Ancient Secrets Ch 03

ANCIENT SECRETS Ch Three

Everyone just stood there motionless for a few seconds. Then the lead native bent down to check on the young girl. Once he saw she was shaken up, but otherwise unharmed, he stood up to face the intruder. He pointed at the gun.

Nick knew he couldn't shoot them all, even if he had wanted to. So, he turned the gun around and extended it to the man. He slowly walked forward until he could take the gun from Nick. Once he had, he motioned his men to take Nick. When they had tied him up, they took the young girl and headed into the jungle. Nick followed with his guards as they plowed through the jungle on a small, warn path. They seemed to walk for a long time to Nick, but it was actually only about thirty minutes until they broke out into a clearing. There were large trees overhanging a row of huts. Nick could understand why they had not been discovered from the air.

The large trees covered their little village. He saw women as they gathered around the strange white man. The men seemed to be arguing, probably about him. He was led to a hut where he was tied to the center pole. He was left for most of the afternoon while the argument continued. He knew what the argument was about. It was about why he was still alive. The only way this village had remained a secret this long was that no one who found this place had survived to tell anyone. Nick had wondered about that himself. It had to have something to do with the girl, but he had no idea what.

As dusk fell, the young girl came in with a bowl of food, of sorts. He had no idea what it was, but he was hungry and ate it without question. He later fell asleep wondering if tomorrow was his last day on earth. He didn't sleep very well that night.

The next morning the girl brought him more of the food. She stayed and watched him eat it. Once he was finished, she took the bowl, but just stared at him. She had a curious look in her eye, but she didn't seem to show any fear.

Later that morning, several of the men came into the hut and took him into the center of the village. It looked like the entire village had gathered. Nick guessed there were maybe seventy-five to one hundred people in total. He could see huts went into the jungle for a ways. The canopy of trees provided cover. The jungle floor had been cut away, and there were large huts, deeper into the jungle. This is a civilization that had not been previously recorded. He wondered how many white men had stood where he now stands. Obviously, none of them walked out of here alive. He figured he would be next and was resigned to the idea that he HAD discovered a new civilization. Even if he would not be able to tell anyone, he would die with a small feeling of satisfaction.

The man he had given his gun to, stood up. He was obviously the chief or leader of this tribe. He started talking to the crowd.

Nick had no idea what he was saying, but it wasn't making these people very happy. People started speaking out. He finally cut everyone off with a roar Nick had not heard in "polite" civilization before. Whatever he said, that ended the conversation. People began walking away in small grumbling groups until there were only a small group of men with the young girl left. This was probably his council. Nick still had no idea why the girl was amongst them.

The chief nodded at Nick and the girl led him back to his hut. She tied him to the post and left. But, before she left, she turned back to look at him and smiled. She then left.

Nick was stunned. Had she just saved his life? His life for hers, maybe? He sat down with his back to the pole and tried to calm down. She brought him his supper that night, as before.

The next several days followed the same pattern. She brought him his food twice a day. He was reduced to doing his business in one corner of the hut. After several days of this, she must have noticed, because she brought the chief in and pointed to it. The chief nodded. From then on, she took him into the jungle to take a leak and literally, "shit in the woods".

A couple of weeks in, he decided he would need to learn their language if he had any hope of gaining their trust. Fortunately, he was pretty good with languages. He could

speak a little Spanish, and a little French. He figured he had nothing else to do, sitting in his hut.

He began by pointing to things like his food, the bowl, himself and the girl.

He would say, "Nick" and point to himself. After a couple of tries, she figured it out and repeated "Nick".

He then pointed toward her. She said, "Tai."

He repeated, "Tai." She nodded and smiled.

This is how it began. For the next month, they did nothing but work on the language of her people. One day she brought a flower with her. She pointed at it and said, "Tai."

She pointed to it and herself several times until he understood the flower was called Tai, and she was named after the flower. He didn't know if it meant all flowers, or that one flower, but it was a start.

