Noah Layton [Layton - Tribe Master

Tribe Master

A Fantasy Harem Adventure

Noah Layton

Copyright 2019 Noah Layton

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Contents

Chapter One

Did it work? Can you hear me?

My eyes flickered open, adjusting painfully to the white light that surrounded me.

I looked down at where my body should have been but found nothing. I was just a pair of eyes floating in nothingness.

I racked my brain, trying to remember what had happened.

It was a regular test-run with the J-17. Clear skies, the beating sun over the desert, but there was something else too.

A force had interfered with my onboard equipment. An anomaly had appeared just ahead. A distortion in the air that had almost pixelated my vision.

I clenched my eyes shut hard before opening them again.

Out of nowhere a figure had suddenly appeared. He was floating in the whiteness right before me; brown hair flooded in endless droves down his head and around his jaw, wide alert eyes that were also paradoxically exhausted, and dirty leather clothes that hung from his lean, skinny figure in vast heaps of rags.

Am I dead? I spoke the words, surprised to hear them at all considering my total lack of a body. Youre not God, are you?

God? His voice was no more than a croaking squawk. It was as if he hadnt spoken in years. I am no such thing.

Then what is this?

I havent got much time. Are you worthy?

Am I worthy? Worthy of what?

Bah! He yelped suddenly, his voice echoing all around me. He looked around frantically and dragged his dirty hands over his bearded face, clawing at his skin with his overgrown nails. There is no time! I should not even be here. You must do the land justice. Grow and nurture. Do not butcher and destroy. Good luck, young master.

His body collapsed into dust, drifting into the whiteness on the back of a gust of untraceable wind.

Shit.

Okay What happens now?

Suddenly I was falling. I didnt even have a body yet I could feel my stomach ascending into my chest and churning into my lungs like some pulpy cocktail at a dive bar.

Crunch .

With a single blink the world and my body reappeared. I was latched into my parachute, which itself was hanging from a branch twenty feet off the ground, my own legs dangling from ten.

I must have bailed out of my jet and passed out in the drop. It was a miracle that I wasnt dead.

But then how the hell had I ended up in a freaking jungle? There were no patches of trees like this anywhere near the airbase in Nevada, not for hundreds of miles at the least.

This was no Oregon forest caked in snow. It was just as humid as the desert. The sun beat down through the trees mercilessly in protruding rays, lighting up the spectrum of colors that occupied this place.

Where the hell am I?

I checked myself over for injuries. Aside from the bruising the parachute straps had caused around my shoulders I was fine.

I undid the clips and held one side in place before lowering myself down as far as I could. I released and took the drop, landing easily in the undergrowth.

It didnt take long for me to remember my training stop, think, observe and plan.

I had no idea where I was in the slightest. Logically I had to be somewhere near the base because there was no way that I could have travelled a thousand miles south and into the Amazon.

The problem was, of course, that I knew what I was seeing. This was a dense, tropical forest. I aint in Kansas anymore, Toto.

My plan of action should have been clear find the wreckage of my jet, locate a signal and set off the emergency beacon. That was off the cards instantly, though; I had no way to find the jet. The smoke would have stopped billowing long ago.

Apart from my flight suit and my boots, I only had two things on my person. The first was the Glock .11 holstered against my left side. There were 13 rounds in the clip I had only ever pulled the trigger on the firing range.

The other was the chain around my neck and the solid silver locket at the end of it.

The gun would be useful if I ran into anybody unfavourable, but it wouldnt get me rescued.

I had to find a clearing or running water or both. Most running bodies of water flow through some civilised area, but before I even sought out rescue I had to find a source of hydration.

My forehead was already beaded with sweat. I pulled the top of my suit down over my white vest and tied it at the waist, exposing my muscular arms and broad shoulders.

I set off through the forest at a sharp but careful pace. I had to be wary of exhausting myself too quickly.

The trees were thick and the undergrowth thicker, although occasionally I stumbled onto a carved path through the jungle that would run on for several hundred yards before vanishing.

I dont know what it was that possessed me to travel in the direction I was going. The sun could direct me, if only I could see it, but the branches remained thick, and with no inclination as to how long I had been unconscious, I couldnt tell if midday had yet passed.

Eventually the treeline thinned out and I stumbled into a gigantic clearing. The clearing was circular and filled with stalks of corn and overgrown grass that rose to my waist.

In the centre of the clearing was a gigantic tree unlike any I had seen before. It rose more than twenty yards, stretching towards the sky with a myriad of spindly branches littered with huge, palm-sized leaves. An elaborate spiral staircase composed of carved wood ran around the huge trunk, leading into the unseen reaches of the tree.

What the hell is this place? I muttered to myself, looking about the empty clearing. Peeking upwards I saw the sun at its perfect peak. I wouldnt be able to determine east and west for a little while, and I needed to seek out some shelter.

I headed across the clearing and arrived at the foot of the tree. Ten yards from the trunk the grass disappeared completely. It made way for what was effectively a well-kept yard with neatly-cut grass and a series of squat marble columns that surrounded the tree.

I circled it, examining the columns. Each had a carved marble object placed atop their waist-high platforms; one with a water-well, one with a heap of grain, one with a horse. There were six in total.

Arriving back at where I had started, I returned my attention to the tree and its ornate staircase.

Maybe I can get a better idea of my surroundings from up there .

Water was still my priority, and from the higher reaches of the tree I might have been able to see a more civilised area it was a long shot considering the denseness of the jungle, but I would take whatever relief would come my way.

I ascended the steps, each one feeling firm and resolute as I ascended higher. When the steps finally levelled off I was in the higher unseen reaches of the tree, baffled by what sat before me.

Situated within the tree was a spacious and well-covered living space. A large platform of carved wood composed the floor, while overhead was a ceiling composed of manipulated branches and huge palm leaves covering a transparent protective canopy. Orange light flickered in through the gaps between the leaves. It was one of the cosiest spaces I had ever seen.