“I’ll get sacks for this.” He jogged to the house.
Alone, Daniel and I sat on the end of the patio. I placed my hand on Daniel’s knee and fought with the images of what I had done at the temple. I couldn’t make them stop.
His hand found its way into my hair. His fingers rubbed at my neck. “As long as we still have each other, Charlie, we have everything we need. We will make happier memories to replace the horrors of today.”
He pulled me closer, and I leaned my head against his chest. The light brush of his lips on the top of my head reminded me of all we still had. Of all the possibilities. I gave him an extra squeeze before pulling away.
Tizoc came back outside, and the three of us filled sacks with supplies. When we had finished, Tizoc paused on the patio.
“My sisters are here,” he said, though I heard nothing of their approach.
Xochitl appeared in the threshold between the house and the patio. She held out her arms to Tizoc and hugged him. After kissing him on the cheeks, she floated over to me in her graceful way as Tizoc went inside to speak with his sisters’ mates.
“Can’t stay out of men’s clothes, can you Cihuapilli?” Xochitl pulled me to my feet and embraced me. When she stepped away, the bulge at her belly surprised me. I hadn’t seen it when we were training. Hadn’t been looking for it, I guess. I raised my eyebrows and she chuckled. “Yes, there is a future Sunal prince or princess on the way very soon.”
“Oh, Xochitl!” I threw my arms around her again. As I pulled away, my gaze settled on the scrapes around her throat, all jagged and pink on her dark skin. My smile faded. She’d risked two lives fighting the Spaniards today. I had pulled her into the fight. Cripes. How foolish.
“Congratulations,” Daniel said as he hugged Xochitl as well.
“Thank you,” she said. “I hear we’re leaving the city and going for a sail at nightfall.”
“I’ve never been on a sailboat.” Yaretzi came outside with Teiuc and Eréndira behind her. She touched Xochitl’s stomach. “Signs of better times to come, yes?”
Times couldn’t get worse. Could they?
****
“Is everyone here?” Daniel slung his sack across his shoulder as we left our rooms and headed back to the courtyard.
“Here and ready to sail, Captain.” I toted my own sack.
Daniel turned around on the stairs, regarding me with wide blue eyes. He stared at me in total silence, his mouth half-open.
“What? Did I say something wrong?”
“No…” he started. “ But Captain? It caught me by surprise.”
I rested my hand on his shoulder. “It is your ship. You built it. You say where it goes and who comes aboard. That makes you her captain.”
A slow grin washed across Daniel’s face. “I could get used to being called that. Say it again.”
“I love you, Captain Daniel Connor.”
“Perfect.” His smile widened as his lips found mine. The warmth of him against me reached my deepest parts. “However, that boat is as much yours as it is mine, Charlie. We’re partners, you and me.” He kissed me again, and I let his love fill me. Fill me so we could make it through this night, our last on Ezenoch soil.
Chapter Thirty-two
Tizoc paced the length of the courtyard. “I know Adanitupachi told me my destiny was to save only my family and Daniel and Charlie, but I cannot, in clear conscience, leave everyone else here to die at the hands of these Europeans. A good many of them are our kin.”
“Tizoc was thinking if we put out a call others might be able to join us in our retreat,” Yaoti told me.
“How do we put out a call?” I asked.
“I think we can use the link.” Tizoc stopped pacing.
“But you’re only linked to us.” I motioned to his sisters, parents, and myself.
“When I try by myself, I can only reach a limited few, but if we—”
“Try all together,” I finished.
I liked the idea of saving as many people as we could. It might somehow make up for the lives we had taken this afternoon on the temple patio.
“We have to try,” I said.
Tizoc gave my arms a little squeeze. “There isn’t much time. Gather in a circle, everyone.”
I stood shoulder to shoulder with Xochitl on one side and Daniel on the other. Xochitl and I joined hands, while I hooked my other arm around Daniel’s waist. I emptied my mind of everything and took a deep breath although it wasn’t necessary. Immediately, a vision filled my head. It had always been that easy to connect to Tizoc.
