Fearless Master of the Jungle (A Bunduki Jungle Adventure

by J. T. Edson

  Echoing the savage trumpeting of the herd bull, the pachyderms rushed through the undergrowth as if it did not exist. With their great sail-like ears spread and flapping, trunks curled upwards and tusks elevated to the horizontal, they thundered across the clearing.

  Due to their homeland being insufficient in size to support a resident population of elephants and because it would have been impractical to transport living specimens in any type of vessel available to the Cara-Buntes, the huge beasts were something beyond the raiding party ken. Although some of the rival clans had occasionally brought back tusks, trunks, hides and meat, Torisaki’s warriors had never seen the animals in the flesh until that moment. However, despite the fact that their nerves had been shaken by what had sounded like the roar from one of the ‘Hairy People’, the discovery that the largest of the beasts was ridden by a beautiful young woman—who also appeared to be able to control the others—robbed the sight of some of its otherwise awesome effect. So, while alarmed and prepared to take reasonable precautions, they were not driven off in a state of panic as Dawn had hoped would happen.

  Only Charole, having been in contact with the larger plains-dwelling sub-species of Loxodonta Africana, fully appreciated the deadly danger of the situation. Nor did she feel it was any the less dangerous because the elephants brought by Dawn were somewhat smaller than those with which she was acquainted. In fact, such was the extreme stress of the moment that the approaching animals seemed to be even more enormous and menacing than those she had previously encountered. For one of the rare occasions in her life, Charole allowed fear to guide her actions. Turning, she ran towards the brink of the escarpment. By doing so, she was offering herself two possible avenues of escape. There was a steep path leading down to the place at which they had landed and where the ‘bullboats’ were now waiting. Or, if this should prove unattainable for any reason, she was an excellent swimmer and could dive with comparative safety into the deep water that lapped along the foot of the majority of the wall. Once aboard a ‘bullboat’, she was confident that she could make the Yung-Lib crew do her bidding. They were aware that her status had gained importance since forming an alliance with their owners.

  While Torisaki lacked Charole’s knowledge of elephants, he realized that Dawn would not have brought them unless convinced they could cope with his party. Their sheer size alone meant that they could prove very dangerous. Nor would the small force at his disposal be able to stop them. What was more, he suspected that the roar made by the girl was to signal for reinforcements. So, for reasons of expediency rather than humanity, he gave thought to saving his warriors from loss of life.

  ‘Scatter into the trees!’ the warlord thundered, snatching the lading from its sheath. ‘Get back to the “bull-boats”, we’re leaving!’

  Sharing her husband’s appreciation of the peril, Shushi did not wait to be given advice. A glance over her shoulder warned that she could not follow Charole and take the shortest way to safety. So she swung and set off in what would be a semi-circular route to reach the edge of the escarpment.

  In spite of having started the other members of his party on their way to safety, Torisaki did not follow them immediately. As he was to be driven off without learning the secret of the ‘Thunder Powder’ and doubted whether he would ever again be fortunate enough to be in a position to learn it, he intended to kill the blond giant before taking his departure. Raising the lading to strike, he moved forward without showing any caution.

  On the point of deciding which avenue of escape offered the greatest possibilities, Charole became aware that she was carrying what might prove a means of turning the situation back into her favor. Even if it did not, she would be able to avenge herself by bringing about the deaths of one, hopefully both, of the ‘Earths’. With that in mind, pausing close to the rim of the escarpment, she started to take out the ‘Terrifier’.

  Seeing the warlord rushing at him, Bunduki was all too aware of his peril. Dawn was unable to use her bow with any hope of success from the pitching back of the fast moving elephant. Nor was she close enough to do anything else to help. So his salvation would have to be achieved unaided. As the lading rose until it was behind Torisaki’s head, the blond giant took a firmer grip on the wrist-ropes. Then he bounded as if performing a wrestling drop kick. Hurling his legs forward, the soles of his feet drove into the center of his assailant’s chest.

