Main Page: Indiana Jones and the Monkey King
​Previous: Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

The tank trundled up a narrow path along the side of a steep mountain. Its treads nearly jutted over the edge, especially when it jerked and wobbled to the side as Indy struggled with the unfamiliar controls. Betsy and Clare sat beside him with Gutterbuhg tied up directly behind. In the back, Kezure taught a game to Scraggy while Tyki and the remaining pirates and crew members watched. It appeared to be a bizarre version of chess with dried insects and lizards used as tokens.

“This is called ‘Taskipi,’” Kezure explained. “Only the bravest play.”

Scraggy clapped his hands together. “I show you my bravery.”

As Indy grew more and more frustrated by the tank controls, Betsy gave him a serious look. “I've been talking to Dr. Clarke about our problem,” she said.

“Problem?” He glanced at her, daring only to take his eyes off the path for a moment. “Hey, what're you two doin' talkin' behind my back?”

“Betsy needed help,” Clare said. “I obliged.”

She needs help, all right. “Since when did you become the female Sigmund Freud?”

“Since I received a Masters degree in psychology,” Clare said.

Indy rolled his eyes.

Meanwhile, Kezure swept up the last of Scraggy's tokens with a cackle of triumph. Scraggy threw up his hands with a carefree sigh. “We play again?”

Kezure fixed him with a serious look. “The game is not yet over, my friend.”

Scraggy cocked his head to one side. “Oh?”

“You have lost. You must pay.”

Scraggy rummaged through the pockets of his tattered pants and came up with only a handful of trinkets that wouldn't likely be of significance to anyone else. “I don't have any money,” he said.

“No, no money.” Kezure's serious look gave way to a smile. “Rules of the game declare that I may choose a souvenir.” He went through his own pants and removed a knife. “A part of your body. Any part I wish.”

Scraggy gulped but didn't argue.

Kezure rubbed his jaw, looking the old man over, thinking.

Oblivious to Scraggy's predicament, Betsy was telling Indy, “Dr. Clarke says that you're not really in love with me. You're just trying to prove that you can still attract younger women. You're terrified of getting old.”

“That's crazy,” Indy said.

“That's what I told her. I told her that you really did love me.”

Indy fumbled with the controls and nearly drove them all to their doom. “Well,” he said as he corrected course, “that's... ah... well...”

A furrow creased Betsy's brow. “You mean... she was right?”

“No... I mean yes... I mean...”

Indy turned to see Clare glaring at him with a look that could dehydrate a fish. He sighed and gave Betsy the most tender, honest look he could manage.

“No, Betsy,” he said. “I don't love you.”

Tears sprang to her eyes as if on cue. “That's the first time you ever said it!”

She flung herself into Clare's arms and sobbed openly. Indy shook his head as Clare comforted her. “There, there,” she said, patting the distraught girl on the shoulder. “He's a very disturbed man.”

Indy sighed. He turned and found himself face to face with a grinning and nodding Gutterbuhg.

Kezure had made his decision, and raised his knife above the waiting, terrified Scraggy. “Your eyes,” he said. “They are a striking deep blue. Very rare.”

Scraggy covered his face with a whimper as Kezure lunged. A crew member blocked Kezure’s stab, and a fight broke out between the other crew members and the pirates.

Indy turned and snapped at them, glad for a reprieve. “Enough. We’re in this together. If we start fighting among ourselves, we’ll never get out alive.”

The men calmed down. Kezure put away his knife and glared at Scraggy. “You owe me, old man.”

“Dr. Jones!” Clare screamed.

Indy swiveled back around and steered the tank back onto the mountain path a moment before it would have gone over the edge. He eased up on the gas, but just a little. They couldn’t afford to slow down much.

***

The tank rolled to a stop at the end of a narrow, rocky ravine. The top hatch flipped open and Indy, Scraggy, and Tyki popped out. Tyki looked around for a moment, then pointed to the mountain top, still cloaked in thick layers of clouds. His eyes filled with joyous tears. He shouted excitedly while Scraggy translated.

“He say that two miles ahead... we will find his home.”

