LC 02 - Questionable Remains (26 page)

Piaquay shone the torch around the entrance and walked out to
the passage. He saw neither Diego nor his torchlight. But Diego couldn't have gotten far. Piaquay's torchlight showed dark stains
on the ground. The Spaniard was bleeding. Piaquay followed the
stains. Roberto and Tesca followed him. They reached the large
cavern of a room and saw the glow of a torch behind a pile of rocks.

Roberto saw the silhouette first, the long rod of the harquebus
resting on a rock. "Duck!" he shouted and pushed Piaquay just as
a blast of light flashed and a deafening sound erupted.

The noise echoed throughout the chamber. Then another sound
came like thunder rolling in the distance. First, there was a groan,
then a cracking sound, and suddenly rocks, dirt, and boulders
were falling from above. Roberto thought he heard a scream, but
wasn't sure. He held on to his torch and tried to get as close to the
cave wall as he could. The dust choked him and stung his eyes. It
seemed like an eternity before the noise stopped. Then there was
utter silence. Roberto lifted his torch. Dust hung in the air like a
dense fog. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you injured?" asked Piaquay.

"I don't know. I don't think so," answered Roberto.

"Tesca!" shouted Piaquay. He was answered by a groan.

Piaquay picked up his burning torch from the cave floor and followed the sound. Tesca was half buried under large boulders. He
had been shot in the chest. Piaquay knelt beside him and held his
head. Roberto knelt and crossed himself.

"Go," whispered Tesca. His voice was raspy and weak.

"I won't leave you," said Piaquay.

"Dying.

"I won't leave your body here."

"You have to. You live. Is my wish, my brother. Old coyote got
his way ... closed the door on me.... You leave."

"I will not leave you here to die alone." He stroked his brother's
brow. Tesca's breathing slowed until each breath seemed like the
last. Finally his body went limp.

"Help me pull him out," said Piaquay, laying his torch on a
rock and taking his brother under the arms.

"You can't get him out," said Roberto.

"I won't leave him here."

"You must." Roberto laid a hand on Piaquay's shoulder.

Piaquay shook it off. "Take the rocks off him."

"There are too many, and they are too heavy. Please, my friend,
honor his last wish."

Piaquay struggled with his brother, then tried to remove the
rocks himself. It was an impossible task. Roberto watched helplessly, then tried to get him to stop.

"You will tire yourself and won't be able to get out of the cave."

Piaquay ignored him.

Roberto picked up the torch and went to examine the passage
they had used into the cave. He found Diego first. Only his hand
was visible from under the pile of rubble.

"Old devil," he whispered.

"We have to get out of here," he shouted, turning and racing
back to Piaquay, who stood looking down at his brother's lifeless
body. "We have to get out of here. There might be another cave-in.
Please, let's find a way out."

Piaquay looked at him a moment as if he did not understand
him. "The way is blocked?" he asked at last.

"Yes. "

"I thought there was a wind in here when we entered. There
must be two openings. Perhaps there is another way out." Roberto
thought that Piaquay seemed very calm. Roberto wanted to
scream at him. Piaquay examined the collapsed entrance.

"You are right. We cannot leave by this way. I'll get the other
torches," said Piaquay. "There will be another way out."

Piaquay found the sack of torches and slung it over his back
with his bow and arrows. He and Roberto examined the chamber.
There was another passage. Piaquay took his torch and made a circular pattern of smoke at the opening to the tunnel.

"Why are you marking the passage?" asked Roberto. "Nayahti
can't possibly come after us. The way is blocked."

"This is for the spirit of my brother. He will recognize the sun
and know it is us. He will follow," Piaquay said.

The passage was the same kind of sinuous, pockmarked passage
as the ones they had come through. Maybe it will lead to the surface, thought Roberto. He was almost sick with the fear that
rose from his belly and stung his throat.

