't exactly appeal to her, especially out here in the open plains. About a mile from the city, she came to a fork in the path, one heading off to the right, toward the mountains, the other seemed to keep going further into the grassland. It was time to make a decision, up till now she had just been blindly going wherever the path had taken her, but now she had to make a choice as to where she wanted to end up. "Well, when in doubt let chance be your guide, at least that's what my dad used to say." Pulling a coin from her pocket she decided that heads would be left toward the plains, and tails would be right toward the mountains. "Either way, I have to end up somewhere, so I guess one way is as good as another." Tossing the coin into the air, she watched it spin all the way down. Picking it up she saw it had landed on heads, right it would be. Dropping the coin back onto the path, just in case someone else managed to get here from her world, she took one last look at the city walls, then with renewed energy headed off into the unknown.**
**The snapping of a twig brought him fully awake. Opening his eyes however, proved a more difficult task. Reaching up with his hand, he felt the sticky wetness over his left eye, telling him that he had hit something hard, most likely the steering wheel. Checking himself quickly, he found no other serious injuries. Laughing to himself, he slowly managed to open his swollen eye and take a look around. The car had definitely hit something, this he expected, but to find a massive tree halfway through the hood, well that was something he couldn't figure out for the life of him. Undoing his seat belt, he reached over and checked his passengers out, Larry had a nasty bump on the head, but should be ok, Carl on the other hand had been shot in the shoulder and was losing blood fast, all in all though, he felt lucky. It took him only a few minutes to revive his men and a few more to get them out of the car. Oddly enough, he seemed to be in the middle of the woods.
Climbing from the wreckage he noticed that the sun was high in the sky, he must have been out for several hours, however according to Larry. Who hadn't hit his head at all, they came straight through the , well whatever it was and immediately ended up here, during the day. The whole thing seemed to Ben like a bad trip, only he wasn't on anything at the moment.
Now Ben wasn't dumb, but he knew when to analyze something, and when to worry about it later, considering the cops would be after him soon, he choose to move now and worry later. The trunk wouldn't open fully, so he grabbed what he could reach. Handing the briefcase with the cash to Carl he motioned for Larry to scout ahead while he and Carl made their way up what looked like a deer path. It took only about 15 minutes before Larry came back and informed him that the path led to a small stream, but no signs of life at all. Upon reaching the stream, Ben sat and considered his position, granted he didn't venture out of the city that often but he knew that there were no forests this large anywhere near the docks, a fact which, try as he might, he couldn't stop thinking about. He wasn't sure what to do about Carl, though he hadn't known him for all that long even he had to admit that he was handy to have around in a fight, not to mention the fact that he hadn't once whined about being hit. Truth was though, Carl was going to slow them down, a fact which didn't sit well with him at all. Larry said that it didn't look serious as it went straight through, but was it a chance that he wanted to take?
Carl was nervous, his shoulder hurt like hell, and he knew whenever he looked at Ben, exactly what he was thinking. He considered striking out on his own, but couldn't manage to get out of Ben's sight long enough to make his break. Washing his hands off in the stream, he came up with an idea that just may save his skin, "Hey Ben, were lost right?" Ben just stared back at him, "Okay, well what i was thinking was that maybe i should head downstream a few hundred yards, while Larry heads upstream, then we could meet back here and see if anyone finds anything." Ben continued to stare, "Look, someone needs to stay here with the money right? So since it was your job, and your the brains of this outfit", 'and the fact that you wouldn't trust either of us with it' he thought to himself, "You should guard the cash while we do the scouting." Ben sat there for a few moments without saying anything, then looked at Larry, who seemed to like the idea. "Hey man, it cant be any worse than us sitting here on our asses doing nothing." Ben looked at them both and nodded, "You two go ahead, but i warn you now, cross me and you wont live long enough to regret it."