  The sheer force and unexpectedness of the attack flung the warlord backwards in the direction of an elephant. Winded and hurt so badly that he dropped his weapon, he felt the trunk coiling around his body. The scream which burst involuntarily from him came to an abrupt end as the elephant’s precision instrument tightened with brutal efficiency. Raised into the air, he was dashed down again and a huge forefoot ground his body into a bloody pulp beneath it.

  Although the Cara-Buntes had scattered in obedience to their leader’s orders, they were merely displaying discretion. In fact, one of the women was sufficiently cool to try and salvage something from the situation. After his capture, Bunduki’s shield and knife had been examined and laid aside until they could be delivered to the ‘bullboats’. Like the others, she had been impressed by the excellent quality of the weapons and she decided to collect them before leaving.

  As she saw the woman running towards the weapons, Dawn was determined to prevent them from being stolen. Bunduki was dealing with the warlord and she had no fears for his immediate safety. What was more, she had already made arrangements for him to be helped.

  Swinging her leg forward, she thrust herself clear of the swiftly moving elephant’s back. Alighting with the catlike agility that had brought her success as a gymnast, she used the momentum she had gathered in closing with the woman.

  So eager was the female warrior to acquire such desirable loot that she failed to appreciate the danger. She was bending over to take up the weapons when she received notice of the Earth girl’s proximity. Rising, Dawn’s right foot caught the woman in the face. Lifted erect, with her nose gushing blood, she went over backwards and her head struck the ground hard enough to knock her senseless.

  Although Bunduki had saved himself from the warlord’s attack and contrived to alight on his feet, the terrible strain being imposed upon his arms increased. However, he was not to suffer for much longer. Advancing and displaying the sagacity for which their species was renowned, two of the elephants applied their tremendous weight and strength to snap and bring down the trees. This gave him relief, but he was still held by the ropes around his wrists.

  Glancing around as she heard the crackling of breaking wood, Dawn appreciated the gravity of Bunduki’s predicament. Having carried out their function, the elephants were running on and the rest of the herd was chasing individual members of the Cara-Bunte party. There was a chance that some of the warriors who were not the subject of the animals’ attentions would return and take up the attack.

  Thinking fast, the girl decided what she could do for the best. Plucking her husband’s knife from where it was sticking in the ground, she ran towards him. Equally aware of the peril, Bunduki put his right foot on the tree and drew the cord tight about his wrist. That allowed his wife to liberate the arm all the more quickly. Slicing through the strands, the razor sharp steel made short work of their destruction.

  There was no time for either Dawn or the blond giant to speak. Nor was she able to complete the task. A fortunate gaze around informed her of what the Protectress was doing. The discovery brought pure primitive emotion. What little shred of the girl’s civilized upbringing remained after the traumatic events of the evening disintegrated as her eyes met those of the woman who had twice almost caused her death.

  ‘Charole!’ Dawn screamed, and the raw animal fury in her voice made the word a savage, primeval challenge to mortal combat rather than a name.

  Throwing aside her bow without a thought that she might damage it, Dawn thrust the unsharpened back of the bowie knife’s blade into Bunduki’s liberated hand. Then, snatching he
r own weapon from its sheath, she darted towards her hated enemy.

  Seeing Dawn coming, Charole forgot her original intentions. All the deep and bitter hatred she felt over the way in which the ‘Earths’ had been responsible for the reverses in her fortunes boiled into a seething rage. She had the ‘Terrifier’ in her right hand and was fumbling with the lid of the ‘fire box’ so as to extract the means of igniting it. Discarding the device, she jerked free the carrying strap of the ‘fire box’ and let it fall. With both hands at liberty and an encumbrance to mobility disposed of, she started to snatch out her sword.

  Running through the trees, Shushi had heard and identified her husband’s scream of mortal pain. Looking around, past the cow elephant which was in hot pursuit, she swerved and flattened her back against the trunk of a large tree. What she had seen so filled her with rage that she ignored the danger to herself. Puzzled by her disappearance, the cow had its eye caught by one of the fleeing male warriors. It thundered past the hidden war-lady and made him the successful subject of its attentions.

