III.
Jai groaned, his head was pounding and darkness had enclosed itself around him. ‘Where am I?’ he thought to himself. The ground was damp where he lay, and from what he could make out it was some kind of slate-like stone on which he had fallen. He looked back up at the hole he had fallen into and all he could make out grey shadows. His back ached, and was in too much pain to move.
‘I must have been unconscious for a while, what happened?’ A memory flashed forth into the fore of his mind.
‘I remember waking up in the jungle glen, I was groggy for some reason, like I’d been drugged. Then I could’ve sworn I saw someone, who was it… Think Jai, think!’ Jai’s head began throbbing again and the memory began to fade. ‘No Jai! Think what happened?’ He bit down on his lip, trying to force the pain into the back of his mind so he could focus.
‘A woman - in the jungle, why? I followed her that’s right, she was beautiful. Snap out of it Jai, that’s not important now, how did I get here. I remember she saw me, but how could she have known I was there. I was well hidden.’ The memory became more vivid as he focused and his thoughts drew back to the beginning of where it all happened.
. . . . .
“Jai, wake up Jai.†A warm sweet breath whispered across his weary face and Jai drew his eyes open. He woke to find himself in the jungle glen; Zeek was fast asleep across from him under a small palm tree. A gusty cool breeze blew through the glen and the same sweet whisper came with it across the breeze.
“Come with me Jai,†it hollered. “I know what you’re looking for.†The voice faded with the breeze. Jai looked around trying to place the location of the mysterious whisperer. Through a break in the trees he saw a woman dressed in white, with long flowing dark hair and sun-kissed skin wondering off into the distance. Jai rubbed his eyes in disbelief and began following her, he kept well back so as to not be noticed, and the figure wandered on seemingly unaware of Jai’s presence. After following her for some time the woman stopped by a rock mass, its peculiar form twisted and arched into an obscure shape, it looked as if it had been carved into some sort of abstract sculpture. Jai crept closer to get a better look at what the woman was doing. She knelt down beside the rock mass and began bowing down as if in an act of obeisance to it. Jai was close enough to see clearly what was going on now, before the rock mass was a deep opening in the ground roughly the size of a dug out grave, but far deeper. The woman was leaning over it as if ready to give herself up to the black hole in the ground, she tilted her body further forward singing some bizarre incantation in a language unknown to Jai, and let herself go.
“No!†Jai, rushed forward to where the woman had fallen only to find know sign of her. Jai called out to see if she was alright, but the only response was the resonating echo of his voice. Panicked and confused he slumped back onto the ground leaning up against his pack. A thought struck Jai at that moment and he took off his pack and rummaged through until he found what he was looking for. Taking the glow sticks from his pack he snapped a few and threw them down the opening in the ground and waited for them to hit the bottom. The drop appeared to be roughly a fifty foot drop, but there was no sign of anyone at the bottom.
‘I saw her fall, how could she just disappear?’ he thought.
From behind him he heard a shuffling in the undergrowth, he turned defensively to see who it was – it was the woman dressed in white. He stared in disbelief until she spoke.
“Hello Jai,†when she spoke it was like a song – a sweet yet, eerie lullaby, “I know why you’re here.†She continued.
“Who are you, and how do you know my name?†Although he was defensive, his question expressed more curiosity. He found himself mesmerized by her enchanting voice.
“You’re going to fall Jai, don’t be scared, let the darkness take you.†She stepped forward and mimicking the action of pushing him from where she stood a gust of wind violently blew through tipping Jai off balance from his feet and he fall backwards into the opening in the ground.
With a sudden feeling of vertigo Jai opened his eyes startled from the vision, his heart beat hard against his chest and a cold sweat overcame him he scrambled around in the darkness of the cavern of which he had fallen searching for his pack he found it with its contents scattered about him, continued searching in the dark for another glow stick, finally finding one he cracked it and it slowly let off a steady dull glow enough for him to make out his surroundings. Now fully conscious Jai realised the extents of his injury, aside from a cut to his face and a few tender spots he was surprised to find no other serious injury.
‘How is this possible?’ He asked himself. He checked himself over again this time with the light of the glow stick and found the same to be true, just a few scratches and bruises. Jai searched the cavern to find a way out, a soft breeze was coming from one end of the cavern and he searched it out to find a man sized opening in the caverns wall. He quickly seized up his belonging and began cautiously seeking his way out of the cavern.
