Black Jaquar

by Vijaya Schartz

  Kahuel ran faster, boots sloshing in the shallows and sinking in wet sand. Had she sacrificed herself in some weird mind battle? “Talina!”

  Again, he wondered why a native would betray her clan, her family, and renounce the only life she ever knew. He dared to hope it had something to do with him. Did she feel that same spark that lifted his entire being in her presence? How he wished he could read her mind, right now, to make sure she was all right.

  He climbed the jagged rocks, soles slipping on wet stone, toward the promontory where she lay. Only a few more steps. “Talina!”

  The evening breeze teased her long honey hair, but she didn't move. Was she breathing? Great Engineer, please let her be all right.

  When he finally knelt next to her, her deep turquoise eyes opened in a pale, tear-streaked face. Her soft lips drew into a faint smile. “Black Jaguar,” she whispered. “I'm so glad you are alive.”

  “Are you all right?” Kahuel couldn't stand it if she were hurt.

  She chuckled feebly. “Yes. I'm fine now that you are here.”

  Irrepressible joy soared inside Kahuel. Laughter escaped his parched throat, and he lifted her shoulders and held her tight against his chest. He never wanted to let her go.

  “Thank you for saving us,” he whispered in her perfectly chiseled ear, blowing a strand of smooth hair.

  She pushed him back gently. “Black Jaguar, I need to breathe.”

  Suddenly embarrassed, Kahuel relaxed his hold and gazed into her lovely face. Something stirred inside him. She was very quiet. Her breathing accelerated. He could feel her heart beating almost as fast as his. Did her lips part slightly? Did she angle her face a bit? He wished he could read her mind now.

  But if she read his thoughts, she knew how he felt, yet she did not protest. The heady scent of wild flowers surrounded them. Had it traveled on the breeze or did it come from her?

  When she inched her chin closer to his, Kahuel couldn't resist anymore. He brushed her soft pink lips, so smooth and warm. Then he nibbled her chin, and her lower lip, sweet as honey. But when she flicked her tongue to taste him, he abandoned all restraint and plunged into the sweet nectar of her mouth.

  His mind reeled with the deeper contact that linked and rooted them together. Another part of his anatomy responded fiercely. She didn't make him stop. Her wholehearted response told him she enjoyed his kiss as much as he did.

  A cheer rose from the beach, and Kahuel realized they had an audience. Blast them all!

  When he released her, Talina straightened her clothes and her flushed face grew serious. “I think your warriors need you, now, Black Jaguar. Maybe I can help care for the wounded.”

  She accepted Kahuel's hand to rise, and together they negotiated the slippery rocks back to the firm wet sand left by the ebbing tide. The evening shade almost reached the waterline. Soon, it would be dark.

  Kahuel scanned the cove where small isolated fires dotted the sand strip. Men and women tended the injured. At the far right, the Mutant's white tents stood empty, abandoned. Almost night, and they had not returned.

  Where were Princess Esperana and the Grays? If they'd suffered an attack of their own, without weapons or felines, could they have survived it?

  * * *

  The white Guardian snakes slithered and coiled itself around Vanaru's body as he stood on the sacred slab, facing his clan. In the clearing below, his people sat in the glow of a few torches. They moaned a disconsolate chant of grief for the reptiles sacrificed in this bitter defeat, and swayed in lament to a slow, monotonous mourning chant.

  Hot rage roiled inside Vanaru's chest. He raised his fists and looked up to the darkening heavens. “Star People, we are your Chosen. You promised us victory! Why have you forsaken us? Are we not worthy?”

  The chant waned and halted. Shocked silence filled the clearing. None of the clan members dared speak in defiance of the Star People.

  Vanaru missed Talina' support. She should be here with him. Her treason stabbed his chest like a foreigner's blade. “May the Star People punish the sacrilegious invaders for soiling our shores! May they punish my treacherous sister who betrayed us to protect them.”

  “May the Star People punish them,” echoed the dismal chorus, then they resumed the chant in low, moaning voices.

  “We shall redeem ourselves in the eyes of the Star People. We shall succeed. We shall cleanse our land of the foreigners.”

