This may be one of the lowest moments of your career: conceding defeat to a second-rate college professor and his pet student. But despite the deep sleep you just enjoyed, you know you are still physically exhausted and starved. You were only asleep for a few hours, and you still haven't had anything to eat. Add the fact that the last liquid you consumed was whiskey, and your assessment of your condition is not good. You can't see how you'd have any advantage in a test of strength or speed with Ligru.


"All right, you win," you say, dropping your pack on the ground.


"Obviously," Pop says. "Now do this slowly. I always like a good reveal."


Like most backpacks, this one features a hood that sits over the main compartment, with two straps holding it in place. You release the clips and let the hood fall backwards, and then pull on the drawstring to reveal the contents of the pack. The Stone of Vul-Kar is the first thing you see.


"Where is it? I can't see," Pop says.


You realize that from afar neither he nor Ligru can see inside the pack — so not only can they not see the crystal, but they are also unaware of the surprise you just found.


When you last looked at the contents of your pack last night, it was dark and you were in a hurry to flee the Woban village. You found the stone in Gary Gaffney's pack, immediately realized the fortunate position you were in, and stowed it inside your own reclaimed backpack without scrutinizing too much what else it contained. But it seems that Meredith made an addition of her own, before she gave up the ghost.


"It's so beautiful," you say, stalling for time as you reassess your situation. "I just want to look at it one last time."


"Oh for crying out loud," Pop says. "Just let me have it already."


"Since you put it that way…." What you pull out is not the crystal, but the handgun that could only have been left behind by the woman who absconded with your stuff yesterday.


"Well hey now!" Pop says.


"Ligru, stand next to your professor," you say.


The young man in the grass skirt dutifully moves around you, his hands raised as he joins Pop. "Looks like we've been fooled, sir," he says.


"Now, I've enjoyed the time I've spent with you fellas," you say. "But this game has gone on long enough. I have a delivery to make, and while I appreciate the offer I really don't need your assistance."


The gun feels awkward in your hand, but you try not to let your inexperience show. It won't be much of a threat if your two companions don't think you can use it.


"Let's be reasonable here," Pop says. "If you fire that thing, you're likely to bring the Wobans down on all of us."


His hands are raised, but he is taking a cautious step toward you. For once you have the upper hand, and you want to keep it that way. So you flip the safety switch and fire a shot at the ground in front of Pop — the Wobans be damned. You don't intend to stick around long enough to see them come, anyway.


"All right! All right!" Pop says. "I had no idea you were such a lunatic."


"There are five more shots where that came from," you bluff; you have no idea what Meredith left you inside the chamber. "If you leave me alone, I'll leave you alone. It's that simple."


You worry that Ligru might try and jump you while you shoulder your pack once more, but the big man really seems unsure of what to do. You are unable to fasten the buckles without taking your attention off your companions, so you let the pack hang from your shoulders like a dead weight.


"I'm serious!" you say. "If you follow me, I'll be very unhappy." To emphasize your point, you fire one more shot into the ground. Both Pop and Ligru jump slightly as a little plume of dust rises at their feet.


And with that you run. Last night, as you were descending the steep and rocky slope, you were concerned that you might have lost the trail in the dark. Now, in the morning light, the way couldn't be clearer. The trail leads down a gentle slope, but with so many rocks and roots that you could easily get yourself killed if you weren't paying attention.


However, running with the pack hanging loose on your shoulders just isn't going to do. It feels like running a steeplechase with a seven-year-old child riding piggyback.


So after about a minute down the trail, you stop to buckle the waist strap. As you do so you turn around and see Ligru following at a distance. His big, gangly body wasn't built for running, but that isn't stopping him from trying. You'd much prefer that he didn't, and so you consider the handgun in your right hand. It's no exaggeration to say you don't like these things, and that in your experience they cause more harm than good. But you remember Ligru's demonstration with the spear last night, and it won't do to let him get too close. So you lift the gun, aim it at your pursuer, pull the trigger, and…


Nothing happens. The gun clicks, but no shots are fired.


