The legend of Uvulu'ai stated the god inhabited a cave high in the mountains. It took Ramsey Lumley five days to hack through the dense jungle before he encountered the narrow opening adorned with the simple carvings of the Lu'ai tribe. His guide had abandoned him the night before, which in Lumley's experience was usually a strong indicator he wasn't far from his goal.

A common misconception still held that Papua New Guinea was an island inhabited solely by savage tribes still clinging onto cannibalistic practises. This was partially true, but the virtually impassable terrain of mountain and jungle had created an anthropologist's dream of myriad alternate human cultures and tribal societies.

Lumley was only as much of an anthropologist as he knew which museums paid the best dollar for native artefacts.

In his view the Lu'ai, with their maternal lines of dominance, were especially pathetic. It was a militant feminist's fantasy. The men still did all the hunting, but it was the women that ran the village. The elite formed a ruling coterie of witchdoctors and were responsible for making all the decisions.

How this had happened, or how the Lu'ai had managed to survive without being overrun by one of the more vicious tribes, was a mystery to Lumley. He suspected the latter was a factor of their geographic isolation. As for the former, well he reckoned the witchdoctors had a lot to do with that. They were only ever female and they were the sacred keepers of whatever mumbo jumbo the rest of the village felt it couldn't survive without.

One of those rituals was an interesting variant on the old 'sacrifice a virgin' classic. Except for the Lu'ai it was always a young man that had to offer himself to their rapacious god. In other words, a highly convenient way of getting rid of troublesome young males.

Lumley also suspected the witchdoctors had a few more tricks of a more ... medicinal nature.

Around the village he'd seen a few males that appeared to be afflicted with some sort of disorder. They did no work, didn't even seem capable of doing work, yet they were revered and cared for by the other villagers. Their affliction appeared to have rendered them little more than drooling idiots. Most disconcerting was their permanent erections, continually oozing pre-cum. His first thought was that they fulfilled some form of sexual function, like a kind of stud for breeding. This turned out not to be the case as was revealed to him later. The women never had intercourse with them. They were considered holy or blessed, the property of god and off-limits. The Embraced of Uvulu'ai was a term Lumley heard a lot, although he wasn't sure his translation was correct.

While Kuru, the human equivalent of mad cow disease, was prevalent in some of the tribes, mainly as a result of the primitive ritualistic practise of eating the brains of recently deceased relations or enemies, Lumley didn't think it was responsible in this case. He suspected a medicinal cause. The clan of witchdoctors had an extensive knowledge of the medicinal properties of the flora and fauna of the region, passed down from generation to generation. Lumley suspected one way to keep the male population under control was to drug the alpha males to the drooling state he'd seen around the village.

It was something that bore further investigation.

A few relics would finance this little expedition. A new heroin, or cocaine — and the pharmaceutical potential of most of the area still had yet to be tapped — would set him up in luxury for life.

He first learnt about the temple of Uvulu'ai from the girl who'd acted as his guide and teacher of their language when he'd first been welcomed to the village.

This was just after he'd raped her.

That had been a sweet experience. She was a junior member of the witchdoctor clique, but still possessed the comeliness of youth.

Oh yes, very comely.

Lumley had been a little disappointed she still wasn't a virgin. Still her cunt had felt tight enough when he'd forced her down and thrust his cock into her.

Her look of shock had been the most thrilling for Lumley. The women of the Lu'ai were clearly unused to this kind of treatment.

Think of it as preparation for the arrival of the real world, he thought. Out there real men call the shots.

The look of disgust on her face afterwards satisfied him she wouldn't be telling anyone about their moment of 'intimacy'. In Lumley's experience there was no better gag than shame.

Afterwards he'd got her to tell him about the Embraced and the temple of Uvulu'ai.

