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Chapter
30 Takla’s
Revenge
“We’re getting close,” whispered
Sawatis. He and Lemaire along
with a number of Suruani warriors had been following the trail of the two
missing women for over two hours, and now the signs were very
fresh. He and the rest of the
rescue party slowed and moved stealthily.
They did not want to make the mistake of running into some sort of
ambush. Carefully they edged
through the thick vegetation trying not to create too much of a
disturbance. Just up ahead was
a clearing. Carefully the Mohawk
guide parted the fronds in front of him.
What he saw disappointed
him. There was no sign of either
Melissa or Larra. Instead there
were a number of Lelawabi warriors gathered in a
circle. A hiss of breath at his
elbow sent a chill through him. It
was Takla. The fallen Suruani
queen had insisted on coming with him and there was nothing he or Lemaire
had been able to do to stop her.
Sawatis had felt that he and Lemaire would move faster without her,
but to his surprise the dark-skinned queen had shown little difficulty in
keeping up with him. Now he followed
her eyes as she glared at the Lelawabi warriors in the
clearing.
One of the warriors seemed to be someone of
importance. It was difficult
for Sawatis to determine the rank of people in this strange world because
they all wore so few clothes, but he noticed that the figure Takla’s
glare was fixed on was more highly ornamented than the other male
warriors.
“Desari,” Takla
growled. The way she mouthed
the word was almost like a curse.
Sawatis realized that he was looking at the Lelawabi king; the man
who had ordered the humiliation and violation of the Suruani
queen. “Now you die!”
screamed the Takla. Before Sawatis
could stop her she hurled herself into the clearing, her warriors following
her.
“Damn!” cursed
Sawatis. Clicking off the safety
on his rifle he followed the headstrong queen, Lemaire right behind
him.
Takla was in a blind
rage. Before her was the man
who had humiliated her before her people.
She saw Desari’s jaw drop in shock when he sighted her, and then
she was upon him, striking hard and fast with her razor edged
spear.
Desari, however, was a canny
fighter. Taken by surprise, he
recovered quickly and sidestepped Takla’s initial
rush. Thrusting out his foot
as she swept past, he caught her ankle, sending the dark-skinned queen tumbling
to the ground.
Takla hit the ground
rolling. It was a good thing
she did, Desari’s spear struck just where her torso had been an instant
before. All about her was a confused
melee as her Suruani warriors clashed with the
Lelawabi. She tried to scramble
to her feet, but Desari knocked her down again with the edge of his
shield. For a brief second her
guard was down and the Lelawabi king stepped nimbly forward stamping his
foot down on her spear arm, pinning it to the
ground. Takla raised her own
shield just in time to stop Desari from impaling
her. Desari raised his spear
again, looking for an opening in an attempt to finish
her. Then she hooked her foot
behind his heel and with her other foot kicked toward his
knee.
With a grunt of pain, Desari stumbled as his
knee hyperextended. Takla found
her arm free, and from her prone position thrust
upward. Her spearpoint took him
in the groin, just below his navel.
With a scream of pain and a look of stunned disbelief, Desari staggered
backward, dropping his spear as he clutched at the gaping wound in his
abdomen. Takla saw that he was
dead, but took no chances. Rolling
to her feet she closed on the wounded
king. Desari had time only to
scream once more in fear before Takla’s spear penetrated the centre
of his chest, just below his gold
breastplate. His heart ruptured,
the king fell and as he did so the remainder of his warriors
fled.
Sawatis and Lemaire stood at the edge of the
clearing, shaking their heads at the
carnage. There had been no
opportunity to use their rifles.
The confused battle had presented no target they could shoot at without
fear of hitting one of the women.
Sawatis cursed as he saw the last of the Lelawabi
disappear into the rainforest. He
had wanted to capture one of them to help in the search for Larra and
Melissa. “Come on,”
he shouted, giving Lemaire a nudge as he took off after the fleeing
warriors.
He broke into a run, crashing through the
vegetation without any effort at caution.
Somehow he suspected that one or the other of the escaping warriors
might know something about the disappearance of one or both of the missing
women. His much longer stride
helped him gain on the fleeing Lelawabi.
Exactly what he was going to do when he caught them he did not
know. He did not speak any of
their language and could not communicate with the Suruani
either.
