Chapters 11-12 of Indiana Jones and the Curse of Rhan

[ Reply ] [ The Indyfan Forum ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Goodsport from adsl-216-102-199-185.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net on June 23, 2000 at 02:50:43:


Chapter 11


---by Muppet


Hamburg, Germany - 1956


    "I got it!"

    "What?"

    "The headpiece, Anthony, I got the headpiece" said Indy, talking into a telephone in Hamburg. The train from Faizabad had stopped about an hour after Indy jumped onto it, and after paying, cheating and stealing rides from people, Indy had ended up in Hamburg.

    "And Louis Belloq?" asked Anthony.

    "Back in Faizabad"

    "Marvellous...so what now?"

    Indy paused. That much he didn't know. "I need to find out what's on the headpiece..." he said. Indy didn't know the first thing about translating the strange drawings on the Jewel of Rhan. But he knew someone who could help him. Indy continued, "I'll have to visit Dr. Jerome in New York..."

    "New York? Are you sure?"

    "Yes Anthony...I've got a lot of bad memories of that place...but it needs to be done. It's the only plan I can think of"

    "Why not just destroy the headpiece?"

    Indy laughed. "And have Belloq chase me for the rest of my life? No thanks, Anthony, I want a peaceful retirement...New York it is"

    Anthony sighed. "There's one problem"

    "What is it?"

    "Dr. Jerome isn't in New York anymore"

    "No?"

    "No. He's gone back to Paris"

    Indy was relieved. Paris was nearer than New York; and by the time Louis Belloq figured out where Indy was, Indy would have had the headpiece translated and decided on his next move. "Why's he gone back to Paris?" asked Indy.

    "I don't know," said Anthony. "I tried to telephone him, to find out what had happened that time you went to visit him, and his cleaner answered the phone. Said that Dr. Jerome's emptied his room and moved back to Paris"

    "An address, Anthony, did she give you an address?"

    "Yes..."

    "Well?" asked Indy.

    Anthony paused as he rummaged around his desk for the address in Paris. He couldn't believe that only a few weeks ago, he and Henry had been living a mundane life teaching under-achieving students, and now Henry was in a foreign country with enemies on his trail. "Got it!" exclaimed Anthony, as he read the address out to Indy, who scribbled it down quickly.

    "Rue de Guerre des Etoiles" repeated Indy.

    "Now what are you going to do, Henry?"

    "I'm going to go to Paris"


* * * * *


One day later


    The train headed for Paris had left Hamburg over an hour ago. Indy settled back into his seat. He'd left his clothes at the hotel in Faizabad when the thug had attacked him, so for the last few days, Indy had been stuck with one pair of clothes; his leather jacket, shirt and trousers.

    Indy shrugged his appearance off and sat back, tilting his fedora over his face, trying to get some sleep. It had been too long before Indy had slept properly. If he wasn't having nightmares, he was being surprised by attackers in the middle of the night. This shouldn't be happening.

    Slowly closing his eyes, Indy finally fell asleep.

    When he opened his eyes, Indy was back again. Trapped in the cavernous, dark room.

    Yes, definitely a temple. It was gloomy, but fires were lit - there didn't seem to be many people here; just two figures in the distance, watching Indy.

    Indy still couldn't move. The large metal circle he was tied to became clearer; it was an ornate metal upright rack; Indy's hands tied securely to it. Indy was panicked, worried.

    More ominous noises - chanting - a hymn?

    The cloaked figure revealed his face again, but something was different. Before the figure even fully revealed his face, Indy could make out an evil grin. When the figure did reveal his face, Indy knew who it was. It wasn't Rene Belloq. This was Louis.


    Indy had been right in Faizabad; it was Louis Belloq chasing him down the streets with Mustafa.

    The chanting continued - where was it coming from?

    Another figure became familiar for the first time. The bald, large man standing next to Louis was unmistakable. It was the same man who had attacked Indy in his hotel room.

    This was troubling.

    Louis Belloq laughed. A manic, sick laugh. He lifted a carved staff in the air - the headpiece was attached to it. There seemed to be a tremendous build-up of power.

    Then it happened. Like a million rays of lightning crashing down on him, with the intensity of a storm, attacking Indy all at once. His body writhed in agony as the lightning seemed to wrap around him, twisting and hitting every nerve, toying with his helpless body.

    Indy jumped out of his train seat, sweating. Other passengers on the train just looked at him with contempt. Indy couldn't believe this; he couldn't even close his eyes without seeing Louis Belloq. Without seeing himself in an unbearable amount of pain.


