Author's Note: Things get a little heated, but this is, and will be, the most mature chapter in the whole story. I THINK I kept it tame enough to keep the "T" Rating?
CHAPTER 6: (Tulio's POV) Breaking the Rules
I drag Miguel by the shirt sleeve to Chief Tannabok's palace. My partner's always had an uncontrolable sense of wonderlust when encountering something or somewhere new. If I left him to his own devices, we'd never make it to our destination before the end of the day. A gaurd greets us at the palace gates. "My Lords!" he bows.
I reluctantly release Miguel's shirt and throw him a look that dares him to so much as move a muscle, before turning to the gaurd. "Is Chief Tannabok in? We need to speak with him," I insist, "Tell him it's a matter of utmost importance."
"Yes, my lords, right away!" the gaurd says, with a bow, "I'll take you to him immediately. This way, please." We follow the gaurd into the palace, and he leads us straight to the cheif.
"My lords?" the chief bows to us, as do the woman and children at his side. His wife and kids, I'm asuming. "To what honor do we owe this visit?
Is there something you've found to your disatisfaction?"
"No," Miguel and I both say.
"No, no, no, not at all," I chuckle, assuringly, "Everything's fine. It's just, Chief Tanni... Do you mind if I call you Tanni?" He shakes his head. Thank goodness, Tanni's a lot easier to remember, actually. "Good. Um... Is there somewhere we can sit and talk? We have a favor we need to ask of you."
The cheif glances at his wife and kids, as if to excuse himself from them, then turns back to us. "Certainly, right this way," he says, leading us to the throne room. As he sits on the throne, Miguel and I take our place on a stone couch, covered in brighly colored pillows across from him. "Now, what can I do for you, my lords?"
"You see, Chief Tanni. I know this is rather sudden, but Miguel and I need to return to Xibalba, and well, your tribute is so plentiful, we need a vessel to carry it in. We were hoping perhaps, you could build us a baot?"
"A boat?" the chief asks.
"Yeah, we really hate to be ascending so soon, but, some urgent business has come up," Miguel starts to explain, pointing skyward.
"Family matters," I add, "and it's just a bit..."
"Yeah, family," Miguel nods.
"Badda-bing, budda-boom, you just have to be there, know what I mean?" I chuckle, nervously.
"Oh... Well, we expected you to be staying with us for the next... thousand years," the chief says.
"Yeah, I know," I nod, calmly, "But as we say in the spirit world, there's your plan, and then there's... the gods' plan. And right now, our plan calls for a boat. 'Cause, we're gonna' ascend kind of in a horizontal pattern at first." I notice Miguel cover his mouth, as if trying to hide a laugh and it takes every ounce of control not to kick him before he does or says something stupid that might give us away. "And then we're gonna' go vertical, as we get further out to sea."
"Hm, to build a boat large and glorious enough... Would take about a week," the chief proposes.
"A week?" I ask.
"I wonder how long it would take Tzekel-Kan to do it?" Miguel pipes in. I toss him a smile, he was paying attention when I told him to play the two against each other, after all.
"But-But for the gods," the cheif stammers. Hey, well played, buddy! "Three days."
"Well, if that's the best you can do..." We start to stand up.
"Or, perhaps, if you were not burdened with so much tribute, you could leave sooner?" the chief suggests.
Miguel and I exchange a glance. "I like it here, Miguel?" I ask.
"Yep, yep," Miguel agrees, "Three days is just fine."
No, no it's not, but it's the best we can deal with. I've already got a feeling of dread and failure growing deep in the pit of my stomach. I manage to hold it together, long enough to settle all the arrangements with Chief Tanni.
WOrk on the boat begins tomorrow, Miguel and I will stop by and check on the progress periodically. The ship will be large enough to carry Miguel, Al Tivo, Chel, the armadillo, and myself, along with the gold and enough provisions to get us safely to Spain. No one asks about the armadillo, I suppose since it came into the city with us, they assumed it belonged to us, just like the horse. Chel, on the other hand, this made the Chief raise a questioning eye. "She's served us so well here, that we wish to reward her by taking her with us," I explain. The cheif shrugs his shoulders, I guess he bought it.
