Chapter 29 - Touch Him and You'll Deal With Me
"Get out of our way," Stella growled at the two guards as she cocked the gun she had taken earlier. "Let us go. This is over."
Both of the men laughed. "Turn around, perra," one of them demanded. "Drop the gun and go back to your cell. The others are already caught."
Arnold felt his heart stop. Was his father alright? His classmates? He was surprised when his mother, however, did not lower her gun. "If you think I'm going to let you hurt these children," she said, "You're dumber than I've always thought you were."
"Hijueputa!" the other guard snapped as they both advanced toward Stella.
"Stay back!" Stella shouted. Arnold looked at Helga next to him. She returned his look with a set expression of determination, holding up her knife. He nodded, gripping his spear more firmly and saw out of the corner of his eye Brainy, Curly, Nadine, Eugene and Mr. Collins bracing themselves for a fight, holding the poles from the jail cell.
Then, faster than they could imagine she could move, Stella dove at the guards toward their feet, tripping them as she rolled on the ground. Startled, but not missing the opportunity, the rest jumped forward. Mr. Collins and Arnold jumped on top of one guard, while Helga and Eugene jumped on the other to pin them down. Nadine and Brainy kicked the guns out of the guards' hands. Stella had gotten to her feet and stood between the guards, pointing her gun down. "I told you to stay back," she said angrily, then demanded, "Get up and get in one of those cells."
Mr. Collins and the kids got up, allowing the two men to grumpily get to their feet. Stella forced them into one of the intact cells. Once they were secured inside, she tried to get them to tell her where La Sombra was and what had happened to the others, but they sat against the opposite wall and ignored her.
Helga looked at Arnold with a grin, "I wouldn't mess with your mother for anything."
He laughed, looking at his mother. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll never be able to get away with anything with her around."
Helga just snorted. "Since when do YOU ever do anything to get in trouble?" she asked, which just got Arnold to laugh harder.
They all left the cave and started up the path toward the pier. All held their weapons in readiness, except for Sheena, who couldn't bring herself to take a weapon. She stayed in the middle of the group, close to Helga, who made her feel safe. This path was a more used path and the moon gave enough light to be able to see clearly, but it was still dark and hard to see to the sides. They kept expecting something to jump out at them any moment.
They made it to the pier and saw that the boat was still there, though there was no one around. "Where's Dad and everyone else?" Arnold asked, his voice stressed.
"I don't know," Stella answered in a worried tone, looking around.
"You don't have to worry about them," a voice sneered from behind them.
Everyone turned, facing La Sombra and four of his men.
"What did you do with my husband and the others?" Stella demanded.
"They are taken care of," La Sombra answered, chuckling.
Arnold saw his mother's face turn pale in the moonlight, though she kept her angry and determined expression.
"This is over, La Sombra," she said, lifting her gun.
"Hardly, puta," he laughed, gesturing to his men. All four trained their guns on Arnold. "One wrong move and that boy is dead. Drop your gun."
Stella hesitated a moment, then lowered the gun, looking down at Arnold. "Mom, no…"
She shook her head and dropped the gun to the ground.
"And the rest of you."
Everyone else dropped whatever they were carrying, looking at each other dejectedly. Helga was the last to drop hers. Arnold heard the knife hit the ground with a thud and he lost heart then. Helga had been the strong one this entire journey and if she was giving up, he did feel like all was lost.
La Sombra and his men forced them back toward the caves. Arnold tried to think of a way out of this, but there didn't seem to be. He walked with his mother's arm around his shoulders and Helga next to him, but he couldn't catch the blond girls' eye. She looked angry and frustrated, which he understood. After everything they had been through, it was disappointing to be caught once again.
"Now that I have your son, you will show me the way to the lost city," La Sombra drawled. "And give me El Corazon. If you don't, I will kill him. It is as simple as that, puta."
Stella didn't answer the pirate, she just tightened her hold on Arnold.
"Touch him and you'll deal with me," Helga snapped angrily.
La Sombra just laughed. "I like you, pinche niña," he said. "You're a tough one. You honestly think you can do anything to me?"
