River of the Damned

by Aiden James

  He nodded thoughtfully and shrugged. Yet, it wasn’t until I detected a slight smile from my peripheral view, as I hacked away in earnest, that I knew he would follow my lead.

  We had cut through nearly fifty feet of cumbersome vines and saplings when we stepped through to a previous path cut similar to ours.

  “Well, I’ll be damned—looks like we just found the professor’s pathway!” I felt an immediate surge of confidence about my gut’s direction. “It’s headed further north than I would’ve assumed, but not by too much…. Come on!”

  I sheathed my machete, despite the fact I might need it again very soon, while Ishi ran to catch up. A small clearing appeared ahead of us up a fairly steep incline. Meanwhile, the announcement of thunder nearby meant sheets of rain might greet us by the time we reached it.

  “Look, Boss!”

  Ishi pointed behind us. I couldn’t help a wry grin in response to one beautiful Ecuadorian stumbling through Ishi’s and my sloppy effort at creating a trail through the near impenetrable foliage.

  “Don’t think you are off the hook yet, Nick!” huffed Mayta, pausing to catch her breath once she caught up to us. “I only came back because I need your help with the canoe….”

  Her voice trailed off and she pointed to the clearing ahead. Following her gaze up to the forest opening soon revealed what had left her speechless.

  “Shit—come on!” I said.

  The three of us raced up the path, and as we neared the clearing I became aware of the sound of rushing water. The sound grew stronger, until finally we stepped out onto a small cliff.

  “Whoa—careful now!”

  I stopped Ishi from tumbling down a chasm of forty to fifty feet—or, roughly twelve to fifteen meters for measurement consistency sake. A dozen small waterfalls emptied into a deep blue pool down below. Breathtaking in its suddenness since we weren’t expecting it, along with its unspoiled beauty, this sight wasn’t what captured Mayta’s attention, and her focus soon became Ishi’s and mine too.

  A child’s hiking boot was perched near the ledge. Badly soiled, it likely could’ve been there for at least a week… perhaps much longer. No other footprints were visible, until Mayta pushed aside a palm frond near the cliff’s edge. Beneath it were several bare footprints sustained by the palm’s shelter from the weather’s erosion. The footprints were human and much larger than the boot. A number of broken fronds and branches from other palms and kapok saplings nearby appeared snapped, as if someone had come out of hiding and surprised the child… perhaps a struggle ensued.

  Although impossible to say conclusively, it appeared the spot marked where the Pierce family and Jivaro warriors crossed paths. Hopes of finding any of the Pierces alive had just sustained a severe blow.

  Chapter Seven

  “Looks like there is no other choice than going down there.”

  That was my advice to Mayta and Ishi after a thorough search of the immediate area revealed no more clues as to what had taken place along the ledge overlooking the waterfalls. Worn stone steps carved into the hillside led to the pristine pool below. From our present vantage point it looked like a sparkling sapphire nestled in a ring of white sand, with more palms and other vegetation radiating out toward the surrounding cliff sides and waterfalls.

  Inviting, simply based on its own merits, there appeared to be no other option than to descend down to the bottom and check out this wondrous site… one that might also harbor true danger, if the Jivaro were waiting for us.

  “What if Shuratu is down there, Nick?” Ishi gave voice to my thoughts, and in truth it heightened my own uneasiness. “They could be hiding in the bushes or behind the trees.” He pointed to several areas below where the thick foliage appeared nearly as impenetrable as the forest we had recently emerged from.

  “I doubt it,” I said, hoping by dismissing his worry out of hand it would boost his courage. “The shoe looks like it has been here for at least a week, and probably much longer. We are more apt to find dead bodies than we are Jivaro warriors poised with dart shafts and machetes.”

  It was a grim likelihood, but I winked with confidence to sell the notion that no living threats were waiting for us. Still, the expectation of finding our sought-after archaeological team as decomposing corpses strewn about the area below was a potential and unsettling fact that could very well be true. And if the Jivaro warriors, along with their shrunken-head baring leader, were on the lookout for us, it was likely from somewhere up above. Perhaps near where we were right then, which meant they already had knowledge of us and of our present location. The only safe place to be was in Logrono or some other town far away from the Amazon wilderness.

