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He and what was left of his men had made good
time until the rain started. It
had been the most violent thunderstorm he had ever seen and it had completely
obliterated all traces of the trail had been
following. Somewhere he had made
a wrong turn, blundering into the bamboo and then making the mistake of trying
to force his way through it. Now
he didnt know whether to continue or to turn back.
Neither option was
appealing. The bamboo forest
might continue for kilometers and both he and his men were close to
exhaustion. Not only that but
they were low on food and the bamboo shoots provided little
nutrition. Turning back, however,
meant heading in the direction of possible
pursuit. He did not know how
vengeful the people he had attacked might be, but he had already been surprised
by their resourcefulness and had no wish to tangle with them again, at least
not until his men had adequate reserves of
ammunition. He had no doubt that
if his men had been properly equipped they would have easily defeated the
primitive culture he had encountered.
His thoughts were interrupted by a shout from
up ahead. Now what?
he wondered. What more could
possibly go wrong?
Sergeant Chiba came puffing
up. He had been supervising the
men who were hacking a path through the bamboo
forest. Sir, he
said. There is something
you should see.
Curious,
His first thought was that somehow he and
his men had walked in a complete circle and come back to the exotic civilization
they had attacked, but then he realized he was facing in the wrong direction
for that to have happened. He
was looking upon a second lost civilization; one that was a good deal more
difficult to assault given its cliff-top
location.
Unfortunately, fate had a different plan in
mind for the Japanese commander.
Just as
Taking advantage of the fact that the way
through the canyons was now open,
Private Noritake halted so quickly that his
captive almost stumbled into him.
He turned his head in the direction of the
shooting. There was little doubt
in his mind that he had almost caught up with his companions, but the sound
seemed to indicate that they had run into some
trouble. As he listened the shooting
died down and then stopped. He
grunted in satisfaction. Whatever
problem his comrades had run into they seemed to have dealt with
it. Moving forward again he jerked
on the rope and almost fell over when he received no
resistance.
He spun in the direction of his
captive. To his amazement he
saw that she had somehow managed to get loose from her bonds and had removed
the rope from about her neck. He
saw that her escape must have been very
painful. Her wrists and the area
just above her elbows where he had tied her were raw and
bleeding. Black bitch,
he muttered he would just have to tie her up
again. He stepped toward her
and was almost hurled onto his back by the force of her foot in his
stomach.
He glared at her, unable to believe that his
captive still had the audacity to defy
him. He had raped her three times
and reduced her to tears and yet she had somehow managed to retain a measure
of rebellion. It was of little
importance. He had beaten her
into submission before and he would do it
again. He lunged toward
her.
In spite of her battered condition the
dark-skinned savage managed to avoid his attack by the simple expedient of
stepping back and to one side.
Noritakes huge hands closed on air, but he pivoted quickly and
continued his assault. Once more
the tall African danced nimbly out of his
way. Although she appeared bloodied
and beaten she still seemed to have some fight in
her. However, as he moved confidently
forward he grinned. He doubted
that the fight would last long.
Lisha backed about from the giant
Japanese. Her struggles to escape
from the ropes that had bound her wrists and arms had left her drained of
energy. Her arms were also almost
useless. The circulation to her
limbs had been cut off for so long that she couldnt even move her fingers
and the pain as the blood pounded back into them was
incredible. And so she danced
away, hoping that her circulation would return to normal as soon as
possible.
Time, however, was not on her
side. Unlike her first encounter
with the Japanese giant she could not hope to wear him
down. She had only a small reserve
of strength left and it was imperative that she finish the fight
quickly. Her previous experience
fighting her huge opponent told her, however, that he was difficult to take
out. He was so massive he was
capable of absorbing tremendous punishment and in spite of his size he was
very quick.
The area where they circled one another was
not particularly suited for combat.
They were surrounded by large trees creating a rather narrow space
barely fifteen feet across. It
was strewn with branches from the recent storm and both combatants had to
step carefully to avoid tripping.
The confined space favoured the Japanese giant, and he knew
it. With a roar meant to freeze
her in her tracks he charged with arms spread
wide. He knew the condition of
his opponent and intended to simply overwhelm her using brute
force.
Lisha waited until that last hundredth of
a second before darting to one side.
