The Trials of Tai Bwo Wannai

Tarqinder and Mark were put in a cage of bamboo, which they could barely fit in. Kumthalatta eyed them carefully, as if expecting them to somehow break out at any moment. Tarqinder and Mark were now incredibly concerned for their safety, and had been without food for over a day, and were feeling incredibly hungry and tired.

"Now bwanas, do you realize the price you pay for treading on our grounds?" Kumthalatta asked, walking up to the cages.

"I told you, we were lost," Tarqinder said firmly.

"You still have no right to be here. Get lost in your own precious cities of stone and glass! Don't tread upon our jungle floor and corrupt us with your gold and fancy cloth."

"We honestly did not mean to upset you, Kumalatha."

"Kumalatha? Kumalatha? You will learn my name and use it with respect!"

"I'm sorry, Kumtalatha, was it?"

"Kumthalatta! You will call me by my proper name or find yourself in a not so pleasant situation, ignorant bwana."

"I'm sorry, Kumta- I mean Kumthalattata; Kumthalatta, sorry."

"And what about you? The quiet bwana? The one with no voice."

"Leave him alone."

"No, no, bwana, I wish to speak with him! It has been many hours and bwana still does not utter a word. Go on bwana, I give you the chance to speak!"

"He said he is sorry, and so am I; what more do you want?" Mark asked angrily.

"And the bwana speaks! I finally hear his words of fury! And once again, ignorance, such ignorance. I can tell, you both care only to get away, but you should respect this jungle, it is much older than your cities of stone and will live much longer, because your stone it turns to dust, but the jungle grows and grows; and it lasts forever," Kumthalatta said.

"Let us prove to you that we are loyal to you and your jungle," Tarqinder insisted.

"Well, well, well, bwana. I may have a proposition for you there. In times not so long ago, our village, Tai Bwo Wannai began welcoming visitors, we let them help us, and paid them in return. But then, all of their precious gold runs out, so they thieve us of our rare cloth and precious logs, and they begin to drain the jungle of its resources. So now we let no more enter, and the Cult of the Golden Ape is especially strict with you bwanas coming here! But we will give you one chance, to do us favors, and if you complete them all and to my liking, we will spare your lives. If you do not, your throat will feel the blade of my machete. Let that be a warning."

"Fine, me and Mark will do what you want."

"Good bwanas, very good. I have many jobs for you, and the first is to cut back some of this wild jungle and use it to fix our fences, but be warned, creatures live among the leaves and branches."

Tarqinder and Mark had been freed from their cages, but were being watched by Kumthalatta's most trusted guards who observed them cut back the rough jungle with machetes. The tough and gnarled branches were strong, but Tarqinder's might helped snap them like twigs under an warrior's foot.

"Damn, this vegetation will not cut!" Mark snapped as he slammed his machete into a dense piece of jungle.

"Don't cut from the roots Mark, start from the top and work downwards. You'll blunt your machete if you keep on doing that," Tarqinder said.

"Fine."

Mark slashed off some leaves from the top of the jungle, and then proceeded to cut into some jungle branches which revealed themselves.

"I hope I don't come across any jungle wildlife, I must say they cause a great deal of fear, especially those poison snakes," Mark said.

"Well if you do we'll have to fend it off, especially the poisonous ones. If we get any snakes, I'll deal with them, for I understand how to tell which snakes are poisonous and which are not," Tarqinder said.

"That one in Ardougne Zoo, you could tell that wasn't poisonous, but you never explained how."

"It's a difficult skill, and if you ever become a Slayer I'll teach you about it."

Tarqinder thought back to the idea of Mark becoming a Slayer, something which he had put forward at the Slayers' Union. Though at this time Mark couldn't even manage to cut a bit of jungle back, but would he ever need to if he was slaying revenants? But then again, it was all part of the knowledge you needed, as Slayers needed to know how to cross difficult terrain and how to cut back vegetation which makes difficult terrain difficult to cross.

"How are you finding the cutting?" Tarqinder asked.

"It's better now, I'm working my way gradually downwards, but I'm keeping hold of the wood as it'll be good for their fence-" Mark was cut off.

"Quiet! I do not want to hear your sounds!" A guard snapped, slamming his spear on the floor. "And this needs to be cut faster, as Kumthalatta will check this, and you know the consequences if it is not good enough!"

The two guards then turned away from them to watch what was going on in Tai Bwo Wannai Village.

"We're no closer to finding out about this statue or what's going on in their precious cave," Mark whispered.

"All in good time Mark, all in good time. After this we might get a glimpse in their cave," Tarqinder whispered.

As Tarqinder slashed away at his piece of overgrown jungle, he heard a faint buzzing sound, and out of the vegetation came a swarm of mosquitoes, each trying their best to bite Tarqinder.

"Off! Get off!" Tarqinder shrieked as he stumbled about trying to get them away.

"Take that!" Mark exclaimed as he slashed into the swarm, killing a number of the insects and frightening the rest away.

"Very good bwana, you are steady with the sword," Kumthalatta said, walking towards them from his hut on the other side of the village.

"Thank you," Mark said.

"I did not say you could talk bwana! Now back to work, both of you!"

Tarqinder and Mark returned to cutting, now slightly concerned over what could be hiding away in their cuttings and what beasts awaited them. Another rustling occurred, and Tarqinder and Mark braced themselves for a nasty jungle beast, but from the vegetation jumped a young gecko, sporting a strong shade of orange and large black eyes.