  “I agree with Nick, Ishi,” said Mayta. She had been scanning the waterfalls, sheltering her eyes from the rain that was picking up. “We might find something useful to tell us what happened… and maybe this would be a good place to set up camp if we don’t find anything.”

  “Like witch doctors and dead bodies?” Ishi grimaced, as if he could clearly picture the latter.

  “Would you prefer an anaconda lurking in the water?” I teased. Mayta shot me a disdainful look when Ishi seemed to seriously consider that possibility. “Hey, man, I doubt we’ll find anything more menacing than the mosquitoes trying to feast on us back there.” I pointed my machete toward the jungle we had semi-conquered to get to this point.

  “It looks like there are some caves down below, behind the waterfalls… some might be deep and safe enough to set up camp tonight,” Mayta advised, drawing our attention back to what lay ahead of us. “We should be able to explore a few kilometers beyond the waterfalls, following what looks like a path that begins next to the biggest waterfall. Do you see it?”

  She pointed across the way, where the widest of the waterfalls’ water crashed upon the floor of the basin. It joined the flow from three other falls in forming a stream that fed the pool. Most of the remaining waterfalls’ water plummeted directly into the pool. Darkness behind the wide veil of water indicated at least one fairly large cave and possibly more… and to the side of it was what looked like an overgrown stone path—the only break in the near-perfect circle of cliffs and waterfalls. Hard to guess where the path led, since it disappeared from view into thick woods across the way.

  “Maybe we should get the tents and supplies from the canoe before we go down there,” Ishi suggested. “It would save us a trip.”

  “I think we should check things out first… just to be safe,” I said.

  Sure, going back now to get everything sounded like the most time-efficient idea. However, I didn’t like the aspect of taking everything down to the bottom. Hell, if there truly was an anaconda lounging near the tiny lagoon, we could be in a world of hurt if the thing was hungry and we were tired victims. At least someone as small as Ishi would be in trouble. Images of the three of us scurrying back up the hillside would be a hell of a lot worse if laden with our camping gear.

  “You truly think they are dead, Nick… no?” Mayta studied me, wearing a curious look. “I don’t smell anything from here, and if they were killed recently or within the last week—”

  “Maybe that shoe has been here for a month,” I said, not meaning to cut her off. “Sorry… but, until we go down there, we won’t know what’s going on or whether the caves down there are suitable for spending a night inside one of them.”

  She didn’t respond right away, and when she looked longingly back to where we came from, I expected her to dig in her heels on getting the gear now. To my surprise, she didn’t.

  “Okay… let’s go down and see what the place looks like up close,” she said. “I’ll go first.”

  The gentlemanly thing might’ve been for me or Ishi to lead the way… but when she scurried down the steps, I reminded myself that this is what she was hired to do as our guide. I followed after her and urged Ishi to keep up. The steps were slippery and both Ishi and I nearly tumbled after losing our footing on a crumbling step halfway down. Mayta had no such trouble, a
nd made it safely to the bottom long before we did.

  “So, it has been a while, eh?” she teased, after it took us another five minutes to catch up to her. The increasing rain had rendered Ishi and me as a pair of sloths, to which our nimble leader with cat-like reflexes smiled smugly. A definite sweet moment for her.

  “Not as long ago as it appears, but yeah… traveling through Egypt and Europe isn’t quite as treacherous as what the Amazon presents,” I admitted. “In terms of environment, that is…. At least no one is firing bullets at us yet.”

  “Poison darts can be worse,” she quipped. “With bullets, you can sometimes duck… with darts, you always go down.”

  Really, I should like this gal more than I did. But, hearing something I might say come out of her mouth was more than a tad irritating.

  She shot me a knowing look, which only added to my discomfort in her presence. Annoying, and yet at the same time damned alluring.