She wanted to make sure that there was no way the Japanese soldier
could correct his line of attack.
However, things did not work out exactly as
planned. She slipped as her foot
turned on a rotten and slippery piece of wood, and fell backwards onto a
fallen log. The Japanese pivoted
with amazing grace and hurled himself onto
her.
At the last instant she managed to shift her
body a few inches to the side. The
Japanese crashed own on the log, his arm and part of his torso slamming into
her. Something else slammed into
her as well; something long and pointed that jabbed into her
thigh.
Lisha winced as her thigh muscles were torn
by the sharp object, but she knew what it
was. As she struggled to free
herself from the bulk of her opponent her right hand sought the object and
closed about the hilt of the sheathed
bayonet. As she pushed against
the hulk who partially pinned her with her left hand she pulled the bayonet
free and without hesitating a moment drove it to the crosspiece into the
belly of her enemy.
The Japanese screamed in agony and with a
flick of his arm slammed her over the log and onto her
head. Lisha caught herself on
her hands, and allowing the motion of her body to continue, ended up crouched
on her hands and knees.
The Japanese giant overshadowed her, but it
was not her that he was interested in.
He no longer screamed but stood staring in what appeared to be disbelief
at the hilt of the bayonet protruding from his
stomach.
The bayonet was a nasty weapon, with a blade
almost sixteen inches long. On
any other man it would have been sticking out of his
back. Lisha had thrust it into
him just above his navel and his attempt to pin her had driven it into him
as far as was possible.
While Lisha watched fascinated, he slowly
reached out and closed both hands over the
hilt. Then without a sound he
pulled it smoothly from his body.
He looked toward her, a look of astonishment on his face and then
slowly sank to his knees.
Lisha knew he was
dead. The wound was
mortal. The blade had pierced
the mans bowels and a wound like that was not treatable in the rainforest
environment. Her face blank she
turned away from him and slowly limped off into the forest, heading in a
direction away from the firing and back to where she had been forced to leave
Jia Li and Melissa.
Selwin, Prince of the Prahgan examined the
body that his soldiers had dragged before
him. The clothing was very strange
and the features different from any man he had
seen. There wasnt much
left of the mans clothing.
The jungle and the rainforest environment had left him wearing little
more than rags. It was this fact
that made him doubt the story his warriors had brought him that they had
been attacked by demons. He motioned
for one of their strange weapons to be brought to him.
It didnt look particularly dangerous,
appearing to be a mechanism composed of wood and
iron. His soldiers had told him
that the weapons cracked like a whip and spat
fire. He was unable to make anything
out of it, seeing only a metal tube bound to a wooden
frame. Whatever it did, it had
not stopped his warriors from routing the
strangers.
He wondered if their appearance was connected
in any way with the escape of the two women from his
harem. That was an event that
had never occurred before and he had executed the men guarding the harem
for their carelessness. Since
that time he had posted men on watch in the valley behind the
palace. The rainforest in the
valley was almost impenetrable and he had expected the two women to be forced
to turn back, but no sign had been seen of them and he assumed that they
had perished in the jungle.
However, he had not quite given up hope of
finding them again. He had been surprised by the violet-eyed beauty who carried
his child before. It was just
possible that she had survived and was somewhere in the dense forest of the
canyonlands. Motioning to his
guards to follow he headed in the direction the fleeing soldiers had
taken. If they were all in the
same condition as the dead man he had inspected it shouldnt be difficult
to catch up with them and with any luck he might learn something of the
violet-eyed woman who called herself Larra.
The sound of shots echoed through the
canyons. It was difficult to
determine exactly how far away they might be, but Katie decided to take no
chances. Hide the
children, she said to Ayashe and Anom, and stay with
them. Amy and I will scout
ahead.
She reflected as she spoke that Ayashe might
actually make the better scout, but her violation at the hands of the Japanese
commander had left her badly shaken and Katie had no wish to expose the girl
to further danger.
As for the Javenese girl,
she had no martial skills and had been badly traumatized by her
experience. In addition, she
had shown a natural affinity with James and Lin
Yao.
