A/N: Review thanks if you left one. I do really appreciate every one that I get. The number has dropped off, so maybe people are tiring of this crazy story.
Beta thanks to MarkeyDeSad. He suggested a lot of additional text to enhance this chapter.
Chuck and S'ra have crossed the huge forest and were now resting just beyond it, at the start of the pink plain, which would be the next part of their journey…
Exo
Chapter 16: Forest and plain
Chuck woke with a sharp pain in his side. Thinking it was some sort of insect, he tried to swat it away without opening his eyes. His hand hit something solid.
He opened one eye and saw a spear was what had poked him. He was about to surge up to fight the man off when S'ra said, "Don't! There's too many of them."
He fully opened both eyes and slowly sat up. S'ra had already done so. He looked around. They were surrounded by the pale green-skinned men from the forest. Twelve men with twelve spears pointing at them.
It was good that S'ra had stopped him. There definitely were too many of them. He could probably have taken on two, maybe three, but here he would have been a pincushion in no time. S'ra maybe too.
"Rise," one of the men said.
Both of them were shocked to hear him speaking a language they recognized.
The spear that had prodded Chuck did so again.
The pair of them rose and were led away from the flier. The man who had spoken pointed toward the forest and they started walking.
Chuck looked more closely at the men on either side of him. They were clothed in some sort of linen and wore shoes much like those S'ra had fashioned for him all that time ago. They were shorter in heigh than S'ra by four inches or more.
He looked at S'ra seeing her looking at the men as well. She looked back and up at him. She reached across and they held hands. Chuck was glad that they hadn't been separated.
He wished that they'd flown further out onto the plain, but such thoughts weren't productive.
He was glad that the lowering temperature had made them dress to go to sleep. He shuddered at the thought of his lovely wife being seen naked by these men. What would have happened then?
As they approached the forest, they saw a flat, wide branch touching the ground. They were led onto this. The slope rose fairly steeply. It leveled off after a while and Chuck guessed they were now about thirty feet above ground level. As he had suspected, the branches were intertwined creating a walkway that disappeared into the darkness ahead. Here, it was still fairly light, although less than out on the plain.
They were guided to the right, glad not to be moving into darkness. The walkway was around twenty feet wide now, so the couple we able to walk side-by-side. The two men in front were far enough ahead that Chuck would probably be speared by those behind if he tried to reach them.
He did try stalling to increase the space between them and those in front, but quickly felt the point of one of the spears behind. Overpowering their captors wasn't going to be easy and he feared it would put his wonderful wife at risk to he dropped that idea.
His thought took him back to how he had been back on Earth. Chuck Bartowski would never have had thoughts of attacking another man, let alone more. If he'd been taken like this, he would have been terrified, cowering away from the spears. Here, he was actively thinking of fighting. He wasn't sure if it was something about being on this planet and feeling stronger, or just that he now had a gorgeous wife whom he wanted to protect. He then thought how he would have been, if she was with him back on Earth. He realized he would have done anything to protect her back there, as well.
He clenched her hand and she looked up at him. "Love you," he said.
She squeezed his hand back. "I love you too."
They looked forward and saw that they were now entering a wider area. You could almost call it a clearing. Wooden buildings sat on the branches.
They were led to one of these, but not into it. The man who had spoken to them entered and shortly came out again, followed by a woman who looked to be about fifty years old.
The woman stopped and looked at the two captives. At S'ra who was six inches taller than her and Chuck who was over a foot taller.
"Who?" she asked.
S'ra answered, "We are travelers from a distant land."
The woman frowned, clearly having some difficulty understanding. "Why?"
S'ra said, "To see the world."
The woman frowned again. "Why?"
Chuck almost laughed. Just like S'ra's people, these had no interest in exploring, but he stifled that. The people they'd just met might fear going far from the forest.
"We want to know more about our world," S'ra replied.
The man leaned over and whispered something to the woman who turned back to the couple. "Thing you were on?"
Chuck answered this time, using a hand palm down to simulate the flier. Moving in the air. "Our flier. We flew over the forest in it."
The woman looked incredulously at him.
"We came down in a clearing," he added.
He heard all around them hiss and saw that the woman was glaring at him. "You are of the golden ones?" She was expanding her speech.
"No, no," S'ra said. "They have attacked us before now." She didn't explain it was their bestial ancestors.
Chuck added something His wife wished he hadn't at that point. "Your people attacked us in the clearing."
The woman looked sharply at him. "How?"
Chuck had to continue. "With spears."
The woman seemed a bit more relaxed. "You fought?"
Chuck nodded.
The woman seemed to grin. "Xaksta. You fought Xaksta! Did you just escape or kill them?"