After two weeks, they had untied him, and let her take him around the village. There was one man who went with them wherever they went. Nick wasn't sure if he was there to keep him from running, or to protect him from the villagers. They still weren't too happy about him being there. However, it appeared they had either too much respect or too much fear to disobey the chief.

It was around this time that they brought his backpack into the village. He saw it when the men he figured was a

hunting party brought it in. The chief brought it in and pointed at Nick. Nick nodded and the chief smiled. He then left with it. Nick wouldn't see it again for a long time.

After three months, Nick could begin to make out enough to understand some things. Tai helped tremendously. She seemed to be committed to his education. It seemed to Nick she wanted to talk to him as soon as she could.

At six months Nick was able to have simple conversations with Tai. She told him the name of everything he pointed at in their tongue. It was when a woman was having a baby that Nick understood the chief was Tai's father. When the man who had been standing and watching the birth had taken the baby in his hands and carried it around the area showing everyone the baby. Nick understood he was the father. Tai then pointed to the chief and herself and said the word for relationship. Nick repeated it. He didn't know for sure what it meant, but he understood she was from the chief.

Now he understood why the chief had spared him. He had saved his daughter's life by shooting the bear. The daughter had probably pleaded with her father to not kill him. A real-life Pocahontas, as it were. He could only hope it ended better for Tai than it had for Pocahontas.

One day, Tai brought her father into his hut. He was surprised, but he stood up and bowed to the chief.

He was pleased with the deference and sat down. They had their first conversation. It was choppy and uncertain, but it was the first.

After a month of stumbling around each other they talked.

The chief brought his backpack in and sat down with Nick. He pulled things out of the pack one at a time, and asked Nick to explain. Nick tried to explain, but many things were things they knew nothing about, like a satellite phone, a notebook and pen.

Nick desperately wanted the phone to call and let them know he was still alive. The chief was not interested in giving him any of the things in pack. He just stood up and took the backpack away.

Tai saw he was disappointed, and tried to console him, but nothing worked.

Now that he could talk to the people somewhat, he walked around the village and tried to talk to anyone who would listen. They would laugh at his attempts at their language, but, after a while, they stopped laughing and began helping him until he could speak their language well enough to communicate with them.

Once he could talk to them, everything moved much quicker. He discovered that one of the nearest tribes had been encroaching on their valley. There is a back way into the

valley up in the mountains that only the tribes know. The other tribe has been probing through that pass to see how determined the inhabitants were to repeal them.

Nick asked to see the pass. The chief led him into the jungle for a couple of miles. The paths were narrow and not clearly defined. The villagers seemed to have no problem knowing where they were, but Nick was sure he would get lost in a minute left to his own devices. They climbed the mountainside until they were up a couple of hundred feet on the mountain. He could look back and see their valley. It was lush and beautiful.

They came to the split in the mountain. There were several men Nick recognized guarding the pass. Up the sides of the pass, there were several places for men to hide and ambush the invaders. Nick climbed up on the first one side, then the other. He studied the landscape for several minutes and then told the chief he had seen enough.

As they walked back to the village, Nick was formulating a plan. But, for it to work, they would have to give him his gun back. He was pretty sure how that would go.

Everyone sat around the protected fire they build every night. It could not be seen from above and was the heart of this village. Nick asked to speak. "How much time to we have after we know they are coming into the pass?"

The chief answered this one. "We have men on the other side of the pass watching. They can get back to our side in a few minutes. They then send a messenger to warn us. So far, we have been able to get there before they can get completely through the pass."

"Do you believe they would stop coming if we delt them a crushing blow?"

"Yes. Years ago, my father beat them in a large battle. They did not come back for many moons."

"How often do they come now?"

"They come every couple of months. Probably they will come soon, again."

"I have a plan. But it will require you to trust me. I will need to have you give my gun back. We can ambush them so badly they will not come back for many moons."