As we leave, I catch Miguel by his shirt sleeve again. "Awe, c'mon, Tulio," he groans as I lead him back to the temple. He complains, but complies and follows me back without a fight. I think he can tell I'm uneasy.
"No, three days is NOT fine," I announce, once we get back to the safety of the temple. I scoop up a pair of earrings and start pacing. "This is a real..." I notice Chel is digging through the golden jewelery, looking at earrings and tossing them aside, trying to find a pair that suits her. I glance down at the pair in my hand, the pair she's wearing are solid green stones, the pair in my hand are the same green stones,
but with a golden outline. I lean in and open my hand, showing her the pair I'm holding. "These-these are the ones," I suggest. She takes them and runs off. "Problem," I finish my original thought. "Miguel, how are we going to keep this up for three days?" I ask, almost desperatley.
"You worry too much," Miguel shrugs.
Damn it, Miguel, can't you be serious about anything? "NO! I worry exactly the right amount! You can NEVER worry too much." I sigh. "We just have to lie low."
"But, Tulio, this place is amazing!" Miguel argues, "I mean I wonder what..."
"NO! Don't even move!" I stop him.
"Tulio..." he starts in.
"You're moving!"
"A little, but... Come on..."
"Hey, hey, hey! I said no!" I insist.
"I gotta' I..."
"Stay!" I order, "Just... stand there!"
"Wha... For three days?" he asks, trying to freeze into an awkward position that causes him to fall flat on the floor.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. "Yes, exactly," I sigh, "For three days." I'm sorry partner. I know. Believe me, Miguel, I know.
It's hard enough for you to hold still for three seconds, let along three days, but I need you to do this. "Don't even breathe, all right?"
Miguel gives me a defeated sigh and crosses his arms. "All right, we lie low," he agrees.
"No, ah, ah, ah, ah!" I'm not letting him off that easy. "Promise?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah," he waves me off, "All right, all right!"
I heave a sigh and relax a little, feeling a weight lift off my shoulders. "Great! Good. Okay." Chel steps back up beside me, wearing the earrings I'd just given her. They look good on her. "Now, if you'll excuse me..." I smile at Chel and flick one of the earrings, making her giggle, and... Awe, cute, is that a blush? "I have to go and gloat over my gold." I sit down and start looking through the gold. There's all sorts of trinkets and odds and ends. Plates, jewelery, coins, vases, statues. "Oh, yum, yum, yum..." The miser in me doesn't care who sees as I pick up a golden head statue and begin kissing it. I start to relax even more and begin to feel a lot better. I round some of it up, planning to take it back over to my partners, so we can dig through it together, and suddenly find myself singing, "Tulio goes for paradise..."
Chel's sitting on the couch, but... "Hey, what happened to Miguel?"
Chel shrugs. "I dunno'."
I drop the crate full of gold. "Oh my God! He's gone! Miguel's gone! He's loose. What am I gonna' do? Oh, no, no!" All it takes is one little slip up... ONE little mistake, is all it takes, and we're busted. He's smarter than I give him credit for, I know that, but he doesn't always think things through. Like I said, that little voice that tells people when to stop, he DOESN'T have one! He could get himself hurt if he's not looking where he's going, he could say or do something that tips them off that we're not who they think we are.
Chel giggles and slides up behind me, placing her hands on my shoulders, she guides me to the couch. "Miguel is right," she says, as she begins massaging my shoulders, "You worry too much."
"Oh. Ooh..." I sigh. Wow, her hands are really small, but she's working miracles here. That feels amazing. "Oh, yeah. Oh, oh, down,
down, down..." I start.
"Tat... Tat... Tat..." she giggles.
My mind suddenly snaps back to the bigger picture and I leap to my feet. What the hell am I doing? "No!" Damn, Miguel and I agreed she was off limits, too. "No! Big trouble! Whoa!"
"What?" Chel asks, looking confused.
