After crafting a prequel dealing with Euryale Ellis from “The Return of the Gorgon” earlier in this volume, Matthew Dennion offers here yet another prequel, or rather two prequels, dealing with Gurrhu, the terrifying protagonist from “The Iron Temple.” Gurrhu is the last descendent of the Crickenwells, a dynasty of British explorers, twisted physically and mentally beyond recognition by a lost race of jungle dwellers. These two stories take place at the end of the 1920s, a year or so apart...

 

Matthew Dennion: A Dark Reflection

(A first prequel to The Iron Temple)

 

 

The morning sun broke through the open window of the ancient temple. A massive hairy claw reached up and wiped a pool of sweat from a bulbous forehead. Gurrhu lifted his gargantuan body from his bed and sighed at the constant humidity of the rainforest. He waddled over to his calendar and a grin of saw-like teeth formed across his face. He would have entertainment today. The time had come for one of the natives to brave the wrath of Naga.

Gurrhu was still smiling from the realization of a struggle with Naga when one of the natives entered his room. The native bowed before the hellish monster and waited for Gurrhu to address him. Gurrhu waited a moment before speaking to what he considered to be a lesser being.

“Speak, slave, and inform your master of the news that has brought you here.”

The native continued to look toward the ground.

“Master, the party returns from the trading post with the latest supplies you have requested.”

Gurrhu smiled, thinking to himself that the outlook of his day was going to be even better than he had originally thought.

“Excellent! Inform me when the canoes have been unloaded. While I am waiting, send in a slave girl with my morning meal.”

“Ma…Master.,” stuttered the native, “the canoes have already been unloaded but there is something else. An outsider has accompanied the crew back from the trading post.”

Gurrhu spun around in anger.

“What! An outsider here! Who is this man?”

The volume of the native’s voice rose slightly.

“He is a bronze giant. He claims to be a doctor of some kind.”

Gurrhu slammed his fist into the floor in front of the native.

“Have this outsider taken to my throne room. Wake my brother as well, and have him meet me there. We will see this outsider and judge him for ourselves.”

 

An hour later, Gurrhu and his larger, even more grotesquely deformed brother, met in the hallway adjacent to the throne room.

“Let me speak to this man,” Gurrhu said to his elder brother. “By my speaking to him, we can portray you as the king of this temple and me as your mouth piece.”

Gurrhu’s brother nodded and the two of them made their way into the throne room. Gurrhu feared his brother’s physical might and, as such, had long ago decided to let him feel he was the superior of the two. Gurrhu was content to use his superior intelligence to manipulate his brother to his ends without his sibling’s knowledge.

Gurrhu stopped for a moment when he saw the throne room. Almost all of the natives in the kingdom had gathered to see the stranger. He was an imposing physical specimen. The native’s description had been accurate. The young man stood nearly six and half feet tall; he was covered in muscles and had the build of an athlete. His skin was the color of a bronze statue.

The young man looked at Gurrhu and his brother with no apparent shock with respect to their appearance. He was clearly accustomed to dealing with the unusual. Gurrhu inhaled deeply as a suspicion to the man’s identity immediately crept into his mind. While his brother wedged his massive body into his throne, Gurrhu slid down the steps to the throne room floor. He spoke to the man in English in an attempt to confirm his suspicions:

“Stranger, I am Gurrhu and this is my brother. We rule this land. Who are you and why have you come here?”

The giant stepped forward.

“I am Doctor Francis Ardan. I come here as a friend. I have recently become interested in the numerous companies owned by my father. I began researching some of them. When I found orders for advanced technological devices being sent to a remote trading post in the Amazon, I decided that I should investigate. The technology which was ordered could potentially be used to create dangerous weapons. I was surprised to see a group natives retrieve the shipment and learned that they were taking it further upriver to their master. I asked the natives to accompany them in order to learn the identity of said master and see what he could be using this technology for.”

Gurrhu heard the natives talking amongst themselves about the promised return of the gods. He knew that these natives still held to their ancient beliefs. He also knew that hope was a dangerous thing amongst a group of oppressed people, and the Bronze Man was exactly the type of person who could give them hope. Gurrhu quickly acted to remove Adran’s audience.

“Doctor Ardan, you are known to me. If what I have read about you is true, we have much in common. Come with me and let me give you a tour of this kingdom. Then, we can discuss the technology you have mentioned.”

As Gurrhu and his brother exited the throne room with Ardan, the monster turned and nodded to half a dozen of his personal guards to follow him.

When the group entered the corridor, Gurrhu turned to Ardan.

“To answer some of your questions, despite our outward appearances, I like to think that my brother and I are some of the greatest scientific minds in the world. Generations ago, our ancestors came to this land of displaced Aztecs, and, through their enhanced intellectual and physical abilities, took control of the natives.”

Gurrhu directed Ardan’s attention to the series of stone temples which comprised his kingdom.

