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Kiana
The
Untamed
Episode
1
Phantom
of the
Chapter
1 Two
Women
Ethiopia 2004
Sleek and powerful, the great body of the jungle beast quivered in
anticipation. Beside it, her
supple brown curves blending in with that of the black leopard, lay Kiana,
her
Their surprise was total. Lying downwind of the approaching herd of impala, the animals had no notion of their presence until they burst from their place of concealment. Kitty’s roar temporarily paralyzed the victim he had selected as did Kiana’s high pitched scream. The terrified animal had no chance. Both fierce predators arrived almost simultaneously, the great cat sinking his fangs deep into the neck of the petrified animal just as Kiana thrust home her spear. The death was quick and clean. In seconds the impala lay dead, its feet twitching spasmodically as its lifeblood drained from it.
Kitty took time only to drag the body of the impala into a thicket where he could better protect his prize before beginning to tear off chunks of still warm meat with his huge fangs. Kiana took more time to prepare her food. Using the flint and steel she always carried with her, she soon had a small fire going. Then she made her way to the side of the feasting leopard and cut herself a generous chunk of meat. Spitting it on a green branch, she hung it over the fire and waited.
She smiled at Kitty. Hunting with him was good. They always seemed to come up with something. Kitty returned her stare, gulping down a large hunk of bleeding meat. He never quite understood why his hunting partner chose to burn her food.
While she waited for her meal to be properly seared Kiana took out some tropical fruit she had picked earlier and munched thoughtfully. She had come across some tracks earlier in the day. They were tracks such as she had never seen, and they had piqued her curiosity. Some strange creature had entered her forest and she determined that she would find out what it was.
A few minutes later her meat was ready. It still dripped blood, but it was cooked well enough for her. She lacked the power of Kitty’s jaws, and preferred to use fire to tenderize her meat, but she wasn’t fanatical about it. Opening her mouth she sank her even white teeth into the meat, allowing the juice to dribble down her chin.
“I said medium rare, not raw,” complained Danielle
Richards. She
sighed. She really shouldn’t
be whining about the quality of the food.
After all, she was in the wilds of
Across the camp table Delzinga burped
loudly. “Roughing it is
really not your style is it?” He grinned, once again fixing his eyes
on the V where the curve of
Danielle did not reply. She really
did not like
Delzinga.
It had been a mistake hiring him.
The man was rude, insubordinate and not particularly good at his
job. But she had found out all
of that too late. Now they were
deep in the wilds of
It had been quite an operation to reach the almost inaccessible valley deep
within the remote canyon lands of
Unfortunately, Delzinga, the guide she had hired
due to his knowledge of the African outback, had his own
agenda. It turned out that he
had made a pretty good living smuggling rare specimens of wildlife before
he had been run out of the
“I think I’ll turn in,” Danielle said. “We’ve got work to do tomorrow.”
“Sure,” Delzinga leered. He watched the tall blonde move toward her tent. Even dressed in unflattering khaki pants and a white cotton blouse the woman exuded sexuality. There was no way anything less than covering her with a sack could hide those lush breasts, and her narrow waist and long, athletic legs. He wondered what she would be like in the sack with that thick golden hair spilled out on the pillow. And the thought of those soft pink lips wrapped around his cock had him almost instantly hard. “Christ, I’ve got to hit the sack,” he muttered. “I’m going nuts thinking about her.”
A few miles away Kiana wiped her hands on her thighs and then drew the back of her arm across her mouth. She would bathe tomorrow. If she didn’t she would attract too many flies, and flies annoyed her. A liana wound its way around the trunk of a forest giant. It made a convenient stairway to the treetops. She would sleep there. It was safer than the forest floor, even with Kitty to protect her.
She awoke with the birds as usual. Yawning, she stretched her long limbs. It was relatively cool this time of day, but the water of the pool where she bathed never really cooled off. Leaping from her perch, she swung to the nearest branch, and then transferring herself from limb to limb moved rapidly through the forest. It took her only minutes to reach the pool. Without stopping she dropped out of the trees into the centre of the pool striking the water with a huge splash.