A lovely picture came into focus. A wide beach, white sand stretching on for miles, gentle cerulean waves licking at its shores. Tizoc had pulled the scene from my mind. I longed to go there with Daniel. Wanted that to be the place where we started our life together. I wanted Tizoc and his family there as well.
“Where is that?” Citlali asked.
“I hope it’s Florida,” Daniel said, indicating he’d seen the image too, “because nothing else will do now.” He looked at me with such intensity, as if we were already on the beach together.
Xochitl let go of my hand and the image faded. “That test worked, Tizoc. Let’s send out the call.”
We joined hands again and a jolt of something—ancient Sunal magic perhaps—coursed throughout my body as Tizoc’s energy spread through the circle. I closed my eyes and focused all I had on the message Tizoc composed. I concentrated on his words, on sending them out to those that might be saved.
My people, Tizoc thought, the time to leave has come. Staying in Ezenoch means your demise. We urge you to follow us, a small party leaving by sea tonight. Follow us and be saved. We will start a new city, and Sunal culture will live on in us.
The sound of cannon roaring from the palace made us all snap our eyes open. The explosion sent a piece of burning wood into the courtyard, setting several bushes on fire.
“We have to hope that message reached its mark.” Tizoc bent down to hoist a sack of supplies onto his shoulder. “Time to go.”
We all hauled up a bundle and started on the path to the coast where the boat was moored. I took a last look around as angry flames consumed the beautiful plants and flowers in the courtyard. The house would be on fire shortly, taking everything Citlali and Yaoti had spent a lifetime making. Citlali heaved in a sob as Yaoti shielded her head from spraying embers.
“A new paradise awaits,” Daniel said.
He was right. In a short time, there would be nothing left of this wonderful city except what my memory had locked away. My grand adventure in the Americas was on to its next phase.
I scooped up Ghost who had been weaving between my feet. The cat pressed himself up against my chest, his blue eyes wide and scared. I bolted out of the courtyard after Daniel, jumping over the low stone wall that separated Tizoc’s house from the neighboring one.
Behind us, the patio had caught fire. The thundering rumble of the merciless flames was so loud I swear it could have been heard back in Southampton. We navigated our way through the darkness, and my tears fell on Ghost’s white fur.
****
After sprinting through the night with only one stop to rest and catch our breaths, we arrived at the shore. A sliver of moonlight guided us as we trailed along in silence until the water met the land. In the near distance, the sloop beckoned to us, hidden away in a small cove.
“The Charlotte,” Daniel announced in a hushed whisper. He led us to the rowboat beached on the sand. “Supplies into the dory. We’ll ferry them out first, then come back for people.”
Acalon and Chimalli stepped forward and gathered everyone’s bundles. “We will go with you,” Acalon said.
Daniel lowered his pack into the dory. As Acalon and Chimalli pushed the dory into the water, Daniel turned to me. He gave Ghost, still in my arms, a vigorous scratching between the ears, a thoughtful look on his beautiful face. The warm sea breeze tossed his hair around a bit, and I was reminded of all the time we had spent working toget
her on the Rose.
Daniel pulled on my braid. “God grant us swift winds tonight.” He kissed my forehead and spun around to face the water. With a running start, he dove into the waves and caught up to the dory.
As the rowboat cut through the water, Tizoc came up behind me. His hand slid along my arm until he clasped it over my hand. He was quiet for a long moment before tugging me around to face him.
“I cannot begin to repay you and Daniel for taking my family aboard a ship meant for the two of you. You sacrifice much to help us and delay your own plans. I am forever in your debt, Cihuapilli.” His voice was raspy as if he were holding back the emotions brimming under his calm exterior.
I touched my palm to his cheek, and he shuddered under the contact.
“Tizoc, you owe me nothing. I feel more a part of your family than of my own. Your parents and sisters have shown me a love I will carry with me always. You saved Daniel’s life. It is our honor to take everyone to safety, to new beginnings.”
He pulled me into an embrace, my cheek pressed to his smooth, warm chest.
When I came back from England… when I escaped from that awful nightmare… I vowed never to leave this place again. There was nowhere I’d rather be than here, Tizoc’s voice whispered in my head. It is only because of you that I am able to leave.