"Look, sweetheart, we're in the middle of a con, here," I start to explain, "Walking the razor's edge." I point to a pile of gold. "On the one hand, GOLD!" I turn to an image on the wall of a warrior stabbing another in the chest. ...Why is that even here, anyway? "Painful...
Agonizing... Failure!" DEATH! Why is it so hard for everyone else around here to grasp that? I don't know about Chief Tanni, but I wouldn't put it past Tzekel-Kan for all the gold in the world! "I can't afford any tempta-uh..." Chel slowly sits down on the couch, it's almost as if she's still trying to seduce me, "distractions. So, I'm sorry..." She sweeps her hair to the side, revealing her exposed shoulders. "Sooo... sorry..." I try to pull myself together. This agreement's becoming harder and harder to uphold. "But, perhaps another time? Another place, hmm?" I offer, hopefully. She's off limits until we're out of here, right? We didn't agree on what happens AFTER the three of us leave.
"Too bad," she giggles, looking back over her shoulders and swaying in the most seductive way ever, "I'm free now."
"I'm..." God, I'm weak. "Not really sure I trust you."
"Mm, I'm not really asking you to trust me... Am I?" she says, playing with her hair.
"Whoo..." I swallow. Damn it, I'm weak. "'Kay!" I put my hands on her shoulders and begin massaging them.
"Ooh, yeah!" she sighs, leaning back into my hands. Wow, I'd never paid attention to how tiny her frame was before, but my hands look huge against her shoulders.
We start off slow. I massage her back, she gets up and returns the favor. Suddenly, I'm against the wall, with her lips to mine, her fingers tangling into my hair. Her kisses taste like Xocotal and she smells like some of the native flowers. One thing leads to another, as I wrap an arm around her and deepen the kiss, our hands find their way under one another's clothes, as we each explore the other. Indulgence gives way into passion, and before I know it, we're on the floor, my belt undone, and Chel straddling my lower region. Neither of us bother with removing our clothes, but the next several minutes are pure exctasy. "Uh, Chel, are you sure..." I start to protest. Not that I don't want to. Believe me, I WANT to, but what if...
Chel giggles and pushes her lips to mine. "Relax, Tulio," she coos seductively, playfully scritching a fingertip along my chest in a spot where my shirt had become unbuttoned, "My only wish is to serve the gods, remember?" She winks at me, before she begins to move her hips.
I'm lost at this point. There's no arguing with her, no fighting back, no turning back. I grab her waist and begin to move with her, and all is lost. All time, all thoughts, all worries, all gone. Right now, there's nothing in the world but myself and Chel, and I'm fine with that.
"Oh... Whoa!" I groan in pleasure.
"My lord?" Tzekel-Kan's voice rings out. "Hello?"
"The high priest!" Chel hisses in a sudden panicked whisper.
"Ow!" my head connects with the floor, and we both begin to come down from our high. She does so much quicker than I.
She quickly scrambles off of me. "What's he gonna' think if he finds one of the gods like this with me?" she worries.
"Uh, lucky god?" I say.
"Oh, j-just-just-just..." She grabs me by my colar and slaps my face a few times, knocking me back to my senses. Coming back to myself, I give her a look that says, 'You should have thought about this earlier.' In reply, she tosses me across the room. She may be tiny, but damn,
she's strong. "Just get out there!" she hisses.
"Hello?" Tzekel-Kan calls again.
"Whoa!" I quickly duck behind a pillar, making sure my hair, clothes, and especially my belt are in order, before turning to great him, "Oh!
Tzekel-Kan! What brings you here?"
"I-I-I-I-I humbly request an audience with you, my lord," the priest stammers.
I raise an eyebrow. "Yes, what can I do for you?"
"My lord, I have just seen Lord Miguel out among the people," Tzekel-Kan says, sounding rather dismayed.
I clench my fist and my eyebrow raises even higher. "REALLY?" I ask, irritably. What has that idiot gone and done?