It was her favourite place. Splashing in the water like a child she bathed in the clear waters. It was an idyllic place, formed by a plunge pool of a five hundred foot water fall that crashed down from a high cliff. Overflowing the pool the water surged down a narrow canyon and away into the forest. It was a frequent watering place for wildlife. Every sort of animal from lions to tiny forest antelope visited the pool and the turbulence of the falls kept the crocodiles at a respectful distance.
She splashed about for a half hour and then pulled herself out of the water. Taking off her loincloth and breast bindings she wrung them out and then replaced them. She really had no need of clothing, but she had spied on local villages and had noted that the women wore a simple loincloth consisting of a length of material that encircled their waists and was then tucked in so that a fold of cloth fell down to their knees in front and back. Nor did she need the jewelry she wore, but like the loincloth it was something she chose to adorn her body with. She had no concept of the value of metals and so was unaware that the gem studded gold anklets and bracelets she wore were worth a fortune.
She had also adopted a covering for her breasts, not because of modesty, but because they had begun to jiggle a bit too much when she moved. She found that they tended to throw her off balance when she was moving through the treetops. They had been no trouble when she was younger but for some reason they had chosen to increase in size. She hoped they wouldn’t get too big. It would be awkward for her if they did.
She moved off through the trees. It was time to get some breakfast. She found it soon enough, gathering a few nuts and some fruit from nearby bushes and trees. They would do until later when she and Kitty could go hunting.
A loud squawking disturbed her as she munched on a ripe fruit. It sounded like one of the colourful parakeets that flitted through the treetops. Her curiosity piqued, she moved toward the sound. She soon found the source of the noise. It was a cleverly designed cage constructed so that when a bird entered to get at the bait inside a door clicked shut behind it. Inside were several birds all screeching most beseechingly.
Kiana opened the cage. This was a strange development. The local villagers did not usually trap birds or other animals although they often adopted orphaned animals as pets. That was how she had come across Kitty. Her mother had been killed in a hunting accident and her cubs had been left to starve. Only Kitty had been left alive when Kiana had stumbled across the den.
She sniffed about the trap. There was a strange odor. One with which she was not familiar. Dropping to the ground she looked for footprints. She found plenty of them. They were those of the same strange animal she had come across before. It was very strange. They resembled human footprints, but were of a size and shape she had never seen before. The foot seemed to lack toes and was much larger than a normal human foot. It was most curious. She decided to follow the footprints and see where they led.
“All of them?” Delzinga asked. “Who the hell would be doing that?” He wasn’t happy. Someone had opened every one of his bird traps. At more than $10 grand each for some species he reckoned he was out a bundle.
“The jungle girl boss,” said his henchman, an Ethiopian called Abeba.
“Jungle girl?” Delzinga stared uncomprehendingly at the dark-skinned man. “What the hell is a jungle girl?”
“According to some of the people in the village we passed through there is a strange white girl who lives in the jungle. She supposedly protects the animals.”
“Bullshit,” replied Delzinga. “Why didn’t you mention this sooner?”
“Because I thought it was camel dung myself,” the man answered.
“Find out for sure. Fetch one of the villagers here. Give him a few trinkets if necessary. I want to now about this jungle girl.”
The Ethiopian nodded and moved off. Delzinga moved off after the American filmmaker. He might as well at least go through the motions of helping her.
Danielle was furious. Delzinga had promised to guide her to an exotic location in the forest this morning, but instead had disappeared right after breakfast. She had spent the entire morning waiting around for him None of the men he had hired in Addis Ababa seemed to know where he had gone and no one would help her unless Delzinga gave the orders. She rounded on him as he finally sauntered into view.
“Where the fuck have you been?” She knew she shouldn’t lose her temper. Too much of the success of the expedition depended on Delzinga carrying out his duties. If he decided not to cooperate everything she had planned for the last two years would be wasted.
Delzinga grinned at the fuming blonde. He decided right then that he was going to fuck her before the expedition ended, even if her had to rape her. He was completely unfazed by her anger. He would play along until he got paid and then… the thought was almost too much for him.
Danielle saw the lust in Delzinga’s eyes. “Filthy bastard,” she thought. She almost fired him right then, but held her tongue. She would have liked nothing better than to kick him in the balls, but she desperately needed his services.
