ROGUE ANGEL - Book One: The Beginning

Chapter Seven

MORNING WAS fading. And the almost high-noon sun was trapped by white puffy clouds. For many kilometers we ran and weaved through the forest without a break. I left the navigating to Sirius. He seemed to know where he was going. I saw only trees, trees, and more trees.

At last we came out of the woods. Sirius halted. I was so glad he did;my legs were leaden and I was out of breath.

“We can rest easy now,” panted Sirius, his eyes on the forest. “I think we gave them the slip.”

I nodded and looked about me. We were standing on a wide flat stone. A gust of cool wind from the east ventilated the stuffy air. To my right, about twenty paces or so, a rapid, turbulent stream of crystal-clear water descended,splashing over many terraces and plunging into a bubbling basin then spilling over to the winding creek.

“Are we in Dead Man’s Waterfall?” I asked, peering down at the basin. I shuddered; it was at least a thirty-meter drop.

“Yeah,” answered Sirius, turning his attention to me.

“Why is it called by this name? It sounds rather morbid and sinister.”

“Because it is,” he replied, wiping away his sweat. He smelled a little gamy too. “During the Japanese Occupation, a platoon of armed Japanese soldiers who came here to hunt down some resistance fighters never returned to their base. Later, a group of searchers found both troops and rebels hanging on trees dead and naked, their bodies horribly mutilated. Legend has it that an unearthly creature lives at the waterfall, killing those who dare to enter his domain.”

“If that’s the case, we should not be here,” I said, feeling a tad uneasy. Legend or no legend, this kind of story had always given me the creeps.

“We have to, it’s the only way to escape from Drakev’s clutches,” he pressed home his point. “Also, this route can lead us to the back of Ng Chan Villa. Not many people know about this. Lucky for you, I am one of them.”  

After a short rest, Sirius took me to a spot not far from where we were and both of us walked down a flight of narrow stoned-paved stairs without any railing. I saw that it went all the way down to the bottom. We descended with great caution as any false move would prove fatal: there were sharp rocks below us.

We eventually arrived at a small opening shrouded with thick bushes.Passing through we found ourselves at the top of the southern bank above the basin. Here, the booming onslaught of the water, its sound like a thousand lions roaring all at once, fed a Kodak moment of a cascade of never-ending rain to my brain. And the air smelled like fresh mint.

It was a hot day and Sirius couldn’t resist taking a dip to cool himself down. Placing his knapsack and boots on the ground, he jumped into the deep pool in T-shirt and jeans and swam over to the foot of the waterfall. There he let the water hit him, massaging his head, neck, and shoulders. Judging from the blissful grin on his face, he must be having a delightful time.

I had the urge to do likewise but my modesty got the better of me. So I did the next best thing: I squatted beside the bank and wet my face and neck.

 “God, the cold water is heavenly,” I muttered to myself.

Suddenly I felt something. I didn’t know what it was but I felt, not saw, a shadow rise behind the hedge at the other side of the creek. I strained my eyes and the shadow seemed to grow. At first I thought it was a big tree but trees didn’t have fiery red eyes on top of their long flat heads. My tummy turned to ice when I realized it was a giant anaconda glaring ferociously at us!

“Sirius!” I yelled, pointing at the black slimy reptile. “Get out of the water now!”

Sirius saw it and needed not to be told twice. I had no idea what went inside his head at that moment but it certainly motivated him to swim back to the bank in record-breaking time. I helped him grab his knapsack while he picked up his boots and we shot off.

Hissing loudly, the anaconda raised itself to a great height – it must have been at least ten meters in length – then flew into the pool and propelled itself towards us. I supposed it had decided that we would be its first meal of the day!

We sped across the sandy path close to the riverbank with Sirius in front. As we ran, I glanced over my shoulder and saw the anaconda shoot out of the waters. It was now closing in on us with its incredibly fast slithery moves. I felt helpless; I might be strong and invulnerable but I had a phobia of snakes. And this was one big ugly snake!   

To our surprise we saw a bent shape before us the next moment. It looked like an old man in ragged clothes leaning on a wooden walking stick. He seemed to appear out of nowhere. I could not see his face clearly but the keen twinkle of his eyes from the shadow of his shoulder-length white hair didn’t escape me.

“Move your butt, old timer!” cried Sirius. “There’s danger behind us!”

Yet the old man took no notice and leaped to the top of a big flat rock on his left. There he stood tall and erect, towering above us as we ran past him. He raised his stick and shook his derriere as if he was doing a jig. I rolled my eyes in disbelief when I managed to catch a glimpse of his actions. This old c**k has gone cuckoo, I thought.

We were stumped, however, when the anaconda, upon seeing him, halted and side-winded back to where it came from. Breathing much easier now, we halted too and approached the old man. He stepped down from the rock, stooping over his stick, his sights on Sirius and me. He was a thin man with a timeworn, wrinkled face. His hair was unkempt and his white beard as thick as bushes. His grey robe and pants were covered all over with patches. He looked like a homeless tramp. But the gleam of his eyes and his off-the-wall antics of shooing away the big snake told me otherwise.

“Hello, I’m Sirius and my friend here is Alison,” Sirius greeted him with a smile. “That was a brave thing you did back there. We’re indebted to you.”

Sirius extended his hand but the old man didn’t shake it. He said nothing either. Instead he brought out a small metal flask from his pants pocket and emptied the contents inside with one big gulp. Following that, he tossed the flask and his walking stick on the ground and began to cavort to an imaginary piece of music. A hiccup later, he went cross-eyed, tumbled, and then snored like an elephant in heat.

“Is he dead?” asked Sirius with an amusing look.

I picked up the flask and took a sniff; it was wine. “No, just drunker than drunk,” I chuckled.

“Should we leave him like this?”

“Might as well,” I said. I thought I sounded somewhat a cold-hearted b***h to abandon the oldster who had just saved our lives. But to hell with it,I was in a hurry to get to Ng Chan Villa.

On the other hand, Sirius was quite reluctant to move. “Gee, aren’t you just a little curious? I mean, like why didn’t the snake attack him? It’s as if the creature and the old man were … friends. Don’t you find it weird?”

I shrugged. “First it was Drakev, then him. I think I’ve met enough weirdos for one day …”

“People, please,” the old man interjected, his gravelly voice slow and lazy. He was still on all fours and his eyes were closed. “How can I remain drunk with your racket? And this Drakev; not many people go by this name. Are you referring to Drakev of The Fellowship?”

Sirius and I were startled by his sudden awakening. “Oh sorry, I thought you were in slumber land,” I said. “And yes, I’m talking about that Drakev. You know him?”

The old man opened his eyes and looked at us. He appeared agitated. “Do I know him? Of course I know that son-of-a-b***h! He nearly killed me!”