Adventures at the Earth’s Core

Adventures in the Lost World

Episode 1

Atawna and the Lost World

Chapter 8 Captives

Atawna’s eyes hurt, but she forced herself to open them. She was lying in an elevated cage that was suspended by ropes about ten feet off the ground. Her few possessions were gone, including her clothing. She was near the edge of an encampment that was surrounded by walls of stone on three sides. It was a natural amphitheatre, the stone cliffs rising up over two hundred feet. Spread out along its base was a village consisting of over a hundred stone huts thatched with palm fronds. The walls of the amphitheatre obviously provided almost unlimited building material and the inhabitants of the village had made good use of it. Spreading out beyond the amphitheatre was the rainforest, but the inhabitants of the village had constructed a large stone wall to keep out any intruders.

Carved out of the stone cliffs in the very centre of the amphitheatre were a series of pyramid-like steps standing over thirty feet tall. On the topmost step was a strange four armed idol. It appeared to be part man, part woman as it had the sexual appendages of both and a head that was half male and half female. In front of the idol was an altar, its surface caked with the blackened blood of countless victims.

Atawna took this all in without the slightest sensation of ear. What she found most interesting was the other three cages beside her. They were all hung in a row, about five feet apart. She was in one of the middle cages. Next to her was her sister Chara. She appeared to be sleeping and like her had been stripped naked. On the other side of her was a cage containing a strange young woman. She was curled up, her eyes closed, but Atawna could see enough of her to determine that she was very beautiful. This must be James’ mate, the woman they had set out to rescue, only to be taken prisoner themselves. Farthest away from her, in the cage next to his mate was the cage occupied by James. She noted with interest that he too was naked. For a few seconds she studied him. She might not get this chance again. She didn’t want him to catch her looking at him and as long as he was asleep he could not object.

He was magnificent. She noted that he was powerfully muscled, but not in the way that the men of the Trelana were. His muscles were long and smooth and she suspected he was possessed of great strength, although of a different kind than she was used to. Trelana men were developed to move through the trees, but James was clearly a ground dweller. She felt sorry for him because of that, but could not help admiring his powerful physique. If only he did not already have a mate she might have been able to overlook his clumsiness in the treetops.

He stirred as she watched, rolling over onto his back. Now she could see a part of his anatomy that had been previously concealed. Her eyes widened. It appeared that James must have been having a very interesting dream because what was revealed was most impressive. Atawna’s breath quickened as her imagination took over. There was a dull ache between her thighs that longed to be soothed. Then her eyes went back to the cage containing James’ mate and she frowned. If only there was some way of getting rid of her then she would have James all to herself.

James groaned and awoke. He experienced a few moments disorientation while he remembered what had happened to him and then he was suddenly awake. “Oh no,” he thought. The realization that he was completely naked struck him at the same time as he noticed the eyes of the beautiful jungle girl upon him. Scrambling, he made a half-hearted effort to cover himself and then stopped. His mother had raised him to be proud of his body. He certainly had nothing to be ashamed of. Standing over six-feet-two inches tall, and powerfully muscled, he had an imposing presence. He had inherited both his mother’s and father’s good looks, a fact that had made him the target of numerous female socialites. As he returned Atawna’s stare he wished only that his dreams had been a little less erotic. It was a little embarrassing to be facing a girl with a partial erection.

A sound from Lin Yao distracted him. “Oh James,” she said. “I’m so glad you’re awake. I must have fallen asleep.”

James looked at his naked sister and then glanced away. “What’s going on?” he asked. “Why are we in these cages and who put us here?”

“I don’t know,” Lin Yao answered. She spoke calmly, but James sensed that she was quite frightened.

“These savages didn’t do anything to you did they?” he asked. Horrible thoughts of what men did to the women they captured flashed through his mind.

“No,” Lin Yao answered. “One of them tried to… to… But he was stopped by the others. I don’t know what happened to him. And I don’t know why we were put in these cages. Maybe they think we are some sort of enemy.”

