Nodding Ellie waited as May pointed to the bag. "Have a look in there."
Poking around Ellie found May's things, test tubes, containers, books, first aid supplies, nothing unusual for her sister. "That's everything that I brought with me."
Ellie must have looked confused. "Ellie I brought nothing more than my supplies."
Still confused she looked quizzically at May until it dawned on her. "So you brought all of your research equipment and absolutely nothing else, no clothes, no boots, no underwear, nothing?"
"Not quite, I brought my toothbrush."
Ellie tried hard not to laugh as she took in Mays distress. "Let me get you some of my clothes, and then we can take you shopping."
Returning with clothes, they went shopping after checking in on Luke who was wearing a hole in the carpet with his nervous pacing. Promising a swift return she again listened to everything around her as May saturated the sights and sounds only for entirely different reasons to Ellie. Whereas for Ellie it was about finding information, for May it was soaking in the culture.
Observing a male watching them from a three wheeled motorbike, she slowed down allowing May to move ahead so she could try to identify who he was watching. It was undoubtedly May, whose long brown hair was piled loosely on her head; her sun glasses were covering the brown of her eyes, but her over white skin glinted in the sun due to so little colour from hiding herself away in labs or classrooms. She caught up to May engaging her in conversations where Ellie positioned herself in a way that allowed her to face the man, while seemingly not noticing him.
"May don’t turn around, but a man is watching you….."
As he caught sight of Ellie his eyes widened, although she didn’t know how she could see that from this distance. The man appeared to be torn between Ellie and May in confusion.
"Now he is watching me...." A tap on her shoulder startled her yet rather than react, her trained body waited, turning slowly she found Luke smiling down on her causing her body to respond to his touch and closeness.
"We need to leave for the boat in an hour." He had a baseball cap on with khaki shorts and a similar coloured shirt.
Plastering on a warm smile, she kissed him before taking him into an embrace.
"There's a man watching us in front of me at one o'clock, take May off to the left and deposit her in the hotel. I will wander round and lose him."
"Ellie!" His voice was stern.
"Luke we agreed." She felt his shoulders drop a fraction before he initiated conversation with May and they wandered off together. Ellie took her time browsing the market stalls, inspecting the beautiful hand crafted baskets deciding to purchase one for Sylvia before they left she made a note of its location.
She listened as the old man running the stall took her through the weaving process; a discreet glance told her that the man was still focussed on her. She brought some bananas and a spare pair of boots for May. When she reached a stall selling spears, she couldn’t resist buying one along with the strap to secure it to her back, it wasn’t in the same league as Lewis', Theo's half-brother who had been given a spear from the Goddess of War, but it was close enough.
Stopping to look at some dish called Pastracha, she purchased it after being informed that it was fish wrapped in banana and then roasted. It smelled better than it looked and thankfully tasted better than it smelled, she sat on a bench enjoying the view while waiting and watching their admirer.
The man made no attempt to come closer seemingly content to watch her, as she took in her surroundings she soaked in the view of lush green grass, the palm trees and the hustle and bustle of a city without the hordes of people pushing and shoving each other, although she was still sweating. Noticing Ben across the street, he was sat reading a paper, she knew better, he was watching out for her.
Deciding to end the charade she nodded to Ben and had no doubt that he was now talking telepathically to Theo, and Leyland who would be in the area. Within a minute she was facing the man who was now being manhandled by Theo with Danny following behind.
"Habla usted Ingles?" She waited for the man's response, when he nodded she continued.
"Why are you following me?" She took in his tanned skin, dark hair and eyes, he presented as urbanised with his black pants and light blue shirt, he now seemed nervous and uncomfortable as Danny and Ben surrounded him, with Luke and May coming up the rear. When he saw Luke, he visibly relaxed.
"Meester Drakos, my grandfather is waiting for you. He tells me to look for the beautiful ladies, the two with the brown hair and blue eyes and the….."
