Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Indiana Matt and the Isle of the Serpent ❯ Chapter 4

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

PART 4

CHAPTER 7

The unlucky pair fell to the floor of the pit, snakes backing away from them for a brief moment before beginning to circle forward, angered at the intruders. Matt's mouth went dry with fear, and his eyes widened. Instinctively he latched on to Tai's arm and refused to move; he was paralyzed.

"Matt!" yelled Tai over the hissing of the hundreds of serpents. "Matt! Snap out of it!"

But there was no response.

"You really know just when to drop out of things, don't ya?" he shouted, struggling upright and pulling Matt along with him. The snakes slithered closer, and Tai kicked at one of the more adventurous ones, sending it flying backwards into the writhing mass. "Come on!"

Now time was running out, and Tai knew it. He turned to the Professor.

"Sorry, Matt, but this is for your own good."

He raised his hand and slapped Matt across the face with it, hard.

"Oww! What the hell was that for?"

"What the hell was that f...? We're lying in a pit of snakes, and your brain's AWOL! That's what the hell it was for!"

"Isn't grabbing me and shaking me good enough?"

Tai grabbed Matt around the shoulders and shook him. "All right, Matt, we're surrounded by a horde of snakes, and you're complaining that I hit you! Now shut up and do something!"

Matt blinked and stared upwards at the sheer pit walls - no hope of climbing them...but wait...

He uncoiled his trusty whip and swung it towards the altar, but it fell short.

"Tai, I need to stand on you for a second!"

Tai grunted and braced himself, helping Matt up onto his shoulders. Again Matt swung the whip at the altar, and this time it wrapped neatly around the stone. Matt stabbed the air with his fist and began to shimmy up the whip's plaited lash. He reached down to Tai and shouted over the hiss of the hundreds of snakes that pressed closer.

"Grab on!"

Tai made a panicked leap for Matt's hand and grabbed it at the same instant one of the rattlers decided to attack Tai's skirt. There was a ripping sound and the snake fell back to the pit, trying to dislodge the piece of cloth it had torn out of the dress. Matt pulled as hard as he could, and Tai shot out of the hole a moment later, landing on top of Matt in a heap. The pair lay on top of each other for a minute, breathing hard, before Tai rolled off of Matt. Another moment passed before either of them spoke.

"Matt?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't ever pull a stunt like that again, OK?"

Matt closed his eyes and shuddered at the thought of the slithering mass of snakes, then sighed. "I'm sorry."

Tai stood up, a slow grin spreading across his face. "That's all right...now, are we going to get that bastard Hida and find your dad, or lie around here sulking all day?"

* * *

"Mr. Hida, you not just going to leave them?"

Iori glanced back irritably at his unwelcome companion, Bartolomeo, as they emerged from the cave. "Of course I'm going to leave them. I was ordered to deal with them appropriately."

"But..."

Iori turned on the hapless sailor, gun in hand, his voice gaining a dangerous edge. "Do not question my decisions, or you will find yourself in that pit with them."

The little man fell silent as they trudged across the sand.

* * *

"There they are!"

Matt and Tai rappelled down the cliff face as fast as they could to try and catch up with their quarry. Iori, turning as he heard the shout, cursed loudly and began running towards the San Cristobal, Bartolomeo lagging behind.

Matt was the first to land on the beach, and he realized right away that they wouldn't catch up in time. Then he remembered his dad's boat, beached on the opposite side of the island.

"Come on!"

He grabbed Tai by the wrist and they dashed for the boat. "You know how to drive one of these?" he asked.

"No, but I figure I'll be a quick study."

The engine on the tiny ship sputtered to life and they sailed away as fast as the old engine would allow, in hot pursuit of the beat-up fishing trawler.

* * *

After a half hour of chasing the San Cristobal, it was becoming painfully apparent that the gap between the two boats was staying the same. Matt still stood gamely at the front of the smaller ship, whip in hand, silently urging their little boat forward.

"Matt, look."

Matt followed Tai's outstretched arm. What had been a small dot on the horizon was now a large island looming ahead.

"Here it is, on the map...Crosswinds Island."

Actually, it was the remains of a volcano, long dormant and thought to be extinct. The volcano was barely above the water, and at the center of its crater was a pristine volcanic lake boasting an island just above the cooled lava dome.

In the center of the island was a castle, visible even from the distance the small boat was at; it was constructed from blocks of pure, glassy, jet-black obsidian, each of which caught and scattered the sun's rays like mirrors. Each of the four towers were capped with a huge cone of gold, giving the castle an even more impressive look.

"Impressive. How much do you think it cost?"

"Enough to make my salary look like teacher's pay," said Matt. Then he thought about what he had just said. "Hey...wait a minute..."

Just as they had suspected, soon the San Cristobal turned into the lake and pulled up alongside the dock on the castle. Tai turned the boat to do the same when what looked like a dorsal fin cut through the water straight for the small ship.

"Sharks, you think?" asked Matt.

Suddenly a huge, red-eyed, metallic head reared out of the water, followed by the upper portion of a snakelike body, and came down right in the middle of the boat, which instantly shattered into pieces.