“Just checking out the surrounding area,” Delzinga lied, in reply to her question. “Found a few places you might like to film.”
Danielle suspected that he was lying but pretended to be pleased. “Fantastic,” she said. “But can you please show me the place you told me about yesterday?”
“Sure thing,” the guide answered. “It’s not far from here.”
Kiana stared in fascination as the expedition invaded her private pool. No wonder their tracks were so strange. They all wore some sort of covering over their feet. She had heard the strangers coming long before they arrived. They made more noise than a hippo in heat. There were twenty intruders in all and several of them were quite strange. She had never seen people with white skins before. At least what little skin she could see was white. Most of it was almost covered with layers of cloth. And then there was the surprising golden-haired woman. Kiana had never imagined anything like her. Her skin was astonishingly pale and her hair was the colour of the ornaments Kiana wore. She watched enthralled as the entire procession set up near her pool.
She had no idea what they were doing. They had some large and very clumsy pieces of equipment that they insisted on hauling up the narrow forest path to a rock overhang fifty feet above the pool. And they jabbered constantly like monkeys. It was hardly surprising that most of the game animals had fled the pool long before the expedition had come into sight. She wondered what the strangers did for food. They didn’t seem to have any with them. Perhaps they had left it all back wherever they had come from.
Then she noticed that one of the white-skinned creatures was holding a shiny container to his mouth. She guessed that he must be drinking something. It seemed a strange thing to do with an entire waterfall and a deep pool just a few feet away. She edged farther out on the branch for a better look. She wasn’t at all afraid. She knew that she was safe where she was. There was no way that the strange creatures could reach her fifty feet above the ground.
“Fabulous,” Danielle exclaimed as she stared up at the cascading waterfall. “Spectacular. You have finally found me something worth using some film on.”
Delzinga accepted the backhanded compliment. He would teach the uppity American bitch some manners soon enough. But not until she paid him. He was getting a bit tired of her superior attitude, but he could put up with it for a couple more weeks. After all he was hiring out at $500 a day.
“Boss.” Delzinga turned. It was Abeba, the Ethiopian who had brought him the bad news about the birds yesterday.
“What is it?” he asked.
“We’re being watched,” the dark-skinned man replied.
“Watched? By whom?”
“I think it might be the jungle girl I told you about. I saw something shining in the trees.”
“Shining?”
“I asked the local villagers. The jungle girl is said to wear diamond studded gold ornaments.”
“You sure you haven’t read too many Tarzan books, Abeba?” Delzinga queried. “This sound like a load of ape shit to me.”
“Come with me,” Abeba said. “If we stay behind this rock ridge and climb higher we should be able to get a better look.”
Delzinga nodded. “What the hell,” he said. “I’ve got nothing better to do.”
At that moment his stunning blonde employer yelled to him. “Mr. Delzinga, could you supervise the men working with the equipment? It’s worth a lot of money and they won’t pay any attention to the members of my crew.”
“Shit,” swore Delzinga under his breath. This was the last time he was going to work for a woman. He was really going to enjoy cracking that sweet ass. Just a couple more weeks…
It took him a good half hour to supervise the moving of the equipment to the American woman’s satisfaction. Then he rejoined Abeba. “OK,” he said, “let’s go.”
Abeba noticed that Delzinga was carrying a long plastic tube. “What is that, boss?”
“Something that might be handy if you turn out to be right. I just might take this expedition in another direction.”
The climb to the vantage point Abeba had indicated did not take long. Delzinga just hoped that if the so called “jungle girl” existed she would still be there.
Reaching the top of the ridge, Abeba went flat and motioned for Delzinga to do the same. Delzinga took off his hat and crawled up beside the Ethiopian.
There was something in the trees. He could just make out a dark form and something reflecting light as the branches swayed in the breeze. He took out his binoculars and trained them on his target. He caught his breath. There was a white-skinned girl there. He could see her quite distinctly between the branches. She was out about as far as she could get on a limb overhanging the pool and was gazing with rapt attention at the activities of the film crew. Delzinga made up his mind instantly. The goals of the expedition had changed. He was taking over.
