Laura 01 The Jaguar Prophecy (25 page)

The man who fired the gun is a Russian about 5 feet tall, stocky and overweight, while the second guy is South African, possibly ex-military.

Boris walks over to his friend on the ground and inspects his knee.

“How are you doing, Anthony?”

“The fucker broke my knee Boris, kill him!”

“In due time, in due time.”

Morne is scanning the area as he walks over to Victor. He immediately notices that the thatched leaves on the ground used as bedding have two body imprints in, and knows there is someone missing. Looking around, he sees Laura’s sandal prints in the soft ground, leading to a path into the jungle.

After giving Victor a thorough scan up and down, noting that Victor is losing blood fast, he smiles and speaks. “Ja broer, vandag het jy jou gat gesien.”

“Gaan kak in die mielies,” Victor replies weakly, his strength slowly draining from him.

“Windgat, wag tot ons jou girlfriend kry,” Morne replies but makes no further movement, save to watch Victor roll onto his side and close his eyes.

“Morne, keep an eye on him while I help Anthony to the jeep.” Morne only nods his head slightly in response.

Laura is about 500 feet from the ruins when she hears the gunshot, causing her to freeze with shock and horror. “Has the jaguar attacked Victor, forcing him to shoot it?” Immediately, she starts running through the bush to the ruins as fast as she can. She suddenly becomes aware of just how much she cares for him and how much he has become a part of her life in so short a time.

As Laura nears the ruins, she starts shouting his name, calling for him. Just as Laura breaks through the last branches into the clearing, she sees Victor on the ground with a Russian next to him, holding a gun to his head. Before Laura can react, a fist slams into her jaw with such force that her head is thrown backwards and her body lifts an inch off the ground. Her feet slip out from under her and she comes down hard on her back. As she lies there, half dazed, she can hear the men laughing at her.

Suddenly, someone grabs her by her hair and drags her towards the centre of the camp. Tears fill Laura’s eyes from pain, and she grabs the hand holding her hair, digging her nails into the flesh. Laura gets a punch in the stomach for her troubles that almost takes all the air from her lungs. While still gasping for air from the punch, she is dropped next to Victor, who is now only half conscious due to blood loss.

“Kitty’s got claws boys, I think she wants to play,” Morne says laughingly, “Can I play with her Boris?”

“Do as you please, you have ten minutes then kill her and the guy, we have to go,” Boris replies while helping Anthony up.

Morne grabs Laura by the hair again and pulls her to her feet then kisses her. Laura slams her fists into his chest, but it has no effect on him. She then scratches his face, digging her nails in as deep as she can while biting his lower lip. Morne screams and punches Laura in the face, knocking her down, and she almost loses consciousness.

Blood is dripping down from Morne’s lower lip, as he puts his hand to his face he sees blood on his hand, Laura has scratched him to the bone.

“You will pay for this little girl,” he hisses as he slowly bends down over the semi-conscious Laura and grabs her by the top of her cotton shirt, ripping it open, exposing her bikini and breasts.

“I am going to have fun with you,” Morne growls as he starts to undo Laura’s belt and pants. Grabbing her unzipped pants by the top, he pulls them down in one fast jerk to her knees. Her bikini bottom half stays in place, just covering her womanhood. Morne reaches down and is about to touch her bikini bottom to rip it down when suddenly a massive commotion from the bush causes him to stop and look up.

He is just in time to see a gaping jaw and rows of deadly teeth coming straight for his face. The jaguar grabs Morne by the face and bites down, crunching bones while teeth sink into his head and face. Morne lets out a bone chilling scream as the jaguar crushes his head and face, his bones shattering, his brains and blood spilling onto the ground.

Anthony looks on in horror as his friend is mauled by the jaguar. Boris, unaffected by the scene, pulls his gun from his holster, carefully aims for the jaguar’s head and squeezes the trigger. Just before he manages to fire the shot, a steel cutting wire circles his neck and is quickly pulled from left to right. The wire rips into his flesh, severing his carotid arteries and windpipe.

