Adventures at the Earth’s Core

Adventures in the Lost World

Episode 1

Atawna and the Lost World

Chapter 9 Lin Yao’s Initiation

Lin Yao winced as the lash bit into her flesh. “Eighteen,” she thought. She had not cried out in spite of the incredible pain as the whip flayed her skin, but she was trembling violently and she had bitten her lower lip so hard that it bled. She knew that she could not hold out much longer without screaming.

“Nineteen.” A whimper escaped her lips. She was close to breaking.

“Twenty.” Her breathing was uncontrolled, coming in harsh gasps. She felt a scream rising in her throat. She waited for the next blow. Nothing came. Hands gripped her arms and she almost cried out as she was hauled to her feet. She was dragged to the high priest, her legs no longer able to support her. “What now?” She wondered. Why had the beating stopped? She had expected not expected to get off so lightly, if being beaten to the edge of unconsciousness could be considered light.

“Aahh!” she gasped in pain as her bloody back was swabbed. A smile flickered across the high priest’s face. She had been caught off guard and the shock of having her lacerations cleaned hit her like a physical blow. She held back her cry as a stinging fluid was rubbed into her back. Then she was jerked to her feet and hauled toward a low wooden frame. Although her arms and legs were free she was now too weak to attempt to escape. Wondering what was going to be done to her next, she allowed her captors to pull her to the frame and lay her across it.

The warriors on either side held her tight, pulling her bleeding back into the wooden framework. Then two more seized her legs and slowly pulled them apart. Lin Yao knew even before she saw the high priest remove his loincloth what was going to happen to her. Then her nerve broke.

“No!” she cried as the high priest moved between her legs. His manhood bobbed in front of her, swollen to what to her was unbelievable proportions. “Oh please no!” she begged, ignoring the fact that the high priest had no knowledge of her language.

The high priest smiled. Her reaction was exactly what he had hoped. Now he would truly punish her for her sacrilege by taking from her what was most valuable. Moving forward he slipped between her velvet thighs and prepared to take her.

James watched in horror as the high priest prepared to rape his sister. The ordeal of watching her desperate fight and subsequent flogging had him almost frantic. He burned with rage but was helpless to do more than watch as Lin Yao struggled helplessly.

Alongside him Atawna swung her cage smoothly. Her rope was almost worn through. She had been more disgusted than anything else by what had been done to Lion Yao. No women deserved that sort of treatment, even one who was the mate of the man she wanted for herself. She looked up. The rope would snap at any second allowing her cage to drop to the ground. With any luck the impact would break open the bamboo bars and allow her to escape. Fortunately no one in the village had noticed what was going on. All of their attention was focused on what was being done to James’ mate.

Twang! The rope parted. Atawna had just enough time to brace herself before the cage struck the ground. She grabbed the top bars, adding her weight to the cage and hoping that it would help burst the bars.

Crunch! The cage hit the ground snapping several of the rawhide bindings. It left a gap just large enough for Atawna to squeeze through. She looked quickly toward the crowd of villagers surrounding Lin Yao. They were completely absorbed in her punishment. A few yards away was her knife. Moving quickly across the intervening space she retrieved it and then darted back to the other cages. James and Chara were still swinging their cages, but they stopped as Atawna returned.

It took her only a few seconds to cut through the bindings holding of James’ and Chara’s cages. James pushed through the bars. He immediately headed for his pistol and ammunition clips. Would he be in time to save Lin Yao?

Lin Yao sobbed as she was deflowered. Her hideous nightmare would not stop. The high priest sank his shaft into her virginal depths robbing her of her virtue. She had never thought to lose her virginity like this. It was all so horrible. Strangely she found herself wondering what her mother would say when she found out. And then her attention was wrenched back to ordeal as the high priest took her left nipple between his teeth and bit down on the tender bud. She whimpered in pain, too exhausted and ashamed to attempt to resist any more.

Brutally the high priest took the maiden. He made no attempt to be gentle. He wanted the she-devil to suffer as much as possible and he sank his shaft into her with a callous disregard for her cries of pain. She no longer offered any resistance, but lay sobbing as he enjoyed her. Rising from her breasts, he seized one of them in each hand and squeezed down, extruding the soft flesh between his fingers. “Demon,” he thought. “You will be punished.”

Starg never heard the thundering roar of James’ Browning .45. The front of his head was already blown off. To the members of his tribe, however, the sound was like the crack of doom as it echoed off the stone amphitheatre, amplified by the curvature and reflective qualities of the stone surface. The assembled villagers turned toward the source of the sound. In front of them stood the naked form of the strange man they had captured. Many immediately shrank back, especially those nearest their dead priest. To them it was as if he had been struck down by a thunderbolt. Other, however, raised their weapons and moved toward him.

Booooom! Booooom! Booooom! The sound of the Browning reverberated throughout the village as James fired again. The bullets tore through the warriors opposing him each slug actually killing two or three of them. Almost as one the survivors turned and fled, disappearing into the rainforest with cries of terror.

