A Jungle Nocturne
Chapter Three
David moved deeper into the ancient structure. It was a new discovery, and he fully intended to disclose it's location to Lestat and Louis at the first opportunity, but his curiosity was too great. He wanted to explore it now, without waiting for them. Who knew what they were doing tonight, anyroad. Lestat had already left by the time he'd risen and Louis was still asleep.
A depression in the wall to his right caught his attention. He pushed at it and felt the wall move. He heard the sound of rushing water somewhere near. The wall slowly began to slide back, revealing an ingenious system of weights and pulleys controlled by the filling and emptying of containers, which acted as the weights, by cleverly drawing water from the river. David walked through the space to a raised platform, upon which were jewels, bones, and petrified objects, probably food offerings. He moved closer to investigate. He still heard running water and various splashing and emptying sounds behind him. He took a petrified object from the platform to identify what it had been. Before he could do so, an eight foot wall of solid stone, weighing more than nine hundred pounds, was released from above and knocked him unconscious, pinning him flat to the stone floor of the temple.
Louis discovered him almost forty minutes later. He had been wandering through the jungle, watching the stars and enjoying the night when he'd heard the unusual sound of stone hitting stone. He had known it was far too loud to be a natural jungle noise, so he had decided to investigate.
"David! Mon Dieu!!" Louis rushed to his fallen brother and tried to lift the stone off of him. It was too heavy for him, and the bottom was slick with David's blood. Louis threw his entire weight and strength behind one fine blow to the middle of the stone. It opened the skin over his knuckles, but it also cracked the stone down the middle and created several other fissures. With this, Louis could lift the stone, piece by piece off of David and pull him free.
Louis carried David out of the ruined structure at his top speed, certain that there must be more than one ancient booby trap still operational in there. He stopped when he was well away from the stone temple and laid David on the ground. Louis automatically reached for his cell phone and flipped it on.
"LESTAT!!"
"Louis, don't shout, I'm -"
"LISTEN! David's hurt! He's unconscious and bleeding! We're . . .uh," Louis looked around, but saw no familiar landmarks. "Oh God, I don't KNOW where, but you must come immediately!"
"Louis, just keep talking, I'll find you."
Lestat's end of the connection clicked off. Louis sat and pulled David into his lap. "Davide, cher, can you hear me?" David gave no response. Louis bit his wrist and held it to David's mouth. "Drink, cheri."
As the blood flowed down his throat David's eyelids fluttered and he moaned. He felt a tremendous pain from his stomach and back. He sucked at the bloodsource as hard as he could and it eased the pain. From somewhere far away he heard Louis's voice.
"Bien, Davide, keep drinking. Lestat will be here soon. You'll be fine, darling. David, David, what have you done?"
David felt soft kisses on his forehead and cheeks, Louis's kisses. Then the blood was gone. His mouth was empty for a few seconds, only to be flooded by an electric liquid, overwhelming and powerful.
"What the hell happened?!" Lestat demanded.
"I'm not exactly sure, but a giant stone, like a wall, fell on him. He was in a strange temple, one I'd never seen before."
"Good God."
"I think he's coming around now."
David blinked and groaned.
"Hush, David, we're here, my love." Lestat stroked David's forehead. "You'll be fine, just relax. Wait for the blood to heal you."
Louis lifted David's blood soaked shirt and watched as the mangled and bruised skin came together and regained it's shape. "It's working," He sighed with relief. He only then realized that his own heart was beating faster than it ever had, and he was breathing heavily. He looked to Lestat and was surprised to see his golden maker profusely sweating blood.
David looked around and tried to get his bearings. "What happened?"
"You tripped some sort of anti-theft device, Dr. Jones," Lestat told him. "Louis said a rock slab fell on you."
"Good Lord." David breathed and closed his eyes again.
"David?" Louis asked.
"Yes," David answered.
"We should really get you back to the cave, do you feel up to being moved?"
"I think so . . . it's extraordinary, I can actually feel my bones knitting!"
"Bien," Lestat said. His manner was short, his voice was serious, he turned to Louis, "Tu as alimenté?" (Have you fed?)
"Oui."
"Allez!" (Come!)
Lestat lifted David in his arms and began moving, at Louis's fastest pace, so as not to jar David, towards the cave. Within minutes they arrived and got David settled comfortably on the floor. They gathered the sleeping bags, pillows and extra clothing into a soft nest and laid David in it.
"Are you warm, enough?" Louis asked, tucking a blanket around his brother.
"Yes, quite warm, thank you. Incredibly, I really feel fine now, a bit stupid, but absolutely sound."
"You must rest." Lestat said, wiping the sweat from his face with a towel. Then suddenly he threw a heavy book at Louis, who caught it with characteristic grace.
"Louis and I will entertain you!" The worried impatience was gone from his voice and his manner, the brat was back. Lestat did a pirouette and gave a deep bow.
David laughed, though it did hurt to do so.
Louis shook his head with a small smile and opened the book. "Oh, I don't need this, I know this one," there was a private joke in his tone, David wondered what it was. He soon found out.
"Very well then," Lestat hunched his back, and screeched "When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightening or in rain?"
"When the hurly-burly's done, when the battle's lost and won." Louis answered in a surprisingly similar voice.
"That will be ere the set of sun." Lestat took Louis hand and pulled him over to kneel beside him, in front of David, as if they were on a stage. "Where the place?"
"Upon the heath."
"There to meet with MacBeth."
They performed the entire play as David drifted in and out of sleep. Hearing only bits and pieces.
~~~~~~~
Louis's voice: "The raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan under my battlements."
~~~~~~~
Lestat's voice: "Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand?"
~~~~~~~
Louis and Lestat: "Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble!"
~~~~~~~
Louis's voice: "The Queen, my lord, is dead."
Lestat's voice: "She should have died hereafter; here would have been a time for such a word. To-morrow, and to-morrow and to-morrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time; and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow. A poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing."
~~~~~~~
Louis's voice: "Turn, Hell-hound, turn!"
Lestat's voice: "Of all men else I have avoided thee. But get thee back, my soul is too much charg'd with blood of thine already.
~~~~~~~
Finishing the first, they went on to Henry V.
Louis's voice: "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he to-day that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, this day shall gentle his condition; and gentlemen in England now a-bed, shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here; and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that fought with us upon St. Crispin's day!"
~~~~~~~
Louis's voice: "Êcoutez: comment êtes-vous appelé?"
Lestat's voice: "Monsier le Fer."
Louis's voice: "He says his name is Master Fer."
Lestat's voice, but deeper and scratchier: "Master Fer! I'll fer him and firk him, and ferret him. Discuss the same in French unto him."
Louis's voice: "I do not know the French for fer and ferret and firk."
~~~~~~~
The last David remembered before he slept was a bit of poetry, read by Louis.
To hearken to each other's speech,
And each turn comforter to each
With some new hope or legend old,
Or song heroically bold;
But even these at length grew cold.