Bunduki (Bunduki Series Book One) (29 page)
Read Bunduki (Bunduki Series Book One) Online
Authors: J.T. Edson
Tags: #tarzan, #jt edson, #bunduki, #dawn drummondclayton, #james allenvale bunduki gunn, #lord greystoke, #new world fantasy, #philip jos farmer, #zillikian
‘
Then our people will have
heard and think we’re dead,’ Dawn gasped.
‘
We have
already informed them that you are alive
,’ the “Supplier” said calmly.
‘Lord Greystoke says that he leaves the decision to you. Will you
go back, or stay here?’
As the ‘Supplier’ dropped back a
couple of steps, Dawn and Bunduki looked at each other. It did not
occur to them that he might have been lying, even with regard to
his having notified their families of what had happened to them.
Any nation, or culture, capable of doing what he had claimed and
clearly could do, would have no difficulty in communicating with
the Greystokes even though they were living in Pellucidar at the
Earth’s core.
Much the same thoughts were running
through Dawn’s and Bunduki’s minds.
Should they accept the offer and
remain on Zillikian?
Except for the absence of the other
members of their family, the planet offered everything that the
girl and the blond giant had so often discussed and wished that
they could find. It was primitive, brutal perhaps, violent
certainly; but completely natural, unspoiled, free from the mental
and physical pollution of Earth and its bitter social
conflicts.
To Bunduki, the prospect of staying
was intriguing. He would be in much the same position of Chief
Warden as he had been in the Ambagasali Wild Life Reserve. Yet here
the task would be so much more complex and interesting. It would be
a challenge and he could never resist a challenge.
Watching her adoptive cousin, although
she was already starting to consider him less in that particular
light, Dawn knew what he was thinking. Almost with bated breath,
she waited to hear his answer. On that depended her
future.
‘
I don’t wish
to influence you, but if you decide to stay, you will be everything
here that Tarzan was on earth,
’ the “Supplier” remarked, after almost a
minute’s silence. ‘And, if you decide to stay, at some time in the
future we could arrange either for you to visit your family, or for
them to come to see you.’
‘
What
about it, Dawn?’ Bunduki asked.
‘
What
do
you
think?’ the girl countered, looking at his handsome if
bruised face.
‘
We
have Joar-Fane and At-Vee to consider,’ the blond giant pointed
out. ‘With his ankle sprained, he can neither travel, hunt nor
protect her adequately. So they’ll be in danger until he’s
recovered. I’m going back to help him.’
‘
Then so am I!’ Dawn stated
firmly and her right hand reached out to take hold of Bunduki’s
left.
When they looked behind them,
the ‘Supplier
’—whoever, or whatever, he might be—was dissolving into
shimmering incandescence and disappeared in the same way that he
had come.
‘
You will not
see me again
,’ came the voice from the fading glow. ‘Nor, while I can
supply certain of your needs, can I render any physical or actual
assistance, What happens now is entirely up to you.’
‘
We
wouldn’t have it any other way,’ Bunduki declared and the girl at
his side nodded her agreement.
Hand in hand, the blond giant and his
beautiful companion walked onwards to their new life.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT WILL BE
TOLD IN BUNDUKI AND DAWN
But the
adventure doesn’t end here …
Join us
for more first-class, action-packed books.
Regular updates feature on our
website
and
blog
The
Adventures continue…
Issuing
new and classic fiction from Yesterday and Today!
More on
J. T. EDSON
i
The arm guard is used to protect the flesh of the inner arm
from the slap of the bow’s string.
ii
Clip point: one where the back of the blade curves to meet
the cutting edge in a concave arc. In the case of Bunduki’s Model
12, the ‘false’, or top cutting edge was five and a quarter inches
in length and as sharp as the main cutting edge.
iii
What happened to James Bowie’s original knife after his
death during the Siege of the Alamo Mission, at San Antonio de
Bexar, Texas, on March 6th, 1836 is told in:
THE QUEST FOR BOWIE’S
BLADE.
iv
Recurved bow: one that is bent back from the straight line
at the end of its limbs.
v
For those who have read Addendum 3 (The Greystoke Lineage)
in fictionist genealogist Philip Jose Farmer’s
TARZAN ALIVE,
to avoid confusion,
the author has transposed the Christian names of Sir John Paul
Clayton and John Armand Drummond-Clayton.
Moran: A member of a Masai or
Samburu war clan.
vii
Simi: East African sword with no guard to the hilt and a
pear-shaped blade.
viii
How they gained their knowledge is told in:
THE SON OF
TARZAN,
by
Edgar Rice Burroughs.
ix
Due to a lack of details when Mr. Commissioner Sanders,
C.M.G. (see the various volumes of biography by Edgar Wallace for
information regarding Sanders of the River s career) told Edgar
Rice Burroughs about Tarzan and, later, in deference to Lord
Greystoke’s wishes
—
to
prevent the
Mangani
from interference and exploitation by human
beings
—
they were described as being giant Anthropoid Apes. Since
they are now extinct, Lord Greystoke has lifted his restrictions
and it can be stated that they were a species of
Australopithecus.