When he said that, one of his guards suddenly fell to the side with a yell, as if he had tripped. La Sombra swore something in Spanish, but before he could do anything, another guard tripped and fell. The first rolled over and got back to his feet, only to be struck across the face with a pole brandished by Sid, then hit in the back of the head by Harold. Eduardo and two native men dressed in skins appeared from the edge of the trail to engage the other two guards. Miles kicked at La Sombra's hands, forcing his rifle to fly to the side.
Arnold heard a cry and saw Sid hurtling back clutching his arm, struck by the second guard who had been tripped, but the boy was caught by Stinky before he could fall. Mr. Collins jumped forward to grab at that man, helped by Eugene, Brainy and Curly. La Sombra dodged a punch from Miles and darted forward, grabbed Arnold's arm and tried to drag him away from his mother, but she clung to him until La Sombra slashed her across her arm with his hand. He started to pull at a struggling Arnold again, but the next thing he knew, Helga had shoved her knife up to his throat. "Let him go or I'll kill you!" she snarled.
With another curse, he let go and ducked back into the jungle growth at the side of the trail and disappeared. Miles and one of the natives dashed after him, leaving the rest of the group with the four guards, who had all been subdued.
"What happened!" Stella cried, turning on Eduardo.
"They attacked us at the boat, my friend," Eduardo told her. "I feared all was lost, but then these men were there, helping us." He looked next to him at the native. "The Green Eyes. I do not know how they came to be here, but they were. A dozen of them. We were able to overpower the men who attacked us, then realized La Sombra was still at large, so we feared for you and hurried back."
"Tik-ul?" Stella asked, looking at the Green Eye, who to everyone's surprise had fallen his knees and pressed his forehead to the ground in front of Arnold. Arnold looked completely confused and looked between his mother and Eduardo, his mouth open in shock.
"What is he doing?" he gasped.
"You are his God, Arnold," Stella said softly. "He is kneeling in your presence."
"Please tell him to get up!" Arnold begged. "I don't want this!"
"Tik-ul," Stella said gently, then spoke to him in his language. The man lifted his head to look at her, then slowly got to his feet, showing his reluctance. He and Stella spoke for a few minutes until Stella seemed satisfied. "This is Tik-ul, son of the Chief and a friend of ours from the village where we stayed. Let's get these goons back to the caves and lock them up," she decided. "Hopefully Miles can catch La Sombra. We'll need to be careful, since we don't know if there are any more of these guys around."
Stella, Eduardo and Mr. Collins picked up the guns the guards had dropped. One of the guards was out cold, so they made two of the others drag him back to the cave. The kids followed the adults for the short distance. "I don't see Pheebs or Gerald," Helga said in a worried tone to Arnold, who walked next to her. "Or Mr. Simmons."
"Eduardo didn't mention anyone being hurt when they were attacked. I hope they're ok," he said, also worried and still a little shaken by Tik-ul's actions. The Green Eye kept looking over his shoulder at the boy he thought was his God. "I thought you dropped that back there at the boat. I heard it drop," Arnold said, pointing at the knife in her hand.
She shrugged. "I dropped my flashlight instead and hid the knife. I wasn't going to be defenseless," she answered.
He smiled at her, "You continue to amaze me."
Helga looked away from him a little embarrassed. "Thanks," she said.
"No, thank you. I really thought you would kill him to protect me."
"I would have," she stated in a matter-of-fact tone, but they had arrived at the cave before they could say anything else.
Mr. Collins and Eduardo tied up the hands of La Sombra's men and secured them in the cells as Stella knelt down to examine Sid, who was sitting on the cave floor holding his arm with Stinky next to him.
"Where are Mr. Simmons, Phoebe and Gerald?" Arnold asked Eduardo.
"I do not know, Arnold. We got separated when we were attacked. I didn't see where they went. The Green Eyes were there and everything got confused for a few minutes. I think that your teacher and your friends went after two of the guards when they ran off."
"Where did the Green Eyes come from?" Arnold asked.
Stella answered, "Tik-ul said their Chief sent them. He said that El Corazon called to their Shaman."
"That doesn't make sense," Arnold said. "How can it call to him?"