Indy smiled, as touched by Tyki’s reaction as he was excited by the prospects. Too soon to say anything about a monkey king or a magic peach garden, but there was something up here, probably a whole civilization of people like Tyki. That alone would make a great discovery. And if the buildings also happened to be made of gold, well, that wouldn’t hurt either.

He looked back the way they’d come. His smile faded. Miles below, at the foot of the mountain, the Nazi forces had arrived. Their vehicles swarmed up the path like a mass of insects. Now he saw the army’s scope. Now he saw the reason for Mephisto’s confidence. They were still at least two hours away, but that was a few years too close.

Indy looked at the walls of the ravine, then at the tank’s enormous gun barrel. An idea. He hurried back inside the tank with Scraggy and Tyki close behind.

The control panel still confused him. He hadn’t needed to use the weapons yet, and he didn’t want any mishaps. He asked Gutterbuhg, “How do I work the big gun?”

Gutterbuhg gave him a serene smile.

Indy didn’t have time for games. “Kezure, want your souvenir?” He grabbed the Nazi’s left shoulder. “Start with his good arm.”

Kezure smiled, took out his knife, and placed it at Gutterbuhg’s neck. The Nazi lost his composure in an instant. “W-w-wait! Please!”

Indy nodded. The pirate king reluctantly moved his knife.

Gutterbuhg nodded to two switches on the control panel. “There. That is what you want.”

“Danke,” Indy said. The tank’s gun barrel swiveled upward and fired a shot, then swiveled a few feet to the left and fired another, then another. A rumbling sound echoed through the ravine.

“Uh, Indy –” Clare began.

He hit the gas and they lurched forward as the avalanche began, raining down hundreds of pounds of rocks and debris just behind them. In a moment a thick wall blocked the mountain path behind them.

“Maybe next time,” Clare continued as a few straggling pebbles dinged off the roof, “move first, then shoot?”

“Next time?” he said. “Next time Scraggy gets to drive.”

They continued along the twisting, narrow path, further upward. In another moment the clouds swallowed them. Indy looked through the periscope, but it did him no good. Nothing but clouds. He couldn’t even see the dark, hulking figures approach with boulders raised over their heads.

Indy eased up on the gas. “I don’t suppose Tyki’s magic mirror can light our way through?”

Scraggy consulted with Tyki and shook his head. “He know the way, though. Maybe we walk from here?”

Something hit the tank’s side with a loud crash, rattling it hard enough to toss everyone who wasn’t seated. Another avalanche? No, Indy realized as something hit the other side. Wrong angle. These hits were intentional. Something hostile lurked in the clouds outside.

“Maybe not,” he said. He eased the tank forward.

“Indy, you’re going to drive us off a cliff,” Clare protested.

“You got a better idea?” he shot back. “We’re sitting ducks if we stay here.” He’d just have to hope he’d notice if they started to go over.

Now a steady rain of boulders hit the tank, creating a deafening crescendo inside. The gun barrel snapped in two, headlights shattered, and the body acquired a series of dents, even a few cracks. Indy continued forward, jolting now, as people screamed behind him at the walls crumpling around them. He wanted to tell them that they weren’t helping his concentration, but truthfully he didn’t have much to concentrate on, since he couldn’t see a thing.

And then the clouds parted. He could see a corner just ahead. He stepped on the gas and the tank wobbled faster. Through the periscope he could now see the dark figures emerge behind it, scurrying along the ravine sides and tops, still throwing boulders. Tall, hairy, muscular figures, almost human but unmistakably not.

“Well, I’ve had worse welcoming committees,” he muttered.

“What? Lemme see!” Betsy pushed her way to the periscope. Her mouth fell open. “Oh my God. Gorillas.”

“Impossible, gorillas are gentle,” Clare said, nearly drowned out by the clanging boulders.

“Hooray, we’ve found a new subspecies,” Indy said. He eased the tank around the corner just as its engine coughed, sputtered, and died. Outside, one of the gorillas let out a high-pitched shriek that chilled his blood.