The tunnel cramped and veered into a descent for quite sometime, but Jai was sure that if there was a fresh cool breeze coming from this path, there must be a way to the surface. He had been travelling through the nooks and cranny’s of the underground cavern for sometime now and was down to his last of the three glow sticks he had left, the way before him narrowed again and then after a short distance the sound of rushing water from that of a waterfall came within earshot. Jai assumed he was near the exit and hurried on, the path soon opened up into another huge cavern, this time filled with an underground river. He looked up to see where the water was coming from and found the source of the waterfall to be coming from the surface.
Calculating the distance from his side of the underground river, the strength of the current and the distance to the rocky bank on the waterfall side of the river Jai realised he wouldn’t be strong enough to swim across unaided. He lay down his pack and searched for his rope and grapple and looked for a steady place to secure his rope on the opposing bank. After studying the rocky bank he picked the shortest and safest way across and readied himself to secure his rope. Wading thigh deep into the ice cold water he secured his footing and began swinging the grapple to secure it on the other side so he could cross over. His first attempt at securing the rope failed the surface of the rock bank was far too slippery and the grapple couldn’t grip hard enough on the surface. Jai dragged the rope back through the water to where he was and made a few more attempts. Each time the grapple wouldn’t grip and slid back into the turbulent river. Jai could feel his footing give way and after drawing back the rope for the last time, retreated to his side of the river. Frustrated by the river current and the mossy rock bank, he sat down and rested a while, then searched for a different spot to try and cross over the river.
Finding a spot that looked suitable enough, he waded into the water once again, this time waist deep and propped himself against a rock that lay beneath the waters surface. The cold of the water was beginning to get to him, and he could feel his body temperature dropping with every moment he spent in the water. He decided to work quickly hoping that the humidity of the jungle above him would stop him from becoming hyperthermic. With limbs aching from the cold of the water he took a swift swing with his grapple and lodged it on the opposite bank it took hold, wading back to the bank he propped up his gear and steadily waded across with river with the ropes aid. The currents undertow got stronger as he crossed and its depth graduated so that he could no longer touch the bottom. He was now solely relying on the rope to pull himself across the river, two thirds of the way across he felt the grapple coming loose and knew he had to move quickly to make it to the other side before being dragged further into the underground rivers cavern. Hand over hand he inched him self quickly closer to the river bank. Four foot from the rivers edge the grapple gave way and the current sucked Jai down stream. In a matter of seconds he would hit the part of the river that goes completely underground, readying himself for his end he took one last gasp for air sucked it in and went under the waters surface. Just as he was pulled under something caught hold of him and dragged him to the rivers surface. In a split second he found him self coughing up water on the waters mossy shore. In the dark of the cavern he could barely make out the figure that had hoisted him ashore, several stretched shadows filled the cavern from what he could see from the nights light peering through the opening where the waterfall was. One of the individuals lit up a torch bringing Jai’s saviours into sight.
“That’s no way to live young man,†said a masculine bearded figure, the light from the torch revealing his long tasselled hair of grey and mousy brown knotted locks. His features looked weathered and a distinct scar stretched across from the centre of his forehead straight through his right eye to the exterior of his jaw, the eye that the scar intersected was completely white with blindness, the man held out an extended hand to help Jai to his feet.
“I agree,†Jai coughed. “Thank you for helping me. Perhaps you could assist me further by directing me to an easier route to the surface.â€Â
“I don’t see why you would want to do that my young impostor, and even if I did offer you a way out what do you have to offer me in return,†said the scar-faced man.
“You don’t understand, I’m looking for someone I need to get to the surface to meet them at the rendezvous point.†Jai’s vision blurred and he shook his head; he was feeling weak again and couldn’t quite figure out why.
“I believe we’ve already found you,†said the scar-faced man and with the signal of his hand his accomplices restrained Jai. With a violent stab of a syringe to his neck he fell unconscious.
To be continued Chapter 4
Very good! The story didn't take the path that i thought it would
This is like a TV series, where you have to wait until the following week to find out what happens [img]http://s4.images.proboards.com/smiley.gif" alt=":)" border="0"/>
oooooo very good indeed!
lol! it is a bit like a TV show DO - sitting and waiting in anticipation for the next instalment!
Keep it coming E! (i'm gunna call you E - its easier [img]http://s4.images.proboards.com/smiley.gif" alt=":)" border="0"/> )
MK
Hey DO and MK
Hope you're both keeping well, yeah the story hasn't really taken the path I intially planned either. The characters end up deciding for me, its just as exciting for me to write as it is for you to read. I never know exactly where they're going to end up. I'll keep posting, but I'm gonna try space it out more, so I'm sorry if you keep you in suspense for too long.
Laters ES
PS. Its fine you can call me E just keep reading! ; )
Don't worry E. You keep posting and we shall keep reading!
most definately! [img]http://s4.images.proboards.com/smiley.gif" alt=":)" border="0"/>