Damn you, Meredith! Did she really just load this thing with two bullets? Or maybe she fired the other four before hiding the gun inside your pack. The dead tell no tales, so you may never know.


But whatever the explanation, the gun is worthless now. You toss it into the jungle and resume your jog down the trail, trying to set the best possible pace despite the ruggedness of the route. At some point last night the trail veered away from the small river, but you are starting to hear it more loudly now, as if you were returning to its side. And then, just moments later, the trail leads you right to its bank.


Well this sucks! The river is flowing through a rocky trench, like a miniature gorge with V-shaped walls. The current is swift and violent as the entire flow is funneled through this tight space. The only way across is a single log that spans the gorge, from a dead tree that fell long ago and has been rotting ever since. It is about three feet in diameter, and some of the bark has sloughed off. The bare, exposed wood looks incredibly slick.


If you weren't running for your life from someone with a spear — and the proven ability to use it — you could probably take your time and scoot your away across this thing. But it's a good four feet above the water, and the price of losing your balance trying to cross in a hurry would be catastrophic. So perhaps it would be better to duck into the jungle and elude Ligru that way. 


__________________________________________________

You duck into the jungle.

You'll never make it across that death trap of a log, so there is no point in even trying. Ligru will be here soon, and you don't want to be caught with your back to the river when he does. The only other option is to plunge into the jungle beside the gorge, hoping that there is an easy way to get through this rugged part of the valley — and that you somehow manage to evade your pursuer in the process.


The vegetation is thick, making you feel like a fly trying to push your way through a spider's web. You have a hard time seeing your feet, let alone what is twenty feet ahead of you. With each step you might be placing your foot on solid ground, an unseen gap in the bedrock, or the nest of some reclusive bird — you have no way of knowing, nor do you have the luxury of time to worry about it. All you can do is try and put as much distance between you and the trail as you can.


"I see you!"


It's Ligru's voice, and he's shouting to be heard above the roar of the river. You turn and see his face through the leaves, staring right at you from the trail. You've barely made it fifty feet.


He tries to come at you, but if there is any consolation, it's that the jungle offers his large body even more resistance than it is giving you. Newly motivated to keep going, you move right to what at first appears to be a more open avenue through the vegetation. But when you get there you are caught off guard by a hidden ledge that is lurking in the forest, ready to betray you and slide you into the gorge.


"God damn this jungle!" Ligru shouts, his limbs mired in vines and branches. It is like the jungle is your ally, ensnaring your foe and giving you a chance to get away — except that if it were true, you'd appreciate your ally showing you a better path forward.


You get enmeshed yourself in a nasty patch of thick underbrush; seeing no quick way around it, you decided it was best to push straight through. Now leaves fill your vision, and some even try to get in your mouth. It feels like every square inch of your body is being hindered by some small branch that refuses to give way. Others snag at your pack, offering further resistance. So maybe the jungle isn't your ally after all. It despises both of you equally.


All you can do is force your way through this green mesh, hoping things start to improve when you emerge on the other side. But what you find instead is empty space. You scramble to find something to grab onto, or something solid to step on, but you find nothing but air. Realizing that you are about to fall, it is the most you can do to remain upright so that you can land on your feet.


__________________________________________________

Next page.

You land with a splash, up to your knees in brown water. This appears to be some kind of side alcove in the gorge, with the main river flowing  past the opening just twenty feet away. Walls of black rock rise vertically all around you, with the spot from which you fell just five feet above you. But the rock is hopelessly slippery; there is no chance you will be able to climb back up out of this little chamber.


The only way out is toward the river, but you are doubtful that will really be much of an exit. You are standing in a backwater, relatively safe even if you are trapped. But out there is a raging torrent, where you put your odds of survival pretty close to zero — especially if you are weighed down by your backpack and the Stone of Vul-Kar.


Unfortunately you see no other way out, so you decide to venture a little closer to at least see what the main part of the gorge looks like. You hug the wall of this dark alcove, having no idea what it is you're walking on beneath that dark water. Twice you stumble over some unseen rock, and slowly the water inches its way up toward your waist. You unclip the waist belt of your pack, knowing that if you get swept away by the main current you'll need to sacrifice it to save yourself.