Neither E.R.B. nor Mr. Wallace disclosed the true
identity of the informant, for reasons not unconnected with the
British Government’s Official Secrets Act.
x
Told in:
TARZAN OF THE APES
by Edgar Rice
Burroughs.
xi
Korak ‘The Killer, the Manganis’ name for Sir John
Drummond-Clayton.
xii
The story of David Innes is told in Edgar Rice Burroughs’
‘Pellucidar books and Lord Greystoke’s first visit there is
described in:
TARZAN AT THE EARTH’S CORE.
xiii
Kopje: Afrikaans word meaning a peak.
xiv
Biltong: Afrikaans’ name for sun-dried meat. The Americans
call it ‘jerky’.
xv
Pemmican: A North American Indian food made from buffalo
meat, or venison, which is dried, mixed with
tallow
—
the
harder, coarser of the body’s fats
—
and berries, all pounded and pressed tightly
together to form a cake. Like biltong, or jerky, it is nutritious
and will keep in good condition for a long time without
refrigeration,
xvi
Told in:
TARZAN AND THE GOLDEN LION
by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
xvii
Esmeralda Moreland, Lady Greystoke’s Negress nurse and
maid.
xviii
Due to its Spanish connotations, Texans rarely use the word
‘cinch’.
xix
These included, among others, the Oparians in
THE RETURN OF
TARZAN
and
TARZAN AND THE JEWELS OF OPAR:
the Xujans in
TARZAN THE UNTAMED:
and the various
tribes of
Pal-Ul-Don
in
TARZAN THE TERRIBLE
by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
xx
Captain Hugh ‘Bulldog’ Drummond’s biography is recorded in
the books of H.C. ‘Sapper’ Melville and Gerald Fairlie, although
they were requested not to make any mention of his younger brother
to avoid reprisals against John by Carl Petersen.
xxi
The family ties between Lord Greystoke and the Drummond
brothers are explained in detail by fictionist genealogist Philip
Jose Farmer in:
TARZAN ALIVE.
xxii
At Lord Greystoke’s request and in the interests of
producing a fast-moving story without extensive explanations, Mr.
Burroughs did not reveal John Drummond-Clayton’s exact status when
writing
THE
SON OF TARZAN.
However, permission now having been granted, this has been
clarified in the above mentioned work by Mr. Farmer.
xxiii
Told in:
TARZAN’S QUEST
by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
xxiv
Due to the similarity in their appearances and because the
true status of the
Mangani
had yet to be discovered, it is possible that they were
responsible for most of the reports of gorillas attacking natives
and abducting their women.
xxv
Told in
THE BEASTS OF TARZAN
by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
xxvi
Bunduki later established that they were a transitory stage
between
Australopithecus
and
Homo Erectus Erectus
and not the type of Mangani known to
Tarzan.
xxvii
The immunity offered against archers by their breastplates
was the reason why the Mun-Gatah nation had never bothered to make
use of bows and arrows, even for hunting. The shields of the Masai
in Kenya gave a similar protection from Wa-Kamba or Kikuyu bowmen
so they too took no interest in archery as a means of defense and
attack.
xxviii
Cresting: the bands of color painted for the
purpose of identification around the arrow’s shaft just in front of
the fletching.
xxix
The Marauder and other bows of its kind have fiberglass
limbs and a wooden handle. Earlier ‘composite’ bows were
constructed from layers comprising of combinations of horn, sinew,
strips of leather and springy wood.
xxx
Being dwellers on the open plains, the Mun-Gatah people
were dependent upon their domesticated zebras to such an extent
that their whole culture was based upon the different sub-species
of
Equus
Quagga
that
they bred. The lowest social order rode the
grar-gatah,
which had the striping of a
Grant’s zebra. People of the next grade had the
ocha-gatah,
with the orange and black
stripes of the Burchell’s. While the aristocracy made use of
the
banar-gatah,
that had been developed from the larger Grevys.
Only the six members of the Council of Elders, the High Priest and
the Protectress of the Quagga God had the right to ride a quagga;
its name being onomatopoeic and derived from the animal’s snort of
alarm.
xxxi
Czdkan: a Polish horseman’s war-hammer of the late 16th and
early 17th Centuries.
xxxii
What the ‘putting away’ entailed is told in:
BUNDUKI AND
DAWN.
xxxiii
According to the legends, the Grecian Amazons
maintained their race by having intercourse with men from
neighboring districts. After which, any male children were either
killed or returned to their fathers.
xxxiv
At no time in his twenty-four biographical hooks on the
life of Lord Greystoke does Edgar Rice Burroughs suggest that
Tarzan made use of vines when travelling through the
trees.
xxxv
The languets of the British Army’s 1848 Pattern lance,
which has similar dimensions, were secured by only five
screws.
xxxvi
Details of Mark Counter’s career can be found in various of
the ‘Floating Outfit’ series of biographies by J. T.
Edson.
