CHAPTER NINE
Everyone looked around them, the hairs on the back of their collective necks standing up on end. What had made that sound? One of the legendary living skeletons? A creature spawned from hell itself? Or, Peri thought, trying to distract herself from fear, Lily Allen's inner voice?
Then she saw it.
"Doctor," she said, quietly, staring. Everyone turned at the sound of her voice, and they saw it. It started to rain, large, fat drops that were actually painful.
It was a girl. Standing in the street, completely unafraid, indifferent to the stinging rain. She was small, with dark skin, and completely naked. Her long, bedraggled hair hung across her thin body like a veil. She made no noise, no movement, just stared at the intruders with wide, unblinking eyes. Unblinking red eyes.
"Mr Denham," Ann whispered, shaking, "I think we should leave. Now."
Denham however, dismissed the thought, "I'll handle this," he said, and began to walk towards the girl, reaching into his jacket pocket as he did so.
"Mr Denham," the Doctor called out, "This might not be a wise course of action…"
Denham ignored him, but then froze. The child had moved. Slowly, with almost feline grace, she lifted an arm so it was pointing directly at the group of intruders. She flicked her hand, then did it again. Cautiously, Denham began to approach again, producing a bar of Nestlé chocolate from his pocket. No-one noticed dark shapes slinking across the tiers of the ziggurats behind them, moving into coordinated positions in response to the child's signal.
"Look," Denham said, patronisingly, smiling in what he thought was a friendly manner, "Chocolate…" The child did not respond. It just stood there, one arm raised, red eyes drilling into Denham. The filmmaker continued his approach, "You like chocolate?"
No response. Not even now Denham was standing right in front of her. He held out the chocolate to her raised hand, but she did nothing.
"Good to eat," Denham continued, despite the fact he was getting nowhere, "Take it," he added, shaking the bar.
Nothing.
"C'mon," Denham snapped, losing patience, "Put it in your hand and take it!"
He grabbed the girl's hand and tried to wrap it around the chocolate bar. She wailed, and struggled, pulling with surprising strength.
"For God's sake, Denham," Bruce sighed, "Leave the native alone."
"She doesn't want the chocolate," Jack added.
Then the child leaned in, and sank teeth filed to points into Denham's wrist.
He cried out, releasing his grip on the girl. She ran, Denham pursuing in anger, to slide to a halt as he saw the girl in the arms of a fearsome old woman.
Denham glance around, as people melted out of the shadows – hollow-eyed women, elderly men. They slowly began to creep forwards, and some of the sailors drew back. Jimmy raised his gun, only for Peri to force it down.
"We don't want to make things worse," she hissed. Jimmy swallowed, and lowered the weapon.
"It's okay," Denham said impatiently, "It's just a bunch of women and old folks. They're harmless."
"Kehn chehveht," the old woman hissed.
"What?" Denham said.
Further back, Ann heard a soft thump, and Mike, the sound technician, lurched forwards, a jagged spear protruding from his back. Ann screamed in panic, the noise so loud it echoed across the plateau, and the Wall.
Seconds later, a deep, rumbling, bestial roar exploded out of the silence, as if in answer to Ann's cry. Everyone, even the natives froze, until the sound had stopped.
It was the old woman who broke the silence, "Tsahn botaigahn shehm," she whispered, fear making her voice shake. In her arms, the girl cowered. "Meht misho tsahv, teh Kong…" she raised her head, glaring at the intruders. She raised a hand to point at them, and she screeched "Teh dotahgehn b'seht!"
Bodies slammed into Peri, forcing her away from Jimmy. Native men materialised from nowhere, leaping upon the sailors, wrapping their arms around their prey. Their naked bodies were all scarred with strange designs, smeared with mud and dye, bones piercing their muscles and faces. They threw themselves at the sailors, several men to each, ripping Ann away from Jack, dragging the Doctor to the ground. Hayes was in the grip of eight natives before he could react, his gun lost, he could only watch as his crewmates were seized, disarmed and subdued. He saw one sailor have his cap ripped off, and to his shock he found himself staring into Jimmy's face as the boy struggled, only for a native to smash the side of his face with a bone-studded club, drawing blood. Jack dived at Ann, only for natives to grab him from behind, dragging him backwards.
Ann turned, and saw the old woman advancing on her, chanting in her hoarse voice, a look of pure hate on her face.
"Yootaieht mahnot b'nahvahot, doprahchizehn b'zoo dho muhkhon b'tairoosh lehmahrnehm meht, tahgahmehm, tsahn botaigahn shehm, b'fahsee, larr'i yu sano k'ore, kweh'yone kah-weh ad'larr, tore Kong! Khoy rehgehdee kat kolkehnehn rehmooshee grehoonahn chehto okh rehzeewai ril bodolpaipeel kohooreht ah mehtm'lah dotsahvehn t'fah trehgahlpotee vogehts, tore Kong! Tore Kong!"
