The Sacrifice (The War of the Gods Book 1)

by Pablo Andrés Wunderlich Padilla

  “Thank you! And I want to help you to be who you must be. I’d like to tell you things, I trust you. I think this is going to be a very good relationship!”

  Excellent! I think it would better if I guided you. I can fly and see obstacles and ways through. We’ll have to be careful; that arm of yours doesn’t look very healthy. You ought to get it looked at it when we get out of this horrible place.

  “I agree. Listen, do you eat?”

  I don’t know. I’ve only just been born, I’m still not sure of anything. Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. We’ll find out.

  “Right then. Let’s get going, I don’t want to delay any longer.”

  Follow me.

  “What about the plant?”

  I don’t know. What do you suggest?

  “How about bringing it with us?”

  Manchego uprooted the stem. The flower petals he kept as a possible source of food. The bud Teitú had emerged from was now burnt. Teitú took off and led the way, with Manchego following. Now he had a light, and more importantly, a new friend and guide. At last, after so many misfortunes, the boy was smiling.

  Chapter XXII- Kanumorsus

  Teitú proved to be the perfect ally during that journey. Thanks to its light, Manchego enjoyed visibility and safety so as to overcome the horrors of the shadows. The light spread for some distance around, and unlike the fire of the torch, it was steady and would not go out.

  More than this, Teitú encouraged him, offering him the necessary link to keep him safe and sound, and covered him with its protective energy. The terrain was as rough as Manchego had guessed from the sound: rocks, wetness, cracks, landslides, and forests of stalagmites and stalactites.

  The roof was so high that at times he could not make it out. The fact that Eromes had gone into this place for the sake of a new-born baby who had nothing to do with him, with just a torch and nothing else, entitled him to the deepest respect.

  The stem of the plant turned out to be an excellent staff to lean on as he walked. The complexity of the place suggested that perhaps very busy hands had shaped it with some very specific aim, but with only a superficial glance he could not deduce anything more. Tunnels opened out everywhere, like branches of the main passage.

  “How long before we get out?” he asked, on the brink of despair. They had been walking for a long time and the path seemed interminable.

  I have no idea. All I know is that this place is wonderful and terrible, created thousands and thousands of years ago.

  Manchego sensed that Teitú was growing restless, and seconds later he felt the same sense of disturbance himself. It was a feeling of death and evil which sprang up all of a sudden, as if they had crossed an invisible portal and now found themselves in a new dimension.

  Teitú confirmed this. I fear we’re coming closer to a source of evil energy. Something terrible is happening, or has happened, but this presence is strange… Wait a moment…what’s that? Green light? An abomination…

  Teitú went closer to a group of rocks. His companion’s light was so bright that Manchego could not see what he was referring to, but he remembered the passage in Eromes’ book in which he talked about a green light.

  Manchego… How strange this light is! The evil energy oozes between the rocks.

  The boy went closer and saw the radiation of the green light for himself. With his staff he turned over a rock, and just as his grandfather had written in the red book, the rock stopped shining.

  Manchego, listen carefully. You’ll realize that moment by moment, the light breathes out something like a symphony of sadness, death and desolation. It’s the saddest and most evil thing I’ve witnessed in my short life, since I was just a nut. And listen… I think there’s more of the same further ahead. I hear echoes, I don’t perceive them by hearing them, but through my soul.

  “Teitú, we need to go on and get out of here. These tunnels killed my grandfather.”

  That’s right… I’m very sorry. You know…you should comunicate with me through thoughts only. I don’t think it’s a good idea to speak out loud in these tunnels. Someone might hear us, said the seraph.

  “You’re right…but…how do I do that?”

  Try it out.

  Like this, thought Manchego.

  Just like that! You’ve got it. You’re a natural, thought Teitú.