Me? I pulled back from him so I could see his face.
I want you, Cihuapilli. In my life, in whatever way that is possible. I know you and Daniel plan to marry, and I hold such happiness in my heart for you both. Just the same, I need to be near you. Knowing that you will be in the new place we find to start again makes all of this easier.
We will always be connected, Tizoc. Always.
I gave him an extra squeeze around the waist then stepped back. He opened his mouth to say something more, but the sound of pistol fire cut him off. I frantically scanned the dark tree line behind Tizoc. Black shadows slipped from the trees onto the sand, headed straight for our group.
“We have to go, Tizoc!” I said, but he collapsed against me.
Citlali let out a scream as she charged toward us, Matlal and Itzli hurrying behind her. I shouldered Tizoc’s weight and eased him down to the ground. A stream of blood flowed from his midsection and stained the sand beneath him.
“Not my pilli…” Citlali’s voice cracked as she gave into the sobs, running her hands over his body, looking for the wound. Yaoti kneeled beside his son, taking his hand as silent tears trailed down his cheeks.
“He’s hit here.” Matlal pulled off his vest and blotted it into a crimson hole in the left side of Tizoc’s back.
The vest soaked up the blood as my heart raced in my chest. Tizoc heaved in a staccato breath. His eyes closed.
“We need to get out of here,” Yaretzi hissed. “Now!”
The shadows scurried closer. I looked back to the Charlotte. The dory was in the water, paddling back toward us. Glancing down to Tizoc’s head in my lap, I watched his eyes struggle to stay open.
“Get him to that dory,” I said. “Then go. All of you. Swim if you have to. Get off this beach and get to the Charlotte.”
Hoisting Tizoc up from my lap, Matlal handled the bulk of him while Itzli grabbed his legs. I grabbed onto Tizoc’s hand, hanging limply by his side as Matlal and Itzli carried him toward the water. He let out a weak, mumbled groan. Putting my lips to his hand, I whispered, “I need to be near you too, so keep breathing.”
I let his hand slip from mine as Matlal and Itzli continued into the water. Daniel jumped out of the dory to help them.
“Go,” I yelled to the rest of Tizoc’s family. “Hurry!”
“Charlie!” Daniel yelled as I turned back toward the shadows growing nearer.
Xochitl clamped her hand down on my arm and pulled. “Come, Cihuapilli! We must get to the boat!”
“I’ll be right behind you. Go.” I wriggled free of her grasp. I scooped up Ghost and dumped him, limbs flailing about, into Xochitl’s arms. She did not question me, but accepted the cat and bolted for the water.
What I was thinking was pure insanity, but I couldn’t let it go. Someone had put a hole in Tizoc. I had no weapon, no shield, no plan, but rational thought left me as soon as Tizoc’s body collapsed onto my own.
“Charlotte!” Daniel called again, but I continued to walk away from the water. Away from him. Daniel was still here because of Tizoc, and if I could do something—anything—to make sure Tizoc was still here in the morning then cripes, I was going to do it. Bending down, I plucked up a rock in my path. Weighing it in my palm, I ran forward, Daniel’s shouts drowning in the wind.
It took no time at all for me to be mere paces away from the Spaniard who had shot Tizoc. The bruised face was familiar. The guard I had slammed with the cell door at the palace stood in front of me, his lips turned up in a nasty snarl. His pistol was trained on me as he spoke.
“Did you think Salazar would let you leave this city after dishonoring him by escaping his hold?”
“You dishonored him by letting us escape his hold.” My fingers squeezed the rock in my palm.
“Sassy, aren’t you, miss?” the guard replied. “You need to be taught some manners.”
“Take your gold and get out of here.”
His fingers closed around the trigger of his weapon, and I did nothing to move away from it. Before he could fire into me, however, something whipped down onto his forearm causing him to drop the pistol into the sand.
Zolin hoisted his spear around so the sharpened tip was poised over the Spaniard as he cradled his almost certainly broken arm. Zolin drew his own arms back, both hands on the shaft of his spear, preparing to pierce it into the guard.