She was much more loquacious and also seemed to want a positive response. "We killed them," S'ra said.
"Ha! Good!" the woman clapped her hands together and cried. She looked at some people off to her left. "Bring our guests food."
"Are you sure," the man standing next to her asked.
She turned to him. "We won't use meat."
He nodded and called to his men who trooped out with him.
Silva, the woman, sat with them as they ate. She happily told them that her tribe, the Langsta, had been terrorized by another, named the Xaksta, and had to fight them off. The two of them killing the four men were therefore seen as heroes.
"You speak the same language as us," Chuck said.
Silva looked at him in confusion. "It is our tongue." She frowned. "Legend has it that the golden ones spoke differently, but I don't know if that is true."
"They were called the Anzari," Chuck said.
She frowned. "Evil. They destroyed the forest and our people."
The married couple had seen that clearing. "They were evil," S'ra said.
Silva looked at the two of them. "You are giants."
Chuck laughed at that. "I am a lot taller than most, and S'ra is slightly taller, but our people are generally taller than yours."
Silva looked at the two of them and how closely they sat and had been looking at each other. "You obviously love each other."
S'ra looked at Chuck briefly and lovingly, then turned back to the older woman. "We do. Very much."
Silva smiled sadly. "You remind me of my husband and I, back in the day. He was killed by one of the Xaksta."
"I'm so sorry to hear that," the blonde replied with genuine concern.
"I have been leading our tribe ever since."
"Impressive," S'ra said.
"Thank you," Silva replied.
Chuck brought up something that had been puzzling him from earlier. "You said no meat. Is that scarce?"
Silva nodded. "At the moment, yes. It is why Thurgar and his men were out, and have gone again, hoping to find landic, which are less plentiful, for some reason."
"Do they live in the forest?" he asked.
"They do, but they prefer eating the moss on the plain."
S'ra told her that they had seen some on the plain.
"So, there's hope," Silva replied.
Chuck looked around the site. Few men were here, it was mostly women and children. He couldn't help thinking that made them vulnerable to attacks from the Xaksta, but then admonished himself. He didn't know of any man as capable of protecting others as his wife could.
As he was thinking this, there was a disturbance across the site. Women screaming and urging children away from the forested area beyond.
An ixtar crept out of the trees. Chuck hastily looked around and spotted a spear leaning against the table, probably belonging to Silva. He looked at the green-skinned woman, pointing at the spear. "May I?"
She was starting to rise but both knew she wouldn't get to the beast in time to save anyone. She obviously thought his long legs would make a difference. "Yes," she replied.
Chuck grabbed the spear. S'ra just sat and watched, knowing what he was going to do.
He ran toward the creature, but could see it would reach one of the women long before he got there. He stopped, hefted the spear, drew his arm back and aimed at its chest. The creature was a long way off and this was a small target, but he had to at least try.
The ixtar started to leap for the woman, but Chuck's throw was fast enough that it still caught the creature in its chest, just a little lower than he'd planned. The spear passed through the body and out of its back. The ixtar snarled one last time and then collapsed to the ground, dead.
He was pleased and turned back to their host, his lips twisted into a bittersweet smile.
Silva was standing a few feet behind him with her mouth open. She was clearly surprised at the feat he had achieved. S'ra walked up beside her. "He's amazing, isn't he?"
"I can't believe what I just saw," the older woman gasped out. She looked at S'ra then at Chuck again. "You saved Altia and probably her children too."
Chuck didn't want her to focus on him. "Is it normal for ixtar to enter here from the forest?" he asked.
"It has never happened before. It must be having as much difficulty finding meat as we are and that has made it take a chance." she looked at Chuck. "How can we repay you for this?"
S'ra loved him all the more for his reply. "You have already fed us. That and your friendship is payment enough."
S'ra walked to him and held his arm with both hands. "He's correct. We don't need more than that."
Silva looked at the couple for a few moments, saying nothing.
"However," Chuck said. "You need your people to keep away from the edge of the clearing and have more weapon-ready people staying here."
Silva nodded. "We will."
They stayed for a further half hour and then took their leave. "We know the route we took to get here," Chuck said. "But could we take two spears?" He was thinking of their safety as they traversed the forest.
Silva readily agreed.
Altia, the woman he had saved, and her two children brought them some food supplies, vegetables only.
They set off to get back to the flier and reached it quickly. Walking downhill and not under guard was much quicker than their arrival.
Once they had stored the vegetables and the two new spears, they set off once again.
They had been flying for twelve hours. The Flarzere forest was no longer in sight behind them. They knew the Kazmar mountain range was ahead but wasn't yet in sight. All they could see was the vast expanse of pink in all directions. That wasn't quite true. There were rivers and some wooded areas alongside them, but for a lot of the time, all they could see was pink plains. It was starting to drive Chuck crazy!