* * * * *


    "Rue de Guerre des Etoiles..." repeated Indy.

    The train had arrived in Paris over an hour ago, and Indy had spent the rest of the time trying to find Dr. Jerome's new residence. Indy was wandering the streets, occasionally asking passers-by if they knew whereabouts Dr. Jerome's apartment was. "Rue de Guerre des Etoiles..."

    Indy continued down various streets, foremost in his mind was getting to Dr. Jerome and getting the headpiece translated. However, it had been a long time since Indy had been in Paris, and he took a few minutes to take in the sights, the smells.

    "Take the first left," someone said in pidgin English. Indy thanked them and continued down the street he was on. This was clearly an affluent area of Paris. Cars with chauffeurs waiting outside, smartly-dressed porters at the doors of the apartment buildings. Dr. Jerome was certainly a wealthy man.

    But why had he moved back to Paris? Following the attack in New York, Indy could certainly understand the ageing Doctor's reasons. Indy had never checked back with Dr. Jerome after the attack, and was starting to feel guilty. Still, at least Dr. Jerome had survived - that was evident by the fact he had moved to Paris.

    "Rue de Guerre des Etoiles," said Indy, reading the street sign as he took the first left. All he had to do now was find the Empire Building, floor three. Thankfully, Dr. Jerome had chosen an apartment closer to the ground; less stairs to climb.

    At the end of the street, Indy eventually found the Empire Building. A small but exclusive collection of apartments, with a large, miserable-looking porter standing outside. Indy felt uncomfortable in his rough clothes, with a whip and gun on his belt.

    "Yes?" sneered the porter.

    "I'm here for Dr. Jerome" said Indy.

    "Of course you are"

    "Look, friend, it's important. He knows I'm coming," said Indy. He had telegrammed Dr. Jerome yesterday, hoping that the message would have reached him in time for Indy's arrival.

    "Of course" the porter sneered again.

    There was a pause as Indy thought about what to do.

    "Hello!"

    The voice wasn't the porter's, and Indy couldn't see who was shouting as they repeated "Hello!". Indy looked around the street - nobody. "Hello! Up here, Dr. Jones!" shouted the voice. Indy looked upwards. It was Dr. Jerome, leaning slightly out of his window. "Dr. Jones! I'm so happy you've finally arrived...Julien, let him come upstairs".

    The porter shook his head and sighed, then stepped to one side to let Indy past. "Thank you" grinned Indy as he made his way inside. He clambered up the stairs to floor three, and on reaching the floor saw Dr. Jerome standing at the door to his apartment. "Hello!" smiled Dr. Jerome, shaking Indy's hand vigorously. "Come in, come" he said, disappearing inside his apartment. Indy followed him inside.

    "I'm a little underdressed, Dr. Jerome"

    "Nonsense," laughed Dr. Jerome. "Yours are the clothes of a true adventurer!" he exclaimed. "How was your journey to Faizabad?"

    "Not good," said Indy. "Like I said in the telegram, you have to cut off all contact with Louis Belloq. Otherwise you might end up with him on your trail as well"

    "Indeed" sighed Dr. Jerome.

    "But I got it"

    "The headpiece?"

    Indy nodded, taking an object wrapped in a handkerchief out of his pocket. He placed it down on the nearest table, unwrapping it slowly. Dr. Jerome's eyes expanded with awe as he began to take in the full sight of the headpiece. Jewels, gold, inscriptions. A majestic sight, better than any of the storybooks or legendary stories that Dr. Jerome had heard. He couldn't believe his eyes. "The Jewel of Rhan" Dr. Jerome said, breathless.

    "In all its glory," Indy said in a nonchalant term.

    "It's real...don't you see, Dr. Jones, the 'myth' of Tet Rhan is no longer a myth. It's a glorious reality," he said, holding up the headpiece. "Glorious"

    "Can you translate it?" asked Indy.

    Dr. Jerome paused. "I may be able to..."

    "But?"

    "I don't have the alphabet of Rhan" sighed Dr. Jerome.

    "Who does?"

    Before Dr. Jerome could respond, a door opened slowly and a voice from another room in the apartment said "I do, Dr. Jones". Indy turned, and was shocked. Louis Belloq and the thug from the hotel room entered the same room as Indy and Dr. Jerome. This couldn't be happening. Indy turned to Dr. Jerome, who was now grinning.

    "Greetings, Henry Joned." said Louis. Indy quickly reached for his gun, taking it out. He aimed it at Louis, pulling the trigger. He was too quick, even for Kas. There was a loud click. And nothing else.

    "No bullets?" Dr. Jerome laughed.

