by Geonn Cannon
Dorothy said, “Perhaps we should head to the docks now, so we can depart immediately as soon as it’s ready.”
“Of course, yes.” He stood up and pulled a bag from beneath his desk. He opened a drawer and began transferring things to it. “While we’re waiting, I can... I can try to explain what happened to your colleagues. The little of it that I actually understand.”
“That would be greatly appreciated, Mr. Eiriz.”
A touch of his previous showmanship seeped back into his face. “It’s just Eiriz, por favor. ‘Mister’ is too formal. Stuffy.” He slung the bag over his shoulder and stepped around the desk to lead the way out of the building.
Eiriz told the story over his shoulder as they traveled through town, only slightly out of breath despite the pace he set. Trafalgar had no trouble keeping up with him, but Dorothy and Cora both brought up the rear despite the fact they were all but jogging so they wouldn’t be left behind.
“Captain Neville enlisted us to take him and a few of his men into the jungle. You know their mission, I assume? Discover the Pratear?”
Trafalgar was still keeping pace with him. “Yes. According to the journals, Neville believed he was close to locking in its location.”
Eiriz nodded. “He was very excited, yes. People in this part of the world have spoken about the river for hundreds of years. It was believed any item washed in its waters became solid silver. There have even been a great number of disreputable markets for items supposedly created in the Pratear. Those items are all counterfeit, of course, mostly silver-plated rather than as advertised. Most educated people accept the river is a myth.”
Dorothy was breathing hard now. “But a myth you’re happy to promote if it helps tourism.”
He looked sheepishly back at her. “Of course we’re very remorseful about the loss of life. We attempted to dissuade Captain Neville from venturing into the forest, but he insisted.”
“We don’t blame you for what happened, Eiriz,” Trafalgar said. “In our line of work, death is always a possibility. Please, continue.”
“Captain Neville paid us all very handsomely for three days. We hired a boat. We took him and his men upriver. One man on his team kept a very close eye on the map and eventually told us where to drop anchor. They told us we could remain with the boat while they ventured overland. I warned them it would be a treacherous journey, but Neville was insistent. So we let them go and stayed with the boat. Three days, since that was all he paid us for.”
“Neville and his team never returned?”
“We never saw them alive again, Miss Hyde. I couldn’t just abandon them, so I went to see if I could pick up their trail. I found them not far from the river.” He grimaced. “Their remains... I found their remains. We hadn’t heard a sound the entire time we were waiting, but the men had been slaughtered. I thought the best course of action would be to give them a proper burial and take my men back to safety.”
They were close enough to the docks that Dorothy could see a group of men loading supplies onto a boat she assumed was theirs. Several of them were bare-chested, and she saw a gallery’s worth of tattoo art on every available stretch of skin.
“Why didn’t you alert the authorities?” Trafalgar asked.
Dorothy answered before Eiriz could summon the courage to confess. “He was afraid. I assume yours is not the most reputable company offering guides excursions into the forest. From the looks of it, you hire men based on their strength and courage. These men most likely have criminal records. If you went to the authorities and revealed Captain Neville and his entire team had died under mysterious circumstances, you would have been held responsible.”
Eiriz stopped running and faced them. “You have to understand--”
“We do.” Dorothy’s forehead was now dotted with sweat. She took off her hat, wiped away the shine, and fanned her face with the fedora’s brim. “You were in a difficult situation. My only real question is why Neville would choose a company as questionable as yours. He had the full support of the RGS behind him. He could have afforded anybody, so why did he go to you? No offense.”
“None taken, obviously,” Eiriz said. “Even if there was, I’ve remained silent for far too long to take the high road in this situation.” He gestured at the boat. “It’s far past time that I make amends.”
Dorothy said, “I heartily agree. Please, lead the way.”
He continued on. Trafalgar and Cora moved closer to Dorothy before following.
“What do you think?” Trafalgar asked under her breath.
