Indiana Jones and the Golden Death Chapter 4: The Dragon's Maw

"I don't know if it was good idea to leave Clarence in the room," Drake said, wiping sweat from his brow. "You know what he did when we first got here. And you remember how spaced he looked before those guys left."

"That's exactly why I left him there," Indiana said, studying the map. "Who knows what those guys have done to him?"

"I just thought we should keep our eyes on him, is all. What are you doing?" Drake asked. Indy didn't reply but just studied the jungle. Saying nothing, he trudged up hill. They were close to the mountains. Drake followed.

"It should be around here," Indy said, inspecting the area. "Yes. Right here." He pushed some foliage aside to reveal a horrendously ugly stone totem.

"What the heck is that," Drake asked with a disgusted look on his face.

"Well," Indy said, "This guy is telling us not to go any further."

They continued through the jungle until they could see a fairly large waterfall that was landmarked on the map. It was getting hard for them to advance the steep slopes. It was especially hard for Drake who carried a large backpack full of equipment, whereas Indy just had on his beat-up fedora, clothes, and shoulder bag. When they began to get too tired to go on, Indy peered through the foliage to find a black void sinking into the rock of the mountain. Around the cave entrance was an elaborate carving made to look like a dragon's gaping mouth. The two looked up to see the cave was actually a part of a large mountain.

"This is it," said Indy. "The Dragon's Maw." They both entered the cave despite the obvious warnings.

Indy held on to a lantern produced from Drake's backpack. Despite it's glow, it somehow wasn't enough to completely light their way into the cave. Drake lagged behind Indy, tired from the uphill marathon they had just been through. He half consciously drug his feet against the ground. Suddenly he was startled by Indy's arm lightly pushing against his chest, stopping him.

"What?" Drake asked.

"Booby traps," Indy said in a dismal voice.

Indy stepped forward and suddenly stepped on a square tile. He noticed it, and jumped back quickly. A large stalactite fell from the ceiling and crashed where Indy had just been a second ago.

"Wow, how does that work?" Drake asked.

"Unluckily, we don't have enough time to figure that out," Indy answered. "We have to get the Dragon and leave as soon as possible. I want to avoid any more encounters with the Dark Destroyers." Indy held the lantern close to the ground as they walked, searching the floor. He saw another peg and said in a quiet tone, "Drake, watch out. There's a peg right in front of me, and do not step on it, whatever you do. I have seen this kind of thing before, and it seems it will trigger the destruction of the cave."

"Where have you seen that before?" Drake asked.

"Trust me," Indy said, smiling to himself.

They walked through the dark cave, and soon entered a large cavern. Carved into one wall of it was a large staircase going up to a large dragon's head carving, and in its mouth, the Dragon of the Sun!

"We've found it, kid!" Indy said excitedly. "Hand me my whip." Drake did as he was told, and Indy walked up the steps carrying his whip in one hand and his lantern in the other. Drake looked on as Indy climbed the steps to the mouth, and noticed a tile on one of the steps.

"Indy, there's another tile just a few steps ahead!" said Drake, who noticed it shone, illuminated by the light.

"Drake, I see it...it's made of gold!"

"Gold?"

"Yeah!"

Indy walked forward a bit more, now staring at the floor, seeing if he could find anything more, cautiously edging his way towards the Dragon. Satisfied there were no more booby traps at this point, he stood, feet spread apart, at the foot of the altar. He coiled his whip and clipped it to his belt, and set the lantern on the floor.

His hands twitched nervously, until he realized he was doing it, and for Drake's sake, willed himself to stop. The young man was already scared enough as it was.

The altar, a dragon's head, was intricately carved. Even the tongue looked as if it could lift or snake out of the mouth at any second. Or, as Indy realized a split second before he picked up the Dragon of the Sun, lower. It was an independently moving pedestal. If the weight of the dragon's golden morsel was removed, the pedestal would lower, and most likely bring death down, upon, or through Indy and Drake.

He tipped his battered fedora back on his head and scratched his brow. How? How could Indy remove the statue without getting he or his companion killed? He thought that perhaps he might get out alive, but Drake? He probably wouldn't make it two feet.

"Dang I hate sidekicks," he muttered.

"What?" Drake asked, nervousness apparent in his voice.

"Never mind. Listen, get those counterweights out of the pack, will you?"

"And I wondered how we would ever use these things," Drake said in amazement. "Say...just how are we going to use these things?"