"My lord, if I may be so bold as to offer some advice?" the high priests requests. Chel, having made herself presentable, comes up behind the priest and shakes her head.
"All right," I say cautiously, "Shoot."
"My lord, you are perfect," Tzekel-Kan starts.
"Oh, well," I start out sounding moddest, but then, who am I kidding, I LOVE having my ego stroked, "Go on?"
"But in your perfection, you cannot know how imperfect humans are." He slips around to the other side of me, and now I'm standing closer to Chel as I turn to face him. He begins using his same smoke and mirrors from his earlier attempted sacrifice. Puffs of colored smoke fill the room and take the shapes of snakes. "Like snakes, they are. Spineless and slippery." With a wave of his hands, they change from snakes to rats, "They are as untrustworthy as rats, stealing and cheating with no remorse." He holds one of the 'rats' in his hand, by the tail and it turns into a piece of fruit, which he bites into. Chel and I have both drawn back from him. I've got to admit, this is some pretty creepy stuff, how does he do it? Chel grabs my arms from behind and digs her fingers into them. I can feel her trembeling. Another wave of the priest's hands, and now the room is crawling with spiders. I think I'm gonna' be sick. "Spinning webs of lies, like spiders!" he continues,
crushing a 'spider' in his hands.
"Tulio..." I hear Chel squeak.
"Stop it!" I exclaim, "That's disgusting!"
"They're beyond disgusting!" Tzekel-Kan returns, nearly pushing his face to mine.
Chel and I take another step back. "Yeah, yeah, way beyond," I say, half bewildered, half horrified.
"Then we're in agreement," Tzekel-Kan says, happily, "I'll begin the necessary preparations imediately! Do you wish to have your victims bound to an altar, or would you prefer them free range?" Wait, what? "And will you be devouring their essence whole... Or piece by piece?"
"Tzekel, you've lost me," I state firmly.
"My lord, these people will not respect you if they do not fear you," Tzekel-Kan says, almost in the same tone of voice I get from Miguel with his, 'C'mon, Tulio!' spiel.
"And, of course, we'll make them fear us by-" I start
"A sacrifice, as it is prohesied," Tzekel-Kan says, way too eagerly. I feel Chel give me a little tug, quietly urging me to leave. "The history of the Age of the Jaguar will be written in..."
"Ink?" I hope?
"Blood!" Tzekel-Kan says.
"Blood! Oh, right," I nod with a nervous chuckle, "Of course. I should proably..." I clear my throat and signal Chel with a hand behind my back for her to start her way down the steps. And here I'd thought Cortez was a blood thirsty loonatic. He's got NOTHING on this guy. "I should probably consult with Lord Miguel. This is fairly important stuff. I, um, should discuss the entire, uh, blood issue... Right away...
Excuse us, won't you?" I turn, grab Chel's wrist and lead her down the stairs, "C'mon, let's go!" I say hurridly.
I don't know what Miguel's been doing all this time, but when we finally find him, he's out playing ball with some kids, and the chief. He nearly runs right into me. "Oh... T-Tulio..." he says, sheepishly. The ball hits me in the head and bounces away, but I'm too annoyed to acknowledge it.
"What...are...you...DOING!?" I growl.
Miguel gives me one of his playful smiles and shrugs his shoulders. "Laying low," he chuckles.
I growl and reach out, ready to choke him. "Tulio," Chel hisses my name through her teeth, calling me back down to Earth before I snap.
"Look, change of plans," I pat Miguel's shoulders. I think he actually believed I might have tried to strangle him this time. I'm not as angry as I came across. I was worried sick when he first ran out, more that he might hurt himself than anything, but I'd never admit to it. If there's anything to be angry about it's that Tzekel-Kan interrupted something good between Chel and me. But we're running out of time. We can't stay longer, and I've got to be the rational person that holds this team together. "We have to grab what we can carry and get out of here, NOW!" I whisper.
"What? Why?" Miguel asks.
"Because the high priest is NUTS!" I reply in an exasperated whisper, "He wants..."
"This is unacceptable!" the priest proclaims, picking up the ball.
