Sabio was amused as his new trophy grabbed a tray from a passing server and clocked the rude amigo upside the jaw laying him out cold. Handing the tray to her two escorts, she stepped over the man placing one of her heals on the man’s right hand.
Pressing the stiletto heel down with all her weight causing the unconscious guard to cry out in pain, she looked around at the rest of his gathered family in defiance before strutting down the three steps to the floor of the hall.
Sabio let out a laugh as he watched those gathered clear a path for her like the prow of a ship thru a churning sea. She swayed intoxicatingly as she made her way up to the head table where he and Franchesca sat.
The dress was a tight fit as he’d hoped only helping to accentuate her curves all the more. Her chest wasn’t as big as his loves, but it was full enough and perky filling out the dress causing his mind to think back to the day he had seen them bare.
Indicating a chair to be brought, the American came and stood to his right only five feet away as it was brought up by his men. The young woman sat down beside him like the mistress of the hall ignoring the looks from his left side.
Sabio didn’t look at his Franchesca knowing that she would disapprove of anyone, especially Alitta, to be sitting at the head table with them.
Paul had also not been able to take his eyes of her petite frame and now looked away uncomfortably by the boldness under the Americans gaze.
Throughout the meal Sabio made small talk with those around him always checking back with Alitta with a smile on his half drunken face.
At the end of the evening, the Mountain King bid her goodnight and kissed her hand before ordering his guards to escort her back to her “Hacienda”. “Un-accosted.” He told the guards looking at the one who had grabbed hold of her bum and paid for it.
“I would have killed you had she not done anything.” He told the man who protested holding his swollen jaw which was probably fractured or worse. “Fix him.” He ordered the teacher who nodded and wished Sabio goodnight.
Every eye, including their leaders, followed the new Lolita as she left the hall. He didn’t notice Franchesca’s face for if he’d bothered he’d have seen the hatred that she held in her heart for the young American whom she felt threatened by. Desperate women were more dangerous than a mad wild boar.
*****
For the next three weeks she and Paul worked on trying to decipher the message on the cavern wall. Alitta had already figured out most of it, but she kept that bit of knowledge to herself as she didn’t think that Paul was being honest with her.
He was hiding something, and despite his apparent good will, her gut instinct told her to be cautious.
The professor left her alone for hours in the little cave as he attended to his other duties in the compound. During these times, Alitta would look thru the rubble as she worked to piece together the broken portion of the message.
“What are you doing?” he asked startling her one day when he’d left her alone. “Oh!...you scared me…I thought that you’d already gone.”
He looked at her and at the pieces of rock that she had been putting together on the floor in front of the holes entrance. “Do you understand it?” he asked intently watching her like a panther does its prey.
“No…not yet, but I thought that if we reconstructed the broken wall section then maybe the pattern would present itself.” Alitta lied.
A shadow passed over his face for only a split second and then was replaced by that warm and casual smile that seemed to break down ones barriers. She knew better as he was not the first man she’d known that had a dark side.
“Ok, I’ve got a few things to attend to but we’ll start tomorrow.” He told her leaving no wiggle room for misunderstanding. “Ok.” Alitta agreed taking his offered hand as he led her away from the little chamber.
Despite his outward calmness, Alitta sensed a coldness in him that she’d not detected before. Paul left her in his room where she was allowed to use his collection of text books that were neatly placed on a wooden shelf overtop of a desk.
He locked her in as usual promising to be back as soon as he could. Alitta told him not to worry then immediately began to rifle thru his things once the professor’s footfalls faded.
She didn’t hear the door open, but she did hear it close and was startled as she turned around to see Franchesca watching her curiously.
The paleontologist didn’t move as the older woman walked over to see what it was that she had been getting into. The maroon colored dress she wore only accentuating her frame.
“Hmm. My haven’t you been busy.” came her demeaning tone as she took the encyclopedia out of Alitta’s hands. Opening it up to the map in the center of Central and South America that she’d found, Franchesca circled around her flipping through the pages.
“I believe that you were looking for this.” The older woman purred setting the book down on the table open to the map of the region. “I don’t believe that your own copies in America are so detailed for this part of the world.” she said looking around Paul’s room disinterestedly with her finger lingering on part of the page.
Alitta was sure that she was being bated, but had to at least see what page that the book was open to. She waited until the matriarch was across the room to take a peek.
“That’s what I thought.” Franchesca said as she looked up from a book that she had been thumbing through. “Good, because you and I have the same agenda.” she said with a smile coming back over to stand across from the younger female.
Her hand shot out like a serpent snatching the pendant around Alitta’s neck. “I’ll take this. It belongs with my people and not some foreigner. Where did you get it?” demanded the older woman with some heat.
“…my…my father bought it for me.” Alitta lied as her hand rubbed the sore spot on her neck from where the chain had dug in when forcibly removed.
Looking down her nose at the American, the Queen of the Bandits turned and exited the room nearly bumping into Paul as he returned. His eyes looked from one to another and the necklace that he knew to be Alitta’s who was still leaning against the table on the other side of the room. He noticed that she was holding on to the table for support and gave her a questioning glance.
