Commando Part 13

Eight former captives sat on their knees wondering what would their future hold now. Twelve heavily armed fighters and their Jumbo Cat steeds stood between the captives and the mouth of the cave. All the captives looked at each other with concerned and scared looks. They must have though these new warriors would either kill them and feed them to their cats or simply leave them at the cave. All twelve looked at these rescued captives then to each other wondering what the Hithna to do with these captives. Maurice desired to press on and reach their objective as did half his group. The other half wanted to help them escape the Unknown Lands. However that would mean going west or turning back. Scared and confused the captives stared at them in horror until three other figures appeared out of the cave.

     Behind them Oladele Zeim, Eledhien, and Pokeha exited the cave. Seeing the other three captives eased the concerns and swept away the fear that gripped the other captives. Oladele approached them with a knife unsheathed then proceeded to untie them. As they stood up their rescuers were about to leave. Before he even mounted he studied the captives trying to figure out how long they had been out here and what they were doing in this part of the world.

     Four of these captives were zoologists exploring the jungles in search of the species and any new ones. From the way they dressed in the typical safari explorer outfits he assumed they were part of a team. Two of the other captives are the native guides to the zoologists. Each one wore a decorative tribal shawl over the typical tribal garb. Next to them was a hunter who dressed in the more traditional style of a southern explorer. He was an older man with graying hair and a few scars here and there who resided alone in these jungles. The last captive was a female anthropologist known as Dr. Evia Judith Westley. She was part of a study team from the Redrin Republic University of Langshier in Redrin city of Iberai. Her team was attacked and butchered before the rest were taken by different tribes. It appeared to be the same story with the other captives except the hunter who was dragged from his own hunting lodging.

     None of these freed captives had any sense of where they were or how far in the jungles they were. In a brief discussion among themselves the other eight captives decided to join the fifteen adventurers. Since it would most likely take a few or more months to traverse these jungles in search of lost Vestrisians Maurice allowed this. Using the skills, and knowledge of the guides and hunter the increased party of twenty three snaked through the brush of the jungles. As they pressed on for hours into the day they came upon a campsite. It appeared to be a Gantronese camp that was abandoned some time ago. In a clearing six tents with the Gantronese emblem on both sides sat in a circle with an old fire place in the middle. They checked each tent finding some useful items and canned goods. One of the tents had a skeleton of a long dead Gantronese soldier with a knife in his back.

     Quickly grabbing up the supplies the party then pressed on towards the east in search of their own campsites, but only found more abandoned posts and other campsites. Seven total campsites were discovered during their trek through the jungles. The second camp was another Gantronese camp that was completely torn apart by the savage natives. A week passed before they found another camp belonging to the Gantronese, which was not as bad as the previous plus with more useful items. Not too far from this one was an outpost belonging to the Gantronese. For a whole day they camped here before going on to the next. As another week passed after the discovery of the outpost they found a fourth abandoned campsite full of old supplies and canned food strewn about. Maurice picked on up to find bite marks on it. The savage beasts or some animal had tried getting to the food inside. He shook it causing the contents to shift a little inside. One of their prowlers and Hilastes checked each can before claiming it as theirs.

     Pakeha followed tracks that she found that led straight to one of the zoologists’ camps. This one was one of five camps the zoologists set up in the jungle. It appeared to be bigger than the other camps they came across. High tech equipment still sat there in the camp some damaged others left alone. Here the Zoologists insisted they be left here. The bodyguard and guides warned them not to do that. After a brief argument they were given no chose but to press onward in a southern route. As they pushed further to the southwest they cut a path in case the zoologists foolishly wanted to go back. To their surprise these zoologists came over via airship. However it was nowhere to be seen since it probably dropped them off like a taxi cab would. A few more days in the jungle took them to another campsite towards the eastern side of the other camps.

     Tired and sick of the jungle the large party found a camp that belonged to the anthropologist. Unfortunately it was located close to a tribe of Beast men. Dr. Westley ignored the fact that this camp was close to another tribe. She began rummaging through boxes, crates, and her own belongings for records of her studies. As she gathered up what files and research she could a small group of hostiles appeared in the trees and brush. Everyone froze where they stood realizing they were surrounded by an entire tribe or war band of Beast Men. As he looked around them he counted close to two hundred or more Beast Men surrounding them. A few dozen of the tribal warriors charged at the fighters ignoring the unarmed scientists. The hunter tried to defend himself only to get swarmed by the savages and have his throat slit. Seeing the hunter die in such a gruesome way horrified the zoologists, and anthropologist whom ran for shelter. Maurice sent Amonif after them to ensure none ran off into the jungle blinded by fear.

     Hilastes killed several tribal warriors before more of the tribal warriors charged in the quarrel in the abandoned campsite outpost. Nine fighters fought for their lives against overwhelming odds. Each one had killed dozens upon dozens of Beast Men warriors littering the cleared campsite of corpses. The Jumbo Cats were mainly left alone to attack freely since Beast Men somewhat feared these large cats. To the greater misfortune these cats simply laid there and watched the fight after killing a few more Beast Men. Infuriated that these older Jumbo Cats had little interest in dealing with the Beast Men, Maurice sliced open a large warrior who had three skulls tied to his belt.

     As the party of escorts fought on the cats maneuvered around the camp-battlefield killing or knocking down a few more Beast Men. Twelve large cats with different colored coats of furs laid around the shed the zoologists, anthropologists, and their guides hid. Every cat had its own fur coat from black, brown, fawn, chocolate with stripes, reddish, grey, blue, and flaxen. All of them were bred for the soul purpose of warfare, riding, and basic needs of a culture in the jungles. However the Jumbo Cat had the habit of acting like a house cat. They’d choose to obey you or not depending on their thoughts, attitude or situation. In this particular situation these young and old cats seemed intrigued just watching them fight. Acknowledging the large cats being lazy and not helping Maurice gave them glares every now and then. In response to his glares and others shouting at them some turned away, a few yawned and one simple rolled over showing its belly. Cats usually showed their belly as a way of saying it loved you. This knowledge of felines crossed his mind as he fought off a few war club wielding warriors and a war chief. In the thick jungle a loud roar shattered the air causing everyone to stop. Each cat propped up its head with wide eyes and ears back.