Atawna

Adventures in the Lost World

Episode 1

Atawna and the Lost World

Chapter 27 Endings and Beginnings

Melissa lay in a bloodied and bruised heap. She had lost track of the number of times and the number of ways the Ullabomba warriors had taken her. She was so weakened from her ordeal that although she was still bound by her wrists her captors were no longer bothering to even watch her. Instead they were focused on the captives who were being returned to the camp. Very few of the escapees had managed to remain free. The Ullobomba were master woodsmen, as at home in the rainforest as they were in their ornate stone city. One by one each of the frightened slaves had been tracked down and recaptured. Now it simply remained to decide how they would be punished. In order to determine that the warriors seemed to be waiting for something; exactly what Melissa was not sure.

She feigned unconsciousness and waited. She needed time to regain her strength. Only then would she have any chance of escaping. But she kept one eye half open, watching the activities of her captors. As far as she could determine almost all of the escaped slaves had been recaptured. Most of them were in much worse shape than they had been before they had fled the camp. She felt especially sorry for the young women. Most of them seemed completely devastated. Hanging their heads, they sat in the centre of the camp, surrounded by their captors and awaited their fate.

There was a slight commotion at the edge of the camp. Kinjana strode into view. Trailing behind him on a length of rope was Ping. The girl could hardly walk and her thighs were covered with dried blood and bruises. It wasn’t difficult to figure out what had happened to her. Apparently in spite of her value as a virgin, Kinjana had decided to make an example out of her. As the princess entered the camp she looked away from the other recaptured slaves, unable to meet their eyes.

Kinjana took a quick survey of the camp. He nodded in approval. Almost all of the escapees seemed to have been returned. Only one or two were absent. “Where is Kwintana?” he asked.

“He has not returned,” one of the other warriors replied. “He pursues the Chinese maiden who organized the escape.”

Kinjana nodded. Kwintana would capture her. He was the best tracker in the camp. And when he did, she would be punished.

Li Ming struggled through the undergrowth. Vines and branches seemed to clutch at her, and tree roots leaped into her path frequently dropping her to her knees. She was almost exhausted and was parched and hungry, but she couldn’t stop. Somewhere close to her was the black warrior who had pursued her relentlessly through the forest. She had been fleeing him for hours but no matter what she did he always seemed to pick up her trail. She remembered Kinjana’s words when Ping had asked about the treatment of escaped slaves: “Only slaves who ran away were punished.”

Well, she had certainly run away. However, she couldn’t think of a much worse punishment than sexual enslavement. It seemed she had little to lose. However, she was almost certain that if she was caught her punishment would be swift and brutal. She had witnessed the vicious treatment of the tall white barbarian. If that was how the Ullabomba treated their captives when they had done nothing, what would happen to her after she had organized a mass escape? Allowing herself to be recaptured was out of the question. She had to escape.

She crouched under the fronds of a tree fern. She could no longer hear the sounds of pursuit, but that meant nothing. The warrior pursuing her could move through the forest without a sound. Several times she had almost been caught when she thought she was safe. She had managed to avoid capture only by remaining completely still.

The sound of her heart thumped in her ears. It must be safe now. She eased herself onto the forest path. Where was home? And was there any home to go back to? She had been send away from her people in chains; sold as a slave to an alien culture. Completely disgraced could she ever face her family and friends again? Perhaps it was better if they thought she was dead.

These dismal thoughts were interrupted by the slightest of sounds, but it froze Li Ming in her tracks. She turned just in time. Kwintana moved onto the trail just five feet from her. His face was flushed in triumph. “Well, little mouse. Now I have you.”

His comment was lost on Li Ming as it was delivered in his own language. But she had no doubt about his intentions. Slowly she backed away, her eyes darting from side to side as she looked for an opening. And then Kwintana pounced.

She had no chance to avoid the huge man. Forced to meet him head on, she used her martial training to defend herself, ducking under his attack and driving her tiny fists into his groin.

Kwintana grunted. That hurt! He swung the butt of his spear at the diminutive Chinese woman, trying to sweep her feet out from under her, but she jumped over the shaft and darted back, forcing him to come after her.

Li Ming danced down the trail. She had hit Kwintana as hard as she could and her punches had only seemed to make him angry. Somehow she had to find a way to wear him down.

A little more cautiously now, the huge black came toward her. Apparently her feeble blow had hurt him a little. He held his spear before him as if ready to impale her. Li Ming, however, wasn’t worried about the blade of the spear. She knew that Kwintana wanted her alive and relatively unscathed. The main danger was from the shaft of the spear. He would undoubtedly use it to try and knock her off her feet or even to catch her alongside the head to stun her. If she could just get inside it she might be able to hurt him.