    "Drop the gun" snapped Louis. Indy did as he was told; he wasn't risking anything. Especially with the thug from his hotel room only a few feet away from him. "Thank you for sending a telegram" said Louis. "It made it far easier to track you down," Kas nodded, wringing his strong hands.

    "I do believe you've met Kas before," grinned Dr. Jerome.

    Kas glared at Indy, a look of hatred in his eyes. There was a moment of unease, as nobody knew who was going to make the next move. Louis broke the silence. "At last I meet the infamous Dr. Jones face-to-face. I would very much like to kill you in this room...but that would make a terrible mess. Instead, you may join me on my quest to the Temple of Rhan. It will be much easier to kill you there. Your murder may go undiscovered for another thousand years - I'm quite sure they will have closed the case by then".

    "My murder?" asked Indy.

    "You don't think you're getting out of this alive, do you?" grinned Louis. "Oh dear. Poor Dr. Jones. What a misguided fool. You're not going to escape. This time, you will die...of that I'm quite, quite certain".


*************************


Chapter 12


---by Muppet


Paris, France - 1956


    "It's almost disappointing"

    "What is?" asked Dr. Jerome. He and Louis Belloq were talking at one end of the main room in Jerome's apartment. A large table separated them from Kas and Indiana Jones. Kas was standing behind Indy; who was tied to a chair.

    "The chase is over. I had hoped that Dr. Jones would prove a challenging adversary. I am very disappointed in you," Louis said in a patronizing tone of voice, looking at Indy. "You are like the fox being chased by the hounds - always being hunted and always caught, torn to shreds"

    Indy laughed. "You're just like your father"

    "Why thank you, Dr. Jones"

    "He was an idiot too"

    Kas stormed over to where Indy had been tied up and hit him hard in the face. Kas looked at Louis, who grinned. "You should watch what you say, Dr. Jones - it's hard to control Kas at times"

    The Jewel of Rhan - the very thing that Indy had fought so hard to steal and take away from Belloq - was now sat on a table in front of Louis and the double-crossing Dr. Jerome. Indy was so well tied to the chair that he couldn't even move his fingers, let alone his arms. Added to that was the menacing shadow of Kas looming over him. "It is time to come one step closer to immortality" Louis said to Dr. Jerome.

    Deep down, however, Louis wasn't in the mood for sharing the glory - whilst Jerome would have his uses for translation and expedition, Louis was the one who wanted the results; the mythical power of Rhan that they were getting closer and closer to.

    Louis paced across to a cabinet in the room. He opened it, taking out his book of notes on Tet Rhan. Louis flicked through the book, past drawings and press clippings, until he saw the crude rendition of the alphabet that he already knew.

    "Are those the letters?" asked Dr. Jerome.

    "Yes," said Louis. "See, in my book I have the first alphabet of Rhan - all the drawings and their corresponding letters. That was how I could decipher the top line of the scroll..."

    "What about the bottom line?"

    "I can now solve it!" exclaimed Louis.

    "How?"

    Louis picked up the headpiece of Rhan. "See, on the headpiece there are two rows of drawings - one on the top and one on the bottom of the headpiece. The row of drawings on the top is the first alphabet of Rhan. The row on the bottom is - I believe - the second alphabet of Rhan. This second alphabet is the one used for the writing on the bottom of the scroll"

    Dr. Jerome looked puzzled. "How can you be so sure?"

    "There is only one way to find out," said Louis. He took his book over to the large table, where both the headpiece and the scroll were already resting. Sitting down, Louis grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, then flicked through various notes. Taking hold of the headpiece, Louis remarked "Yes...quite a magnificent piece" said Louis, grinning. "And now in the rightful owner's hands.

    Louis was distracted by Indy, who was shifting in his seat from the pain the ropes were causing. "Don't worry, Dr. Jones. It shouldn't take too long to decipher the headpiece and find the temple. Then your long wait will be over...you get to die!" laughed Louis.

    "Now, we have two alphabets on the headpiece - the first alphabet we know already....the second alphabet is revealed on the headpiece. This drawing on the first alphabet is the letter 'A'" said Louis, pointing to a drawing of three lines with a dash through them. "And the corresponding drawing for the second alphabet is written on the headpiece..." concluded Louis, this time pointing to a circle with two lines across it, engraved at the bottom of the headpiece.

    "Fascinating" said Dr. Jerome, sitting down.

    It took over an hour - considerably more time than Louis had anticipated - to decipher the full alphabet. However, when they had done so, Louis was elated. He could now decipher the bottom of the scroll and locate the Temple of Tet Rhan. "Every minute we get one step closer..."