Scraggy prayed. The others froze. It took them a few moments to realize the boulders had stopped.

Through the periscope, Indy watched the gorillas approach the tank with caution. They reached out to touch its wrecked body, as if satisfying themselves that it was real and not a demonic apparition. A few of the bolder ones climbed onto it, the tortured metal creaking and groaning beneath their weight.

“They’re coming in,” Kezure said.

“It won’t take them long,” Indy said. “I’m not gonna wait around. I’ll try to lead them away and you all make a run for it.” Or maybe he’d just try to negotiate safe passage. They should be easier to communicate with than a rhinoceros, right?

“Dr. Jones,” Clare said, “I’ve observed gorillas at the zoo compound. I should go.”

“Nah, Betsy needs you.” Without further discussion, he flipped open the tank hatch. Before he could make another move, two very strong hairy arms reached down and grabbed him beneath the shoulders, pulled him out of the tank, and tossed him away like a rag doll. His fall was broken by another gorilla, which knocked the wind out of him like a rock face covered with fur.

This ape took his whip before tossing him to a third gorilla, which took his hat. The fourth gorilla tore off his leather jacket. The fifth lifted him into the air and took a few steps, preparing to throw him off the mountain’s edge. He could feel its hot, sticky breath.

“Hey, King Kong,” Indy said, “I’m worth more as a hostage!”

Tyki’s voice erupted from the tank. The gorilla paused with Indy still suspended high in the air. They both turned to see the pygmy standing atop the tank, where he shouted something at the gorilla with the unmistakable tone of an order.

The ape nodded with comprehension and gently placed Indy back on the ground. The archaeologist adjusted what remained of his clothing. “You know these guys, Tyki?” he said. “Couldn’t you have said somethin’ before?”

A huddle of gorillas separated to reveal one of their number dressed in his hat, leather jacket, and whip. The ape snapped the whip expertly, somehow not hitting itself in the face like he had done his first time. He didn’t know if he should feel insulted by that.

Scraggy, Betsy, Clare and the others now climbed out of the tank. At the sight of this gorilla, they all burst into laughter. “Why, Dr. Jones,” Clare gasped, “you look so rugged!”

Indy forced a smile. “Yeah, real funny.” He pointed to the ape. “Tyki, tell him to take off my stuff! He’s gonna stretch it out.”

Through his laughter, Scraggy translated. Tyki shouted another order. With obvious reluctance the ape removed the items and gave them back to their owner. Indy sniffed them and winced; they already smelled like gorilla.

Tyki continued to shout orders to the other gorillas. Now, in spite of his small stature, he appeared strong, authoritative. He had some kind of power over the beasts. The gorillas surged toward the humans, yet not in a menacing way. They reached out and each took someone’s hand.

“They lead us the rest of the way,” Scraggy said.

Clare tried to communicate with her gorilla using grunting sounds and hand motions. It stared back at her, uncomprehending.

Indy smirked. “Careful, you might be insulting its mother.”

“They must have a different dialect,” she said.

​Tyki climbed down from the tank without any assistance and took the lead. The group moved around one final twisting corner of the path, sloping upward, and came face to face with a dream.

Everyone froze, mouths open, eyes blinking as they tried to process. The city stretched out in every direction, each building and tower cast in solid gold, sparkling and glistening in the unobstructed sunlight. For a moment Indy thought he had died and gone to heaven. It hardly seemed possible that something so huge, so magnificent could just be tucked away somewhere in the African wilderness.

The gold drew his eyes first, but then he noticed the city’s duller surroundings – a thick stone wall with a golden drawbridge and a moat with several shark fins poking out as they swam through.

From the tower closest to the wall, a pygmy similar to Tyki spotted their approach. His eyes lit up and he cried out, repeating a certain phrase.

Scraggy translated. “He say, ‘Our Prince has returned home.’”

Indy and Clare both looked at Tyki and said in unison, “Prince?”

Now the guard was drowned out by countless ringing bells from within the city. Eyes watering, Tyki led the gorillas and humans to the foot of the wall as the enormous drawbridge started to lower, letting out a shaft of golden light that nearly blinded them. They crossed the bridge bathed in its glow. Maybe this is heaven after all, Indy thought.

