TOMB HUNTER

The Adventures of Larra Court

Episode 7

Larra’s Saharan Adventure

Chapter 17 Rescue

Mudada grinned. Good fortune continued to smile on him. First the capture and violation of the three gorgeous Englishwomen, and now the fortuitous meeting with the strange Englishman and his Italian and German comrades. He could hardly believe the amount of gold he was being offered to guide the Englishman’s expedition to the isolated desert civilization he had stumbled across while fleeing his enemies twenty years ago.

Of course it would mean the possible loss of one of his best customers in the slave trade, but the amount offered by The Englishman was more gold than he had ever seen. And of course, there was always the possibility that the Englishmen and his followers would not survive their encounter with the mysterious civilization he had been trading with for the last few decades.

Featherstone watched the Arab slaver he had hired to lead him to the lost city of the Egyptians. It had been a stroke of luck finding the man. His maps of the lost city were none too accurate, as might be expected of documents created over a thousand years ago. Stumbling into the shifty Arab had been pure luck. It was almost as if he was destined to succeed. If he was successful he would go down in history as the greatest anthropologist and treasure hunter of all time. He wondered what that bitch, Larra Court would make of that.

Andreotti leaned toward him. Featherstone was riding between the two men he felt he could most depend on. Andreotti was on his right, while Sturm flanked his left. “How far do you think we can trust him?” the Italian officer said in a low voice.

“I don’t trust him at all,” replied Featherstone. “The man is non-Aryan scum. I suspect he and his men would have killed us all if we did not outnumber him ten to one. But he may prove useful to us until I am ready to dispose of him.”

Sturm nodded grimly. He had taken an instant dislike to the shifty-eyed Arab, feeling that it was improper to entrust a subhuman with so important a task. Now that Featherstone had revealed his real intentions regarding the crooked-toothed villain he was quite looking forward to dealing with him.

The three men fell silent as the slaver slowed his mount and allowed them to catch up. “Just little way now,” Mudada said in his fractured English. “Just past hill.” He pointed toward a rocky outcrop thrusting up from the desert floor.

“About time,” muttered Featherstone. He was tired of riding through this trackless waste. The Arab had better deliver on his promise. He had wasted enough of his life sitting on the back of a camel. He twisted in the saddle to look back at the column of men following along behind. He was down to only about a hundred now. There had not been enough camels available at the last oasis to take all of them, and the vehicles they had brought with them could not be refueled on such a long trek and so had been left behind. It was just as well, many of the Italian soldiers had become sick and they were far from reliable in a fight anyway. He had taken just the best of Andreotti’s men and the ten SS troops who accompanied Sturm. They should be more than enough to deal with any primitive civilization they were likely to meet.

Another half hour brought them to a narrow canyon. “Down here,” said Mudada.

Featherstone definitely did not trust him. He was far too shifty eyed. “You go first, He ordered. “Show us the way.”

“Might be guarded,” Mudada replied uneasily. “Could walk into ambush.”

“All the more reason for you to go first,” insisted Featherstone. “That way I’ll at least know where you are.”

“You not trust me?” Mudada cried, indignantly.

“My dear man,” Featherstone said pleasantly. “I hardly know you. Why should I trust you? Show me what you promised and perhaps I will have more faith in you.”

Mudada cursed in Arabic, but did not argue. Ordering his men to come with him he rode up the canyon, his eyes searching the rock.

“What are we going to do?” asked Amy. “They’re headed right this way.”

“They’ve been pretty badly beaten up,” said Jia Li. “They can hardly walk.”

The three women lay flat on the top of the temple platform, peering over the edge at the advancing procession. Their stunned disbelief at seeing Larra and Melissa being led in chains toward their hiding place had changed to a desire to somehow rescue their two companions. The question was how to go about doing that without being captured themselves.

“We have the advantage of surprise,” said Jia Li. “What we do not have are suitable weapons to take on so many opponents, but perhaps we can improvise.” She edged away from the top of the platform and moved back closer to the tunnel entrance that led to the cavern of fire and water. There were a number of pennons attached to wooden staffs jutting from the wall. Taking one of these in both hands she pulled it free. “This is not perfect,” she said stripping off the pennon, “but it will do in place of the real thing.” She twirled the eight foot staff expertly in her hands.

