Caribbean Scot

by Kimberly Killion

  She paused and swiveled. A braggart’s smile was the last image the fire globe reflected before Robbie released their tiny light source into the water. The globe bobbed and swooped sideways where the river branched off the main passage, then stopped all at once only feet away. Though small, the flame cast yellow light into a small circular space surrounded by smooth rock walls.

  Without hesitation, Robbie swam toward the globe and stretched both arms out to touch the sides of the narrow enclosure. She looked up, searching, studying, then her eyes reconnected with his.

  He panicked. Everything about that look told him she was about to do something foolish.

  Robbie untied the rope connecting her to the main line, grabbed the fire globe, and shot upward.

  God’s legions! The woman didn’t put an ounce of thought into decision making. He wanted to strangle her wee neck. Instead, he untied the rope from his waist and scissored his feet, following her up through the narrow passageway. Only seconds passed before he heard the splash above him. He swam up the length of her body and broke through the water’s surface beside her.

  He sucked in musty air through his mouth and had every intention of scolding her, but the sight before him stole his anger. ’Twas like standing beneath a star-filled sky during the midnight hour. The fire globe reflected the shimmering ceiling of an enormous cavern—Xitali’s cavern.

  “My God in Heaven.” Astounded by the discovery, Reid’s entire being trembled with excitement. Somehow, he managed to crawl out of the water behind Robbie who was now eagerly pulling the pack from his shoulders.

  She pealed the tarred ties free and retrieved a short piece of twisted tow they’d dipped in tallow before they left Rukux. She pulled the stopper from the fire globe and ignited the oiled torch.

  The cavern filled with light, revealing a treasure far grander than any king’s purse. It was the treasure of the gods.

  “Holy Loki!” Robbie’s words were breathy, her eyes fixed on an abundance of riches piled in heaps around the floor of the cavern: statues of the gods, chalices and vessels of all shapes and sizes. And all of it made of gold and jade.

  “Where do ye s’pose it all came from?”

  “Xitali must have collected it from the bottom of the Well of Sacrifice. When the kings of the ancient Maya weren’t sacrificing virgins, they tossed gold into the well as an offering to their gods,” Reid said in monotones, but the gold no longer held him rapt. He stood in awe, staring at the treasure he’d sought since the day he found the stone stele in the jungle. He grew dizzy, and for a brief moment he thought he might actually swoon. Unable to draw enough air into his lungs, he wanted to tear the mask away from his face, but he wasn’t that careless.

  “What is it?” Robbie stepped up beside him and held the torch upward to illuminate the greatest discovery of all.

  “Xitali’s library,” Reid whispered the words as he looked on in amazement at the renderings covering the walls—pictures depicting advanced theories in irrigation, alchemy, and astrology. However, the grandest rendering of all dominated the center wall. It was a celestial depiction representing the ancient Maya universe. “’Tis the Sacred Tree of Life known as Yaxché,” he explained. “The tree’s branches connect the Spiritual Realms, the planets.” He made a sweeping gesture toward the top of the tree where the branches held up the eight planets of the solar system. “The base of the tree is the Earth’s plane, and the tree’s roots stretch into the Xibalbá where the nine dark deities reside.”

  “Hell?”

  “Aye.” He’d seen similar drawings akin to the one before him, but none so detailed. “This is Mars.” He pointed at the fourth planet from the left. Inside the planet was a rendering of a man and a woman standing before their own tree. A serpent coiled around its trunk. “They are Adam and Eve,” he mumbled in awe.

  “Xitali believed the Garden of Eden resided on Mars?”

  Knowledge is truth and truth is power. Reid recalled the words on Xitali’s stele and snatched the torch from Robbie’s hand. He walked closer to study the trunk of the Sacred Tree of Life. “Mayhap Xitali died and met the Supreme Being of the Otherworld.” Reid laughed outright, not because he found it humorous in any way, but because it terrified him to comprehend its immensity. “’Twas no wonder her king sacrificed her.”

  “These drawings could set a course for the advancement of science. Scholars would pay a fortune to analyze them.”