Both Tai and Matt were thrown into the water by the force of the blow, and for several seconds Matt was held underwater by a huge, serpentine body many times his size. His lungs were about ready to burst when finally the last of the coils passed overhead, and he surfaced, gasping.

"Tai!" were the first words out of his mouth.

But there was no sight of his companion. He searched the water for any sign of the huge monster that had destroyed their boat, then called again, but again no response. He struck out for the dock where the San Cristobal was berthed, watching suspiciously for the sea serpent and also for Tai. A moment before Matt reached the dock, he felt something bump up against his leg, and picked it up.

He found himself staring at a pair of goggles, exactly like the ones that Tai wore; but one of the lenses were cracked and the headband was completely snapped in two. He suddenly felt dizzy and weak, and grabbed the dock to keep himself from passing out.

"Well, Dr. Ishida, it seems that you have already become acquainted with our feathered serpent, correct? Come with me and I'll give you a grand tour of the last place you'll ever see. Not like you have a choice."

Matt looked up through his eyes, already beginning to blur with tears, straight down the barrel of a Mauser pistol, being held by none other than Iori Hida. He let himself be hauled upright and was relieved of his whip by the shorter man, and together they walked forward into the castle.

* * *

In a few minutes Matt had been hauled into the keep. It, like the rest of the castle, was carved from pure obsidian. At the center of its main hall was a throne carved from jade and ivory. Already gathered in the room were several hundred men of varying heights and ages, all of them wearing dark green robes, and all of them bearing the tattoo of the Brotherhood of the Serpent on their chests; perched on the throne was a woman swathed in dark black robes, holding a jewel-encrusted, platinum staff in the form of a snake; it could only be the Staff of the Feathered Serpent.

Matt opened his mouth to speak but was immediately struck by Iori.

"Silence! Prisoners are not deemed worthy of speaking in the presence of the Matriarch."

The woman pulled back her hood to reveal her face. Her dark brown eyes were cold and impassive, but held the hint of a serpentine glitter; her mouth was twisted into a thin-lipped, mirthless smile. She brushed her purple hair out of her eyes and spoke in a voice that Matt had to strain to hear.

"Take him away. He will be a spectator for his father's 'conversion;' until then, move him to a holding cell. That is all."

"As you wish," fawned Iori. "Come on, you." He dragged Matt by the collar of his jacket to the deepest recesses of the castle, where he was unceremoniously cast into the first cell they came across. He landed with a bump on what he thought was a sack of potatoes until it moved.

"Hey...move your fat butt off of me," said a very familiar voice.

"TAI!!!!!" Matt hugged Tai as hard as he possibly could.

"Ouch...take it easy there...I'm glad to see you too, but I think I broke one of my legs when I was thrown from the boat."

Matt wiped a tear of happiness from his eye. "What the hell happened to you?"

"All I remember was falling overboard, then I woke up in here, and that bastard Hida was watching me to see when I woke up." Tai rolled out from under Matt. "Where are we?"

"Inside the Brotherhood's castle," replied Matt. "I like the architecture, but surrounded by black is just kinda depressing. Now the question is, how do we get out of here?"

Tai fished around in his hair for a moment, then extracted a hairpin. "I think the lock is just a simple one. See if this works."

Matt walked over to the lock and turned the hairpin in a few times. It clicked and the door swung open, and Matt grinned.

"Time for these birds to fly...wonder where they're keeping my dad?"

Tai pointed to a cell down the hall. "I can hear someone's snoring coming from over there."

"That's him, all right," grinned Matt, "the champion snorer in all of Tokyo.

He went over to his injured companion and helped him up, and was about to walk out of the cell when he heard voices making quite a commotion. He quickly hurried back into the cell and quietly closed the door.

"He's in this one. Take him up and prepare for the conversion. Have a guard ready to bring the other two up later."

A robed guard walked up to their cell and stood in front of it, menacing them with a submachine gun. Matt waited for the other voices to recede before walking up to the cell door.

"Hey," he said. No response.

"You guys sure run a tight ship around here." Still nothing.

"You have a name, or are you the strong silent type?" He peered at the guard.

"Sure not very sociable, that's for sure. I have an idea. Let's play a game. We'll see who falls asleep first, you or me. Ready?"

Suddenly Matt threw himself against the doorway; it flew open and hit the guard, sending him and his machine gun in opposite directions. The guard's head hit the stone wall and he slumped to the ground, unconscious. Matt helped Tai out of the cell and placed the guard in it, locking it behind them.

"Well, looks like I win. Better luck next time, eh?"

He picked up the guard's gun and they hobbled up the staircase, Matt vaguely trying to remember where he'd been dragged through. They visited the bed chambers, courtyard, larder, and finally the armory.

Matt whistled appreciatively. "They have enough stuff in here to start world war three..." He went over to a peg on the wall and retrieved his bullwhip. "But this is good enough for me."

"Speak for yourself," said Tai, grabbing a rifle from the walls.

"Alright, let's go get Dad back." They peeked down the stairway into the main hall, where there bulk of the Brotherhood was standing, waiting for Masaharu to be paraded in. Matt and Tai snuck along the balcony above the floor, and from there they could see the adjoining rooms; one had a huge altar that was adorned with snake-like carvings, the other carried what looked like a well down to the lava dome of the volcano. Masaharu and a lone guard was in the altar room.

