Legend of Trelkoara: The Serpent of Sex

Jason spun around at the sound of the voice, only to find himself confronting an old man holding a cup of coffee. The man looked to be about fifty, with a few wrinkles crinkling his face and bright white hair. He was short, but aged had not yet stooped his posture, giving him an air of confidence.



“Why, are you going to kill me?” Jason asked a little worriedly.



The man looked at him in confusion. “Why would I kill you? You have been sent yes?”



Now it was Jason’s turn to be confused. “But you just said that this would be my tomb.”



The man stood there for a moment, silently revisiting everything he said. There was a moment where he worked his jaw back and forth, and then nodded. “Ah, I see. I misspoke. I meant to say our tomb, not your tomb. I can see how that might have caused a you a moment’s distress.”



Jason was now thoroughly puzzled. He had managed to pass through the traps, thanks to Shadow’s careful stalk down the hall. He had been expecting a small crypt or some such. Instead he had found a semi-crazy old man.



“Who are you?” he finally demanded.



“Who am I?” The old man paused, as if considering something. “Well, that is not important, and perhaps a bit lost to time as well. A thousand years is a long time to spend in a cave. But you can simply assume that I am a guardian.”



“A guardian of what?” Jason’s exasperation was beginning to show.



“Why, of this cave, of the spear, and of my wife, perhaps not necessarily in that order,” the old man replied.



Jason frowned. “Your wife?”



“Blossom, might you come here for a moment?” the man yelled back into the cave.



“What is it?” came a softer voice. “I’m almost done with the tapestry, can’t it wait?”



“No!” The old man bellowed his response, and it echoed off the cave walls, causing Shadow to cringe. “We have a company! A young man has made it to our home!”



“Ah? The Champion has come? Then I shall be there in a moment!” There was a shuffling sound from the back of the cave, and a woman came bursting out. She looked to be about the same age as the man, though her hair was black with only a few streaks of silver to mark her age. She also wasn’t wearing a shirt, and though her breasts had begun to sag just a bit, they were still attractive enough that Jason found it hard to take his eyes away.

“Ah, yes!” the woman declared. “This is perfect! He will make a splendid hero for my tapestry!”



“HOLD IT!” Jason bellowed as loud as he could manage. “Just what the hell is going on here?”



“You are here for the spear yes?” The old man nodded in agreement with himself. “It is obvious. The dead god is stirring, and the island knows it will not be able to claim him for long. So it has marked a champion instead. You must take the spear and return the scaled demon to his prison, lest he be freed to risk the world’s future once more.”



“You know that makes absolutely no sense, right?” Jason asked.



The old man stared at him intently. “Are you not from the island? Do you not know the histories?”



Jason shrugged. “Actually, I’m from America.”



“Husband, he is an outsider!” the woman declared.



The old man paused as if considering this for a moment, before nodding again. Jason had to suppress the odd urge to laugh. The old man seemed particularly fond of that particular gesture. “Come then,” he announced. “To the kitchen! We shall have food and drink, and I shall tell you the story as it once and truly was.”



The four of them headed to a smaller room carved out of the cave, where a small table had been set up. There were several larger stone boxes nearby, and it was from these that the woman retrieved two large loaves of bread and three clay bottles. She set one each in front of Jason and the old man, before taking her seat next to her husband.



“Tell me, what do you know of Trelkoara?” The old man asked.



“That’s the local legend isn’t?” Jason replied. “Some old beast or other that some chief slew long ago, to make the land safe for the Nukatani.”



The old man shook his head. “That is only part of it I fear. For the Chief did not slay the god that day one thousand years ago. This I know, for I was there.”



“Come on, do you expect me to truly believe that you’re a thousand years old?” Jason asked incredulously.



“This from the boy with the panther for a pet!” the woman scoffed.



“What you believe is not important,” the old man replied a bit more calmly. “It is what you know that is important. Yes, my wife and I are more then a thousand years old this point. How old we are exactly is not important, but it is a rather, fun fact no?” Jason shrugged, and the man continued. “As it is, I was there when we faced the god. Trelkoara was mighty in those days, not the bound spirit he is now. He had come from some far off land, where I do not know, and he soon made himself god of the Nukatani. This was before I was born, but not by much. For fifty years he ruled, and the Nukatani knew glory like no other. We were safe from the wars of other tribes, the great storms of the oceans left our island alone, and the crops and herds were always fat and fertile. But this all came for a price, and most deadly one at that. In order to sustain himself Trelkoara demanded a sacrifice from the tribe. The first daughter of each family was to be delivered to him upon her flowering, that he might take her virgin’s blood. The chief and the priests, mesmerized by the evil snake’s magic, agreed and ensured that their dark lord had his tithe on time, and from each family. The chief had three sons, and was thus not bothered by the requirement, but all others, whether they were noble or peasant, had to deliver up their daughters.



The old man paused, and took a deep drink from the bottle before him. Jason realized he hadn’t touched either of the offerings before him, and not wanting to cause offense, followed suit. The thick brown liquid burned his throat as it went down, and he gagged after a small sip.



“What is this stuff?” he panted.



“”You like? It is fermented glow fungus,” the wife replied. “I can have some more made for you if you wish.”



“No, no, that’s quite alright,” Jason assured her. “Thank you though.” He motioned for the old man to continue.



