King Solomon's Treasure

Chapter 15 King Taiwala (2)
"Your shield fell off, you stupid dog, do you want me to make a fool of myself in front of the Star Children? What can you say?"

The swarthy face of the poor young man turned pale with fright.

"I didn't mean to," he whispered.

"You have to pay the price for this, you have made me ashamed, prepare to die."

"At the mercy of the king," he continued in a low voice.

"Skagga," cried the King angrily, "show me how you use your spear. Kill me that stupid dog."

Skaga stepped forward with a smirk on his face, raising his spear.The poor young man stood silently with his hands over his eyes.We were petrified too.

"One, two," Skarga swung his spear and thrust at the young man.Oh!God!The spear pierced the young man's back a full foot.He raised his hand and fell to the ground dead.There were murmurs of discussion in the crowd, but it was quiet again after a while.Before we could react, the tragedy was over.On the ground lay the body of the young man.Sir Henry stood up suddenly, cursed angrily, and sat down again in the silence.

"Good stabbing," said the king, "carry the body down."

Four soldiers stepped out of the team and carried the body away.

"Cover the blood, cover it quickly." The monkey made a high-pitched voice again, "The king speaks well, the king is very wise."

Immediately a girl came out from the back room with a jar of lime powder and rubbed the lime on the blood, and the blood disappeared.

Sir Henry was still furious at the scene just now, and it was difficult to calm down.

"Please, sit down," I whispered, "we're going to live or die by you."

He sat down as promised and remained silent.Tewala sat quietly until the blood was covered, and then said to us, "White people, I don't know where you come from or where you are going. But you are welcome."

"Hello, Honorable King Kukuana," I replied.

"White people, where are you from and what are you doing?"

"We come from the stars, don't ask how we got here. Let's see the land."

"You came from so far away for this little land. This man with you," he pointed at Ambopa, "is he also from the stars?"

"Yes. There are people of different colors on the stars. You'd better not ask too much, King Tewala."

"Your tone is really loud, Son of the Stars," Taiwala's tone made me a little unhappy, "Remember, the stars are far away from here, and you are standing on my land now. What happened to that man just now You saw it too."

I laughed out loud on purpose, although I couldn't laugh out loud in my heart.

"Your Majesty," said I, "be careful in all things. Be careful not to scald your feet when you walk on hot stones; be careful not to pierce your hands with spears; and whoever touches a hair on one of us will die. Why, didn't they tell Who are you we?" I pointed to Inverdus and Skaga, the little rascal who was wiping the blood off his spear, "Have you ever seen anything like us?" I pointed to Goode, thinking At least he must have never seen someone like Goode.

"Indeed, I have not seen it," replied the king.

"Didn't they tell you how we killed people from afar?"

"They said it, but I don't believe it. Seeing is believing, why don't you kill one and show me now." He pointed to the opposite village, "I only believe my eyes."

"No," I answered, "we don't kill unless we are punished. If you really want to see, order the servants to drive the cow to the gate, and I can kill it before it can run twenty paces."

"No," the king laughed, "you have to kill someone before I believe it."

"Well then, my king," I answered coldly, "then cross the square and go to the door. I dare say you will die before your feet reach the door. If you don't If you are willing, please ask your son Skaga to try." To be honest, at this moment, I really want to shoot this kid.

Hearing this, Skaga cried out in fright, and immediately turned and fled back to the house.

Seeing this scene, Taiwala frowned tightly.Apparently my proposal didn't make him happy.

"Come here with the ox," he said.

Two of them complied immediately.

"Now, Sir Henry," said I, "you shoot. I want to show the scoundrel that I am not the only one of us who can do magic."

Then Sir Henry drew his quick-gun, and readied himself.

"Hope I hit it," he said quietly.

"You have to hit," I replied, "and if the first shot doesn't work, you'll have another shot. Wait until you're 150 yards away and shoot when the cow is on its side."

Not long after, a cow was seen running towards the gate.When passing the gate, seeing so many people, Niu stopped stupidly, then turned around and roared angrily.

"This is your chance." I whispered.

Rifle raised.

boom!boom!The bullet hit the ribs and the cow fell to the ground.Sir Henry played beautifully.There were bursts of exclamations from the crowd.

I calmly turned around and asked, "How is it? Is what I said true, Your Majesty the King?"

"Yes, white man, this is absolutely true." There was a bit of awe in Taiwala's tone.

"Listen, Tewala," I went on, "you see, too, that we're here for peace, not war. See?" I raised my Winchester repeater. "You Can kill prey with this thing too, just like us. But only after I cast a spell on it, it has such power. If you kill with it, it will kill you in turn. Now I will demonstrate to You see. Send a man to drive a wooden-handled spear forty paces away, with the flat end facing us."

It was laid out in seconds.

