Part Four
Sisho fell in alongside Indy as he left the eThekwini museum three hours after going in.
"You don't have the spear," the blanket- clad Zulu observed.
"No, but I think I know who does," Indy said. "A... L'Araan Swakaywe purchased some items from the museum several weeks ago, including ..." he pulled a receipt copy from his pocket and unfolded it. "...several pieces from a collection of weaponry that was donated last year. The weapons were surplus originally declared as spoils of war by Lord Chelmsford - the leader of the British Army when it defeated the Zulus. A Major Marter was under his command and led the group that actually captured King Cetswayo. Marter would have presented all confiscated items to his commander, so the spear my be in there. I just hope Swakaywe isn't too attatched to it."
"That would be a problem..." Sisho agreed. "But it's not like he can't afford other spears to replace that one."
"You know him?"
"Of course. He owns the Snake Park."
Sisho glanced ahead of them, avoided a protruding cobble and then realized that Indy was no longer beside him. He glanced back to find the doctor standing quite still with a hollow look about him.
"Did you say Snake Park?" Indy asked.
"Yes," laughed Sisho. "You did not hear of the Snake Park? Swakaywe has brought the largest collection of poisonous snakes in the world to Durban."
Indy sighed through his nose and put his hands on his hips. He looked at his feet.
"It is a major tourist attraction." Sisho offered, not clueing in to Indy's hesitancy.
"I assume his office is IN the park?"
"It is... Doctor Jones, you aren't... afraid of snakes, are you?"
"I have a healthy respect for them."
Sisho laughed. "They are all behind glass. There is nothing to fear."
That helped a little. Not much, really, but enough to get Indy's feet moving again.
The Durban Snake Park was, indeed, quite impressive. Occupying a huge building girded with columns and turrets, the place gave off the impression of a museum more than a park. Indy had spent the entire twenty minute walk picturing a more traditional idea of a park - lush green grass, wild flowers, trees providing shade and some gentle hills... all covered in sliding, slithering bodies looking to make a meal out of him. The building calmed him a little more and Indy imagined he looked pretty collected.
"You look pretty nervous, Doctor Jones," Sisho said.
"Let's just get this over with," Indy answered, yanking open the front door. A muffled, reptilian hiss escaped the interior and froze him in the doorway. Goosebumps slid down his back. Indy swallowed hard, clenched his jaw and went inside.
Hundreds of display cases, some of them thirty feet long, lined the walls and were perched as islands in the center of the cavernous room. Those snakes closest to the entrance, licked the glass of their terrariums in vain attempts to smell the newcomers. Above them all, the absence of the middle of the second floor allowed a terrific view of a stained glass skylight depicting a winged serpent. The word "unholy" popped into Indy's head.
"This way," Sisho said, leading the doctor through a small door opposite the entrance. A short hallway brought them to a door made of solid glass with the word CURATOR on it. The office beyond was small, yet decorated with a curator's fervor. Every square inch of wall space was covered with masks and sculptures and hides and awards... and in the way of modern conveniences, only a large, flat- topped desk and it's occupant.
L'Araan Swakaywe was a very old man. His gray beard poured over his slight chest and went almost all the way down to this belt. His spectacles, bald head and tweed jacket reminded Indy of his father and it occured to him that the two probably weren't so different. Except for that snake thing.
Indy wasted no time getting down to business and explaining what he was looking for. Sisho translated for him. The old man eyed Sisho suspiciously, then glanced at Indy and asked a question. Sisho responded politely and patted Indy's shoulder. The old man eyed Indy and shook his head. He talked for several moments, shrugging and turning his palms up.
"He doesn't have it," Sisho translated. "Even if he had gotten any spears from the museum, he wouldn't know which one it would be."
Swakaywe began pointing at the pile of papers he was poring over on his desk and Indy felt for him. He hated that part of HIS job, too. Sisho thanked the man for his time and walked out into the "park" with Indy. Indy wanted very badly to just make a beeline for the door, but something caught his eye and made him stop.
"Sisho," he said. The walking blanket stopped and turned. "Didn't he just say he didn't get any weapons from the museum? Or does it not really translate?"
Sisho followed Indy's gaze and saw an open closet door. Inside, propped against the far wall were several short spears.
"Lying translates into any language," he said grimly.
Indy stepped into the closet and examined them. They were for the most part, identical. The Spear of Zulu would be a distinct weapon. Sisho took a turn examining the spears as well, but came to the same conclusion.
Forgetting (although not completely) that there were snakes about, Indy walked through the museum looking for other weapons. An English family with three children came in to view the reptiles. Sisho nodded courteously to them out of customer- service habit. Indy approached him a few moments later, towing a thin, black teenager - the greeter who's bathroom break Sisho was covering.
"Ask him if any of those are the Spear of Zulu."
Sisho talked for just a moment to the boy before shaking his head.