James did not ask for more details of what had happened to his sister. It was obvious from her answer that she had come close to being violated and he didn’t want to cause her further distress. He could imagine how horrible it must have been for her; surrounded by strange men, one of whom had tried to rape her. And then there was the matter of her nudity. She must be feeling frightfully embarrassed to say the least. As much to distract her mind from her plight James talked of his adventures, filling her in on his encounter with the pack of savage animals that had tried to kill him and the two girls in the other cages.

He studied the situation they were in. There seemed no easy way to escape. The cages were in plain sight of everyone in the village and a number of warriors stood guard. The stone pyramid was a bit disturbing. There were a number of blackish stains on its surface that resembled dried blood. It was highly disturbing to say the least. About that time the other jungle girl woke up, distracting James from his survey.

Chara immediately began bombarding Atawna with questions, most of which she was unable to answer. A few she did not care to answer.

“Oh, look,” Chara said, staring at James. “Isn’t he handsome? And look, I think he likes you, his spear seems quite large.”

Atawna turned on her sister, angrily. “Can you never stop?” It is not me he is glad to see. That is his mate in the next cage.”

“Oh,” replied Chara, somewhat chastened. She looked at Lin Yao. “She is very pretty.”

Atawna did not reply. She didn’t need to be reminded of how attractive James’ mate was.

Starg nodded with approval as he watched the prisoners in the cages. Tonight would be a night to remember. Three virgin females. Jehk would be pleased by so noble a sacrifice. When the moon rose he would begin with the green-eyed wench. But first he would deal with Grual. The man’s selfishness was unpardonable. He would pay for his stupidity and he would pay most painfully. “Bring Grual,” he ordered the warrior at his side.

A few minutes later the cringing hyena was brought forward. “Tie him to the posts,” he ordered.

“No,” Grual cried. “Please Starg, forgive me.”

Starg ignored the man’s pleas. He reached for his whip as Grual was bound between the two posts, his arms and legs spread from his body. A cruel smile played about his lips. Now Grual would learn true pain as he was sent to the afterlife.

“What are they doing?” Chara asked, her voice pitched in disbelief. “Why would they do such a horrible thing?”

Atawna shook her head. What was being done to the helpless man was something beyond her comprehension. The people of her culture did not torture one another. She looked at James and his mate. From the looks on their faces they seemed equally horrified at what was going on.

James muttered something Atawna did not understand as he watched the brutal execution of the helpless man. His screams were horrifying.

“Swine,” James said. Lin Yao said nothing. The man being flogged to death was the warrior who had kidnapped and threatened to rape her. She had mixed feelings about his death. Even so, she did not believe that he deserved to suffer so horribly.

“What do they want with us?” Lin Yao wondered. A dull throbbing in the pit of her stomach told of her fear. She could not help but think that anyone who could flog one of their own to death would have few qualms about abusing any strangers. Their present accommodation certainly wasn’t exactly welcoming. They were prisoners and completely at the mercy of their captors. Watched by a hundred eyes she and her companions could do nothing but wait.

Her eyes went to the two strange girls James had “found.” He hadn’t told her very much about them except for the fact that they had saved his life and had helped him track her abductor. The two young women were obviously sisters although their hair colour was strikingly different, the younger being a brilliant blonde and the older girl with hair the colour of jet. But they both had the same exquisite figures and incredible blue eyes.

Lin Yao tried a smile as she looked toward the two women. The young blonde smiled back, but the older girl sent her a look that if not exactly signaling hate, was certainly not friendly. She wondered what she could possibly have done to offend a complete stranger.

Night. The camp was stirring. The warrior who had kidnapped her hung limp, his form dark against the firelight. Something important was about to happen, but Lin Yao was unable to guess what. Several rows of warriors lined the pyramid in what she supposed was a sort of honour guard or ceremonial formation. The man who had flogged her abductor to death strode into firelight. A huge headdress decorated with the feathers of exotic rainforest birds covered his head. At his waist he wore a belt of leopard skin and in a sheath attacked to the belt was what appeared to be a ceremonial dagger.