“He seems sincere,” Dorothy said, “but given what he’s just confessed, we would be fools to completely trust him or his cohorts. There’s every possibility that they robbed Captain Neville and his men, killed them, and now they’re taking us into the forest to do the exact same thing.”
“Odds?” Trafalgar asked.
Dorothy pondered for a moment. “Sixty percent chance he’s telling the truth. What do you say?”
“I would agree with that assessment.”
Cora said, “Forty percent chance of being murdered if we get on the boat. Not enough to make me turn back, but I’ll definitely not be turning my back on him once we’re underway.”
Trafalgar checked the time. “Despite Eiriz’s assurances that we don’t have far to go, there’s a very real chance we’ll be spending the night on this boat. I’ll go ahead and suggest now that we sleep in shifts.”
Dorothy smiled and led the way up the ramp. “Who can sleep? We’re about to travel into a mysterious jungle with a group of pirates and thieves in search of men who died in search of a river of silver. I may not sleep for a solid week after this.”
#
The river was sluggish and red-brown, bracketed on either side by surprisingly lush foliage. Dorothy took pictures of trees, angling her head back to look up into the canopy, and tried to track the sounds she heard back to actual animals. Eiriz caught her squinting between the trees. “For every beast you hear,” he told her, “there are ten closer to you that you will never know about.” His eyes darted about for a moment and he pointed at the water. “There.”
Dorothy followed his finger. At first all she saw was the ripples caused by the wake of the boat. Then there was a lump, something pressing upward without actually breaking the surface tension, followed by a rapid wrinkling as whatever it was swam away.
“Remarkable. Eel?”
He shrugged. “We shall never know.”
Trafalgar’s worry that the day was growing late had quickly become a reality. The river was naturally darker than the city, but it was clear that the sun was rapidly sinking.
“How much farther to our destination?”
Eiriz said, “Not far. We will arrive there near dusk. We can anchor the boat there since it’s dangerous to sail at night, but we can use the time to trek to the burial site.”
Dorothy said, “So you expect us to follow you into the forest, on our own, at night, to find the bodies of the men you claim were killed through unknown circumstances?”
“You are the ones who hired me, Miss Boone,” he said, “but you would be foolish not to have some concern at this situation. But I promise you have nothing to worry about. I would promise the men who accompany us into the forest will be unarmed, but they cannot make much progress without machetes. And I would offer to let you carry firearms if you were proficient.”
Dorothy’s laugh echoed off the water. “Proficient? Do you happen to have a gun on you?”
He straightened and took a revolver from the back of his belt. She took it from him with a head-tilt of thanks, turned, and sighted a plump yellow-brown fruit hanging from a tree on the banks. She aimed without hesitation and fired. The fruit exploded in a pulpy mess and the foliage shuddered with the retreat of frightened animals. The deck shook as Eiriz’s men came running to see what was happening.
Eiriz calmed them down by shouting something in Portuguese, then faced Dorothy again. She held out the gun to him, but he gestu
red for her to keep it.
“Are your friends as good with a gun as you are?” he asked in English.
“Cora is as good as me. Trafalgar is better, I believe.”
“Then you shall all be armed when we leave the boat. Both for your own peace of mind and any local fauna that might think we look tasty.”
“I believe that is a deal we can agree to.” She looked past him at the men. “Would you kindly apologize to them for the disruption?”
Eiriz said, “I don’t believe I will do that. Men like this, on a boat alone with three women... ah. Well, I will only say that perhaps it is better if they are a little scared of you.”
Dorothy smiled. “Wise.”
She slipped the gun into her belt, watching the men from the corner of her eye as she turned. It would be bad if they decided she was a threat, but a little wariness could be a good defense against any of them deciding to take liberties.
Night had fallen when the boat drifted closer to shore. Eiriz dropped anchor while his men filled a lantern and checked the sharpness of their machetes. Dorothy, Trafalgar, and Cora had changed into outfits more suitable for trekking through the Amazon. The weight of the boots, the thickness of her blouse and trousers, and the bulkiness of the vest made Dorothy feel as though she was wearing a suit of armor in anticipation of fighting a dragon. Protection came at the expense of comfort, as the new garb also made the night feel at least five degrees hotter.