The Lelawabi heard him
coming. Terror seemed to give
them even greater speed and for awhile, he could not close the distance with
them. Then suddenly they burst
through the vegetation and onto a well marked
trail. The trail seemed to help
the Lelawabi more than it helped Sawatis or
Lemaire. Their larger size had
allowed them to force their way through the rainforest vegetation more easily
than the warriors they were pursuing.
For several minutes they could not gain any ground at all, and both
men were tiring. Although very
fit, neither Sawatis nor Lemaire were used to the sort of tropical heat that
surrounded them. The high humidity
and high temperatures seemed to drain the strength from
them. But they kept
going. The men they were pursuing
must be equally tired. Sooner
or later they had to overhaul them.
By now they had left Takla and her warriors
far behind, but it did not occur to either man to slow
down. It was much more important
to catch the defeated Lelawabi than it was to keep their expedition
together.
The trail wound deeper and deeper into the
forest and then suddenly the men they were chasing
disappeared. Sawatis and Lemaire
came to a halt. “Where the
hell did they go?” asked Lemaire, gasping for
breath.
“Don’t know,” Sawatis
replied. “Must have jumped
off the trail around that last bend.
Both men stood panting, their clothes soaked with
sweat. Sawatis put his hands
on his knees and bent over, trying to catch his
breath. His eyes
widened. “Boot prints,”
he said, “two sets of them.”
Lemaire moved
alongside. “One small set
and one large set. I’m guessing
Featherstone and Melissa.”
Sawatis
nodded. Without another word
he began to follow the trail.
The trail meandered through the forest for
another half hour. During that
time neither man spoke. If
Featherstone was ahead of them and had Melissa prisoner, they did not want
to startle him into doing anything that might lead to her being killed or
injured.
Sawatis saw Melissa
first. His quick intake of breath
showed his shock at seeing the condition of the helpless
girl. Melissa was tied between
two saplings, her body in the shape of an
“X.” She was covered
in jagged, bloody welts and her breasts and genitalia had been brutally pierced
by long needle-like thorns. Her
eyes were closed and to all appearances she appeared to be
dead. Numerous insects were feasting
on the blood that covered most of her
body.
“My god!” Sawatis
exclaimed. He dashed toward Melissa,
ignoring any possible danger that might be lurking
nearby. Dropping his rifle, he
pulled out his hunting knife and cut the unconscious girl loose from her
bonds. Gently, he lay her on
the ground. She was still breathing,
but just barely.
As tenderly as he could, he brushed the insects
from her body. Taking out his
canteen, he wet his handkerchief and began to carefully wash the blood from
Melissa’s body. He
was horrified at how badly the girl’s flesh had been
mutilated. Almost every inch
of her body had been cruelly lacerated.
It looked as if she had been attacked by a
madman.
Lemaire stood guard while Sawatis ministered
to Melissa. A sound caused him
to turn in the direction he and Sawatis had come
from. A few seconds later a
breathless Takla charged into the clearing, followed by several of her
warriors. She immediately strode
to where Sawatis was tending to Melissa.
Bending over the injured girl she quickly surveyed Melissa’s
injuries. She shook her head
and said something to Sawatis.
The Mohawk stared at her in
bewilderment. “I don’t
understand,” he said spreading his
hands.
Takla tried again, but it was clear that Sawatis
knew nothing of her language.
Finally she pointed to Melissa and then back the way she had
come. She continued to do this
until Sawatis finally understood.
Or at least thought he understood.
Takla wanted to take Melissa back to the Lelawabi
city. It took him a few seconds
to make up his mind. Did he dare
to place Melissa in the hands of the woman who only a few days ago had ordered
her to be brutally tortured? On
the other hand, Larra had apparently seen fit to give this woman her trust,
even to the point of returning her to
power. He finally concluded that
he did not have much choice.
By now, he had managed to stop most of the
bleeding from Melissa’s wounds.
Removing his shirt, he tore it into strips and bound up the still
unconscious girl as best he could.
As soon as he was finished Takla shouted an order and a half dozen
of her warriors lifted Melissa in their
arms. Within seconds they were
trotting back down the rainforest trail the way that they had come
before.
“I’m going to keep looking for
Larra,” said Lemaire.
“You go back with
Melissa.”
Sawatis nodded. He wanted to go with Lemaire, but did not want to leave Melissa alone with the Suruani queen. “Good luck,” he said. And then turning, set off after Melissa.
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