“Keep your pet on a tighter leash.” she told the professor before exiting the room. The teacher came over and Alitta fell into his arms sobbing as the burn of the cut on the back of her neck throbbed. “Shh. It’s ok.” He said soothing her stroking her hair.
His hand came up bloody and Paul turned her around looking at where the clasp had dug into her soft flesh. Sitting her down on a chair, he went and got a medical kit producing iodine and a band aid.
Tilting her head into his chest, Paul lifted her hair and attended to the wound.”Nice tattoo.” He said putting on the band aid. “Thanks. I got it in Musahri India“ Alitta told him. She did not see his lustful look and then added more. “I was going up to Nepal and stopped to celebrate…anyway, I got a bit too drunk and…” “Got a tattoo.” Paul finished for her.
The old woman had brought Alitta dinner after Paul walked her back to her room. She then brought a pot of hot steaming water taking her empty plate away.
Stripping down, she cleaned herself up just as she’d done every two days in her prison. Alitta had just finished up and gotten dressed when her door was unlocked revealing Sabio. In his hand he held the necklace Franchesca had stolen and Alitta could tell that he was drunk. The reek of alcohol and sweat filled her nostrils as he came in and closed the door.
“I’ve come to deliver this back to you.” Came his words holding up the chain after hiccupping and staggering to the side. He smiled and pulled his hand back as she reached for it.
With one finger he signaled for her to turn around and then lifted the eagle like medallion over her head once she complied.
It took him several minutes for his drunken fingers to hook the clasp. During which time she began to get a bad feeling. Turning around, Al
itta saw his toothy grin as he looked down at her chest. She could now see the lust that burned in his eyes and she cautiously backed away aware that there would be no one to stop him.
Sabio advanced and her foot came up catching him in the groin. He grunted before delivering a vicious backhand that dazed her as he pulled at her dress pushing her back against the desk.
He belched again as the alcohol made his head fuzzy and Alitta used this opportunity to push him off and make a break for the door. He grasped hold of her hair yanking her head back wrapping her in a hug while holding one forearm painfully.
“Let go of me or I’ll not interpret the writings for Paul.” she threatened with the only thing that she could use as leverage. It was at that instant that the professor burst in and Sabio let go of her. Alitta ran into his arms as he demanded to know what he thought he was doing.
“Whatever I want to in my Domain.” he said pulling his pistol and brandishing it threateningly. Paul moved her behind him and stood defiantly before their captor. “You’ll not hurt her.” he told Sabio coolly not even flinching in the face of danger.
“You think that you can take me boy?” “Maybe I can, maybe I can’t. One thing’s for sure though, you’ll not use her as you’ve done Franchesca all these years.”
Sabio eyed him leveling the pistol at Paul’s chest daring them to move. “What’s going on?” came Franchesca’s angry voice as she stormed into the room. One look at Alitta and her ripped dress and she knew.
“You son of a b…” “Do not start with me woman.” Sabio shot back at her in Spanish as the two began arguing back and forth with Paul being the mediator. The older woman took away Sabio’s pistol and held it pointed at his heart as she cursed him for trying to use the little tart that they had agreed would be given to their son.
For emphasis of her anger, Franchesca fired a shot into the ceiling stopping Sabio from advancing on her another step. None of them had noticed that the American female had edged herself closer to the open door.
Paul leapt forward and grabbed the older woman’s arm as she let another round off in the little room. It was so loud causing Alitta’s headache to worsen along with the ringing in her ears from the first shot.
“Let go of me!” came her demand as she fought to aim the pistol back at Sabio who leaned against the desk heavily with drink. “Let her go. I’m…not afraid.” “You’d better be you…” “Mom, stop it! You’re being unreasonable.”
Alitta looked at Paul now having heard his own words as the three of them continued to argue and fight for control of the situation. She fled out the door and down the hallway exiting the building leaving the family feud far behind.
The paleontologist looked to the vehicles and thought of stealing one, but without a descent map Alitta would be utterly lost in no time. The bandits would recapture her and she would pay for her flight. That is assuming that she could get by the massive tree gate outside of the tunnel.
Instead, she fled towards the one that led into the fissure seeking seclusion and the only place that they probably wouldn’t think that she’d go. The darkness would help sooth her and calm down her mind so that she could think these past few weeks events through.
One of the torches were already lit and she took it heading off down the low tunnel as quick as her heels would let her. They clicked off the stone echoing into the darkness along with her heavy breathing that she was sure would give her away.
The going got tougher once she reached the fissure with all of the rocks and boulders that she had to walk over and around. Several times her dress got caught on one of their sharp edges ripping it further.
Alitta could hear the sounds of pursuit now as Paul called out to her to stop so that he could explain. She ran all that much faster falling several times nearly extinguishing her torch.
At the cave, the paleontologist began to quickly read the directions again and then read out the words calling out in the darkness to the ‘God of Light’ for her salvation from her present predicament.