  Something at the edge of his awareness distracted Vanaru. He closed his eyes briefly to investigate the slight mind touch. His whole being rejoiced. “Lost Daughter. You are safe!”

  The woman in white silk appeared in his mind, walking toward him through the jungle. “I came a long way to find you, Vanaru. What is so urgent that I had to leave my camp in a hurry? And why the secrecy?”

  Vanaru opened his eyes and gazed upon the clearing. She suddenly appeared behind the seated crowd, walking into the sacred clearing from the jungle. He held his breath. She was taller than he'd imagined, but even more stunning in person than in his visions. When he noticed the many guards in gray uniforms following her, however, he had a slight hesitation. He'd called her away from the foreigners' camp to save her life, not theirs.

  Vanaru took a deep, calming breath then addressed the assembled clan. “I have the great honor of presenting to you this Lost Daughter, Princess Esperana, a descendant of our royal shamaness of old, who returned to us on the ship with the foreigners.”

  The crowd gasped and turned to watch Esperana advance among them, alone, on the straight, illuminated path leading to the rock slab where Vanaru stood. She walked with deliberate confidence, like a queen, like a magnificent goddess. She looked upon the clan like upon her subjects.

  Glad she'd left the gray guards in the shadows at the fringe of the clearing, Vanaru still worried when he saw them spread out in a circle around his people. But he should not fret. He and the Lost Daughter were destined to reign together. He had dreamed about her in the sacred cave. She would realize the prophecy and together they would fulfill their destiny.

  “Why did you summon me, Vanaru?” Curiosity tinged her mind-talk.

  “To show you your people, my queen.” While she made her way toward him, Vanaru addressed his people, unable to tear his gaze from her. “The legends on the walls of the sacred cave speak of the Lost Daughter who would one day return and lead our clan into a new age of knowledge and abundance. This was promised to us by Prince Rakham, before he took our royal shamaness away in his flying machine, almost two centuries ago.”

  “I didn't know about a legend.” Esperana smiled at him.

  Vanaru's chest bubbled over with joy. “Princess Esperana is the Lost Daughter of the prophecy. The prophecy has come true.”

  “The prophecy has come true…” murmured the crowd in mild surprise.

  Although all knew the story of old, few had made the connection between Prince Rakham's promise and the arrival of the foreigners. Vanaru had. And with the Lost Daughter at his side, he would bring a new golden age to his clan and be remembered as a great king.

  He held out his hand to help the Lost Daughter climb the last steps of the rock platform, but she politely refused it. Slighted by her rejection in front of his whole clan, Vanaru bit back a retort as he stepped back and glanced at her offending hand. It had six fingers. Six? Then he remembered the legend. Prince Rakham, her grandfather, had six fingers, too. Esperana really was the Lost Daughter of the prophecy.

  Frowning slightly, she stepped around the slithering white snakes as Vanaru guided her toward the center of the ceremonial rock slab. She stood taller than him and he resented having to look up at her.

  Esperana faced the crowd and smiled. “I am honored to meet all of you. I understand my grandmother belonged to your tribe. I'm curious and eager to learn about her and about you.”

  She had spoken without his permission, but he contained his impatience and refrained from commenting. He had not imagined that the Lost Daughter would be so willful and unco
nventional. And he now feared she might not so easily accept him as a consort.

  But prophecies never lied. Esperana was his fated queen. They were meant to reign together.

  Chapter Eight

  As she knelt in the sand near a wounded warrior, Talina noticed Black Jaguar's frown in the glow of the surrounding fires. She couldn't believe she had let herself kiss him. It was unthinkable... he a foreigner, and she a royal princess vowed to chastity. She didn't dare probe his mind to find out what he thought of her now. She might not like what she would find.

  To hide her shame, she laid her hands upon the snakebite on the warrior's calf in front of her and closed her eyes. She concentrated on draining the venom away from his heart. When she felt the smoldering poison rushing back to the wound, she sucked the double puncture then spat the mixture of blood and bitter venom onto the sand.