He looked at his wife and could see she wasn't enjoying the view either.
He aimed down and landed the flyer.
"Why have you landed?" S'ra impishly smirked.
"Because this pink is driving me mad," he replied.
"And landing on it helps?" she asked.
"No. Because when neither of us are flying, we can stop looking at it," he replied.
The light of understanding appeared in her beautiful blue eyes, which changed, filling with long delayed desire for him.
She quickly stripped off her clothes and lay down naked on the deck. "Don't keep me waiting long," she said. "The temperature it dropping as we travel south. You need to warm your wife up."
This was exactly what he planned as he dropped the flyer to the ground.
He quickly slipped off his clothes and in no time, they were making love.
Both of them knew it would get colder and colder as they proceeded toward the ice cap. They would have to stay under cover at night, so this may be one of the last times for them to see each other's naked bodies as they did this.
"I love your amazing body, S'ra," he gasped out.
"You know I love yours too, Chuck," she managed to reply. Then she gasped. "Especially when you do that!"
When they had both reached completion, they stayed entwined in each other's bodies, hugging tightly, until the cold started to get to them.
They dressed and Chuck started flying again.
Pink everywhere they looked didn't seem so bad now, as it would now and forever remind him of S'ra lying on it as they made love.
They stopped after another six hours. This time was at a river so they could get fresh water and because S'ra had pointed out that they hadn't bathed for a while.
Complete immersion in the freezing cold water was not attractive, so both just washed beside it, scooping water as required.
They did, of course, take the opportunity to make love once again. This time out on the moss.
For Chuck, seeing S'ra's gorgeous naked body lying on the pink moss was quite a turn on, which just enhanced the experience. For both of them, it seemed.
Afterward, they lay embracing and kissing. They ignored the cold as long as they could, just enjoying being on the pink moss for once.
Chuck could imagine them being in a hotel on Earth, lying on an amazing bed covered in pink sheets. That was a lovely thought, but the reality of being here with S'ra's naked body pressed against his was even more fabulous, Chuck thought.
They did, of course, eventually have to dress, due to getting very cold. Both had chattering teeth.
They looked fondly at the location as S'ra lifted off to continue south.
An hour before the sun would set behind them, Chuck saw peaks in the distance. "Look," he shouted, pointing ahead.
S'ra had been writing notes about their journey so far, but rose and walked up beside him. She looked where he was pointing. Her eyesight wasn't as good as his, but even she could just make out the peaks. "The Kazmar mountain range," was her breathy pronouncement.
"Yeah. The end to the pink," Chuck said, a hint of sadness and longing in his tone, as he remembered both very special times with his wife.
"Finally!" she said and then laughed at his sentimentality. He really was adorable to her, but she was thinking that they could have even better experiences ahead.
Chuck continued to fly for a further half hour, but then set the flyer down on the pink moss before the sun set. The peaks ahead were much clearer now. They would probably reach them early afternoon on the following day.
They cooked up some of the vegetables they had been given and sat to eat their dinner.
She looked at him. "When we fly over the mountains, it won't just be colder, but we will have to look out for wild xynth."
He nodded. "Then, when we've seen the glacier, we should turn away. We don't want to experience problems flying."
She was happy he said that, and she didn't have to mention it. She nodded and finished her dinner.
When they lay down for the night, they kept their clothes on and covered themselves with blankets. It wasn't the most romantic way to sleep, but they did cuddle up, so they at least were in contact with each other.
"I love you, S'ra," he said.
She hugged him a bit tighter. "And I love you, Chuck."
The closeness was all they needed just then. They stayed like that, just enjoying being together. In fact, they stayed like that as they eventually drifted off to sleep.
A/N: So, they are now almost across the pink plain and will soon have to start rising to cross the Kazmar mountain range. Something for next chapter…
This was a relatively short chapter, but I thought that was an appropriate place to stop.
Thanks to MarkeyDeSad for the idea of the capture that started this chapter. It wasn't quite as he suggested, but I couldn't continue without it happening. Thanks, Markey.
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Glossary (pronunciation in brackets)
People:
Altia (Al-Tier) – green skinned woman saved by Chuck
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
Langsta (Lang-Ster) – tribe of green-skinned men encountered
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
Silva (Silver) – woman leading the Langsta tribe of friendly green-skinned people
Tald (TarlD) – first son of Prad
Thurgar (Ther-Gar) – warrior of the green-skinned people
Traada (Trar-dar) – leader of the Pradur settled on Graflir island
Verzian (Verr-iss-ien) – chief astronomer in Sanklin
Xaksta (Zack-Ster) – warlike tribe of green-skinned men
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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