Nimbly she moved back, always keeping just out of striking range of Kwintana’s spear. However, she was already beginning to tire. She had been running for hours and had not dared to stop to eat and drink. All she had been able to consume were a few quick mouthfuls of water as she dashed through the forest. The longer the fight went on the more certain it was that Kwintana would defeat her, even if he held back in order to capture rather than kill her. She needed some sort of break or a major error by her opponent.

Step by step she moved backward, not daring to take her eyes from her huge enemy. She didn’t see the tree root that tripped her up. With a startled cry she tumbled backward, aware that Kwintana was leaping toward her. The huge man left his feet seeking to crush her under his weight.

“Got you!” Kwintana shouted triumphantly. His weight landed full on the diminutive girl, but something went wrong. Just as he came down her slender legs came up, catching him in the stomach. Unable to stop due to his forward momentum, he was shocked to discover himself flying over the girl’s body. He landed a few feet beyond her and immediately rolled to his feet. Enraged by the unexpected turn of events he had enough presence of mind to keep hold of his spear, but his intended victim was gone. The Chinese girl was sprinting back the way they had come, heading for the sanctuary of the thick rainforest vegetation.

Cursing, he scrambled to his feet and charged after her, his huge strides rapidly closing the distance. She disappeared between two trees, the thick undergrowth on the side of the trail closing about her. “Hyena,” he swore. Without hesitation he plunged into the vegetation after her.

“Uggnnhh!” Kwintana grunted in pain and disbelief. He stared down stupidly at the broken length of bamboo that protruded grotesquely from his belly. He had run full speed onto it, driving the crude spear deep into his vital organs. He dropped his spear, his hands going to the shaft. With an agonized cry he attempted to pull the bamboo from his guts. Dimly he was aware that standing a few feet away was the Chinese girl, her face pale as she watched him struggle.

Li Ming fought back the urge to vomit. He stomach churned as she watched the giant warrior sink to his knees grappling with the improvised spear she had picked up as she dashed into the bamboo grove. Sometime in the last rainstorm a tree had come down, smashing into the grove and snapping off an eight foot length of bamboo. In desperation she had snatched it up, jamming one end into the ground. Kwintana had done the rest, driving the jagged end of the bamboo spear into his guts as he charged after her. Now she watched him die.

Melissa lay with eyes closed, but she knew everything that occurred in the camp. A few yards away were the newly recaptured prisoners. They were under heavy guard this time. On the other side of the camp Kinshasa was raping Ping. She was being held by two other black warriors. It was quite unnecessary. The Chinese girl was far too exhausted to offer any resistance. She had been brought back to the camp in chains. The restraints weren’t really needed. Ping was too beaten up to have escaped. Kinshasa had merely shackled her to further humiliate and degrade the diminutive Chinese girl. On entering the camp she had immediately been gang raped by half a dozen of the Ullabomaba. They seemed to delight in performing the brutal act in front of the other Chinese girls. No doubt they were making an example of her as to the fate of those who dared to escape.

So far none of the other girls had been violated. Probably they were too valuable as virgins to waste. Ping was talking the punishment for all of them. “Ping and me,” Melissa thought. Until Kinshasa and the other Ullabomba had returned the three warriors in camp had raped her repeatedly. Finally, Melissa had sought escape in feigned unconsciousness. By then she was so brutalized that pretending to faint had been relatively easy. No matter what the men raping her did to her body she was able to keep still, not reacting even when her breasts were savagely twisted and bitten. Now she lay breathing softly, her body a mass of cuts and bruises and her torn loins throbbing with pain. There was hardly a part of her body that did not hurt, but she dared not show the faintest sign of distress. To do so would be to invite more brutal treatment.

But she couldn’t simulate unconsciousness forever. The Ullabomba were not that patient. Somehow she had to find a way to escape. If only they didn’t chain her she might have a chance.

She sensed someone moving closer to her. Words were spoken in Ullabomba, words that became clear a few seconds later when Melissa felt the cool touch of metal on her wrists. Her hopes disappeared. The black warriors were taking no chances. Her chances of escape were now minimal. She would just have to wait and hope that somehow someone would come to her rescue.

Larra strode into the Chinese village. She had found out a good deal about the Empire of Zheng He. The guards posted near the tunnel exit had been most cooperative. A few minutes conversation with the terrified Chinese had given her enough information to proceed. She hadn’t even had to kill or injure any of them, something for which she was truly grateful. Now she was headed for the palace of the emperor, the four terrified guards she had captured leading the way. Behind her was the rest of her party.

