Hunters of Zarsjata (eBook)

A Classic Pulp Adventure Series, Book 4

Andreas du Plessis (Autor)

Andreas du Plessis (Urheber)

Andreas du Plessis (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
95 Seiten
Pieter Haasbroek (Verlag)
978-1-7764914-0-7 (ISBN)

Infos

They came for diamonds.

But they found dinosaurs.

In a land forgotten by time, survival is the only treasure that matters.

The Congo Basin. International swindler Baron Rossini and his ruthless crew have found the ultimate prize, a prehistoric valley brimming with diamonds. But their greed leads them straight into a nightmare of primeval beasts and warring tribes, leaving them stranded and fighting for their lives.

They are not alone. The legendary Jungle Hawk is on his own desperate mission to rescue a friend from the clutches of the valley's most powerful tribe. To save her, he must unite ancient enemies and face down monsters that walked the earth millions of years ago.

When the treasure hunters' modern firepower clashes with the valley's brutal law of survival, a bloody war erupts. Two worlds collide in a desperate battle where the prize isn't riches, but escape from a land that time forgot.

A fast-paced blend of classic pulp adventure and non-stop thriller action. Perfect for fans of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, James Rollins, and high stakes survival stories.

If you love lost worlds, prehistoric monsters, and heart pounding action, you won't be able to put down Hunters of Zarsjata. Start your adventure today!

Textauszug

Chapter 2

THE BLOODCRY

It was two days after Baron Alberto Rossini and his group found their first diamond that the Jungle Hawk, Alex Kromhout, and Elize Angeli reached the foot of the cliff mass that separates the two parts of the prehistoric valley.

In the shadow of a tree fern, the trio settles down and begins to eat hungrily at the papaya fruits, which are plentiful here. Alex and Elize are tired to death. The hours of struggling, first up the cliffs and then down again, have demanded a lot of their energy and courage. Especially from Alex, who has only been up and about again for the past week or so after he was wounded in the head by his comrade, Peter Couzyn. (read Primeval Valley)

Now they are looking for Mimi Loloberg, former film star, who, it is suspected, was kidnapped by the Sjaloks of Zarsjata, just before the small group was about to make an attempt to escape from the terrible valley.

“Do you think Mimi will still be alive?” There is hesitation in Elize’s voice. Her sun-tanned face is wet with sweat.

The Hawk shrugs his shoulders. The sweat is also glistening on his bare upper body.

“Difficult to say for sure, although we all three hope so.”

Elize sighs. Alex leans more comfortably against the tree trunk. He thinks about that day, about two years ago, when they had to make an emergency landing here in the secluded valley after they ended up in a violent storm.

Then there were eight of them. He, Elize, Mimi, Peter, Aztec Calder, Zato, Paul Rothman, and Jean de la Noy. Zato was torn apart by one of those enormous reptile predators, Paul Rothman slipped when he wanted to clamber up the cliffs, looking for a way out, and fell to his death. Jean de la Noy was carried away and probably devoured by a Pteranodon, one of those feared reptile birds. Aztec Calder escaped from the valley in some unexplained way and found the Jungle Hawk, who immediately came to investigate, and Peter Couzyn went off his head and sought his death... (read Primeval Valley).

Then Mimi disappeared without a trace.

And now they are looking for her. Poor Mimi, thinks Alex, once she had the world at her feet, now no one knows where she is. Perhaps she is already dead...

“Miserable place,” sighs Alex and sticks a piece of papaya fruit in his mouth.

“What are you saying, Alex?” Elize looks at him.

“I’m just saying that this is a miserable place here. Five people have already died... five good friends. Mimi is possibly also dead, and we are probably next soon...”

“Let’s keep up our courage, Alex. The future may not be so dark...”

“Dark?” Alex laughs bitterly. “It is pitch dark, I tell you! Look at what we have to defend ourselves with...” He points dismissively at the bows and arrows. “You can’t even hurt a Tyrannosaurus Rex with them. What do you think will happen if that animal should come down upon us now? What do you think we can do if the Sjaloks were to attack us?”

The Hawk smiles. As he gets up, the muscles roll lightly on his upper body and on his legs.

“Come now, Alex. I don’t recognize you like this, and Elize has also made me understand that you are a real man. None of us are going to lose courage. If Mimi is alive, we will find her, and if it is humanly possible, we will all get out of here.”

Alex is silent. He eats the last piece of the fruit before he also gets up. He smiles wearily. “Okay. I feel better... but the Father knows, that doesn’t exactly make the prospects brighter.”

The Hawk hangs his bow over his shoulder, rolls up his grass rope and hangs it around his neck and shoulder, and wipes his hunting knife clean on a fern leaf. “Let’s move on,” he says.

The trio walks on silently, the Hawk in front, Elize in the middle, and Alex at the very back. They are extremely watchful because they know that the strange monsters that walk this primeval world are almost unstoppable.

They walk into the jungle. Around them grow peculiar tree ferns, giant trees that sometimes reach up to two hundred feet high, unknown shrubs, and various types of grass.

Everywhere, forest streams are murmuring. In places, the ground is smooth, soft, and deceptive. It prompts the Hawk to greater caution. Thick vines, strong enough to bear their weight, hang everywhere from the treetops.