That caused a murmuring around the campfire. The chief finally raised his hand. "Explain."

"We must let them through the pass into the clearing. Then I can be on one side, and your men can be on the other side. We must kill every one of them so none of them could go back and tell their people you have guns. We bury them and their tribe will wonder what happened to them for many moons. They will have to guess you were stronger than them."

The men talked amongst themselves for several minutes. The chief finally raised his hand to silence the men. "We will wait until the next time they come. I will carry your weapon, and you will go with us. If we need, I will give it to you."

With those words, the plan was adopted. Nick forgot about it for a couple of weeks. He talked with Tai every day. She was a sweet, young girl. He figured she was sixteen or seventeen. They had no accounting for age. They knew about the passing of time, but didn't keep a close measurement of it.

The warning came a couple of days later. The messenger burst through the jungle, yelling about the invasion. Within minutes, all the men were assembled and began moving through the jungle at full speed. Nick had a hard time keeping up. When they could see the clearing below the pass, they could tell it was not going well. Most of their guards were dead, and the rest will soon be if not rescued now. The chief took one look and handed Nick his gun. He whispered for the chief to take his men to the front of the invaders, and Nick quietly moved behind them. When Nick was between them and the pass, he opened fire. The shock was complete. They all froze. The villagers pounced on them from the front. Nick had to stop shooting. He was afraid he would hit one of his own people. He watched as they slaughtered the entire group of invaders. As Nick watched, one of them pushed past him and headed into the pass.

One of the guards who had stayed in the pass saw him coming and put an arrow through him. He fell as he topped the pass. Nick went back to see the men gathering the weapons, water bottles, whatever. They had some modern things. This was obviously one of the five tribes that had contact with the white man.

Nick handed his gun back to the chief, but the chief pushed it back to Nick and smiled. Nick then whispered into the chief's ear and the chief nodded. He ordered a couple of men to go to the top of the pass and drag the body of the man who almost got away down further into the other side and left him.

Nick figured if his people found him with an arrow in him, they would figure the chief's men had just killed their people. No trace of Nick.

By the time the two men had gotten back, the villagers had built a large bonfire and began throwing the dead men on the fire. They sat there most of the night watching the fire destroy all the evidence. When the fire was almost out, they put it out and scattered the ashes throughout the clearing. By dawn, the clearing was almost as it was before. It started raining as they were leaving. That was enough to remove all the evidence.

When they got back to the village, the party began. No one seemed to care they had been up all night. There was dancing and laughing. It went on for most of the day.

It was during that evening that Nick had his next serious problem. As everyone was sitting around the fire, eating their celebration supper, the chief stood up to talk. Everyone quieted down to hear what he wanted to say. Nick could not believe his ears. The chief was announcing he was giving his daughter to the hero of the night, Nick. Everyone shouted approval and began dancing again. Nick looked at Tai. She was embarrassed and looking down. Nick whispered into her ear, "I can't do this. You are too young."

She whispered back, "If you don't, I will be shunned. I will never have a man."

Nick looked into her eyes. There was real panic there. He couldn't let that happen to her.

The chief had him and her stand up in front of the village. He repeated some solemn words and put her hand in his. The party hit another level after that.

The chief led them to the hut she had been sharing with a couple of the other young women. They were decorating it up like a honeymoon suite, as if they had any idea what that was. The girls pulled the cover over the door and departed.

Nick looked at Tai and held up his hands. She shivered and dropped her clothes. Nick rushed to her and covered her up with his hands. He hugged her against himself to protect her.

She looked up at Nick. "If you don't make me bleed, they will kill me in the morning."

Nick was aghast. "They really check on that?"

"Yes, the women will be here first thing in the morning to check and give the village their report. You must make me bleed to survive."

