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Larra stumbled as she was pushed harshly from
behind. Her Ullabomba captors
were not inclined to be gentle and they seemed to be in a
hurry. She was in no position
to offer any resistance. Her
arms were bound tightly behind her back, and a rope was tied to her neck
and held by the man behind her. She
was also in the middle of a column of armed
warriors. Any attempt to escape
would probably result in a dozen spears being hurled in her direction, and
Larra had no desire to emulate a
pincushion.
They had been driving her through the rainforest for several hours
now. Larra was beginning to become
quite tired. They had stopped
for water only twice and she had not eaten since the last time she had been
with Grey. The ropes tied above
and below her breasts, and the position of her hands behind her back, made
breathing difficult. In addition,
the tropical heat and the intense humidity made any sort of physical activity
tiring. Larra’s clothing
was soaked in sweat. They had
to stop soon or she would collapse.
Almost as if she had willed it, the column came to a
halt. Larra saw that they had
reached some sort of clearing where another party of black warriors
waited.
Larra jerked her head in the direction of the
call. “Jia Li!” she
gasped. A few feet away
was her friend.
She immediately wondered how she came to be so far from where she
had left her. There was a long
story there she was sure.
She saw that her friend was as tightly bound as she was, with her hands secured
behind her and ropes lashed about her torso, above and below her prominent
breasts. She opened her mouth
to speak, but Jia Li shook her head in
warning. Already one of the Ullabomba
guards was walking toward her. The
huge warrior said something to her in a harsh tone of voice, and Larra guessed
that she was being told to shut up.
The two groups of warriors met and exchanged
information. From the numerous
glances in their direction, Larra guessed that she and Jia Li were a major
topic of conversation. Their
brief rest did not last long.
The two women were given water from gourds held to their
lips. It was not enough water
from Larra’s point of view, but she had no way of forcing her captors
to give her more. Then the seemingly
endless trek through the rainforest continued.
The going was not particularly difficult, but the tropical heat was beginning
to wear both women down. Soon
their sweat-soaked bodies were panting from
over-exertion. But there was
no choice but to continue. The
sharp points of Ullabomba spears prodded their backs each time one of them
slowed down. Soon, both women
were stumbling. The march through
the forest was turning into a nightmare.
Larra was not sure what would have happened if her strength had given
out and she had bee unable to continue, because just as she was sure that
she could not take another step, the column
halted.
The Ullabomba began setting up camp, and Larra realized that it was late
afternoon. Too exhausted to stand,
she flung herself down on the ground.
A few feet away, Jia Li lay
gasping. It was apparent that
she was equally fatigued.
Although, she was so tired she could hardly move, Larra tested the ropes
that held her. She had to find
a way to escape. She could not
take much more of being force marched through the rainforest without sufficient
food or water. And then there
was always what awaited them at the end of the
march. She was certain that it
could not be good.
A warrior approached. Larra had
found no weakness in her bonds, but the man checked them
anyway. Then he checked Jia Li
and went away. A few minutes
later he returned, bringing food and
water. Unable to use their hands,
the two prisoners were forced to endure the humiliation of being fed by
hand. But it was either that
or go hungry.
Interestingly, the warrior who fed them did not seem to take any
particularly delight in their plight.
He fed them in a most matter-of-fact manner, much as someone would
feed and water a horse.
Once they were finished eating, he checked their ropes once more and then
squatted down on guard a few feet away.
Larra Squirmed. There
was something she had to do very badly.
“Jia Li,” she whispered.
“Aren’t we going to be allowed to relieve
ourselves? I don’t want
to wet my pants.”
The warrior leaned in their direction.
He had heard Larra’s whisper.
Before he could speak Jia Li interjected in her halting
Ullabomban. The warrior looked
at her and frowned, but called to one of his companions.
“What did you say?” Larra
whispered.
“Just what you said,” replied the beautiful
Asian. “The Ullabomba can
be vicious, but they represent a high
civilization. They wouldn’t
want you to soil yourself.”
Another warrior approached.
Together, he and the first warrior hauled Larra and Jia Li to their
feet. Dragging the two women
toward the edge of the campsite, they forced their captives to kneel on the
ground while they fumbled with the belts that held up their
pants. It was obvious that the
warriors were not familiar with buckles, but eventually they got their
prisoners’ pants down to their
knees.
Blushing with shame, Larra performed her bodily functions, as did Jia
Li. Then, their pants were pulled
back up and they were dragged toward the
camp. At that moment something
unexpected happened. The man
holding Larra suddenly went limp, and then the same thing happened to the
one holding Jia Li.
They were far enough from the center of the camp, that at first no other
warrior moved. Then Larra heard
a thump as a powerful body dropped from the tree next to
her. She knew immediately who
it was. “Grey,” she
whispered exultantly.
“No time for talk,” Grey
answered. Without bothering to
cut her bonds, he hefted her across his
shoulder. And
then holding her in place with one hand, scooped up Jia Li with the
other. By this time several
Ullabomba warriors were running their
way. Grey had no time to climb
up the tree he had dropped from, and burdened with the two women he would
probably not have been able to do it
anyway. Instead, he dashed into
the forest, weaving his way in and out of the tall
trees.
He was followed by at least a dozen howling Ullabomba, but they did not get
far. As they charged into the
dark forest they encountered ropes strung between
trees. The unexpected obstacles
swept them off their feet. The
confusion that followed gave Grey the lead-time he
needed. Stopping beneath a huge
tree, he rapidly ascended the vine-covered trunk, carrying both women as
he did so. Placing his burdens
safely in the hollow formed by three branches diverging from the main trunk,
he untied them.
Grey gave Larra a quick kiss.
Turning to Jia Li he greeted her.
“Good evening Miss, Yang,” he said, using the Chinese
girl’s surname.
Jia Li smiled. She remembered
Grey from their first encounter a year ago and was pleased he had remembered
her name.
“We seem to spend an inordinate amount of time rescuing one another,”
said Grey. “It seems that
if we didn’t we would never meet.”
Larra grinned. She was delighted
to be back with Grey. She turned,
however, to Jia Li. She had to
know what the Chinese girl was doing in the middle of the Lost
World. For the next half-hour
each of them exchanged information.
Larra was quite concerned to learn that her companions were scattered
all over the Lost World and wondered how she was going to find
them. There was also the little
matter of getting home.
“I think,” she said, “that there
may be only one way out of this.”
Jia Li and Grey listened intently as she explained her
plan. When she had finished they
both nodded. They would start
tomorrow morning.