A/N: Review thanks to those that left them. As the FanFiction stats on number of views aren't being updated, I have no idea how many people read the last chapter. I know it is more than the stated zero, though! So, reviews definitely show there is any interest.
Beta thanks to my friend, MarkeyDeSad, as usual. He really turned this one around quickly and gave me ideas for the next one, too.
Part way across the sea, but still a way to go before they reach the mainland . They do now know more about what is ahead, though.
Exo
Chapter 15: New Territory
S'ra woke alone. This was the first time in ages that she hadn't woken in Chuck's arms in some way. She sat up and looked around for him.
He'd walked out of the flier and was sitting on the rock just beyond it. He'd found a loose stone and was using it to score in the rocky surface just in front, of him. S'ra looked at what he was drawing and realized what it must be.
She got up and walked and sat beside him. "Map?" She said this in English, having been learning his language for some time now. The concept was understood, but such items were rare in her world, but he had mentioned their use on Urth.
He looked up and grinned. "Good morning, beautiful. Yes, a map."
He pointed at a circle near his left knee. "That's Grillain, your city, where we started." Then he pointed at a circle slightly further away in front of his right knee. "That's Angarz." He had scored a line between the two. "Our flight."
In front of that he'd scored a large circle. "I know it's not round, but use your imagination. That's the sea we're crossing."
Within the sea, he's scored some irregular shapes, including one large one. S'ra pointed at the latter. "Graflir, the island with the Pradur that we just left?"
He nodded, pointing to their journey line, stopping at a smaller island, the large one, and now beyond it at another small island.
Beyond that, he had the remaining islands in the positions he remembered, then the southern edge of the sea. He had also drawn a cloud shape as the Flarzere jungle. He had no idea how large that was, in either direction, but suggested that maybe they could fly up to see that like they had for the sea.
Then there was an area with nothing, being the pink plains, followed by jagged shapes as the Kazmar mountains and a large ring representing the Shaxi Glaciers.
S'ra noted that he hadn't drawn anything to the Far East to represent the main Pradur city. She was pleased about that, as she didn't want to share her husband's time during their honeymoon. She was also suspicious the Pradur might try and imprison him, in order to study him. This thought caused her blood to boil.
"I thought we'd try to plan our route ahead," Chuck said.
S'ra looked at his map. When they had set off they had no real plan but had decided to just head south. Even with the zigzag route across the sea, hopping from island to island, it looked like by the time they reached the farther shore. they would still be holding fairly true to that. She took the stone from Chuck and placed crosses on the islands she thought appropriate ahead and another on the shoreline beyond them. She looked at Chuck. "We have no real idea what is on that landmass beyond the sea, so we will have to get closer to decide where next."
He nodded. "As we get nearer the forest, we will have to decide whether to cross it or, as Traada suggested, skirt around it."
She stood and grabbed his hand. "Come on, breakfast time."
They spent the next two days island hoping and finally reaching the mainland by the middle of that second day.
Chuck wanted to see the terrain ahead, so did as before, and flew up high. He didn't go as far as before, and even though it was a struggle, S'ra stayed conscious throughout
Ahead they saw the green plain spreading out before a dark green mass spread from the east to the west. That looked to be about two days' flight away. It then looked to be a two-day flight across the forest, which could require them to land within. Skirting around it, as Traada had suggested would take quite a long time, at least an additional six or seven days in either direction.
"I want to go across the Flarzere jungle," he declared.
She looked over at it. She wasn't surprised at his comment. She knew enough about her husband and his innate optimism. "We may not find anywhere to land. What then?"
"We may have to take it in turns to fly and sleep, but the alternative looks to take too long/" he replied.
"Chuck, we have no time limit on this journey. Why take risks?" S'ra questioned.
He blushed. "S'ra, aren't you intrigued by the forest? I want to be able to look down on it. We might see wildlife not seen before."
S'ra imagined that two-day flight. They could do it, but it would be extremely tiring. Landing would be better. Skirting around it, much safer. However, this was their adventure. She smiled at her husband. "Very well. We'll fly across somehow. If we see somewhere safe to land, we will."
"Before we get there, it looks like there are rivers across the plain and therefore fresh water." S'ra loved that Chuck was planning their next two days as well as the future journey across the jungle.
They dropped back down and ate some lunch, before just relaxing for the rest of the day at the shoreline. This was the last they would see of this sea that had been a significant part of their journey.