*****
The teacher was in his room studying an old text when he heard a commotion next door. He quickly ran over and nearly bumping into Franchesca who had a look of vindication of her face as she left Alitta’s room.
The American was leaning against the table obviously shaken up and went over to her and she fell into his arms. It wasn’t exactly how he had pictured it, but he held her close enjoying her against him while she trembled.
Paul spoke with her a bit and then cleaned up her wound from the necklace being ripped off by Franchesca. He noted that the tattoo on the back of her neck was that of the Hindu noble wheel with an Egyptian Ankh in its center.
Promising to check on Alitta later, he left and went back to his studies, but just couldn’t concentrate as all that he could think about was her.
Another commotion sent his back into her room again and Paul saw Sabio trying to force himself upon her. She got away and ran into his arms cowering against him. Franchesca came in adding to the turmoil and the pretty American slipped out while the three of them were arguing.
He ran out after her not caring if his parents killed each other or not as his soon to be bride was escaping. Looking around the high ceilinged chamber, the professor tried to discern where her flight path would lead her.
The main house and exit tunnel were unlikely as his eyes fixed on the side tunnels that led from the main chamber. The single burning torch was gone and Paul sprinted across the vast main chamber pulling out a flashlight from his jacket pocket as he ran.
He made it to the chamber and saw Alitta standing in the center with her arms stretched out and a glowing blue light filling the chamber. The necklace around her neck held onto the pendant as it floated before her crackling with red and green hues illuminating her bare chest.
He tried to enter the chamber but some kind of invisible electrical field kept him from gaining access. He stood perplexed just watching her as she spoke in an unknown language as if possessed by a demon.
The stone floor beneath her wavered before opening up leaving a deep black pit which her body floated above as if held up by unseen hands. As she finished the last words, Alitta looked at him once more with her sea green eyes filled with disappointment just before they registered fear and she plummeted into the abyss below.
The ground closed back up and the light dissolved along with the field that held Paul back from entering the chamber. He could still feel the crackle of energy as he entered the little cave with its walls covered in carvings.
He stood in awl in that little chamber turning full circle in unbelief as he tried to wrap his head around what his brain refused to believe that his eyes had just seen.
Paul had never been a very religious like his mother; instead he fell towards his father’s indifference towards a creator and the world. Now he began to question his own foolishness at not excepting that the deity that had created everything was truly real.
A laugh erupted from him as he marveled at what it all meant scrawled on the walls around him by some ancient wiseman or woman. They had left this piece of knowledge behind to be found only by those looking for it with the understanding of how to use it. This great gift had been figured out and deciphered by that petite beauty that he had only seen as an equal of knowledge.
“Is she gone?” his mother asked when he had returned to the hacienda. Paul took a long pull on a bottle of tequila as his mind thought about what he had seen before he answered her.
“Yes mother.” were his only words as he looked up and saw her nod in satisfaction. “Good. Your father seems to have an unhealthy desire once he’s drank too much.” Franchesca said pouring them both another drink.
“She was near perfect for me, wasn’t she mother?” “Yes my son, she was. Don’t worry though, she’ll be found heading for the coast and brought back to you.” “We shall see mother, we shall see.”
*****
Alitta awoke from her trancelike state to see Paul looking at her. H
e stood outside of the little chamber watching her curiously. Then she screamed as she began to fall when the solid rock floor had turned into a symmetrically round hole beneath her.
It reached up to consume the paleontologist and she wondered what trap he had sprung that would claim her life. Alitta was surprisingly calm as she realized that she would be with her father soon.
*****
The guardian had been searching the forest as instructed by the tribe’s shaman after seeing the dying star burst high in the sky. Sojurn was a hunter for his people and usually shunned for doing these sorts of errands.
This time of course he had little choice as the tribal spiritual leader had sought him out specifically for this task. He had just returned from a hunt and was flirting with Lumi, Cheya and Tesha when the old woman had approached.
Sojurn had tried to wish the young women good day and leave, but as the old snaggle-toothed deserved his respect he had to stay. He looked back at his only three hopefuls longingly as he was led to the old woman’s hut.
It sat amongst the thick grove of trees twenty feet off the ground nestled between thick limbs of the intertwining Cucabur trees. Their sweet flower blooms in the spring and summer filled the forest with a pleasant aroma that was intoxicating.
They were the same flowers that all of the females in the tribes braided into their hair and head dresses. Sojurn had been awestruck as the old woman had added different herbs to her pot over the fire that bubbled away then suddenly erupted in a thick purple smoke.
He gagged as it filled his lungs and stung his eyes before the liquid cleared in the kettle. Even the bubbles hugged the sides as it boiled not daring to disturb the placid mirror image that he saw there.
A face came into view only briefly and the guardian was spellbound by her beauty the likes of he had never seen. Her hair was like that of a Cucamonga flower, pale yellowish brown with streaks of red touching it. The eyes as green as the water of the Zaline Sea, yet more vibrant and intense. Her skin was the color of pale honey that dripped from an overfull beehives and her lips as red as a new wound received in battle.
Dinosaur Dreams (Indian Trail's Book 1) Page 3