Polar Yeti And The Beasts Of Prehistory (8 page)

Henry was about to scream at Rodgers that he didn’t give a damn about trophies but his attention was quickly called back to the front of the cave. One of the remaining teratorns flew directly up to the cave entrance. The bird flew into the huge cave and then it started flapping its wings and jabbing at Henry with its beak. The bird’s talon moved quicker than Henry’s eyes were able to see. He felt a pressure across his mid-section as he was pushed backward. Henry found himself looking at a blur of talons, beak, and feathers as the teratorn continued to move frantically as it tried to makes it way deeper into the cave.

Henry quickly reached his hand down to his mid-section and he felt a deep tear in his insulated coat. He continued to push his hand further into his stomach until he felt his T-shirt. Henry briefed a sigh of relief when he found that his T-shirt, and thankfully his stomach, were intact. Henry realized that if it were not for his heavy winter gear that the bird’s claw would have eviscerated him. His mind was brought back to the terror at hand when the massive teratorn jumped forward a few more feet toward him.

Gordon yelled, “Henry, shoot! Gordon and I are still reloading!” Henry quickly pointed his rifle and fired at the teratorn at point blank range. The bird screeched in pain and hopped backward toward the opening to the cave. Gordon and Rodgers knelt down next to Henry. Gordon lifted Henry up to one knee. Gordon then immediately took control of the situation. He yelled to Henry and Rodgers, “On my mark, fire at the center of its chest! Three, two, one, fire!” The three rifles sounded off as one and their combined power caused the teratorn to tumble away from cave entrance.

The three men rushed to the front of the cave to see the last teratorn make a wide circle overhead and then dive toward the cave entrance. Gordon screamed again, “On my mark, aim for its head! Three, two, one, fire!” The three men fired in unison at the teratorn. The horrifying bird screeched and convulsed in midair before crashing into the mountain on the left side of the cave.

Henry was breathing hard as the adrenaline rush that had surged through his body started to wear off. He turned around to see the terrified students who had followed him on this expedition to rescue his wife. Several of his students, brilliant young men and women who had put themselves in his care, were now dead. Henry told himself that they had volunteered to go into the valley but they didn’t know what they getting into and honestly neither did Henry. Henry knew that the deaths of those students were on his head. He would carry that burden with him for the rest of his life. He had been desperate to save his wife and in doing so he had put these people in danger.

Henry knew what he had to do. He took a deep breath and then he addressed the rescue team. “The deaths that have occurred here today are my fault. The words don’t exist for me to tell you how sorry I am for bringing you into this valley. I can’t rectify my mistake, but I can keep it from getting any worse. Tomorrow, Gordon will lead you back to the campsite outside of the valley. You will wait there for two more days. If by that time neither I nor Gina returns, you are to head home.”

One of the graduate students spoke up, “Professor, we volunteered for this rescue mission. We are here on our own accord and we are going to go on with you on our own accord.”

Henry shook his head. “I thank you all for your bravery, but you are my responsibility. I have failed you in my responsibility to ensure your safety because I was blinded by grief over what happened to my wife. Gina made it clear to not send a rescue party after her because she didn’t want any more people to die. As usual, her perception of the situation was far more clear and accurate than mine.” Henry took a deep breath and shrugged. “I can’t even guarantee that you can make it back alive from this point, but I won’t have you go any further.” Henry waved his arm around the massive cave. “This cave is huge and it is warm. Gordon, Rodgers, Jun-Tuk and I will gather the supplies from the snowmobiles. The rest of you are going to set up the tents in here and then tomorrow you will all go home while I continue to try and rescue my wife.”

Henry looked over his remaining students with pride for them because of how they had conducted themselves. He smiled at them. “All of you here have performed well beyond what anyone could have asked of you. I am truly honored to have called you my students. I hope that one day you can forgive me for the mistakes that I have made here today.” Henry nodded at his students, and then he turned around and walked out of the cave entrance.