“Right,” said Katie, following her example. Both she and Amy had been trained in the use of the bo during their stay in Japan. They had received their training from the same man who had been Larra’s sensei and were expert in the use of the wooden staff.

Suitably armed the three women moved into the concealment of the tunnel entrance. It was a tremendous gamble. They were outnumbered several hundred to one, but if they could catch their opponents unprepared they might manage to confuse them badly enough to rescue their friends and escape the way they had come.

They waited as the procession climbed the long stairway. It was several hundred steps from the impressive statue-lined promenade to the top of the temple and it would take the priests, soldiers, and their prisoners several minutes to reach the top, especially at the speed Larra and Melissa were moving.

The climb to the top of the temple seemed endless. Exhausted from being repeatedly raped and brutalized, Larra and Melissa could barely place one foot in front of the other. Only the severe conditioning regimen that Larra put herself and her companions though insured that the two beaten women had enough energy to mount the steps. Even so it was a near thing, especially for Melissa who was forced to put her weight on her injured leg. Every step was blinding agony, and it took all of her fierce spirit to keep on moving. For Larra it was not much better. The high priest had left the arrow shaft imbedded in her shoulder, and she had to fight to remain conscious. All that kept her going was the fear of what might be done to her if she faltered. Somehow she had to keep going, for Melissa’s sake if nothing else. Once again one of her adventures had drawn in one of her innocent friends. She could not abandon the girl even if she was helpless to save her.

They were almost at the top. Just a few more steps. Larra wondered what horrors awaited her and Melissa on the temple platform. The high priest had most certainly not brought them there for their health. Neither she nor Melissa had revealed the whereabouts of the Eye of Thoth. Larra knew that Melissa couldn’t; she had hidden the gem when the girl wasn’t looking. She had not done this because the girl couldn’t be trusted. Larra knew Melissa far better than that. She had done it because Melissa might tell simply to protect Larra. More than anything the young woman was most protective of her mentor and Larra knew it.

Three more steps. The sweat streamed from her body, mixing with the blood that oozed from her injured shoulder. Melissa too left a trail of scarlet as she limped painfully upward. Then suddenly there was a loud scream. The sound froze the escort in their tracks and then three whirling dervishes swept into the startled priests and soldiers.

With some shock and considerably more relief, Larra and Melissa recognized the attackers at once, but to the priests and guards it was as if they had been set upon by demons. Bodies tumbled down the steps bouncing all the way to the bottom. The high priest himself barely escaped death, ducking under a viciously aimed blow and hurling himself backward. As it was he severely sprained his ankle as he leaped down a dozen steps and landed awkwardly on one leg. Screaming in pain he ordered the dozens of soldiers and priests who had accompanied him to attack, but so bold was the assault that most of his men fled in panic, leaving the three astoundingly beautiful women in control of the top of the temple.

It was a decisive, but unfortunately temporary, victory. The three women could not possible hope to carry the attack any farther than they did. Already dozens of soldiers were charging up the steep incline. Soon the three rescuers would be faced with an overwhelming number of foes. But it had never been their intent to vanquish the army of guards and priests, just free their friends, and they had done that. While Jia Li acted as a rear guard, Katie and Amy jumped to the aid of Larra and Melissa. Taking each of the injured women under one arm they guided them toward the tunnel that led to the cavern of fire and water.

“Go,” said Jia Li, “I will try to hold them in this narrow place.” She stood in the doorway to the tunnel. She had discarded her improvised staff and was now armed with a pair of swords she had salvaged from the guards. They were short-bladed weapons similar to those she had trained with in China when learning her battle skills. They were of a different weight, but they would do. Her only concern was that she would be vulnerable to missiles. She was counting on the fact, however, that the attacking soldiers would be overconfident when faced with a lone woman. She would fight a battle of retreat, luring her attackers into the confines of the tunnel where they would be forced to come at her one at a time. Confident in her ability, she had no doubt that her opponents were in for a rude surprise.