You come to a corner of the rock wall, the water now up to your thighs. What you see is encouraging and unexpected: a shelf of rock on your right that sits almost a foot above the current level of the river. The wall of the gorge is just as vertical and slick here, but at least it is a patch of bare ground upon which you can climb out of the water and reassess your situation.


Obviously, your boots are now hopelessly soaked, and will remain that way until you can figure out a way to dry them thoroughly. Even after you hoist yourself up onto the rock shelf, your feet feel like they are trapped in a pair of goldfish bowls. You examine your legs but you see no signs of leeches, so you feel like this is a win-some-lose-some situation.


So there you are, out of the river but still stuck in the gorge, with no easy exits in sight. How you pine for the old days, when all that might be expected of you was to travel to the Arctic Circle and dig some wooly mammoth tusks or something out of the thawing tundra. The mosquitoes were often unbearable, and the payoffs were typically less handsome, but at least in Alaska there were no cannibal villages or goons from Oakland running around in grass skirts trying to kill you with a spear. Sometimes the simple ways are the best.


Your reverie is broken when something long and skinny touches your shoulder. You jump to the opposite end of the shelf. Of course your first thought is that this is a snake, but to your knowledge no snakes have discovered this tropical "Eden" yet. This object, it turns out, is a vine.


"Grab hold, silly!"


Looking up, you see Ligru directly above you. He is standing on the rim of the gorge, dangling the vine down to your level. Not long ago he was coming at you with his Woban spear, but now he wants to be your savior? Yes, you want out of this gorge, but not necessarily at any cost.


"Why?" you shout back. "So you can rob me once you get me out of here?"


He cocks his head as if he can't fully understand you above the river's roar, but then he says in response, "We need to talk! Grab the vine! I don't want to hurt you!"


You remember your earlier assessment that Ligru was not really a threat at all, but a gentle giant who was incapable of doing half the stuff his professor friend said he could do. All this time you've been running from the guy, and you even tried to shoot him, but perhaps in reality he has been the ally you've needed all along.


Or maybe this whole act is a deception designed to get you and the Stone of Vul-Kar out of the gorge to fulfill his master's bidding. 


__________________________________________________

You accept Ligru's help.

Regardless of what you might think of Ligru, this vine he is dangling over you is the only real exit that you can see from the gorge. As you grab onto the end, you can only hope that your hunch proves correct and that he is helping you so you can collaboratively foil Professor Pop. If that is not the case… well, first things first.


You expect to have to climb up the vine, similar to the way you extracted yourself from the Woban pit not even twelve hours ago. Your arms are still smarting from that effort and are not excited about the prospect. However, once Ligru sees that you have a satisfactory grip on the vine, he begins tugging on it to lift you up. All you have to do is hang on and enjoy the ride.


It's not until you near the rim that you begin to help your own cause again by grabbing the nearest root of any substantial size, using it as a handle to pull yourself back onto solid ground. You see that Ligru had looped the vine around the trunk of a nearby tree, and was therefore using it as a pulley as he lifted you up from inside the gorge.


But that's not all you see: there standing next to him is Martian Pop.


"I think we can all agree that this nonsense needs to stop," Pop says. "You have nowhere left to run. Now hand over that pack."


When you don't respond, Ligru grabs you by the shoulder.


"Just take it, Ligru. We don't have time for this."


Because you had unhooked the waist strap when you were wading through the water, all the big man has to do is spin you around and lift your pack off your body. And thus it gets stolen from you twice on the same trip: first by Meredith when she crept into your cabin before dawn, and now by this duplicitous duo in broad daylight.


"I was going to at least let you keep your personal items," Pop says as he takes your pack from Ligru. "But my moment of charity has passed. Ligru, make sure this idiot never bothers us again."


Before you can protest or ask questions, Ligru gives you a firm push, walking you backwards to the rim of the gorge. When you trip over the vine that a moment ago pulled you to safety, you tumble headfirst back into the gorge. When you land on the rock shelf, it is not a pretty sight.


THE END