by Shea, Hunter
Natalie glowered at Henrik. “Beasts great and small. Sounds like a lovely place.”
Henrik blanched. “Surya is an excellent guide. He will make sure no harm comes to you.”
“Come, I’ll show you the camp,” Surya said. “We have everything you asked for, and maybe a little bit more.”
They climbed back into the van and followed the line of porters, Surya at the lead.
“That was mildly terrifying,” Natalie said.
“Surya can be a bit of an ass,” Oscar said. “But he’ll take good care of us.”
There was a cut in the vegetation and Henrik steered the van into it. The camp was a series of tents beside a group of banyan trees. A fire was going in a central area, the pit lined with large stones. Wood crates had been placed around the fire pit as makeshift benches. When they stopped, Surya offered everyone coffee.
“Don’t mind if I do,” Natalie said. She seemed to be oblivious to the lustful stares Surya’s men were giving her. Natalie was a very attractive woman, even when she was tired and drenched in sweat. Henrik hoped the men kept it to staring.
It was apparent that Austin was keenly aware of the men leering at his sister. His muscles bunched up, his hands clenching into fists. Henrik laid a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t do or say anything rash. We’re depending on them from here on out. This could work in our favor. Surya’s porters may go to the ends of the earth just to be close to such an exotic woman.”
“Natalie an exotic woman?”
They watched two of the porters pour her a cup of coffee, beaming. Another offered her a seat by the fire with a sweep of his hand.
Austin chuckled. “Yeah, well, they better keep it in their pants.”
“I’m sure they will.”
Henrik joined Surya and Oscar, who were deep in conversation. Flies as big as bumble bees buzzed around their heads. “Tell him what you just told me,” Oscar said.
Surya’s smile had vanished. “We had a sighting, just the other night. Ridwan was assigned guard duty. He had just added wood to the fire to combat the oppressive darkness. It is hard to guard what you cannot see. There was movement in the brush, right there.” He pointed behind a pair of weathered tents. “He swears he saw the arm and leg of a very small man.”
“Could it have been a child?” Natalie asked.
Henrik hadn’t realized that Natalie and Austin had gathered round him.
Surya shook his head vehemently. “It was covered in long, copper hair, I am sure.”
“You’re positive he didn’t see what he wanted to see?” Henrik asked.
Their guide looked around, lowering his voice. “They don’t know that we are here to find Orang Pendek. I have only told them that wealthy foreigners want us to lead them to the lost city of Gadang Ur.”
“And was he frightened?”
“Alarmed, yes. Frightened, not so much. He considers it an honor to have caught even a glimpse of one of the ‘short people’.”
Oscar looked to the crates the porters were sitting on. “Do they know what’s in those crates?”
“No. Only that they are heavy.”
Henrik sipped coffee from a battered tin cup. “Here’s to hoping we can bestow even more honors on them in the coming days.”
Chapter Eight
When Austin woke up the next morning, dawn had yet to arrive. The camp was a hive of activity. The porters were rolling up tents, stowing away gear and wiping out any trace that they had ever been there.
“Nat, wake up.”
His hand came down on an empty sleeping bag. By the meager light, he saw she was already up and talking to Henrik. Austin rolled his kit up and was met with a cup of exceedingly strong coffee. They sure loved their coffee here. It made the hairs on his chest stand at attention.
“Why hello there sleepyhead,” Natalie said. “We were talking about leaving you behind.”
“I’m so screwed up with the time change,” he said, yawning.
Henrik said, “No worries. We decided to get an early jump on things. Your rest was well needed. It’s going to be a long day of hiking.”
“Yeah, followed by another, then another, and so on,” Natalie said.
Henrik shook his head. “It won’t be that endless. We do have an endpoint in mind. For the most part, we’ll be tracing the route my father took almost thirty years ago. Sad to think that there won’t be any trace left behind. The jungle is quick to reclaim itself. I believe he was only a day’s journey short of Gadang Ur. But since it was a hunting expedition, that wasn’t the exact destination, though I’m sure my father would have pressed on with the lure of bigger and better game to avoid any protestation.”
“I’m curious,” Natalie said, “Gadang Ur – is it supposed to have some kind of treasure, like hidden stores of gold or a chamber with the Ark of the Covenant?”
“Nothing quite that dramatic. I suppose that’s why very few have set out to find it. There are no tales of fortunes to be found there, unless you consider the building achievements of early man to be vastly more important than precious metals, which I do.”
“I guess we have enough drama surrounding this whole trip. Though it would have been nice to find a diamond the size of my fist or something.”
“You read too many wild books,” Henrik said with a chuckle.
“That I can’t deny.”
Oscar and Surya came over, heavy backpacks strapped to them like tortoise shells. Surya said, “Ah, good, everyone is up. My men will be ready at first light. Please, have some nasi goreng. It will give you energy, I am sure.”
He motioned to a black pot near the fire.
“What’s nasi goreng?” Austin asked.
Oscar said, “It’s quite delicious. Basically fried rice with vegetables and meat. Not too spicy, but enough carbs and protein to get your motor running.”
