Chapter 29 – The Natives' Village
The violence and rioting continued throughout the day. The former laborers and slaves who had been saddled with the impossible task of building the infrastructure of a political and economic empire in brutal conditions against their will proclaimed their victory. Many of the labor traders, felled by unknown ailments that sapped their strength, were unable to stop their vengeance. Euro's authorities and security personnel did their best, but they were fighting a battle that they simply could not win. The mobs of laborers were simply too great, and the pent-up frustration and anger that had built up inside those men and women for years poured out. By the afternoon, many of the marble streets were running red with blood. Watching it unfold from inside the mansion, Will could not condone the senseless violence that was taking place, but at the same time, the fact that it was happening did not surprise him in the least.
On a more practical level, the violence was such that it prevented their safe passage out of the city toward the ruins of Angkor Wat. To make matters worse, along with the Euro capital building, the Rolek Mansion was right at the epicenter of the laborers' uprising. Will, Kara, and Erik held a conference that afternoon.
"What are we going to do? There's just no way out of here." Kara said.
"We could force our way through the crowds. That's what we did on the way into the city." Will suggested.
"I'm not going out there!" Erik shouted. "Those people are crazy! It's a war out there, who knows what could happen to us!"
"Erik, if you continued to be scared for the rest of your life, you'll never get anywhere." Will said.
"And if you would actually stop to think about the ramifications of your actions before making such rash decisions…" Erik said tersely.
"Enough!" Kara shouted. "You two have been at each other's throats for the better part of the day. Will, Erik's right, we can't just go out there into that mess. Even if you are their liberator, who knows what could happen if the wrong people get close to you."
Will slunk down into his chair. How could he make them understand that leaving immediately was paramount to their mission? Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind. Of course! He was so caught up in Neil's parents dying and the resulting laborer revolt that he had forgotten totally about his encounter with the Jackal. A maniacal grin crossed his face.
"We have to leave because the Jackal is near."
"What?" Kara shouted.
"I saw him, he was stooping around somebody's house somewhere between Euro and Mount Kress a few days ago."
"That can't be!" He's followed us all the way here?" Kara shouted in disbelief.
Will was about to speak again, but Anne rose from her chair and cut Kara off. "I don't know if this is important, but I feel I tell you that I was questioned by a weird looking man about a week ago. I was hauling large boulders, and he stopped me. He asked me if I had seen a woman named Kara."
Will turned his full attention to Anne. "What did he look like?"
"He was wearing a blue cape and a silver helmet. He looked like he had some mean attacking weapons and I remember his hair, it was…weird. It waved in all directions."
"That's him all right." Will said.
Kara's face was flushed. "Anne, is there any way that you and Mike could lead us out of the city safely?"
Mike stood up. "Neil could help us get past the guards in the marketplace. From there, we will do our best to ward off unruly laborers and other persons. It's not something that I can guarantee though, at least not until nightfall."
"Oh no way, not in the dark!" Erik shouted.
"There would be less people in the streets then. It's our best chance." Mike told Will.
Will considered it for a while. Then he made a decision. I hereby submit that we leave for Angkor Wat under the cover of night." He turned to Mike. "With you assistance, we should be able to reach our next goal."
"Will, we're coming with you." Anne said.
Will stopped, and turned back around to Anne. "Excuse me?" he asked.
"We're not staying in this awful place. We don't belong here. We should return to our homes, to create a new life for ourselves. Will, you're a godsend to us, all of us." She became teary-eyed and suddenly ran toward Will and hugged him. "Without you, who knows what would have become of us and so many others. I promise you that if you let us come with you, we'll make it worth your while. Please, I beg you." Anne broke down into tears as she buried her head into Will's chest.
Kara and Erik moved toward Will and they all group-hugged. "Will, she's right." Erik said. "I mean, Mike's from South Cape. Eventually, we all have to return home anyway, don't we? We can't adventure forever."
"We…can't…adventure…forever."
