Adventure Into The Unseen Part III

Five small boats. Seventy three men. This is what remains of the crew. They had departed the open space of the bay where they thought themselves safe. They rowed, each boat full of darting eyes, all the men silent, knowing that somewhere out there, in the very trees to their flanks, could be the silent foes that had butchered their friends and burned their only sure passage home. the voyage was now one way, each man forced to commit, the alternative would be to cower and give up hope, sit on the beach and wait to die.

The river itself was wide, about 60 meters across, its banks thick with trees that obscured vison past the roots that writhed out of the water. The river snaked wildly, almost as if it were attempting to hide what was around the next bend, a build up of curiosity and foreboding, that would eventually lead to nothing, only to build up again. The Captain sat at the rear of the lead boat, at the bow sat the Navigator, he alone seemed calm, seemed sure. The Navigator had been talking in soft voices, looking into the trees and when he thought no one was looking, gesturing to the mountains, the Captain caught his eye once, only for the Navigator to smile and wink slowly

"The river moves slow my captain" called out the Sergeant from the seat behind the Navigators. "we will make good speed to our destination, if only we knew where that was" he gestured to the Navigator " any clue yet oh so mighty one?"

"If you doubted any of this then why did you step on the boat to come to this land in the first place?" replied the Navigator smiling at the Sargent. "We need true believers, the Captain and I and that's what I thought we had, your previous actions showed you as someone of pure will and faith in this endeavour, now you show ignorance, which does not even begin to hide your fear"

"What do I have to fear then?" the Sergeant now facing his accuser "I was promised a new land, and wealth, you promised wealth, at this rate ill likely die poor you liar"

"Not all lands that prosper need people to tend to them, and not riches are measured in monetary value" whispered the Navigator staring straight into the sergeants eyes. "Mark my words my dear has-been solider friend, you will be given the grandest riches a man can be given"

"You maggot, ill drown you!" the sergeant stood and the boat rocked from the shifting weight

"Sargent!" the Captain called, "sit down, do not let yourself be taken in by words, and you, Navigator, stop with your nonsense riddles and tell us, how far, and what is our destination, what do you Know?" the Captain said in almost an exasperated tone.

The Navigator and Sergeants back and forth and the Captains question had drawn the attention of the other boat crews, they all looked toward the Navigator, some speaking up with their own questions, The voyage across the waves, the horror at the beach, the lack of adequate food and water and for the most part a clear goal had left the men weary. Those not used to hard voyages had withdrawn into themselves, adamant their fate sealed. The strong ones now desperate and clinging to whatever information they could. The Navigator looked around at the men, their looks a mix of anger and desperation, he stood up, at the bow of the boat, and for the first time allowing the long robe he wore to fall off him. Here he stood, almost skin and bones, his body scared from head to toe with strange pictures, swirls, patterns and pock marks. Tattoos accompanying the markings and mixing from crimson red to black. His completely naked, frail and ravaged frame made all those looking at him silent, the Captains eyes wild in a mix of astonishment and anger, anger that he was beginning to see that a mad man may of swayed his money and life away from him.

"My dearest companion's" cried the Navigator, his voice having a slow croaking sing song quality to it. " Is this stench I smell fear?. Is these eyes you look at me with full of cowardice?" He gestured accusingly at the men "We are in a place so wonderous and so pure that to touch the water here is to touch the tears of gods!" he moved his hands in a swaying motion pointing toward the two mountains. "those to ancient giants, those gods of the earth that touch the sky, this river leads to their bosom. There are things you couldn't possibly grasp, beyond what you see, beyond these trees, they sing to us. Your fear makes you deaf, I call on you to sacrifice your fear, Show me that you want what you have said you want, show those gods that you are worthy of this land" as he finished he pointed to the mountains, the men followed his finger staring up to the peaks.

The Navigator sat back down, leaving his robe off causing the nearby men to slide away from him. The Captain now moved toward him, his eyes burning with questions.

" So what are you then? a wanna be prophet? a Half brained mystic? or are you completely insane?" the Captains questions burning with anger

"Here, in this place my dear Captain, Im the one with his priorities correct, Im the one keeping this little mission of yours together. Did you think when I approached you those many months ago with tales of this place that there wouldn't be something in it for me?"