Chapter 11

The sound of a baby crying continued to echo throughout the cavern as Gina followed the mysterious woman deeper into the cave. Gina was astounded at the length, depth, and width of the cave. There were burning bones of varying lengths that served as torches spread throughout the cave system at irregular intervals. The torches seemed to be embedded in naturally formed crevices that were scattered throughout the cave. From the smell coming from the torches, Gina guessed that the bones were covered in some manner of oil or fat that allowed them to continue burning. Thousands of questions about the cave were running through the young anthropologist’s mind. She was about to start asking the native woman about the cave system when a much more obvious question came to her mind.

Gina placed her hand on the native woman’s shoulder. “Who are you?

The woman turned around and looked Gina in the eye. “I am Wen-Ku. Like you, I am a wife of the Yeti god. Like you, I am also a caretaker of the young. What shall I call you? You are not from the Quinic tribe. Your clothes and flesh are both strange to me. You are not one of my people.” The woman ran her eyes over the beautiful young professor. “I have heard the men of my tribe speak of the people who travel across the ocean in canoes as large as mountains. They say that the mountain canoes come from distant lands to the north.” The woman’s eyes grew wide. “If you are here, the Yeti god must have traveled over the great ocean to choose you as one of his brides.”

Gina smiled politely at the young woman as she thought about the best way to explain her situation to Wen-Ku. “The Yeti is not able to travel across the oceans. I came here on one of the large canoes that you spoke of with other members of my tribe. We were led here by a member of your tribe named Jun-Tuk to learn about your tribe and their ways.”

Wen-Ku frowned. “I knew Jun-Tuk when I was younger and his daughter, Shunu. Shunu was brought here as a handmaiden of the Yeti god not as a bride. She was helping me to care for the young one.” At the mention of the young, one Wen-Ku began walking faster. “We must get the young one before his crying alerts the crawling demons to our presence in the cave.”

Gina followed Wen-Ku as more questions started to accumulate in her mind. Gina tried to keep track of all of the new questions that she was forming as she spoke to Wen-Ku
Yukon has both brides and handmaidens, what is the distinction between the two sets of women? How long had Wen-Ku been a bride of the Yeti?

Gina was sweating as she continued to walk through the huge cave. She took off her insulated coat and wrapped it around her waist. The cave was incredibly hot and Gina was sure that the meager torches that lit up part of the cave were not generating the heat that she was feeling. Gina increased the rate at which she was walking so that she was walking next to Wen-Ku. She decided that her best approach to gaining information from Wen-Ku, as well as securing her trust, would be to start by asking Wen-Ku questions that were not associated with Yukon, the women that he had taken, or the baby. By asking questions about the environment, Gina would get a better idea of where she was and what were the potential dangers or benefits that the cave offered to her. Gina was dying to learn more about Yukon, but as an anthropologist, she knew that orienting herself to her environment was the first thing that she needed to do if she hoped to leave the cave alive. Gina pointed farther down the vast cave. “This cave is amazing, I have never seen anything like it. How large is this cave?”

Wen-Ku shook her head. “This is only part of a larger system of tunnels that runs throughout the entire mountain range. The tunnels system is nearly as vast as the valley itself.”

Gina was fascinated. “An entire tunnel system that runs throughout the mountain range.” She estimated that if the tunnel system ran throughout the entire mountain range that the system must have been hundreds of miles in length. The height and width of the cave was also beyond belief. Yukon was still sleeping near the cave entrance but the twenty-five-foot tall Yeti could easily have walked throughout the majority of the cave.

The deeper that the two women walked into the tunnel, the more Gina could feel the heat in the cave increasing. The heat had reached the point to where Gina was able to take off the majority of her artic gear. She stripped off two layers of clothing so that she was just in her sweat pants and her hooded sweatshirt. She then asked Wen-Ku about the heat. “The cave is so warm. Where does the heat come from?”