"Let's go get him."

~~~

CHAPTER 8

"Excuse me, but I'll give you a hand with that."

*punch*

The guard standing over Masaharu crumpled to the ground as Matt obligingly demonstrated his left jab. Masaharu looked up, eyes wild, wondering who his rescuer was, and how they got here. Matt undid his bindings as Tai watched the doorway.

"Matt!"

"Dad!"

"Tai!"

"Dr. Ishida!"

The three exchanged hugs and were about to make a break for it when the door was thrown open and the Matriarch, her throne being carried by four of the brotherhood's ranks, was paraded in. Her eyes narrowed with rage and she extended a thin arm towards the three men.

"Get them!"

Thinking quickly, Matt threw Tai in a fireman's carry with one arm while casting his whip at the Staff of the Fallen Serpent; it looped around it and, with an expert flick, landed in Masaharu's surprised hands. Then the two of them charged headlong into the pack, knocking people over left and right, Tai flailing with arms and his good leg at anyone who got in range.

They had just entered the room with the lava well and were about to make it out when a band of green-robed men surrounded them in a circle.

"Damn! We almost made it, too."

"So," said the Matriarch above the sounds of the bubbling lava, "you thought you could escape the Brotherhood once again. This time, I will not be so kind to you. Seize them!"

"Not so fast," said Masaharu, brandishing the Staff of the Feathered Serpent. "One more move by any of your flunkies and I'll throw this into the well." Matt and Tai looked at him incredulously - the one artifact he had spent the better part of his life in search of, he was ready to cast away forever.

"You wouldn't," sneered the Matriarch.

Masaharu held the Staff over the lava pit. "You can have it back if we are allowed to go free."

There was silence as the Matriarch weighed her options; Matt, Tai, and Masaharu failed to notice the look that passed between her and Iori. "Very well," she hissed. "Open a path to the dockside..."

Then Iori launched himself at Masaharu, wrestling for control of the Staff. Tai reached behind him and pulled out his rifle, while Matt did the same with his submachine gun. "Nobody move, or your Matriarch will have more holes in her than McDonald's has hamburger buns!"

All eyes were now on the two wrestling men, and just as it seemed that Masaharu would be overpowered, he skillfully executed a move that caught Iori off guard completely. He found himself suspended a hundred feet over a pit of boiling lava. The only thing keeping him from falling was his tenacious hold on the Staff, and even that was slipping rapidly.

"Grab on to my hand," urged Masaharu.

"Never," spat Iori.

"You'll fall to your death!"

Iori felt his conviction slipping along with his grasp, and a heartbeat before he let go of the Staff, he grabbed onto Masaharu's free hand. But now Masaharu's grip was slipping as well. Now he was forced to decide between the artifact that he had spent his life searching for or saving a life, and he chose the latter. The Staff went fluttering down and struck the lava pit with a splash while Masaharu hauled Iori over the edge of the pit.

Suddenly the entire island began to shake as the lava in the well surged upwards. Matt, Tai and Masaharu figured that now was as good a time as any to make a break for it as everyone else milled around in confusion. Neatly dodging falling blocks of obsidian, they rushed out to the dock and jumped aboard the nearest available ship, which happened to be the San Cristobal.

"Bartolomeo! Get us out of here!" shouted Matt, setting Tai down on the deck.

The little captain scuttled around his ship in a panic, seeing if everything was in order while swearing at anything that wasn't in Portugese and English. Within moments the engine came to life, throwing up a huge cloud of oily black smoke, and the ship pulled away.

Behind them, the four watched as the castle shuddered in its death throes and collapsed in upon itself as members of the Brotherhood clambered aboard boats, logs, anything that could float and sailed away as fast as they could. The island's shaking began to grow stronger, and then a huge fountain of molten lava sprayed up from the ground beneath the castle. The dormant volcano roared to life again, belching huge plumes of ash and spewing rivers of lava that hissed and steamed as they contacted the ocean. Matt adjusted his fedora and watched in silent awe, as did the others.

"Imagine that...the Staff made the volcano active again." He was about to turn to his dad and make a comment when an alarmed shout came from Tai.

"Look, below us!"

The Feathered Serpent was back. Everyone watched in muted horror as the giant overtook them, gracefully speeding past their ship for several seconds. Then, without warning, it breached in front of the ship. For the first time, they saw the entire creature, from the snout to the feathered tail, and then it was gone, diving into the depths of the ocean, never to be seen again.

Matt shuddered as he turned to his dad. "So, Dad, it took you almost twenty years, but you found the Staff...what's going to be your next conquest? The Holy Grail? The Golden Fleece?"

Masaharu shook his head. "I'm going to go home, take a hot bath, and start looking into Mayan pottery. Much safer than valuable staffs, I hope."

Matt grinned. "You're getting too old for the archeology business, I think."

"Too old?! Why, I was spelunking through forbidden tombs while you were still in diapers!"

All four of the crew melted into tired laughter as they sailed off for home.

THE END