Her decision made, Katie and Amy moved cautiously
forward. Katie thought the shots
had come from some distance away, but she was taking no chances on getting
caught again. She feared that
the firing might be connected with the absence of her three companions, but
knew it would do no good to blunder into another
trap. This time she wanted to
encounter the Japanese on her own terms.
Close to exhaustion, Lisha pushed her way
through the thick stands of bamboo.
Her badly bruised leg throbbed
with every step and she could make very little headway.
She now realized that she had
lost her way and was angry at herself for not paying better attention to
the way her captor had taken her.
She would have to backtrack and try to pick up the trail
again.
A sudden crashing sound directly in front
of her sent her pulse racing. It
sounded as if the entire forest was being torn out of the ground and from
the swaying of the giant stands of bamboo it appeared that was exactly what
was happening. An enormous grey
wall suddenly appeared in front of her and she turned and
ran.
She didnt get very
far. Her injured leg buckled
and she sprawled flat.
Instinctively she curled into a ball and rolled to one
side.
The elephant thundered by to one side of her,
missing her head with one huge foot only by
inches. Then a second beast was
upon her, one massive foot actually brushing against her
body. The impact knock her five
feet and hurled her into the tangle of bamboo, where she lay helpless, the
breath driven from her body.
Animals milled all about her and there was a babble of excited voices,
including one that seemed vaguely familiar, but once again they were speaking
a language she did not understand and so she made no sense of
it.
Then there came a voice she did
understand. Lisha, lie
still!
Lisha froze, both due to the command, but
more from the shock of hearing a voice she had not heard for more than a
year. As the elephants milling
about her came to a halt she looked up and saw that each of the huge beasts
was girthed by an elaborate saddle shaped like a small
castle. In it were perched three
warriors with a fourth just behind the elephants
head. As she watched one of the
warriors detached itself from the castle and swung to the
ground.
Lisha, the figure
said. Lishas heart
fluttered at the sound of Larras voice and then the woman she regarded
as her mistress and mentor was beside
her. Willing hands lifted her
and carried her to an open space.
Im alright, mistress, Lisha
protested, but Larra was having none of
it.
I suspect you are not, she
answered. And then said something
in a language Lisha did not know.
Immediately several men surrounded her, one holding a jug of water
to her lips.
You are
injured. Lie still. Larra
ordered.
Lisha obeyed although there were few other
people she would have paid any attention
to. While her wounds were bound
and she was given additional sips of water, she took note of Larra and her
companions.
Larra appeared a little older than she remembered
although it had only been a year.
She reflected that her disappearance had probably been accompanied
by some sort of hardship. What
was most remarkable was the armour she was
wearing. It was incredibly ornate
containing many flutings and other grooves to both strengthen and beautify
it. It was minutely engraved
with pictures of animals from some strange mythology, and covered her from
head to toe. She saw that the
men accompanying her wore similar armour and that one in particular wore
the most glorious armour of all, being inlaid with gold and
gems.
She assumed that as in her culture the display
of wealth indicated higher rank, but she made no comment, being too intent
on answering Larras questions.
What are you doing
here? Did any of the others come
with you? Do you know where they
are? When did you last see
them?
In between the barrage of questions Larra
mentioned that she had already rescued Melissa and Jia Li, and having extracted
enough information she climbed back on the
elephant. You will be safe
here, she said as the elephant began to move
off.
I have to find the
others.
With a sigh Lisha lay back and allowed the
men that had been left behind to finish binding her
wounds. Things seemed almost
back to normal.
Exhausted almost to the point of collapse,
It was not a very fitting way for a soldier
of the empire to behave, but he had no intention of dying at the hands of
primitive warriors in some god-forsaken
jungle. As he caught his breath
he realized that he was no longer being
pursued. There was also no sign
of any of his men. No doubt they
had scattered as they fled or else had been overtaken and
killed.
He finally had to admit that everything had
gone horribly wrong. But it was
not his fault, but that of the treacherous Javanese guide who had not properly
informed him of what he would be up
against. Somehow he would find
his way back to the Japanese army and return with a properly equipped
expedition.
First, however, he had to get out of this
hellhole. Steadying himself he
looked around. A few feet away
appeared to be the very trail he and his men had marched down just a few
hours ago. It appeared to be
deserted, but he stepped onto it with
caution.
