The Sacrifice (The War of the Gods Book 1) Read online

  “It seems the little whore wants a fight,” Mowriz said with a wolfish smile. “You’d better control that mouth of yours, bitch, or I’ll make it hurt so much you won’t want to talk for the rest of your days. Now, get away from that scum!” he shouted, gesturing at Manchego. “We’re going to give him what’s good for him…That pretty boy doesn’t deserve life on this earth! Get away from here!”

  She did not. She held on to Manchego as hard as she could. She tried to put him over her shoulders and run away with him, but her arms would not respond. Mowriz and his lackeys approached. There was no time, there was no way out. But then a window of hope opened up.

  She took three quick steps to the mare and untied her. Sureña was free, the boys were coming, Luchy held on to Manchego again. His fist was tightly closed, just as it had been when he had had that illness. Then something happened. An invisible but perceptible energy emanated from Manchego’s body. Sureña reacted, and like a war unicorn, she charged against the thugs with all her strength.

  With her muscular chest she struck Hogue, and when she had him under her hooves she crushed his legs, his ribs and his skull. The brains of the young redhead were left as a paste on the stone. She went for Findus, who was moving away from Manchego, shaking. With her teeth she bit off an ear and went on biting. He who had been the handsomest student was howling now with his face bitten, skinned, shapeless. He fell to the ground, maddened by pain.

  Malabrad took a while to react. When he realized the danger he was in, it was too late. The mare let the full strength of her forelegs fall on the boy’s chest, so that he felt his lungs exploding and life, in bubbles of blood, escaping through his mouth.

  Manchego felt two warm arms holding him, felt a kiss on his cheek, feathers beneath his body. He felt love. He felt peace. Luchy…

  Chapter X – Miasma

  Balthazar kicked the door open and came into the Ranch with Manchego in his arms. Luchy ran behind, trying to help. The boy did not look his best; he was pale and his breathing was shallow.

  The man laid him on his bed, made him comfortable with pillows and blankets so as to keep him warm. Luchy sat down on the edge of the bed and stroked his dark hair, weeping.

  Balthazar picked up his satchel and took out different herbs. With a mortar and pestle, he began to mix and mash them together until what resulted was a thick but smooth paste, which he put into the boy’s mouth. He whispered a few unintelligible words, as if invoking the force of nature.

  “I need you to bring some water, Luchy,” the Wild Man urged her. The girl did not think twice. She would do anything to help her friend. She flew to the kitchen.

  Balthazar had great hopes for the efficacy of his herbs. All that remained was for water to spread those effects through the boy’s veins.

  He began to despair as time went by and Luchy did not come back. He stood up, intending to look for her, but as he went into the kitchen he met something he was not expecting, which he could not even believe, knowing that this evil presence was as real as the one which had taken Eromes.

  The wood of the ceiling began to give way, pushed by a titanic weight. Balthazar and Lula looked at each other, and a look of understanding passed between them.

  With a kitchen knife in her hand, the grandmother started to move carefully around the room, her eyes staring wide. With her free hand she felt the air, in search of the evil presence.

  Luchy felt the same terror she had felt at the witch’s house, and went back to Manchego’s side.

  They heard footsteps approaching the boy, and Balthazar’s heart beat faster. The young shepherd was beginning to wake, and his face still showed the confused expression of someone waking from sleep. He was moving his mouth in puzzlement, becoming aware of an acrid taste. His puzzlement gave way to fear as soon as he saw his grandmother with a knife in her hand and… the weight of the same entity he had perceived in Ramancia’s house.

  The old woman gestured Manchego to keep silent. The boy had his arms round Luchy, who was trembling on the bed. The atmosphere became more oppressive, the grandmother was losing her patience. She struck at the air but failed to find her target. Like a rabid dog, she began to lose control. She tugged at her hair, bit her fingers, her agitated breathing was the only thing to be heard. “No more!” she cried in an insane fury. “Die once and for all and leave us in peace! No more! Why have you come back? What do you want? Aaaah, aaaah….! Noooo!”