Wen-Ku gestured down to the cave floor. “Deep beneath the cave at the base of the mountain lives the great fire god. His hot blood flows throughout the entire tunnel system and warms the inside of the mountains.”

Gina nodded as she was fairly certain that Wen-Ku was describing molten lava running throughout the mountain. Wen-Ku words had all but confirmed Gina’s suspicions about an underground volcano heating the tunnel system. Gina knew from personal experience that Wen-Ku was provided food by Yukon, but she was not sure about where the native woman obtained her water supply. This was another one of the vital questions that Gina needed to know because staying hydrated was another key factor to her survival. She questioned Wen-Ku again. “After we address the baby, is there anywhere that I can get water? I am extremely thirsty from my long journey here.”

Wen-Ku nodded. “The heat created by the great fire god below provides us with water. There are numerous openings to the outside mountain where his heat causes the snow to melt. The water from the melting snow comes down through the openings in the mountains and provides us with fresh water.” 

As Wen-Ku led Gina farther into the illuminated cavern, she suddenly made a quick left into a side tunnel that served almost as a separate room. There were numerous torches around the room which lit the small cave up as if the sun itself was shining into it. To the far left side of the cave, there was a large crevice in the wall and inside of the crevice there was an infant. Wen-Ku reached into the crevice and pulled the crying infant from within the cave wall. As Gina took a closer look at the infant, she guessed that the baby boy could not have been over a year old. The infant was wrapped in the skin of a mammoth that Yukon must have slain and Wen- Ku then made a blanket out of.

Wen-Ku rocked the infant and calmed the baby down. Wen-Ku then fed the boy and after he was finished Wen-Ku held the baby out to Gina. “This is our son. His name is Thu-Ca.”

Gina was again troubled by the way that Wen-Ku had referred to the baby as
our son
. Gina was hesitant to take the child but she did not want to offend Wen-Ku and she still needed a lot of information from the woman. Gina decided that she would need placate the woman for the time being. Gina placed her outer clothing on the floor next to her. She then slowly reached out and accepted the baby in her arms. Gina then sat down and began rocking the baby.

With the babies needs addressed, Gina continued to have Wen-Ku answer all of the questions that were swirling in her mind. She gestured to the torches around the cave. “The baby has more light than the rest of the cave. Does he enjoy the light or does the light serve another purpose?”

Wen-Ku smiled. “I can see that the Yeti god chose well when he picked you to be one of his brides.” Wen-Ku pointed to the opening of the cave that they were in. “This cave has only one entrance, and when I am away, I put Thu-Ca into the small crevice that you saw him in. With only a single opening, I try to have as much light as possible near the door. The light will deter the crawling demons from coming to devour the baby.”

Gina took note of the fact that Wen-Ku had once again mentioned the crawling demons. After her encounter with the saber-toothed cats and the cave bear, Gina was determined to be aware of us much of the wildlife both in the valley and in the tunnel system as possible. Given the size of the tunnel system, the fact that it was heated, and that it had an ample water supply Gina was sure that it could easily support an entire ecosystem. Gina continued to bounce the baby in her arms as she moved slightly closer to Wen-Ku. “These crawling demons, what are they like?”

A wave of fear ran over Wen-Ku’s face. Gina could tell from the woman’s expression that whatever the crawling demons were that Wen-Ku was terrified of them and she did not care to talk about them. Wen-Ku took a deep breath to gather her courage. “The crawling demons live deep within the tunnels that run throughout the mountain range. The crawling demons take many forms but there are three forms that are the most dangerous. The first form is that of the many oars. In this form, a crawling demon comes like a long black cloud propelled by hundreds of tiny oars. In this form, the crawling demon will envelope its prey with its body and then devour the prey’s head. I saw a crawling demon in this form kill one of the former handmaidens of the Yeti god.”

Wen-Ku said a small prayer to the Yeti god at the thought of her fallen friend. She then sighed and continued to inform Gina of the other forms that that the crawling demons could take. “The second form is much larger than the first form. It has a thick hairy black body like that of the great orcas except that it is covered in short fur. In this form, the crawling terror moves on long poles like those made from the bones of the whales that form our tents. In this form, the crawling demon has many eyes that work as one. It often lives in a large net that it will use to trap its prey.”