  He tore his gaze away from the rendering and looked into her wide green eyes—eyes full of intrigue and wonder. Anxiety coiled in the pit of his stomach. Her words set him on the defense. The effects of this discovery could be life-threatening for the Jaguar King and his people. Jax, Black Dove, and Yellow Peacock were the first of those to come to the forefront of his mind.

  He wouldn’t endanger their lives because a woman drew a few pictures on a cave wall.

  Robbie cupped her mouth behind the tube. The giddy expression on her face made him wish he’d never brought her here. He gripped her by the elbow and guided her back toward the water. “When we return to the surface, you will tell no one about this. No one,” he repeated with emphasis and gestured toward the heaps of gold which no longer held the grandeur it had when they’d broke through the surface. “We came for the gold. ’Tis all. We will need to prepare nets and more rope to haul—”

  “Are ye soft in the skull?” Robbie snatched her arm out of his grasp and glared at him. “Reid, we have—”

  “No!” He held both her shoulders firmly, forcing her attention on him. “The Spaniards have reaped havoc across the New World for a hundred years, killing off tribes and burning their books.”

  Robbie’s thin brows dipped low, her head shook, her lips parted ready to debate.

  “Hear me, Robbie.” He didn’t allow her words. “I will not invite such destruction upon the Mopán people. They are my family.”

  The lines smoothed from her face, her entire being sank beneath his palms, and then her lashes fell against her cheeks. “I thought I was your family now.”

  He sighed, knowing nothing he said could change the words he’d already spoken. “Robbie—”

  She raised her hand to stop him. “They are important to ye the same as the MacGregor clan is important to me. I will say naught.” Her gaze never lifted off the floor. “We should go before our air is depleted. We still have to swim to the reservoir.” She slipped back into the water and then disappeared beneath the surface.

  Reid blew a heavy breath and rubbed his eyes, frustrated by her failure to accept her place in his heart. What did he have to do to convince the woman he loved her?

  He prepared to follow, but not without a final glance at Xitali’s cavern. He’d waited so long to make this discovery, and the Maya priestess had not disappointed him. Unfortunately, the work she’d left behind would forever go unstudied.

  22

  ~ SACRIFICE ~

  She should be happy. The expedition had been a success. In a little over a fortnight, Reid and Robbie managed to haul all the gold out of Xitali’s cavern save for a single statue of gold and jade that Reid insisted on leaving behind to pay tribute to the Maya priestess and her efforts. More than a dozen Mopán warriors had been called upon to transport the fortune back to the work-house at Rukux where Black Dove and her sisters spent three days melting the majority of the gold into small bricks.

  The treasure that would free the MacGregor clan was now safely tucked into the keel of the Obsidian anchored a short distance from the white beaches of Reid’s paradise. Provisions for the return voyage were in order as well. Livestock, sacks of maize, and barrels of drink laden the ship’s storage chambers, and a crew of nigh fifty men awaited launching orders from their captain.

  They were headed home, to Scotland. In less than a month’s time Robbie would once again be with her clan. She missed them—Nanna and baby Alana, auld Angus and his granddaughters, but mostly she missed Grandda. She should be eager to step into the awaiting longboat and row out to the Obsidian.<
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  She was not.

  S’truth, she was miserable. A warm drizzle of rain coated her face with wetness, hiding her tears, but nothing could drown the sorrow burning a hole in her heart as she watched Reid bid farewell to his friends and family. With every parting word, Reid’s control seemed to slip further from his grasp. He embraced Gentle Fawn and Stream Dancer, then Songbird and Henrik, and the guilt Robbie bore was nigh unbearable.

  The Jaguar King clasped Reid in a fierce hug. “May Xau protect you on your journey.”

  “I can never repay you for your generosity.”

  The Jaguar King set Reid back. “Be happy, my son. This is not the end. We will meet again in the Otherworld.”

  Reid offered him a single nod, then bent to one knee before Black Dove. He splayed his fingers around her tight abdomen. “You will take care of this boy, aye?”

  “Boy? Och! ’Tis certain to be another lass.” Black Dove uselessly swiped at the endless stream of tears that had fallen over her face the whole of the morning. She raised Reid up and kissed his chin. “You will have Jean-Pierre return my Jax to me safely and before spring, aye.”

