Adventures in the Lost World

Episode 1

Atawna and the Lost World

Chapter 12 Mummy

“Enough!” Larra Court said. “I’m going after them.”

A few feet away, her close companion Melissa Gallant moved toward her. “Right, then I’m going with you. Lin Yao and James are just as important to me as they are to you.”

Larra’s violet eyes smiled as she turned toward her friend. “Of course,” she said. “I was expecting nothing less.”

Two other women stepped forward. “I too will accompany you,” said a tall dark-skinned woman. “I am much more familiar with this environment than anyone else.”

Larra nodded toward Lisha. The Ullabomban princess had been with her ever since the day she had saved Larra’s life almost 15 years ago. She had given up her people and her culture in order to join Larra in a life of adventure.

The other woman was dramatically different from the tall African. Lisha stood slightly over six feet tall and her skin was a black as midnight. Ayashe, although tall for a Dene woman was six inches shorter and weighed twenty pounds less. However, she too was fiercely loyal to Larra ever since becoming accidentally involved in Larra’s trip to Arctic Canada. More comfortable with the colder temperatures of the Canadian north, she had nevertheless shown that she could endure tropical heat as well as any of Larra’s companions.

“If you think I am staying here to watch the camp you are sorely mistaken,” Ayashe said. “I love Lin Yao and James as much as anyone and I am going with you.”

Larra smiled, her beautiful face slighting up. She had expected nothing less from her companions. “Well then,” she grinned. “I guess we better get started.”

Larra and her female cohorts quickly began to assemble the equipment they would need for their rescue expedition. They wasted little time, their movements practiced and efficient.

Any observers watching the women in action would have found any of the women incredibly attractive. Few would have guessed that the youngest of them, Ayashe was almost thirty years old and that their youthful leader was pushing forty five. But neither would they know that Larra had long ago found the secret of eternal youth, a mystical stone called the Eye of Thoth that was capable of reversing the aging process. As a result none of the women appeared older than twenty-five, an age that Larra found appropriately mature while allowing her to maintain her youthful appearance,

They loaded a rubber dingy similar to the one in which Lin Yao had been swept away. Larra and her friends had nothing more to go on. They would follow the river in the direction they had last seen her daughter and son. With luck they might find them somewhere along its banks.

They pushed off into the stream. Unlike Lin Yao, Larra and her companions knew how to handle the raft. Two aside they manned the paddles and stroked the craft into midstream. Immediately the current caught the raft and swept it downstream. Within seconds they were tracing the route taken by James and Lin Yao.

It took all their skill not to overturn as they rushed past huge boulders thrusting up from the streambed. As she paddled furiously Larra could not help but wonder how James and Lin Yao had fared as they hurtled past the giant rocks. It would have been so easy to strike one and be pitched out of the raft into the foaming water. What would be their chances of survival if that happened? The river was roaring between step cliffs. Once in the water it would be almost impossible to find any way to get out. She would just have to hope that somehow her son and daughter had made it through.

The river swept the raft several miles downstream. It took an hour of hard paddling to keep the raft from overturning before they finally came to a stretch of calm water. Here there was a rocky beach between high cliffs. There was a possibility that James and Lin Yao might have survived to reach it. The four women paddled toward the shore and spotted the raft almost at once. It was pulled neatly up on the beach and secured to a large boulder.

Larra breathed a sigh of relief. Here was proof her son and oldest daughter had survived. Beaching their own raft the four women piled out. It didn’t take them long to figure out what had happened.

“They must have gone up the cliff,” said Ayashe. “There would be no way for them to return upstream.”

Almost as one the other women murmured agreement. “Well,” Larra said. “We’ll just have to go after them.”

They unloaded their raft. With Ayashe’s tracking skills it didn’t take long to find the spot where James and Lin Yao had scaled the cliff. With practiced efficiency they packed up their equipment. A few minutes later they were headed for the top. With any luck they would be able to find Lin Yao and James without difficulty.

It didn’t take long for all four women to reach the top of the cliff. Unlike James and Lin Yao they had come prepared with climbing equipment and proper footwear. They hauled their packs up after them and prepared to move off. Larra guessed that James would try to make his way back toward their base camp and so they headed off in that direction. Well armed and welled equipped they strode off with confidence. With any luck they would find Larra’s missing children in short order.

Larra kept up a brisk pace. James and Lin Yao were not well-equipped to survive long in as dangerous a place as the Lost World. It was a bit annoying really. She was hot on the trail of a most interesting archeological discovery and this distraction was an unnecessary diversion. When she caught up with her wayward children she would give them an earful. Her thoughts mellowed a little as she thought about James and Lin Yao. She hoped that they were alright. If anything happened to either of them she would never forgive herself. She had only brought them on the expedition because they had both begged to be taken along.

James’s arguments had been most convincing. “What am I going to do with all of this education and training? I’m twenty-two years old and all I’ve ever done is study. Surely I’m old enough to go on my first expedition.”