  “Are you sure it's safe?” Black Jaguar's concern for her wellbeing was so transparent she didn't need to read his thoughts.

  Talina accepted water from a woman warrior handing her a sloshing coconut shell. She took a large sip, rinsed her mouth and spit the water on the sand. Then she nodded her thanks and wiped her lips with her forearm. She smiled to let Black Jaguar know she was all right. “As long as I don't swallow the venom, and I rinse my mouth afterwards, it's safe enough.”

  Black Jaguar nodded then turned away to give orders to his warriors.

  Talina returned her attention to the gray-faced man to draw out more poison. She sucked the coppery liquid and sensed the doubt in the wounded man's mind. She rinsed her mouth again. “I can't remove it all, but it will help you recover. I promise.”

  The man grunted and she felt his physical pain, his fear, and the lethargy spreading through his body and mind.

  After rubbing her palms together to generate heat, Talina laid both hands on top of the wound again and closed her eyes. This time, she focused all her energy and pushed the healing current through her hands into the sick man. The warrior's face relaxed under her touch. It might not be enough to cure him instantly, but it would give him the strength to fight the venom on his own. She sent a last jolt of restorative energy into the wounded leg then opened her eyes.

  Black Jaguar watched her intently. “What was that? Your entire body glowed like gold.”

  “Of course.” Talina felt the wounded man's forehead. The clammy skin had dried. Some color returned to his face. “He will be fine.”

  Standing warriors stared at her and whispered among themselves.

  She smiled at them. “Isn't this how you heal your people?”

  “No. We have other methods,” one said.

  “I've never seen this done before,” another added.

  “Really?” Talina couldn't hide her surprise. “Everyone in my clan can heal this way. Well, maybe I can teach your people, and they can teach me your ways.”

  The warriors nodded and smiled eagerly.

  Ignoring Black Jaguar's look of amazement, Talina spoke to the curious warriors. “The first rule is that you have to honestly care about the person you want to save, and pour your entire soul into the healing.”

  The wounded man smiled at her. “Thank you, compassionate one. I feel much better already.”

  “That's the least I can do. Rest, now.” Talina squeezed the man's shoulder, hoping he would recover.

  Five had died before she could attend to them, and she couldn't stand more deaths. She took a deep breath and stopped herself midway. The nauseating smell of roasting snake made her want to heave.

  Taking shallow breaths to avoid the stink, she turned to the circle of curious. “It will help the healing if you bandage his leg with the pulp of the bitter green fruit that grows on that tree.”

  She pointed to a straight Kaku with wide leaves, distinct in the moonlight at the edge of the forest. Immediately, warriors scrambled toward it.

  Black Jaguar knelt by her side and smiled. “It's amazing how they listen to you and run to do your bidding... they trust you.”

  Talina could read the admiration filling his mind, and something else, some kind of hope for something more... Heat flushed her face. “Your warriors care about their wounded friends and they want them to live.”

  “Yes, they do.” Black Jaguar pushed back a strand of hair away from her face then rose to his feet and smiled, hand on his sword hilt. “I have to see to the needs of the camp.”

  Still kneeling on the sand, Talina nodded and smiled back. “Your people need you, now more than ever.”

  “I'll come back later.” Black Jaguar gazed upon her, switching his weight from foot to foot, his reluctance to leave obvious to everyone. Then he flashed a small smile and walked away.

  With a sigh, Talina stepped to the next warrior in the line of wounded lying on the sand. The woman with a shredded leg moaned softly in obvious agony. It would be a long, exhausting evening.

  * * *

  Careful not to drop his makeshift platter, Kahuel approached Talina as she directed the bandaging of the last wounded man, whose leg had been severed by a caiman's jaw. “How is he?”

  Talina looked pale and drawn in the moon glow. She shook her head sadly. “Tomorrow will tell. I've never heard of searing a wound with a hot blade to stop the bleeding, but apparently it worked.”

  “You must be hungry.” Kahuel was ravenous, still jittery from battle fever. He held up the wide banana leaf loaded with steamy tubers, white coconut and sweet tropical fruit.

