Dissociation, Pt. 7 of 7.

         A few minutes later, Robert was looking for and observing various large insects, when a bluish flash from a more close lightning bolt startled him.  He stood erect promptly as two large green and black dragonflies zipped by above and looked for different cover as the subsequent rumbling of thunder was heard.  They flew across the water and to his surprise, stopped, and briefly hovered over an area of concentric ripples.  Something disturbed them there, and he crouched down behind a couple dwarf palms and shortly saw what it was.

         The feminine torso of the ri slowly rose out of the water like the top section of a submarine.  It was not facing in his direction, but instead, quietly moved toward the mouth of the out-flowing stream.  He thought that it already knew where the others were by the way the cryptozoan peered into the prehistoric trees in their direction and felt duty- bound to at least try to delay its deadly mission some, or possibly stop it.  He knew the mistress of this biome was a skilled, though atypical hunter and confirmed his suspicion of what took Elaine earlier.  

         He scampered a few meters quietly from beside the chest to the shoreline, to where the water lapped at his feet and said, "Bo nar-asi?  You, ri."  

         It appeared to ignore or disregard him as any kind of threat and kept slowly moving in the same direction.  

         He pointed his weapon at it and next shouted, "Ilkai!  You, ilkai!"

         It turned about fast and faced him, appearing angry at having been identified in a previously familiar name again.  He wavered in his aim in the wind when it suddenly rose its smooth arms, clawed its hands, and gnashed its teeth at him.  The cryptozoan accepted his challenge and read his every move as it drew closer; he squeezed the trigger of the spear-gun exactly as it increased its speed to the side in evasion.  The shiny spear crossed the distance between them in a second and narrowly missed its target, entering the water about a meter behind it.  Both were not impressed with the shot but for different reasons.  

         Robert had one spear left but retreated to the edge of the palms and ferns as the ri came to the shore within the next minute at a more sheltered location still in sight.  Then, his excited mind relaxed a bit to allow reason to materialize inside.  "I don't have to run," he thought.  "That thing doesn't have any adaptations for moving on land, not in that strange form.  Now, it is vulnerable, and I can kill it MY WAY."

         At last, he felt a sense of superiority and gradually went closer to taunt it for all the harm it did.  Smiling faintly and keeping the weapon poised in one hand, he waved at it to dare come out of the shallow water after him and jeered, "You're not so fast and stealthy now, demon, and . . . stop that!  I know you are not Susan Carvell well enough.  Don't try to get in my head and fool me."

         The familiar lost woman's face faded in his vexed mind, and he stared agog as the ri held an aquatic hand out defensively at him and underwent a swift drastic metamorphosis.  Before his agape eyes and trembling old body, the ri changed into human female form.  Its many flukes shortened, thickened, and fused into two long beautiful legs, and its tunics curled like leaves in a desiccating wind and disappeared into a widening pelvis.  It's skin and hair also changed color, and within another minute, it looked like a tall sexy brunette that could win any beauty pageant and stood erect on two feet.  

         The new woman posed in front of the amazed retired professor by an adjacent seed fern tree, and with a feminine voice said, "You are right.  I am not Susan Carvell.  I am Clara now."

         "No!  You are an evil . . . chimerical, a demon.  Stay . . . back!"

         "Really!  What's the matter?  Never saw a naked woman before, old man?"

         "You are nothing like us -- inhuman."

         "And you are all so out of your time and place, meddling in a matter and seeking power you don't deserve.  This woman has to do what a woman must, you know?"

         "Never.  What are you doing?"

         Clara lifted a thick nearby mat of dead fern fronds and exposed a human skeleton partially covered in silt and the black tar-like substance.  Over-sized cockroaches and reddish nocturnal bugs scurried away for other cover, and he felt his heart pounding wildly in his chest and said, "Elaine!  You did that!"  

         "Wrong again, just like your stupid adventure here," she replied and delivered a coy confident smile at him.  "This is one example of what I do to trespassers into my sanctuary."

         "Susan Carvell!"

         She sighed and held her hands out.  "Now, you know?  You are surely too slow for a fantastic female like me, old man.  I had to take on the superior gender of your 'intelligent' species."

         "No!  I can't miss you at this range."

         She stepped closer, laughed a bit, and said, "You are a gentleman and wouldn't shoot an unarmed woman.  Here.  Look into my eyes.  Tell me what you see."