Erik's words rung true. For once, he was right. They couldn't simply travel from place to place, running from the Jackal, hunting down mystic statues for the rest of their lives. There had to be more purpose than that. For Will, his purpose was to find his father and save the world from ruin. But after he accomplished that, what would he do? For the first time since he dreamed about his mother aboard the Incan Gold Ship, he was reminiscing about his old life in South Cape. No doubt Mike and Anne had done that every day of their forced captivity.
"Anne. Mike." Will said. "Welcome to the group."
Day 86 –
They got some more valuable rest, and then left Euro under the cover of night. The western suburbs of Euro had narrow streets and were rather cramped. They ran into many former laborers, plenty of whom Anne and Mike knew intimately. When they explained their situation, many of the laborers joined the pack, vowing to help Will and his friends clear the city safely. Several hours after the journey began, they were back in farmland. Will had never been as happy to see wilderness as he did that night.
For two more days they traveled the dirt trail to the southwest. As they continued to the south, they ran into some driving rainstorms, and the grasslands gave way to a swampy, insect infested marsh. By this point in the adventure, bugs bothered them very little. Even Kara was stoic despite displaying many visible bites on her arms and neck. Making camp on Day 87 was especially difficult since there wasn't any higher ground to be found, and the swampy land was practically covered with puddles and standing water. The rains continued, bringing the threat of flood. After a few hours of trying to find a suitable location, Will decided that they would continue traveling through the night. For yet another day, they would go without sleep.
Day 88 –
The marshlands turned into a thick jungle, and the road disappeared. It became difficult to orient themselves in the darkness. By morning, it became difficult to even see the sun rise because of how thick the canopy of trees had become. The temperature and the humidity were downright oppressive. Will didn't know just how far away from Angkor Wat they were, or really if they were on the right track. The map wasn't of much assistance in the thick jungle. Luckily, food and water supplies were plentiful, so they wouldn't have to worry about going hungry. Even Hamlet appeared to be in good spirits given the oppressive conditions. He was covered in mud.
At last, sometime in the early afternoon, the five adventurers plus the one pig came across a clearing in the wilderness. Perched on a plateau were a group of four wooden huts. Inside one of the buildings were three stone statues of young women, the rest were bare except for a worn out rug in the center. It was an eerie place, with a smattering of human skeletons littering the ground.
"Looks like an abandoned campsite." Will said.
"It's as hot as the tropics." Kara said, as she investigated the inside of one of the huts.
"Looks abandoned." Mike said as he tiptoed around several skeletons.
"I'm tired." Erik said. We've been traveling for two days straight. I say we rest here."
"Will, what do you say?" Kara asked.
Will nodded his assent. He wasn't exactly sure where to find the temple, or if they were even on the right path anymore. His nerves were shot. He couldn't think; the heat and humidity coupled with his fatigue made it impossible. Maybe after a nap he would be able to re-focus.
"Uhhn…Hamlet, stop it. Let me sleep a while longer."
AAAH! Who are you? What are you doing here?"
Smack! Smack! Smack…Smack…Smack…Smack!
It all happened so fast. One second Kara was in a dreamlike state, the next she was being accosted by people dressed only in cloth underwear. She was gagged, beaten, and eventually tied up to a wooden stake near the center of the campsite. Will, Erik, Anne, and Mike had all suffered a similar fate. For the past twenty minutes or so, they had watched as the pack of brown-skinned people built up a giant fire atop a bed of coals. To Kara, the people looked like savages, like those you saw in history books fighting wooly mammoths. They paced back and forth and several circled the blaze. Some made noises, while others stared blankly at their captives. If she didn't know any better, she swore that she was going to be eaten by cannibals.
"Look at how hungry they are." Erik said.
"Yes. Look at how thin they are. The skeletons make sense now. They must have been the bodies of those who starved to death." Will said. "They probably haven't eaten in days."
"Oh no. We're going to be next!" Erik said. "I can't die like this!"
Hamlet, strangely, the one member of the party that was not tied up, walked slowly toward Kara, still hog-tied to the wooden stake. It raised its snout and looked up at his master. "Hamlet, why the long face?" Kara asked. "It's as if we're about to be separated."
Hamlet looked down, then raised its snout again and took another long look at Kara. Then he quickly turned around and ran straight into the fire.