He falls to the ground with Victor, who has regained consciousness long enough to attack him but is now again slipping away due to blood loss and shock.

Anthony pulls himself together to a degree, and manages to pull his gun from his holster while standing up on his good leg. Shaking from fear he aims at the jaguar and fires. The shot is wide and misses the jaguar, angering it. The jaguar turns to attack Anthony, who manages to calm himself down enough to steady the pistol and take careful aim. There is no question that this will be a killing shot, and once he is done with the jaguar he will kill the girl and guy. A smile breaks out on his face as he thinks about all the money he will have and the things he will do with it after he has sold the treasure.

His smile suddenly changes to surprise and then pain as three spear tips thrust through his back and burst out of his chest. With shock he looks down at the steel protruding from his chest, blood oozing from each wound. Slowly he turns to see native Peru warriors with shields and spears slowly coming out of the bush all around him. One has on a massive feathered hat ornamented with gold jewelry, clearly he is the leader.

With effort, Anthony lifts the pistol to shoot the leader, but ten more spears fly through the air at the same time and bury themselves with such force into his chest that he is lifted into the air half a foot. He is dead before his body hits the ground.

Laura pulls herself to a sitting position with effort while pulling up her pants and tying what is left of her shirt closed as best she can. With a shock she realizes that not only is she being surrounded by more than a hundred native warriors with spears and shields, but also that the jaguar is right next to her.

The warriors are now only 10 feet away from her and lift their spears to stab her. Suddenly, the jaguar gives a loud deep growl that can raise the hairs of the dead, then goes to lie down in front of Laura, putting its massive head in her lap. Laura is so shocked by the jaguar’s actions that she reacts instinctively and strokes its large head, causing the jaguar to purr like a household kitten.

The native warriors all have a shocked expression on their faces and immediately drop to the ground, putting their hands in front of them and their faces in the ground while saying something in a native language over and over again, almost like chanting. Slowly, the leader makes his way through the warriors, each moving to the side to let him pass without looking up or pulling their hands back from in front of them. When the leader is five feet in front of Laura, he slowly drops to his knees and assumes the same position as the warriors.

The jaguar gives him a sideways glance and then digs its head into Laura’s chest, wanting her to stroke him some more.

Looking down at the jaguar, Laura recognizes the jaguar from his injured paw as the one she had freed. While obediently stroking the jaguar’s head, Laura asks, “Who are you?”

“We are the protectors of the treasure, oh savior,” the leader replies without looking up.

“Can you please help my friend?” Laura asks pleadingly while pointing to Victor. She has a burning desire to run to Victor, but is afraid of what the jaguar and warriors will do if she stands up.

“He is a friend of yours?”

“He is my husband.” Laura does not think of it as a lie, just saying something still to come, in her mind.

“Then we will do our best to save his life,” the leader responds while looking up, then turns his gaze behind him and gives orders in a native language Laura cannot understand. Suddenly, the warriors who are around Victor jump up and carefully lift him on their arms, forming a human stretcher. Ten warriors in total, five each side, slowly take Victor away into the bush. When they are gone from Laura’s sight, she speaks to the leader, while slowly standing up and noting everyone’s reaction.

“You called me savior, why did you say that?” The jaguar gets up with Laura and takes a place on her right side. Some of the warriors look up at the sound of Laura speaking and on seeing the jaguar’s actions they again with new angst bury their faces in the ground and chant to her.

The leader looks at Laura perplexed, “Why, you are the one from the prophecy, the one that will lift my people out of poverty, you control the jaguar, a sacred animal to us, you are her.” Laura is confused by his answer.

“What prophecy, what are you talking about?”

“I will show you, follow me,” the leader says while slowly standing up and motioning for her to follow him.

Laura really wants to be with Victor and does not move.

“Your husband is in the best medicine woman’s hands there is, you cannot help him at this moment. Follow me.”

Laura decides to follow the man and see what he is talking about and why he thinks she is part of some prophecy.

“I am Laura, what is your name?” Laura says as she makes to follow the man.