Eiriz stopped them before they disembarked. He had totally abandoned his laidback demeanor from the office and now seemed more like a soldier.
“We’ll have four men in front, clearing the way. I’ll be with them. You’ll follow behind us. There will be two men bringing up the rear. All sorts of things may be attracted by our light. I expect you ladies to take care of those threats as they arise.”
Trafalgar had chosen a shotgun and patted the stock. “We’ll be ready.”
“Then let’s get out there so we can be quicker back.”
“Shouldn’t we take more lanterns?”
“Ideally,” Eiriz said. “But we don’t have enough hands available to carry more. The men will need both arms to cut away vegetation in some places.”
Dorothy didn’t like the idea of only having one light, but she couldn’t fault his logic.
Eiriz left two men to watch the boat and then gestured for them to disembark. Their point man, the largest of the group with a complex set of tattoos marking his exposed arms, lifted his lantern and set out on a trail only he could see. Occasionally, one of the men behind him moved ahead to chop away a vine that was as thick as Dorothy’s waist, clearing the way for them to continue onward. Eiriz was directly ahead of Dorothy, and even in the paltry light she could see the sweat gathering in dark patches on his shirt. He was mostly a dark shape limned with light from their leader’s lantern.
“It’s been a year since you brought Neville and his team out here,” she said. “How can you be so certain you remember the exact location?”
One of the men behind her answered in Spanish. Eiriz barked something at him in the same language, then grumbled something else in Portuguese as he ducked under a branch.
“It was the last time I came out here,” he admitted. “After what I saw... those bodies...” Dorothy saw him shudder. “It’s not something you quickly forget, senhorita. Believe me, I have been trying.”
Mention of his trauma made Dorothy turn to check on Cora. Her friend swatted at something invisible that Dorothy heard buzzing as it zipped away. She looked cautious but no more than their current situation warranted. She noticed Dorothy’s scrutiny and offered her a smile.
“I was hoping the mosquitos would be asleep at this late hour.”
“That would seem to be the main benefit of doing this after dark.”
Eiriz said, “The other benefit is getting it over with as quickly as possible. I want to be done with this. Perhaps putting these men to rest properly will ease my conscience.”
“One can only hope,” Dorothy said. “If it truly is as you told us, you have nothing to feel guilty about. Captain Neville was going to come out here whether you brought him or not.”
“But it was unlikely he would find anyone else to bring him,” Eiriz said. “Perhaps if I had refused, he would have been forced to go home.”
Dorothy smiled even though she knew he couldn’t see it. “You haven’t met many British men, have you? Especially those who believe they are about to become famous. Neville would have been on this path no matter what you said. Just as the three of us would be.”
Eiriz dipped his head and turned away. “We’re nearly there, I believe.”
Trafalgar moved closer to Dorothy. When she spoke, her voice was so low that Dorothy could barely make out the words. “How many men are supposed to be bringing up the rear of our party?”
Dorothy tensed at the question. She matched Trafalgar’s volume. “Two. Why?”
“Because when we left, it sounded like two. Then, a moment ago, I couldn’t hear anyone behind us. Now I can distinctly hear three people moving through the underbrush.”
Dorothy tried to listen, but she could only hear leaves being mulched under their boots and mud squelching as they high-stepped out of the deeper puddles. She certainly couldn’t tell how many people there were in the group, but she trusted Trafalgar’s assessment.
“What’s your suggestion?”
“Let Cora pass you. I’ll bring up the rear so that I’m their next target.”
Dorothy said, “Offering yourself as bait?”
“Is there anyone else you would elect in my place?”
“Well.. I suppose I should at least symbolically offer to be the decoy.”
Trafalgar chuckled. “I won’t go quietly.”