He trailed off when he saw Claire, though quickly recovering he continued, "and the one who will unite the animals." There was a wistful note to his voice which increased when Claire came closer. Where everyone else was sweating, Ellie noticed that with envy that Claire seemed airy and comfortable.
Luke didn’t recognise the man. "Your grandfather would be who?"
"He is the shaman of Picchu and friend to Assaud. I am Taru and have been sent to guide you."
Ellie could see Lukes surprise at the mention of his brother's name. "How do I know you are who you say you are?"
It was his mom who provided the answer to that. "Each member of the Pichu tribe is in tune with an animal of the jungle, the animal is tattooed into his or her lower back with the name in the ancient language circling the animal. The writing must be in green to signify a harmony with the land."
Ben roughly pulled up the man's shirt. "I'll be damned; it has some sort of bird on it."
His mom stepped forward. "It's a Band Tailed Manikin; they are native to the forest and are an extremely sweet bird with a fair temperament."
"What do you know of Assaud?" Luke's tone was rushed with the need to identify the state of his brother's wellbeing.
"Very little at this time, he is a friend to our tribe and sorely missed. Please allow me to escort you into the forest, we can travel by boat to the edge of the tourist areas, then if we hike a short way the smaller river canoes will be waiting. If we leave now, we can reach my village. Time is of the essence."
"How do we know we can trust you?" Ellie was suspicious by nature though it seemed that Claire wasn’t.
"We can trust him Ellie, he means us no harm." It appeared that Sandy and Claire had found some sort of secret means to communicate because both wanted Ellie to trust him.
Fine just give us fifteen minutes to collect our things." As they entered the hotel she ordered everyone into one room.
"This is what will happen, Ben and Theo come up the rear keeping him in the middle, Sandy and Claire will be on either side of you, Claire you monitor changes in his emotions, if there is any spike I want to know about it. Sandy, you watch our route and make sure he is not leading us into danger. Luke and I will lead, this is your birth land and your Jaguar will lead you away from danger, today your Jaguar reins Luke so trust it to keep us safe. Leyland and Imogen stay close to Claire and Sandy; your primary goals are to keep them safe. Danny stay close to May and in front of Theo and Ben."
"Ellie can't I stay at the front with you, if I am in the middle I will miss everything."
"May I need you in the middle so Theo, Ben and Danny can stop you wandering off and getting distracted or into mischief?"
Indignant she put her hands on her hips. "I do not get distracted."
"May, whose clothes are you wearing?" That was enough to make her point, prompting May to stomp off and grab her bag, which she attempted unsuccessfully to hoist onto her back until Danny took it off her and swapped it for his lighter one, which obviously did not contain any heavy research equipment. May didn’t argue with Danny, there was no point, he would always put May's wellbeing first, and she also knew that the bag was too heavy for her sister to carry.
Ellie was in the bedroom strapping knives under her shorts and a gun under her t-shirt when Luke came in. Without saying a word, he pulled her in for a long, hard kiss that took her breath away.
"You are damn sexy w
hen you are bossing people around."
"I am not bossy." He didn’t argue with her; instead he kissed her again until Ben hammered on the door. "Let's go people."
The man named Taru was waiting outside of the hotel; he now had a bag strapped to his back.
"What's in the bag?" Ben actually opened his bag while it was still on his back not trusting him to be honest and therefore not waiting for his answer.
"Chocolate and guns?"
The man blushed. "Western chocolate is divine, and the guns are to protect the tribe from the torturing Jaguar's."
Theo growled. "That's what we came to deal with."
The man bowed at Theo. "Your markings are magnificent, I would like to see them in full if you would permit it at some point." Now Theo blushed as the man looked over Theo's visible tattoos which spread down one side of his body, covering the whole of one side Theo was uncomfortable at Taru's request which his next words testified to.
"Erm thanks I think, this is my wife Imogen." Theo's obvious discomfort and interpretation of the compliment caused some amusement in the others, yet unsurprisingly consternation in Theo.