  Reid turned his attention to Jax who casually leaned against his spear, awaiting their departure. “You should stay.”

  Jax cocked his head, his dark eyes narrowed. “White Serpent and Jax make the journey together.”

  The knot in Reid’s throat bobbed, his gaze fell to Black Dove’s round belly. “Your place is here. I do not wish for ye to miss the birth of your second born because of me.”

  Jax stared at Reid, and the sadness in his eyes tore at Robbie’s heart. She cupped her mouth to silence the sob now choking her. She hated everything about this moment.

  “Jax is going.” He stomped toward Black Dove and bid her farewell. “I will be back in time. It is my promise.” He held her belly as he kissed her hard, then stepped into the water to steady the back of the longboat.

  Reid exhaled a ragged breath, ripped his fingers through his damp hair, and watched the majority of the Mopán people slip into the thick green foliage. He scanned the barren beach, searching. “Yellow Peacock is still angry with me?” he asked Black Dove in a somber tone.

  “She will come to regret not bidding ye farewell. Someday Yellow Peacock will understand why ye left.” Black Dove consoled him, her gaze met Robbie’s, but only for a fleeting second before she turned to leave.

  Reid lingered for long moments, staring at the landscape, before he finally swiveled. “Get in the boat, Robbie.” Though he kept his eyes downcast, he remained in constant control of his emotions as he assisted her into the longboat. Few words had passed between them since they’d discovered Xitali’s cavern. He’d grown distant, his mind always elsewhere. He hadn’t made love to her since before the first dive more than a fortnight ago. Robbie told herself their labors stole his energy, but she knew ’twas a lie. Each day that passed, he was coming to regret the bargain he’d struck with Eoin.

  She had not been worth it.

  Sitting on the crossbench, she lowered her lashes, unable to look at him. “Ye dinnae have to leave.” Her words were a foolish attempt to free herself from the guilt eating her insides.

  “Please, Robbie. Not now. This is difficult enough.” He bent to free the longboat from the shore, but before he completed the task the squall of a child sounded from behind.

  “White Serpent! White Serpent!” Yellow Peacock burst through the dense leaves and raced onto the beach.

  Reid whipped his head over his shoulder and quickly jerked the longboat back into the sand. He turned in time to catch Yellow Peacock when she jumped into his wide arms.

  She hugged him fiercely. “I’m sorry I called you a foul-earthed frog. I take it back. I take it back.” She sobbed openly. “You will always be my favorite white man.”

  “And you will always be my favorite Pea-nut.” Reid buried his face in the small curve of Yellow Peacock’s neck for long moments before he knelt in the sand and set her back on her feet. He pushed the tears from her thick lashes with the pads of his thumbs and smoothed her long black hair. “I will miss you.”

  Her eyes found Robbie, her dark brows puckered, and her bottom lip quivered.

  Robbie almost wished the girl would curse her. ’Twas no mistaking the look of blame in her black eyes.

  Reid cradled her cheeks in his palms, bringing her attention back to him. “You will behave for your mam and take care of Pepem and Myah, and Oscar and Khan.”

  “And you will take care of Da.” Stepping into the water, she wrapped her small arms round Jax’s middle and bid him farewell in her native tongue.

  “Go, Yellow Peacock. I will return before the chikoo turns brown on the sapodilla tree.” Jax kissed the crown of her head and stepped into the boat.

  She nodded, pushing tears from her eyes, then set a braided length of black hair in Reid’s hand. “Do not forget me.”

  Reid studied her gift, stroking the braid with his thumb before he clutched it in his fist and once again wrapped his thick arms around her tiny frame. “I will never forget you, Pea-nut.”

  Robbie held her throat and convulsed with emotions. He would always resent her for making him leave his family. As long as there was breath in her lungs, she would remember this day as the day she took a great man away from his people.

  * * *

  Reid rolled silky smooth smoke over his tongue before he blew the silver ribbons over the bow of the Obsidian into a night black as pitch and wished for naught more than to put this day behind him. S’truth, Jean-Pierre had relieved him at the helm over an hour before and all was quiet on deck. However, he wasn’t yet prepared to face Robbie in the confines of his cabin. Part of him sought her solace, but his grievances were still too raw, and he feared what he might say should she ask the wrong questions.