There was a temple up in the mountains; a shrine to their god Uvulu'ai. It was where the young men went to offer themselves as sacrifices to their god. The temple was likely a treasure trove of Lu'ai artefacts, but Lumley was far more interested to hear it held the secret behind the Embraced. Exactly what he didn't know. At this point the girl had gone sullen and refused to talk any more.

Even after Lumley had slapped her around the face a couple of times.

When Lumley had announced his intention to visit the temple he'd been surprised at the response. The entire village had thrown a party in his honour. They must have thought he was going to offer himself up to their god or something. Still it felt good to be treated like the big chief for an evening.

During the celebrations the witch's coven of wizened village headwomen had tried to force a cup of a foul stinking brew on him. Mindful of his suspicions about how the Embraced had ended up as drooling zombies, Lumley only pretended to drink and spat out the contents when no one was looking. He managed to sneak a sample of the liquid into a flask. He had contacts in various illicit drugs labs that might be interested in the contents if his suspicions were correct.

Now, five days later, Lumley stood outside the temple entrance. The steps leading up to the archway were cracked and overgrown by the jungle. While crude, they implied some knowledge of stone working and were evidence the Lu'ai might be the remnants of a much more powerful and prosperous civilisation.

He switched on a torch and walked through the archway and down a set of worn steps. The walls were decorated with primitive pictograms. Lumley couldn't understand them. It was the usual confusing religious mish-mash primitive peoples came up with to try and make sense of the world around them. He wondered if it might be profitable to bring a crew back here to chisel them out.

The corridor didn't extend too long before opening out into a natural cavern. It wasn't quite a full cavern. Parts of the ceiling had eroded and fallen in. There was enough sunlight pouring in through the holes that Lumley didn't need his torch.

The tunnel opened out into the cavern about halfway up the wall. There were steps that led down to the cavern floor. The entrance to the temple proper was a narrow fracture in the far wall. The Lu'ai had widened it and decorated the wall with a giant mural of Uvulu'ai. It was the standard representation of a fertility deity. Big tits and the opening into the temple was clearly where the vagina would be on the mural.

A lot of the detail had been lost, eroded by the two narrow waterfalls that trickled down on either side of the temple entrance. The water formed pools on the cavern floor, but there was still a dry path, although a little winding, that led to the temple entrance.

Could it be the water, he thought? Some trace mineral or chemical?

No, that was too simple. Whatever was causing the affliction was more complex. Lumley suspected some kind of unknown plant or, more likely given the subterranean location, fungus.

There were two torches on either side of the entrance and Lumley was surprised to see they were lit. He thought the temple was shunned by the village. Maybe one of the sacrifices had had second thoughts and was hiding out here.

If that was the case then Lumley would pointedly remind him of his duties to his deity. He put a hand on the gun holstered at his waist.

As he walked towards the temple entrance he noticed a figure illuminated by the light of the torches.

It was most definitely not a male runaway, not unless the witchdoctors' knowledge of medicine extended to sex change hormones.

The figure standing in the doorway was a strikingly beautiful young woman. She had the same very dark skin of the Lu'ai, but was tall by their standards. Maybe even as tall as Lumley and he was over six foot. She was naked from the waist up and her exposed breasts were large and firm. Her arms were crossed beneath them, but were hidden in the folds of a black robe that fell down and joined the shadows obscuring the whole of her lower body.

'Who brings themselves into the presence of the goddess Uvulu'ai?" the girl said in the language of the Lu'ai.

A goddess heh, Lumley was less than convinced. It was more smoke and mirrors to keep the pussy-whipped men of the Lu'ai in their place. The witchdoctors must nominate one of their own to mind the temple and act as 'goddess' to the poor saps who came up here to sacrifice themselves.

"Have you come to offer me your seed?" the girl continued.

Offer his seed, Lumley chortled to himself. It got better. He took off his shirt and unbuttoned his trousers.

"Yes, plenty of seed to give here," he said, kicking off first his shoes and then his trousers.

He was naked when he walked onto the path between the two pools. His cock was already erect and throbbing with excitement as he approached the girl.