A Golden Legend

Chapter 9

With hair and dust-free face, Marcelo could glimpse what seemed to him the face of a beautiful young woman, although somewhat pale no doubt by the circumstances that she was crossing. The three stood expectantly to check her subsequent reaction. After a while the girl revived, opening her eyes, at the start flashing. There Marcelo was captivated by two beautiful black and huge eyes, with a strong Arab look. He noticed the fact that his interest in the young woman had increased from the moment that he had collected the body on the trail.

When he saw that the girl was already able to speak, the hotel owner asked her with great discretion about her identity and what had happened to her.

“My name is Teresa” – she replied “and I'm an archaeologist. I was doing a scan in an area quite far away from here, and I was assaulted by a group of outlaws, who stole all my equipment in my camp. Then I was tied up and blindfolded and moved for hours in a truck along rudimentary roads. I've been walking for hours without direction. The worst have been thirst and tiredness. When I saw the village in front of my already was on the verge of my strength.”

The hostess discreetly questioned it about if had suffered some kind of physical abuse, including implicitly s****l violence.

“No, I have not been touched, that was not what they wanted.”

“I am alarmed for what you are telling us” said the innkeeper “this has been a quiet spot so far. We had no news of bandits in the surroundings.”

 Marcelo, who so far had remained in the background quietly asked the young woman what she intended to do now, alone, in a place where fate had thrown her with no resources of any kind. She looked at him for the first time, and after hesitation a moment replied.

“Well, as you can imagine, I have not thought about it so far. All I wanted was to reach a populated place and drink some water. But yes, right now I have to deal with that.”

Marcelo glimpsed from time to time the girl asleep in the passenger seat as he was driving along the rugged path, full of scattered stones, mounds, fallen logs and other obstacles that required his full attention. Yet he could appreciate the very feminine forms of her small body, its pronounced breasts, her thighs and her well-formed knees, and the perfect features of her brunette face, framed by a cascade of black hair. The sight caused him both pleasure and curiosity indeed.

“What drove this beauty to walk alone through the jungle? Was she just driven by a thirst for knowledge? As far as I knew, the archaeological expeditions are usually formed by numerous people from different specialties”

 In his thoughts and senses co-existed a certain moral admiration with the physical attraction for the girl.

The car trembled when passing on a particularly deep hole in the road. The woman woke up, looking around her somewhat perplexed. No doubt she had slept profoundly. She immediately took charge of her situation and dedicated a smile to Marcelo.

“Well, seems that you were really needing a break” he said, with the purpose of starting a conversation “by the way, I do not be even know your name. I am Marcelo Ferrand, from Argentina.”

“That already I realized” she answered a bit too quickly, so she then added as an unnecessary explanation “by the accent, is clear. I am Teresa Cifuentes, from Mexico DF. As I think I already said at the Inn, I'm an archaeologist by profession and I'm doing some studies on the Maya civilization” she paused “And, tell me, what are you doing in this region?”

The question made sense in an area away from the tourist circuits. Marcelo was happy for the natural course acquired by the conversation right from the beginning, and jovially answered.

“Weekend adventure tourism. It has always attracted me everything related to the Mayan cultures and being in Mexico so I decided to get to know it. Not from a professional point of view though.”

“And what attracts you to the Mayan culture, coming from so far away? You have had important indigenous civilizations such as the Inca in Peru, much closer to your country.”

“Not only in Peru, the Northwest corner of the Argentina was part of the Tawantisuyu, the Inca Empire. But the Mayan culture has an aura of special mystery, above all by the disappearance of the population, and the findings of cities in the dense jungle.”

“Nothing as romantic as a lost civilization. “ replied the woman “But the population has not disappeared, is dispersed in all the villages and the surrounding countryside, where they are still talking quiche dialects, engaged in some syncretistic rites mixing their traditional religion with Christianity and respecting their customs. I myself have some Maya blood.”

Marcelo stopped the car a moment, as he watched carefully the map.

“We should find a secondary road nearby, which, according to the map, would save us a few miles. I hope that it is in an acceptable state.”

In fact, ten minutes later, partially hidden among the tall trees of the surrounding forest they saw a side exit to the left of the road, heading northwest. With some hesitation, Marcelo turned the car toward it, a decision that he was soon to regret.

It was a narrow path without any maintenance, probably with very scarce traffic, so the forest invaded the road in many sections. The car constantly jumped as it was stepping on rocks and branches and keeping passengers in permanent suspense. The young woman spoke incessantly, product surely of the nerves, while Marcelo was trying to stay focused on the driving. At one point, he realized that she had suddenly shut up; he briefly observed her without removing his attention from the road. She was staring, forward, clinging hands among them and slightly trembling. Marcelo thought first in any phenomenon produced by terror, or a seizure of some sort, and mused on whether to stop the car. However, Teresa then broke her silence, speaking with a tone of urgency that Marcelo had not expected:

“Pronto! You must leave this route now.”

“What? Why should I leave it?”

“Just do it! Then I will explain to you.”

In a small clearing away from the road, the man drove the auto inserting it between the bushes, not knowing what there beyond them. The bush soon covered the machine, whose engine stopped.

“I hope I can start it again, cried the man.”

“Silence!”  Ordered Teresa, even in imperative tone.

Marcelo paid attention to the whispers of the surrounding forest, singing birds, small mammals grunts and noises of small legs on the foliage. Suddenly, everything was silent. After a few moments of total silence the couple perceived the unmistakable sound of approaching engines. Influenced by the girl´s fear, Marcelo made an absolute silence. Soon he could see among the dense vegetation the silhouettes, blurry at first and then sharper, of two trucks with armed men sitting in the rear part holding rifles, preceded by a jeep, with four crew members also armed.