  The knife fell to the floor and the grandmother collapsed. The Wild Man, who had sunk into a kind of trance, regained his awareness and, nimble as a leopard, crouched down beside the grandmother. He had to bring her back from the depressive world she had once again fallen into.

  “Grandma?” Manchego said faintly. He knelt beside this woman who was his grandmother, his mother, his father, his friend. He hugged her, moistened her face with his tears, stroked her with his hands. He found no solace.

  “Grandma!” he cried.

  The boy was clutching the Teitú nut tightly. Without meaning to, he gave out another wave of protective energy which expelled the dark presence. Balthazar was the only one who noticed.

  “This isn’t the first time it’s happened to her,” the Wild Man said about Lula’s collapse, “but I have to see to her at once. Manchego, please listen, look into my eyes. You must leave here, now. Luchy! Take him away, it doesn’t matter where! Believe me, Manchego, for the sake of your gods you must believe me: it’s the second time this has happened to your grandmother, I can only help her with mystical methods and … you two mustn’t be present.”

  Chapter XI – Revelations

  Lula woke up with the headache of a lifetime, perhaps because so many memories had come in a rush and threatened to break her fragile balance. How could she forget every detail of the day when the love of her life succumbed to the force of that blackness, of a darkness that throbbed with malice?

  It had all started one afternoon, when Eromes arrived home in a hurry, calling for a rope and a torch. He kissed her on both cheeks with the delicacy which announces a tragedy.

  Hours went by. Eromes returned that night with his face pale and dirty, covered in a black sweat, as if his skin had been that of a demon. He talked to Balthazar and then disappeared again. She waited for him for three whole days, missing him, feeling those tepid kisses with which he seemed to have said goodbye forever. She could stand it no longer and called Balthazar. The Wild Man evaded the questions, offered reasons with no basis which left the lady disconsolate and with a grudge towards this man that would last over a decade.

  Why did she have no news from Eromes? Why had he not told her where he was going? There had never been any secrets between them. The woman went on being on edge, with her heart in her mouth all the time. She tended to the fields and the chores at the house, she helped Tomasa during her training at the ranch. She was insistent with Balthazar. “I promised I wouldn’t tell you a word…” What little love Lula was able to feel for him vanished at once. Then she stopped sleeping in peace and shortly afterwards Eromes came back, but broken.

  With these memories, Lula could not find the strength to get out of bed.

  “Breakfast is ready,” Tomasa announced at noon.

  The old woman made the effort, grateful to Tomasa, and sat down at the table. The food smelt delicious, but she had no appetite for any of it. She was feeling once again the effects of that terrible depression which had left her breathless for many long years. She had now been like this for three weeks, since the shadow that murdered her husband had returned. Rufus came to her side, wagging his tail, alert in case any food found its way to the floor. The woman petted him and let her hand drop, for the dog to lick.

  To make things worse, the property was in ruins. Manchego’s effort had been all for nothing, with the village sunk in chaos and trade suspended. The hen was still sick, on the verge of death, with no recovery possible. To eat they only had vegetables and some fruits. The ranch would soon go under and Lula would be forc
ed to sell the land she loved so much. She sighed uneasily. As if he could understand her sorrow, Rufus put his head on Lula’s knees. He seemed to be giving her encouragement with his eyes. The woman smiled. She took his muzzle between her hands.

  “I’m too old for this, boy. I fear my days are numbered. I may not reach next spring, or even next week. I’m a sack of organs that are worn out…” the grandmother said.

  Rufufs barked twice, showing his disagreement. He put his nose to the floor looking for crumbs and went outside in search of Manchego. Lulita broke into quiet weeping. Manchego at that moment was on his way in, hungry, and when he saw his grandmother bent over he ran to hug her. The old woman sobbed in the boy’s arms, though he did not understand the sadness into which the woman had sunk.

