I WASN'T SURE whether my panting was from physical exhaustion or just plain
nerves as I hauled myself up onto the tiny ledge. I carefully held the rope
steady as Al_the_chia
pulled himself up beside me and we both took a short breather.
"What a view! Look, Al, you can see all of Mystery
Island from up here!"
"How far before we get to the top, MonoKeras?
And are you sure the HunkaLunka tribe is here?"
I began to understand the term monomaniac. "No,
I don't know if they're here, Al, I just know the models for the Mystery Island
Paintbrush are up here. It could be your missing tribe, but we won't know till
we climb up there."
Al looked up at the rock wall above us. "It shouldn't
take too long! And then another chapter will be written in the history of Lupology!"
"Uh huh. What did the last chapter have to say
about this tribe?"
"The HunkaLunka tribe specialises in making
jewellery from teeth and other small bones. They usually get them from their
prey, although bones of valued ancestors are often used for totemic and shamanistic
purposes. They sacrifice strangers to a god whose name is unknown outside of
the tribe, and..."
"Whoa! Sacrifice strangers?"
"Right. I was able to witness it firsthand some
time back, but Fluffy spoiled things by pulling me out before they dropped the
rock on me."
I looked back down towards the island below with
a bit more longing. "Are you sure this is wise?"
"Wise? MonoKeras, this is in the pursuit of
scientific knowledge! There is no higher calling!"
"No higher when you're climbing Techo Mountain,
I guess."
Al ignored my muttered reply. "Come on, we've
rested long enough. We must get up there soon!"
"Right," I sighed. I stood up and managed to
throw a loop of rope over a jutting boulder above us. I tested it carefully
before putting my full weight upon it. This had been a grueling test of rock-climbing
skills, and it looked like we'd have no relief from it until we reached the
top. I just hoped I'd get some relief from Al as well once we got up there.
I won't bore you with the details of how we slipped,
nearly fell, hugged near-vertical surfaces, and pried our way up holding onto
tiny cracks. I certainly won't try to scare you with the parts where it actually
got bad. Let it be known that after another half hour or so of climbing, I threw
one leg over the lip of the mountain and hauled myself into the bowl of the
former volcano.
I stared down below in disbelief. The verdant
growth was a jungle as thick or thicker than that several thousand feet below.
This wasn't any sort of lava pit! I realised that things must be dormant, which
helped ease one worry from my mind.
"I wonder if they're being held prisoner underground."
I looked over at Al. "I have no clue... here,
let's look." I pulled out my glass and we both looked into the bottle. Now that
we were closer to the source it was locked to, it showed not just the peak of
the mountain but a smaller section of the forest that was...
"Over there!" Al shouted and darted off into
the jungle. I sighed and followed, trying my best to dodge tree limbs that swayed
when Al passed beneath them. It took all of my skill to keep him in sight as
he burrowed through the underbrush in a blue and white streak.
I ducked under one last branch and nearly tripped
over Al, who was staring at the small village of grass huts with his mouth hanging
open. I looked up and almost joined him in his total stupefaction. A line of
island Lupes was dancing through the village. Grass paw coverings rustled loudly
as they twisted, and the berries in their grass neck-ruffs were swaying dangerously.
This was most definitely the pattern for the Mystery Island Paintbrush. Heads
turned towards us, and several of them grinned and waved. I didn't reply because
I was too busy trying to figure out when they were going to attack. Al didn't
reply because he still seemed to be in shock about something.
The largest Lupe in the bunch came towards us,
his rear end still swaying rhythmically to the drumbeats. "Hey, strangers, come
join the dance! We've got lots of eats, and you folks could probably use a shower
to freshen up!"
"Sh... shower? Eats?" Al started to come back
to life. "But... aren't you Chief Mukaluk?"
"Hey, I am, and aren't you that little blue
squirt we almost sacrificed last year?"
Al's teeth began to chatter and I backed up a
bit, too. This guy seemed friendly, but that word "sacrifice" had my mane hairs
prickling. "But this is the Hunka-Lunka tribe!" Al wailed. "You're supposed
to be fierce blood-thirsty carnivores!"
Chief Mukaluk blinked. "Hey, take it easy, pal.
Sure, we're carnivores, but we're a bit more civilised about things nowadays."
He winked. "We let our suppliers send us the steaks, and we even have our own
chef prepare them. Man, just wait till you get a toothful of his extra-rare
chops, you'll think you're in Faerieland!"
"But I thought you were imprisoned and being
tortured! Why else would you submit to this sort of indignity?"
Chief Mukaluk began to look at Al rather strangely.
"Are you sure you're feeling all right? Sure, and all, we got ourselves a great
deal going here! Free supplies- or almost free- our own houses, we even have
staff to help keep things clean. Nothing to do but eat, dance, and invite the
other tribes over for dinner."
"But... what happened to the sacrifices? What
happened to the jewellery? What happened to living out in the wild, fighting
for your lives day in and day out?"
Chief Mukaluk curled a lip disdainfully. "Man,
you have got to be kidding me. And give up this?"
"But you threw away generations of history!"
The chief and I both winced. Al seemed to be
gaining in volume as his first fears were proved groundless, only to have another
set take their place. I noticed that even Fluffy decided to take the opportunity
to crawl out of Al's pocket and flee before he wound up deaf as well. Chief
Mukaluk took a deep breath. "Look, ah... what's your name?"