“I am known as the elder to my people, but to you, I am just Manco. I was named after the last great Inca king, Manco Inca, who buried the treasure, oh high one.”

“Where did you learn to speak English so well?”

“I was raised in Cusco and used to be a guide for tourists for 30 years. I learned English from the tourists I guided. When my father died, I took up his position as elder of the protectors of the treasure.”

“Can all your men speak English?”

“No, not all want to learn the new language, but I have taught most some basic English to help them earn extra money by guiding tourists.”

The warriors shift sideways to allow Manco and Laura to pass with the jaguar walking next to Laura. One of the warriors dares to look up just as they pass him and he finds himself suddenly staring directly into the jaguar’s eyes.

The jaguar growls and shows its teeth, frightening the man so much that he immediately looks down again with such speed that he bumps his head into the ground with a thud. Yellow liquid starts to spread under him as he wets himself.

The jaguar sniffs the man, brushing its whiskers against his face. On smelling the fear and urine, the jaguar turns away satisfied and wags its tail like a household kitten that just had a bowl of milk.

Just as Laura wonders where the path is that Manco used, he pulls some vines to the side, revealing a hidden path leading away from the clearing.

“What is this clearing used for Manco?”

“We use it to meditate and pray. We were on our way to come and pray when we heard the gunshot. It is destiny that had us coming at the right time to save you.”

“How so, Manco?”

“Normally we come later in the day, but today I had the feeling I must come early, destiny brought us together. Please follow me.”

Manco steps into the pathway and holds the vines to the side to keep the path open for Laura. She gives one last look at the clearing, then steps into the hidden path and follows Manco.

Chapter 13

Laura and the jaguar follow Manco for 20 minutes through the jungle, passing one ruined building after another until suddenly they come to a large building around 100 feet wide, made of granite stone with a single small entrance in the middle. There is a massive statue of a jaguar right by the entrance, and Laura recognizes the statue and building as those she had seen from the sky when flying over. The building stands ten feet high and although Laura cannot see the end of the building as it is obscured by the forest, she reckons it must be at least 300 feet long, judging from her memory of it when she flew over. On the outside is a flame torch on each side of the doorway.

However, Manco takes a flashlight from a small bag that hangs under his coat and switches it on. When Laura sees the light, he only comments, “Modern times,” then enters the building. Laura follows while the jaguar stands guard outside the door.

When Laura’s eyes have adjusted to the low light in the room, she sees that the size of the room is only ten feet by ten feet, with no door to the rest of the building from this room. The room itself is empty, however the walls are decorated with rows upon rows of paintings of Inca people.

“What is this room?” Laura asks while admiring a picture of a man in a litter being carried around by people.

“This is a records room, the pictures tell stories of events that have happened, and of those that are yet to happen.”

Laura is taken aback by his answer. “You are joking, right?”

Manco does not reply but points to the wall while illuminating the spot with his flashlight. Laura follows his gaze and then freezes. She opens her mouth to speak but cannot make a sound. Slowly, she closes her mouth and then walks closer to the wall. She shakes her head as if to wake herself from a dream then closes her eyes again, yet when she opens them again, the paintings are still there. Slowly she reaches out and touches them, tracing her fingers over the figures.

On the wall right in front of her are six pictures in sequence. The first one is a fireball coming down from the sky hitting the earth. The next one is of a woman sitting upon the ground with a man in front of her, and a jaguar is leaping through the air about to attack the man. The following painting shows the woman with the jaguar’s head in her lap and the warriors praying all around her, then another painting shows the warriors still praying but the woman standing and the jaguar next to her guarding her. The last painting shows the woman opening a door and what looks like treasure flowing through the doorway, with the warriors behind her, some jumping through the air, some waving their hands in the air, while others are bowing down to the woman.

Laura slowly turns to Manco and asks, “What does all this mean? I don’t understand.” Manco looks Laura up and down before answering, “You are the chosen one, you are the one to find the hidden treasure and lift my people from poverty, you are the jaguar lady.”