"Now, look carefully, I'm going to smash the spear."

I took aim, and I pulled the trigger.The bullet hit the flat side and shattered the spearhead.

There was another exclamation all around.

"Now, Taiwala," I said, handing him the gun, "we will give you this magic tube, and I will teach you how to use it slowly. But you must remember that you cannot use alien magic Deal with the Earthlings." He carefully took the gun and put it at his feet.At this time, I noticed that "Skinny Monkey" crawled out of the shadows, climbed to the front of the king's seat and stood up, took off the fur cloak covering his face, and revealed a very strange face.It turned out that she was an old woman. Due to her age, her face had shrunk to the size of a one-year-old child, covered with wrinkles, and her skin was sallow.There is a sunken seam among the wrinkles on the face, which is the mouth.Only a small point remains of the protruding chin.No nose at all.If it weren't for a pair of big black eyes shining with light and wisdom, one would definitely mistake her for a dried corpse.Under the two white eyebrows, the two eyes flicker, like two shining gems in the mortuary.All the hair was gone, revealing a bare skull the color of parchment.When the wrinkled scalp stretches, it resembles a cobra's skull.

Seeing this horrible face, we couldn't help shivering with fright.She stood still for a moment, then suddenly stretched out her bony claws, the nails almost a foot long, to rest on Tevara's shoulders.Then in a thin, piercing voice he said:

"Listen, king! Listen, people! Listen, mountains and plains, rivers, lakes and seas, the homeland of the people of Kukuana! Listen, city of sun, moon and stars, storms! Listen, all mortal creatures! Listen! Listen, all life in the cycle of birth and death! Listen, I am the god of all things, and I can predict disasters and fortunes. Now I want to predict! I want to predict!"

After listening to her words, everyone including us was filled with fear.This old woman is really scary!

"Blood! Blood! Blood! Rivers of blood, everywhere. I see blood, I smell blood, I taste blood, a salty smell. Blood comes from the sky and flows on the earth."

"Footsteps! Footsteps! Footsteps! The white man's footsteps, coming near and far, make the earth tremble, trembling before its master."

"Blood is a good thing. It is bright red. There is nothing in the world that can compare with the taste of fresh blood. The lion licks the blood and roars. The vulture washes its wings in the pool of blood and screams happily."

"I've lived a long time! I've lived a long time! I've seen so much blood and I'm going to see more, I'm glad. How old do you think I am? Your fathers knew me, your fathers' fathers knew me, your fathers' fathers knew me My fathers knew me. I have seen the white men, and I know their ambitions. I have lived long, but the mountains have outlasted me. Who built Solomon's Highway? Who chiseled the patterns in the stone walls? Who Who raised those three silent mountains? Who gazed into the abyss? Who can tell me?" She pointed to the three steep mountains we had seen the night before.

"You don't know, but I do. The white men have been in this land before you. They will eat you and destroy you. Yes! Yes! Yes!"

"The white man, the terrible white man, the white man with magic and knowledge, the white man who is strong and unyielding, why are they here? King, what is that shining stone on your forehead? You Who made the iron armor on my body? You don't know, but I do. I have lived a long time, and I am Aesarus (witch) full of wisdom."

Then she turned her vulture-like head and looked at us.

"White men from the stars, what do you come here for? Yes, you come from the stars, are you looking for the missing man? You will not be found here, he is not here. For generations, only one white man has set foot on this land. land, but he left and died. You came for the shiny stone. I know, I know. But you can only find it when the blood of the Kukuana is dry. Where do you want to come from Where are you going? Or do you want to splatter Kukuana with me? Hahaha!"

"You, you arrogant black guy," she pointed at Ambopa with a bony finger, "who are you and what is your purpose? You are not for shiny stones, you are not for golden Gold, you will give these things to the white men from the stars. I know who you are, and I can smell the blood in your veins. Undo your belt..."

At this time, the strange old woman suddenly convulsed, foamed at the mouth, and fell to the ground, as if she had a seizure.Someone carried her out.

The king stood up tremblingly, waved his hand, and the soldiers immediately began to retreat. Ten minutes later, only the four of us, the king, and a few servants were left in the huge square.

"White people," he said, "I want to kill you. Gagul said a lot of strange things. Do you have anything to say?"

I smiled, "Be careful, Your Majesty, it is not so easy to kill us. You have seen what happened to that cow. Do you want to end up like this?"

The king frowned and said, "How dare you threaten the king."

"We don't dare to threaten you, we just tell the truth. Just try to know what the result will be."

The king put his hand to his forehead and thought.

"Go quietly," he said at last. "There will be a big ball tonight. I hope you will attend, and don't worry that I will set a trap. Let's talk about it tomorrow."

"Yes, Your Majesty," I replied casually.Accompanied by Inverdus, we stood up and returned to our residence.

(End of this chapter)