  Manchego felt good when he found communicating with Teitú was easy. Was it communication from mind to mind? It probably was. He wondered at the trust he felt in this light. It could be a trap, but something told him he could be at his ease with this sphere. He followed his odd companion. Teitú was continuing along a passage of massive rocks, heavy and smooth-surfaced. The dark mouth opened gradually into a cavern on a grand scale. The walls rose so high that the ceiling was invisible. Far away and high up, something vaguely reflected Teitú’s light, and revealed the presence of precious stones.

  At one point Manchego was obliged to climb a slope. At the top he was surprised to find a space of smooth rock, no more than five yards across. There was nothing but dust and rubble. It had the air of a lookout point.

  There are no signs that anybody has passed through here for a long time.

  Would you mind if we took a rest?, thought the lad.

  Excellent idea!

  Here, Manchego thought, and sat down. You can rest between my legs, they’ll hide your light. You ought to rest as well.

  I like the way you think!

  Teitú flew to Manchego’s crossed legs and sheltered in the hollow of his knee.

  I’d love to eat something… like tamalitos or arequipe from Luchy’s ranch.

  That sounds delicious. But I’d advise you not to go there. Remembering what you love will only bring you emotional pain.

  Manchego sighed. He lay down and stretched. His right arm was still in a very bad state. He placed it on his chest so that it would not hurt.

  How strange you are, Teitú. It means a lot to me, the honor of knowing a being like you. You give me the best advice and we barely know each other. He felt a great deal of curiosity about this luminous being.

  Could I hold you? I’d like to see you from close to. He sat up.

  I don’t see why not, thought the seraph.

  Manchego stretched out a finger toward the sphere, inch by inch. How strange you are, Teitú. I don’t see that you have eyes or ears or a mouth. And those wings are something out of this world. I don’t know whether you’re masculine or feminine… You’re weightless! You’re wonderful!

  What’s this about masculine or feminine?

  The sex you belong to, and as he said the word, Luchy’s naked body came to his mind. He shook that image from his head. I was born a man. You know that by my genitals… between my legs.

  What? What do you have between your legs?

  Manchego blushed. He had opened up a thorny subject. Uh… perhaps you still have some growing up to do … We’d better talk about this some other time, thought Manchego still blushing.

  D’you mean human reproduction?

  Better another day, huh? Manchego lay back, ready to take a well-deserved nap. Teitú flew at ground level and got into the boy’s shirt, close to his heart.

  ***

  Teitú went out to explore their surroundings. After a while it addressed Manchego. Can you hear me?

  Manchego woke up immediately. He concentrated. The sound was crystal-clear and unmistakable.

  Echoes.

  Let’s go now, Manchego. Better safe than sorry, Teitú urged him. Something’s woken up… The boy got to his feet with a start, and at once they began to descend from the top of the rise. The noise of stones moving sounded again at an incalculable distance, reverberating in the cave.

  The walls became two thick columns of solid rock which supported a great arch, badly shaped, which gave entrance to a tunnel whose contours were smooth and well-cared-for. They went on, awed by the look of this new tunnel. Manchego imagined that onl
y majestic beings, of great power, could have created this world. None of this could have been the result of any mere whim of nature.

  Further on they identified the roar of water falling over a rockslide. The origin of the stream must be high up, beyond the range of sight. A restless breeze sprang up, and Teitú’s light took on the colors of the rainbow. Then Manchego felt the ground trembling. An earthquake? No, it was not the ground, it was his legs. He was shivering with fear. He was not the only one; Teitú’s light was dimmer. Manchego began to understand.

  “This is what the shadow wishes to do with its poison: to contaminate our souls and take away their spirits,” he told himself. “It’s what happened to my grandfather, and that’s why he lost his life.”

  He composed himself and gathered his courage together. A powerful vital energy surged from the depths of his being. “I won’t let the shadow subdue me!” he said forcefully. He clenched his fists, tensed his muscles. “I’m not one to let myself be beaten. A man’s courage is forged out of pain and virtue, values and principles, sorrows and rewards; and if he perishes in his mission, let it be with the courage he showed when he gave himself over to the battle, and not with the cowardice which reduced him to rubble.”