"Hamlet!" Kara shouted at the top of her lungs.
"What in the world?" Will said incredulously.
The brown-skinned people all immediately flocked to the fire where Hamlet now burned. Within a few seconds, the pig's legs gave out, and collapsed onto the hot coals.
"Hamlet!" Kara shouted again.
"Poor Hamlet." Erik said.
The natives continued to surround the fire where Hamlet burned. Suddenly, a white apparition appeared from out of the fire. The natives were awestruck, and immediately ran backward. Will immediately recognized the ghost, it was his mother Shira.
"Listen everybody." Shira said. "It was Hamlet's wish to become food for all of the hungry here. One pig could save many villagers. It was also his wish to keep hope alive for the world. Will, the comet of destruction is approaching the Earth. So find the mystic statues and go to the Tower of Babel."
When she finished her sentence, Shira raised her hands, and the ropes the bound Will and the others vanished. Then Shira floated upward, and disappeared into the afternoon sky.
Will hardly had time to take in his mother's comments before he was swamped by Erik, Anne, and Mike.
"Are you…a deity of some kind?" Anne asked him. "You summoned that ghost to save us."
"I did not!" Will said loudly, taken aback by Anne's comment. "Or, I mean, I don't know why that happened."
"Who was that?" Mike asked.
"It was my mother, Shira." Will said. "They say she passed away in an accident several years ago while my father and I were out adventuring."
"What did she mean by the comet of destruction?" Erik asked.
Will didn't know how to answer that. "It's…a long story. Suffice it to say, it's not good." Will wanted to continue but he noticed that several of the natives were lining up to talk to him. He turned away from Erik and acknowledged the native. The man began to speak, but he spoke in a tongue that Will did not understand. It sounded eerily similar to the language that Imus, Remus, and Sam had used while talking with one another in Freejia and the Diamond Mine. But unable to make heads or tails of the language, Will motioned to the man and held out his hand. The man looked into Will's eyes for a brief moment, then gave him his hand. Even though they did not understand each other's language, they had an accord.
The next villager held out some food for Will and the others to taste. It looked like a brown-colored porridge of some kind, but Will tried some anyway. It tasted like mashed up chicken and dumplings with a decidedly bitter aftertaste. Anne and Mike both commented that it was the best food they had tasted in months, which gave Will an idea of just how barbaric their living conditions in Euro had been.
Another villager tugged on Will's sleeve and pointed toward a skeleton on the far edge of the village. Will followed the man, and upon reaching the skeleton, his eyes began to well up. It was clear that the remains were of a person of great significance to the villager. After shaking the hands of several other villagers, a thought crossed Will's mind. They had come into the jungle to find Angkor Wat. Seeing as they had lost their way and were unsure as to the Temple's whereabouts, maybe the villagers could be of help.
Will turned back to Kara, the resident artist of the group. She was still teary-eyed over Hamlet's voluntary demise into the flames. Will picked up a branch and gave it to her. "Do you suppose you could draw a picture of the temple in the pit of soot?" he asked. He took out his map and showed it to the villagers.
Kara didn't say a word, but beckoned to many of the villagers, including those tending over Hamlet's now roasting aroma. She began to create lines in the soot, and before long, she had drawn an impressive looking building in the gray matter. To finish it off, she drew a crescent moon high above and palm trees surrounding it. For such an unusual canvas, it was quaint.
The natives initially did not know what to make of Kara's work of art. Then suddenly, one of the young children in the group stepped forward. Using a stone tool, he scraped his right index finger enough that it began to bleed. Taking Will's map, he marked in blood a location that appeared to be out in the middle of the vast jungle off to the north of the village. Will examined the map. It didn't look all that far from the village, probably less than a day away. Before he could even thank the young villager though, he tugged on Will's shirt. Will followed him back into the hut where the three statues of the young women were. The boy pointed to the statues, then pointed back to the drop of blood he had marked on Will's mark. Then he, like the boy at the statue, began to cry. It was as if he was trying to tell him that there was some connection between the temple and the three statues. But what could it be?