Katie and Amy had the good sense not to argue with her. They knew that of the three the Manchu girl was by far the most adept in hand to hand combat, as she had proven on many occasions. And someone had to look after Larra and Melissa. It was obvious that the two battered and beaten women could not escape on their own.

The first wave hit Jia Li just a minute after her companions had disappeared into the tunnel. As she had surmised the ibis-headed guards came at her in a rush, making little or no attempt to fight scientifically. They ran into a mincer. Her use of the twin blades was masterful. Moving her arms faster than the eye could follow, the gleaming steel blurred in her hands. The screams of pain from the men she cut to pieces told of her skill. Within a few seconds a small mound of bodies clogged the mouth of the tunnel. Retreating a few steps to prevent her adversaries from throwing spears or releasing arrows at her, she once again assumed a defensive stance.

She grinned wryly as a shower of missiles struck the place that she had just vacated. Her opponents were learning. She readied herself for the next attack. It came within moments, but now the soldiers had to clamber over the bodies of their dead comrades. Jia Li methodically slaughtered them one by one; and then she was alone.

The tunnel was now piled high with the bodies of dead and dying men, making it almost impossible for anyone to mount a coordinated attack on her. She had to make a decision. Did she stay where she was and continue to cover the retreat of her friends or did she join them? They had only had a few minutes to make good their escape. She decided to give them a bit more time. Remaining alert, she waited to see what would happen.

“Leave me,” Larra gasped. “You’ll just get caught. There’s no point in all of us being taken.”

“Nonsense,” replied Katie. “We didn’t come all this way just to leave you here.” She glanced at Amy who was helping Melissa walk. The redhead returned her look and nodded. The heat from the giant gas flare was once again sapping their strength. It was time to return the way they had come. Holding the two women they helped them toward the steep path that led to the outside world. At that point everything went wrong.

There was no warning, but suddenly from several directions at once dozens of guards swarmed toward them. At first both Katie and Amy thought that Jia Li had been overwhelmed, but then they realized that the soldiers seemed to be coming out of the rocks themselves, no doubt from entrances that the women had not realized existed. Weaponless, Katie and Amy were forced to defend themselves using unarmed combat, but there were just too many opponents. And this time the tables were turned; it was their adversaries who had the advantage of surprise. They were simply overwhelmed by sheer force of numbers.

Jia Li slowly retreated. There seemed to be no pursuit and it was time to join the others. Congratulating herself on her rear-guard action she never even saw the man who struck her. He caught her as she entered the cavern. As her eyes widened in shock at the horde of soldiers who were rounding up her companions a guard who had been standing to one side of the entrance to the cavern rammed the butt of his spear into the side of her head. Stunned she fell to her knees and was easy picking for the wave of soldiers who descended upon her. In a few seconds she was overwhelmed and trussed up like her companions. She could not help looking into the eyes of Katie and Amy. The despair and shock on their faces was obvious. In trying to save their friends they had become prisoners themselves. Bewildered they struggled helplessly to escape while at the same time wondering what their fate would be.

They didn’t have to wait long. They were hustled into cool chambers hidden behind clefts in the rock. This was where the surprise attack had come from. Waiting for them was a rather dumpy little man wearing an impressive jewel-encrusted ibis headdress. Melissa already knew him as the high priest, but it was not difficult for the others to figure out who he was. He issued orders crisply to the guards. The women were separated, Larra and Melissa being dragged from the room toward the main cavern and the three “rescuers” being hauled off to side rooms.

Djeserka could hardly believe the turn of events. It was clear that the gods were playing with him. They certainly had a strange sense of humour. First two beautiful women, then three, and now three more. But he had managed to capture them all and now he and his men would use them as women were intended to be used. He would see to the torture of the two women who had stolen the Eye of Thoth himself. And while he did, his priests and soldiers would enjoy the others. He licked his lips. The next few hours promised to be most interesting and enjoyable.

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