Great... Time to play along. "Yeah. Yeah, like he said," I shout, pointing over my shoulder at Tzekel-Kan.
"The gods should not be playing ball like this!" the priest continues.
"Well, exactly!" I exclaim, crossing my arms, and glaring at Miguel.
"Everyone follow me!" the priest calls.
We exchange glances, but everyone follows him anyway. I think most everyone is afraid NOT to follow him, to tell you the truth. He leads us to an arena of some sort. The natives fill the seating areas above us, the chief and priest have their own spot at one end of the field.
Looking around from one side of the arena, to the other, my eyes fall on my partner again. I glare at him. He jerks, seeing the look on my face. It's actually, always kind of cute when he realizes I'm mad at him. He's been getting on my nerves more often than usual, ever since this 'adventure' of his started, however, and it's wearing thin.
"THIS is how the gods should play ball!" Tzekel-Kan announces.
"Well, don't blame me," Miguel says.
"Oh, I blame you!" I say, wagging a finger at him. If you had just stayed put like I told you, we wouldn't even be standing here, right now.
To be fair, we've both broken the rules now. He promised not to wander off, but did, and Chel... Well, so much for 'Off Limits'. But, still,
what I did didn't have us out in the public eye. "What is the object of this game, pray tell?"
"You gotta' knock the ball through the hoop," Chel says.
"What hoop?"
"THAT hoop!" she points to a hoop mounted on the wall above our heads.
"That's impossible," I groan, "We're gonna' loose!"
"Gods don't loose!" Chel replies.
We're suddenly facing a group of large, intimidating natives. "My lords, Chief Tannabok's warriors are the finest ballplayers in the city,"
the priest informs us, "Fifteen mere mortals against two gods... I realize it's a bit uneven, but I DO hope they'll challenge you enough to make the game... interesting... Play ball!" He sets the ball down, then pushes himself right in Miguel's face. "Crush them into the dust!"
He chuckles, "Enjoy"
The ground begins to shake, and the ball begins to bounce as Chief Tanni's warriors come rushing at us. One kicks the ball and it flies toward me. Miguel jumps to the side and I hit the ground, covering my head with my hands. I can hear the air whistle as the ball whizzes past me, and my life flashes before my eyes. "My lords, were you not supposed to put the ball into play?" the priest asks.
Crap! Think of something, quick, Tulio! I push myself back to my feet, holding a hand in the air and laugh. "Oh, well... No, no, no! We...
We were merely demonstrating the um... the traditional first avoidance maneuver," I explain.
The priest pauses for a moment. Unlike the 'stars' excuse, I don't think he's going to buy this one. "I've never heard of such a thing?"
Crap... "Excuse me?" Miguel jumps in, taking me by surprise. "Who invented this game?"
"Why, the gods, of course," Tzekel-Kan relents.
"Come here, you," I grow, pulling Miguel back. He saved our bacon, just now, but damn, he's pushing it. "I'm warning you, don't push your luck with this guy!" I whisper.
He can tell I'm about to break. He smiles and uses his playful nature to TRY and calm me down as he bounces the ball about. "But, Tulio,
we're the gods!" he laughs.
The game begins again. Every now and then, Chel calls out pointers from the side lines. She picks up the armadillo and bounces it on her hips, "Tulio, the hip, the hip!" she says.
The ball comes at me and I try to use my hips to return it. This ball is 30 cm big and weighs 3.5 kg, going at who knows what speed. I actually think I feel a hipbone crack as the ball hits me and bounces back. If nothing else, that'll leave a bruise in the morning for sure. We suck at this game. The few times we came close to getting the ball through the hoop, we fell short. The native team has earned several points already. "Foul, that was a foul!" Chel exclaims at one point. Eventually, Miguel and I become so tired, trying to keep up, that we lean on one another for support. It's over, we're done for. If they haven't figured us out by now, they're all more naive than I thought. The ball goes out of bounds and just barely misses Chel. Considering what it feels when we try to return it, I'm glad it missed her.
"New ball!"
