Jungle Vampire: An Awfully Beastly Business by The Beastly Boys

Author:The Beastly Boys [Boys, The Beastly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781847387158
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Climbing high up the cliff steps, Ulf could see out over the jungle, all the way back to the Maripossa Mountains. The sun was setting and the horns of Manchay were tinted red in the evening light. He’d travelled a long way, he realised.

As he reached the trees at the top of the cliff, the steps became shallower, turning into a stone path that sloped up into jungle.

Ulf stopped and stared in astonishment, seeing large stone statues lining either side of the pathway. Each was of a beast, huge and chiselled with cold stone eyes. He stepped slowly forwards, passing a statue of a spined mammoth, then a four-legged fish. He passed a statue of a gorillax and one of a scorpius. In the dim light he saw more up ahead: the warty face of a giant toad, a long-beaked razorbird and others with huge wings, hooked claws and horned heads.

Tiana came zooming over his shoulder. ‘Wow, look at all these,’ she said, sparkling.

Ulf turned, hearing Orson’s heavy boots coming up the steps. The giant peered through the trees. ‘Blimey,’ he said.

Dr Fielding stepped out from behind him and saw the lines of statues. ‘How extraordinary,’ she said. She trod slowly along the gloomy path, glancing at each statue in turn.

Orson was waiting for Hurricane Stoat to make his way up the steps. ‘Get your camera ready,’ the giant said. ‘You’re going to love this.’

Hurricane Stoat came puffing through the trees. His rucksack was slung over his shoulder and he was fanning himself with his hat. ‘I . counted . over . six . hundred . steps.’ He saw the large beasts either side of him. ‘Run for your lives!’ he cried.

Orson took hold of his arm. ‘There’s no need to be afraid, Mr Stoat. They’re only statues.’

Hurricane Stoat glanced around the gloomy jungle path, checking more closely. ‘Yes, well. It’s hard to tell in this light,’ he said, embarrassed.

‘What is this place, Dr Fielding?’ Ulf asked.

‘It looks to me like some kind of processional route,’ she replied. ‘Whatever it is, it must have been an important place for the tribe to have built these statues.’

Ulf followed her up the path past a statue of a hydra with eight stone heads then past a throttle-neck serpent coiled around a crocodon. In the dim light, the stone beasts looked almost real.

There was a flash of light. Ulf looked back and saw Hurricane Stoat taking photographs. Orson was leaning against the statue of the gorillax with his elbow on its shoulder, smiling.

‘That’ll be a superb picture,’ Hurricane Stoat said.

Orson stepped beside Ulf. ‘Will you take one of me and Ulf together?’ he asked.

Hurricane Stoat clicked his camera, photographing the two of them beside a stone walrotter.

‘What are all these beasts, Orson?’ Ulf asked. There were many he didn’t recognise.

‘They’re all jungle beasts, Ulf,’ the giant said. He pointed up the path to a statue of a clawed lizard. ‘That’s a crane-claw. They’re extinct now.’

Suddenly Ulf heard a loud cry from behind him: ‘Help!’

He looked back.

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