  ***

  “Do you know anything new? Hasn’t your grandma told you anything?” Luchy asked. They were at the Observatory, watching the sunset.

  “She doesn’t say a word about anything,” Manchego burst out, throwing an apple up into the ceiba tree. “I’m fed up with her keeping everything secret. And Balthazar’s the same: evasive. We’re not selling a single seed either. I haven’t even found out anything about what happened at the witch’s house or at mine, the same day. It seems obvious to me there’s some connection between the two.”

  “It was so weird…” Luchy said. “I’m having nightmares, you know? It was like being in the presence of something very bad… very dark. But I don’t know anything else.”

  “And you don’t know what happened to Mowriz?”

  “No.”

  “Do you think he’ll have died?” ventured the boy.

  “I don’t know…But he wanted to kill you, I’m positive about that. Sureña protected you. If you’d only seen her… it was amazing.”

  “Oh no, Luciella...”

  “You’ve never used my full name before,” the girl said in surprise. The sunset lent color to her face.

  “What can be going on in the village? It’s got to be something really bad. Something terrible’s about to happen.”

  “Don’t say that, you silly, don’t scare me.”

  “I don’t mean to scare you. It’s what I feel in… in the air… in everything. The shadow we felt was an omen of what’s to come. I have a feeling everything’s going to get worse.”

  “Don’t even say that! We’ll pray to the god of light every day, we’ll go to the Décamon, and you’ll see, the gods will listen to us,” Luchy said warmly.

  “I hope so… I hope everything goes well,” muttered Manchego. The sun concealed itself on the horizon. Darkness covered them.

  ***

  “You knit like Urdelia, Doña Lula. You were always a wonder with the needle.”

  The old woman recognized the voice. “What do you want, Balthazar?” she said without turning around. “Drop the flattery, don’t take advantage of your friendship with my grandson. You already know what I want. Just because you had my tacit permission to train my grandson doesn’t mean we’re friends.”

  Balthazar’s face twisted a thousand ways. All his attempts to regain ground with Lulita had failed. The light of the sunset shone on his golden skin, the same color as the grandmother’s. “You, as a Wild Woman, should understand what a blood pact means.”

  “Blood pact?” The woman leapt to her feet, faster than her years might lead anyone to suppose. Her height was impressive, her shoulders broad, her body slender but athletic, typical of the Wild Women. Her white hair contrasted with her golden skin.

  “You’re a conniver. I don’t exactly know what you did to make the dear Mother of the Wild Lands banish you, but it’s clear that you know very little about respecting a pact. My husband died protecting… Still, today, you’re hiding things I long to know.”

  “Eromes and I made a promise, and I’m trying to keep it. Don’t give me all that…”

  “I know what promise I made and I don’t need you to remind me of it!” the woman shouted, throwing her knitting on the floor. She had lost control. “He was my husband! My beloved! Who are you to rob me of his last words? Tell me!”

  “He made me keep silent, Lula. You have to see that it’s not my fault!” Balthazar answered passionately.

  The woman let fall a tear. Not knowing exactly what had happened to Eromes before he died was something which frustrated her deeply. She asked herself every day, and she would not die in peace without knowing the truth. The only person who could tell her what had happened was Balthazar, this man she detested so much.

  “But it’s my right, Balthazar. It’s my right!”

  “I didn’t come to argue, Lula. I need you to listen to me. I want to talk about what happened here three weeks ago, when that shadow… returned.”

  The mention of the shadow stung her heart. The blood drained from her face. “Why have you come to torment me? Do you enjoy doing it?” she asked with a moan. The grandmother’s lower lip was trembling, her eyes were filled with tears.

  “It’s not that, Lula,” Balthazar said impatiently. “I haven’t come to torment you. It’s important to understand what that shadow is, why it’s come a second time. Thirteen years ago Eromes died. Do you want another misfortune now?”