As he walked away, Carl could feel his stare burning a hole into his back, it was all he could do not to break into a run but he managed to keep walking like there was nothing wrong. Rounding the bend in the stream, he noticed that the trees up ahead seemed to be thinning out some and the stream looked to be getting wider. Grinning like a little kid, he sped up his pace, "God, i swear if you get me outa this I'll turn over a new leaf." That's when he saw the field, just up ahead beyond the treeline. Running at full speed, he tripped and fell face first into the tall grass, which sent waves of pain through his arm and shoulder. Cursing out loud, he quickly checked his wound, which was bleeding again from the fall, "God dammit, even if i get away from that maniac, I'm gonna bleed to death before i can celebrate." Wiping himself off, he sat there looking around, trying to figure out where the hell he was, and failing miserably at it.
Looking down upon the strange creature that stumbled from the forest his curiosity took hold and he began to fly in a lazy circle so he could observe it's movements. He had not seen its like before and wondered from where it came. Folding his wings to his sides, he circled down for a better look. Choosing to remain in front of the sun, using its light to hide itself he drew closer to the strange two legged creature, "Nothing good escapes those woods." He muttered to himself.
It took Larry about 45 minutes to return and report on his findings. Apparently the stream dwindled down to a mere trickle just a few hundred yards downstream. Beyond that he saw only thick forest. Carl hadn't returned as of yet, which didn't surprise Ben in the least, he suspected that Carl knew one way or the other he was a dead man and had simply chose to die on his own, rather than be executed by his partners. When Larry suggested they search for him, Ben shook his head with disgust, "Fucking coward crawled off to die, forget about him." Somewhere in the back of his mind even he questioned this logic, but that spark was pushed back by his ego, which told him that nobody, especially a sheep such as Carl, would have the balls to run out on him. Gathering up his things, he motioned to Larry and continued onward, crossing the stream and following a small trail through the dense brush.
Carl decided to head off towards the small cliff to what seemed to be the west, if he could make it there, he might be able to find a place to hole up while he heals. Pulling himself to his feet, he made his way through the head high grass, praying to god there weren't any snakes in here with him. As he walked, he once again had the feeling that someone was watching him, yet try as he might, he couldn't see or hear anything save the rustle of the grass waving in the breeze. Picking up his speed a little, he hurried toward the outcropping of rock ahead.
It took only a few moments for him to realize where the creature was headed and it was then that he knew whatever it was, it didn't know what it was doing. Part of his mind told him to just leave it be and move on, but another more inquisitive part, told him to remain and see what happens. As it was with all his kind, the latter half won out and remain he did.
As the mound of rocks drew ever closer, Carl's eyes were drawn to what seemed to be a small depression at their base. Something was odd about it, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Shrugging it off as nothing, he made his way to the edge of the grass. Checking to be sure he wasn't being followed, which was nearly impossible, he stepped out of the grass and onto the soft sand.
*Awakened from it's slumber by the vibrations above, it's senses alert, the creature slowly rotated itself upright, awaiting it's next meal.*
High above the odd creature, his keen eyesight caught the movement of the sand below. This creature was surely about to walk into it's own death, yet something inside told him to be patient and wait.
The sun was blinding now that the he had cleared the grass, it seemed to reflect off of everything around him. Holding his hand up to block it out he again tripped and fell on his face, this time when he hit, his head struck something quite hard, it was a skull of some sort. As he sat up, Carl noticed that it wasn't just one skull, but several dozen bones of all shapes and sizes piled atop each other.
Laughing to himself, he decided that the creature was extremely fortunate that it was clumsy, for another step or two and it would surely have met it's doom. Although the Grolath could venture forth from its burrow, it preferred the safety of the sands, being patient had fed it well over the course of its lifetime, and would continue to do so. As long as the two legged thing kept away from the edge it should be fine. He considered flying off with that thought, but he had to know. "What exactly ARE you, and why are you here?"
