Maya Silver: Betrayal
Isabelle writes...
The heat of the day was certainly the wrong time to attempt this repeated pursuit of the fleeing natives. There was no water besides the sweat that poured off the men as they pushed themselves up the steep slope. Still, they kept advancing. Somewhere up above was treasure and nothing would stop these men until they reached it.
Once they did reach it they found something sobering. The Mayan men had a stock of pikes and appeared to understand how to use them to defend the narrow spit of land they were encamped upon. My men stopped to examine the situation.
As we talked among ourselves a warrior emerged from the bristle of spits and held up what they must have seen we valued - another of the mysterious breastplates. After one glimpse of it Natomi smiled and signaled me with her fingers. Her smile turned to shock as the warrior pointed to her, then back to the breastplate. His meaning was clear - he would surrender the silver if we surrendered the girl.
We were suddenly two camps, those who would defend Natomi and those who would hand her over. There was arguing and hot words to match the hot sun beating down on us. Two of the basest characters grabbed the girl and shoved her towards the Mayans while grabbing at their prize. A three-way fight ensued, resulting in the death of the two reprobates and the warrior. The balance of the Mayans melted away, Natomi in their clutches.
The men were absolutely enraged, and many chased her kidnappers until their strength ran out. There were a few that held back to deal with the breastplate that had been dropped, and I was able again to make a hurried sketch of it before it was put away. I made and hid my copy again, wondering how I could complete a full translation of the symbols now that my little companion was held captive. Even more, I wondered why they wanted her so badly.
We would soon find out. Unknown to us, the Mayans had another word for captive...
Sacrifice