Broneslav woke to a gaggle of children staring and pointing at him. They were chattering excitedly about the strange warrior and what he would be doing today. After washing and dressing, Broneslav went outside and found more children playing "Broneslavs and headhunters". No one wanted to be a headhunter in this game!
Fano and Ulmut ate breakfast with him and then showed him to a canoe.
"This will be yours. Do you know how to paddle it or should we send someone with you to drop you off on the island? They cannot land, but they could paddle you up to its edge."
"Don't worry. I'll paddle my own canoe," Broneslav assured them. Replete from a hefty breakfast, he loaded his essential gear into the canoe and set off. Paddling across the lake went easily. He was comfortable on the water and enjoyed the ease with which his canoe rode over its surface. As he paddled, he examined the rocky island ahead of him.
Its nearest side was a rocky cliff face. Above that cliff he could make out terraces and vegetation. As he got closer, Broneslav started being able to make out ruins on the terraces and the form of a large structure carved into the cliff face. He was worried that he would have to paddle around the island to find a landing spot, but he soon realised that steps ran down from the temple to the water and that there were a couple of rickety wooden jetties sticking out into the water from the steps. He steered his canoe to the steps and leapt from it onto the steps. With the canoe moored to the rickety jetty, he braced himself for the encounter with the headhunters that must surely come. He knew it must surely come, because around the steps, sticks had been stuck into cracks between the stones and the remains of people's heads adorned those sticks.
Marching up the steps, Broneslav saw the remains of statues flanking his route. Only feet remained of these once great works. Reaching the top, he faced an entrance into the cliff. Red marble pillars held up the remains of a roof that jutted out from the cliffside, and carvings of humans holding braziers flanked the entrance. With only one route in, Broneslav had no choice but to advance through the temple entrance into the hot and humid air within.
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| (1) Location of guards |
Sword in hand, the young warrior stalked forward wary of what he might face. Small creatures scuttled out of his way into the refuse and detritus that had gathered along the walls. Ahead, he could see that larger piles of rubble and rubbish had been placed to narrow the passage. He could make out bright, flickering firelight shining from beyond it. Only a single person could pass throught that gap at a time. Well, he was alone as was his preference, so he boldly stepped into the gap and found himself face to face with four warriors. They threatened him with their spears, but he did not hesitate and leapt forward, only to stumble on loose rubble. Despite this, his wild slashing cut down two of the warriors. The remaining two thrust their spears at our doughty hero. Their spear points skidded off his armour and his counterstrike killed the remaining two grimfaced foes.
Broneslav now had time to focus on the cries of alarm that had arisen from ahead of him. Looking into the massive chamber beyond where the guards had lain in wait for him, Broneslav could see two dozen tribespeople grabbing weapons and preparing to attack him even as a group of children started climbing a rope to a hole in the ceiling. He paused. Could he defeat this many foes?
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