Atawna and Chara stared wide-eyed at James. They had never conceived of any man having such a weapon, but James was paying them no attention. He sprang forward and took Lin Yao in his arms. She was weeping softly, too debilitated and mortified to move. All of her strength was gone and she hung limply in his arms as he lifted her. Turning he carried her to the shelter of one of the huts. Placing her gently in one of the hammocks that served as beds for the villagers he tried to make her comfortable.

“It’s OK now, Sis,” he said. “I’ll make sure no one hurts you.” It seemed a silly thing to say after what Lin Yao had just been through, but it was all he could think of.

“Don’t leave me,” Lin Yao whispered. “Don’t leave me.”

“I won’t,” James promised. “Just lie back. I have to look at your wounds.”

Lin Yao closed her eyes as James rolled her onto her side. She felt safe now. Her brutal ordeal had ended. Reaction to what she had been through took over and she took refuge in exhaustion, letting sleep sweep over her.

Atawna and Chara held back, their eyes full of wonder as they looked at James. What sort of a creature was he? They had thought him strange and somewhat clumsy, but never had they suspected he had such power.

“Perhaps he is a forest devil,” suggested Chara.

Atawna shook her head. “No, there is no such thing as a forest devil.”

“Mother said there was,” insisted Chara. “She said one would eat me if I didn’t behave.”

“There is no forest devil,” Atawna repeated. She gathered up her skimpy clothes and put them on. Then warily, she approached James carrying his clothing and that of his mate.

“Thanks,” James said. He dared not leave Lin Yao. She seemed to be in shock and had withdrawn into some sort of comatose state.

Atawna looked at him uncomprehendingly and James remembered that she didn’t speak a word of his language. Unfortunately, he spoke the same amount of hers. The girl looked at him for a few more seconds and then James remembered that he was completely nude. Somewhat self-consciously he took his clothes and put them on. While he was dressing Atawna moved past him and began to examine Lin Yao.

Atawna nodded. The wounds crisscrossing the girl’s back needed tending. She still had some of the medicines she had used to treat the burns she and Chara had received from the fiery mountain. Quickly she took out the crushed herbs and began to smear them over Lin Yao’s wounds.

“What are you doing?” James asked, somewhat alarmed. Atawna signed to him as best she could that she was treating Lin Yao’s injuries. James nodded. The strange jungle girl he had discovered seemed to have diverse talents.

Atawna finished attending to Lin Yao and then signed to James that they should leave. James nodded. The village certainly wasn’t safe. The villagers could return at any time and if they overcame the fear of his Browning they could overwhelm them by force of numbers. And he hadn’t forgotten the blowgun darts the warriors had used against him the first time. The only problem was how to deal with Lin Yao. She was unconscious and would have to be carried. There was little choice; however, they couldn’t stay where they were.

Picking up his sister, James headed for the trees in the direction opposite that most of the villagers had taken. A minute later they were among the trees. A short way into the forest Atawna stopped and gestured toward the canopy. For a second James looked puzzled and then he understood. The jungle girl wanted to move into the treetops. He shook his head. There was no way of taking Lin Yao with them.

Atawna pointed to herself and then Lin Yao. Then she pointed again to the treetops. Without waiting for a reply she stepped forward and lifted Lin Yao from James’ arms. She did it so smoothly and effortlessly that he hardly had time to protest.

“Wait,” he said. “She’s too heavy. You can’t…”

He watched in amazement as Atawna slung his sister over her shoulders and headed up the trunk of the nearest tree, using the lianas that wound about the trunk as a natural ladder. In seconds her shapely backside along with Lin Yao had disappeared into the foliage. “Well,” James said. “I guess you can after all. The question is how am I going to get up there?”

A small hand on his arm answered his question. Chara stood there, an inviting smile on her youthful face. James grinned. “All right. Here goes nothing.”

Fifteen minutes later he was ninety feet above the forest floor. He hadn’t depended too much on Chara. It was a bit embarrassing for a grown man to have to depend on a fifteen-year-old girl for help. Atawna had propped Lin Yao up in a crotch formed by the division of the trunk into three branches. It formed a natural bowl about eight feet across. There was enough room for all four of them to sit comfortably.

As soon as they were settled Atawna and Chara disappeared. James was mystified by this until they returned about an hour later with fruits, nuts, and berries that they had gathered from the forest. “Damn,” James thought. “If it wasn’t for these two I’d starve to death.” His admiration for the dark-haired jungle girls and her blonde sister grew every minute. Was there anything they couldn’t do?”

Through all this Lin Yao slept, except for a couple of occasions when she briefly awoke. Finding James next to her she snuggled up to him and went back to sleep. “That’s it little sister,” he thought. “Sleep and get well.” He settled himself into as comfortable a position as he could find and waited.

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