“Where was I? Ah yes, the requirement of the daughters. Though the first chief had no daughters, his oldest son did. He in fact had two children, a daughter and a son, though the daughter was the older of the two by one cycle of the seasons. Eventually she too flowered, and her father and the priests set about preparing for the ceremony of offering. But her brother loved her deeply, and he knew the fate of those girls offered to the scaled demon. Trelkoara was mighty in power, and he drained the girls of every last drop of power he could. The son was determined not to allow this to happen, and pleaded with his father to forgo the ceremony. His father refused, and so the boy fell back on his second plan. In the dead of night he and his fellows, myself amongst them, snuck into the high temple and freed his sister from her chamber. Alas, there had been a traitor in our number, and our plans were made known to the chief and the priests. When they sought to stop us there was no choice, and we slew them. The chief fell to his own son’s hands, and the traitor was made known and killed as well.



But we were almost too late. Trelkoara had been roused for his offering, and when the fighting began he realized there was something wrong. He came down from his chamber, and sought to defeat us with his powers. Many died, yet still we fought, and the snake bled from many wounds. Realizing the fight was foul against him, he turned to flee into the jungle and we gave chase. We pursued him far, for one day and one night, before finally in his exhaustion he came to a clearing. There we made war upon our god, slashing him with our knives and impaling him with our spears. He turned upon the chief’s son, he who wielded the golden spear, and was turned back time and again. Sensing his opponent’s weakness the chief’s son moved in to strike the final blow, but it was not to be. Whether by some power of his own, or whether the island was simply not yet done with him, the ground opened beneath Trelkoara, and the island swallowed him, as well as those too close to escape. The chief’s son did survive, however, and it was there that he rallied the children of the Nukatani. Together with his sister they built a new city, with a great temple surrounding the seal that marked the site where the god fell. The island sheltered the children, and thus they survived until the modern times.”



“So what am I supposed do?” Jason asked. He had been fascinated by the tale, but realized what it meant in a small way. These people expected him to replace the chief’s son and to fight their god for them. He did ok in school, but he had failed to enroll in God-killing 101.



“It is simple,” the old man replied. “We shall arm you with the golden spear, and you shall use that to defeat the god should he rise. Either slay him, or send him back to his prison, it does not matter which, but he can not be allowed out into the world. A thousand years ago it would have been terrible had he been allowed to roam free of our island. Today? It would be the end of civilization as he enslaved the races of mankind to his twisted will.”



“That simple huh?” Jason frowned. “Just go kill a god by myself, when last time it took a small army of children to do it? I think I can see at least a few small flaws in this wonderful plan of yours!”



“Bah, he acts more like an old woman than I do!” the old woman scoffed. “Simple? Life is not simple, but then it is not meant to be! You want an army, go make or find one! You fight God? No, you fight godling! Trelkoara has spent a thousand turns of seasons locked in the land. What power have he for you to fear? You have friends, you have panther, soon you have spear! So, you win. End of discussion!” She threw her arms up into the air and stalked off into a back room. There were a few crashes, as if heavy trunks were being tossed around. There was a moment of silence followed by an “Aha!” and she returned bearing a large, golden spear.



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Outside of the cave night was approaching. Mikul and Rachael had eaten a brief lunch of packed sandwiches, but other then that there had been nothing to occupy them. Rachael was growing bored, and the warm spring breeze that had been flowing throughout the afternoon had grown into a cold wind. Mikul had abandoned their earlier small talk, instead standing at the edge of a small cliff that overlooked the resort valley below.



“Is there a blanket or anything in the jeep?” Rachael asked. “Its getting kind of chilly up here, is all.”



It was almost as if Mikul hadn’t even heard her. “There is something wrong,” was his only reply.



“Well, yeah.” Rachael muttered under her breath. “Jason’s only been in there for several hours now, and you won’t let me go find out of he’s alright.” There was a rustle in the bushes behind her, but Rachael ignored them, as plenty of small animals had passed by them through out the afternoon. The animals of the island held no fear of humans, and Rachael had at first been pleased to see so many exotic species up close and personal, but by the fifth time a monkey had chucked a half eaten fruit at her she had grown slightly annoyed with it all.



It was a mistake not to notice this time, though. The two men lurking in the bushes were not marines or navy from the American fleet, but were actually security guards employed by the hotel, ones who had long since been taken in by the powers Trelkoara had bestowed upon Tallweather. Their boss had sent them to retrieve the girl for the orgy planned later that night, and so they were going to retrieve the girl. Especially since they had been promised to be the second and third in line for her…



They were armed with tranquilizer guns, as the hotel didn’t carry any live firearms for its security teams. There was no reason to, after all, and dead guests made for bad publicity, while subdued ones simply showed the quality of the security teams. They didn’t bother to announce their presence, for why bother to alert the prey that the hunters were there? They each fired three times, taking a single target each. Rachael was close by, and all three of the darts targeted on her sank easily into the exposed flesh of her neck, she collapsed to the ground without a sound.



Mikul was slightly more aware of his surroundings, a legacy of his training as a guide for his people. Yet even then he was only able to dodge the first of the darts as he turned at the strange hissing noise the air rifles made as they fired. He barely had time to register that someone was firing at him before he too hit the dirt with a thud.



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A/N: Testing, testing, is this thing on? I figured that since I was picking up the Cheerleaders again that I might try to finish some of the other works I've left standing, so voila!