Page 53 of No Questions Asked

Another of the men said something and motioned for everyone to come see. He pointed to an arrow in the tree right where the chief had been standing moments before I’d seen the spider on my leg and knocked him down. After watching them gesture, I determined that someone had shot at the chief. When I’d clumsily backed into him, knocking him down, whatever arrow that had been meant for him, missed.

Holy assassin! Had someone tried to shoot the chief? Was that why the men had all run off—to go looking for the shooter?

The chief tossed the snake in the bushes, looked at the arrow and then at me. Everyone followed his gaze until every eye was on me.

I held up my hands, hopefully indicating my innocence. “We’re cool, right?”

The chief and his men started another fast and furious conversation. I’m not sure what was going on, but from all the gesturing, I thinktheythought I’d saved the chief’s life by knocking him down. Suddenly, everyone was treating me with a new respect. I wondered if that would be enough to keep me alive—not that I had any idea what was going on.

I guess I’d find out soon enough.

Chapter Thirty-One

Lexi

We proceeded on our journey to wherever we were going. We’d been going uphill for the past few hours and I could barely walk anymore. I estimated we were approximately a few thousand feet higher than the river bottom, although that was impossible to tell since the heavy undergrowth limited my visibility in all directions. The ground felt rockier and there was an absence of lush growth under the canopy of trees. The trees, however, were looming giants, reaching several hundred feet in the air. They’d clearly been here for at least a thousand years or more.

The day dragged on. I was convinced I wouldn’t be able to take another step when we suddenly broke into a clearing where a village was located. It backed up to a large rock face that rose nearly vertical over a hundred feet behind the village. A small stream flowed out of a crack in the base of the rock and pooled where it exited the rock as a small stream, providing fresh water to the villagers. If I hadn’t been so exhausted, scared and starving, I might have fully appreciated the natural beauty of the location.

As we trudged closer, I counted more than twenty huts, some without sides or doors but all roofed with a woven combination of grass and fronds. Poles supported the wooden frames of the roofs. Unlike the huts I’d observed in the previous village, most of these huts did not have raised floors, but were made of dirt.

People ran out to greet us. The children were naked, and the women were topless and wearing loincloths or knee-length grass skirts. The men were clothed in loincloths similar to those of my captors. Several of the men had tattoos like the man I assumed was the chief, although none had any as extensive as his.

Unlike in the previous two villages, I saw no sign of outside influence on this village. As a result, I was an immediate sensation. Children stopped and stared at me as if I were an alien from another planet. That analogy probably wasn’t far from the truth. I supposed they’d never seen anyone like me before.

Everyone began whispering, pointing and watching me intently. I was supremely uncomfortable with all the attention. One little girl darted close enough to examine my pants until a woman rushed forward to scoop her away in case I turned out to be a monster or something.

My stomach growled loudly. I hoped we would eat soon. I hadn’t seen the men eat anything so far today, although I presume they’d eaten some of the fish they offered me last night. At this moment, I would have killed for a chocolate éclair and a huge glass of Diet Pepsi with a boatload of ice. I calculated that given my level of exertion, the hours of walking uphill, and my current caloric intake, which was none, I could eat at least six eclairs without gaining a pound. In fact, if I counted the high likelihood I’d be soon suffering from parasites or dysentery, I could up my éclair intake to ten.

Eventually people lost interest in me and headed toward the chief. Three women lined up to greet him, with each giving him some kind of offering. The chief accepted each gift and looked pleased. I wondered if they were his wives, mates or extended family.

After the women had finished presenting their offerings, the chief took the satellite phone off and placed it around the oldest woman’s neck. She appeared deeply honored and turned around to show it off to the rest of the villagers.

Priority Number One. I had to get my hands on that phone.

Everyone gathered around her excitedly to examine it. After a few minutes, the chief made some kind of announcement and everyone sat down to listen to him. Bone weary from the hiking, I sat as well. No one stopped me, but no one sat next to me either. The only people who were not afraid to stare at me were the children, and they did so with big smiles, giggles and open curiosity.

As the chief droned on, a young woman shyly brought me a gourd and a small plate of fruit and berries. I thanked her and popped some of the berries in my mouth. They were tart and delicious. Baffled, I looked around, trying to figure out who these people were and what they wanted with me. If they had wanted to kill me, they could have done it a long time ago. From a first impression, they appeared to be an uncontacted village, so what had caused them to snatch me?

If I could just figure out where I was and how far it was to the village where I’d been abducted, I might consider making a run for it. But right now, I had no idea where I was or even in what direction to travel if I were to get free. I needed to bide my time and gather information. But most importantly, I needed to get my hands on the satellite phone.

Suddenly the chief said something in a dramatic tone of voice and pointed at me. I paused with a berry a millimeter from my mouth as the entire village turned to look at me. He continued talking, repeatedly using a word that sounded like “a-muh-suh-ne.” I didn’t have a clue what it meant, but apparently it applied to me. I just hoped that whatever it meant, it didn’t get me killed.

When the chief finally stopped talking, the members of the tribe stood. A few of the younger women approached me. I tried to back up, but they circled around, effectively trapping me. One of them, a young woman who looked to be about seventeen or eighteen with long, thick hair and brown eyes, took me by the hand. She was the tallest girl of the bunch, but I estimated her to be no more than five foot three inches. Not sure what would happen if I resisted, I reluctantly followed her to one of the huts, towering over everyone. For a minute, we crowded in the hut and stood, awkwardly staring at each other. I had no idea what came next and I wasn’t sure they did either.

While we stood there, it occurred to me that these women looked a lot younger than me, and some appeared to be barely teenagers. Their skin was smooth and clear, missing the tattoos and markings of the older women. Also unlike the older women who wore longer grass skirts, these girls wore nothing more than tiny leather loincloths held up over the hips by a hide rope. The front of the loincloths were embroidered with a series of overlapping shells that appeared to come from some sort of snail.

It hit me suddenly. This was probably the hut for unmarried women. For some reason, I’d been assigned here. I wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad development. I glanced down at my engagement ring and wondered what Slash would think of all this. I hoped he was still looking for me. Maybe he’d given me up for dead, although I didn’t really believe that. As long as there was a chance I might still be alive, he’d be looking. Just thinking of him made me miss him terribly.

Since no one said anything, I decided to take the initiative. Using gestures, I asked for the location of the bathroom. They escorted me to a rocky area, pointing to some rocks. After studying the site, I was impressed. The rocky area funneled water from above and drained it down over some stone slabs and a small cliff into the valley below. I was certain, given the frequency of rain in the area, the toilet area was “flushed” every few days. More importantly, it flowed away from the spring that provided their drinking and cooking water, so there was little risk of cross contamination. It was an ingenious arrangement.

I quickly used the facilities, and thankfully, no one watched. On the way back, the girls pointed out a water pool and indicated this is where people should bathe. I only saw a couple of older women in the pool, splashing around. I had no idea if they had separate bathing areas for men and women. Until I figured that out, there was no way was I taking off my clothes.

When we got back to the hut, I decided to ask the young women a question. “What doesa-muh-suh-nemean?” I said the word a couple of times, emphasizing each syllable to make sure they understood what I was trying to communicate.

The girls stared at me transfixed before they burst out giggling. They pointed at me and continued giggling.

Confused, I pointed back.“A-muh-suh-ne.You’rea-muh-suh-ne, too?”

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