This green plain was much like that the other side of the sea. However, as they approached the first river, they saw two differences. Firstly, there were stretches with wooded areas along it. The second was wildlife. Near the woods were the same creatures Chuck had first seen on arriving on the planet. Landic grazing on the moss, which they seemed to like as much as the earlier ones had the orange moss. There were also ixtag "grazing" on the landic. These would spring out of the woods, just like before.
"We won't go near the wooded areas," Chuck said.
"No need," S'ra replied. She looked him up and down. "You've got all the clothing you need," she teased.
He laughed with her, remembering that fraught time.
"We can get fresh water and maybe catch a fish or two," she said, looking at the river directly ahead.
They landed not far from the open river bank. Chuck brought the two fishing rods they had packed and they were soon sitting next to them. "This is relaxing," Chuck said.
S'ra wasn't so sure, just seeing this as a task. "Let's just hope we catch something."
She sat back and held Chuck's hand, happy with even this small amount of contact.
A few minutes later, Chuck's line tugged hard. He rushed to control it and pulled up a fish, but certainly not something they were expecting.
The fish looked mostly like a piranha to Chuck. The amount of teeth on display was alarming. As it dropped onto the moss, it opened its mouth and basically started gnashing those teeth. Chuck scooted back, shielding S'ra in the process.
He was surprised when a knife suddenly embedded itself in the fish's head stopping the motion instantly. He looked at his wife, who said, "The most vicious fish known to man. Grakxar are not for eating, in fact we should throw that back in the river and fly away, taking no water. A dozen of these cannot only eat all the flesh off a human in less than a minute, but they also exuded a toxin when they die. I don't want to take water from here."
They packed up their things and set off once again.
The next river was better, containing fish they could eat and the fresh water they needed.
S'ra wondered about taking a dip and then remembered the last time they did that before reaching Grillain. Washing each other had been a wonderful experience.
She stripped off her clothes and reached for the clarek. "Wash me?" she asked.
He quickly shed his clothes and walked with her into the river.
Unlike last time, they did make love in the water. Another wonderful experience for them both.
After they got out and dried off, S'ra filleted the spare fish and packed them away for later, before filleting and cooking those they would eat here.
As they ate, she looked over at her husband. "I like this time together, just the two of us. It won't be like that once we return home again, obviously."
He gazed fondly at her. "I know, so we just have to make the most of it while we can."
She nodded.
As they approached the forest, it looked larger and larger. That was because it was filling the view from side to side.
Chuck stopped the flier and let it settle down before turning to S'ra. "I'm going to fly up to gauge the distance to the other side. You should get out. I don't want you passing out again."
She grasped his forearm. "No. I don't want you passing out because you go too far. Besides, it would be better if we both see the whole forest and compare assessments."
She had a good point, he thought. "Very well. Are you ready?"
"Yes," she replied.
They didn't even get to her limit. They were able to see the whole forest well before that. His original estimates east and west were not too far off. It was slightly further to the west, but not significantly. It would definitely take a long time to go around the forest.
Ahead, it didn't look quite as far as he had expected, but it would still probably take a day and a half to cross.
"I still think we should keep our eyes out for clearings," Chuck said.
"Unless they were very large, creatures or people from the surrounding woodland could take us unaware," S'ra pointed out.
"Hmm," he acknowledged her words.
"It would still be best to just keep flying, with one or more change overs."
"Okay. We'll try that," Chuck agreed.
They set the flyer down a couple of miles from the forest to get a good night's sleep before starting the crossing.
When S'ra woke, she shivered. She knew it was nerves. She just had a bad feeling about what they were about to do. She couldn't put that into words, so didn't say anything when Chuck woke up a few minutes later.
They set off as soon as they'd finished breakfast.
The trees in this forest were taller than any S'ra had seen. Chuck remembered the grant redwoods back in California. These were of similar height but the trunks and branches they saw on the ones at the edge certainly weren't straight. It was like an oak tree had increased in size. The trees were packed closely enough that no light reached the ground beneath.
That was all they saw before flying over the top and then all they could see was the upper foliage.
They flew over the forest for nearly two hours before they saw their first wildlife, birds that flew up to investigate them. These were black birds with bodies around a foot in length and long beaks. Their wings spanned around thirty inches. Fortunately, they weren't aggressive, so the couple just watched them without any worries.
After a further hour, the scenery was becoming boring. Chuck had been flying to this point, probably around three hours, so gladly handed the controls over to his wife when she suggested it. They were able to do this without any disturbance to the flight.