"Al... Al the Lupologist... don't you realise
what you've done? A whole culture has been wiped out, and for what??"
"A bed that doesn't smell like it's made of
dung, a meal that you don't have to run yourself ragged to get, and the ability
to just lay around and loaf or have fun... go back to that old way? Al, Al,
my buddy, you seem like a decent guy, so have a heart!"
"But what happened to your beautiful creations?
Your teeth and claw ornaments were the prize envy of Lupologists all over Neopia,
and now where are they?"
"Ahhh, I'm glad you brought that up! We've got
our own site on the neonet, and you can get some great deals on a two necklace
and armband combo right now...."
"WHAT??? Teeth and claws from your own ancestors,
up for SALE???"
"Good faeries above, of course not! We get the
materials wholesale, and create the designs, then work with the Chias over at
the production plant on how to automate the process. They've got some really
neat things they do with machinery these days, I found out, you wouldn't believe
the...."
Al groaned and bent double. The Chief and I both
looked at him in concern. "It's even worse than I imagined," he sobbed. "Torture
would have been preferable."
The chief rolled his eyes and looked at me. "Hey,
want to look after your pal for a bit? I've got to..."
The sound of shrieks in the village interrupted
our conversation. Even Al looked up as the dancing broke up into a frenzied
milling, with Lupes suddenly bounding high into the air and yelling for all
they were worth.
"Wow, whose funeral?" I asked.
Al flipped on his recorder. "Amazing, perhaps
something of the old ways survived after all. I'm sure I heard those sorts of
chants back among a Lost Desert Lupe pack about the time....."
But the Chief and I had both noticed a pattern
among the jumpers- something was setting them off, much like stirring a kettle
with a spoon leaves waves in the stew. I squinted hard, trying to figure out
just what was happening when I saw a familiar shape go flying through the air.
"...King RutenPaten's burial chambers.... OH
PIFFLE!" Al had seen it too. "FLUFFY! GET OVER HERE!"
Fluffy was writhing desperately, but it's hard
to go anywhere when you're flying through the air like a blue bouncy ball. Chief
Mukaluk ran over and tried to catch him, but Fluffy managed to flip out of his
hands... and into an iron kettle that was bubbling over the fire.
"Nooooo! Fluffy!" Al ran towards the kettle,
but before he could get there Fluffy arced out of the kettle, screaming his
little head off.. I didn't know Cobralls could scream, but this one sure could.
He hit the ground and met Al halfway. "Fluffy! Bad pet! Don't ever do that!"
Al scolded his Cobrall, who curled around his leg and hissed dejectedly.
They were so busy talking to (or at) each other
that they failed to realise that everyone else had fallen dead silent. Al finally
looked up to realise he was the center of sober attention from everyone present.
"Uhmmm... I'm sorry, Chief Mukaluk, it won't happen again. I didn't notice him
getting loose."
The Chief waved Al's apology aside. "You probably
did a few of these Lupes some good, Al. We need a bit of exercise now and then.
It's the stew that I'm worried about."
"Oh... well I don't think he hurt it any....
did he?"
The chief bent over the stew and sniffed closely.
"I don't think so. But the problem is the regulations."
"Reg... regulations?"
"Yep. Everything has to meet cleanliness standards,
it's part of our contract with the authorities. We even have our own health
inspector on staff here to make sure it's all followed."
I wasn't sure whether Al was going to cry again
or just get all bug-eyed. "Health inspector?"
"Uh huh. I'm afraid the only way we can make
sure we comply with the rules is to prove your pet meets our standards."
Fluffy immediately took refuge somewhere up under
Al's lab coat. I didn't blame him. "Uh... what are your standards?" Al finally
managed to ask.
The chief shrugged. "To be honest, I haven't
a clue. We've got another expert to help decide what the standards are. HEY!
SOMEONE TELL INSTY WE GOT A LIVE ONE!"
I sidled up close to Al to help give him some
moral support. He was beginning to look green around the gills. "Hey, don't
worry, it can't be too bad," I murmured.
"I don't know..." he moaned softly. "It doesn't
sound good!"
The crowd parted to let a dapperly dressed Skeith
through. "Ah, Mukaluk, have you got a case for me?"
"Sure do, Insty. Folks, meet Attorney Instyskeith.
He's our lawyer here."
"Law... L...." That did it. Al slumped over
in a dead faint.
"I say," Insty remarked. "I do hope the poor
chap is all right."
I knelt down to feel Al's pulse. "Don't worry,
Mr. Insty," I replied. "Al here is used to more mundane dangers like getting
caught in an avalanche, having huge rocks tossed at him, or being captured by
pirates. I'm afraid he's just not up to a risk that's as bad as an actual real-life
lawyer."
As it turned out, Instyskeith was a real nice
guy. He even suggested a quick way we could satisfy everything. After we'd dumped
all of the stew out and had the kettle cleaned (according to the health specifications)
we still had time to get another batch cooked before sundown. Al was conscious
by then, but we judged him to be suffering from a mild concussion, since he
kept mumbling feverishly something about history being lost in a wave of civilisation.
The End | 