         He did, as she advanced ever closer cautiously -- with an expression of gazing concentration on her face, and saw something in them beyond his expectation and imagination.  "My . . . God!  I can't believe -- .  It's incredible!" he said and squeezed the trigger of the weapon almost reflexively.  

         The second spear impaled the dark-haired female's chest just to the left side of her right shoulder at an angle, and she simultaneously emitted a shrill piercing scream.  The impact of the penetrating spear sent her turning in a half circle, and she dropped to her knees wincing in pain.  Her facial expression was genuine enough to him, not deceptive, and she maintained silence to more pain as she carefully removed the streamlined projectile with some difficulty.  Her breathing sounded labored, and a wave of remorse started flooding his conscience, based on what he just saw.  "You actually did it, hurt me.  Inflicted harm." she said and inhaled loud.  "You are just like the others."  

         "No.  I'm . . . sorry.  I . . . I didn't understand until -- "

         "And you will never understand," she replied and stood again, holding the spear firmly and up.

         He saw the blood on her skin not red and the wound already appearing sealed and shouted, "No!  We must communicate more, undo any wrongs we've done."

         "It is too late for any of that now," she snarled.

         "No, Clara!  I can see -- nnngh-ugh!"

         She rammed the spear hard into his abdomen once while glaring at him and another time while gritting her now-pointy teeth in anger.  He showed surprise more than pain initially and crumbled to the soft ground.  After he fell to one side in a near fetal position trying to suppress the bleeding and pain, she rolled him onto his back with a strong leg and finally said, "You answered my request at your risk.  I showed you the source of my powers and origin in my eyes, but none of the other trespassers here will have the privilege of possessing such things."

         She heard voices approaching and quickly darted into the water as the wind blew hard through the treetops.  Before the others came back into view, she dove down and skillfully swam below the surface, trailed a breath of bubbles, and transformed into her preferred identity.  The ri remained hidden, but the others did not have to seek an answer to what felled the old patriarch of the expedition.  Nevertheless, a burning curiosity for information prevailed amongst them while life persisted a little longer.

         Bonnie knelt down beside him and took the spear nearby, as Jack and Nadine stood to her rear and leaned forward, grimacing in disbelief.  She sniffed, shook him, and said, "Robert?  What happened, Robert?  Where is that evil thing?"

         He moved his bloodstained hand erratically and mumbled, "Gone -- there.  Afraid.  Shot . . . couldn't kill it."

         "Why, Robert?  Why?"

         A loud boom of thunder sounded from the heavy clouds; he fought more pain and unconsciousness and replied, "Her . . . her eyes, full of beauti-ful sparkling lights.  Yellow, green -- ohhh!"  

         They wanted anxiously to learn more, but he signaled them to move on, pointing at the forest in the direction the light came from earlier, and slumped in her arms.  She saw him appear to go in a relaxing sleep and held his limp form tightly like a daughter for a long minute, lamenting with her eyes closed.  Jack held Nadine, and during the brief time, all indications of impending peril were ignored.  It was their defiant way of responding and extolling to the loss of an important great mentor that offered respect and determination to the vital expedition to reveal the secrets of the ri.  They could not understand the meaning of his last words and had no choice but to find out now.  

         Bonnie stood up, after another fresh cooling gust of wind blew against them, and wiped tears from under her goggles.  She picked up Robert's spent weapon, reloaded it with the bloodstained spear, and said, "He didn't deserve . . . this, and I'm for making that ri bitch feel the same any way we can.  Let's go."

         "Wait.  We shouldn't just leave him there on the mud beside that . . . icky mess," Nadine said, and pointed at the bound skeleton.

         "I think I know of a more suitable place to put him in here, at a final rest of sorts.  He may still have honor and dignity yet, despite how he was killed."  

         Jack handed Nadine his spear-gun and lifted Robert off the soft ground; they followed him through the fringing plants to the front of an enormous lepidodendron tree.  He sat him proudly against the thick scaly trunk of it with his face looking blank at the sky and his arms resting together in his lap.  They understood the true meaning of the symbolic position and location, and he blinked his eyes and strongly voiced, "Well, ladies?  I do believe we have an important goal to achieve, once and for all."


"The Source" (Ri's Sanctuary sequel) concludes with "Regeneration."  
         

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