Deciding that it was at least temporarily
safe he began to move back the way he had
come. It was going to be a long
tough march and he would have to find some way to live off the land, but
he was confident he could do it. If
savages could survive in the jungles then so could he.
He moved as quickly as his tired body would
allow, but took care not to move too
quickly. He had already blundered
into one disaster and had no wish to stumble into another.
As a result he came upon the
small gathering silently.
It consisted of two young women, a tall
dark-haired boy of about twelve or thirteen, and a young girl of about seven
or eight. The young women he
knew very well. He had enjoyed
both of them and he could not help salivating just thinking about those
occasions. All of them were seated
on the ground in front of a small tent and were chatting
quietly. They were completely
at his mercy as he stepped from the forest and leveled his pistol at
them.
They came to their feet with a rush, their
faces white with shock and fear.
He motioned with his pistol for them to kneel
before him, doubting that any of them would be able to understand
him. They seemed to get the message,
dropping obediently to the ground, their hands in the air.
He moved forward and grabbed the
child. She looked at him with
eyes wide, but surprisingly expressed little
fear. He noted that her eyes
were green in spite of her clearly oriental features and that she was definitely
not native to the region. It
was a bit of a mystery he would have to find the answer to, but in the meantime
he intended to make sure that she and the others remained his prisoner.
Keeping his hand on the neck of the girl to
enforce his orders he motioned with his pistol to one of the guy wires of
the tent. His meaning was clear,
he wanted his captives bound and he wanted the young boy to carry it
out. As understanding flickered
through their eyes he saw something he found most satisfying,
fear. He had them at his mercy
and they knew it.
Ayashes gut clenched so tightly she
was almost sick. But it was not
just fear of what was going to happen to
her. She was terrified that the
children who had been placed into her care were going to be
harmed. Larras
children. If anything happened
to them she would remember it for as long as she lived.
She knelt and presented her hands to James
to be bound. She felt the ropes
bite into her wrists as he drew the knots tight and knew that
She heard the Japanese officer move forward
and felt his hand between her wrists as he tested the
ropes. Still holding them, he
jerked her to her feet. Then
he checked the ropes binding Anom.
Seemingly satisfied, he turned to James, grunted something in his
own language and then motioned James to his
knees. With the boy kneeling
he took a length of rope and tied it about his
neck. Then he took the other
end and tied it around Lin Yaos tiny
throat. Throughout the terrifying
ordeal the small girl remained perfectly still, displaying a steely discipline
that Ayashe fond amazing. She
seemed to understand that her life depended on remaining absolutely calm
and obedient.
Finally finished with Lin Yao,
He then picked up one of their canteens and
drained it and then sat down on a stump about six feet away where he focused
his eyes on them and appeared to be thinking.
Ayashe could guess what was going through
his mind. It was clear that he
was close to physical collapse and was trying to think of a way to keep his
captives under control while he slept.
His torn clothing and his exhausted condition pointed to a desperate
flight through the jungle. She
wondered what he had run into that had set him into such a panic and hoped
that it might be her companions.
It was a clever
arrangement. The three older
captives were too tightly tied to escape easily and if Lin Yao moved or tried
to get rid of her ropes she would tug on the rope that that was tied to
Except for one
thing. Moving as little as possible,
Ayashe began to work on the rope end that James had secreted into the palm
of her right hand. All the while
she kept her eyes on
It was laborious to work the rope through
her fingers. James had done a
very good job of tying her, as was necessary in order to avoid
She kept calm, however, not wanting to disturb
He sat up abruptly, his eyes going to his
captives and immediately rolled out of the tent and moved toward
Ayashe. He knew that he was going
to see whether she was still properly
tied. Lying on her side, still
bent in the hogtie position, she watched him step toward
her. She would just one chance
to catch him off-guard.
She struck out with her legs just as he bent
over her. Her bound feet caught
him in the middle of his chest and hurled him backward; then she scrambled
to untie her feet.
Ayashes eyes went wide at the sight
of the long, gleaming blade. She
had seen Larra practice with such swords and knew how deadly they could be
in the hands of a trained warrior.
Her ankles still bound, she watched as
Temporarily forgotten, the young boy swung
his legs sideways and caught
His face seething with hatred
Cursing with anger,
Thats about enough of that!