"Uh, it's hard to explain," Indy said, not wanting to scare Drake any more.

The "counterweights" were actually a sack of stones, which, though they seemed an odd tool, had served Indy in several ways on twice as many occasions. Drake hefted the leather bag with ease and tossed it to Indy. It sailed through the air flawlessly. Indy's catch, however...

The bag slipped through his sweating hands and flew towards the dragon altar. It knocked the Dragon of the Sun out of the dragon's mouth. Indy felt a sickening drop in his stomach as, in what seemed like slow motion, it fell to the floor...where it shattered, exposing plain rock on the inside.

In that split second, twenty thoughts crossed Indy's mind, the most prominent of them being, "You're about to die for a fake statue."

But Indy knew the Dragon of the Sun existed, it HAD to--why would the Dark Destroyers be around if it didn't? However, at this point, he didn't care. As he recovered from the shock, he sprinted from the altar platform. Things began happening quite rapidly...

The dragon's mouth snapped shut, most likely powered by some unseen, massive spring, sealing the counterweight bag inside.

The golden booby trap tile in the floor flew into the air, exposing a massive stone shaft underneath it that followed. Indy had barely enough time to do a side stepping lunge to avoid it as it smashed into the ceiling, raining rock down upon him.

Indy's whip partially unraveled from his belt, and began to drag behind him.

A huge stone slab fell from the ceiling to land in front of the altar, completely sealing that area off.

The tip of Indy's whip was caught underneath the slab, and he was jerked backwards at full force.

A spear shot up from the ground which Indy would have been standing on, had the whip not yanked him backwards. Several spears followed, each one shooting from the ground a step or two farther from the previous one.

This "domino effect" was working its way towards the know trembling Drake. He promptly fainted.

With barely enough time to react, Indy tugged the tip of his whip from underneath the stone slab, and continued in that motion to connect around drakes limp arm. He pulled the young man a few feet to the right. A spear shot from the ground directly beneath the crotch of his pants.

The cave itself could no longer take the strain of the booby traps, and began to crumble. Indy took a brief second to look around, and ran towards Drake. With a strength he wasn't aware he possessed, he lifted him over his shoulder and continued running. Boulders rained down all around him. He leaped over them, and dived through the exit. Sailing through the air, he let go of Drake, who fell to the jungle ground with a thud. Then he himself landed, and for a while, just lay there. The cave entrance was completely sealed off now, and dust and pebbles where everywhere.

The whole thing had taken under a minute.

Indy sat up and glanced over at Drake. He had been lucky there was extra room in his pants.

"Wake up," Indy said, shaking Drake. "C'mon! Wake up."

"Wha...?" Drake muttered when he was awakened.

"We gotta go back to the room and...oh...oh no," Indy said.

"Huh?" Drake asked, leaning up. He saw what Indy's moaning was about. More goons with the red sashes were approaching them. Four of them, this time, and they all had guns. "Crap," Drake said.

"You took the bait, Dr. Jones," one of them said, "Now you must die." He pulled the hammer back on his gun.

Indy was genuinely terrified. There was almost no way out of this one. He stood with his hands up. Drake stayed on the ground. Indy's head began to spin with ideas, none of which seemed practical. 'Oh, great,' Indy thought. 'What I need is a miracle...'

Suddenly, the ground began to shake in a furious tremor. The goons looked around, confused. Indy was confused as well, but glad that whatever was happening had distracted them. He then realized something. Indy looked back at the cave.

Suddenly, he grabbed Drake and forced him up. "RUN!" he yelled. Indy and Drake ran out into the forest. As the tremor intensified, the goons looked up at the mountain in horror. Part of the mountain was collapsing into the cave! Suddenly, a huge wall of earth blasted through the sealed cave entrance and engulfed the Dark Destroyers. They were pummeled and crushed with the weight of the rocks. Rocks and earth continued to blast out of the cave entrance until that entire section of the mountain had given way into a landslide. The earth roared like a giant lion, or, Indy thought, a dragon.

When it was all over and the dust cleared, the entire forest at the base of the mountain was leveled. It looked like a river of land had swept down the mountain and trampled every tree and brush in its path. Indy and Drake had no other incentive but to leave.

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Site Author: Micah Johnson Page Author: Mola Ram, Toht, Aaron, and Mack Created: June 16, 1998 Last modified: June 17, 1998

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