  Careful, Nick… keep your heart out of this.

  To distract myself I focused on the lush environment surrounding us. Paradise. Even in the rain the place seemed magical, and I could only imagine what it would be like under clear skies—by light of the sun or under a full moon.

  “What’s this over here?”

  Ishi pointed to where a piece of torn canvas peered out from a clump of bushes just beyond the beach area we walked upon. He moved over to it cautiously, gingerly pushing the fronds of a palm aside with his machete to reveal a foot-long piece of what likely once belonged to a tent.

  Shit!

  No footprints this time, but the ragged edges of the torn material appeared to have been made by some crude cutting tool… or ripped away in a violent rage. But nothing else was found in the immediate vicinity. Meanwhile, Mayta’s gaze was drawn back up to the top of the surrounding cliffs.

  “What’s up?” I asked her, to which she shushed me.

  Ishi and I joined her anxious scan of the area we had just left, filled with misgivings for thinking coming down here was a good idea.

  “Do you feel it?” she whispered.

  “Feel what?” I replied.

  “We’re being watched.”

  “Where is the feeling coming from?” I knew the feeling she spoke of from past experiences, but didn’t sense anything like it at the moment. However, her nervousness was infectious.

  “Maybe we should go inside the caves and see if anyone comes out from up there,” suggested Ishi.

  Mayta appeared ready to rebuke him, but caught herself—likely for the same reason that hit me. Ishi’s idea made a lot of sense—especially when considering her earlier mention of being dropped by poison darts.

  “The caves are right over there,” I said, motioning to the trio of waterfalls we had discussed from atop the basin. “Let’s make a run for ‘em—unless you feel someone’s waiting there for us as well.”

  She shook her head, and I took that as the opportunity to nudge her and Ishi to move ahead of me. I took the rear in preparation to fend off whatever menace pursued us. The small hairs along the back of my neck sprang to life as we neared the first waterfall, but a glance over my shoulder revealed nothing obvious. Despite the water’s drone as it poured down upon a small heap of boulders before flowing down its stream-like course to the pool, the three of us worked together as one, moving behind the falls until we reached the only suitable cave of the three. As we had discerned from above, the winner sat behind the broadest waterfall.

  “Ahh, shit—this ain’t good!” I lamented.

  I removed a small flashlight from my belt to confirm the extent of the mayhem we encountered at the mouth of the cavern roughly ten to twelve meters deep. By my count the flashlight’s glow revealed the remains of four large tents, along with several chests that had been torn and broken into pieces. Clothing, cooking pots, pans, and utensils—along with expensive electronic equipment—lay in haphazard piles. Most importantly, torn documents that confirmed ownership for much of this stuff by Nathaniel Pierce were scattered throughout the cave.

  But, no bodies. And, as far as we could tell from a cursory exploration of the small cavern that was a single room with no other exits, there was no blood either.

  “They’ve been taken,” I said, stating again what I assumed was obvious.

  “Maybe the professor’s team did this,” Mayta suggested. “Maybe they were trying to keep it out of the Jivaro’s hands.”

  Perhaps, but not likely… at least not in my opinion.

  “Sorry, sweetheart, but we’re gonna have to disagree on that,” I said, forgetting for a moment I wasn’t addressing Marie. A glared response colder than an Andes’ glacier met my gaze when I turned to face her. “Sorry… I didn’t mean what I said, Mayta. It just slipped….”

  All I could do was make things worse by continuing to talk, so I moved over to the electronic equipment to gain some space… to hopefully regroup and then make my point.

  “I can see busting the electronics as a way to keep them out of a competitor’s hands,” I said, finally. “But a witch doctor and a tribe that has nothing but disdain for modern society and its inventions would be a mild threat to exploit whatever secrets Dr. Pierce had kept in his destroyed laptop. And this other equipment looks much more expensive—as well as indispensable in getting depth readings and such….”

  It made no sense. Other than a renegade shaman and his indigenous followers marauding on the verge of extinction had surprised the professor and his foolhardy group.