"What about one that was more decorative than the others?" Indy asked. "Made entirely out of metal, maybe. A spear that old would have to be metal if it was still around...or stone."
Sisho translated. The boy looked thoughtful for a moment and told Sisho that he had seen a magnificent stone spear head - too big for the spears used by the zulus- in Swakaywe's office once several weeks ago, but he had not seen it since. Indy peeled off some money and handed it to the boy, who smiled his appreciation and bowed slightly. Indy and Sisho stepped outside.
"How many other magnificent spear heads could there be?" Indy asked, hoping Sisho was something of a historian.
"King Shaka destroyed all the old spears when he re-organized the armies for close combat," Sisho responded. "A large spear head would go on a long spear. A long spear that is still around can only be ceremonial. And if this one is as decorative as he said, then it could very well be it."
Indy grinned. Then, he frowned. "Swakaywe's too smart to give it to us, though. He knows what it's worth."
"Doctor Jones, there is something you must know about Swakaywe."
Indy braced himself for a really good reason he wasn't going to be able to steal the spear head.
"He is the sorcerer who helped Tarana cast spells on Dermlaff to make him sell the spear to her. If he has it, then he is working against Tarana. And now that he knows of our interest in it, we may be in danger."
Indy scoffed. "A sorcerer?"
"Laugh if you will, Doctor Jones. But if you're right, then Dermlaff did sell the spear to him."
"He could have stolen it when he was there picking up his other things. I don't buy the hocus pocus."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, that's so."
"How old do you think Tarana is?"
Indy paused. "Whatever I say, you're just going to say she's older."
"She's forty-five."
Indy chuckled. "No, she isn't. She's eighteen if she's a day."
"She is forty- five," Sisho said matter-of-factly.
Indy held up his hand and closed his eyes. All he had to do was get the spearhead to Tarana, however old she was, and he and his friends could go. Arguing the logistics of sorcery would be pointless. Indy handed the man some money and asked him to get some more information from the Greeter.
Meanwhile, Henry and Elise were passing the time by making an anthropological study out of their stay in the Zulu village. They observed the division of chores and the pecking order of the young people. Bruce was learning camaflouge and hunting techniques from the men. Tarana made an occasional appearance, which brought everyone to a standstill. She would sniff the wind, dig in the dirt and cast haughty, threatening glances at her "guests." Henry thought she just liked the attention. Bruce wondered if she might want some company in that tent. No sooner had the thought escaped him than Tarana's dogs growled from the dark hut.
As the sun came to rest on the horizon, trailed by a brilliant orange sky, Elise caught the distant look on Henry's face.
"Wishing you had gone instead?" she asked.
"No, no. I stand by what I said before. That spear could be anywhere in the world and he'd find it. He found me when I was a Nazi prisoner in Germany, did I ever tell you that?"
"No, you didn't," Elise said.
"He's a brave boy...man, I should say, I guess. He's probably getting shot at, tied up or chasing somebody, but I'm sure he's fine. It happens to him all the time, actually."
Elise rubbed Henry's back. She could hear the lump forming in his throat. Suddenly, he chuckled.
"He's better off with out me tagging along anyway. I almost sent him over a cliff last time," he laughed.
Elise watched Henry's face contort, twist and, ultimately, settle into resolve. "I just can't wait to hear how he found this one," he said.
"Trial and error," Indy said, moving along to the next window. It had become his mantra for getting through this stage of his plan. They had no idea how to get into the place after it closed, but hiding with the snakes and getting locked in was ruled out. Again, he hoisted Sisho up and, again, the "humble servant" was unable to open the window.
"That's the entire ground floor," Sisho said, as Indy let him down. "How do we get up to the second floor?"
Indy looked around. Dusk was rapidly turning into an inky night and details - the kind that might help them here, were being lost. Indy COULD see, however, decorative iron grates over the turret windows that would provide a good handhold... or...
With a graceful, powerful sweep, Indy arced his whip over and up, catching the ironworks firmly in a braided leather coil. He pulled himself up the whip and balanced on the iron works against the turret. He tried the outermost window, but couldn't get the blade of the steak knife (which he'd stolen from the cafe where they'd eaten lunch) up and into the workings of the window lock. He reversed his position, straddled the space between another set of iron works, and tried a side window. The knife fit easliy between the glass frames and the lock slid away. Indy dropped the knife to the ground, threw open the window and crawled inside. Sisho scampered up the whip and followed.
They were inside a small room containing cages of mice and rats - snake food. The creatures had all been awakened by the intrusion and now squeaked irritably at the two men as they walked across and out of the room.When Sisho had asked the Greeter about the hours that the Park was open, he'd gotten the boy's entire speech about the place. The Durban Snake Park was open from nine until six every day except Sunday. The largest single collection of poisonous reptiles in the world took up the entire first floor and most of the second. While the Park was beneficiary of several families' charity, it gladly accepted donations in the Snake Park's name. Thank you for coming and have a good day.