  Returning to the clearing, Shushi was in a frenzy of grief and anger. For all that, she was able to decide how best to avenge her husband’s death. Although the blond giant had one arm free, his other was still fastened to the top of the broken tree. So she would be able to take a more subtle vengeance than killing him immediately. His woman was running towards Charole. Her death would let him know the pangs of losing a loved one, but only for as long as it took the war-lady to give him her undivided attention.

  With that thought in mind, Shushi snatched free the uppermost of her two halakas. No other woman in Cara-Bunte-the weapon was only employed by female warriors-could equal her skill in throwing for distance and accuracy. Never had she taken more care, nor been so determined to make a hit, as while she was preparing to deal with the ‘Earth’ woman.

  The hole in the center of the halaka was for carrying purposes only. To throw it, the user held it between her thumb and forefinger, then swung her arm in a whip like motion horizontally from left to right.

  Carrying out the procedure in a way that had become second nature to her, Shushi sent the weapon hissing towards the ‘Earth’ woman’s running back. It was aimed to catch her behind the neck and would come close to taking her head from her shoulders when it arrived.

  ‘Drop, Dawn!’ Bunduki roared, having seen what the war-lady was up to and retaining a vivid memory of how one of the Wurka-Telongas had been killed by such a device.

  Although the girl had no idea why her husband had given the warning, the urgency in his tone was such that she instantly obeyed. Nor was she a moment too soon. Spinning by above her head, the halaka almost brushed against her hair in passing. However, having missed, it continued its flight to Charole’s horror.

  On the point of dashing to meet the ‘Earth’ girl, the Protectress saw the deadly missile thrown and its aftermath. To her terror, the razor-edged, whirling harbinger of death was now coming straight at her. Although involuntary, her reaction was to save her life. Forgetting how close she was to the edge of the escarpment, she took a pace to the rear. Her foot came down on empty air and she toppled backwards. Just as it had narrowly missed Dawn’s head, so it came close to grazing the tip of Charole’s nose as it flew past. Managing to retain her hold on the sword as she plunged downwards, she also contrived to turn what started out as a helpless plunge into something just passable as a dive before she reached the river and entered it without injury.

  Seeing the failure of her first halaka, Shushi did not offer to use the other. Instead, she rushed forward. Although she realized from what she saw that there was no hope of reaching her enemy before Dawn stood up, neither did she draw the rentjong. Not only could it be used most advantageously straight from the sheath, but the way in which it was produced had frequently allowed her to get the best of opponents from other nations who did not appreciate its deadly qualities.

  Confirming the war-lady’s summation with regard to her agility, Dawn did not stay down for long. In fact, the moment the halaka had passed overhead, she prepared to rise. A glance over her shoulder had warned her of just how little time was available for her to do so. Bounding up, she whirled to halt in a knife-fighter’s crouch and studied the way in which Shushi was approaching.

  Employing similar tactics to those that had proved successful in combats against captured Mun-Gatah, Gruziak and Amazon female warriors, the war-lady advanced with her hands held as if she did not intend to rely upon a weapon. Not until she was close enough for her system to operate effectively did she put her real purpose into effect. Darting across, her right hand closed around the extended butt of the rentjong s ‘duck’s head’ hilt. She commenced the move with her left leg in advance. As the blade was leaving the sheath with its cutting edge turned towards her enemy, she brought her right foot forward in a short, quick step that was calculated to add impetus to the stroke she was about to essay. The blow would be made by whipping the weapon to the right, turning her hand so that the palm was upwards and keeping the elbow close to her side. Then, on thrusting until the arm was fully extended, she would rotate her fist until its knuckles faced the ground just prior to the point penetrating the target.

  On every previous occasion that Shushi had delivered such an attack, she had emerged victorious. However, none of her former antagonists had been conversant with the most effective way in which a rentjong could be used. Unfortunately for her, she knew nothing of Dawn’s family background.

  In the course of an eventful life, Sir Armond John Drummond-Clayton had had many occasions when his continued existence had depended upon his ability to use a knife. So he had taken a great interest in all matters pertaining to the subject. While other members of his family had travelled the world studying wild animals, his journeying had also encompassed investigating the specialized ways in which the trenchant arms of various nations could be used.

