Owen Burgoyne
Chapter 3: Natives...
Blest stood there, walking stick in hand and pipe in mouth, staring at a giant pyramid.
"What the hell is that?" asked Jones.
"Damned if I know," said Blest. "Looks like a pyramid."
"A pyramid in the middle of the jungle?" said Herringsway. "I thought you only found pyramids in Djelibeybi and Tsort."
"Well," began Michelmas, "pyramids, or a form of pyramid, have been found in the Kingdom of Tezuma, deep in the jungle valleys of Klatch. Although not strictly pyramids, they roughly conform to the shape: wide at the bottom, pointy at the top."
"Bloody hell," sighed Jones, feeling another of Michelmas' lectures coming on.
"I was only telling him about pyramids," said Michelmas defensively. "Anyway, this pyramid looks like one of the Tezumen pyramids, or temples as they are actually used for. Usually for ritual sacrifices to their god Quezovercoatl, I believe."
Jones rolled his eyes and sighed again.
"Sorry," apologized Michelmas.
The group stared up at the pyramid. There were steps running up all four sides, with a large stone table on its flat top. Vines and creepers had slowly grown up around the sides, but they seemed to have been cleared from the stairways.
"Looks like we've found us some civilization," beamed the General.
The explorers walked over to the temple and began to look around. The sides of the temple, made from large tight-fitting stone blocks, were covered in pictograms. While Blest, Michelmas and Kevin headed up to the top of the temple, Jones and Herringsway walked around the base and inspected the chiselled drawings.
"Look at this one," said Jones, pointing to one of the many pictures.
"What are those people doing?"
"Take a closer look."
"Oh my god! That's illegal!"
"Have a look at this one," said Jones, pointing at another pictogram.
"Oh my god! That's ... that's ... that's impossible!"
"They may not be as civilized as us, boyo, but they've got bloody good imaginations, haven't they?" Jones pulled a piece of paper from his rucksack and began to make a rubbing of one of the more interesting images. "For research, you understand," he explained to Herringsway. "Now why don't you go on and find the other three. I'll be up in a minute or two."
Herringsway nodded and headed up the steps to the top of the temple.
When he reached the top, the other three were nowhere to be seen. He walked around a large stone table, noticing the blood stains. Something on the floor caught his eye - it was Kevin's compass, the glass glinting in the sunlight.
He rushed back down the steps to where Jones was taking the stone rubbings. As he reached the bottom of the steps he could see that Jones wasn't there either.
Panic set in.
"General! General Blest!" he shouted. No answer.
"Jones! Mr Jones!" Still no answer.
"MR MICHELMAS!" he yelled. Nothing but silence.
There was the crack of a twig behind him and, as he went to turn round, everything went dark.
The first thing that Herringsway noticed as he regained consciousness was the uncomfortable feeling around his body. He opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a small wooden hut tied to a supporting pole. The other explorers were also tied to poles and were, Kevin excepted, talking amongst themselves.
Herringsway cleared his throat.
"Awake now are we?" said Blest.
"What happened?" asked Herringsway.
"Natives," stated Jones. "That's what happened. Wily little devils they were. Sneaked up on us while we were looking at their bloody temple then WALLOP! Next thing we know, we're all tied up to these poles!"
The hut's doorway darkened, and a large figure filled the space.
It was a large, dark-skinned man decorated in colourful paints and feathers, wearing nothing but a loincloth, a few leather straps and a necklace with a small animal skull attached to it. He had a large paunch and was holding a gold staff in one hand and a long pipe in the other. The staff had a large sun emblem upon it.
He turned out of the hut and grunted. A smaller, thinner man joined him. The second man was less extravagantly decorated, wearing only a loincloth and a small necklace made of bones.
The large man whispered into the smaller man's ear, and the second man nodded.
The small man walked over to the tied up explorers and pulled out a knife.
"Now listen here!" spluttered General Blest. "I must--"
"Silence," said the large man holding up his staff, his deep voice booming around the hut like a dark overlord with a breathing problem.
General Blest went silent.
The small man looked at the helpless explorers. "Chief want you be quiet."
Mr Michelmas leaned towards Blest. "It would appear that the large man is the Chief."
"Thank you Phillip, I managed to work that one out for myself," said the General. He looked up at the Chief. "Now look here, Chiefy," began the General, "I demand that you let us go this second, otherwise ... otherwise..." His voice trailed out.
The small man looked back at the Chief in the doorway. The Chief nodded at him and he continued forward with the knife, walking towards Kevin.
"STOP!" shouted Blest. "I know he's young and a bit tubby, but that doesn't mean he's going to taste nice, does it?! Now leave him alone!" He struggled in the binding ropes, looking for something to pick up and hit someone with.
The Chief started to laugh.
The other explorers looked around at each other in confusion.
"Grumble in the Jungle" is copyright (C) Owen Burgoyne 2002. Discworld (R) is a trade mark registered by Terry Pratchett. All the characters in this story are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.