“I’m sure you won’t.”
Trafalgar fell back. A moment later, Cora came up alongside Dorothy.
“Something’s afoot, isn’t it?”
“Nothing to be concerned about,” Dorothy said. “Trafalgar has it under control.”
Cora pressed her lips together. “I don’t have to be coddled.”
“No one is coddling you, dear. Trafalgar is our best fighter. And, in a pinch, I can fight better than you. We’re simply stacking the deck in our favor. It will be your job to protect Eiriz and his men.”
“Be careful,” Cora said.
“Always. Tell Eiriz what’s happening, but be discreet. We don’t know how his hired goons will react to a threat.”
Cora nodded. She touched Dorothy’s arm as she moved forward. Dorothy glanced back. The lantern’s light illuminated Trafalgar in a dim halo but left most of the forest around her in shadow. Whoever was stalking them was being forced to do so in absolute darkness. She assumed it was tribesmen who knew this terrain like the backs of their hands. There was the possibility this was all a matter of trespassing where they didn’t belong. A simple misunderstanding that, with time, she could--
A shout from one of Eiriz’s men startled her. “Savages!” It was followed by a sound Dorothy identified as a knife sinking into wood, although she was certain the reality was something far more gruesome, and a shriek of pain. It sounded like an animal being slaughtered. She heard glass shatter as the lantern was dropped. Its fuel and flame spilled and hissed when it touched water, but flared where it caught on leaves or moss. The light intensified enough for Dorothy to see people between the gaps in the trees. Bare-chested, their skin smeared with river mud, eyes and mouths stark against the crusty masks. Three to her right, at least six converging on Eiriz and his men, and three behind Trafalgar. They had been flanked, surrounded, cut off from the boat.
“Crumbs,” she muttered.
With the element of surprise gone, their stalkers attacked. The report of Trafalgar’s shotgun sounded almost obscene given their surroundings, but she only managed two shots before the gun was knocked from her hands by a thick wooden club. Dorothy fired thrice at the men approaching her and managed to hit two of them. The last one put his hand
over her face and shoved. She tripped over her feet and landed hard on her back. He loomed above her, a spear lifted with the stone tip aimed at her chest.
The top of his head erupted in a flood of red. Dorothy flinched and looked in the direction the shot had come from, but Cora was already lining up her next target. Dorothy let out the breath she’d been holding and got back onto her feet. The flames had grown into a wide wall of flickering light which revealed the entire tableau. Behind Cora, she saw Eiriz clutching a bloody wound in his shoulder and fumbling with his own revolver. The rest of his men were nowhere to be seen. Dorothy spun to see if Trafalgar needed help. Her blood ran cold when she saw that the forest behind her was empty.
“Trafalgar!”
“Dorothy!” Cora shouted.
Before Dorothy could respond, something slammed into her back hard enough to knock her off her feet. Her forehead cracked against a tree trunk and she twisted so that she could land on her back. She was vaguely aware of the bark flaking off, aware that her teeth had snapped shut on impact but she’d managed not to bite off her tongue, and she knew that her forehead was bleeding when she landed in the mud like a scarecrow which had lost its support pole.
After that, however, she wasn’t aware of much at all.
Chapter Seven
Trafalgar returned to her senses slowly, brief bursts of awareness that never added up to a sum total of consciousness. She knew she was being moved and heard voices all around her. Mostly male, one female, the latter of which she recognized as Cora. They spoke mostly in Portuguese. Cora attempted to make herself understood with English and Spanish, pleading with the men to “be careful with her.” She knew she was taken a great distance and put on something soft. At one point she opened her eyes and saw she was in a room with cloth walls, something sturdier than a tent but not permanent. The walls were darkened by vast shadows thrown by the foliage which apparently surrounded them. The only furniture in the space was her bed, a squat chair next to it, and a table against the far wall. The flaps were open wide with no one visible standing guard. That sight was comforting enough to let her slip back into unconsciousness.