  Having helped in the production of her father’s book lxxvi —which had entailed a detailed study of films showing various types of weapons in use—and being possessed of an excellent retentive memory, Dawn was aware of the rentjong’s unique qualities. She had seen them being wielded by the designers, the Atjehs of Sumatra. Furthermore, she had learned the counter move perfected by Sir Armond. What was more, effective as the rentjong was, she held the finest product that the experience of expert knife-fighters and skilled craftsmen could produce. lxxvii One noted authority lxxviii had referred to the Randall Model 1 ‘All Purpose’ fighting knife as a ‘refined and perfected “bowie”. So she was well equipped materially as well as mentally to cope with this latest threat to her life.

  Acting with the same almost instinctive reflexes that had carried her through all of the evening’s events, Dawn brought her knife around to meet the out-thrusting rentjong. At which point, Shushi learned how it felt to be taken unawares. It was a lesson from which she would never profit. She realized that her weapon was being deflected. Even as an understanding of what that meant began to sink home, it was too late to react to the peril.

  Liberating her own blade, Dawn used it with swift and deadly precision!

  Flickering briefly as it moved, a gash which became crimson an instant later opened across the war-lady’s throat in the wake of the knife’s passage. Letting the rentjong slip from her fingers, she sent her hands in a mindless and futile attempt to staunch the blood that was pouring from the mortal wound. Stepping swiftly aside as she completed the stroke, Dawn allowed her stricken assailant to be carried onwards by the momentum of the averted attack. Knowing that she was dying on her feet, Shushi forced herself to stumble onwards until she could fall across the lifeless body of her husband.

  Still in the throes of the primeval driving force which more than anything else had kept her alive under conditions she had never known on Earth, Dawn tossed a look after the war-lady. Then she ran to the edge of the escarpment. Down below, she saw Charole being hauled into one of the ‘bullboats’. Under the urgings of the Protectress, it was
cast off and set into motion.

  Hearing footsteps approaching, Dawn swung around ready to continue fighting. She discovered that there was no need. Having liberated himself, Bunduki was coming to join her. Before either could say a word, a hate-filled voice rose from beyond the rim of the cliff.

  ‘The Quagga God curse you, Dawn and Bunduki of the “Earths”. I’ll be revenged upon you yet!’

  Moving forward, the blond giant and his wife looked down at the speaker. Standing in the departing ‘bullboat’, Charole was shaking a furious fist at them.

  ‘She means it, darling,’ Bunduki warned.

  ‘Let her come back any time she likes,’ Dawn replied, spitting out the words savagely. ‘But if she does, I’ll make sure she’ll never have another chance to kill us!’

  Appendix One

  James Allenvale ‘Bunduki’ Gunn’s tremendous physique and strength were hereditary. On his father’s side, he was descended from an illegitimate son of Sir Henry Curtis who had accompanied the great white hunter, Allan Quatermain on two epic journeys of exploration in Africa. lxxix His mother, Allison Dawn ‘Tex’ Gunn, was the granddaughter of Mark Counter, a Texan who in the mid-1800s had attained legendary status by virtue of his Herculean powers, as a cowhand, peace officer and all round fighting man. lxxx Nor had his parents proved unworthy of such bloodlines. Along with Sir Armond John and Lady Hazel Drummond-Clayton, they had served in the little known but highly effective ‘Group Thirteen Special Missions Organization of British Military Intelligence all through World War II. lxxxi

  When Bunduki’s parents were murdered by Mau Mau terrorists, he had been adopted by a wealthy titled family who were related to Dawn. In their care, he had received the education which fitted him perfectly for survival on Zillikian. Arguably the world’s foremost authority on wild life and wilderness survival, his adopted father had imparted much practical knowledge. Bunduki had been taught how to follow tracks which were scarcely discernible to less keen eyes, to move in silence even through dense undergrowth, to locate hidden enemies and conceal himself from them when necessary and to climb with great agility. He had the knowledge to find or hunt for food, while his training in various forms of fighting allowed him to protect himself against predators or human foes.