Wen-Ku’s body shook as she thought about the third form of the crawling demons. “In the third form, the crawling demon has thick brown fur like the demons that live it the valley. The hair covers the entirety of the demon’s body except for its long tail which is naked. In this form, the crawling demon has two long teeth that extend out of its mouth. The demon will use these teeth to tear those that they hunt to pieces. This is the largest form that the crawling demons may take. In this form, the crawling demons are nearly as large as the Yeti god himself.”

Gina nodded. “The light. You said that the light will keep them away?”

Wen-Ku shook her head. “No. The crawling demons do not care for the light and they will often shy away from it, but if one of the demons smells an easy meal such as carrion or the baby, they will attack despite the light.” Tears began to form in Wen-Ku’s eyes and she looked to the floor. “Several moons ago, we lost two of the Yeti god’s brides and three of our children to the crawling demons in this form. The light in the room was bright, but the crawling demons were ravenous, and they fought through their fear of the light.” Wen-Ku wiped her eyes clear. “When the Yeti god returned to our cave and found that his wives and children had been devoured, he was filled with rage. The Yeti god ran into the tunnels and he hunted down the crawling demons who had slain his family. His vengeance was swift but after the rage had left him his grief lasted for many nights. For the next three moons, he would do nothing but sit by the opening to the cave and howl into the night sky at the pain of the loss of his children.” Wen-Ku shook her head. “The light helps to dissuade the crawling demons, but our only true protection from them and from the demons of the valley is the great Yeti god himself.”  

Gina was gently rocking the baby, and when she looked down at the infant, she noticed that Thu-Ca had fallen asleep. The Quinic woman smiled at Gin. “You will do well as a mother to the children of the Yeti god?”

Gina smiled back at the woman and then she took her opportunity to obtain what information that she could from her. “I hope to be a good mother to the children of the Yeti god but I am stranger to this land. I have no knowledge of the Yeti god and his ways. Nor do I know about his brides or handmaidens. Please tell me what you know of the Yeti’s history and how I should conduct myself as one of his brides.”

Wen-Ku nodded. “Of course. I shall tell you all that I know so that you may best serve the Yeti god as one of his brides.” Wen –Ku closed her eyes. “The Yeti god comes from a tribe of Yeti gods. I have never seen them but some of the brides who were here before me saw them. The Yeti gods have a chief who leads them as they travel with the long-nosed demons they hunt across the great valley. The brides who were here before me say that once long ago the Yeti god that we now worship was once chief of the Yeti’s. They say that the Yeti god must have sired many other Yeti gods in his time as ruler of the Yeti tribe. I was told that the Yeti god had ruled his tribe for many years, until one day a younger male Yeti god challenged him as chief of the tribe.” Wen-Ku took a deep breath. “The two Yeti’s had a mighty battle that shook the mountains and the sky itself. After a long and bloody battle, the younger Yeti god had defeated the old chief. When the old chief had been defeated, he was forced to leave his people. I have been told that he is no longer welcome with them and that is why he stays close to the pass that goes through the mountains and out of the valley.”

Gina nodded as she processed this information. The story of Yukon being the leader the tribe, losing a challenge to a younger male, and then being forced to leave the tribe helped to clear up a good deal of questions that Gina had about the Yeti’s past. Gina thought about the lives of the gorillas in Africa. She had heard reports that a family of gorillas in Africa was led by an alpha male who in most cases had the breeding rights with all of the females in his group. The alpha male would hold this position of power until another male gorilla challenged his reign. If the younger male won the challenge then he would assume the position of the alpha male and the defeated male would be forced to leave the family and fend for himself. From what Wen-Ku had just said, Gina guessed that Yukon must have been an alpha male who was ousted from his role and was forced to leave his family.