excerpt
It sounded so simple, the way he said it. But Tamanoa’s desertion
was irrevocable. If he returned, he would be vilified and punished as
a common thief. Possibly even executed. I, on the other hand, had
been seized by savages. I could go back whenever I wanted.
“Losada will miss you,” I told him.
“His wife will miss you,” he replied, referring to my letter
writing.
We shared a laugh of thin bravado.
A noise at the entrance startled us. Apacuana scrambled into the
cave, eyes wide with fear. Her head was cracked open, blood
trickling down her face.
“Baruta nonwasepunya!” she gasped. “Mayikonto! Mayikonto!”
Tamanoa was on his feet instantly.
“What is it?” I asked, bewildered.
“We have to go. Explain later. Go! Go!”
Although the pain in my neck was severe, I was able to stand with
their help. The three of us moved as one. I found the more mobile I
became, the less I cared about the pain. I sensed that Apacuana was
in danger as much as myself, and so the urge to move quickly was
doubled. They ushered me out of the entrance and I was almost able
to walk without their assistance.
“You will have to run,” Tamanoa said.
And so I did. In a moment I was sprinting with them into the
bushes as if the devil himself were after us. We ran southwest as far
as we could possibly go and slumped onto the banks of the river
Guaire. The blood trickled down my neck.
Apacuana had led the way in our frantic advance, stopping only
to listen and sniff the air for traces of our pursuers. She looked
utterly dishevelled. I went to her and examined the three-finger long
cut on her scalp. The injury had been inflicted by a blunt object, and
it bulged visibly.
“What happened to you?” Tamanoa asked for me.
“Punsï ya’ yu Baruta.”
Baruta had attacked her. That was the man who wanted her. Or
perhaps that was the man who already had her.
Libros Libertad 