“These temples are replicas of those found at Tenochtitlan. Even the river itself has been diverted to create the same massive lake which surrounds this kingdom, just as Lake Texcoco once surrounded Tenochtitlan.”

Gurrhu pointed to a large dam outside of the window.

“That dam keeps a portion of the river trapped, thus creating our lake while simultaneously preventing the rest of the river from flooding the lower portions of our temples.”

Gurrhu waited for Ardan to respond to what he was saying but the young explorer continued to remain silent. Gurrhu continued:

“All of these temples are built on large stores of gold. The natives mine it for us and we, in turn, use it to purchase the technology provided by your family and other companies to conduct our experiments. As I mentioned, my brother and I are among the finest scientific minds in the world. We have created a great many machines and made numerous biological advances here, but the jungle only provides so much. When the trading post opened, we began gathering newspapers and journals from the store. Through these, we were able to order some of the technology we need to carry out our studies. Until now, no one has questioned what we have ordered.”

Gurrhu paused for a moment, and asked:

“Would you like to see our laboratory Doctor Ardan?”

“Yes, I would very much like to see what my family’s technology has been used to build.”

As the group continued walking toward the laboratory, Gurrhu took the opportunity to learn more about the newcomer:

“Doctor, is what I have read about your upbringing true? Has your father had you trained since birth with masters of various disciplines in order for you to become some kind of superman?”

“Yes, my father had me trained to achieve his vision for me.”

 “I sense some hostility in your voice,” said Gurrhu. “You were perhaps not on good terms with your father. Is this the reason you have rejected his name?”

Ardan took a deep breath.

“I am known by different names throughout the world. Gurrhu, if we could please make our way to your laboratory. I would very much like to see what you have been constructing. If my calculations are correct, you may even have the materials to create a flying machine.”

“Your reputation does you credit, Doctor. There are few people in the world that could look at the materials we ordered and recognize their potential.”

He stopped, opened a door, and then directed the group down a flight of stairs.

“Please, Doctor, enter the laboratory and see how we are changing the world.”

They descended the stairs to the laboratory below. Gurrhu led the group past numerous advanced guns and cannons, wireless communication and surveillance systems, and gigantic cages containing snakes, crocodiles and jaguars of various sizes. He did not explain the uses of all of the apparatuses. He knew Ardan’s keen mind was capable of deciphering what their capabilities were. When he came to biological specimens, Gurrhu stopped and made his proposal:

“Doctor Ardan, you can see that with your family’s technology, we have made greater strides in numerous scientific fields than even you could have imagined. You say that you have come here seeking to learn about your family’s fortunes and business. A noble quest—knowledge is the greatest of all treasures, is it not?”

Ardan made no reply as Gurrhu continued his soliloquy:

“Your father’s interests in this area extend far beyond simply selling technology. I offer you knowledge of your father’s activities in the area, and a far greater understanding of your family’s power than you have ever dreamed. In return, I ask only that you utilize that knowledge to take control of what is rightfully yours. When you have seized control of your father’s secret, between the three of us we will control the Amazon. With the discoveries my brother and I have made, we can assure that whoever controls this continent can control the world!”

Ardan remained silent for moment and then pointed to the cages and the monstrous animals.

“You still have not told me why you are keeping these animals?”

“Those in power need instruments through which to keep their power. These animals are the means through which we keep the native population under our control.”

Ardan placed his hand on one of the cages.

“I see. You use the animals to hunt down any of the natives who attempt to incite and uprising against you?”

 “We are much more proactive than that, Doctor,” laughed Gurrhu. “The natives still believe in ghosts and demons. We use a few well-placed samples of the beasts to act as deities. We then regularly sacrifice some of the natives to these animals under the guise of placating their gods. They believe that we are high priests and that we are able to bring the animals of their gods to Earth. Their own superstitions provide us the means to keep them docile. Now, what do you think of our offer?”

Ardan removed his hand for the cage.

“I think that you have received enough support from my family already. I was afraid that our technology was being used by some crime lord to carry out illegal activities here in South America. Instead, I have found something much worse: a pair of power-mad despots forcing people to live as slaves. I also think that these people need someone to show them what charlatans you truly are. I plan to free them from your tyranny and teach them how to live as free men and women.”

Gurrhu said something in the native’s tongue and the group of guards accompanying them attacked Ardan. The explorer moved like lighting. He punched the lead native in the jaw, rendering him unconscious. A kick to the midsection of a second guard sent him flying back into two of his comrades, knocking all three of them to the ground. Ardan then grabbed the final guard and tossed him across the laboratory. But suddenly, he felt something wrap around his arms, legs and neck. It was Gurrhu’s brother who was using his tentacle like appendages to subdue him and force him down to his knees.

Gurrhu knelt down and stared into Ardan’s golden eyes.