Five pairs of eyes turned in the direction
of the voice. A huge blonde-haired
figure loomed just ten feet away.
Crikey, Wallace
said. Looks like I got
here just in time.
Selwins eyes bulged out of his head
as an enormous grey wall thundered toward
him. Behind him his warriors
scrambled over one another in a desperate attempt to escape the confines
of the narrow canyon. All semblance
of military order was gone as every man now sought to save only his own
life. Selwin ran too, seeking
shelter behind a large boulder with several of his
men. He was just in time as the
elephants rumbled past. In his
attempt to pursue the intruders he had crossed into the territory of his
traditional enemy. Unexpectedly
the elephants of the maharajah had caught him in a position that was perfect
for them and terrible for him.
The closest elephant lumbered by close enough
for him to touch it. He could
see every detail of the riders on its
back. For an instant his eyes
met the violet gaze of the woman who commanded the
elephant. It couldnt be,
but it was. With a sense of shock
and horror he realized that he had indeed found his escaped concubine or
rather she had found him. He
watched as the elephant slowed and then executed a ponderous
turn. The men around him scattered
and for a second he was face to face with the woman he had
raped.
It was a fleeting glance only and then he
screamed as the steel-tipped tusk of the war elephant took him full in the
chest and spit him like a chunk of
mutton. A second later a flick
of the elephants head hurled his broken body into the dust where it
was crushed under the beasts massive feet.
Larra signaled her mahout to halt the pursuit
of the fleeing Prahgans. There
was no further point in killing.
The man who had defiled her was dead and she had no wish to simply
kill his minions. There was still,
however, the matter of the Japanese.
It was important to make sure that none of them
escaped. She waited for Sundara
and the rest of his troop to assemble and then they continued in the direction
the fleeing Japanese had gone.
Alerted by the sound of heavy feet Katie and
Amy ducked into a gap in the side of the
canyon. Neither woman had any
idea what was coming their way, but it sounded
formidable.
Jesus, Katie exclaimed,
elephants.
Amy did not comment on the fact that she was
stating the obvious. She simply
crouched beside her partner and watched the majestic beasts parade
by. Then she rubbed her eyes
and looked at Katie.
Yes, the blonde said, a wide smile illuminating her face,
I saw her too.
Larra did not wait for the elephant to kneel
so that she could dismount. She
dropped from the houdah to the ground, ignoring the weight of her
armour. She ran the twenty feet
to meet her companions head on.
They embraced as best they could, considering
Larras metal carapace, tears streaking the face of each
woman. What are you doing
here? Larra asked, her voice thick with
feeling. She was not entirely
surprised, her interrogation of the Japanese soldier had told her that her
friends were near, but she was almost overcome with emotion to see friends
after so long an absence.
As quickly as they were able, considering
the emotional nature of the meeting, the three friends exchanged
information. Between them they
were able to account for everyone.
Amy and Katie were also presented to Sundara, who had watched the
meeting with bemused interest. The
ruler of the Vinayakudu was completely taken aback by the continual introduction
of new women, all of whom seemed connected to his favourite
concubine. Strange women seemed
to be popping up everywhere and even in their bedraggled appearance their
poise and beauty was more than obvious.
Between them they quickly sorted out one
anothers questions. It
was obvious that a complete telling of their stories would take some
time. In the meantime there was
one more surprise awaiting the trio of adventurers.
Katies mouth almost dropped
open. Before her was the man
she had thought was dead. But
even more astounding was his petite blonde
companion. Wallace,
she gasped, where did
you
She was about
to blurt out Where did you get
her? But changed it at
the last second. Where
did you get to? she finished lamely.
Katie, Wallace
grinned. Found, Jude here
in a native village. He
grabbed his earlobes, displaying the large
holes. Look at what they
did to my ears.
Katie did not reply, nor did she comment further
on the almost nude blonde standing next to
Wallace. Her posture and the
way she clung to Wallaces arm said it
all. He was no longer available
unless Katie wanted to fight for him, and Katie had never fought for any
man.
Amy gave Katie a sidelong
glance. The blonde suddenly grinned
and shrugged her shoulders slightly.
Life was certainly full of surprises.
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