A large fire had been lit before the idol on top of the pyramid and it provided more than enough light to illuminate most of the stone village. It allowed her to see that most of the village, probably some five hundred or so people of all ages were arrayed in a semicircle facing the pyramid. She also spotted their clothing and equipment all piled neatly on one of the lower steps of the pyramid. She looked at James and noted that he had spotted the pile as well. His gun was there along with his ammunition clips.

But now something more important caught her attention. Several warriors had caught hold of the rope that supported her cage. As she watched in some trepidation the cage was lowered slowly toward the ground. As it landed several warrior armed with spears leaped forward and untied the lashing holding the door closed. Lin Yao thought about resisting and then realized that it would just be a waste of time. She was completely surrounded. She might be able to take out one or more of the warriors with a sudden attack, but she would simply be overwhelmed by the others and if they used their spears she might be injured or even killed. As they reached into he cage to pull her out she did not resist.

A few seconds later she was wishing that she had made more of a fuss. She was surrounded by the spear-carrying warriors. Her arms were pulled behind her back and tightly roped at the wrists. Then she was marched forward toward the foot of the pyramid. The man who had flogged her abductor to death and who she now realized was probably the high priest of this barbaric tribe waited for her there. A few feet from the priest the warriors holding her stopped and forced her to her knees. The priest then began to chant in a high pitched singsong voice.

From his cage James watched in growing concern. He didn’t like what he was seeing. It looked too much like one of the primitive religious ceremonies he had studied in university. Was he about to watch his kid sister sacrificed in some barbaric ceremony? He began to work at the cords holding his cage door closed.

Atawna saw James’ frenzied attempts to escape. She had been watching the proceedings with avid curiosity, unable to determine what her captors were up to. She still didn’t know, but James’ obvious concern had her studying her cage more closely. It was well constructed by the standards of her people, but put together in a way with which she was familiar. She would be able to get her out if given enough time, and if their captors continued to focus their attentions and the ceremony regarding James’s mate. However, it appeared that there might not be enough time. Already the girl was being dragged up the steps of the pyramid. She suspected that once she reached the top whatever was going to be done to her would be done.

There was a chance. Familiar with ropes from infancy she saw that the rope that held the cage was tossed over a heavy wooden beam that had been inserted into a hole chipped out of the cliff. There was a chance, however it would take time, but it might be faster than trying to untie the sun-dried rawhide strips that bound the bars of the cage together. Shifting her weight she began to swing the cage back and forth.

In the cage next to her Chara saw what her sister was up to. Grabbing the bars of her cage she began to emulate her sister.

James stopped his fruitless pawing at the rawhide bonds of his cage. Atawna had hit upon the solution. Soon his cage joined the swinging of the other two. The only questions were whether or not the barbaric villagers would continue to ignore what they were doing and whether the rope would break before Lin Yao was sacrificed. Desperately, he arched his body furiously swinging the cage in a wide arc. Somehow he had to succeed.

All this furious activity a hundred or so feet away from her was lost on Lin Yao. The high priest had finished his spiel and ordered the warriors holding her to escort her to the top of the pyramid. On either side of her and among the crowd a loud chanting began. Controlling her fear, she made no effort to resist. There were too many men close to her for her to break away and with her hands bound behind her she would simply be overpowered. She would wait until the last second and hope to catch her captors off-guard.

She was nearing the top now. Before her the flames of the sacrificial fire leaped a dozen feet into the air and behind the flames was the garish idol. And in front of the idol was a low bloodstained stone. Lin Yao’s heartbeat quickened. It was almost time. She had little real hope of escaping, but she was damned if she would go down without a fight. She intended to cause as much damage and consternation as she could.

The heat of the fire beat upon her and the chants roared in her ears. On either side of her the warriors holding her tightened their grip on her arms. It was time to act. She took out the warrior on her right first, lifting her leg and bringing her foot down hard on the man’s instep. The sensation of shattering bones and his scream of pain told her that he was finished. Then she pivoted and slammed her knee into the groin of the man on her right.