  “Do you think I haven’t considered that?”

  …That shadow came to kill someone, the man said to himself, pondering.

  “The last time it came looking for Eromes… it killed him. So now what?”

  “Perhaps it didn’t come looking for Eromes, Lula. I suspect it came for Manchego. Think about it: Eromes is no longer alive. But that day thirteen years ago and the one three weeks ago have one thing in common: three people are present once again. Those three people are you, Manchego and me. Perhaps it wants me or you, but I think it’s unlikely. Remember Eromes’ words before he died…and the girl’s…”

  The old woman howled: “Ah, for the gods’ sake… Manchego… Manchego! The girl’s in danger… Where’s my Manchego? Manchegoooooo!”

  ***

  Manchego was finishing watering the plants, fed up with working and wanting to go swimming in the freezing waters of the Márgades River, when he heard shouts. Startled, he raised his head and saw Lulita running as fast as she could toward him.

  She fell on him, and the force of the impact threw Manchego to the ground. The grandmother smothered him with kisses and hugs while the boy tried to wriggle out of her grasp so as to breathe, but the woman could not stop, she was like a mother who had just got back a lost son.

  “I can’t breathe!” the boy managed to cry out.

  The old woman let him go at once and Manchego straightened up, panting.

  “Grandma… what’s up?”

  “I don’t know, my pretty sunshine… I don’t know. But I felt it was important to protect you, I felt something was happening to you. Are you all right?” The grandmother stroked his face and pushed the hair away from his eyes.

  “Yes, grandmother, I’m fine,” he replied, feeling his ribs. “I’d almost finished watering the plants. Then I have to see to the crops, because the second harvest is coming soon, and this time we can’t lose it. I know the village is a shambles and the violence is a disgrace, but we might find other buyers, or the village might have calmed down…That’s what I’m hoping for. I’d like to see Marcus and Feloziano again…show them how good I’ve become…” Manchego said with a mysterious smile.

  “The harvest is very important, sunshine, but the most important thing is you. Have you felt the presence of some other evil shadow…just now?” the grandmother asked.

  Manchego looked around; Rufus was behind him. “No, grandmother. Why?” he asked fearfully.

  “Because… I’m worried about you.”

  Manchego was surprised, but he had to do his chores. He took his leave from his grandmother and Balthazar.

  The boy watched them as they walked away, the grandmother leaning on Balthazar, that man she had never trusted and still complained about. Now th
ey looked like a pair of old colleagues reminiscing about times gone by. They were both Wild. Once again, Manchego thought about how little he resembled his grandmother. Who had his father and mother been? As usual, his life was surrounded by enigmas which nobody was going to solve now. He was beginning to get tired of this damned taboo, his soul yearned to find out about his origins.

  ***

  That same evening Manchego went back to the Ranch full of questions. Doubts had been fermenting for too long and he had now gathered together enough determination. “Grandmother…”

  “Yes sunshine?”

  The boy sat down, very serious. “Um.. no, nothing. It’s just that I was remembering.”

  “What, my love?”

  Manchego became nervous. “The day when that shadow came. What was it, grandmother? I felt the same presence at Ramancia’s house, when I went for the potion. And Ramancia…you should have seen her, grandmother, she was consumed. Something had finished her off, and what little life she had left she used to tell me something. She said: They’re coming, they’re coming. I was really upset. Since then I’ve been convinced that something terrible’s going to happen, I don’t know what, but I’m really frightened. I don’t want to be alone, grandma. Don’t you ever leave me! You won’t, will you? Do you promise?”

  Lulita melted. “Oh, my sunshine, don’t say things like that. I’ll never leave you, d’you hear me? You’ll never be alone, I’ll always be with you, by your side, watching over you, loving you.”

  The old woman seemed to respond to an inner call. Her eyes lost their focus. “There are things in your past you don’t know about yet, but… it’s better this way, it’s for your own good.”