TOMB HUNTER

The Adventures of Larra Court

Episode 10

Larra’s Indonesian Adventure

Chapter 26 Choices

“Which way?” Matsu asked Purwanto. The scar-faced guide was sullen as usual, no doubt still sulking over the loss of his woman. They had abandoned the young Javanese in the jungle just a few days march from the camp where they had captured the strange female expedition. She was useless anyway, worn out from pleasuring his men. It became obvious that she could not serve as a comfort woman and keep up with the march at the same time.

And so Matsu had ordered her left beside the trail, something that resulted in an angry tantrum from Purwanto. Surprisingly, in spite of having raped and abducted her, the man actually seemed to care for the young woman. Under ordinary circumstances Matsu would simply have had the Javanese collaborator killed, but he still needed him to guide him to the gold. However, once the scar-faced thug had served his purpose Matsu promised himself that he would deal with him personally.

Purwanto hesitated. The canyon they had been marching down divided again. The hard stone surface left no tracks and there was no way to tell for certain which way the people they had been following had gone. He had been guessing for the last few days, selecting the trail that seemed most worn, and so far it appeared that he had been correct, as after each change of direction they had picked up signs that someone had used the trail quite recently.

Now, however, they had reached a fork where neither choice gave him the slightest clue as to which one to take. He couldn’t afford to hesitate too long. He knew that Matsu would eliminate him as soon as he was no longer useful. He had left Amon to die in the jungle without a second thought once it became clear that she was becoming a handicap.

He made up his mind. “This way,” he said, pointing to the right.

“You’re sure?” Matsu asked. “You seem to have taken an awfully long time making up your mind.”

“It is the way I remember,” Purwanto bluffed. “It isn’t easy remembering of all of these twists and turns.” He neglected to mention that he had never accompanied the Prahgan this far as they would not allow it.

“Alright,” Matsu conceded, “but you better be right.” The Japanese commander turned and waved his men forward.

“Which way?” Katie asked.

Lisha studied the ground carefully. “They went right,” she said, “but it is the wrong way. The other canyon is the one that the large expedition took.”

Katie looked at Ayashe. The young girl nodded her agreement.

“Alright then,” Katie said, “do we follow the Japanese or the other party?”

“It’s a tough choice,” Amy observed. “Do we go after the people who have Larra or do we follow the Japanese?”

“I say we do both,” Jia Li volunteered. “I’ll follow the Japanese and the rest of you go after the Prahgan.”

“It might not be wise for you to go alone,” Katie said. “If you get into trouble there will be no one to bake you up.”

“I’ll go with her,” volunteered Melissa. “I’ve got a bit of a score to settle with the Japs.”

“I think we all do,” Katie reminded her, “but there are not many of us and dividing our party may not be wise.”

“Allowing the Japanese to wander around unmonitored may also not be wise,” Melissa countered. “Does it really matter if there are seven of us or five or even two? We will be heavily outnumbered no matter what the situation.”

Katie frowned. She did not like the idea of members of the group going off by themselves. It had been so difficult to bring them all together, however, she knew that Jia Li was determined to follow the Japanese. She had a look in her eyes that told Katie she was going whether anyone went with her or not. Katie couldn’t blame her; she also did not like giving up on the Japanese. She knew that they were in this part of Borneo for a reason, although she was unable to determine what it might be. They had been tracking them for several weeks after waiting for four days for Lisha to recover. As Melissa had surmised, Lisha’s problems were psychological as well as physical, a factor that Katie had no trouble understanding.

The trek through the rainforest had been arduous and they had not made good time. The rain had come almost every day and until they had reached the rockier ground of the canyons, the trail had been slippery with mud. They had also come across an unexpected delay in the Javanese woman they had found abandoned by the side of the trail.

Her name was Amon and she had apparently been left to die in the jungle by the Japanese after they had used her up pleasuring themselves. Katie had given her several swallows of the fast disappearing healing water and that had saved her life. However it had meant another delay of several days while they waited for the girl to heal. The postponement of the trek had not been entirely wasted, however. Lisha and Ayashe had made good use of it to replenish their dwindling food supply. The two women were skilled hunters and could retrieve game without using up any of their precious supply of ammunition.

Ayashe had fashioned snares and Lisha had used her spear; which the Japanese had, rather conveniently, left behind. Jia Li had taken the time to fashion a number of lethal-looking makeshift weapons. Katie, along with Melissa and Amy had helped, and by the time they were finished they had a fairly extensive primitive arsenal.

Now they had reached another obstacle; one that was obviously going to split the party. Katie decided on a compromise.

“We meet back here in four days,” she said. “If one group does not return the other goes after it.”

Jia Li and Melissa nodded their agreement, then Lisha stepped forward. “They may need a tracker. I too will go with them.”

Katie did not like reducing her small force any more, but she knew that Lisha was right even if she suspected that the girl’s motives might be oriented more toward vengeance than anything else. “Alright. But be careful. The Japanese have already had more than their share of us.”

Katie watched as Jia Li, Melissa, and Lisha moved off. There was no point worrying about them. They had made their choice. She could only hope that she would see them in fours days.

“Which way?” Judy asked.

“Reckon following the trail north is as good as any. We could go back to Bertha, but that would mean giving up on the Sheilas.”

“Is there one of them that you especially want to see?” Judy asked. She waited a little breathlessly for his answer.

“Wallace turned his blue eyes on her and grinned. “I thought so at one time. Now I’m not so sure. But I said I’d go with them and all signs indicate that they were here.”

Judy nodded. Even she could see that the bootprints leading from the shattered Japanese camp were the right size for a woman. She wondered what had happened. From the looks of things there had been some sort of a battle with the Japanese mostly on the receiving end. The stench of decomposing bodies had been almost overwhelming and she and Wallace had stayed only long enough to determine that his female friends were not among them.

Judy felt a twinge of jealousy. It was natural that Wallace be interested in women closer to his age, so she shouldn’t have been surprised that he would want to find them. However, for a little while in the Daygana village she had thought there might be something between the two of them, especially after what had happened.

She now knew what Wallace had meant when he said Churba would be looking for his nuts. He had not been joking. It was a horrible thing to do to a man, but then Churba had raped and tortured her, so she had to admit that the Daygana warrior had had it coming. Wallace had pointed out that he had done the same thing to sheep hundreds of times and they hadn’t anything at all to deserve such a fate.

Her mind jerked back to the present as Wallace moved a few steps and then stood waiting for her. As she looked at him he gave a mock bow and held out his hand. “Ready m’lady?”

She grinned. Whatever happened it promised to be interesting.

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