  Mayhap he was a coward, but he simply wanted to sulk in his misery alone. He drew on his cigar until the embers burned bright orange and fiddled with the braid Yellow Peacock had given him until the swish of skirts whispered behind him.

  “Do ye intend to avoid me the entire way back to Scotland?”

  Reid’s eyelids slid shut. He sighed. Why did she have to sound so bitter? “I am not avoiding you, Robbie. ’Tis been a trying day. Go back to the cabin. I’ll be about shortly.”

  No departing footsteps broke the hum of the gale filling the foremast above him. He might have known she would defy him. From the corner of his eye, he saw wild sprigs of her honey-red hair blowing this way and that in the warm breeze.

  She stepped to his side, and he turned away.

  “Do ye hate me for taking ye away from them?”

  Appalled by her question, he swiveled and stared at her. The spark in her emerald eyes was gone, dimmed to gray-green. Though her cinnamon lashes were spiked with tears, she did not hide behind them. She pulled the corner of her lip between her teeth and awaited his answer.

  A part of him wanted her to suffer the same guilt he’d lived with since the day he’d left her on the hillside, but the part of him that loved her beyond sensibility couldn’t bear to see her suffer. He tossed the remainder of his cigar over the forward rail and held his hand out to her. “I could never hate ye.”

  She rushed into his arms with a fierceness he hadn’t been near prepared for. Her arms circled his waist in an embrace he returned with equal abandon.

  Lost in her comforting touch, he brushed her hair and kissed her temple. “’Twill take time for me to forget them, Robbie.”

  Her head snapped up, her eyes twitched. “Dinnae say such things. I never want ye to forget them. Never. They are your family. Ye promised Yellow Peacock ye would never forget her, and I want ye to keep that promise.”

  A sad smile lifted the corners of his lips as he looked down at the braid wrapped around his hand. Yellow Peacock’s dark shining eyes came to the forefront of his mind, and he recalled the first time he met the wee bit. “I was there when she was born.” The memory was not so old that he didn’t remember his fear.
“’Twas the eve Moon Hawk claimed Stream Dancer as his woman. Da and B’alam got into a debate as to whose drink was more potent—the Scots’ whisky or the Mopán’s balche. The entire tribe got completely blootered; men, women, and even some of the older bairns.”

  “All save for ye?”

  “I drank my fair share.” Reid chuckled and leaned against the rail, keeping Robbie tucked tightly to his side. “But I was not nearly as lost to the drink as Jax. The man stumbled off to take a piss, and I found him face down in a crop of itching weed.” Reid paused, remembering how Jax’s eyes had swollen nigh shut, then scratched his whiskered jaw and went on. “I managed to drag his drunk arse to his cottage and found Black Dove suffering the beginnings of her labors.”

  “Was she angry?”

  “Seething. I dinnae recall how long it took me to get the woman to quit kicking Jax.”

  Robbie hid her smile behind her hand and toyed with the laces of his lèine shirt, awaiting the continuation of his story.

  “I searched the village for someone clear-headed enough to assist her, but none could be found. By the time I returned, Black Dove was kneeling on a bamboo mat screaming as though her bones were breaking inside her.” The yellow glow of the binnacle lamp blurred as Reid became lost in the memory. “She struggled for three long hours and cursed Jax with every breath until the pains became more than she could bear. Then she begged me to cut the babe out.”

  Robbie gasped and squeezed his hand.

  “I scolded her for her cowardice. Told her she was the least brave of all her sisters.”

  “Those were harsh words.”

  “Aye, but not nearly as harsh as the barbs she tossed back. She condemned me to the Underworld, then spit on me, but moments after that, she pushed the babe from her womb.” Reid grinned, remembering the instant he caught Yellow Peacock. “She took her first breath in the palm of my hand. I was the first to hold her, even before Black Dove.”

  “And Jax?”

  “He slept through it all.” Reid welcomed the laughter warming his insides. “Jax groveled for weeks after, trying to earn Black Dove’s forgiveness.”