"Meep meep," the gecko squeaked before jumping on to Tarqinder's shoulder.

"Well aren't you adorable?" Tarqinder asked, stroking the gecko's tiny head.

The gecko jumped on to the floor and began following Tarqinder as he patched up the damaged village fence.

Tarqinder and Mark were then took to the edge of Tai Bwo Wannai Village by Kumthalatta and his two most trusted guards. The dense jungle stood before them, and creatures within it were darting about among the shadows.

"You may have fought off the tiny insects, but now I wish to see how good you are at killing bigger foes," Kumthalatta said. "Guards, send them in."

The two guards gripped Tarqinder and Mark, they then led them into the jungle and attracted the attention of two large jungle spiders. Tarqinder felt a sense of fear hit him, the last time he'd seen a spider like this was when he saw the ice spider in the Wilderness that was going to attack Ferdinand. Mark was also frightened.

"I hate spiders," Mark murmured to Tarqinder, "Ever since I was little, I remember a giant spider entering the house when I was four, I was terrified."

"I'm not to keen on them either," Tarqinder murmured.

"Kill them bwanas! And cease your talking! Either kill them or be killed by us! And if you run, the jungle will kill you itself, I can guarantee that," Kumthalatta grinned manically.

Tarqinder turned to the jungle spider, how he wished he had his sword, but now it was just a machete in his hand, which was significantly weaker. Tarqinder looked into its dark black eyes and thought of the ravenous spider that had tried to kill Ferdinand. He felt anger run through him, and he slammed the machete down on to the spider, it shrieked and pounced up at him, sinking its fangs into his trousers.

"Ouch! Get off you overgrown pest!" Tarqinder roared, slashing away at the beast while watching Mark try a similar attack.

With one final blow Tarqinder managed to kill the creature, and its green spindly carcass fell to the floor. Mark turned to look while his spider pounced for his upper body, but Mark turned in time to deliver a fatal stab, killing the spider instantly. The spider was stuck on the machete, which Mark dropped, horrified by the sight of the hideous creature.

"We will not provide you with any other weaponry, so I suggest you use that blade bwana, or face the jungle with only your hands," Kumthalatta said.

Mark lifted his machete, and went to try and push the carcass off of it. The carcass flinched, and Mark threw the machete across the jungle floor in terror.

"It's alive!" Mark exclaimed.

"Some creatures still move slightly when they're dead, they say its the soul frantically trying to exit the body," Tarqinder insisted.

Mark picked up the machete once again and took a deep breath, then pulled the carcass off and let it drop to the floor, next to Tarqinder's kill.

"Gather the carcasses, they will be the meal for this evening!" Kumthalatta exclaimed.

"What?" Mark asked horrified.

"It's a delicacy here, they call it spider on a stick," Tarqinder said.

"Well, well, well, bwana. It looks like you know something of our culture," Kumthalatta said.

"I can't eat this," Mark hissed as she cooked the spider carcass over a fire.

"At least you know it's dead now," Tarqinder said, he too was cooking a spider carcass.

"Is it even edible?"

"Yes, I know of people who have eaten it and lived."

"Bwanas! You will hurry your cooking, for it will be the only food you shall get!" Kumthalatta exclaimed, his guards next to him.

"Damn spiders," Mark grumbled.

Tarqinder and Mark sat around a large fire with the other villagers. Kumthalatta was seated on a large wooden throne-like seat, which designated his importance.

"I can't eat this," Mark whispered to Tarqinder.

"You heard Kumtatalla, it's all we're getting to eat. Try it, it's crunchy," Tarqinder said, biting a peace of leg.

"Don't you mean Kumlalatta?"

"Yes, yes, whatever his name is. Just eat it, or you'll starve to death in here."

Mark cringed, and lifted the burnt carcass towards his mouth and took a bite. He chewed it and then spat it out.

"Oh my Saradomin that's disgusting!" Mark hissed.

"Well it is an acquired taste, but just keep on eating it and you'll get used to it. Then again, your one is slightly overcooked," Tarqinder said.

Mark had managed to eat some of his spider on a stick, but it had put a vile taste in his mouth which he could not get rid of, even by spitting constantly. The gecko that Tarqinder encountered earlier crawled out of the undergrowth, and jumped up to Tarqinder.

"Meep meep," the gecko squeaked.

"I'm going to call you Meep," Tarqinder grinned, stroking the gecko's head.

"I'll never get rid of this taste," Mark grumbled, spitting out again.

"I am impressed bwanas, it would seem you are of use to our village, and not just ignorant bwanas. Have you heard of our Cult before? Do you know of our precious statue?" Kumthalatta asked, walking towards them.

"Yes, I've heard stories about it," Tarqinder answered.

"They are not stories, they are the truth. Our statue is deep in one of the nearby caves, but the beast in the cave has now taken the statue, and we cannot get it. Perhaps you two could be of use to us in finding it."

"We could always try."

"Good, be ready by sunrise."

And with that, Kumthalatta walked away, leaving Tarqinder and Mark outside a hut, with only the floor to sleep on.

"I think this could be our way into the caves, and maybe find out the truth about what dwells beneath this jungle," Tarqinder grinned.