"Let's go Ben." Theo stalked off ignoring his wife's chuckles, and only returning when Sandy informed him that he was going the wrong way. Signalling the cabs on the back of the push bikes they were taken to a river boat which already contained several other passengers.
Ellie watched them leave the relative safety of the city on a boat that would take them only god knew where. Finding a secluded area, she checked her pack for supplies including a rather large bottle of water. Securing the spear to her back and ensuring her own cross bow was at the top of her bag she was set to go.
Watching in delight as she observed the most beautiful blue and gold Macaws flying overhead followed by some sort of eagle. She could see dense bush leading into thick, heavy forest close by, the trees were humongous with some standing over a hundred feet high. In the distance she could see steam that seemed to settle on the ground from the immense heat that surrounded them.
As Ellie saw monkeys jumping from tree to tree she became excited at the discovery, for a minute she forgot the fight she had come for and revelled in the sensations of exploring a new environment, the excitement of seeing animals and plants that she had only seen on TV was huge.
May came running over with her camera in hand and delight on her face. "Did you see the Howler Monkeys Ellie?"
"I saw a monkey though I didn’t know what type they were." She and May looked on in fascination as the monkeys watched them from the canopy of leaves and branches above them. Slowly the rest of the team joined them, each caught up in the wonderful experience. May was trying to capture the scene with her camera but her usual calm reserve was gone with the onslaught of excitement. Her grip clumsy as she tried to capture everything in detail so when she slipped she was only saved by Danny who then took her camera from her, and with a sigh he then studied the picture in front of him and started snapping.
The trees acted as a shelter almost shutting out the intense heat provided by the sun, the humid air kissed their skin leaving damp prickles on them as they listened to the sound of birds singing to each other. In the background they could hear scurrying of smaller animals, the scent of the thick trees and plant life invaded their nostrils leaving them with the faint hint of exotic flowers.
As they moved forward Ellie watched what appeared to be monkeys using the trees to follow them; overhead she saw a flock of birds above them also heading in their direction until the trees was once more blocked her view. The sight of parrots in a range of beautifully bright colours made Ellie pause with disappointment when she lost sight of them.
Looking into the river around them, the water was startling and clear, she could see fish of various sizes and colours following the boat. A large sting ray swam past them making her question how safe the water would be to swim in, quickly concluding that it wasn’t. Thankfully they were sailing close to the river bed.
A quick movement to her right prompted her to move sharply, knocking Luke to the ground while pulling her knife. Although Luke was slightly shocked at his sudden tumble, Ellie was happy to see that Danny, Theo and Ben had each pulled either knives or guns. Looking around for the threat each became distracted by giggles emanating from May and Claire. Turning Ellie felt somewhat shocked to find a spider monkey sat on Claire's shoulder rubbing its head against hers affectionately.
"Hey little fella how can I help you?" Claire obviously did not expect an answer from said monkey, and none of their party expected Taru to pose a cryptic statement as the boat stopped for them to depart at a nearby ramp. A ramp that seemed so unsafe that when Ben insisted he climb off the boat first, no-one argued with him not even Ellie who did not want to risk falling into a river full of danger. As he stepped onto the rickety wooden ramp, she expected it to crumble, when it didn’t they each stepped gingerly from the boat one at a time.
"The forest awaits you, the animals welcome their queen. Let us move, the animals will warn us of any danger."
As they moved forward following a path that Ellie did not consider to be any sort of path, in fact, she wasn’t convinced they were moving forward towards anything but more trees and dense undergrowth, a view shared by Theo who was swatting his face warding off the bugs flying towards him while grumbling.
"Someone remind me why the fuck I am here, it's damn hot, I am wringing with sweat and being eaten alive by mosquitos." Theo wasn’t concerned about contracting any disease, which as a wolf he was immune to; it was the sheer annoyance of them biting him and the itching that was causing his frustration.
