Polly's African Adventures

As he tried to get to his feet, to retreat in the direction he had appeared from, there came a flash of movement. A second beast hurled itself through the air, front paws stiffened, outstretched. A half-tonne of beast brought the man crashing to the earth. The animal straddled him in the green undergrowth. The scream of terror changed into a loud, choking gurgle as the animal's teeth sank deep into the throat, tearing the wind-pipe. The first beast, having consumed the sponge-like morsel ripped from the groin, set upon the writhing body, severing a large slice of raw flesh from the buttocks.

Polly was spellbound by the scene of horror being played out in front of her. Two smaller beasts now appeared from the undergrowth. They started tearing strips of flesh from the writhing limbs, muscles jerking in death throes. The warrior's cries were now silenced. Polly's dry throat could make no sound. The scream froze on her lips. It was then that she felt the cord binding her slacken. A soft voice whispered urgently, but barely audible, in her ear.

'Polly! Don't make a sound. Don't alarm the beasts. Slide quietly behind the tree and follow me.'

Polly had never been more relieved to hear the sound of a human voice in all her life. She could breathe again. She would be able to slip away whilst the beasts gorged themselves on the remains of her captor. When they had had their fill, they would slink away, leaving the remains to the jackals of the forest, then the insects, until the bones were stripped clean, gleaming white. Soon, even they would be overgrown and no sign would remain of Kaldo ever having existed.

Her rescuer was the faithful Dwindali. He was her mentor, her master and protector, provided by the great Prince Tontu, chief of the savage tribe of Mtonti. With great caution, breath held, the two crept away from the scene of carnage. Polly held onto the rope wrapped round the ebony, shining waist of the naked native. When they cleared the dense undergrowth, Dwindali hoisted the exhausted Polly onto his brawny back, carrying her back to the settlement.

'Not far, Polly. I believed Kaldo to be a faithful servant. But the sight of your innocence and beauty overcame him. The Kwali prize white women very highly.'

'He paid the price,' Polly said. 'I thought it was me the beasts would eat. He arrived in the nick of time to deflect the monster's attention.'

'And that would have been a death preferable to the torture and agony his tribe would have subjected you to.'

'Tell me.'

And Dwindali recounted the sexual rites of the Kwali tribe; their base torture and abuse of the female body for the satisfaction of their lewd appetite and sadistic pleasure. Polly shuddered.

'Would they have done all that?'

'Aye. Kaldo was a reformed character, we thought. But his inbred instincts got the better of him. It was the sight of your innocent, violated body.'

Marina was waiting for them when they finally arrived at the village. Dwindali's young attendants took over the nursing of the white woman, Marina helping. They prepared a bath of spring water, generously sprinkled with aromatic herbs, gently washing her body all over with the cool liquid.

After drying her, she was laid on a low rattan table covered with dried grasses and soft green moss. There, she was massaged with oils and essences to help the healing of the bruised skin on her back and buttocks. As she closed her eyes and surrendered herself to the gentle touch of warm palms, her mind went back to the beginning of the adventure she had found herself in.