"We have no idea what El Corazon can do, Arnold," she said, even as she looked over Sid's arm. "The Green Eyes believe that it's alive."
"I don't care how it called them," Helga said. "I'm just glad they showed up."
Eduardo spoke to Tik-ul. Arnold watched wide-eyed, only now remembering that Eduardo had mentioned before that he knew the language. Tik-ul could not take his eyes off of Arnold, now that the excitement had settled down. "Their Chief and their Shaman are waiting on the shore, but he sent a group of their warriors to help us," Eduardo told them.
"I still don't understand how they knew where we were or that they should come," Arnold said.
Eduardo held his hands up helplessly, "He just keeps repeating that they were called."
"Ow!" Sid exclaimed as Stella gently prodded at the boys' arm.
"I'm sorry, dear," she said gently, then looked up at the others. "I think he may have a small fracture, and this gash is pretty bad. I need a first aid kit or something."
"Mr. Simmons had one, but I think it was in his backpack," Rhonda answered. "Those guys took all of our things when they captured us."
"It might be in one of the other caves," Helga said. "Let's go look," she said to Arnold.
They both ran out of the prisoner's cave before Stella could object. They could see a faint light shining from an entrance about fifty yards to the left. "Let's try there," Arnold suggested. "It might be where La Sombra lives. I would think he would keep things he stole there." Helga nodded her agreement and they ran toward the other cave, slowing as they neared it to approach cautiously.
It did appear to be La Sombra's personal space, lit faintly by a burning oil lamp near the back of the small cave. No one was there. The area was a mess and it smelled, an old and musty smell that made the two of them crinkle their noses. "How does he live like this?" Helga asked, reaching up to pinch her nose closed. "Ugh I can even taste it."
"I'm sure he doesn't even notice it anymore," Arnold said, poking around a little among the mess. The cave was small, but large enough for one person to inhabit it. It would look larger if it were organized, but there were things all over the floor.
"I don't want to touch anything," Helga said, making a face, which got a laugh out of Arnold.
"Yeah, I'd be careful. Who knows what all is in here," Arnold said. Helga looked over everything without touching. Arnold poked at stuff on the floor with his spear.
"I found some backpacks!" Arnold called over to her and she hurried over and saw that Arnold had found almost a dozen backpacks shoved into the back corner of the cave. They pulled a few out and started going through them and found what they thought was Mr. Simmons' pack after the first five. At least they found the first aid kit he had been carrying.
"Good, let's get this to my mom," Arnold said, standing up with the kit in one hand and his spear in the other. He moved toward the entrance with Helga following. They stopped short when they noticed La Sombra standing there, blocking their way out.
"Ah look, it's my favorite little god and my pinche niña," he said in a flat and dead sounding voice. Arnold and Helga looked at each other with wide eyes as they heard the distinct click of a pistol being cocked.
"Drop those sorry excuses for weapons. Did you think you could actually defeat me with those?" La Sombra asked with a humorless laugh.
Arnold and Helga dropped their weapons and the kit to the ground and put their hands up. In spite all of the danger they had been through, Arnold felt his mortality for the first time, as he looked at an outraged La Sombra, who glared at them with insane-looking eyes and a gun pointed at himself and Helga. His mind was racing. Arnold thought of his parents and was happy he had been able to finally find them. He thought of Helga, standing next to him and felt a stab of fear for her and a fresh surge in his heart at how he loved her. He hadn't said it to her. If La Sombra pulled that trigger, he never would.
In spite of the gun, Helga maintained her tough girl pose. "We did, you moron! There's nowhere for you to go! This island is crawling with Green Eyes now and you have no way off! You're finished!"
Arnold couldn't believe she was egging La Sombra on. Didn't she see how angry and unhinged he looked? Didn't she see the gun?
"Pedacito mierda! I am done! I am at the end of my patience!" La Sombra shouted, spit flying from his mouth in his anger. His eyes fixed on Arnold. "You and your parents are constantly taking everything from me! Now I will take everything from you!" His hand moved to the left and he pointed the gun directly at Helga.
"No!" Arnold yelled, jumping in front of her, but was surprised to hear a loud *thunk* and see La Sombra pitch forward, face first onto the ground in front of them.