The passageway terminated at a black pit. Piaquay tore off a
piece of Roberto's shirt, lit it, and dropped it over the side of the
pit. They saw only a flash of light reflected from the rock bottom
before the torch went out. Piaquay held out his torch, looking at
the edges of the pit. It wasn't wide, and there was a ledge that led
to the other side.

"We can go here," he said.

"No," said Roberto. "1 can't."

"You will go or you stay," said Piaquay calmly.

"No, I can't."

"Then stay." Piaquay started to step out onto the ledge.

"Please," Roberto pleaded. "Please don't leave me here. I would
cross the ledge if I could, but I'm afraid."

Piaquay looked into Roberto's eyes. Eyes of the enemy, but of
one who had saved his life and one who had suffered as much by
the hands of his own people as Piaquay had; one who had taught
him the language of the Spanish, and one whom he had traveled
with for a long time.

"I will not leave you. What is it you fear?"

"Falling. "

"Don't fall. "

Roberto almost laughed. He guessed it was that simple for
Piaquay. "A fear does not have to be reasonable. It is just there. I
could not work on the masts of ships because I was afraid of the
height."

"If I held on to you, would you be afraid?"

"If I fell, so would you."

"Neither of us will fall if you do what I say." Piaquay held out
his hand. "The ledge is wide. Don't look down, and ask your God
to make you forget that there is a pit. See only a road." Roberto
took a deep breath and listened to Pia quay's voice. "It is the only
way out. Can you feel a breeze on your face?"

No.

"I can. Come." He took Roberto's hand and stepped out onto the ledge. "Keep your eyes on the passage across the way. Hold the
wall with your other hand. Walk behind me."

Piaquay led him as if leading a child. Roberto inched along,
shuffling, barely lifting his feet. They reached the passage, but the
opening was high, almost out of reach.

"I'm going to let go of your hand," Piaquay said. "Stand there
and don't take your eyes off the opening. It's freedom. And don't
close your eyes, or you will lose your balance."

Piaquay hopped up to the opening in an easy leap. He turned
and held a hand out to Roberto. Roberto eased over to him and took
his hand. Piaquay pulled as Roberto climbed up into the passageway. He scrambled away from the opening and collapsed with his
back to the wall, breathing heavily.

"See how easy it was?" said Piaquay.

Roberto closed his eyes and fingered his beads. "Ave Marie,
gratia plena, Dominus tecum..." he whispered.

"Come," said Piaquay. "We must leave this place."

Roberto followed Piaquay down the passage. He did not feel this
breeze that Piaquay felt or understand why he went in the direction he went or follow the passages he did. He wondered briefly if
the deaths of Piaquay's family were driving him mad. Perhaps he,
Roberto, was a little mad, too. He had thought revenge against
Calderon would make everything right. Perhaps it would have
meant more if Calderon hadn't been insane. But Cristina was still
lost to him-lost forever. He realized that now. He could have no
life with her. No family. What would she say of his stretched earlobes, his exotic tattoos? What could he do in Spain? He followed
along after Piaquay, sad and very lonely. There was nowhere he
belonged now. He had no home.

LINDSAY CLUNG TO the wall of the void, close to panic.
She wanted to look back, to go back, but she couldn't
maneuver the flashlight. She was committed. No turning
back. Thirty feet to the water. Forty to the passage. Thirty
feet. Just thirty feet. But she didn't have to go to the water.
She had to go to the passage. Yes, the passage. How many feet?
More than ten, less than twenty. What is it? Something like sine
of alpha equals-equals what-"a" over the hypotenuse. Is that
it? So, how far is it? I must be going insane, trying to do higher
mathematics while suspended over a void. It doesn't matter how
far it is, I have to do it.