Although the Hawk does not say it, he is worried. If he were alone, he could choose the treetops at the slightest sign of danger. There, he is just as at home and agile as an ape. But unfortunately, Alex and Elize cannot do that.

A sound somewhere in front of them makes the Hawk raise his hand. He immediately sinks down on his haunches behind a low fern shrub and indicates that the others must do the same.

It is quiet again there somewhere in front of them. Not even a twig is cracking. Above them, a primeval bird’s harsh voice screeches. Around them is the soothing sound of flowing water.

“What was that?” whispers Alex, his mouth close to the Hawk’s ear. Elize’s breath is racing. Her one hand that is holding the bow is trembling slightly.

“I don’t know, but there is something in front of us,” answers the Hawk. He pricks up his fine ears again. The bird is still screeching. Far away, the rumbling roar of a large reptile animal can be heard.

Then he hears it again. The light tread of many animals. Hastily he looks around him. Close to him, the dark tree trunks attract him irresistibly. He thinks of Elize and Alex and decides that this is now the only way out. Those animals are definitely coming in this direction. And there must be a lot of them. They could be predators or harmless herbivores.

Whispering, the Hawk indicated to his friends what they should do. Both nodded quietly. They had not yet heard anything because their ears were not as trained as the Jungle Man’s.

The Hawk chose a tree trunk that was fairly easy to climb. He first helped Elize up against it, and then Alex. The trunk, however, was wet and slippery and it took quite a bit of time before both had reached the lowest branches, barely eight feet above the ground. In the meantime, the pattering footsteps of the approaching animals had become much clearer. Alex and Elize could now easily hear them as well.

The Hawk helped them climb even higher. Satisfied that they would be invisible from the ground, the Hawk swung out towards the approaching animals. He did not have to swing far before he encountered the first rider. He was so surprised that he clung to the liana and temporarily forgot all danger.

Because below him he noticed the tall men of Zarsjata on their tusji mounts, those strange lizard animals that walked on their hind legs and almost looked like ostriches without feathers. The short forelegs were drawn tightly against their bodies and their long tails dragged behind them.

The tall riders were dressed in skin garments. Around their necks, copper necklaces sparkled, and copper rings were around their arms and legs. Long copper spears were held in their hands. Broad copper bands were tied around their heads and at the same time kept their long black hair in place.

More and more riders, all fully armed, now became visible between the trees and bushes. The baboon rope on which the Hawk was hanging had in the meantime virtually come to a stop. He hung barely twenty feet above the riders.

A sudden warning cry, in a language that reminded him very much of that of Kajo, son of the Kasjuti chief, in the other part of the valley, tore through the jungle which had been particularly quiet moments before. One of the tall men pointed his slender finger to where the Hawk was hanging. More than a dozen faces, shining with sweat, were lifted upwards. A deathly silence reigned for several moments. Only one tusji snorted. Then loud orders broke loose. The Hawk recognized a word here and there.

“Catch him. He is a Shuer spy!” Tusjis were spurred forward with their heels and spear arms were lifted. Razor-sharp points were pointed at the Hawk. Muscles tensed as the arms of the Zarsjata warriors were drawn back.

The Hawk suddenly realized that he was an extremely easy target, hanging here like this. Hastily, he looked around him. No baboon rope was within his easy reach now. His swing momentum should have carried him over the void into the next tree. Now he was hanging still. He looked upwards, but there too, he saw no way out. Then the first spear was thrown. The Hawk was aware of the approaching point. For a moment, he imagined that it was going to hit him. Then he released his grip and fell like a stone. He was aware of tusjis and tall men with copper bands around their heads and their long, dangerous spears.

A tusji snorted in fright and hurriedly made way, when he landed light-footed on the soft grass carpet just by its slender neck. The Hawk ran a few steps like a baboon on his hands and feet. All around him were legs. There were screams, more from surprise than anything else, but also from fright at this peculiar white man.

Suddenly the world was open in front of the Hawk. He did not think and he did not look around either. He just ran towards the nearest tree. As he ran, he feared that a spear would pierce his back at any moment. He slipped on the damp ground and plowed nose-first into a small stream of water. Immediately he jumped up again and struggled to try and get the water and mud out of his face. He ran on.

Meanwhile, the tribesmen had recovered from their worst surprise, had spurred their mounts into action, and were now chasing after him screaming.

In front of the Hawk was a black trunk. He jumped, grabbed a branch, swung around the branch in one movement, pushed his feet...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 22.9.2025
• Reihe/Serie: Jungle Hawk
• Illustrationen: Andreas du Plessis
• Mitarbeit: Zusammenstellung: Andreas du Plessis
• Übersetzer: Andreas du Plessis
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Science Fiction
• Schlagworte: Action and suspense • eBook • eBooks • English Adventure • Hawk • hunters of zarsjata • Jungle • jungle hawk • jungle hero series • lost city in Africa • Pulp Fiction Thriller • series • Stories • tarzan-type survival
• ISBN-10: 1-7764914-0-8 / 1776491408
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7764914-0-7 / 9781776491407