He hung onto her as she shivered. He saw she had a nice mat she sleeps on. He let go of her and undressed before her. She kept her eyes down until he took her by the chin and lifted her face. He smiled into her eyes. "My love, I am only alive because of you. I will not let anything like that happen. She hugged him hard. Her head only came up to his chin. She was no more than five feet two, or three, and he was six feet. He had lost a lot of weight in the past ten months, but he was still fifty pounds heavier than her. He stood back and looked at her. She was a lovely dark-skinned woman. Her smile lit up the room. He put their torch out and picked her up. She threw her arms around him, and he carried her to the mat and laid her down gently. She giggled a little when he began growing. She had obviously never seen a man's full erection, and it scared her greatly. He lay down beside her and held her in his arms.

He whispered into her ear. "I will be gentle, I promise."

She shook her head, "No, you must make me bleed."

He smiled at her, "You will, my dear. It will hurt a little at first, but after that, it will be something that you will enjoy for the rest of your life. Did your mother not explain this to you?"

"My mother died when I was young."

He kissed her gently. "Then we will learn it together."

He began massaging her neck. After a few minutes, he moved down to her breasts. She shuddered when he squeezed her breasts. Her nipples hardened. It seemed to surprise her, but he nodded and told her to close her eyes. She closed her eyes, and he continued down her body. He softly rubbed her stomach and then moved down to her pelvis. He waited to move further down until she was ready. He finally moved down and put his hand between her legs. She jumped when he did that, but then settled down to wait for what was next. He gently pushed her legs apart and ran his fingers over her womanhood.

Just before he penetrated her, the thought crossed his mind that he would be in jail at home for what he was about to do. He shook his head to clear his mind. He had no choice but to continue. Their traditions made that clear. He continued. When he pushed into her vagina with his finger, she jumped. He let her settle down again until her breathing was almost normal. He then began stroking her softly and slowly at first.

After a few minutes of this, her breathing began to come quicker. He pushed all the way in, and she shuttered. It was time to make her bleed before she had her first orgasm with a man. He hoped she had done this to herself enough to know how it felt. She would need something to compare it to. He gently rolled over on top of her and pushed her legs apart. She opened her eyes and looked deep into his. She smiled and nodded. With that he began gently pushing into her. He had to work it slowly and carefully until his tip was inside. He then lifted her legs at the knees to give himself enough room and thrust inside. She screamed when he punctured the barrier. He stopped to let her catch her breath. She finally opened her eyes and nodded. He began fucking her like he had to others many times before. He worked slowly, then fast, deep and shallow. It didn't take her more than a couple of minutes to let go. She shuttered and moaned. He felt her shake under him. He stopped and just held her. She finally calmed down after a couple of minutes. When he pulled out, he could feel the wetness from below. She sat up, put her hand between her legs and came up with fingers dipped in blood. She smiled and wrapped his arm around her. She was asleep in minutes.

Nick woke up the next morning to see her on his arm. The events of yesterday flooded back into his mind. Had he just had sex with a sixteen or seventeen girl? It's not like he had

any choice, but it still made him uncomfortable. Then he looked at her sleeping face. She seemed so completely happy. Nick guessed there were worse things he could have done.

At that moment, the door cover swung open, and a couple of the older ladies came into the hut. They motioned Nick to get out of bed. He did so and they were upon Tai as she woke up. They ran their hands down between her legs and smiled. They began congratulating Nick as they left. There are some things about early civilizations that he definitely didn't like. She was a virgin, so she lives. He is congratulated for fucking her. He lay back down and held her until she stopped crying.

They were man and wife now. They were given the hut they had been in. The other two single girls were moved somewhere else. There were several gifts given to them. One of the best gifts was from the chief. He brought Nick his backpack and gave it to him. Nick nearly fainted. The food was not good after a year, but he had his phone. As long as it had any charge left. He decided not to check it yet. Good thing he didn't. The chief was just outside their door to hear if he did. After a few minutes, he looked in and smiled.