Chel brings us a ball. I try to catch my breath as I ask, "How long does this go on, anyway?"
"The game is over when the shadow touches this line," Chel says, pointing to the other end of the court.
"We need a miracle," Miguel whimpers.
"No, we need to cheat!" I insist.
Chel smiles as she offers us the 'ball'. It's the armadillo. It's just the right size and color to pass as the real thing when curled up like it is. I smile at her. Honey, you're a genius! Oh, we're breaking ALL kinda rules, now. "Go get 'em, boys," she giggles.
The armadillo squinches up like it's a ball and bounces out of my hand. It dodges every time the opposing team tries to kick it, and practically dances around Miguel, before making it's way up the wall and through the hoop. "YES!" Miguel and I both exclaim as the crowds begin to cheer.
Now, THIS his how the gods play ball! "If anyone asks, we were waiting for the right time to make a dramatic come back and give them a fighting chance, right?" I whisper.
"RIGHT!" Miguel agrees.
For the next several turns, the other team is unable to score at all. The armadillo pushes itself away from the hoop when they kick it, but pushes itself through for us. suddenly, the game's become effortless, and a lot more fun. Miguel and I toss the 'ball' about for a moment in congratulatory ritual.
"Who's the god?"
"You de god."
"No, you the god. Fine."
"No, you de god."
Our team has grown in number, as even Altivo has decided to join us out on the field. We bounce the 'ball' up to the hoop and it begins bouncing back and forth through it, several times, until we become tied with our opponents. Chel begins to cheer and dance. The way she shakes her hips seems to temporarily distract EVERYONE on the field, not just me. Even Tzekel-Kan seems to be distracted by her for a moment,
which is rather disturbing. If this had been a real ball, I probably would have bounced it out of bounds and hit him in the head with it.
As high priest, he shouldn't be thinking such things, after all. Pulling ourselves away from the distraction, we continue the game.
The 'ball' eventually bounces out of bounds and Chel throws it back in. Miguel and I scoop the ball up, while riding Altivo. We put some flair into it, rolling the ball along our shoulders and bouncing it back and forth. "Guys, guys," we hear Chel calling out in a whisper.
We look up to see her holding the armadillo. "It's right here with me," she says through gritted teeth. That means we've got a REAL ball,
now. I feel the weight of the ball as it bounces off my head. We're done for! The horse jumps in the air and I use my arm to toss the ball into the air. I feel my elbow come up against something solid durring this move, did I just hit Miguel in the head? Miguel stands up and hits the ball toward the goal and attempts to kick it. Altivo hits the ground and Miguel and I quickly dismount. The ball goes in the hoop and stops. It doesn't roll out, it doesn't roll through. It's stuck. A hush falls over the arena. People are litterally on the edge of their seats. Altivo stomps a hoof or something and the ball rolls through, scoring us the point. Did... Did the horse just kick the wall and win us the game? The ref blows the conch shell, signaling the end of the game. We won.
"YES!" Miguel and I exclaim, congratulating one another. The crowd roars in excitement.
"You did it!" Chel laughs, as she runs out to us. I pick her up and spin her around. She leans in, like she's about to kiss me, when suddenly...
"My lords!" Tzekel-Kan crashes our victory party, "Congratulations on your victory. And now, you will, of course, wish to have the loosing team sacrificed to your glory?" The members of the team in question fall to their knees.
"Not again," Miguel scoffs. "Look, Tzekel-Kan!" he exclaims.
"Uh, Miguel?" I whisper. I don't think I've ever seen him this mad before.
"Forget the sacrifices!" Miguel says.
"Miguel, what are you doing?" I whisper. He's out right ignoring me.
"We don't want any sacrifices," he continues.
"But, all of the sacred writings say you will devour the wicked and unrightous!" Tzekel-Kan stammers.
"Yeah, well, I don't see anyone here who fits that description," Miguel says.
"I do," I think, looking directly at the priest.
"Well, as speaker of the gods, I'll gladly point them out," Tzekel-Kan, says.