Natalie opened the lid. It looked a lot like Chinese food back home. “Smells good. What kind of meat?”
Surya looked down at the pot. “I’m not sure. Yandi caught it yesterday. It was quite good.”
Natalie spooned some onto a metal plate. “Mystery meat. It’s like being back in high school.” She took a spoonful, made a face, then smiled as she chewed. “I don’t know what the hell it is, but everything around it is so tasty, it doesn’t matter.”
They stood around the pot, eating the nasi goreng until there was no more, finishing things off with some cold fried bananas. By the time they were done, the first pink rays of dawn were upon them, the porters standing by their loads, ready to get the show on the road.
Austin grabbed one of the crates and with a heavy grunt managed to get it on his shoulder. “Even I think this is heavy.”
The porters stared at him in stunned silence. Surya said, “Please, that is for my men to carry. It is what they were hired to do.”
“Tell them I need the workout.”
Surya talked to his men, who looked to Austin as if he’d lost his mind, then went about their business.
Natalie patted him on the back when she walked by. “Don’t worry, they’ll get used to having King Kong around.”
“Can’t let everything atrophy,” he said, following the porters. He missed the gym at the German resort, but he was pretty sure this trek was going to give him a workout he’d never forget. Besides, the porters were half his size and carrying an equal load. He’d be too embarrassed to let the wiry little men do all the heavy lifting.
The day started out hot, went to sweltering, then decided that wasn’t enough and devolved into hell on earth. Even with the bug repellant that Oscar had told them all to practically bathe in, the swarm of bugs that ghosted their every move was overwhelming.
Surya and Oscar took the lead, hacking a path for the party with the biggest machetes Austin had ever seen. The ground was soft and uneven, making a slow go of things.
“I won’t need dinner,” Natalie said, walking ahead of him and swatting at the air. “I think I’ve eaten enough bugs to fill me up. Or make me puk
e.”
Henrik called back to her, “We have a few pith helmets with nets if you’d like one.”
“I’m not going to say no to anything that will keep the wildlife out of my big mouth.”
One of the porters, Austin thought it was Bambang, the one who wore the Star Wars Phantom Menace shirt containing more holes than a wheel of Swiss cheese, stopped to find the helmet and bring it to her. He helped roll the net over her face, grinning like a schoolboy who had a crush on the teacher.
“Thank you.”
No sooner had she put it on when the sky rumbled. Buckets of rain poured down on them in an instant, driving the bugs away.
“Ah, now I see how this works,” she said.
“That there is a rain dance hat,” Austin joked.
A soaking wet Oscar pulled up beside him. “It rains every day this time of year. Hopefully this one won’t last long. Of course, after the rain, it gets hotter and stickier than the devil’s underpants.”
“Thanks for the imagery,” Natalie said, crinkling her nose.
“No charge.” Oscar guffawed, slapping Surya’s back.
The rain made the crate slippery, but Austin dug in and trudged on.
When they didn’t break for lunch, Surya explained, “We only eat two meals a day. I know in America, they preach three square meals. I know. I lived in Oregon for two years. They loved their food in Oregon.”
Oregon?
Austin couldn’t help wondering what would bring Surya all the way from Sumatra to Oregon. He’d have to remember to ask him later.
They snacked on leftover fried bananas and nuts. It was more than enough. The oppressive heat made it difficult to think of eating a big meal.
When the rain finally started to abate, the porters stopped, pointing at the sky.
The sun broke from behind the rain clouds. Austin looked up only to have his eyeballs singed. “What’s everyone looking at?”
The men chattered nervously amongst themselves. Henrik, as calm as ever, said, “Something very big just flew between those two trees.”
“How big?” Austin rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, tears running down his cheeks.
“Fucking huge,” Natalie said. “At least I think. It moved so fast.”
Surya shouted orders at the porters, who lifted their gear and resumed walking. “It is nothing,” he said to the Americans and Germans. “Very large birds of prey out here. Not something to worry about. I’m more concerned about poisonous snakes and rhinoceros.”
Henrik continued to stare at the sky. “Hmm.”
Oscar and Surya recommenced hacking a semi-clear path for the party.
“You think it was a bird of prey?” Austin asked his sister.
“No bird of prey I’ve ever seen, but that means nothing. In just one day, I’ve seen bugs out here I didn’t think could exist outside a science fiction movie. What do we know about what crawls, walks and flies around this island?”
He nodded toward Henrik. “Well, I get the feeling he doesn’t believe Surya either. And that’s what makes me nervous.”
Chapter Nine
Natalie felt something land on her arm quickly squashed it with the palm of her hand. Looking at the gooey mess almost made her lose her nasi goreng and fried bananas. Whatever it was, it had been the size of a mouse with wings and full of an awful lot of blood.
She removed her ear buds. Listening to some Shania Twain while they marched through this insane jungle was a thin tether to normalcy.
“I wonder how many diseases that little bastard just gave me.”
Henrik, who was just a few steps ahead of her, said, “If you killed it before it bit you, none.”
“Very reassuring.”
“My forte.”
It felt as if they’d been walking for days. Sweat was dripping from every pore in her body. The constant chatter of gibbons hidden in the trees overhead grated on her nerves. Visits to the monkey house at the zoo were permanently cut from her future.