“Why, Doctor? Why would you reject my offer? Do you not see that ruling is our destiny? We are the same, you and us. Our families have pushed our minds and bodies to the limit. Ours, through years of selective breeding; yours, through the inhuman training your father caused you to endure. We are the pinnacle of the human race. Through natural selection nature demands that we should rule those who are lesser than us!” (Gurrhu extended his hand.) “Come, brother, join us in fulfilling our destiny.”

Ardan stared coldly back at the misshapen madman.

“I am nothing like you. I may have concerns about my father, but his vision for my abilities was accurate. The human race has become the dominant species on the planet because those of us with gifts have helped lift our fellow man to greater heights than they could have achieved without our help. You, your brother, and countless generations of your ancestors had the opportunity and the means to help these natives achieve the next step in their development as a civilization. Instead, you chose to rule over them like cruel gods.” (Ardan slowly shook his head.) “We are nothing alike. I aspire to dedicate my life to helping my fellow man, where as you seek only to indulge yourself in the base pleasures of this world.”

“You think to judge me” screamed Gurrhu. “You to whom fortune has given the visage of an Adonis! Your path in life would not be so altruistic if you were deformed like us.”

“Blaming your moral failings on your physical appearance is a poor excuse,” shrugged Ardan. “During the Great War, I met another man whose body was shaped like that of an ape. Yet, despite his appearance, he used his intelligence to become one of the greatest chemists in the world, and, during the war, proved himself to care for his fellow man far more than himself. You suggest that I should pity you because of your physical appearance. I do pity you, but not for the way you look. I pity you for the way that you have wasted your talents on subjugating innocent people to your will instead of becoming a true leader of men.”

Gurrhu motioned for his brother to tighten his grip around Ardan’s neck.

“I grow tired of this debate. Let me show you first-hand how we use our gifts to rule over these natives.”

When Ardan had passed out, Gurrhu turned to the slowly reviving native guards and spoke to them in their own language.

“The time has come for Naga to receive his next sacrifice. Take the stranger and place him on the sacrificial platform.”

 

Half an hour later, Ardan awoke to find himself standing on top of a small platform in the middle of the artificial lake that surrounded the temples of Gurrhu’s kingdom. As he looked around, he could see every native in the city watching him from the walls and windows of the temples. On a balcony, several stories above him, he saw Gurrhu and his brother staring down at him. Gurrhu laughed and then addressed Ardan in English:

“I will speak to you in a language only you will understand. It is ironic that you should have sought to free these people from my thrall, because they saw you as one of their gods returned from distant lands to save them. Now, here, in their gathered masses, they shall see that we are their only true gods!”

When Gurrhu started speaking, Ardan fell to his knees and began taking long deep breaths of air.

Gurrhu laughed once more.

“It is too late to beg for mercy, Ardan. You have chosen to ally yourself with these savages and now you shall die as a one of them. You saw some of the experiments we are working on in the laboratory. The greatest of them all is swimming in the water beyond the gate, to your right. It is a giant anaconda, nearly 50 feet in length, who we affectionately named Naga. We have bred it through several generations using only the largest and most aggressive snakes. Its ancestry combined with growth hormones have made it quite formidable. I told you that we regularly make sacrifices to these creatures as a display of our power. Prepare yourself to be the next sacrifice to Naga in honor of Gurrhu!”

Gurrhu signaled to a native who was standing near a gate at the water’s edge. The native opened the gate and something large swam through and into the lake.

When Gurrhu had finished his speech, Ardan was still on his knees, taking long deep breaths. He was employing a method of saturating his lungs with oxygen he had learned from the pearl divers of Tahiti. Through it, he would be able to hold his breath for much longer than any normal human.

As he took his last, deep breath, Naga, the monstrous snake, slithered onto the platform. When he sensed the beast behind him, Ardan lifted his arms into the air and let his body go limp. The snake quickly coiled its body around the adventurer and dragged him into the water.

Doc had suspected that Gurrhu would attempt to sacrifice him to one of the monsters he had created. Given the animals he had seen, and that he was stranded in the middle of a lake, he had suspected the most likely method of attack would be to attempt to drown him. He had prepared for this by soaking his lungs with oxygen in order to increase the amount of time he could stay underwater.

Once Gurrhu announced it was constrictor snake that would be attacking him, Ardan used his knowledge of animals to initiate the next step in his defense. He knew that the more a constrictor’s prey struggles, the tighter its grip becomes. By letting his body go limp, he avoided having the snake attempt to crush him, and by placing his arms above his head, he had also retained the use of his hands.