After a further two hours, they experienced the first real change. They heard the cry of an ixtar beneath them. This was the first indication of wildlife other than the birds within the jungle. Then they heard two more ixtar cries ahead, a repeat of the earlier one and then a very different one. It sounded like the ixtar were hunting the other in a pack.
As they flew on, they heard a screech behind them which was probably the death cry of the victim.
"They must've been high up in the trees for us to hear them," S'ra commented.
That got Chuck thinking about the terrain below. "Do you think the branches of the trees link up, creating pathways?"
She thought for a moment and looked over at him briefly. "I don't know and don't want to find out, either."
He chuckled at that comment. Even trying to get to such pathways wasn't possible, but the fact that ixtar were loose there made it far from appealing.
They had been flying for thirteen hours, with changeovers every three. There was still plenty of light in the sky. The sun wouldn't be setting for another five or six hours. However, S'ra was aware that once it did, they would soon be flying in the dark. Something she hadn't considered. That would be for over five hours. It was good that there was so much daylight at this time of year, but any darkness would be a challenge for them.
She turned to her husband, who was the one flying at that time. "Chuck, I'm worried about flying in the complete darkness."
He simply said, "Why? The trees are a uniform height, so there's nothing to worry about."
She loved his optimism, but needed him to be more realistic about the potential dangers. "First of all, if the land rises, so would the tree tops, but that's not the only challenge. What if there are creatures like the xynth that are nocturnal and they fly up at us? We wouldn't see them."
He frowned. "I hadn't thought of aerial creatures." He thought for a moment. "What if we rise a few hundred feet? That should reduce the chance of attack and eliminate the tree top challenge."
"I guess that's the best we can do," she replied.
"Unless we find that huge clearing," he reminded her.
They flew on, not seeing any clearing, large or small. Eventually, the sun set just as S'ra was in the process of handing the controls over to Chuck. He'd spent his time off catching up on sleep, and felt more refreshed for his next stint. She had done the same during the previous three hours.
He immediately raised the flyer up in the sky, probably about five hundred feet. They both had to put on some warmer clothing, both because of that, but also because of the temperature drop from the sun setting. It would get colder as the night progressed.
Once it was dark, they had no real idea of the landscape and life beneath them. They could of course have lights on the flyer but had decided that would draw unwanted attention from any aerial creatures.
S'ra held onto Chuck's arm, both of them drawing comfort and reassurance from that contact.
Luckily they had no problem during the five hours of flying in the darkness.
A couple of hours into it, they had heard the cries of some creatures below. Frightening sounding ones that they didn't recognize. It wasn't possible to know whether these were aerial creatures or tree-bound ones, but the couple were just glad to be well away from them.
As the sun started to rise, from this height, they could see the further edge of the forest. It was still a long way away, but seeing it made both feel better.
Beyond that was an unusual sight. Pink plains, that, in the sunlight, looked very strange.
Off to their right, probably an hour's flight away, they saw something they hadn't expected after all this time. A large clearing. It must be huge to be visible from this distance. On seeing it, S'ra looked at Chuck. Unsurprisingly, he looked excited. She grinned. "I'll aim for that, then?"
"Please," he responded and gave her a kiss.
That kiss reminded her of their lack of kisses, or much physical contact at all, over the last day. It made her want to get to that clearing too.
The clearing was indeed huge. There seemed no reason for it until they got close. Once they did, they could see that the exposed ground was completely bare. No plant life of any sort. It reminded Chuck of what remained after they acid dropped to rid Grillain of the Frakku. He shuddered at the thought.
"Acid attacks?" S'ra asked.
He wasn't sure if she was asking about his memory or whether this was the same. He didn't want to talk about that right now, so he just nodded.
"Shall we land or carry on?" She questioned, obviously trying to decide herself.
He looked ahead and estimated at least another twelve hours of flying. "We should land. We both need a rest. A proper rest."
She nodded and then smiled at him. "And I need some kisses and someone needs to perform his husbandly duties or his poor wife will start to think she's no longer attractive to him."
His smile and wink warmed her heart. "I think that can be arranged. Some husbands can be awfully neglectful of their gorgeous wives," he replied.
She landed in the middle of the clearing. There was at least eight miles between them and the tree line, all around. It felt safe.
What they hadn't expected was to find any signs of men being there. She set the flier down a hundred feet away from what looked like a small building. Interestingly, it was golden in coloring. "Anzari!" Chuck gasped out.
"So, they made the clearing to be able to land here?" S'ra asked.
"Looks like it," he replied.