  Manchego stared at the sphere. “Your light is vital on my way, and my mind vital for your strength. If we don’t fight together we’ll lose, we’ll be left alone in this shadow which won’t rest till it devours us. Come on, then, let’s defeat this shadow!” Teitú replied by giving out an intense red flash. They went on. His step was firm, without any trace of doubt, illuminated by that beam of crimson light.

  The waterfall flowed into a river. Manchego plunged into it and began to swim. He dodged rocks, sometimes the current pushed him off his course. When he glimpsed a shore, he made his way towards it and saw that it was the starting-point of a multitude of tunnels. His grandfather must have passed that way too. He did not know whether to be happy or sad, although at least he was now sure he was coming close to the heart of the evil, the place where Eromes had found his mother murdered and himself, new-born.

  The green light they had seen before was everywhere here, illuminating floor, walls and ceiling.

  Voices! Voices! Insane and sinister. I don’t even want to imagine whoever’s responsible for sorrow like that, Teitú thought.

  Manchego clenched his teeth. I think I know whose voice that is.

  Dethis? What does that mean? It looks horrible. I don’t like it.

  I don’t know what Dethis means, but you’d better turn yourself off, Teitú. Can you do that? I don’t want to attract his attention.

  I think I can.

  Tetitú became transparent.

  Manchego chose the tunnel he thought would offer the shortest way to the voices. He was walking close to the wall, taking cover behind the piles of rock he found along his way. At the end he leaned against a rock to watch closely. The voices reached him clearly.

  “Alfarón said he’d come to subdue the witch, but he’s taking too long. I don’t understand why he wants to do it himself. It’s as if he had a grudge against the old woman…”

  “Yes, it’s strange for Alfarón to be late. Something must have happened and we’d better go on without him. We’ll have to carry out the plan, that’s the priority.”

  “So then what? We kill her?”

  “Let the rats finish her off. We can go on with the ritual. We have to leave everything ready for the sacrifice, which’ll be soon, and it has to be perfect. Revenge is near… I can feel it.”

  Those voices, those beings… Teitú said. What are they? Their voices are cold as stone and cruel as the shadow. With pale faces and dead eyes.

  Manchego was absorbed in the conversation which was unfolding a few yards further on. Did you hear, Teitú? They say they’re going to carry out a plan. What can they mean?

  Neither had the answer to that, but they were sure that this plan was something more than a light-hearted trifle.

  When the beings with pale faces and dead eyes went away, Manchego thought he could hear a weak voice calling him persistently. He felt his heart breaking into little pieces and ran in that direction. When he discovered the source of the call the boy dropped to the ground, his heart in his mouth, his soul shrunken within him. He began to cry over the inert body of the witch. He shook her, like a puppy that refuses to be left an orphan.

  The body responded: “Don’t delay… leave right away, there’s the exit, over there. But first I must tell you great things, my dear Manchego. For a long time I’ve been watching you, studying you, protecting you from the evil forces that are searching for you. And we’ve succeeded in that, but things have speeded up, the inevitable is around the corner. You must avoid the sacrifice.”

  The witch coughed blood. Her breathing was a sharp whine. She gasped for air before she went on: “Go to find Mayor Feliel. He’s the creator of the shadow, and he’s to blame for the people’s suffering. They mustn’t leave… it mustn’t come back to life… Here, take this,” Ramancia said, and reached out her hand to him. “Go on, I tell you, take it.”

  It was a small corked flask. Inside was an iridescent blue liquid. “Drink it, Manchego. It’ll give you strength for the battle you must fight. You are who you are, Manchego, and you can’t change the essence of your soul. The warrior of the Naevas Aedán is your guide from now on. Run! Follow your faithful warrior Naevas Aedán. You’ll come out beside the entrance to the Litiadas caverns, leagues away from the village, thanks be to the gods. Now… go!”

  Manchego ran away, unable to stop weeping. There were so many questions he wanted to ask Ramancia and secrets he wanted to tell her… but circumstances were against him, and he had to swallow his sadness and powerlessness.