"You spoke of an un-claimed land and gold, was that lies?' asked the captain

"Gold? perhaps there is, that is not my place to see, but un-claimed land? that is true, this land belongs to no one, and you will see that it will always belong to no one"

"who attacked us at the beach?" growled the captain

"No tracks, No markings coming to the camp, I think you had better look inside your own ranks to see that"

"these men are terrified, we are on our own here, of what use is it to sabotage ourselves like this?" said the captain

"Sometimes, people do things just because, also sometimes things do things , just because, you will see my dear captain that what resides here is the real riches, we cannot take it, we can only try to hope to understand it"

the captains jaw was open, what madness was he hearing. As he opened his mouth to speak, a glowing object streaked past his field of vison, followed by a scream.

" arrows! someone is firing at us!" called one man

"did you see where it came from?' called another,

"in front I think, at that Elbow at the next bend." said another,

Flaming arrows had come streaming from ahead of the small fleet, they seemed to be poorly aimed, fizzling out in the water between the boats, they started in small bursts of threes and fours, then building up to larger numbers, but still they missed the boats. The men all grouped at the front of the boats, craning their necks to see where the shots came from.

"terrible aims!" called a man, "wouldn't even bother with a shield"

Some man now laughed, true it did seem the arrows where not meant at all for them, maybe some strange display of warning. A mist had begun to settle around the boats the men almost at ease with the arrows passing harmlessly between them

the navigator had moved to the back, as he moved past the captain he grabbed a small blade. The Captain catching this silent manoeuvre ,watched as the Navigator held his hand close to the water, and sliced a deep gash across his wrist allowing the blood to flow into the river, its crimson red swirling into the black and seemingly being eaten by it. The navigator looked at the captain , put one finger to his lips and a shushing motion, said slowly "get down"

The arrows, stopped. The men calling out in cheers of jest and ridicule, the Sargent standing up calling for the men to stay vigilant was met with more jeers and shouts. "are these the ones that killed our friends?" called a man from the second boat "come let us chase them, let us-" his voice stopped as a arrow pierced his skull, his body dropping into the water. The men all clamouring for their shields, out of the mist flew hundreds of arrows, these ones all fired with deadly aim. Men screamed as arrows pierced the bodies, some falling flat into the boats dead, others taking their chances and jumping into the water, thrashing wildly only to be hit and sink to the bottom. The second boat had pilled up the bodies as a shield, but the bodies where now aflame and the men steered it to the right bank, the third boat following it. The captains boat was filling with dead men as well, all men grabbed sheilds and planks for cover, all except the navigator who stood calm, his head bowed and his eyes shut, chanting slowly. The arrows had caused the group of boats to split and head for the shorelines, boats two and three on the left bank, boats one, four and five on the right bank. The boats had been badly burned and were now usless, some sank and the men swiming for the shorelines, the captains boat had barely made it.

The group of men now separated stared at each other from opposite sides, pulling wounded men out of the water and pulling what they could from the boats. The arrows had stopped once the boats had made it to the shorelines.

"Create a perimeter, gather weapons and ready to repel attack!" ordered the Captain "You on the other side of the river do the same!" he called over to the men on the other side. Both parties had created semi-circular formations with their backs to the river and spears facing out, in the centre the wounded and dying lay, some burned beyond recognition, hair and skin falling off whilst some attempted to pull arrows from arms, legs and eye sockets.

"is it them? the ones from the beach?" asked the Captain to the Navigator

"Maybe, but I don't think so , the beach has no business with the river"

the Captain once again perplexed by a creakingly vague reply from his Navigator. The two groups sat at the ready for hours till it seemed that no follow up attack was coming, guards where posted at both points and the wounded where tended to. The captain ordered no fires be lit lest their positions be given away, so the men sat, awaiting the next order. These men now looked truly wretched, eyes sunken into their skulls, constantly on alert, half mad with dehydration.

"your arm, that whole scenario on the river, what have you been up to, i need to know, no more riddles just answers, what is going on?" asked the captain almost pleadingly

"You could call it, a peace offering, to the other people," replied the navigator

"what does any of that mean!" groaned the captain

"Look, your men, they encourage things they cant comprehend, as do you, this was all a warning of sorts, you think me as some sort of mystic you are wrong, I am more a messenger, trying to get to the point of delivery, I can only push this voyage so far, i require your faith to carry us to the end goal my dear captain" the Navigators voice like a nail scratching wood, he was seeming less like a man and more like a shade with every glance the captain threw him.

"Just be honest with me, Can we get through this, how much farther?" asked the captain.