“No shooting,” Larra reminded them. “At least not unless we’re attacked.”

The rest of the party did not need reminding. They had no wish to kill innocent people, and the lost Chinese civilization seemed a worthy subject of study. Now they just wanted an interview with the emperor, and they had full intentions of getting it.

“That was easy, Mummy,” Lin Yao said. “You only had to destroy four irreplaceable porcelain vases in order to get the emperor’s attention.”

“Better some crockery than people,” Larra replied. “I suspect the emperor will deal more carefully with strangers from now on.”

James grinned. Lin Yao seemed to be returning to her old self. Now if they could just find Melissa. At least they now knew what had happened to her and which way she had gone. With any luck they would find her before it was too late.

Atawna paced along behind James. She was most impressed with Larra. She handled her thunder weapons even better than James. For awhile the two forest girls had been very apprehensive. Everything about the Chinese village was mysterious and a little frightening. Only the fact that Larra had shown no fear had given her the courage to enter the huge hut of the emperor. She had never seen so many people or such enormous buildings. It was like entering a gigantic anthill and her heart had thumped like that of a spider monkey.

Now that they were out of the Chinese village she felt a lot better. Soon she and Chara would take to the trees and forge ahead in search of Melissa. It would be an incredible relief to be back in their natural element once again.

Li Ming trotted cautiously down the forest path. She was armed with Kwintana’s huge spear. It was far too long for her, but she wasn’t sure what she might meet. The forest was full of large predators. So far she had been lucky in avoiding them, but she could blunder into one at any time. If that was the case then the eight foot spear would be most useful. She was trying to retrace her steps. In her flight through the forest she hadn’t seen a single one of her comrades. It was entirely possible that they had been recaptured and she had a very good idea of how the Ullabomba treated those who attempted to escape their custody. She would have to be careful, however. She couldn’t think of anything more dangerous than to try and sneak up on the Ullabomba. The black warriors were masters of the forest and were almost impossible to surprise.

Kinjana lay back against the trunk of a tree. The day hadn’t been entirely satisfactory. Kwintana had not yet returned and that was unusual. However, he had enjoyed taking the Chinese girl and looked forward to continuing his sessions with the tall white woman.

He looked up. One of his warriors was walking toward him. From the look on his face it appeared he had some interesting news.

“Kinjana,” the warrior said. “Someone approaches. It appears that the woman Kwintana pursued has returned.”

Kinjana frowned. That was strange. Why had Kwintana not found her? And why was she returning? Surely she did not hope to free her comrades. He got to his feet. “Come,” he said. “We will greet her.”

Li Ming went more slowly now. She had found her way back to the camp of the black warriors, and so far she seemed to have escaped detection. With any luck she might be able to sneak into the camp at night and release her comrades.

Luck, however, was not on her side. She gasped in fear as a black warrior suddenly materialized in front of her. He appeared to rise out of the forest floor. She tried to bring her spear to bear, fumbling with the long shaft, but before she could get ready something struck her in the middle of her back.

“Oooff!” She was driven to the ground as Kinjana slammed the palm of his hand into her. The blow knocked the breath out of her and it took the black warrior only seconds to tie her hands behind her back. Absolutely stunned by the sudden turn of events, Li Ming found herself being marched at spear point into the camp.

“How did you come by this?” Kinjana demanded, brandishing Kwintana’s spear.

On her knees before her captors, and humiliated by the ease with which she had been caught, Li Ming stared unblinking at the giant black warrior. “I killed the man who had it,” she said defiantly.

Kinjana’s face twisted in rage. “You lie,” he said. “No yellow dog could defeat a warrior of the Ullabomba. You will regret your twisted tongue.” He touched the point of his spear to Li Ming’s left breast, and while the second warrior held her where she was began to slowly push the needle point into her creamy flesh.

Li Ming gritted her teeth, intent on not showing pain or fear to her brutal captor. She faced a terrible and violent ordeal, but was determined to face it as bravely as possible.

“No,” Kinjana said slowly, pulling back his spear. “That would be a waste. I will violate you first. Every warrior in the camp will take you. Then when we have had our way you will be burned alive.” He put down his spear and spread her legs. His huge phallus was already swelling in anticipation.

Li Ming kicked futilely as Kinjana moved between her thighs. She was not sure of what was going to be worse, the promised defilement at the hands of Kinjana and his warriors or the hideously painful death he promised her. She suppressed a whimper as the glans of his penis brushed the lips of her vulva. The man’s organ was enormous. Its immensity overwhelmed her, filling her with fear. Her body jerked wildly in a desperate attempt to fight him off. And then suddenly the huge black gave a strange cry and released her.

