Victoria's Fall

"The Elder wishes to know why you have come to these forsaken lands," said the translator.

Victoria glanced at Sergei and then took a quick look at the faeries before facing the old man. "Near here is a place that our friends there cannot go to and yet they can go anywhere else in the world. We wish to find out why they cannot go there. Do you know of this place?"

The old man gave forth a cackling laugh. He pointed at the two faeries with a bony finger. He spoke for a minute or two and then the younger black man translated. "He says that those two cannot go everywhere in the world and if they told you they could then they are liars. They are not people. There are many places they cannot go. Near here is one such place. It is a place of darkness and evil. Those who go in do not return. There is an ancient enemy deep in the jungle who devours men's souls. This enemy came from the north long, long ago, from a land where the men built mountains of rock to hide their dead."

The translator thought for a few seconds and then turned and asked the old man something. There was an exchange for a couple of minutes and then he turned back to Victoria. "He is speaking of Egypt. The enemy or evil god who waits in the jungle came from Egypt, but it was a long time ago."

"Ha!" said Sergei. He leaned over to Victoria. "We'll get nothing here but lies and myths."

Victoria looked over at the two elves, both of whom were watching the old man intently.

The Elder started talking again as he raised a finger to Sergei. The translator waited patiently and then explained, "he says that if you wish to live you should return to your boat that does not float all the time."

Victoria smiled at Sergei, who now looked very thoughtful.

The old man spoke again and then the other translated the message. "The Elder says that you will meet the Destroyer, but you will also go through great trials before that time. The Enemy plans for your arrival and he hungers for all of your souls."

The old man scratched at the dirt with a stick he had drawn from the glowing embers collected in the center of the hut. Everyone watched quietly.

"That's a map!" announced one of the Russians, before Sergei hushed him.

The translator then explained what the Elder said, as the old man moved the stick from place to place on the crudely drawn map. "A few days to the north and west is another village. These people are within the power of the Enemy, but they will not threaten you. The Enemy is near this point, due west from here where he waits in an ancient stone temple, like a spider. All of these lands, even our village are claimed by a cruel man named Shakra who would kill everyone who does not accept him as absolute ruler."

The Elder then stared at the translator and spoke harshly. The translator argued, but the old man was emphatic and clapped his hands in the younger man's face, silencing any further debate.

The translator turned to Victoria. "My name is M'Bengo. I am to travel with you and teach you our language, as you will need to know it when you meet the Destroyer."

"Well, thank you M'Bengo, but our journey is dangerous and the village probably needs you here," countered Victoria.

"No. He has told me that I will die shortly if I remain here. If I go with you, then I will have helped you to meet the Destroyer and achieved your fate. I must go with you and teach you our language." He looked down sadly at the dirt floor.

"What do you think, Sergei?"

"He should come with us. We can always return him here in a couple of weeks."

The old man started laughing. He continued laughing as M'Bengo led them out of the hut and brought them back to the rest of their party. Victoria performed introductions between the native and her group.

"Shall we head to this other village, Victoria?" asked Sergei.

"Yes. But we'll keep an eye out for this warlord Shakra, whoever he is."

The group sat and ate, sharing some of their food with children who timidly approached. M'Bengo sat apart and seemed very sad. Once lunch was finished, the group left the village. The villagers did not say farewell to M'Bengo and he did not wish them goodbye either, which struck Victoria as very odd behaviour.

IX

As bidden by the village Elder, the group marched straight northwest as best they could. Victoria was a little concerned that they had not seen Casper since before they had visited M'Bengo's village, but she assumed that he would show up sooner or later. After all, it wasn't like any wild animal could hurt him. Jenny had learned that on her long hike with the ghost-like and nearly immaterial faerie. Every time they stopped their march, M'Bengo came to Victoria and taught her his language and much to her surprise, she found she was picking it up fairly quickly.