Carl couldn't shake the idea that there was something vaguely familiar about this whole thing, the bones piled up, the depression in the sand, it was something he had seen as a kid, he just couldn't figure out exactly what. The sound behind him caused him to jump, a flock of birds noisily made for the sky near the edge of the forest. 'Shit', he thought, 'what if that's Ben, god I'm fucked if he finds me here.' Fear of what Ben would do to him overcame the fear of the unknown, and he scrambled forward toward the rocks.
*If the creature could've smiled with pleasure it surely would have, as its prey stumbled around overhead, drawing ever closer to its grasp.*
The sand started getting softer as he passed the bone pile, his feet were sinking past his ankles, making it difficult to move. Each step was a struggle, and the jerky movement caused his shoulder to throb from the straps of his pack. Removing his pack, he tossed it ahead of him toward the rocks, and bent down to extract his stuck feet.
*It was time, the prey was now within striking distance, thrusting itself upwards, its jaws snapped shut upon the its prey like a steel trap, neatly impaling it upon the sharp mandibles.*
"Holy shit!!" Carl fell backwards as the ground in front of him exploded upwards and a pair of huge pincers slammed into his pack.
*Something was wrong, its prey was dry, devoid of the life giving fluids that the creature required, shaking its prey back and forth the creature slowly made its way upwards from its burrow.*
Carl couldn't move, the thing emerging in front of him was out of a nightmare, his mind was screaming that this couldn't be real, yet his eyes told him differently, it was then that he remembered where he saw this scene before. As a child he used to catch small bugs and drop them into the little pits of sand around his house, then watch as the ant lion within sucked the bugs dry. "No fuckin way bug, it ain't happening." Carl hand went for his gun, but the creature was almost upon him.
*It shook the dry prey free of its grasp, as the vibrations of another creature made their way through the soft ground, focusing in on its location took but a second and it turned to strike.*
Its jaws agape, the thing lunged towards him, but he wasn't going to go out like this, raising the gun in a last ditch effort, he opened up on the hellish thing with a full auto burst at point blank range. The creature slammed into him with what felt like the force of a mack truck, its pincers flailing about in an attempt to impale him. With the gun bucking in his one good hand Carl could feel those jaws close on his left leg. Lightning bolts of pure agony shot through him as the creature slammed down on him, the gun falling from his hand. He vainly tried to beat the thing off of him with his hands and one free leg, but could feel himself growing weak as it dragged him towards its lair.
He had seen enough to know that this creature, whatever it may be, was indeed brave and didn't deserve to die this way. Tucking its wings to its sides, he screamed out his battle cry and dove full speed toward the Grolath, slamming into the creature and knocking it onto its side.
It was hurt now, and confused by the attack, but instinct would not allow it to release its catch.
Carl couldn't see what it was, and as his mind grew cloudy he mind told him that he really didn't care anymore, the temptation to just lay there and let go was overwhelming. "No!" he screamed "I will not go out this way!" feeling around for his gun, he remembered it was still slung over his shoulder. Grabbing the sling, he wrenched the weapon around and without aiming fired burst after burst into the creature.
With his long claws extended, he caused massive damage to the creatures exposed underside, and still it refused to die, it was then that he heard the muffled pops from beneath it. The creatures life blood sprayed everywhere as the tiny missiles cleaved their way through its body, which at last lay still and dead.
Though fearsome in life, the Grolath was mearly gruesome in death. The stench of decay surrounded its corpse and was an assault upon his senses. Shrugging off the horrible smell, he carefully extracted the creature pinned below the carcass, the wound to its leg was deep, but fairly clean and should heal quickly. The other wound however, was bleeding heavily through its wrappings, and would need attention soon. Gathering the creature up off the ground proved to be no easy task, and in the end he settled for straddling it in order to grasp it firmly to his chest for flight. With one final look at the carnage in the sand, he pulled the creature tightly against him and with several strokes of his powerful wings, launched them both into the air.**