Li Ming watched in stunned surprise as Kinjana slowly rose to his feet. He was staring in disbelief at the arrowhead that protruded from the centre of his chest; then with a low cry he toppled over.

Pandemonium broke loose. Black warriors seized their weapons and moved away from the centre of the camp, seeking shelter from their unknown attacker. The warrior holding Li Ming dropped her where she was. Although her hands were stilled manacled, her legs were free. Quickly she rolled to one side gaining the edge of the clearing. Just a few more feet and she would be clear of the camp.

Then another disturbance broke out. Against all logic the tall white woman was on her feet. Even though her hands were still shackled behind her, she moved boldly toward the nearest warrior, her lithe but well-muscled body showing the cuts and bruises of her ordeal. With a look of arrogant incredulity the black warrior she approached raised his spear to strike her down, but to Li Ming’s amazement the woman ducked beneath the blow, moving so suddenly and quickly that her adversary had no time to react.

Her foot caught the black warrior between his legs, the force of the blow actually lifting him slightly off the ground. With a horrible scream he clutched at his shattered genitals and fell writhing to the ground. At the same time two more arrows flew out of the forest each one finding another target. Now four warriors were down, two of them screaming loudly. The remaining warriors disappeared into the forest, but Li Ming doubted they had fled. It was not the nature of the Ullabomba to run from an enemy. She and the other captives were still at their mercy as soon as they chose to return.

Atawna shifted her position in the canopy. She had arrived just in time to stop the giant warrior from taking the tiny Chinese girl against her will. The sight of the helpless young woman about to be violently ravished filled her with a cold rage. She understood the experience all too well and would not stand idly by when someone else was threatened with the same thing. It would have been better to wait until Larra and James caught up to her, but that would not have saved the Chinese girl. Her actions had been forced on her, and she had acted accordingly. Now she just had to finish the job.

The giant warriors had melted away into the undergrowth, leaving the prisoners unattended, but Atawna was not about to descend into the camp. She knew that they were still there. Moving to a different branch she situated herself above one of them. The man was turning his head, trying to find the enemy that had attacked the camp. As yet he had not thought to look up. Atawna smiled grimly, and shook out her rope.

Kuvalla crouched in the undergrowth, his spear at the ready. Somewhere nearby was the unknown assailant who had killed three of his comrades, but he felt little fear. He was completely at home in the forest. Sooner or later either he or one of his comrades would find out where their attacker was and then they would deal with him. It was just a matter of waiting.

A sudden disturbance to his right caused him to turn in that direction. His mouth fell open in horror. Just thirty feet away, Kavalna was rising slowly into the air, his face horribly contorted and his legs kicking frantically. He seemed to be clutching at something above his head. Without thinking, Kuvalla jumped to his feet; then screamed once as an arrow pierced his throat.

“Good for you, Chara,” Atawna grunted as she hauled the kicking Ullabomban warrior upward. Her muscles stood out like chorded knots as she slowly lifted the 260 pound man toward her. Gradually, however, his struggles ceased and she was able to lift him more easily. She did not stop until he had reached the branch she was on, realizing the effect of seeing the powerful warrior pulled into the treetops would be absolutely terrifying.

Her actions had the desired result. A sudden surge in the foliage below her signaled the panicked flight of the remainder of the black warriors. She could hear them crashing through the vegetation as they headed away from her as fast as their feet would carry them.

Melissa swayed uncertainly on her feet. She had been unable to get out of the heavy shackles that secured her wrists. Suddenly a lithe form dropped to the ground beside her. She started and then breathed a sigh of relief when she saw who it was. “Atawna help,” said the raven-haired jungle girl. Melissa sank to her knees. Her attack on the black warrior had pretty much drained all of her strength. She was existing only on adrenaline and that was fading fast.

It took the Atawna only a few minutes to remove the shackles. She didn’t have a key, but the tip of her knife worked well enough. Releasing Melissa, she left her and then went to the other prisoners. In just a short while she had released all of them. Chara stayed where she was. Atawna had not wanted to risk exposing her to capture from any of the black warriors that might not have fled and so her sister remained on guard sixty feet above her.