The days passed slowly in the heat and humidity. Much of the group found the walking very boring and there were a few comments to the effect that one patch of jungle looked like every other. Victoria and Sergei realized the morale of the group was dropping quickly and they pressed forward, eager to reach the other village and relax for a few days.

They were still about two days away from the second village when an accident occurred. One of the Russians was bitten by a snake, fell into unconsciousness and quickly died. While Sergei and the others dug a grave, Victoria cried. Death was new to her and the sudden and unexpected passing of a man who had come along to protect her was an emotional shock that seemed to shatter her confidence.

That night, Sergei went into Victoria's tent to have a talk with her. "You are taking Vladimir's death very hard, Vicky."

Victoria wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I know. I can't believe that he died just because I was on a lark. We should return to the North Pole."

"No. If we give up then Vladimir died for no reason. We must go on, Vicky. We knew that there were dangers here, beyond what faerie magic we might find in this region. All of us came knowing we might die. All of us except you, it seems."

"Maybe I was too caught up in Jenny's fortune and I forgot her misfortune. I should have planned better, Sergei."

"You planned this trip well. We have no intention of entering the actual 'zone of mystery'. We are only scouting to determine what we can about any threat here." Sergei paused in thought. "Vicky, maybe it would be best if I were in charge for the next few days, or until you are feeling more like yourself again."

"Okay." Sergei cringed when he heard Vicky respond in a voice that made him think of a lost, little girl.

"You tell me when you are ready to take over again and you're in command. When was the last time you saw Fillik or Brendalla?"

Vicky sobered up. "About a couple of days ago. Why?"

"No one has seen them since then. They just vanished early one morning and no one noticed they were gone until after Vladimir was bitten. The elves were supposed to warn us of dangerous animals."

"They've usually told us when they were going to be away, but not this time. Where could they have gone? Oh well, they'll return soon enough."

"Yes, they likely will." Sergei hesitated as if he wanted to say something more, but he couldn't quite get the words out. Vicky waited patiently. She too felt the urge to make a comment or point out something important, but whenever the words collected in her mind they just seemed to flit away before she could speak. "Good night, Vicky."

The next day, another Russian broke his leg in a pit that had been naturally concealed by the thick vegetation. Sergei designated two others to carry him along. The group continued its journey and Vicky learned more and more of the native language.

In the evening of the day after that, a spider crawled into a tent and bit one of the Russians. He was feverish throughout the night. When dawn broke he was still ill. Vicky caught two of the Russians breaking camp and informed them that they would stay where they were until the friend had recovered. She thought it odd that they were getting ready to go, but didn't think it important enough to discuss with Sergei.

The following morning found the Russian dead. They dug a grave for him and then continued on their trek. Victoria noted that Sergei and the remaining Russians made favourable comments about their progress through the jungle. She felt buoyed that things seemed to be going well, having somehow forgotten about the two men who had died.

That night, Victoria fought through the fog that was forming in her mind and visited Sergei in his tent.

"Sergei, shouldn't we have reached the other village by now?" She found she had trouble looking at her former lover unless she was facing him. Sergei too seemed to glance at her and then stare at the wall of the tent.

"Our arrival time was an estimate. What does M'Bengo say?" he asked in a disinterested tone.

"He says we should have been there by now. I was just...there was something about being afraid...are we going in the right direction?"

"I checked the compass a day or two ago, Vicky." Sergei pulled the compass out of his shirt pocket and showed it to the dark haired woman.

"Oh, okay. I guess we'll arrive in a day or two then..."

"Yes. Probably another day or two..."

"Good night, Sergei."

But more than two days later found the group still searching for the second village. Another Russian had died, slain by a leopard. The Russians had shot the emaciated beast and then buried their friend. Victoria shed no tears, which she thought odd because she had a vague memory of weeping at some similar sad event a few days earlier.

Sergei, Victoria and M'Bengo set up camp that night while they waited for the remaining two healthy Russians to carry in their injured fellow submariner. M'Bengo went to his tent before dinner and without a word. While Sergei and Victoria ate, two Russians reached the camp without their crippled friend. No comments were made, nor were any questions asked.

