Indiana Jones & The Curse Of Rhan - Chapter 16

Posted by Muppet from dialup24.sybil.kingston-internet.net on September 01, 2000 at 18:53:49:

Oh well. Here goes nothing ;-)

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CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Bizerte, Tunisia - 1956

"I need your help Sallah"

"I had though that was what you came here for" Sallah replied.

Indy paused for a moment. He and Sallah were now sat down at
a makeshift table - an sealed box of digging equipment. Sallah had
poured Indy a glass of water; the only refreshment on the site. Whilst
Indy would have preferred something with more kick to it, he was happy
to settle with what was in front of him.

"What is it this time, Indy?"

In the last twenty minutes Sallah and Indy had exchanged
greetings, caught up on past times and news in a matter of minutes,
and just started to talk about the real reason Indy was visiting Sallah: to
get help defeating Louis Belloq’s quest to find the Temple of Rhan.

"Indy?" Sallah asked again.

"Belloq" Indy replied, with a sigh.

"Bellosh is back?" Sallah cried out, amazed.

With a smirk, Indy said "Belloq, Sallah, Belloq"
Sallah look bemused.

"And he’s not back. His son is."

"That man had a son? This world never ceases to amaze me"
Sallah said, bursting out in a roar of laughter that could probably have
been heard at the other end of the dig site. "Tell me, my good friend,
what is the matter this time?"

Over the following twenty minutes, Indy informed Sallah of
recent events. The newspaper article that first alerted Indy to Louis
Belloq’s existence. The ambush in New York City. The piece-by-piece
collection of clues to the Temple of Rhan. And the bruises, fights and
desperate chases he’d been through.

Sallah stared at Indy throughout, his face a reflection of
sympathy for his friend. When Indy finally brought Sallah up to date on
the latest developments - and Louis Belloq’s journey to Bokoa - Sallah
too a deep breath. He lent forward.

"Indy, I know you. And I know when you need help"

"So you’ll join me?"

Sallah glanced around the dig site. He took into view the
workers, the mounds of dirt piling up, the toil and exhaustion at the end
of every day. Then he took a look at Indy. If what he had said was true,
Louis Belloq could soon become far more trouble than he was worth.

There was only one option.

Sallah shot Indy another look and said "Yes".

* * *

It was early afternoon in Bokoa.

In the small village deep within Chad, Louis Belloq, Kas, Dr.
Jerome and a handful of locals had already made their way up the side
of the Tibesti Massif mountains.

With nothing more than an ancient
drawing of the 'Three Crowns' where the entrance to the Temple was
allegedly hiding, it would have been easy to lose patience.
But Louis remained calm.

Despite several false leads - the unique pattern of the secret
entrance was providing not so uncommon after all - there were now only
a few locations left to try. The locals had a helpfully detailed knowledge
of the mountain range, and were able to suggest the most likely places
to dig - and find something.

"Dr. Jerome -" Louis said. But he was cut off by the chattering
noise of several locals racing towards him. Louis saw one local holding
something in his hands, with two other locals either side of him. They all
had looks on their faces that were closer to fear than elation.

"What is it?" Louis snapped.

"Look! Look!"

The local opened his hands to reveal a rock with strange carved
symbols. Louis peered down at the rock in the local’s hand. It was
emblazoned with symbols just like the Rhan symbols Louis had
translated. From memory, Louis was able to decipher the symbols on
the rock.

They spelt one word.

Rhan.

"I’m here" Louis said.

This was the final piece of evidence. Louis was at the entrance.
Now all he had to do was find a way inside. However, he was caught off
guard by the noise of Dr. Jerome coughing once.

"We’re here," Dr. Jerome said loudly.

Louis shook his head. He slowly stood up, and turned to face the
doctor.

Clearing his throat, Louis paused for a second.

He looked Dr. Jerome up and down, then calmly said "Thank you for bringing us this
far, Dr. Jerome"

"This far? But this is not the end! You know that, Louis. What
may yet be discovered inside is beyond our imagination. It defies belief.
Myth made reality"

The doctor stood back for a moment, taking a
handkerchief out of his pocket. Wiping the sweat from his forehead
slowly Dr. Jerome looked down at the village they had come from and
said "To think those savages down there don’t even know what’s hiding
up here"

Louis was stony faced. "True" he uttered.

Dr. Jerome turned round.

"I have some bad news, Dr. Jerome"

"What now?" he snapped.

Louis answered by reaching into his jacket and pulling out his
revolver. "You have brought us to the Temple. For that I’m most
grateful. But, you see, I can’t have someone else share my prize. It just isn’t fair, is it? No, you understand"

"But Louis..."

"How nice. You do understand"

Before Dr. Jerome could fight back, Louis pulled the trigger on
his revolver. There was a click. Then nothing. Dr. Jerome opened his
wincing eyes to see Louis throw his revolver to the floor in anger.

Out of bullets.

Dr. Jerome wasn’t going to wait around for Louis to reload the
revolver and turned around as quickly as possible, darting off down the side of the mountain.

"Get him!" shouted Louis.

Kas nodded and started pacing after
his target: long, sweeping paces that would have taken the average man
three steps, and at twice the pace.

Dr. Jerome turned his head as he scrambled down the rocky
mountainside to see the glowering shadow of Kas coming after him.

Dr. Jerome’s feet were unsure on the dark, crumbling ground and he hit a thick rock with his left foot. This was enough to cause him to lose his balance. He swayed uneasily for a few seconds before hitting the ground on his back with a resounding thud. The ground underneath him was too weak. Small rocks, clouds of brown dust tumbled down the
mountainside, taking Dr. Jerome with them.

Kas stopped his pursuit.

Dr. Jerome was sliding down the mountain, unable to control
where he was going. He was going to cry out for help, but knew that
nobody was going to rescue him. The last thing Dr. Jerome saw before
his head viciously hit a boulder at the floor of the mountain was Kas, in
the distance, making his way back to the dig site.

"Kas," said Louis. "Do go and dispose of the body. We don’t
want to leave a mess after us, do we?" he grinned.

Kas walked off down
the mountainside, his thick bare feet sure of themselves on the harsh,
sharp rock surface. Louis watched as Kas descended to the floor of the
mountain, pacing towards Dr. Jerome’s lifeless body.

With a grunt, Kas hauled Dr. Jerome over his shoulder and
marched off into the distance. Louis didn’t want to know how or where
Kas would dispose of the body: such things didn’t concern him. So long
as the interfering doctor was out of the picture, Louis wasn’t bothered.
He had managed to remove every obstacle in his way: Grundman,
Jerome.

Just one remained.

"Jones" Louis said in a whisper.

His mind was about to start racing over thoughts of the
American when one of the workers distracted him. Louis could tell from
the worker’s excitable shouting and waving that something had been
uncovered.

Louis walked towards the worker, his pace getting faster and
faster as he approached. In seconds he had pushed the worker out of
the way and was standing in his spot. The worker’s digging had been
successful. Louis’ eyes widened at the sight of the hole - about three
feet in diameter - in the mountainside.

Crouching down, Louis tried to peer inside the hole. Nothing.
Louis’ trembling hand then slowly moved towards the rugged rock,
slowly feeling around inside the fresh opening. It was amazing. Apart
from an icy chill, Louis felt nothing: it was as if the mountain was
hollow, and the hole was a way in.

Desperate to see what was inside, Louis reached into his
pockets. He took out a matchbox and hurriedly lit a match. Moving it
towards the hole, Louis got his first glance of what was ‘inside’ the
mountain.

Louis could only gasp, breathless. "Mon dieu".

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