They had waited an hour after the place had closed before trying the windows - they'd need light outside for that part of the plan.
Now, at the commencemnt of part two of Indy's plan, the ex professor poked his head out into a hallway. Not really expecting anyone to be there, he only halfheartedly tried to be quiet and inconspicuous. He clomped across the marble floors, past more cases of legless reptiles that gave him the heeby-jeebies and over to the main staircase curving down to the first floor, where he made a beeline for the door to the hallway outside Swakaywe's office. With Sisho not far behind him, Indy turned the knob and was immediately knocked onto his back. A pair of large, dark dogs bounded over him. Indy put one arm up to bait any jaws that might go for his throat, but none came. He glanced over at Sisho to find him quite still in the middle of the room, in a circle of chalky moonlight under the stained glass roof. The dogs did not bark. They did not attack. They merely watched Sisho and were just as unearthly still as he was. Indy got to his feet and reached for his whip. Dammit! It was still outside! He put his hand on the butt of his gun. That would be more noise than he wanted to make, but if he had to...
"Sisho..." he said. The man did not answer. His dark eyes were terror stricken and glued to one of the dogs. After a moment, the other dog turned towards Indy. Its eyes were reflecting an amber light that didn't exist. It stared at Indy, moving to be in his line of sight when he tried to look away. That glow sure was difficult to ignore. He tried to call out to Sisho again and found that his voice would not respond. In fact, he could feel an icy stiffness crawling down his entire body. The hand on the butt of the gun was frozen already. He could still clench his left fist, though...maybe he could move his leg... change his position... The dog in front of him growled and sidestepped a little to stay in front... Sweat began to roll down Indy's face. He twitched, trying to break through his paralysis and lashed out with his closed fist. Glass shattered off to his left. He couldn't turn and look at it, but he knew he'd just opened one of the long cases that ran around the the edge of the main room... one of the really big cases. He knew his hand would be bleeding. He KNEW the snake would smell it and come investigate. Fear gave Indy the control to pull his fist back to his body. The dog growled in concentration again; this time, freezing Indy in place.
Slowly, the droning of Swakaywe's voice drifted from his office. He was too caught up in whatever he was doing to come investigate the breaking glass, Indy surmised. There had to be a way to shake it. Dogs couldn't DO this! He had to be missing someth-
All thought in Indiana Jones ceased as the snake crawled over his shoe. The sensation was one he hadn't felt in years and one that he had hoped to never feel again. It brought forth terrible images - nightmares of entanglement and strangulation. The snake began to wrap itself around Indy's leg and climb up... no doubt seeking the source of the blood. He thought about the wedge- shaped head holding bulging sacks of poison- potent enough to drop him...perhaps in seconds. He thought of the tongue, flicking... searching... the bristling scales clinging to his pants leg as it wound it's way up behind his knee.... The tickle of the snake's tongue on his fingers brought a growl from the dog as Indy's fear began to overpower the enchantment. The triangular head sliding into Indy's palm elicited a bark as the bond was broken. Indy blinked and looked down at the huge snake, but didn't move. Little more than half of it was wrapped around his leg. The rest trailed behind for several feet. The dog walked up to Indy, trying to get into his line of sight and the snake arched up out of Indy's hand to face it. Indy nearly wet himself. The snake being the immediate threat, the dog tried his paralyzing stare on it, but the snake continued to hiss and tightened its hold on Indy's leg, even wrapping its tail around Indy's ankle.
"...Sisho..." Indy said weakly. No answer. The dog and Sisho continued their staring contest. The snake took a shot at the dog challenging it and bit it on the nose. The pained yelp brought Sisho's dog's head around and Sisho blinked groggily. The snake reared up from Indy's knee as the other dog moved in to challenge it. Indy held his hands up like a cornered outlaw. The first dog was already shaking his poisoned head and trembling a little.
"Sisho!" Indy whispered. Sisho came awake quickly with a shake of the head and looked around for a weapon. He spotted Indy's revolver.
"Shoot it," Sisho whispered. This was a great idea, of course, but Indy was frozen. The thought of reaching down for his gun, of putting his hand in strike range, only made him shake his head.
"Just... get it!"
Sisho trotted off towards the closet with the spears in it.
The second dog took a strike on the nose and yelped as well. It, too backed away as its comrade dropped into convulsions. The snake calmed down as it (and Indy) watched the dogs die. Then, it dropped to the floor, releasing the petrified Doctor Jones, who backed away quickly, wiping sweat from his very pale face. The snake crawled over its conquests and began an intense inspection. Sisho finally reappeared with one of the short spears and stopped, seeing he was too late.
"Still doubting our magic, Doctor Jones?" Sisho asked, serious despite the sarcasm.
Indy could still hear Swakaywe's voice beyond the door. "Come on," he said.