Contributing to that impression, even the earthen streets were paved with gold. But now he saw more colors too. Vegetable and fruit gardens were all over the place, along with other exotic plant life. Many of the homes were surrounded by luscious green grass and crystal clear lakes. Now the Chinese influence on the architecture was obvious, though he couldn’t say what dynasty off the top of his head. In any case, this place had been here for a long time.

Men and women of Tyki’s race stopped whatever they were doing and surged forward joyously, yet peacefully, to embrace their Prince and shower him with kisses. Nobody noticed Gutterbuhg struggling to untie his bonds.

Kezure likewise took advantage of the distraction and slipped off to a vegetable garden where a small, solid gold spade had been left unattended. He swiped it and tried to hide it beneath his cloak, but a large furry hand clamped down on his arm. The gorilla stepped in front of him and wagged a reproving finger at him.

The pirate king nodded and put the spade back where he’d found it.

The crowd dispersed, but some followed at a respectful distance as Tyki led the visitors to an elaborate palace, fit for any Chinese emperor. They ascended several golden stairs as the palace door opened and an elderly man in a red robe emerged with a few guards. The man raised his arms over the crowd. Pygmies and gorillas alike dropped to their knees. Indy exchanged a glance with the other humans, and most of them quickly did likewise. He tugged on Betsy’s arm and she got the hint.

Tyki stood up, ran to the man, and embraced him. The man wiped tears from his eyes, then gave a warm smile to the visitors and spoke in a soft, wise voice.

Scraggy whispered, “He thank us... for returning his son.”

Betsy whispered, “If the little guy’s pushin’ two hundred years, how old’s his father?”

Indy motioned for her to shut up. She glared at him.

Tyki’s father continued to speak as Scraggy translated. “His name ‘Bohbala.’ He is Ruler of Cty, faithful servant of his Lord and Master... Sun Wu-Kung.” He paused to let that sink in. “He welcome us to stay. As long as we wish.”

Indy exchanged a hopeful glance with Clare. That will be a good long while.

As Bohbala held the crowd’s attention, Gutterbuhg slipped out of his bonds, removed a spare bullet from his mouth, and inserted it into his mechanical arm.

Indy anxiously told Scraggy, “Ask him where we may find the burial place, or the remains, of Sun Wu-Kung.”

Before Scraggy could speak, Gutterbuhg did. “I’d be more concerned about your own burial place, Jones.” Indy spun around to see the Nazi’s mechanical arm pointed straight at him.

Bohbala stared at the strange artificial limb, then laughed. He reached out to push Gutterbuhg’s finger away, but it went off. He fell to the ground with a slight moan, a red blossom barely visible on the chest of his robe. Tyki cried out in anguish as he knelt and cradled his father’s head in his arms. It was futile. Bohbala was already dead.

The pygmies stared, unsure what had just happened. They'd probably never seen a gun before.

“Bastard,” Indy growled, clutching Gutterbuhg by the throat and pulling back his fist to punch the Nazi into another hemisphere. He paused when the palace guards placed their swords at his throat.

The pygmies fell to their knees, bowing to Gutterbuhg, who looked as confused as they had a moment ago. A distraught Tyki hurriedly explained.

“It is written,” Scraggy said, “if ruler is defeated by greater power – he who possess that power...” He pointed to Gutterbuhg. “...shall become ruler!”

Gutterbuhg’s eyes filled with a sadistic thrill. He calmly removed Indy’s fingers from his throat, then raised his mechanical arm in a Nazi salute. The entire city imitated him, raising their right arms, cheering and hailing their new leader. Tyki screamed, trying to warn his fellow citizens of the man’s true nature, but nobody was listening.

​Clare, Betsy, Scraggy, and even Kezure looked as shocked as Indy felt. He said, “This is turning into one helluva nightmare.”

Gutterbuhg overheard and turned away from his adoring crowd for a moment. “One you will never awaken from, Dr. Jones.”


​Next: Chapter Eleven