Once down, S'ra wrapped her arms around Chuck and pulled him to her. Her kiss was intense. As she pulled her lips from his, she said, "I've been wanting to do that since we set off across the forest."
He looked at her lovingly. "Anything else?"
In seconds, she had them both stripped and she showed him what else.
Once they had their breath back, they gathered weapons in case anything did attack them and walked over to the building. The entranceway was open. In fact, there was no visible door to even shut. Whether that was deliberate or for some other reason wasn't clear.
They warily entered, but had to step around a pile of items just inside. These items looked like weapons. One was a pistol and three others rifles of some sort.
Chuck remembered their time in the city. He walked back out and then reentered with no trouble. He picked up one of the rifles and tried to walk out. Just like S'ra and her dresses, these weapons were clearly impossible to remove unless the coating, or whatever, had been deactivated.
"They didn't need a door," he observed.
"But obviously someone tried to take these and failed. That means someone with intelligence was here, at some point," she replied.
"Good point. We should be wary."
S'ra rolled her eyes at that comment. Being wary was what she had been advising for the whole journey.
The room inside was lit, so they explored. As they did, Chuck found something hidden behind one of the shelving units. He had to prize it out, but once he did, he looked at what he thought was a handheld scanning device. He looked up at S'ra. "I think one of the Anzari should probably have taken this with them, but didn't."
He walked back to the entrance and waved the device over all of one of the rifles. There was no visible or auditory indication that anything had changed. He handed the device to S'ra and turned back to the entranceway. He slowly walked forward and passed through without problem. "S'ra, it worked!"
She nodded. "We still need to work out how to use the weapons, but we should take some."
He reentered and they scanned the other two rifles and the pistol. Then, Chuck found more on the shelves and collected another of each.
Looking at other items on the shelves, they couldn't work out what they were looking at, so left it all.
Chuck hid the device back where he found it.
Gathering up the scanned items, they carried them out and over to the flier.
After stashing most away, they took one of each type and aimed away from the flier towards the south. Pulling what seemed to be trigger buttons, nothing happened. Then, Chuck noticed an indentation on the side of the rifle he was holding. He pressed that and then the button again. What seemed to be a bolt of lightning shot out and across the clearing for a couple of hundred feet.
S'ra found the same indentation on the pistol and soon a bolt fired out of that. It only reached a hundred feet, but was still impressive.
Chuck pressed the indentation and, sure enough, that deactivated the rifle. S'ra followed suit.
"Impressive," she said.
They had been so focused on these weapons that it was only a battle cry that drew their attention to the north. A dozen man-like creatures with pale green skin coloring were running at them from the forest. Each bearing spears.
"Looks like we got these weapons just in time," Chuck said as he reactivated the rifle.
Dropping the pistol, and her standard one that she had taken from the flier earlier, S'ra ran back to the flier and quickly returned with one of the other rifles. "Keep your normal pistol close, Chuck. Just in case the Anzari ones fail us."
The green-skinned men were much closer now. They were definitely men, looking much like Chuck and Sarah, apart from their pale-green skin although they also looked somewhat shorter, too. They were clearly going to throw their spears once in range.
Chuck fired a warning bolt aiming in front of the one in the lead.
This was completely ignored. "We're going to have to shoot at least one of them, Chuck," S'ra said. He looked at her with a pained expression but nodded.
Taking aim at that leading man, who was several feet in front of the others, Chuck fired again.
The bolt went straight through the man's chest and he dropped to the ground.
The others just ran around him and the couple had to shoot all of them. The last one was near enough that he drew back his arm to throw his spear before a bolt from S'ra's rifle pierced his chest.
The stillness and silence were a relief.
They walked over to the corpses. Each had a cauterized hole both sides of their bodies. Surprisingly, there was no blood.
S'ra looked at Chuck. "I guess this tells us that the forest is inhabited by men."
"Not very friendly ones," Chuck replied.
"I wonder if they were always like that or whether it is in reaction to the Anzari," she commented.
He shook his head. "We'll never know." He sighed. "S'ra, I don't want to stay here any longer."
She agreed.
They gathered up the weapons and walked back to the flier.
Chuck took the controls and they set off again.
S'ra tried to lighten the mood. "At least we got to make love."
He looked at her and a smile appeared on his face. "I love you, S'ra."
She hugged him. "I love you too, Chuck."
Eleven hours later, S'ra landed them on pink moss two miles beyond the forest. The setting was certainly odd, but neither cared. They were both just relieved to be beyond the forest.
