Dwellers of the New World Chapter Eight ( Pt 6 ) Strange Meetings

The villainous Seth entered the mysterious cave, desperate to know who was in there, not taking kindly to loosing a child, or having his power crushed by the unknown.

In the darkness he called out, “Hey! Who's in here?” but there was an uneasy silence. Seth stood in the blackness, listening for an answer, a shudder went through him, a feeling that things weren't right.

Normally the man was afraid of nothing, but he was sure the footprints were fresh, so just couldn't understand why there wasn't anyone there.

Backing towards the entrance, Seth turned his attention to more important children that were getting away, so decided to depart this strange cave, nodding his head in confusion.

As Varden continued to struggle, his feet suspended, dangling in the air, a disfigured hand came across his mouth. Although it was dark, he could feel the long, scrawny fingers come across his lips, they were wet and slimy.

The boy tried to pry the fingers away, he could feel lumps on the back of the hands, they were like warts, the boy felt sick at whatever was holding him, the odious smell of fish made him heave.

Being dragged up the wall, Varden's back hit some rough particles of splintered rock, they dug into the skin on his back, causing scratches that started to bleed, he tried to call out in pain, but the hand across his mouth, held him tight.

Then as if in a dream, his body was being squeezed through a narrow gap, the opening just big enough for a skinny child, such as himself to move through. None of this felt real to the boy, he just wanted to escape the clutches of whatever was holding him.

Landing on the other side with a thud, he found himself in a cave, not unlike the doom chamber. Sitting on the floor, Varden wiped his eyes, peering around, there were torches everywhere, that gave out a warmth he had not felt before.

A naked strange looking creature stood before him, looking like a man, but he was covered in warts. His skin was smooth, wet and slimy, pus oozed from the warts.

Backing away on his bottom, his legs bent, ready to jump up and run, the boy watched as the creature replaced a large rock to the opening he'd come through.

Varden was in pain, from the scratches on his back, he was also frightened, not knowing what to make of this strange being. He stammered. “Where...where am I?”

But the creature didn't answer. It started to squeeze one of the warts on his hand, just staring at the boy, a strange expression on its face.

Varden tried again. “Please...who are you, and where am I?”

But still the being did not answer, it just continued to stare in an inquisitive way.

The boy then looked around for somewhere to run and escape, but there were no passageways leading off the chamber, also there were no vents in the ceiling.

“Why...why don't you say something?” Varden said, desperate to communicate.

The creature pointed to the hole in the wall the boy had been dragged through, then made a gesture with the side of his hand, by drawing it across his throat in a slicing motion, then it pointed across to Varden.

The boy realised what the creature was trying to tell him. “You saved me from that man Seth...didn't you?”

The creature rubbed its bony fingers together and a smile formed, as if it were pleased the boy understood, beckoning for Varden to follow. It walked across to the other side of the chamber, body bent over, its back bone almost protruding through the skin.

Varden sat where he was, still nervous, not sure if he should accompany the tall being, who's arms were unusually lengthy, they seemed to hang down to its knees, the boy had never seen anything like this before.

Turning, the strange creature gestured once again, this time Varden stood up and followed him.

They walked over to where a large pool of water was situated, then all of a sudden, the creature jumped in, waving the boy to enter.

Again the boy was nervous, but after a moment, he felt sure the strange being meant him no harm, 'after all!' he thought, 'if my life was in danger, he would have killed me by now.'

Kneeling down beside the edge, the boy put his hand in the water, it was cold and made Varden shiver. “Oh well...best get this over and done with I suppose.” He started stripping his clothes off, leaving his pouch to one side.

Jumping into the freezing water, becoming submerged, he then came up for air. The water was a lot deeper than the boy at first thought, now Varden wondered where exactly the creature wanted to take him.

The strange being shot his long arms up out of the water, as waves rippled around it. Its spindly fingers pointing straight up into the air.

In a guttural voice, the creature uttered. “Come...follow me.” Then it dived back under.

Varden paddled on the spot, then realising the creature had spoken, he wanted to know more, so took a couple of deep breaths and dived under, not having a clue of where he was going, thinking to himself,
'wherever will this journey take me next?'

Dwellers of the New World Chapter Eight ( Pt 7 ) In Deep Water | ABCtales