"The gods are speaking for themselves, now!" Miguel says, pushing past the priest and approaching the bowing natives. Wow, what's gotten into him all of a sudden? I don't want this any more than he does, but I've never seen him like this before. He pushes the men to their feet and turns back to Tzekel-Kan. "This city and these people no longer have need of your services. There will be no more sacrifices. Not now, not ever! Get out!" he orders.
The priest stands in a moment of stunned silence, before bowing and leaving. Miguel and I are hoisted into the air, held as heroes all of a sudden. "Not bad for my first commandment, huh?" he asks, nudging me with his elbow.
"Miguel, the little voice...?" I start to remind him, but I stop and smile, waving him off, "Yeah, fine." What can I say, I'm impressed. It's a side of him I'd never seen before, a side I didn't know he had... A side I don't think I ever want to be on the wrong end of. I hope he didn't develop it from too many years of hanging around me.
We're taken back to the temple and informed that Chief Tanni is planning another feast in honor of our victory, and in favor of Miguel's new proclomation. "Miguel, you were amazing out there," Chel giggles.
"Yeah, partner you were really... something..." I start to compliment him, but fall silent as I notice his eyebrow. I keep my mouth shut, until everyone is gone, not wanting to draw attention. "Geeze, Miguel, you're bleeding!" I say, catching him by the shoulders, once we're alone.
"I'm what?" he asks.
"Right here, above your right eyebrow," I point out, "When did that happen?" Doesn't it hurt? Did I do that when my elbow hit you? Damn,
I'm sorry, amigo. I look him in the eyes. They're not dialated. He doesn't appear to be showing any signs of a concussion. Thank God!
Miguel shakes his head and says he doesn't know when it happened. Does he really not know or is he trying not to pass the blame? "Chel, can you get me something I can clean this up with, please, before someone notices?" I ask. It's a minor cut, and he's not showing any signs of trauma. Thank goodness, it's nothing fatal. Curse my pride, I can't bring myself to tell him I'm glad it's nothing serious.
"Here, Tulio, let me take care of it," Chel says, pushing between us with a cloth saoked in Pulque.
Miguel hisses and pulls back for a second. "That stings," he complains.
"Shh!" she says, dabbing at the wound, "It'll prevent infection." I walk away and let her do whatever needs to be done. I think I've had more scares than my heart can take for today.
Chel comes out a few moments later. "He'll be fine," she says, sliding up next to me. "It's not even noticable if you don't know to look for it," she assures me.
I smile. "Yeah, thanks for taking care of it."
The next few days go by rather uneventful. The boat is well underway. Miguel is, well, being Miguel. I'm no longer worried about laying low.
Miguel has banished the biggest threat to our secret from the public eye, for now. What the hell? May as well enjoy the city, while we're here, it's not like the gaurds are looking to lock us up or flog us like back home, after all. I ask Chel out for a late night stroll. I'm falling for her. We go out and I let her show me the city. Curious townspeople get told that she's acting as my guide. Curious food venders get told I'm treating her as a reward for her steadfast, loyal service. Either way, it placates their curiosity, and I still manage to make it a romantic evening. She begins asking me questions about Spain. I explain it to her the best I can, but of course, just as simple stories never did El Dorado any justice, neither do mine flatter Spain like they should. She would simply have to see it in person to get a real grasp of it. I tell her our difference in archetecture and furniture, we use more wood than stone, and about our cuisine. I tell her about our art and music, and even show her one of our dances, with a flower clenched in my mouth. She giggles and claps as I finish the dance and blushes as I hand her the flower. As she takeks it from me, the petals all fly away, revealing themselves to be small purple birds. She laughs but holds on to the stem. On the way back to the temple, I get her a real flower.
I'm exhausted when we reach the temple. I pat the top of her head and give her a quick peck on the cheek, hoping Miguel doesn't see. Maybe he already knows about Chel and me, but I haven't told him, yet. It'd be awkward having to explain, now. "Good night, beautiful," I say, heading straight for bed.
"Good night, Tulio," Chel replies.