"We will definitely not come back this way," Chuck said.
S'ra nodded. "We weren't planning on it anyway, we're we?"
"No."
They both lay down to sleep. It was still early afternoon, but their bodies needed the rest. They wouldn't continue the journey until the following day.
"We did at least get something out of that crossing," Chuck said.
She looked over at him. "Maybe we should have brought that device with us so that I could get those dresses."
He looked at her in shock. "You'd go back into the golden city?"
She laughed. "You are so gullible sometimes."
"I believe everything you tell me, S'ra," he admitted.
She kissed him. "That's part of what's so loveable about you. Your trust in me. I'll still tease you occasionally, though."
"Never stop being you, S'ra," he replied and kissed her more deeply.
After that, they hugged each other and drifted off to sleep.
A/N: So, across the forest, again learning more as they did. Thankfully, S'ra's concerns before they started were more informative to how they should behave than real problems.
I now have the next chapter partly written, but I'm not sure when I'll have it complete. If you're still interested in this story, please be patient.
Please review, as it's the only way I know the chapter is being read until the stats get fixed.
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Glossary (pronunciation in brackets)
People:
Anzari (Anz-Sari) – golden-skinned people and now creatures
B'rack (Bur-Rack)– S'ra's previous boyfriend (we never meet him)
Chaldir (Charl-Dere) – governor of the city state Grillain
Thrace (Thrase) – military commander of the city state Grillain
Durban – (Dur-Ban) Air Sargent helping Chuck
Flack (Flack) – one of the generals under Commander Thrace
Frakku (Frack-Ku) – purple-skinned savages
Garron (Gar-Ron) – S'ra's father
Gralik (Grar-Lick) – second son of Praid
Kaldik (Cal-tick) – son of Commander Thrace
Pal'na (Paal-Nar) – wife of Chaldir
Pradur (Prar-door) – Pail-blue-skinned humans
Praid (Pray-Id) – governor of the city state Sanklin
R'lna (Rul-Nah) – wife of Praid
S'mia (Sur-Mere) – S'ra's mother
S'ra (Sur-Rah) – first person Chuck Bartowski meets on the new planet
Tald (TarlD) – first son of Prad
Traada (Trar-dar) – leader of the Pradur settled on Graflir island
Verzian (Verr-iss-ien) – chief astronomer in Sanklin
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Plants and animals:
Clarek (Clar-Rek) – plant that produces leaves that people use to clean themselves
Conith (Con-Eeth) – leaves of this plant produce fast-acting, healing liquids
Deak (Dee-Ack) – small plants that manage to grow in the crevasses of rocks in the mountain ranges
Grakxar (Grak-zar) – Piranha-like fish
Gritch (Grit-Ch)– flesh of this plant used to clean teeth and breath
Ixtag (Eecs-Tag) – black-colored predator that live in forests
Krattak (Crat-tark) – terrifying, huge sea creature
Landic (Land-Ick) – deer-like herbivore
Pake (PayK) – plant, the flesh contains pain-killing properties and is used for that purpose
Ritti (Rit-Tee) – small yellow birds
Vetia (Vet-Ia) – leaves of this plant very flexible and used by Chuck to cover himself. Sap burns people from the planet but didn't affect him
Xaxic (Zacks-Ick) – foul smelling leaves of this plant used to ward off predators
Xynth (Zinth)– flying predator
Zryth (Zreeth) – stone-colored cat-like predator. Related to the ixtag
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Places:
Angarz (Ang-Garz) – the golden city
Caspan (Caz-Pan) – sea near Grillain
Flarzere (Flarz-Zere) - southern jungles
Garverd (Gar-Vert) - mountain range
Graflir (Graph-Lear) – main island in the chain near Angarz city
Grillain (Grill-Ain) – city state S'ra comes from
Kazmar (Kaz-Marr) – southern-most mountains
Niteth (Nee-Teth) – largest of three moons that circle the planet
Pallain (Pall-Lain) – neighboring city state
Retith (Ret-Teeth) – the planet Chuck was now on
Sanklin (Sank-Lin) – city state governed by Praid
Shaxi (Shack-Si) – glaciers at the southern pole
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Other:
Bract (Br-Act) – nutritious bars carried to eat when access to other food hard to achieve
Chendia (Chen-Dere) – powerful anesthetic, like chloroform
Flaxik (Flack-sic) – new drug created to induce ovulation
Merriclat (Merry-clat) - device for rebuilding and repairing lungs