As the four ate, one of the Russians pointed out a large snake slithering into their camp. They watched it make its way around the tents between spoonfuls of food, not with fear but with a vague curiosity. The reptile slithered into M'Bengo's tent and there was a brief yell and then silence. The snake slithered out of the tent and then slowly made its way back into the jungle, unmolested by those watching it.

The next morning, the four abandoned their camp and proceeded into the jungle. Not one said a word as they trudged over fallen and rotting trees and through mud and rotting vegetation. Victoria felt sure they were approaching their destination, but she had no memory of what that destination actually was. She merely knew that they were so close they could not stop.

The four waded across a wide, slow moving stream. Leaches burrowed under clothes and fastened themselves to exposed flesh. A couple of crocodiles made short work of the remaining two Russian sailors. Neither Sergei nor Victoria fled from the attack or tried to help their friends. They merely continued wading and then climbed the far bank, unconcerned about the danger they had escaped.

They may have walked for another day or for several days, but time meant nothing to the two of them. Their clothes tore, their skin caked with dirt and their hair became infested with insects. They continued on until they saw a massive, black stone monolith ahead. They reached the rectangular block lying on its side and did not wonder who had cut it or why it was in this place.

Sergei sighed and then sat down with his back to the stone. Victoria stared at him as he closed his eyes and bowed his head. She felt torn. She wanted to stay with Sergei, but something else was calling her on. In the end, the second call was stronger and she walked with her eyelids half covering her eyes, past more stone blocks until she entered a building made of similar black rock.

"Stop," commanded a male voice from deep within the dark temple.

Victoria stopped walking and stood still awaiting the next command. Her eyes took in the partially ruined temple with its flooded floor filled with brackish water and vines and branches poking in through gaps in its walls. She smelled an overpowering stench of mould, rotting vegetation and perhaps decaying flesh. The air felt a little cooler than it had felt through much of the jungle. But some innate sense told her that there was an overpowering spectre of evil throughout this building. She heard splashes in the water to her right, but could not see what made the noises, as she had not been told to turn her head.

Terrified sobbing welled up from deep within her, but her eyes shed no tears.

"You have travelled very far to reach the Temple of Set, child. And I see in your mind that you came to kill me." The voice spoke in the local tongue and from close beside her. Victoria heard a hiss and a large snake slithered onto her shoulder and started winding its coils about her. "You and your friends at the top of the world should have known better than to try to slay a god. My powers have not diminished over the millennia. I am as strong now as I was when the first pyramids were built in a far off land. I see in your mind that Windigo has been slain. No matter, he was weak. And it means there is one less of us now, but none of us really like to share."

The snake sometimes squeezed parts of Victoria's body painfully, but she could not see it as she stared straight ahead. She could feel it and she heard its hissing very clearly.

"My power is to bend others to my will. You, my dear mortal, will be my plaything for the next little while. When I tire of you I will send you out into the jungle to live as an animal. Perhaps you will eventually be found or perhaps you will be eaten by some wandering carnivore, but whatever command you are given you will be happy to obey, child."

And Victoria's first trials began.

X

Victoria was prowling through the jungle when she was first seen by the hunters. They watched in surprise as she leapt upon a rotting log and her hands darted out to catch grubs, which she quickly devoured. They watched the white-skinned woman curiously, for they realized she was white-skinned despite the fact that she was covered in a thick layer of dirt and mud. After a quiet debate they determined that she must be a servant of the Evil God who lived nearby in the black temple. As such, she belonged to them, as they were also his servants and she was closer to their village than the lair of her master. They agreed to bring her back to their village.

They approached her, but she ignored them as she continued her hunt for insects. One of them called to her to stop and she did so, to their wonder. They saw she wore a crude belt of vines and a loincloth that hung down from the belt, covering her bottom and groin. There was a necklace about her throat that hung down between her large breasts. The hunters recognized it as a gift to her from the Evil God. They explained to her that they were going to take her back to their village, not expecting her to understand their words, and she docilely and silently went where they led her.