"I do not know, but we are close, from the responses we are geting we are sure to be close but there is another obstacle right now"

"which is?" asked the Captain

"We are on the wrong side of the river, we need to be over there, we should wait out the night, cross slowly in the morning and meet up with the others, then we can cut through the forest, it may be quicker."

"you are sure?" asked the captain

"look beyond the trees, the mountains are on that side, that's our goal my lovely Captain, we are so close, don't you want to reach it?" smiled the Navigator

the captain gave the navigator a look of disdainful approval, he stood up telling his men to be quiet and they would wait out the night and cross one boatful a time over to the other side.

"you there, on the other bank!" called the captain

"yes sir"? replied a young man with blonde hair

"wait there, in the morning we will cross over to you, make a solid perimeter and stay strong, we are so close!" yelled the captain, the blonde haired young man fearfully nodded and relayed the message, a rough perimeter was set and guards posted. There were twice the amount of men on the side opposite the captain and they felt better with the extra numbers, still, as the sun set, the air grew still and it seemed to fill with all manner of dread.

"these markings on you, what do they mean?" asked the captain to the navigator, night had fallen and the men were silent. The opposite bank had lit a fire, at least it would warm them.

"given to me many years ago, you wouldn't care for the story" replied the Navigator.

"we have nothing but time, and I refuse to sleep here so please tell me"

"many many years ago, on my first ever posting as a navigator, we sailed as far south as the maps would show, to a land that my Captain at the time had heard of, it was a strange place, dark men speaking wild tongues and selling women to us and filling us with drink, it was all a young sailor could want" as the navigator spoke he seemed to struggle to remember "I... had become separated from my shipmates.... I think I had been taken somewhere underground, I remember having a strange powder blown in my face then, all I remember was pain" The Navigator stopped, his eyes drawn to something in the distance on the far bank "Captain... Im not sure I have the means anymore to-"

his speech was cut off, what seemed like four overlapping screams filled the air, the noise coming from the other river bank. the men on the captains side stood up peering into the blackness. From the firelight they could see shadows darting about wildly, loud screaming and chanting filling the air, blood curdling cries and a language not know to the men bouncing off the water to meet the captains ears. The Captain strained to see what was happening but there was almost nothing to be seen, the only thing that he could make out was a shadow of a man that stood in front of the fire, seemingly staring straight into the captains eyes from across the wide river, the captain could feel him looking at him, looking into him, almost speaking to him, and without warning, the strange shade kicked the fire out.

The screaming had lasted till just before day break, none of the men on the Captains side slept. The Navigator had been praying all night and now seemed very edgy, his strange veil of mysticism starting to slip. They had grabbed the only working boat, which was still taking on water as the Captain, Navigator and ten men rowed slowly across the river, all of them with eyes wide with fear, as they neared the waters edge they could make out the stains on the river bank. Blood was tingeing the waters edge, the bank strewn with bodies.

"stay alert, weapons out, stay together" ordered the Captain as he disembarked the boat into the shallow red water. the group moved farther up the bank, all around them lay bodies, some 50 men had been literally torn apart. The sand around them was red, limbs scattered around, organs and torsos, heads with holes in the skulls. a little further from the bank at the tree line some men had been pinned to the trees and disembowelled, their organs thrown into the trees where they hung like ornaments. Had some animal entered the camp? had a pack of wild somethings appeared from the shadows and torn the men appart?

"sir, over here!" called one of the men to the captain, "I found a live one"

the captain rushed forward, the Young blonde man that took the captains orders the previous day now sat naked covered head to toe in blood, eyes wide and rocking back and forth

"what happened man? Who attacked you? was it beasts?" asked the Captain

"A thousand eyes..... a great pit.... we cant get there, it wont let us" the man spoke softly, staring into the sand

"what did this? surely an animal? or was it a group of savages?" the captain now agitated

"The price, too high for us, I wouldn't pay it, but they said they would, they said they would" said the man in a tinny voice

the captain grabbed the man and shook him, "what did this? What ambushed 51 soldiers and managed to kill them all , who did this to them! Answer me!"

"they" the man stared straight into the captains eyes "did this to themselves. Something moved about, whispering, then they all turned on each other, my head, something tried to speak to me, I cant remember what it said, but i sat down, then they all killed each other around me"

The Captain stood up slowly, the words penetrating his soul. He turned and saw the faces of his men turn white with fear, the Navigator, once bold and sly, now had the unmistakeable look of a man who was feeling pure terror run down his spine.

Continued in Part IV