The Adventurers

Chapter 24

"Where the hell is Tapuk? He should have been back ages ago " Sax stood and stared anxiously into the jungle.

"Shh, someone's coming." The group fell silent, preparing their weapons as the figure emerged from the jungle.

"Christ, Matzumen, you have be a little more careful in situations like this; you don't want us shooting you." Jed lowered his rifle and relaxed.

"The river is three hours that direction."

"You weren't gone three hours, how do you know that?" Sam complained.

"Trust me, he knows." Sax turned to his guide. "Is the way difficult?" He tipped his head toward the women. Matzumen shook his head but it really meant, likely. He looked around and asked about Tapuk.

"He backtracked to see if they were following yet."

"How long?"

"Maybe forty, fifty minutes."

"Too long." Matzumen took off before Sax could stop him and they looked at one another with indecision.

"Now what?" Sam asked, shifting his heavy clothing for comfort.

"We can't go without him even if we do know the direction; he'll have scouted the best route." Saxon went to the woman and asked if they wanted to leave or wait for the guides. Chessery agreed they should wait a bit but if something had happened they should be ready to bolt.

* * *

Matzumen found Tapuk propped against the palm tree, blood oozing from beneath a compress of leaves and mud. Near him on the ground was a white man with a slash across his face that extended down across his jaw and into his neck.

Surprisingly, he was still breathing but struggling. Tapuk smiled at his friend and held up the long braid of hair Le Clerque had worn. The two natives took what they could from Le Clerque's belongings and Matzumen helped his friend back to the others.

Tapuk was received with concern and surprise and after getting him properly seen to; surprised even more at his story. They studied the items the guides had brought back and learned that Le Clerque was associated with the church in Rome and had an instruction letter addressed from Montcleefe.

"What the hell is that?" Sam asked, pointing at the braid of hair Tapuk had on his belt.

"A braid of hair, what does it look like."

"Did he scalp that guy! ?"

"No, that's just a token of victory in their culture. It proves they were victorious and it is supposed to remove the enemy's power."

"Crap." Sam said disgustedly.

"It's popular in other cultures around the world, Sam, Chessery remarked. "It's even a biblical feature."

"Can we leave all these philosophical debates until we're out of this place?" Jed helped Krena to her feet and picked up a tired Luna.

Sax told Matzumen to lead the way and the group moved off through the jungle in the dark.

"Travelling in the dark... I don't know..."

"You just finished saying we should get going," Sax said with exasperation.

"Is this wise, at night I mean?" Chessery moved up beside Sax.

"Wiser than waiting for our friends to find us." He held some vines out of the way as she passed under. "That bastard Montcleefe, I can't believe he was so bloody greedy to send word to the church and have them send their assassin to get the treasure and us."

Sax kept grumbling as the group came together in a small opening in the jungle. Matzumen was down on one knee checking something on the ground.

"The church uses assassins?" Sam gave Sax a dubious look.

"Don't be naive, Parkhurst. Opus Dei has been an enforcement arm of the Vatican since the late twenties. They don't admit it but..."

"You think this guy was knocking off some of Pazzo's gang?" Jed asked.

"Well we knew there was more than one tracker after us. Chances are good."

"You're saying this guy was supposed to take you all out, you and this other guy. this Pazzo?" Sam slapped his thighs with his hands and shook his head. "What the hell did I sign on to?"

Matzumen got up and nodded a change of direction.

"You signed on for what you jammed into your pockets, Parkhurst. Don't start with the misled, innocent bystander."

"What did he stuff in his pockets?" Jed asked.

"Ask him. We found the treasure and it is huge, but there was no way we could do anything about it. It's gonna take a larger force to go back and relieve those guys of what we saw."

"It's real alright." Sax tapped Sam on the shoulder. "Show him, Sam."

"The hell I will. You guys didn't want any and so you can live with that decision."

"Just show him, I didn't say give him anything."

"Why don't we all focus on getting where we're headed and do the posturing in the daylight in a safer place." Chessery huffed.

* * *

The area of the river they needed, appeared to them on the sixth day and they all cheered, slapping Matzumen on the back and praising his instincts and skill. It had taken five hours to find it originally and then they had to follow it to a tributary that would take them to the Poco Gingi. The trip had been arduous with incidents of falls, dangerous animals and more than enough bruises and scratches.

Hungry, thirsty and more tired than describable, they flopped down on the narrow bank and stayed silent Krena and Luna slept. Tapuk and Matzumen hunted for suitable material to build a raft. Jed and Sax scouted the bank for a food source while Sam sat with Chessery, talking about the treasure

"I'd be willing to share what I picked up." He said, shifting closer to her.

"Really Just like that." She gave him a slow look.

He lowered his voice and glanced over his shoulder. "You and me together, what do you say?"

"I say I think you'd better worry about getting back to a safe place before you make any plans for 'what you picked up'."

"We're safe now, those natives won't follow us this far. They are territorial, that much I did learn being there."

"Do you realize that we are miles from any friendly villages and we have to travel that river, which by the way is only a tributary of the Gingi. We have no certain idea where it leads yet. She stood and brushed off her pants. "Hell, Parkhurst we don't even have a boat."

Jed and Sax returned with some large leaves filled with guava. "All we could find, pickin's'r pretty skimpy "

"What are they?"

"Strawberry guava. Tastes like strawberry." Sax held out the leaves to Chessery "Try one."

She took the claret-coloured fruit and examined the spherical shape before taking out a wicked looking knife from her pants and slicing it open. Before she could eat any, Krena, who they all thought was sleeping, approached with a large fish on the end of a sharp stick.

"Whoah, what the hell is that?" Sam Stepped back.

"Fantastic, Krena, Sax said."Jed, get a fire going and call the boys.

"What the hell is that?" Sam stared at Krena, dumfounded over how such a dainty little woman could have speared a beast like the one on the ground in front of her. It had to be forty pounds of the ugliest fish he'd ever seen.

"An Amazonian tambaqui. Great eating. This is a mid-sized catch."

"It's awful looking."

"It's from the piranha family but this one is herbivorous. Jed said, enjoying Sam's discomfort.

"Pirahna! Jesus, their cannibals!"