    Louis began to scribble down letters, phrases. The bottom half of the scroll was mixed around slightly, but the location of the Temple was hidden within the writing. Of that, Louis was sure. "The scroll speaks of mountains..."

    "Mountains?"

    "Look," said Louis, "The drawings of mountains correspond...clearly, the Temple is hidden within a mountainous region...the whole scroll is written in a secret code; it will have been a special language known only to a few - perhaps to prevent the wrong person from ever translating it"

    Dr. Jerome nodded.

    "But they weren't successful on that score, were they?" asked Louis, laughing.

    "You won't be either," sneered Indy.

    "Kas," sighed Louis, "Do the honors"

    Kas, who had been standing next to Indy, swooped his thick hand down and across Indy's face. It sent shockwaves through Indy - waking him up to the situation. Indy shuffled, restricted by the ropes that tied him to his chair.

    "So we are looking for mountains," said Dr. Jerome. "But where? They could be anywhere in the world"

    "Not just any mountains. The scroll speaks of a "Crown of Three"; three individual peaks on the mountain. The location of this mountain range is also written on the scroll...a place called 'Ceehatt'"

    Dr. Jerome looked puzzled. "I don't know of such a place on the entire Earth". Louis nodded. "But..." said Dr. Jerome, leaning towards the book of notes on Tet Rhan, "the way that the people who wrote the Rhan alphabet spelt the letter 'D' translates in our time as 'TT'...so we now have Ceehad...still I don't know it..."

    "Wait!" exclaimed Louis. "You are quite right with the double-T theory" he said, flicking excitedly through the book of notes. He eventually found the page he was looking for, read the few lines scribbled on it and turned to Dr. Jerome. "The theory applies just the same when two of the letter 'E' follow in a word...in modern times it translates as, well, nothing. Useless"

    Dr. Jerome was puzzled. "So what is the name?"

    "Chad!"

    "Chad?" asked Dr. Jerome. "Do you think so?"

    "I am certain" said Louis. "Pass me that globe..." he said. Dr. Jerome nodded, picking up and handing Louis a miniature model of the world. Louis span it round a few times, then stopped it quickly. "Here..." he said, stopping it when Africa was in view, Louis' finger hovering over the region of Chad.

    "Ah...I see it" said Dr. Jerome.

    "Indeed you do..." nodded Louis. "In Africa. Who would have thought it? Just think - somewhere near Chad lies our prize. Untouched for hundreds of years. Resting perhaps only miles from modern civilization... the goal. But where? Mountains, there have to be mountains."

    Dr. Jerome sighed. "But it is not a mountainous region, Louis, the globe shows it to be so. If the Temple was hidden in the mountains, it must be a small Temple; the highest peak of the surrounding mountains is just over one...perhaps you translated the scroll incorrectly?"

    "I translated it perfectly!"

    Kas made one step towards Dr. Jerome.

    "Yes you did..."

    "Thank you for your confidence, Dr. Jerome" said Louis. "There is one mountainous region - not too large, but still relatively untouched. It is quite possible that the Temple is somewhere there...remember the scroll spoke of the 'Crown of Three'"

    "And?" asked Dr. Jerome.

    "And the Crown of Three will be three mountain peaks...all we have to do is find them within the mountains"

    "There could be thousands of mountain peaks!"

    "Not three shaped so..." said Louis, holding up the scroll. Dr. Jerome saw a drawing of one large mountain peak, with three unique peaks on top, forming a circle. It was indeed an individual sight. "A Crown..." said Louis, grinning.

    "A Crown of Three" concluded Dr. Jerome

    "Now what is the best way to Chad?"

    "We have to go to Cairo. From there we can get transportation to Chad. However, we may have to set out to the mountains on our own" said Dr. Jerome.

    Louis interrupted. "I will pay some local peasants. They can come with us and do all the hard work. And should anything prove dangerous, well, they can be the first to die."

    "When do we leave?"

    "Immediately" said Louis.

    Dr. Jerome cleared his throat, looked at Indy and then asked out loud "What about Jones?"

    "He's coming with us"

    "He is?"

    "Of course," grinned Louis. "I am so looking forward to showing him the full power of Tet Rhan...although I very much doubt that Dr. Jones is filled with the same feeling"

    Indy flinched. He wasn't elated.

    He was worried.


*************************





Follow Ups:



Post a Followup:

Name:    
E-Mail:  
Subject: 
Comments:

Optional:

Link URL:   
Link Title: 
Image URL:  


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ The Indyfan Forum ] [ FAQ ]