Tree-Men of M’bwa

Angley rescues Richards from M'Bwa

The Tree-Men of M’bwa are from Donald Wandrei's “The Tree-Men of M’bwa”, first published in Weird Tales, February 1932.

Description: "...But there he was all of a sudden, not fifty yards away, a horribly wrinkled old black, with a face as pasty as the gray ground, and a blank look in his eyes. What's more, he was coming straight at me, no mistake about it... in complete sheer terror, I let him have it, both barrels full in the chest. I saw the bullets crash clear through him, but he didn't even falter, and not a drop of blood came from the livid flesh around the hole. Then I turned to run and he was on me like the wind. He was cold, his eyes were dead like a corpse's, and I knew I was up against something beyond the most frightful dream. Never a sound did he make, never a light of life or intelligence shone in his dead eyes; he moved like living death, soulless, stiff, and his flesh was like ice but his strength was terrific. "

Synopsis:

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"The Tree Men of M'Bwa" is the tale of the fate of the Angley & Richard expedition to the forbidden Mountains of the Moon in Africa. As the expedition approaches the mountains, they encounter a ring of weird, vaguely human-shaped trees encircling a shining pyramid. M'Bwa, a fibrous plant-man serving a monstrous floating alien entity known as "The Master" which dewells in the pyramid, chases Richards down and pours a strange liquid down his thorat, and plants him in the ring of trees. Angley manages to rescue Richards, beheading M'Bwa, who is quickly revived by The Master. The two men escape, but Angley dies later; Richards, now ancient and legless, finds his way back to civilization....