Yuen-Mong's Revenge Read Online Free PDF Page B

come down
screaming?"
            "No, I felt your scream of fear."
            He looked at her sharply.
          "It lasted for a long time and was very painful to endure. That is why
I came looking for you."
            "You actually came searching for me? It wasn’t just a coincidence?"
            "No, I came to take you to safety."
            "But why did you steal my pack, rather than speak to me?"
            "Because you would not have believed me. You still do not believe
me." She sensed his discomfort. He does not like to be confronted.
          "Believe what?"
            "Believe the night dangers, but I will show you."
            "What is it?"
            "Seeing is better than hearing. We will go soon."
            She got up and went back to the cooking place, where she speared the
remaining meat strips on a blade of grass and hung them over the fire for
drying. Then she held the end of a half-yard tree branch into the coals.
When it had caught fire, she blew out the flame such that only glowing
embers remained.
          "Come, it is dark now," she said and went out onto the balcony to the
rope. Only the western section of the ring was still lit and gave off
enough light to discern the outlines of things. She dropped the rope fully
and let herself down, holding the stick in her mouth.
     
    * * *
     
    Atun hesitated. He did not see why he needed to observe the night
danger, whatever it was, right then. It could not be that deadly if one
could actually go and see it. He felt it was far more dangerous to go down
that rope in the darkness, and he also dreaded the pain of having to haul
himself back up again. It was enough of a challenge in daylight. But
neither was he willing to let her see his reluctance, nor to be bested by a
woman. By the time he reached the bottom and let go of the rope to drop
the last few feet, she had the stick burning brightly.
          "Follow," she said and took the path they had come in earlier that day.
About a hundred yards on, they got to a little creek where she stopped.
"Stay on this side." She again blew out the flame and they were in
complete darkness. He heard something drop to the ground in front of
them. Two seconds later she had the torch burning brightly again. What
he saw made him shudder. On the other side of the creek, the entire
ground seemed to have become alive with ant-like insects, about as big
as two links of his small finger, all streaming toward a piece of meat and
a twig of foliage. Within seconds both were covered by these creatures
which continued piling up on top of each other. She threw the stick into
the throng, and he heard a sizzling sound, as some burned, devoured
immediately by the others. And then they vanished as they had come —
all simply disappearing in the soil. Not a speck of the meat or leaf or any
of the burned insects was left. So that explains why the ground is raked
clean.
          "Wow… Do they eat everything?"
            "Most everything, except the bark of all trees and some grasses. Any
plants that have not adapted by developing poisons or moving into water
have disappeared from this planet. That is why Aros has such minimal
diversity. This is evolution in action."
            "Are you an expert in biology too?"
            He was disappointed that she simply ignored his sarcasm.
          "The night scavengers are one of a few insects left and the only other
animals are a several species of birds and sea creatures."
            "Why don’t they attack us? Is it the water?"
            "They avoid water." As she said that, she quickly stepped across the
creek to pick up the torch and instantly the ground became alive again. She has guts. He doubted that he would have dared retrieving that stick,
but was glad she did.
          "Why don’t they strip the leaves off the trees?"
            "They cannot climb up smooth bark."
            "So, they couldn’t scale