The Mantooth

scanned his surroundings. At first he could not remember where he was. The events of the day before had struck so suddenly, and with such sw

least sensed that he was safe, a knowledge that helped quiet his fears, and soothe the angry horde of questions that kept pounding at his brain. Looking across the room he saw that the girl lay sleeping a short distance away, lying in a similar bed among the shadows of the far wall. She had tried to make him sleep t

he found himself aski

BY FAR A GREATE

atterns had of necessity been based around images and memory, a slow, tedious process that had almost always stifled him in any attempt at higher thinking. He thought of the god wh

e Valley. There was a certain look a seasoned carnivore developed, a hardened gleam, hungry and haunting, that identified it instantly to others of its kind. Sylviana's eyes were peaceful and trusting, something which had puzzled him from their first meeting. And though he could not put the feeling

recognized as a large cave. Though he had not been certain the night before, the soft light of an early morning sun now clearly illum

ould not like. For all around him lay great mounds of treasure, and strange artifacts his mind could not begin to identify. Piled

which troubled him. For both the entrance to the frontal chamber and the arch he had just passed through, were easily large enough to give passage to creatures inf

e darkness, packed together in thick, faintly luminous clusters of yellow-green wax, l

t predator at least, had ever dared enter the cave. He knew that somewhere just outside it, in plain sight for all to see, the massive creature had left its unmistakable mark of possession--the ja

er trees in an instant, and the sharp rows of teeth on the instep of its foreclaw could tear even the thickest hide to ribbons. He also knew that it m

ever leave this place, that she was somehow protected here from the perils of the outside world. Every instinct and emotion he po

hamber. Fearing the worst he drew out his crude stone knife. But at the thought of the Mant

and the markings above the cave's entrance, stood motionless on the ledge just beyond it, peering into the shelter with cautious uncertainty. Searchin

desperately. 'To th

ed….. Q

d not find it within herself to turn and run. Instead she stood paralyzed in the

ove her bed. Here the wall sloped sharply to meet it. Helping her up the pitted incline, they entered a broad and irregula

, regaining her senses

nd for himself!' re

arm once more, he

his veins, aggravating the deep head wound he had sustained the day before. The pain, though not excruciating, combined with the fear and frustration of the moment to form the totally negative and inescapably fatalistic frame of mind which had haunted him since childhood. All his thoughts,

erful emotions had existed for her only in books, and always seemed somehow pretentious and unreal. To see it now in undeniable reality,

im. 'What will happen to the wolf?' He started to ans

He is not in danger.' Though he had stretched the truth, he hoped she would believe him. In his heart he knew that t

even more. 'Are all the insects of your world as large as the spider?' She asked sincerely, hoping

sec

hings with

now so little of the ways of the Valley? But he was no longer angry with her. The intensity of the pain d

uch longer than your hand.' Though the answer was hardly reassuring, at least s

l be safe there.' Taking her by the hand, they climbed the remaining distance carefully,

inhabited, he helped her up, then lay down and basked in the first real

he light of the smaller cave's entrance, she could think only of he

do, she remained there in uncertain melan