He ducked down behind the ridge and took out a small tranquilizer dart. It was the most powerful one he had, intended to be used against larger animals such as chimps. It wasn’t as powerful as he would have liked, but it would have to do.
Abeba watched his activities with interest, suddenly understanding what he was going to do. “I want you to move down to the water’s edge,” Delzinga said quietly. “If I hit her she is probably going to fall into the pool and I want her alive.” Abeba nodded and moved back down the ridge.
Kiana lay full length on the branch of the forest giant that overhung the pool. She had no idea what any of the bizarre creatures below her were doing, but she found them most interesting. She had often wondered about her pale skin. She had not been able to discover anything from the forest mystic that had raised her. The woman that had chanced upon her wandering in the jungle had never remarked upon it and Kiana had not had any contact with anyone else. As a result she had grown up with animals instead of people as her friends. Now, however, there were more white people in sight than she ever knew existed. She couldn’t help but think that she might have some sort of kinship with them.
Thhhwwppp! A strange sound followed by a sharp pain in her arm startled her. It was like being stung by a bee and then she noticed the strange green thorn sticking out of her arm. How had that gotten there? Shifting her body on the branch she plucked it out and stared at it uncomprehendingly. Then a wave of dizziness washed over her. What was wrong? She had never felt like this before. She had to get to a safer place. She attempted to move back along the branch, but a slow paralysis seemed to be seeping through her body. The arm that the strange thorn had pierced had gone numb and the numbness was working its way up her shoulder. With a sudden sense of panic she realized that she had been poisoned. She tried to scramble to her feet and then she was falling…
The shock of the water partially revived her, but the fifty foot fall also drove the air from her lungs. For a few seconds she sank like a stone and then someone grabbed hold of her. Dazed she was aware of the bright light of the sun shining down upon her and a strong surge as she was pulled toward the edge of the pool. Then there was a hubbub of voices and a strange sense of lassitude as she slipped slowly toward unconsciousness.
“What the hell is going on?” Danielle raged. She was stunned by what she had seen. That idiot Delzinga had somehow knocked a young girl out of a tree overhanging the pool. “How could you be so damned stupid?” she continued, yelling into the guide’s face. “You could have killed her. She’ll be damned lucky if she’s not badly injured.”
The blow to her face caught her completely off guard. “Shut up you fucking bitch,” the guide said. “I’m taking charge here. I’ve wasted enough time taking orders from you.”
Several of her crew members rushed to her aid, but Delzinga drew his pistol. “Alright who wants to be the first dead hero? I thought not,” he grinned as the unarmed camera crew came to a halt.
Holding the side of her face, Danielle stared at Delzinga in disbelief. He had struck her! “What are you doing?” she asked. “Have you gone mad? This is my expedition.”
“Not any more it isn’t. I’m tired of taking orders from some stupid American bitch.” He turned to Abeba. “Tie up these assholes and bring Miss Richards and the jungle girl to my tent. Oh yes,” he added, almost as an afterthought. “Tie up Miss Richards too. Tight. I don’t want her wandering off and getting hurt.”
Abeba smiled his obedience. Danielle and her crew could only submit helplessly as Delzinga’s men bound them. Abeba took personal charge of Danielle, pulling the ropes so tight that she almost screamed. Then linking her crew members together by tying ropes around their necks the Ethiopians led them off. Abeba escorted Danielle personally.
“The boss is going to have some fun with you I think,” Abeba grinned as he pushed Danielle before him.
Fear welled up inside her as Abeba spoke. That very thought had been on her mind ever since she had been tied up. She had felt Delzinga’s eyes on her almost constantly since the start of the expedition. Almost trembling in fear she stumbled forward. What was going to happen to her? And who was the mysterious “jungle girl” as Delzinga had called her? She would probably know the answer to both questions soon enough. The camp was already in sight. Her heart hammering in her chest, Danielle tried not to show her fear, but her knees almost buckled as she thought of what Delzinga and his men might do to her.
From behind her shouts erupted. She
tried to turn. Something was
happening at the pool, but she couldn’t see what it
was. Relentlessly, Abeba pushed
her down the trail. She was helpless
in the heart of
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