Cash Cassidy Adventures: The Complete 5-Book Series (Plus Bonus Novels)

by K. T. Tomb

  Tim did not know how much time had elapsed before the lieutenant came and roused him.

  “We'll be close to the location you want soon. You should make ready for the jump. With the wind as it is, you can land in the river close to that spot.”

  “Thank you,” Tim said, scrambling to his feet. He rubbed his eyes and yawned before strapping on his gear. He sighed, but he went to the door anyway.

  “Drop zone,” the captain announced.

  The lieutenant came to the back again. “Ready, sir?”

  Tim sighed again. “Ready as I'll ever be.”

  The lieutenant opened the door and pushed the crate with Tim's gear out. The crate dropped a few yards and then its chute opened. Tim stepped to the door too. “God speed, sir!” the lieutenant shouted over the noise of the wind and the engines. Tim did not answer, but only patted the man on the shoulder. Then he jumped down.

  ***

  Cash was impressed the moment the capital came into sight. The buildings shone and the walls around the city were grander than anything she had ever seen. Not that the walls were as substantial as they would be in the old fortresses in Europe. The place had obviously never come under the same sort of attack. The walls had to be there simply to designate the limits of the city. On a hill on the side of the city was a large building. “The palace,” the girl next to Cash said. It looked mighty from the distance.

  Right in front of the city gates, the driver turned and they sped toward the magnificent palace. “We are cousins of the king. I am sure he would love to speak with you. It is not often we speak with outsiders.”

  “How do you and your father come to speak Portuguese?” Cash asked the girl.

  “My father did travel to the outer world, as have some of our cousins. But we always come back. Life's good here.”

  “It does seem a very good life,” Cash mused. The land was good here, food abounded, the people were happy and friendly, even the smell and the sound of the place was pleasant. And nobody seemed to care much for the jewels and the gold that would cause bitter conflict in the world Cash had always known.

  The gate of the palace was even bigger than the gate of the city. It looked gigantic and it was as impressive as anything she had ever seen. The moment they passed through the gate, Cash heard the sound of music.

  Twenty men and women were waiting for them to get out of the carriage. Without a word they escorted them to the baths. That was one rule, the girl explained. You were to be washed and properly dressed before meeting the king.

  “How do you greet the king?” Cash asked. She had all these ideas in her head about meeting the queen. Graceful as she could be if she wanted to, she would not like to meet the queen. She would make an absolute fool of herself. Maybe this would be worse than curtseying. Maybe the custom here was to prostrate yourself before the king.

  The girl smiled. “It depends. Goes from a handshake to a hug and a kiss.”

  When the canoe was ready, Cash lead Tim down to the quay.That surprised Cash. The level of informality was another sign of the pleasantness of this land. The lack of fuss was great.

  They were both dressed in clothes of woven down and then brought to the throne room. The walls shone with gold and were hung with tapestries. There were pillars of gold and the setting seemed so glorious that Cash's instinct was to be humbled and to be uncomfortable to soon fall under the strict hierarchy. But the informal way in which everyone moved confused her. One man strolled up to them. He called out a name and the elder's daughter turned around. She squealed with joy and ran up to the man, who threw his arms wide and hugged her. They talked for a moment and then they came up to Cash. “Welcome to El Dorado. I'm the king here.” The man extended a hand to Cash, addressing her in perfect English.

  “You speak English?” Cash grasped his hand. He clasped her hand in both of his own and shook it heartily.

  “I do. I spent several years in Georgetown and then several years in Canada. But nothing the outer world has to offer could stop my heart from longing for this country again.”

  “I can see why.”

  “So what do you do? And what brings you here of course?”

  “I'm a writer. I was doing research and trying to find this place. I'm still staggered I did.”

  The king nodded. “You do realize you cannot ever betray this place to the outer world? If anyone knows where this country is, they will come to ransack it.”

  Cash looked at him. He looked anxious. She looked over all the happy people around. She knew she could not tell anyone about this place, even if she ever got out of there. “I won't. If I end up writing this story, I will not write about the location.”

  The king nodded and smiled. “Good!” he exclaimed. “Now, if you've come all the way from our outlying villages, you must be hungry. Please, come and join me for a spot of lunch.”

  “I'd be happy to.”

  ***

  Tim swore all the way down. He roared out words like “fuck” and “bloody” and “damned” in all combinations he could think of until he neared the trees. He took one last look at the orange parachute that was a few hundred yards ahead of him, descending at the same rate as he was. He saw it disappear into the trees and then he focused on his own landing. He had taken care to stay close to the river, and it was there he set his sights now. But he was close to the tree tops now. He knew what would happen if he hit the trees. He needed to avoid them. But they were so close. Too close. He knew he could not avoid the final brace of trees between him and the clear landing in the Courantyne River. He swore loudly as he braced for the impact of the tree tops, but then a gust of wind caught his parachute. It blew him up a meter and then the draft forced him down swiftly. It shook Tim to the core, but it was enough to let him miss the trees and land in the river. He fumbled with the catches of his chute and just as his feet touched the water, he loosened his chute. The canopy flew away and he dropped into the water.

