Tyranny of Steel

Hours had passed since Berengar and Tlexictli fell over the cliff's edge. Lying on the riverbed was the young German Emperor who awoke from his unconscious state with a sore head and a damp body. His first instinct was to look around him and survey his surroundings. The moment he finally gained clarity, he realized he was alone in the jungle, with nothing but his sword and a few loose bullets to keep him company. 

After coming to this realization, he desperately searched for his compass, which he immediately realized was missing. It must have fallen out of his pouch when he was tumbling down the cliff, or so he thought. Berengar groaned as he stretched his legs, and rose from the riverbed, stretching his sore body to ensure that everything was still functional.

After confirming that he was miraculously uninjured, Berengar gazed off into the distance. Large wooded cliffs and a relatively narrow river surrounded him. Aside from that, all he could see was a waterfall in the distance. A single thought escaped his lips as he realized the precarious situation he was in.

"I am so fucked..."

He had only one hope: find the woman he had fallen off the cliff with, and coerce her to lead him back to his camp. Unfortunately, she was not within his immediate vicinity, and it was entirely possible that she flowed down a different path in the river. With only one immediate landmark visible to him, Berengar headed to spring below the waterfall, hoping to find something of value. 

Berengar marched for several hundred yards on the edges of the unknown river before arriving hat his destination, it appeared that God favored him. For the moment he approached the pond, he spotted the woman he had been chasing. There was visible pain on the woman's pretty face as she stretched her ankle and grunted in agony.

Berengar took a moment to thoroughly examine the native beauty. She was young, not even in her mid-twenties, and she had short brown hair in a style similar to a bob. She had an athletic frame which was stacked with muscle, with a defined six pack. Evidently, she spent a large amount of time engaging in physical fitness. Which was not surprising when he considered the fact that she was an Aztec jaguar warrior.

Other noticeable features were the red war paint that adorned her face and body. Which concealed her bare breast. If Berengar had to guess, she was sporting C cups, which were just the right size, in his opinion, for a fit woman like her.

He nodded his head in approval of the woman's beauty. Not everyone could understand the appeal of fit women, but he was a man of culture and truly appreciated the hard work this native girl had put into her health. 

After a while, the woman noticed Berengar examining her and flushed with embarrassment before grabbing hold of her obsidian hatchet and attempting to charge at him. Unfortunately, she had severely sprained her ankle during the fall and was in no condition to fight. Thus she collapsed into the river, glistening her already damp tan skin with water. 

Berengar noted this and chuckled before helping the woman out of the river. The first thing he did was confiscate her weapon her, which she immediately reacted to, struggling to gain possession of her obsidian ax. However, Berengar was stronger, and swifter, thus he easily secured the weapon in his personage. He simply could not risk the woman being armed during negotiations.

After all, she was his only guide out of this foreign territory. However, coercing her into assisting him would take all of his charm, especially when one considered they could not communicate with one another through language. 

The woman struggled out of Berengar's grip and tried to punch him. However, Berengar was obviously stronger, and merely wrestled her to the ground while pinning her arms to the sandy floor. There was simply nothing she could do other than avert her gaze and bite her lips as she feared the worst treatment by her captor. 

Berengar did not take the bait, and instead continued to hold her until she relented to his control. After several minutes of struggle, the woman looked up at him in shock, stunned by the fact that he did not rape her. Berengar noticed her confusion and merely responded by whispering in her ears.

"Are you going to behave now?"

Though Tlexictli could not understand what the strange one eyed man was saying, she knew it was not hostile by the tone of his voice, and if anything it was playful. Thus, there was a confused expression on her face as she tried to communicate with this stranger from the east.

"You're not going to claim my virtue?"

Berengar did not know what the woman was saying, but he could tell by the tone of her voice it was a question. Thus, he took the safe route and assumed she was asking whether he would kill her. Thus, he shook his head in response. His actions confused the woman, as rape was a common consequence of war, and she expected this golden-haired man to force himself on her after achieving his victory. 

Upon seeing the confusion on her face, Berengar released his control and lifted his hands in a non-threatening gesture, communicating with body language the need for cooperation. He achieved this by pointing to her ankle, then pointing to the cliff above. Emphasizing that she could not make the trek herself. He then pointed to himself and his surroundings while shaking his head. 

"You can not walk, and I do not know where I am. Only together can we escape this pit alive. So, shall we work together to overcome our current predicament?" 

After several failed attempts, Berengar managed to successfully convey his thoughts, leaving the woman to ponder on the proposition. She knew it was her best option for survival, but if she led this man to safety, he would surely keep her as his captive. Preventing her from warning her people about the strange invaders that had entered her father's lands. 

However, if she did not accept his proposition, she would die here long before she recovered from her injury. It all came down to what was a worse fate, captivity, or death. If she were to judge by how her own people treated captives, then she would surely choose death.Do you want to read more chapters? Come to p a n d a - n o v e l,c o m

However, this man had already showed his unwillingness to harm her, and considering the possibility that he might be the envoy of the feathered serpent, or gods forbid the deity Quetzalcoatl in the flesh, then perhaps risking captivity might be worth it. 

Thus, after careful consideration, Tlexictli nodded her head, and motioned for Berengar to carry her up the cliff, a task the German Emperor was well prepared to take. Berengar immediately lifted the girl up into a piggyback position and instructed her to form a body triangle around him, securing her grip over him and freeing his hands for climbing. 

He had to fight every instinct he had of freeing himself from such a secure grip, and instead pursue his path out of the narrow river valley. The strength that this golden-haired man exuded as he carried not only his own bodyweight but hers as well impressed the Aztec Princess.

Berengar climbed up the cliff side as if he were a seasoned rock climber, never looking down, and never fumbling. A single mistake would surely mean their deaths, and despite this pressure, he continued upward into the sky until he reached the ledge. 

With all the strength in his body, Berengar latched hold of the cliff edge and pulled himself and Tlexictli onto the plateau above. Sweat had accumulated across his body, and he breathed heavily as he unfastened his collar and medals, pulling open his hussar's tunic while showing off his glistening pale pecs. 

Upon seeing this, Tlexictli realized where his strength came from. It turned out this man was every bit as a warrior as her comrades who he had slain, and was not merely relying on the mystical powers of thunder to achieve victory. 

As the two rested on the ledge above, a pair of jewel-like eyes gazed upon the duo from the distance. Hidden within the woods was the figure of a woman whose face was obscured by a bird headdress. This strange woman smirked as she gazed upon the duo's escape from the river valley. Unknowingly to Berengar, she praised him and his efforts as she spoke in a long forgotten language.

"Impressive... I see now why they have chosen him... I look forward to playing with the boy emperor when he enters the ancient city..."

After saying this, the woman vanished into thin air, as if she had never existed to begin with. In her place, a dense fog dispersed and filled the area. Berengar and  Tlexictli gazed in shock, entirely unaware that a supernatural presence was responsible for the sudden turn of the weather.  It would appear their ability to navigate through the dense jungle had become a troublesome matter.