Li Ming crept cautiously out of her hiding place. Her wrists were still tied behind her back, but she saw that the bizarre barbarian who had dropped out of the trees seemed to be freeing her countrymen. With some trepidation she moved to where the savage could see her, half fearing what was about to happen. The girl, however, showed not the slightest hostility. Within a few seconds she had removed the ropes from Li Ming’s wrists and then ignoring her went over to the tall brown-haired woman who had suffered so badly at the hands of the Ullabomba.

Freed, Li Ming rubbed her wrists. She was surprisingly calm considering all that had happened to her, but that calm was about to be shaken.

“Minx,” muttered Larra. She and the rest of the party had been hard pressed to catch up to the two jungle girls. She and her companions had kept pace with them for the first few hours after leaving the Chinese village, but then the tow girls had suddenly taken off without the slightest attempt at an explanation. It had left Larra with only two choices. She could either let her potential daughter-in-law swing off into the forest by herself or chase after her and hope that there were no ambushes waiting for her. She had chosen the latter, trusting to the fact that she was heavily armed enough that if she ran into the Ullabomba she would be able to handle them

Entering the clearing where the black warriors’ camp had been, she saw that Atawna appeared to have things under control. She quickly went to Melissa who was sitting quietly by the side of camp, apparently exhausted.

A few feet away, Li Ming watched in considerable trepidation. From out of the rainforest had come more of the giant white people and a black warrior who was the tallest woman she had ever seen. She didn’t know whether to be grateful or terrified. Moving across to the other members of her people, she huddled beside Ping. The once arrogant princess was weeping quietly, her small body marked by the evidence of her ordeal.

It took awhile to sort things out. Larra first had to care for Melissa. She also attended to the Chinese girl who had been raped. The Eye of Thoth restored both women as well as several other ex-slaves who were suffering from the rigors of their captivity. It then had to be determined what to do with the men and women they had rescued. Larra didn’t want to send any of them back to a lifetime of slavery, but neither did she want to take all of the twenty odd men and women with her until James pointed out that they might be a possible replacement for the porters that the Germans had driven off. It seemed a useful suggestion. She would leave it up to the ex-slaves. If they wished to accompany her then she would take them with her.

Li Ming and Ping walked side by side. They were not friends, but the condescending and selfish princess had lost most of her arrogance. Her experience at the hands of the Ullabomba had left her chastened and almost human. Humiliated and dishonoured by the black warriors she could not return to the lost Chinese civilization. Instead Ping had decided to do the bravest thing she had eve done in her life. She had asked the strange white woman she had spent so much time humiliating if she could accompany her as her servant. To her surprise and immense relief the woman had agreed. Now she dutifully followed her mistress wherever she went.

Li Ming chanced a sideways glance at Ping. The girl was much changed, but Li Ming was not sure how long that would last. At least in the current situation the ex-princess had no authority over her. She hoped everything would turn out right. Like Ping she had decided to accompany their mysterious rescuers to their world. She suspected that it was going to be a strange and wonderful experience, but also frightening. She hoped that she was up to the challenge. At least her rescuers seemed friendly enough, especially the dark-haired woman called Larra who seemed to be in charge. She spoke fluent Chinese, although with an accent that Li Ming found a little unusual. When the tall woman called Melissa had explained that Li Ming had helped the slaves to escape, Larra had seemed impressed and immediately agreed to accept her as a companion. Now she was committed. They were a week’s march from her old world. There was no going back even if she wanted to.

“One day,” Larra thought. “I might actually get to complete a mission to the Lost World without having the members of my expedition kidnapped and violated.” Still, some good had come out of it. She looked toward James and Atawna. For once the jungle girl and her sister were not hurtling through the treetops. The two lovers were walking hand in hand. Stretching in a long line before them were the ex-slaves who had decided to accompany them. It was more than she had counted on. All of the male slaves had decided to leave as well as two of the young women. She wasn’t sure of their motives; neither of the girls had explained herself very well, but they had both made it clear that they did not want to be returned to the Empire of Zheng He. She would have to have a longer talk with them when she got the opportunity. She would have plenty of time. It would take her at least a month to get back to civilization.

Lin Yao came up alongside her. Larra smiled. “Feeling better, precious?” she asked. Lin Yao had been a little under the weather lately, but seemed better now.

“Yes Mummy,” her daughter answered. She paced Larra stride for stride, not speaking for several minutes. She seemed lost in thought. Larra did not interrupt her daughter’s thoughts. She suspected something was bothering her and after what the young girl had experienced that was hardly surprising.

“Mummy,” Lin Yao said quietly. “There is something I have to tell you.”

Larra said nothing, but looked expectantly at her daughter. Lin Yao finally spoke. “Mummy, I’m going to have a baby. I think it’s Featherstone’s.”

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