Chapter 31
Luke wandered through the forest; with his Jaguar preening in delight at returning to home ground, he could smell the plants and animals and at any moment he could point out what animal was where regardless of whether they had hidden or not. Although this felt like home, it didn’t feel like his home.
Having travelled here before, he knew that this comfortable feeling wouldn’t last long before he would want to return to his real home in America. The urge to shift was riding him hard, his Jaguar could smell home territory so he wanted to play and explore. When Ellie had knocked him down he was shocked more than injured, in this environment he knew that he would sense any danger, he might even sense it before Ellie for a change.
Ben and Theo were muttering making him smile, unused to this environment they were finding the terrain a challenge. He could hear Ellie reprimanding May for slowing them down every time she stopped to take samples; she now had Ziploc bags hanging from her rucksack. Turning to smile at Ellie, Luke was met with a grin that was sexy and a complete turn on, which made him want to stop and ravish her.
Whispering to her Luke had Ellie blushing. "You look so sexy."
"Sure I do, haven’t you noticed the sweat dripping from my nose and my face which is turning more beetroot in colour every minute. How much longer will it take to get to where ever the hell we are going?"
"Another couple of hours I can smell running water, I think it would be a convenient time to stop, so let's head this way." Luke was confident here and comfortable identifying their path and pointing out the various animals.
Making the decision that she needed to prepare for whatever was to come, Ellie started quizzing Taru. Luke had no fear that she would forget anything she heard, he watched her from behind as her butt moved seductively with her steps. Hearing a commotion behind them Luke turned to find another monkey on Claire's shoulder, and a small rodent at the side of her scurrying over the fallen branches and dead leaves. Frowning he tried to recall where he had seen that type of rodent.
"It’s an Agouti, a small rodent who eats fruits and where they can find them seeds, do you know they can't climb and spend their lives on the ground hiding from larger predators." May was watching the rodent in amusement.
He could see that everyone was hot and sweaty, Ben and Theo more so than the others. As a vampire Imogen was saved the ordeal of having t
he sweat drip into her eyes stinging from the mixture of salt in the sweat.
Ellie nearly cheered when she saw running water from a wide river, Taru veered them away from the narrow path to a clearing where heaven awaited them.
Ellie gasped in amazement at the huge waterfall in front of them surrounded by rocks. With the forest providing a picturesque image that made Ellie stare in wonder Luke took her hand. The top must be over forty foot high, with cool water cascading down until it crested into waves crashing over the rocks, they were over half way up so she could see and hear the waves as they hit the rocks below them.
Although she could see the harshness of the water running with a fierce current, the temptation to immerse herself in the cool water was immense.
"If you follow me, there is a path behind the waterfall where we can freshen up." Taru was grinning at the relief in their expressions.
"Right now I could kiss you." Ben was pushing forward in excitement with Theo close on his heels. Ellie laughed at their delight although she too was tempted to run. After discarding their rucksacks and pulling off their boots, Luke grabbed her hand and pulled her under the water.
They were on the lip of the waterfall, five feet from the peak and three feet from the edge that led to a drop that would without doubt kill a human; the waves were making their own crescendo crashing around their ears. Still holding her hand, they moved to the furthest edge, away from the others. Her hair was falling onto her face, and as Luke gently lifted her hair she could see the desire in his eyes, a look that was mirrored in her own.
Luke couldn’t help it, she looked and felt deliciously wet and glorious so as he kissed her, he pulled her flush to him feeling her hard nipples press against his chest. Right now, he wanted to be alone with her, just them and the magnificent chilly water as it lapped her creamy skin.
It was May clearing her throat that brought them back to reality when with a groan they stepped apart, although May's giggle cheered him on. Back on dry land they each took a few moments to soak in the beauty of their environment, as hard as the climate was and as rough as their trek was it was a truly magnificent place, his birth place.
Taming the Warrior Page 19
