The Adventures of Stevo-Chapter 2-China and India,1935,Part 2
The group followed the Indian man into a small village; the houses had smoke coming from the roofs, the sounds of chimes clinging by the calm breeze, and the small chattering of people in the streets. But when they arrived, the townspeople were shocked to see a group of people of different colors. They all surrounded them, touching them like they were gods. They cried and repeated words that they had no clue of what they were saying. One middle-aged woman walked up to Stevo, holding a handmade girl's doll in front of him as they continued walking.
"I'm sorry ma'am, I-I-I... ugh, I'm so confused right now!" Stevo tried to respond to her, but she continued speaking Indian and holding the doll closer to his face until they arrived at the hut.
"Can you guide us to Delhi?" Indy asked the old man, while eating the cooked bugs the people prepared for him.
"Yes, Sanji will help you." Sanji's assistant said to him.
"But first, you must go to Pankot Palace." Everyone stared in confusion to what Sanji commanded.
"What is he-" Willie nearly asked Indy, but Stevo hushed her.
"Why do you want us to go there?" Indy asked.
"To bring Siva back from the dark light."
"Who's Siva?" Short whispered to Indy.
"Siva is a rock that protects a village; I've seen a replica in a museum once."
"It killed my people!" Sanji yelled out.
"The rock?" Indy asked.
"No. But ever since its disappearance, our crops have dried up, our animals have died, & last night, all of our children were kidnapped. But today, Siva has sent us a gift. And that gift, is you 4."
"But we just fell out of a pla-" Stevo shushed Willie again.
"Now please, follow me." Sanji said, then picked up his cane beside him, lifted himself up, and walked out the hut with the group following from behind.
They stopped at a dirty brick wall in the village where the rock was before it was stolen. The townspeople surrounded them as they were speaking.
"This is where Siva was before his disappearance. The Kali's told us that if we don't worship their god, things would turn from bad to worse. So this is all why you're here. Can you help us?" Indy nodded.
"We will, Sanji." Indy said to him, then bowed.
"Good. You will leave tomorrow morning with a couple of my men & my elephants to go to Pankot." Sanji bowed, then the group followed, and the townspeople went back to do their daily things.
The next morning, the townspeople waved and cheered as they watched the group get on their elephants and prepare to leave.
"What's taking you, Willie?" Stevo yelled from behind.
"Ugh... this elephant reeks-AGH!" She yelled out and everyone began to laugh at her when she was sitting on her ride the wrong way.
"Aw... I need to call my agent, is there a telephone here? Hey wait!" The group began to depart to Pankot, and as the crowd cheered, Sanji stood in front of the wall, speaking in his language & looking on at the group.
As they rode though the forest, screeching sounds occurred from above. Willie looked up in amazement.
"Ooh, what pretty birds!"
"Those aren't birds, hon, those are giant vampire bats." Indy said to her; se looked up again to hear the sounds of screeching getting louder.
Later, they all started to smell badly due to the elephant's body odors. Willie was putting perfume on hers when it raised its trunk and sprayed water at her face, causing her to fall off and land bottom-first into a large mud puddle.
"HALT!" Stevo shouted, having the men and the other 2 to stop their elephants and looked back at his direction. He quickly jumped off and ran towards her aid.
"Hahahaha, very funny! Hahahaha!" Short Round laughed when he saw her half-covered in mud.
"Willie, you okay?"
"Of course I'm not! *cries* I was happy in Shanghai! I had a house, and a little garden. But now, all I have is you three and those stinking elephants!" Willie's arms made a big splash against the puddle. "*breathes heavily* I'm a singer, I could lose my voice!" Everyone continued to stare, except for Indy, who looked at the sun quickly setting.
"Ok, we'll camp here for tonight. Start unpacking."
Later that night, as Indy and Short were playing poker near the campfire and Willie was hanging up her clothes for to dry, Stevo was lying his back on a tree, looking up at the moonlit night sky, thinking about why he was on these missions again.
"*sighs* Well o' mysterious figure, what had you brought me here for THIS time?" Stevo thought to himself, until his thoughts were interrupted by Willie's screaming and Indy and Short's complaining. So he quickly grabbed the pillow he had in his luggage and covered his head in it and quickly fell asleep.
(decided to skip the Pankot arrival and dinner scene just to cut out some of the boredom)
That night, as Stevo and Willie were sleeping, Indy and Short were walking through a dark cave that started from his bedroom. Suddenly, they started to hear crunching noises from under their feet.
"I feel stepping on fortune cookies." Short said to Indy.
"Short, lend me one of your matches." Sort gave him one, then struck it against the wall & lit a piece of fabric. But startling to them once lit, were bugs. Creepy, crawly ones, both big & small.
"That's no cookies!" Short said with a scared look on his face.
"C'mon, we must get going." Indy said to him, then they continued their journey until they stopped in a dark room, which they were both locked in. Indy was looking for a way out when Short tried to help.
"Short, just lean up against wall, okay?" Short nodded, then leaned up against a wall like Indy told him to. Suddenly, the ceiling started to come lower with its spikes poking out the holes. They began to yell for help as it slowly lowered closer to them.
In the room where they started, Stevo woke up by the sounds of yelling, and turned around and began shaking Willie till she was fully awake.
"Willie, Willie wake up!"
"What now? Can't you see I'm trying to have my beauty sleep?"
"Sorry, but I need you to follow me please."
"Ugh, okay, but this better be good." Willie followed Stevo from behind and entered the small cave Indy and Short were in. When they came to the bug-infested room, they both shrieked in terror by the sight of the bugs.
"AAH! Get me the h*** out of here!" Stevo yelled as he saw a stick bug crawl on his arm and tried to get out. But not far from them, Indy & Short were yelling.
"Willie, Stephen, are you there?!"
"Yes we are, and I don't want to die!" Stevo yelled as he tried to find a way out.
"Two people are gonna die in here if you don't help us!" Indy yelled back. Then Willie found a hole near the door. She was about to stick her hand in it when Indy's hand grabbed her wrist. She jumped and looked through the small hole where Indy's eye poked out.
"Willie, we are going TO DIE!" Indy said to her, then Short yelled out and Indy tried to respond.
"Willie, grab that lever!"
"But Indy, it's nast-"
"I don't care, just pull it!" She quickly pulled the lever, trying to not think of the bugs inside. The door immediately opened and lifted the spiked ceiling back up. Indy grabbed her wrist and tried to run, but her misstep activated the trap again.
"Stephen! C'mon!" Stevo looked at them, then quickly ran as fast as he could through the closing door and the falling ceiling. He narrowly escaped the other door, but the tip of one of his leather shoes was squished. Willie and Short picked him up and dusted his clothes off.
"You okay, Stephen?" Short asked.
"Yeah, I think so... anyway lets get mov-"
"Psssst." Indy peeked out from a wall, giving them a signal to come forward. They fast walked to where he was, creating small echoes and hearing weird chants throughout the cave. When they met, he hand signaled them.
"Get down." Indy commanded. They sat on their knees and peeked over to where the red smoke was hovering over Indy's head. They couldn't believe what they're seeing.