  He stopped for a moment, just to drink the blue liquid from the flask. An unfamiliar vigor whirled in his navel and radiated around, running through his veins. His limbs seemed new, his senses finely tuned. With powerful strength he set off at a run, swift as a cheetah. With a precise leap he came out into the open. A cold wind was blowing. It was night-time.

  Chapter XXIII- A broken heart

  There, outside the house, Lulita could not shed her worry. A decrepit moon barely shone. “What’s happening that even the god of light can’t resolve?”

  The old woman sharpened her senses. Manchego was not answering, Balthazar was nowhere to be seen: something terrible was going on. She heard the horses’ hooves in the stable. The door was open. When she went in she found Sureña restless, covered in blood… fresh blood. She examined the mare, but found no injury that would explain such a quantity of blood.

  Desperate, melancholy barking sounded in the distance. Lula rushed out, taken over now by the spirit of the warrior that still lived within her. She ran to the limits of her strength, her old joints working together without complaining. She reached her house, went to the kitchen and took a copper key out of a small chest. She went to her bedroom, swept off all the ornaments which lay on a gigantic chest and opened it with the key.

  The hinges creaked after so many years of disuse. From the inside leaked a breath of oblivion. She took out a long axe, with a wooden handle wrapped in the pelt of a wyvern. The head was a particular type of stone, heavy and sharp.

  It was covered by a thin veil of dust. The woman blew it off. She also took a longbow with feathers at the ends and a quiver full of arrows tipped with volcanic stone. She tied the axe to her back and slung the bow over her shoulder, then left at a run with the quiver in her hand.

  She was ready to kill.

  She mounted Sureña and set off at speed towards Rufus’s barking. The night enveloped her in its blackness. In the leaden sky the silver light of the moon edged through the clouds like stone slabs. In a very short while they reached the Observatory. There was nobody there, but the barking grew stronger. Further away, near the ceiba tree of Mamantal, something was dimly visible. Lula knew it was Rufus. She dismounted, looking to all sides, ready to defend her
self. She found nothing. She went to the dog. “Rufus! Tell me what’s happened to my boy! What’s happened! Tell me! Where’s Manchego?”

  Rufus stopped barking as soon as the grandmother mentioned his master’s name. His eyes clouded over and he howled with pain. Then he went on barking furiously, toward the ground, at the exact point where the earth had swallowed the boy. The old woman needed no words. She burst into tears and for some time was unable to do anything else. Her head started to hurt, as if the tears were about to burst a dam. Sureña snorted and the woman fell silent.

  She heard the tread of boots on the grass. There was more than one pair. A patch in the clouds let through the silver light, which fell directly on three metallic surfaces, which reflected that light. Sureña reared, trampled the ground. The grandmother mounted the mare and with a touch on her ribs encouraged her into battle.

  The animal trotted toward the soldiers, with Lula at the reins, former member of the Emperor’s legions. The soldiers stopped, readied their shields. For a weapon they carried a long and dreadful spear. But they did not know the warrior who was on her, daughter of the Wild Land, and a skilled shot.

  She took an arrow, drew the bow and released in a matter of seconds. It whistled and buried itself in the eye of one of the Mayor’s soldiers. He fell to the ground dead. The other two kept coming, unflinching in the face of the grandmother’s daring defiance, focused only on killing, destroying. They seemed possessed by dark forces. The woman once again was touched by something of the rage that had come over her when she fought against the forces of the South, Némaldon, the ancient enemy of the Mandrake Empire, where dark powers lay dormant, waiting to rule with their domain of shadows.

  The dog, who had always shown himself to be a docile, quiet pet in the company of his master, turned suddenly furious and ran towards the soldiers. He seized the arm of one and tore the flesh in a matter of seconds. The soldier did not complain about the wound or the pain, but nor did he give up either. He replied to the attack with a powerful punch. Rufus ran off in terror and disappeared into the depths of the forest.