  Tim came up quickly, sputtering, and swam to the shore as fast as he could. There were piranhas in the river, he knew that. He did not want to take the risk of encountering them. As he climbed onto the sand, he looked behind for his canopy. It had snagged in the trees on the same shore and fluttered there. He took a moment to compose himself and then began to pick his way along the riverbank to retrieve the silk canopy. He jerked and pulled it down. It only tore a little when it came down. It took him forever to put the canopy back into the bag, but he managed it. Then he went to look for his gear.

  He looked at the locator and he found to his surprise that he had landed on the very spot Cash had told him she was at. His gear had landed a bit further along the river, it seemed.

  He slowly picked his way along the bank and through the jungle, looking out everywhere for the orange canopy.

  He found it along some rapids. The shore was rocky there. Slippery too, he found when he stepped onto the rocks. He struggled to maintain his balance, but he managed to get to the canopy. He reached out and grabbed a hold of the lines. He tugged. And lost his footing. He slammed down hard onto the rocks and went down into the water of the rapids. He went under and it was pure chance he managed to get up above the seething water and take a breath. The lines were still in his hand and he pulled the canopy and the crate of gear and supplies with him. The air trapped in the parachute bag on his back kept him afloat, but that was scarcely any help. Some hidden current took a hold of him and swept him along. He saw a low dark gap appearing in the forested bank on the Guyana side of the river and knew he would be going into that gap. He ducked his head under and let himself be swept along.

  He was in the dark now, the crate trailing behind him, being swept along fast. He pulled the crate closer to himself and found that it was buoyant. He could not open it and inflate the raft as long as he could not see the shore and land, but he could at least hold on to the crate. He took his parachute bag off and placed it against the crate. He wrapped the lines of the canopy around it and pulled the chute itself under his lower body.
He lifted himself onto the crate and bag and let himself drift like this. His makeshift raft hurtled him along the river in the pitch black. And again he swore.

  ***

  Cash was totally refreshed when she woke up from her nap after lunch. The lunch had been very good and filling. Small birds and game, bread, sweet corn, vegetables and a delicious hot drink of chocolate, vanilla and sugar. After the lunch, she was led to a chamber of which she could avail herself during her stay. The bed was soft and the blankets and pillows as well. She sank down onto the bed and instantly fell asleep. She woke completely refreshed an hour and a half later, when the sun was at its peak.

  There was a knock on the door. “Can I come in?” the king's voice asked.

  “Yeah, come in!” Cash answered, quickly checking to ensure her clothing was all in place. But she was decent.

  The king entered with a smile, his cousin, the elder's daughter, followed behind him. “I was wondering if you would like a tour of the city?”

  Cash looked surprised at the offer. It seemed odd that a king would show a strange woman around his dominion. But she could hardly refuse. “I'd love it.”

  Not long after, they walked out of the palace. They crossed the yard and went through a smaller gate, which opened out into the city.

  “Our ancestors lived here already when the Inca Empire was at its peak,” the king began to explain when they entered the city. “It was part of the Empire, even before the Spaniards came. But no Spaniard, nor Portuguese, nor Dutchman, nor Englishman ever found us. Some stragglers came through the same way you did. And in the last fifty years, a few planes have crashed in our realm. But nobody has ever penetrated the thick forests and hills around this country. And the whole realm seems to be disguised from satellite imagery. Not sure how that works, but I've seen the evidence myself when looking at those images. It just does not show up.”

  “So where are we now?” Cash asked. “Is this inside Guyana or Suriname?”

  “I think this country is in the border country of the western country named Brazil, or maybe it's Guyana, or even Venezuela. I'm not sure, to be honest. It's hard to think of this place belonging to any of those. There is such a huge difference anyway.” He waved his hand, as though it did not matter anyway. Then he stamped his foot. “You see this road?”

  Cash looked down and blinked. There was a shine to the smooth road surface.

  “Been here for at least five hundred years now. Never needed resurfacing.”

  “What's it made of?”

  The king frowned. “Why, gold, of course.” He smiled. “When our ancestors first settled this land, it was the most common material found in the ground here. And it lasts. It's malleable, it's easy to work if you have the skill. And it looks pretty of course.” He gestured around. “They perfected the use of gold and silver from fine and delicate work to building. This road is just compacted earth with gold dust mixed into it, then heated to a high enough temperature to melt the gold and then poured. If you get the mixture right, it's more durable than any asphalt I have ever seen.”

  Cash grinned. “Couldn't do that in the rest of the world though; way too expensive.”

  The king nodded. “Yes, it would be. Your people are obsessed with this material. But we are not, nor are our ancestors. To this day it is the most common metal found in our realm. So we use it.”

  They rounded a corner and made their way along the street to a market. There were stalls of every sort, selling everything that was available in the realm. Cash could not believe her eyes when she saw the fruits, vegetables and meats on offer. There were garments of brocade, alpaca and llama wool, the fine, silk-like cotton, even clothes made of very fine golden thread. The king happily greeted people. Everyone seemed to like him, and Cash did too. He seemed an extraordinarily good-natured man, and a wise one, too.