She couldn’t count the number of times she’d nearly rolled her ankle. Breaking an ankle was out of the question here. The nearest hospital was another world away.
Even Austin was looking done in, though he still refused to hand his load over to one of the porters, who seemed to be holding up way better than the white people. When there were breaks in the tree canopy, she kept stealing looks into the turbulent sky, waiting for a return of that enormous whatever it was to come circling back.
“Tell me again why you think Gadang Ur is the place to be? Because I’m not feeling it right about now.”
Henrik gave a small smile. “I’m sorry this has been so arduous. But we are in one of the most remote rainforests in the world. Very few people have ever come out this far.”
“Except your father.”
“Not even he was able to sojourn where I’ve plotted us to go,” he replied sadly. “Gadang Ur is to Sumatra what Atlantis is to the western world – a mythical city that was ruled by an advanced race of humans in the most inhospitable of places. The fact that they could establish a city here was proof of their intelligence and prowess.”
“Oh no, are we talking aliens?” Austin said, huffing from exertion.
A mild look of disgust crossesd Henrik’s normally serene features. “All of that ancient alien insanity is nothing but thinly veiled racism. The assumption being that there is no possible way that non-white, ‘backwards ‘ people could achieve greatness in architecture, astronomy, economics or art. Only intervention from a brotherhood from the stars could have bestowed such enlightenment. The very notion is vile at its face. It’s utter pablum that feeds the masses.”
“Whoa, didn’t mean to hit a nerve there,” Austin said, adjusting the crate on his back with a heavy grunt.
“You’re such a racist, Austin,” Natalie joked. “Okay, so regular people built this city where the real estate was cheap. Like Washington D.C. What happened then? And how long ago was this?”
“Over a thousand years,” Henrik said, wiping a copious amount of sweat from his brow. “Back even before it was known as Swarna Dwipa, which is Sanskrit for Isle of Gold. Many have argued who these people were. Many feel they were early Malay. There are many, many cultures that inhabit the thousands of Indonesian islands, not to mention those in other nearby countries. Short of finding a historical text in the city of Gadang Ur itself, I feel we’ll never know. Just as the Romans built great cities, cultivated the land, created irrigation, advanced the sciences and art, so did the people of Gadang Ur. But instead of a desire to conquer and spread their territory, they chose to live in isolation. The earth and the sky were all they needed.”
“How come I, like most people, have never heard of them?” Natalie said, trying to ignore the loud protestation from her body to simply stop and drop. Maybe Henrik could keep her mind off her pain.
“For one, they didn’t leave anything behind. There are no ruins or artifacts to spark curiosity. I think another reason is because there is so little known of the city. It only gets brief mentions in very ancient and rare texts. However, oral tradition that still exists today has kept Gadang Ur very much alive in the minds of the native peoples. My father spent years in Indonesia. The more he heard about it, the deeper his obsession grew. But he saw things a different way. Legend has it that the city is to the east along a particular ley line that bisects the island. He felt that somewhere in the past, that false fact was created by the Sumatran people so no one would find it. So, when he took us, we went west, making sure to keep on the same ley line.”
Oscar called out for everyone to stop. Natalie nearly wept with joy, letting her pack slip from her shoulders.
“God bless you, Oscar,” she called over to him.
He gave her a wink, the wet strands of his hair hiding most of his face. “I think we’ve gone far enough for today. We need some daylight in order to make camp.”
Natalie didn’t see Austin carry a great leaf the size of a beach blanket until he was standing over her
and dumping the collected rainwater on her head. The water was cool and refreshing.
“If you were hoping that would upset me, I hate to burst your bubble.”
Austin stared at the empty leaf in his hand. “Consider it burst. Oh well, I tried.”
Henrik carefully balanced his pack on a mossy log. He was paler than usual, which was saying something.
“So,” she said once she wiped all the water from her face, “why do you think there’s a connection between Gadang Ur and the Orang Pendek? I mean, aside from your father thinking he was close to the city and coming across the…animals…cryptids? I’m not sure what to call them.”
Taking a deep draught from his canteen, Henrik said, “It would be easy for me to just think of them as beasts, but they are too cunning for that. I feel they are simply an offshoot of the human tree, though not the Homo floresiensis that some have posited.”
“Come again?”
“You probably better know the remains as the Hobbit, the diminutive remains found of a species of homo found on the Indonesian island of Flores, hence the name. Secondary remains were found just a couple of years ago, so we know this wasn’t a one-off or deformed person. Because of the smaller stature of the Orang Pendek, some cryptozoologists assume they are modern Homo floresiensis. It’s a wild speculation that is just that.”
Natalie massaged her temples. She’d gotten Henrik all wound up. “I think we’re getting off topic.”
“Oh. Yes. Well, it’s said that Gadang Ur was decimated by a disease that had no cure. The population thinned drastically in less than a year. Then, when they were at their most vulnerable, a nation of jungle people attacked the city. They were as savage as they were cunning. A race of small men, the tallest no more than four feet, their bodies covered in coarse, reddish hair.”