Larra had finally agreed. James did belong with her. Lin Yao was another matter, but Larra had always found it difficult to refuse anything her vivacious green-eyed daughter wanted. Once Lin Yao had found out James was going she had nagged Larra every day until she had finally given in. Now she regretted that she had been so indulgent.

The unexpected always seemed to occur. This was supposed to be an expedition to follow up Larra’s first great archeological triumph, the discovery of the temple of Jiu Yue. At long last she had found the time to completely translate the ancient book that had sent her in search of the ancient temple. Her research had been most interesting, promising something that would rival any of her previous archeological discoveries. The sooner she found Lin Yao and James the better. She quickened her pace. She would find her children and then get on with her work.

A few miles away Colonel Vasily Antonov spat in the dust as he looked around the deserted camp. The black Africans had fled the instant he and his men had shown up, an event that did not surprise him. What was surprising and most annoying was the fact that the four women who were supposed to be here were missing. Stupidly, not one of his men had thought to stop any of the Africans from escaping. Now they had captured an empty camp and had lost any element of surprise they might have had. If Miss Court and her lackeys were anywhere nearby they were no doubt alerted.

“Oleg,” he called.

“Yes Comrade Antonov,” a hulking brute of a man replied. He shambled closer and Anotonov had to hide his distaste. He did not like Oleg Vishinsky, but he had to admit the man was good at what he did. He had been trained by Lavrenti Beria himself and that meant Antonov had been forced to include him in the expedition whether he wanted to or not. It was almost certain, however, that Vishinsky had been sent as much to spy on the expedition’s members for his brutal master as he had been to help in the capture of the mysterious Miss court.

He didn’t like the way things were developing. He had been placed in charge of the expedition only to have Vishinsky and the strange foreigner added at the last minute. It was bad enough with Vishinsky hanging over his shoulder watching his every move, but now he also had to put up with this foreign agent. The bastard wasn’t even Russian, even though he spoke it fluently. And he had a name that was almost impossible to pronounce. Unfortunately, orders were orders. He would just have to put up with the foreigner until the mission was completed.

The problem was that the man had considerable authority and was allowed independent action in the expedition. That did not make a lot of sense. A well-led company could only have one leader and now there were three. Theoretically Antonov outranked the other two men, but their special status meant that they could be trouble.

Antonov had tried to puzzle out exactly why Beria wanted the famous woman archeologist and Nazi hunter captured but he was at a loss. If the British discovered what he was up to in central Africa it would certainly create an international incident. And then there were the Americans. Rumour had it that they were just as interested in finding her as Beria was. That was enough for Antonov. If the Americans wanted her then it was imperative that he find her before they did and learn what special information she possessed.

He had almost had her. He had missed her by just a day, closing in on her estate near Montreal, Canada only to find that she had left on some “archeological” adventure in central Africa. He was quite certain that the expedition was nothing more than a front for something much more sinister, otherwise why would Beria have sent him after her with Vishinsky in tow?

It made sense. Larra Court was the epitome of the rich pampered member of the bourgeoisie; a ruthless exploiter of the masses who used her considerable wealth for self-aggrandizement. He had seen her estate on Montreal. Only a decadent capitalist would live in such opulent splendour while the poor of the city lived in filth and squalor. She was like a member of the English aristocracy, lording it over the poor downtrodden French Canadians that served her.

He had spent the last month chasing her around the world, always a day or so behind. He had no idea where she was going so he had been forced to trail along in her wake as she flitted from place to place with her entourage. And that was another thing about her. Why did she travel in the company of so many women? He had his suspicions. No doubt the exalted explorer used her expeditions as a way of indulging her lesbian passions.

“Yes, Comrade?” Vishinsky said again. He was waiting for orders.

“Take five men and see if you can run down one of the blacks who scattered into the forest. We need to find out what happened to that capitalist bitch and her collection of whores.”

Vishinsky nodded. Turning he shouted orders and soon had a squad of five men to accompany him. Without waiting for further orders he headed off in the direction he had seen some of the blacks run. With any luck they wouldn’t have gone far.

Antonov headed for the centre of the camp. The largest tent was there and he figured it was probably the one used by Miss Court. Perhaps there would be a clue as to her mission in her personal effects.

Inside the tent everything seemed in place. It was a woman’s tent alright, containing various feminine articles and personal items. However, it offered no clue as to her mission. Discouraged, Antonov left the tent just in time to see Vishinsky returning. Behind him were the men he had taken with them and they were escorting a very frightened looking black African. Finally something positive. Perhaps now he would learn what he had been sent to find and what Larra Court was doing in one of the most remote parts of the African continent.

An hour later Antonov walked away shaking his head. Vishinsky certainly was good at what he did. Too good. The black porter had screamed horribly as he was questioned. There was no doubt in Antonov’s mind that he knew nothing. All he had been able to tell them was some garbled story about Miss Court and her entourage of sluts heading downstream to look for her daughter and son. There was nothing to do but wait. Clearly the camp had not been abandoned. Larra Court would return and when she did he and his men would be waiting.

PREVIOUS CHAPTER WIZARD'S LAIR MAIN PAGE L'ESPION'S STORY PAGE NEXT CHAPTER