  “Shit, Boss! I think they’re coming!” whispered Ishi, pointing toward the top of the steps we had recently descended.

  Four bare-chested men of short stature were on their way down to the basin. Dressed in the Jivaro traditions of centuries past—complete with painted faces as part of their renowned war personas, each one was armed with a bamboo dart shaft, but they also carried machetes made of steel. A deadly combination of the past and present… and headed our way.

  “What do we do?”

  “Keep calm, Ishi. I’m thinking,” I said.

  We had nowhere to go. Worse, our pursuers had obviously watched our progress and were now moving in for the kill.

  “Remember the path I pointed out to you?” asked Mayta, moving toward the eastern edge of the waterfall—the area farthest from our Jivaro visitors.

  “Yeah… but.”

  I stopped there… realizing nothing I could say would mean much in the next few minutes. Getting our asses moving would be the only thing that could save us, while avoiding a direct confrontation with a deadly menace.

  “She’s right, Ishi—it’s our only chance!” I told him, pulling him with me to catch up to Mayta, who had already vacated the cave and was on her way to the only spot in the circular basin that didn’t connect. A place where an overgrown path lay waiting….

  Hopefully the forgotten trail led to safety, and not disaster.

  Chapter Eight

  We didn’t have the luxury of hacking recklessly at the vines and branches that encumbered our escape from our pursuers. Yet, a number of branches bore recent cut marks, which led us to not only believe Dr. Pierce and his team had moved through the area as of late, but also had a good idea where they were headed. Or, so we hoped.

  Meanwhile, the foursome behind us had missed our exit from the cave. Unless, of course, they were being thorough in their pursuit and wanted to see what we had recovered from the cave before coming after us with a vengeance. That was my assumption. The important thing was we didn’t detect them behind us for the first few hundred feet. By then, the path had become less cumbersome, and we traveled with the intent of not leaving new evidence of our own as we passed through.

  There remained no definitive sign of the Pierce group, other than the cut marks and trodden ground cover. I began to worry we might not find the cave of treasure sought by Dr. Pierce, and our focus was shifting to survival—despite the fact we were moving deeper into the Amazon wilderness.

  In all likelihood, we would’ve been destined to
follow this pathway to wherever it ended—especially when the vines and branches continued to thin out. But then I nearly tripped on what I at first thought was a fallen tree branch.

  “What in the hell?” I whispered, noticing a small silver glint from the object. I could tell it was a clasp of some sort.

  Ishi and I moved over to it, followed by Mayta. Surprised to discover the damned thing was a journal, it was enclosed in a leather sheath and belonged to Dr. Pierce.

  “Whoever did the number on the cave must’ve missed this… it looks intact,” I said, glancing over my shoulder and listening for clues about our pursuers’ progress. Hard to say for sure, but I believed we had a moment to look at this thing. I opened it up to the first page to get a reference point, and when I determined it had been started just a few months earlier in Brazil, I flipped back to the last page…. “Well, shit. The last entry was from four weeks ago today—November seventeenth.”

  A whirlwind of thoughts bombarded my mind… everything from now having a likely timeline for when the shoe and the destroyed items in the cave took place, to the fact the Pierce team had made it this far in the jungle. I read the journal’s final entry, and at first I didn’t think it would tell us anything useful… until I reached the last two paragraphs.

  We have found the waterfalls, and the Inca site must be nearby. It is supposed to be near another waterfall that is larger than any of these….

  “They were right here,” said Ishi, thoughtfully, after following my verbalizing of the entry. “They could still be someplace close by.”

  “There’s more,” I said, motioning for him to let me finish before drawing conclusions.

  …From what I can determine from the map, we need to explore the pathway that bisects the basin at daybreak. As noted before, a boulder favoring a lion in appearance marks the cave we seek, and it sits high above the site. Hopefully this time we will be in the right place. If we find this marker, I will be relieved after experiencing so many false leads and disappointments. The cave we seek should be located directly below this unusual boulder. The face of Momma Killa should be waiting next to the cavern of gold’s entrance.