“No!” I yelled. “No. I’ll do it.” I grabbed Zolin’s spear and pushed him away with a reserve of strength I didn’t know I had. I plunged the sharpened stone tip into the Spaniard’s chest, and he fell to the sand with a muffled thud.
I picked up the pistol, tucking it into the waist of my breeches. A quick skim of the beach revealed more Spaniards emerging from the trees in front of us as more Sunal warriors streamed in from the right and left.
“The call… you heard the call…” I said.
“Yes,” Zolin replied. “Tizoc’s voice rang in our ears. Those of us that could come are here.”
Water splashed behind me as several Sunal warriors carried dugout canoes into the sea. Those warriors that weren’t currently fighting off Spaniards loaded people into the canoes and paddled toward the Charlotte.
“Come! They will hold the outsiders back for as long as they can.” Zolin motioned to the other Sunal warriors.
He threw his massive arm around my waist, hauled me off my feet, and headed toward one of the canoes. Zolin moved swiftly and with little effort, though he toted a whole extra person. We reached the canoes in mere moments as the sound of more gunfire resonated behind us. The Sunal people were sacrificing themselves so some of us could get away. So some of us could carry on their culture.
My heart ached in my chest as Zolin tossed me into the canoe. He hopped in behind me and joined in the furious rowing. Four other canoes surrounded us, each filled with six Sunal, oars carrying them as fast as was possible toward the Charlotte. The ship had to get moving if it had any chance to be out of the cove before the Spaniards figured out a way to pursue us. With the Spanish boats sunk by Salazar himself, they had nothing to sail in, but it wouldn’t take long to gather some Sunal canoes and engage in a chase.
Tizoc? My breath caught in my lungs when I didn’t feel a link right away. Tizoc, I need you to hear me.
A slight tingling in my head grew in strength as I waited in fear.
Cihuapilli. His voice and mental presence were cloudy.
You have to tell Daniel to raise the sails and go. I’m safe with Zolin in one of the canoes following the Charlotte. Our call to the others worked. They are here and more will be saved.
A flicker of increased energy from Tizoc filled my mind. Zolin? Zolin is with you?
&n
bsp; Yes. We are right behind you, but Daniel needs to leave now or the Spanish will catch up to us. Tell him to go. Now!
I will… you have to… you have to get on board. I don’t know how long I can hold on… I’m in the space between this world and the next…
My throat strained as I fought to keep the tears from pouring. Tizoc was weak and fading fast. Absolutely helpless in the canoe, I sent a silent prayer to my God, Tizoc’s gods, any deity that would listen. I had to get to him.
The loud slap of a sail unfurling and getting caught by the wind had me whirling my head up to look at the Charlotte. Though she was a small sloop—Daniel had meant her for just the two of us—she looked like a huge, white-winged bird picking up speed as she slid across the water, maneuvering out of the cove. Daniel, bless him, trusted me enough to heed my message. I silently thanked the heavens, and then a wild notion popped into my head.
I stood in the canoe, startling the Sunal warrior sitting next to me and causing Zolin to grab onto my arm.
“What are you doing?” he shouted.
“What has to be done. These canoes are too slow. Tizoc hasn’t got much time. I can feel it.” I pulled out the pistol and handed it to him. “Take this… just in case.”
His hand closed around the gun, but he would not use it. He trusted his spear and only his spear.
With a brief look back to the shore, I leaped from the canoe into the water.
Chapter Thirty-three
I kicked my legs and paddled my arms until they burned with muscle strain. My chest was tight. Sea salt stung my throat, my eyes. I wanted to stop swimming, just for a moment and rest, but if I ceased, it would be so easy to slip under the surface to the dark oblivion waiting below me. Tizoc needed me to make it to the Charlotte.
I don’t know how much time had passed, but I somehow managed to catch up to the Charlotte. I called out, treading water next to her hull, but the wind roared in the sails. The waves crashed noisily against the boat. Below it all, I struggled to keep pace with the Charlotte’s speed.
Sail With Me (A Discovery Series Book) Page 27