Don't think about falling. Don't think about being tired. Think
of the method. Shine the light to look for afoot hold for the left foot.
Try it carefully. Lift yourself up. Feel for a hold for the right foot.
Try it carefully. Reach up to find the handholds. Move diagonally
up toward the passage. Move on the hypotenuse. a2+b2=c2. That's
it. She could do that in her head. What is the square root of
2500? She placed her foot on a narrow jutting rock. It
slipped. The surge of fear was like an electric shock. She
groped for another foothold and held tightly to the rocks
with her hands and fingers. Pay attention. She found a firm
toehold and slowly lifted herself. Her muscles strained. Her
hands hurt. This was hard; too hard. Fifty feet-the
hypotenuse is fifty feet. Pay attention or you will die. Left foot, right foot, left hand, right hand. Do it, do it. Wait. She stopped
her climb. The water was loud and distracting. What if the
stones were slippery near the water? Feel the holds before you
commit, she told herself. You can do this.

Despite Lindsay's efforts to climb in a diagonal toward
the passage, she climbed more or less up. She reached to
find a hold with her left hand. It slipped, scraping her nails
and the tips of her fingers. Her hand hurt. She shook it and
reached again for another hold. She climbed up two more
feet. She was almost level with the passage. Adrenaline
rushed through her body. She put a foot on a rock and put
her weight on it. It slipped. Her body banged against the
wall, almost knocking the breath out of her. She hung by
both hands, sick with fear, trying to catch her breath, searching for footholds. Her fingers were numb.

She found a solid place for her left foot, then her right,
and just stayed there, afraid to move. It's not that far now.
What if the passage is a dead end? No. Don't think about that.
Just climb. She searched for hand- and footholds to the left
of her toward the passage, inching her way, straining her
muscles.

There it was, almost within reach. She reached for the
ledge of the passage, groping for precious footholds. Don't
go too fast now, she chided herself. Don't make a mistake now;
you are almost there. She pulled herself up to the ledge and
hung by her elbows and forearms as she pushed with her
toes. The rocks were slippery. She pulled herself and
climbed and finally crawled into the passage. Relief came
like a drugged high. She lay in the passage, catching her
breath. Slowly she stood and shone her light down the passage. It was open. Small, but open. She thought she would
faint from the joy.

Water. Now for the water. She had had an idea while she
was perched out on the wall above the water. A clever idea.
She fashioned a cup from a piece of aluminum foil. She
fished in her pocket for her handkerchief. Great Aunt Maggie thought all well-bred women should carry handkerchiefs, not tissue, and she kept Lindsay well supplied.
Lindsay thought it quaint and rarely used them, but often
carried one in her pocket anyway. She took fishing line from
the backpack and tied it to the handkerchief. She lay on her
stomach at the edge of the opening and lowered the handkerchief down into the running water, then hauled it up and
wrung the water into the foil cup. Clever, she thought. She
sipped the water, holding it in her dry mouth, delighting in
its sheer wetness. It was cool, tasteless, and refreshing-the
way water should be. It was heavenly. She lowered the
handkerchief several times until she collected a cupful, took
out a nutri-bar, and ate half of it while sipping water. A
feast. A reward.

Lindsay leaned back against the stone wall of the passage
and closed her eyes.

Piaquay and Roberto came to two tunnels. The choices were not
good. Both were small and littered with rubble.

"This way," said Piaquay.

"Are you sure we can get through?" said Roberto.

"Yes. Come." Piaquay marked the passage.

Roberto felt sorry for Piaquay. He knew the loss of his brother
must hurt him deeply. The marking of the tunnels to show the way
for his dead brother's spirit seemed so melancholy. Roberto wanted to comfort Piaquay, show him his deep appreciation for not
leaving him in the cave to die. Roberto had seen the compassion in
Piaquay's eyes, a sight he would never have thought possible. But
other than convincing his countrymen to go home and telling the
French and the English to stay away-that the land across the
ocean belonged to another people-Roberto could do nothing for
him. So he followed in silence.

The way was difficult. The passage was a narrow tunnel. It had
a steep incline and was strewn with loose rock that shifted with every step. In some locations they could only move forward on
their bellies.