Part 6 (1/2)
”Sir, we rescued your daughter. She was being attacked-”
”By you!” the man hollered, gesturing with the barrel of the rifle. ”You cannot fool me! You are mukai-tochetin!” His eyes darted about the ruins for an instant as if looking for hidden dangers. ”You are everywhere! You want to scare us and kill us. Why? We are Kachakas! We did not violate the tomb!”
Uh-oh. This could be serious. ”You are Kachakas?”
”You know that. Mukai-tochetin know everything. You know I am the chief, and you know the girl is my daughter.” He raised his rifle and appeared to be seriously considering pulling the trigger. ”And that is why you tried to kill her, yes? To hurt me!
”Sir ... I am Dr. Jacob Cooper from America, and this is my son, Jay-”
The chief aimed the rifle directly into Dr. Cooper's face. Dr. Cooper could see right along the barrel into his eye. ”No more lies! You only want to scare us, to kill us, to kill my daughter and hurt me!” He pulled back the hammer. ”But I think I hurt you first!”
SIX.
Another man shouted at the chief and then spoke hurriedly, as if trying to reason with him. It must have been a good argument-the chief unc.o.c.ked his rifle and lowered it. The two talked a moment, throwing suggestions and counter-suggestions back and forth and pointing at the Coopers.
Finally, the chief gave in and spoke in English. ”We take you to our village.” He jerked his thumb toward the man who argued with him. ”Manito says if you are really mukai-tochetin, it will do no good to shoot you. But he thinks you are not mukai-tochetin. He thinks maybe you are just stupid Americans. We find out.”
With some not-so-gentle prodding from their well-armed captors, Jay and Dr. Cooper started walking through the ruins toward the unexplored jungle on the other side.
Jacob Cooper's anxiety was obvious as he told Jay, ”We sure don't need this right now. Lila's still out there, probably dying.”
”So how do we get out of it?” Jay responded.
The chief was walking just ahead of them. Dr. Cooper called to him, ”Uh, Chief ...”
”Chief Yoaxa,” the chief informed him.
”Thank you. Chief Yoaxa. Listen, my daughter is lost somewhere in these ruins and in great danger. We were trying to find her when we found your daughter instead. Your daughter was being attacked by a, uh, a wild man. I don't know how else to describe it.”
The chief gave Dr. Cooper a good, long look and then smiled craftily. ”Oh yes. A wild man. A mukai-tochetin!”
”Mukai-tochetin.” Jay was getting sick of the word. ”What is that, anyway?”
The chief grinned as if being joked with. ”You mukai-tochetin are very tricky. You try to test me, yes? But I know. When the great king Kachi-Tochetin was buried in his tomb, his best warriors were buried with him so their spirits would guard his treasure. You see? I know what you are.” His eyes narrowed with bitter anger. ”But why are you out of your tomb? Why do you bother us? We do not like to be scared and screamed at and attacked! We have never bothered your treasure! We have not even seen it! We do not deserve the curse!” He gestured with his rifle, making his message clear. ”You should go back to sleep in your tomb. Leave the living world to us!”
Dr. Cooper and Jay exchanged a glance. This was the Kachaka explanation for the toxin-induced madness!
”Chief Yoaxa, listen,” said Dr. Cooper. ”I have good news for you. These people who are wandering about in the ruins are not the warriors of Kachi-Tochetin, not at all. They are explorers from America who have ... well, they're sick and dying. They're out of their minds because-”
”Because they are ghosts.” The chief pointed his finger right in their faces. ”And you are ghosts, dead warriors, just like them!”
”Chief, we are not dead warriors.”
The chief was getting impatient. ”You attacked my daughter!”
Dr. Cooper was also getting impatient. ”We did not attack your daughter! We saved your daughter from-well, from one of the sick Americans. He almost killed us and your daughter shot poison darts at us ... If anything, we deserve your thanks!”
The chief got angry when he heard that. ”See? You lie! Kachaka children do not shoot poison darts. We forbid it!”
”Well, that may be true but-”
The chief held up his hand. ”No more talking! When we get to the village, we find out.”
They continued along a well-beaten path through the jungle. Eventually they reached a small village where at least two hundred men, women, and children waited anxiously for the return of their chief and his men. The village was an odd mixture of old and new, of civilized and savage. Gra.s.s huts stood alongside crude, wood-framed dwellings; there were campfires but also cookstoves. Both torches and oil lanterns lit the narrow corridor between the dwellings. A few folks didn't seem to mind wearing little or nothing while they worked, yet most of the people were fully dressed in white garments, some skillfully embroidered.
As for the Kachakas' choice of weapons, almost every warrior carried a blowgun on his belt, but many also carried rifles, pistols, and knives.
Some of the women in the village looked especially anxious, as if they had been dreading this moment. When they saw the limp body of the girl being carried by the two men, they threw up their hands and wailed in fear and anguish. With tears and rapid-fire babblings of concern, they gently took her from her two carriers and bore her into the nearest wooden shack where they laid her on a cot.
The chief stopped just outside the door of the crude dwelling, watching the women work to revive the girl, then turned to the Coopers. ”See the pain you have brought? She has been missing since early evening, and we looked for her until it was a long time dark. We told all the children, 'Don't go into the ruins, there are mukai-tochetin there.'” The chief shook his head as he peered through the doorway at his unconscious daughter. ”I think that is why she went. She has always wanted to see one.” He looked at Dr. Cooper. ”Well ... now she has.”
Jacob Cooper couldn't help sighing in frustration. ”Chief Yoaxa-”
”Follow me,” the chief said, waving his hand and leading the way.
The men holding the Coopers prodded them forward through the village, past the humble gra.s.s huts, clapboard shacks, firepits, and milling, curious people.
Jay noticed a man wearing a strange, disk-shaped charm around his neck. Then he saw another one. Then Dr. Cooper spotted two more.
The Kachakas were wearing the dried, stretched skins of caracoles volantes as jewelry!
”Carvies!” Jay exclaimed.
That made the chief turn his head. ”You should be happy. We wear carvies to please you, but ... I guess not today.”
Jay tried to win a few points. ”Oh, but we're very pleased.”
The chief brightened. ”Then you are mukai-tochetin!”
Jay made a sour face, mentally kicking himself.
Jacob Cooper coaxed some information. ”I understand they're poisonous.”
Chief Yoaxa enjoyed answering that question.
”Oh, yes, they are poisonous. They will kill you just by touching you. Unless ...”
”Unless what?”
”Unless you catch them in the morning. Then they don't hurt you. We play with them, we cook them and eat them, and there is no trouble.”
Dr. Cooper nodded. ”Yes. We've been told that.”
They came to the end of the village and turned a corner. Directly ahead of them was what looked like a row of rabbit hutches and a large chicken pen, all made from poles and wire mesh.