  At the far end of the busy market was a large building. “That's our temple. Our cathedral, if you wish.”

  Cash looked at the building. It was grand and golden, but not ostentatious. The shape was that of a Maya pyramid, but it did not reach up to the skies like those in the Yucatan did.

  “Man-made mountains,” the king said happily. “The Inca have always worshipped mountains and their proximity to the sun, to God. Many of the tribes around these forests took up those beliefs too. Our ancestors did too, but with one difference. They did not just think God in the sun, but also in the earth. Therefore they would never build too high. It would be challenging one part of God to reach the other.”

  Cash smiled at the reasoning. It made sense. They walked up to the temple and Cash saw the door. They went in and Cash saw the golden walls inside were painted with scenes of their history and the history of their God. People walked in and out and the priests of the temple were happily talking to them. At the front of the temple was an altar. It was heaped with fruits, vegetables and bread. The king explained they were sacrifices to God, but in the evening, the priests would take them and eat them. People knew that too. They were quite happy to pay for those priests to mediate with God for them.

  It took the king four hours to show Cash around the city. All the houses in the city, all the statues, the markets and the fountains were beautifully crafted in the same way that everything had been done there. There were no prisons or courts, but the king informed Cash there was a single block of cells below the palace. There were never more than a dozen people on trial in any month. He was the judge for the whole realm, but it seemed everyone was happy and well taken care of to such an extent that virtually no crime existed. A few people made a nuisance of themselves sometimes, and sometimes a boy or girl would steal something, but it was so rare that it was not worth having courts for. Usually the village elders dealt with such matters, and only occasionally was it deemed necessary to inform the king. The punishments too were in the nature of communal service. It had been a hundred years since any king had decided to impose the death penalty on any of the citizens. That day was still thought of as a black day.

  The king guided Cash back to the palace by the harbor. From the quay, Cash saw the waters of the canal reflect the brightness of the city. Far off in the distance, she saw the river shimmer. It was still wild there, but not nearly as wild as it had been where she had first joined the river. The quayside was bustling too. Boats of all sorts and sizes lay moored along the dock. Baskets and golden containers sat on the dock with produce and with drink. There was obviously a lot of trade here. “Does everything come by boat?” Cash asked.

  The king shook his head. “The canal goes all the way to our furthest border. The river cuts the other way through our land. A lot of trade comes through the canal, but not so much through the river. It's easy to go down it, but to go upstream is hard.”

  Cash nodded. She had already had experience with the strength of the current. She looked over at the river again and then squinted. Something raced there. Something that was not a boat. “What's that there?” She pointed at the thing.

  The king shielded his eyes from the setting sun and frowned. “Huh...” he mumbled. “That's not a boat at any rate.” He gestured to an official on the quay and spoke to him in their own language. The man jetted off and ordered a few men to bring down a canoe. They raced off down the canal toward the river. “Hopefully they can still intercept it before it goes past the junction. We'll have to see what that is.”

  Cash looked behind to see the canoe speed off, but then let herself be guided on by the king. The work and busy traffic on the quay slowed them down, but they eventually made it to the back of the palace where they went back into the yard by a small gate. As the sun began setting, the palace seemed to glow from that side. It was beautiful.

  Dinner was already being served in the king's private quarters when they got back and the king immediately took the head of the table, beginning a long but impressive hymn in a delightful voice. There were only a few people in the room for the dinner, including the girl who had accompanied Cash to the capital.

  The
prayer done, the king introduced Cash to his wife and his sons and daughters. He said this was an informal dinner, so there was no need for etiquette, just for good manners. It caused a snicker across the room. It seemed some of the king's sons and daughters also spoke English and understood the joke.

  The dinner itself was a triumph again. Cash marveled at the skill of the cook. She mentioned it to the king, too. He graciously waved a hand at his wife. “My wife is the head of the kitchen here. She oversees it all.”

  “A queen in the kitchen?” Cash smiled.

  “Is that so strange?” the king asked. “A queen is also just a woman. If she enjoys being in the kitchen, reliving the memories of her mother teaching her to cook, then why should she not do so?”

  Cash just kept smiling. She liked it here. She really did like it here.

  There was a knock on the door then. For the first time since that morning the king looked annoyed. “Enter,” he said sourly. “But please do not disturb us again while we have our dinner.”

  The door opened and a man came in. Cash recognized one of the men who had sped off in the canoe earlier. He spoke briefly in the melodic language of El Dorado. The king nodded and the man gestured for someone else to come in. He came in with someone else, carrying a gurney. There was a man on it. “This is the person who was in the river,” the king explained. “I told them to bring him and his strange craft here.”

  Cash got up and looked at the man, who lay on his side on the gurney. He looked like a Westerner and Cash got a strange feeling she knew him. The first man rolled him onto his back. And Cash found she did recognize him. She jumped up, dropping the food she was eating. She rushed over to the gurney. “Tim!”

  Chapter Ten