Return To Primordial Island by Rick Poldark (read my book .txt) 📕

Peter turned his body sideways, balancing himself on the branch. He looked around. Beneath him the trunk vanished into shadow, but there definitely appeared to be another level.

Jason swung down to another branch and shimmied his way out to where Peter lay on his stomach, his arms wrapped around his petrified branch.

Jason took the flashlight out of his mouth. The taste of metal lingered on his tongue. “Are you okay?”

“I think I broke a rib,” croaked Peter.

“Okay, I’m going to help you.” He looked down, shining his flashlight around. “A couple more branches and there’s a floor. We can make it. We’ll take it one branch at a time.”

Peter’s hands were sweaty. He wiped them on his pants, doing his best to dry them. He didn’t want to slip and fall. It hurt when he inhaled, so he took shallow breaths. His anxiety didn’t help his breathing or his palms.

“There’s a branch right under mine. Do you see it?” Jason shone the light on it.

Peter nodded.

“Good. You’re going to hold onto your branch tight and lower yourself until you’re hanging. I want you to swing across and grab onto me. Wrap your arms and legs around me.”

Peter shook his head. “I…I can’t. Too hard.”

Jason smiled at him. “Nah, you can do it. Just like swinging on the monkey bars at school. You did have a jungle gym at your school, right?”

Peter shook his head. “Not really. I was more of a freeze tag guy.”

Jason’s face fell. “Well, you’re going to do what I said, just how I said it. Grab onto me until your feet touch the branch below and you can steady yourself.”

Peter shook his head. “I can’t. I can’t do it. I’ll fall.”

Jason shook his head. “All right. Forget that. I have a better idea.” He shone his light around beneath Peter. “I want you to hang down.”

“Hang down?” It hurt to talk.

“Yeah, just hold on and hang there. I have an idea.”

“I hang there, and then what?”

“The floor isn’t that far away. It’s actually pretty close.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

Peter nodded and shifted his body weight, sliding off the tree branch. He gripped the rough bark tightly this time and hung from the branch.

Jason looked down at him. “Sorry.”

Peter’s expression was quizzical. “For what?”

Jason fell backwards off his branch, grabbed it with his hands, and swung into Peter, kicking him with both feet. Peter lost his grip and fell inward, landing on the hard ground, narrowly avoiding the hole where the rest of the tree trunk emanated from. He wailed in pain as he felt several of his bones break. His head swam and his ears rang. He closed his eyes, focusing on his orb, harnessing its power to heal himself. He felt his multiple fractures heal and his tissues mend. The pounding headache subsided and the ringing in his ears ceased. When he opened his eyes, Jason was standing over him looking sheepish.

“What the hell was that?” asked Peter, his tone accusatory.

Jason extended a hand. “Let me help you up.”

Peter took it, and Jason helped pull him to standing. Peter brushed himself off. When he saw Jason’s grin, he lost control. He swung and decked his friend.

Jason reeled; his head snapped back. He righted himself, rubbing his jaw. “You pack quite a punch for a nerd.”

“That hurt, you jerk.”

Jason shrugged, smiling. “I had to get you down somehow without you falling into the hole below. I figured you’d heal yourself. No harm, no foul.”

“Yeah, well it still hurt.”

They looked around the cavern they stood in. Jason shone his light around. The tree trunk disappeared into another hole in the floor. It was pitch black inside, and a chilly breeze of stale air wafted out.

Jason swept his light around the cavern. Like the cavern above, this one also appeared to be naturally formed. The river outside likely once flowed through here, carving out the cave system they stood in. He startled when he saw seven-foot tall apes looming in the shadows. His hand went to his knife as he braced himself.

Peter chortled. “They’re statues. They won’t hurt you.”

Jason relaxed. “That’s a relief.” He swept his beam of light across the statues. They lined each side of the cavern and appeared similar. Each wore armor made of bamboo and held a spear pointing straight up, the other end touching the ground. Their mouths hung open, baring sharp canine teeth.

“They look like warriors,” said Peter. He walked up to a statue and touched it. A thick layer of dust came off onto his fingertips. “They’re carved from stone.” He looked down and saw that the spear and right leg of the statue merged with a rectangular base. “Interesting.”

“What’s interesting?”

“As impressive as these statues are, they aren’t able to stand balanced on their own. They had to include a heavy base attached to one leg so the statue wouldn’t tip over.” Peter smiled. “The ancient Greeks were able to carve sculptures that were free-standing, but the Romans never mastered it.”

Jason stared at him, his expression blank.

Peter snickered. “What, you’ve never been to a museum?”

“No, but I can climb a tree.”

A hand reached out for Peter and grasped his shoulder. He jumped out of his skin, shrugging it off and shrinking back toward Jason, who drew his knife.

Jason shone the light directly in the creature’s face and saw two large, black eyes and a flared dewlap. “It’s a damned lizard man! They got here first!”

Peter saw the glint of a crystal ball in the creature’s other hand. “No, wait. It’s okay.”

“The hell it is,” snapped Jason, stepping in front of Peter, brandishing his hunting knife.

Peter stepped in front of Jason. “It’s Ghenga, the one that helped me. The one that told me about this