In an instant she was free, the man she had just struck tumbling down the pyramid and the warrior whose foot she had crushed joining him as she drove her foot into his chest. She turned to face the rest of the warriors swarming toward her. Her hands still bound behind her she sought some slight advantage. Driving her foot into the first man to reach her she retreated, backing around the flame to the foot of the idol. Her withdrawal forced the men coming after her to come at her in single file. Unfortunately, they could still come at her from both sides of the flame and so she stepped back again to the low altar in front of the idol. She stepped onto it gaining a slight height advantage. Now the idol was at her back, its base about the height of her waist.

Warriors came at her from either side forcing her to defend in two directions. Placing her bound hands on the edge of the altar she used it as a fulcrum, striking in a wide sweep of her right leg toward the warrior on her left. Her foot caught him on the side of the head, knocking him into the pit containing the roaring fire. With a horrible shriek the warrior writhed in the flames, but Lin Yao was already spinning toward her next opponent, shifting her weight onto her right foot and striking with her left.

She didn’t catch the next attacker as cleanly as the first. Seeing the fate of his comrade he pulled up short and Lin Yao’s foot caught him only a glancing blow, but it was enough to send him staggering down the stairs. Other warriors continued to converge on her. They came at her more cautiously and several of them had their spears lowered.

Lin Yao had almost run out of places to retreat. Only the base of the idol remained. Stepping upward she faced her enemies, the idol now against her back. As she leaned against the stone she felt it shift slightly. Surprisingly, the heavy stone idol was balanced on a completely inadequate pedestal. An idea flashed through her head and she moved even as she thought of it. Behind the idol was a half wall with enough space between it and the idol for her to lean into and brace her feet against the heavy chunk of teetering stone. Pushing hard she shoved the idol forward. For a second the massive chunk of stone seemed to hesitate and then it slowly toppled forward gaining speed as gravity took over. With an enormous crash it fell into the fire pit, breaking into hundreds of lumps of flying stone that scattered into the men surging up the stairs of the pyramid.

There was a sudden silence as the savage tribe beheld the spectacle of their stone god turned into broken rubble and then there was a scream of rage from the high priest. A score of warriors surged toward Lin Yao. Cooly, she kicked at them from her perch atop the pedestal, but there were simply too many. One caught hold of her foot and then a dozen other hands reached for her. Still kicking and bucking she was pulled from the pedestal and then dragged down the steps of the pyramid.

Starg was incoherent with rage. His body shook as he beheld the ruin of his god. He had been mistaken. The dark-haired green eyed beauty was not a perfect virgin sacrifice. She was a demon who had destroyed his god. She must be punished and punished most cruelly.

She was dragged before him, her chest heaving as she continued to struggle. He had badly underestimated her. Who would have thought that so beautiful a girl could prove so deadly and destructive? He licked his lips as he looked at her. Despite the fact that her perfect features had been bruised in the struggle there was no denying her incredible beauty. She had failed as a sacrifice, but she would serve as a mate for one of his warriors once she had been properly punished and broken in. “Tie her to the whipping post,” he ordered.

Lin Yao continued to fight as she was hauled toward the upright posts that still held the body of her dead abductor. The bloody corpse hung limp and was covered with hordes of insects. The sight sickened her and was all the more frightening as she realized that she was about to share the same fate. Her struggles, however, were in vain. She was about at the end of her strength and she was being pushed and pulled toward the whipping posts by four warriors. They pulled her between the posts and forcing her to her knees untied her wrists. Several men kept hold of her while her arms were pulled straight out to the sides and secured to rings in each post. In her crouched position she could not rise as the high priest stepped behind her wielding his whip. As he lifted her hair out of the way she fought to control her trembling. In her mind was the fact that her mother had endured situations like this and survived. She was Larra Court’s daughter. She would live up to the tradition of bravery. If she was to die she would do so with as much fortitude as she could muster.

Starg raised his whip. It was a ritual flogging only. He would not kill her. She was much too beautiful to kill and he wanted to be the one to take her virginity. He would, however, make sure that her punishment for her sacrilege was as painful as possible. Taking a deep breath he brought the whip down.

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