XI

Once in the village, it was quickly discovered by everyone that this girl obeyed every command given to her. The women took possession of her and had her cleaning skins, rugs, blankets and huts day in and day out. They marvelled that she never complained about the hard work, nor did she stop for food or to relieve herself. The women learned, though, that it was in their best interest to give her breaks and order her to eat and perform other necessary body functions if she was to continue doing so much of the drudgery for the village.

But it wasn't long before some of the men decided that this white skinned woman held some interest for them. True, she didn't have the beauty of ebony skin and tightly curled hair, but her breasts and hips were quite pleasing to the eye and several of the men argued that in the darkness one wouldn't notice that her skin was so pale.

There was a debate. The chief was wary about allowing the men to have sex with the girl for two reasons. He was very concerned that the Serpent God would object, in which case his life would be over quickly and likely in a very unpleasant manner. He was also concerned about his own wives as they talked to the other women and it had been whispered that if the men enjoyed her charms they might have less interest in paying attention to their own wives.

In the end, the chief announced that the white girl would choose a husband and his wives smiled happily at the thought that the girl would naturally choose the chief, the most powerful man in the village, and then they would have less work for themselves.

The villagers prepared themselves for the wedding ceremony. The men dressed themselves in their finest skins. A few, including the chief, had clothes from other parts of the world that they donned proudly. The women took Victoria aside and told her she would have to choose a husband. They cleaned her thoroughly and then brought her before the men. Victoria was told to choose and, obediently, she simply raised her arm and pointed at the man directly across from her.

The young man, perhaps nineteen years old, whooped and danced in joy at finding a wife, especially one who obeyed every command, while many of the other men grumbled their dissatisfaction. The chief bound Victoria's wrist to that of the young man, in the fashion of their tribe, and the groom led Victoria to his hut.

An argument ensued across the village, one that was loud enough to make the groom pause and turn back to look at the disturbance. Then shots were fired. Screams were heard. Victoria faced the open hut, slightly curious about what was going on behind her but unable to turn around as the groom had ordered her to follow him to the hut.

There were more shots and then a look of fear on the young man's face. Then a single shot rang out and he collapsed to the ground in front of Victoria. She neither wept nor smiled, she merely waited for the next order to be given to her.

A few seconds later, a strong hand gripped her upper arm painfully and jerked her around until she was face to face with a tall, black man wearing camouflaged army clothes. He held a gun in his free hand and there was a grin on his cruel face. He examined Victoria carefully, sticking his fingers in her mouth to check her teeth, squeezing one of her breasts to test its firmness and lifting her loin cloth to see what surprises might be hidden there.

Some soldiers came over to him and waited. The large man pulled out a hunting knife and cut free the cords bonding Victoria to her dead husband.

"Have they run off?" he demanded.

"Or they died, just as you ordered. Of what value is she, General?" asked one of the soldiers.

"She's a pretty girl and lucky for her I've been feeling a little lonely lately." He threw her at one of his soldiers. "Put her in a jeep and bring her with us. If I find you've done anything to her I'll skin you alive."

The soldier blanched and dragged her to a jeep.

And Victoria's second series of trials began. But luckily for her, General Shakra quickly grew tired of this girl who would do whatever he told her to do and did it without a trace of shame. He preferred a woman fight back, or at least cry or scream, but Victoria did none of that. So an idea occurred to General Shakra.

XII

"Your father wants you. Now!" ordered the soldier, waving his pistol at me. He would not dare shoot me for his own life would then be forfeit, but he felt free to threaten me as I never uttered complaints against any of my father's men. What would be the point?

I folded and carefully set down my two month old newspaper on my bed. I yawned and stretched; it was my own petty rebellious act against those who served my father. I stood and then while buttoning up my shirt, I followed the soldier out of my own room and up to the fifth floor where my father awaited me.