Then
she lifted her arms, and pointed towards the central plaza,
screeching "Don erthchir fah!"
The natives began to
drag their human cargo along the street, until they arrived at the
plaza. The Doctor's eyes widened as he saw what a group of native
men was placing on an altar at the centre of the plaza. A pyramidal
object, at least nine feet tall, made of smooth metal, with a single
mark on its surface – a palm print of a human hand. He recognised
the device from the carvings he had examined earlier. This was the
gift of the Gods.
"Veechtahvteeon rifeeneet sahehthoy!" the woman said, and the natives began hauling one of the sailors – Sam Griffin – forwards, towards the Gift. Then they forced Griffin's right hand against the palm-print, and held it there. Nothing happened. Griffin was dragged away, to the opposite side of the plaza, where another group of natives waited, one holding a massive mace studded with what appeared to be massive teeth. Griffin's head was forced onto a stone, tears welling up in his eyes as he realised what was going to happen, as the native raised the mace, as Hayes looked on in horror, and the mace was brought crashing down. Griffin's struggles ceased.
The woman turned to the line of waiting sailors, walking past them, choosing the next victim. She pointed to someone out of Hayes' vision, and spoke, "Tooleet chilehsh."
Peter Leonard was dragged forwards, and the whole grisly sequence was repeated. Leonard's hand was pressed against the palm-print, to the same effect as Sam Griffin, and he too was sent to the mace. He closed his eyes, and whispered something as he died. The Doctor watched, utterly powerless, lip-reading Leonard's last word. Dorothy. His wife, back in New York. Now a widow.
The woman spoke again, and rose her finger once again, "Tooleet chilehsh."
Hayes' heart almost stopped as Jimmy was hauled out of the line, blood running from the gashes in the side of his face where the club had hit him. His eyes were wide, fear evident on his face. Why the hell hadn't the boy stayed on the boat? Hayes struggled, desperately trying to free himself from the native's grip, wanting nothing else in the world but to save the boy who was, to all intents and purposes, his son. But he couldn't break free.
The natives forced Jimmy to raise his hand, pushing it towards the palm-print on the gift, which would seal his fate. Hayes kicked out, biting hard into the shoulder of one of the natives. The man screeched, and more natives turned instantly and dived at Hayes, ending any chance he had of escaping. Jimmy's hand made contact with the cool metal side of the gift, and they waited.
Nothing.
The natives began to drag Jimmy towards the stone, pulling him away from the device.
And the second his hand left its side, it came to life.
The sides seemed to glow dully, a compartment opening in the side above the hand-print and extruding a cone of concertinaed metal, bending to Jimmy's head height. At the same moment, two cylinders slid out of the gift's casing on either side of the palm-print. The upper two feet of the pyramid swung open, allowing a plinth to rise from the top.
Once the transformation was complete, the glow subsided, and everyone fell silent.
Then the woman spoke, her voice trembling with awe, "Khrehzithahthtee b'kehn ehlonijtahgahmehm, tsahn botaigahn shehm, b'fahsee." Then she turned, and left the plaza. The natives began to drag the sailors off the plaza, Jimmy and Ann in one direction, the rest in the other. Hayes struggled to free himself, kicking and biting, only for something heavy to hit the back of his head, and everything to go black.
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Englehorn jumped as he heard the roar explode out from the island's shore, the sound waves even causing the ship to vibrate. He ran out of the wheelhouse, staring at the island, like everyone else in his crew. The Doctor and Miss Brown were out there, and so was Mr Hayes, and so was Jimmy (he hadn't been able to find the boy after Hayes had gone, so he had assumed Jimmy had gone with Hayes), and so were some of his crew – Lumpy, Choy, Sam Griffin. What had they gotten into?
"Captain?" said a voice. He turned to see Fay, Denham's wardrobe mistress, who had chosen to remain on the ship, walking towards him. She looked pale. "What was that?"
"I have no idea," Englehorn said, turning back to stare at the cliffs.
"Are you just going to leave them to the mercy of whatever that was?" Fay asked, moving to stand beside him. Englehorn blanched, and turned to face her again.
"Of course not," he said, and strode away to the lower decks.
Ten minutes later, sailors were armed and ready to go ashore, when McGann, the oldest sailor aboard, shouted in panic. Englehorn charged to McGann's side, and was horrified to see a shield of light forming around his ship, rising out of the water to encompass the entire vessel, and the rock it was fused to. It happened seconds after Jimmy activated the Gift of the Gods.
Now there was a barrier of translucent light between the Venture and the island. Two boats were sent down, but they bumped up against the shield, not passing through. Englehorn lifted his pistol and fired three shots at the shield, and stopped. The bullets dropped off the shield, landing in the water with little plops.
They were trapped, unable to rescue the others.