With his lungs charged with oxygen, Ardan waited patiently for Naga to take him to the bottom of the lake. When the snake reached the muddy bottom, it began to drag the young explorer through the murk. With his hands free, Ardan used his fingers to probe for the object he so desperately needed. Finally, his fingers came across a jagged stone, he grabbed it quickly and then used it to slice into the beast’s skin. He cut deep but the monster’s grip only increased. Instead of continually stabbing the reptile, Ardan plunged his hands into the open wound he had created and dug into the snake until he’d found something solid. Ardan placed both of his hands around Naga’s spine and, with strength that defied explanation, he snapped it in two. The lower half of the snake went limp and released the adventurer as half of its body was now paralyzed.

Ardan swam to the surface, broke the water, exhaled the air in his lungs, and took in a mouthful of fresh oxygen. He then swam over to the platform to rest for a moment. He had no sooner reached it than Naga burst out of the water and landed next to him. It seemed that the upper half of the snake, which was not paralyzed, had not given up on its meal. Ardan had expected the beast to continue its attack and had planned to vanquish it in full view of the natives. Slaying the serpent in front of them would show that Naga was not a divine creature, but just an animal.

The snake slithered toward the adventurer, but, with its lower body not responding, its movements were awkward and clumsy. Ardan reached down and wrapped his hands around it, just below its head. With one quick snap, he broke the snake’s spine a second time, ending its wretched existence.

Ardan dropped the dead serpent and then turned toward Gurrhu and his brother. Both of the despots had looks of utter disbelief spread across their faces.

The adventurer then looked at the gathered natives. As much as he wanted to free them from the two brothers, he knew that a people could only be freed when they are willing to be freed. He could see in the looks of their faces that he had dealt a blow to their beliefs in the two brothers, but no more. He resigned himself to the fact that they were not yet ready to be rid of Gurrhu, whose family they had regarded as gods.

Ardan now turned his attention toward the dam which held the lake in place and prevented the Amazon from flooding the lower portions of the city. He dived into the water and began swimming toward it. He thought that, even if he could not free these people, he could at least stop them from making their barbaric sacrifices.

Ardan had studied the dam when he had first entered the city. It was comprised of a series of large trees lashed together. He reached it and climbed on top of it. Next, he bent down and placed his hands on two trees lashed together at the center of the dam. Then, he pushed one tree forward while pulling the other backwards. His muscles flexed as strength flowed through his arms. Slowly, the two trees began to move away from each other and stress the bindings that lashed them together.

From his balcony, Gurrhu watched Ardan strain against the dam itself. He shook his head in disbelief as two of the trees which comprised the dam began to separate. The monster sprang to his feet and screamed at his brother:

“He is going to flood the lower regions of the city!”

Gurrhu rushed from the balcony and down towards his laboratory.

On top of the dam, Ardan continued to exert pressure on the two central pillars until they finally broke apart. The Amazon began pouring through the newly-opened hole. The force of the river quickly tore the remaining parts of the dam to pieces. Ardan jumped onto the shoreline where the natives had docked their canoes. He could see that they were all still safely perched on the temples. None of them would lose their lives to the flood which was now ravaging the lower portions of the city. The only casualties would be Gurrhu’s laboratory and the horrible monsters he was creating there.

 

As Gurrhu ran through the hallways, the water from the river rushed past his feet and down into the lower levels of the city. When he entered his laboratory, the water had already filled half of the room. His monsters were drowning in their cages. He sighed as he realized that it would take years to cultivate a replacement for the deceased Naga. In a panic, he scanned his laboratory, hoping to find something that he could salvage from the rising water. To his left, he saw the flying machine he had been constructing. He grabbed it, lifted it above his head, and carried it to the upper floors of the temple.

 

Ardan stood on the river bank and watched as the river slowly settled back into place. Satisfied that he had destroyed Gurrhu’s power base, he entered one of the canoes and began paddling back down stream. As he paddled down the river, a myriad of thoughts crossed his mind. He decided that he would return to the United States and discuss with his father suspending shipments of technology to the trading post through which Gurrhu had been placing his orders. He would see if there was any truth to Gurrhu’s claims of his father having holdings in the area. Lastly, he made a vow to return to the lost city within a year’s time to see if the natives were ready to be freed from Gurrhu and his brother’s reign. If, at that time, the natives had rejected their rule, then he would help them overthrow the despots. With his path clearly set in his mind. Ardan focused on reaching the next outpost before night fell on the river.

 

With a final effort, Gurrhu forced his flying machine up the last set of stairs and into the main floors of the throne room. His brother was sitting on his throne with a displeased look on his face. Gurrhu shifted his gaze to the throne room floor. The room was filled with natives of the city and, for the first time, Gurrhu could see that they were looking at him in a different way. For the first time, they were looking at him without fear in their eyes.

As Gurrhu realized that the natives no longer feared him, a cold shiver ran down his spine. He was not sure if his brother understood what had occurred, but Gurrhu knew that their days of ruling the natives were coming to an end.

With this thought in mind, he dragged his flying machine to his personal quarters and started working on his method of escape from the city.