The Widow Sabishane and Mr. Klemmens ran behind Atushka as he led them deeper into the jungle. After what seemed like hours, the trio finally came breathlessly panting to the edge of a wide clearing. Facing them, stood a tall stone wall on the opposite end of the clearing. Atushka had led them to a dead end. The Widow and Mr, Klemmens looked at each other nervously but said nothing. In the middle of the wall, wedged in a large gap, was a gigantic circular stone. Atushka slowly turned around to his guests and smiled his mainly toothless smile. "As I have mentioned before, we have had a lot of uninvited guests to de island lately so security had to be tightened up." As he spoke Atushka turned around and placed his hand on the circular stone, his face turning stoic. "Please, Madame, hold my hand. You too furry catman." He said, glancing back at Mr. Klemmens with a mischievous smile. The Widow Sabishane grabbed Mr. Klemmens' paw before he could reply. Atushka turned back towards the stone with the Widow's hand tightly in one of his own and fanned his fingers out over the smooth chalky surface as he began to hum a deep and rhythmic tone, closing his eyes and lowering his head as he did so.
As Atushka hummed his wordless tone, the ground began to shake lightly and tiny pebbles began to fall from above them. The pitch of the tone became deeper and the vibration became stronger and stronger. Finally the humming was so deep that Mr. Klemmens could feel it in his chest, vibrating through his ribs and lungs. He felt as though there were hundreds of tiny tribesmen like Atushka holding onto him, humming deeply and sending their deep vibrations through him. The tremors became so strong that the Widow and Mr. Klemmens became dizzy and had to shut tight their eyes. Seconds later the humming and the vibration had completely stopped, and the Widow felt Atushka release her hand. She opened her eyes and the tiny man smiled up at her. "What was all that about then?" she said to him, confused and a bit motion sick. "Turn around and see for yourself Madame." said the little old man with pride lathering his voice.
The Widow slowly turned around and there in front of her was an incredibly complex village full of tiny men and women just like Atushka. A massive stone wall surrounded it all and the Widow realized they were on the other side of the clearing. There were huts made of wood and leaves in the canopy and strange long shacks on the ground. Rope bridges connected every hut above them and vine-made ladders hung from various trees beneath. The shacks below were long but short to the ground, made with mud walls and straw roofs. The huts in the trees looked more like bird nests, made from a patchwork of wooden sticks, leaves and vines. The Widow gasped in surprise and delight. "How absolutely, incredibly, amazing Mr. Atushka!" Atushka puffed out his chest and smiled. "Thank you Madame. Now, about dem scones...would you like to take dis meeting to my hut before I give you a tour?" "Very much so." Said the Widow as she took his already extended arm and the three of them walked towards the center of the village.
In Atushka's hut Mr. Klemmens and the Widow sat and ate as Atushka, who they now knew was the Chief, told them all about his people and their village. "We are natives to dis island. We call de island Apuwashi and have named ourselves de same. We have been here since any of de eldest elders can remember. Which, as far as I can recall would make our tribe somewhere around a few thousand years old, at least I dink so. Anyway, we have had a long and generally very prosperous existence. We are simple people who are content wid what de Spirits have given to us, so we have never ventured beyond our own island and until recently we've always had a good relation with any sort of folk who stopped by. We even used to have a trading post set up on de coast for any travelers who passed drough."
The Widow put down her dried cranberry scone and looked at the Chief with her big sad eyes. "Why exactly have you retreated to the deep center of your jungle Mr. Atushka?" "Please, just call me Atushka. It started about 5 years ago. A massive ship, bigger than any I have ever seen, came to our tiny island. It was gray like de color of de rocks but much harder and had a shine to it, like your sword
Mr. Klemmens, and when it came to our shores it dropped a massive bridge down from its bowels and hundreds of armed men poured out onto our beaches. They came screaming into our villages with their weapons drawn high, cutting down anyding or anyone in deir path." The Chief took a long breath and let out a heavy sigh. "We were forced to flee; to retreat to dis place, de sanctuary. Dey stole our food and our animals; dey even stole some of our people. De next morning we tried to retaliate, to rescue dose who had been taken. But the mighty ship was gone. Since then, we have only seen smaller ones come and go in scouting parties. We made a few raids on dem but, when we got to deir ships dere was nothing in dem. I believe dey are looking for my people, to kidnap and enslave more of us."
The Widow Sabishane's eyes were full of tears as Atushka went on with his story, telling them of the horrors that the armed men inflicted upon his peaceful tribe. Mr. Klemmens saw the Widow's tearful face and his blood began to boil with resentment for the unknown raiders. At the outset of Atushka's tale, Mr. Klemmens had taken off his scimitar to sit comfortably and was now clutching the hilt so hard his paws were raw and bleeding. Mr. Klemmens could not help but relive his own terrible memories as a kitten, when he had been abducted from his own clan, long before he had met Sabishane and only just before she became a widow.
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