  Talina offered a strained smile. “I am exhausted and famished, but I couldn't eat with the stench of burnt flesh floating around.”

  Kahuel knew she wasn't referring to the cauterizing but to the roasting meat. For someone who loved animals so much, the thought of cooking them must be unbearable. “Come on... this way, you won't get the smell.”

  She nodded and followed him as he led the way upwind, toward a large flat rock, a promontory overlooking the coast. Diablo and his favorite panther, already sated, followed them, all strut and tail up, in a playful mood.

  As they walked, Kahuel balanced the large banana leaf in both hands, congratulating himself for not including reptile or swine meat for himself. He'd sampled the snake meat generously while it roasted on the spits and he'd found it delicious, like fat, greasy chicken. Since there was enough for many meals, he'd ordered the cooks to slice and smoke as much as they could for future rations.

  “Thank you for understanding.” She wrinkled her nose. “I find the smell sickening.”

  Kahuel noticed the disapproving tone but refused to apologize for his way of life. “I can't deny my warriors their victory feast. And they need meat in their diet for strength. Not eating it, now that the animals are dead, would be a shameful waste.” He lifted a foot and showed it to her. “We also use animal skin to make shoes, belts and baldrics. And tough caiman scales make sturdy armor plates and shields.”

  “My people do not need all those things,” Talina snapped.

  Kahuel suppressed a sharp retort. It would spoil the mood, and he didn't want to fight. At least not like that.

  They climbed on top of the flat boulder, facing the scintillating ocean as the large pregnant moon rose over the water. The sounds of the camp to the right barely filtered up to them, giving the illusion of privacy. A few feet away, down at the foot of their boulder, Diablo and his panther friend cavorted on the white sand that reflected the moonlight.

  Kahuel sat cross-legged, offering a conciliatory smile. “Look, I don't want to get angry at you. Not after all you've done for my people.”

  She dropped next to him as if her legs couldn't carry her weight any farther. “I'm sorry if I offended you. I've never had to heal so many people in one night. I guess it took a lot out of me.”

  Kahuel set the banana leaf like a tray in front of them. “Eat then. It'll make you feel better.”

  They both dipped into the lavish portions spread before them with their fingers. Kahuel particularly enjoyed the buttery taste of the sweet tubers. “These remind me of
home.”

  “Really?” Talina bit into a wedge of fruit and juice dripped from her chin. “Tell me about your home. What does it look like? Is it much like here?”

  “Not by far.” Kahuel chuckled and wiped her chin with his thumb then licked the sticky sweetness. “In Yalta, where I come from, I was raised in a white marble palace. All the main buildings are made of stone, and the city is protected by a tall wall.”

  Her eyes widened as she stopped eating and stared at him. “Why do you need a wall?”

  Kahuel swallowed his bite of half-chewed coconut. “To stop wild animals and repel potential enemies.”

  “We have an understanding with animals, and we have no enemies.” Talina licked juice off her fingers, one by one, taking her time.

  Kahuel found it difficult not to respond to her innocent flirting. In the wake of a battle, a flirting woman could drive him crazy. “But you have the Star People to protect you.”

  “True.” She smiled and flicked back blond curls, silvery in the moonlight. “I feel much stronger now.”

  “I am so grateful for all you've done for us.” Kahuel took her soft hand, opened it and caressed her fingers. He kissed her palm lightly, bringing shivers to his spine. How he wanted her.

  Talina removed her hand shyly and rearranged her white robes around her legs.

  Why was she so hesitant? After all, they had already kissed, and she had not protested. “I know I can't heal anyone, no matter how hard I tried.”

  “Have you ever tried?” Her pretty brow knitted.

  “No.” Kahuel could imagine his warriors laughing at his futile efforts. “We have other methods of healing.”

  “Like searing a wound with a hot blade?” She shook her head. “It's barbaric, and so painful.”

  “Barbaric?” Kahuel had never thought of it that way. Pain was part of fighting and healing. “But we also use plants, and the Mutants in Kassouk have powerful medicine your clan would probably consider magic.”