9. The Stars Return to the Sky
The small expedition arrived at the treehouse in the late afternoon. A lonely Veronica had spent long hours alone with her warring emotions. She threw her arms around each of the explorers in turn. She was frantic with concern when she realized that an injury accounted for Malone’s absence.
“You left him at the village? How could you? He can’t even communicate. If he needed something…” Her look of furious concern pinned Roxton whose eyes lowered as he mumbled an explanation.
“He’s fine, Veronica. Honestly, just a headache. He said he’ll be back soon, maybe even tomorrow. I had to go – I knew that Raven and the evil thing he had with him were coming after – everyone in the treehouse.”
Veronica caught the brief hesitation. “After Marguerite, you mean.”
Roxton acknowledged her statement with a slight nod. Uncomfortable in the silence that followed, he rose and left the room.
While Marguerite prepared an ice pack for Challenger’s ankle, the scientist examined Veronica’s head wound.
“You’ve had a nasty bump there. You haven’t felt drowsy or had double vision, have you?”
“No just a headache.”
“Well, it was a wise choice to remain here. Who knows what might have happened if you’d rushed out after us.”
The blonde woman flushed with guilt at his kindly words. It took her little time to recognize that Roxton and Marguerite had had another row. It seemed that, as the two grew closer, their arguments became more frequent and volatile, the silence afterwards more electric. She hoped they would make up soon; his simmering anger and Marguerite’s palpable unhappiness had her and Challenger walking on tiptoe.
Each of them told their peculiar tale that evening, marvelling at the strangeness of it all. The subdued brunette’s story was brief and factual. She kept the evening with Salish to herself and didn’t mention the ouroboros. It was better that way, Marguerite told herself. She and John would get past this bad patch. She would just forget the stupid amulet. Her past would simply have to remain a mystery.
~~~~~
The Creator/Destroyer roared out his command at the altar of the ruined temple. The stars blinked out as the Anaconda, the Jaguar, the Condor, the Llama and the Ocelot approached the altar.
“What have you seen?” growled the Puma.
“The woman of the plateau will remain where she belongs,” said the Ocelot.
“The man with the gun will protect them,” the Jaguar said.
“The man of science has a soul,” mused the Llama.
“The man from the spirit-world still seeks his destiny,” the Condor added.
“And what of the last, the other woman?” asked the Puma.
Anaconda paused before she answered. “I cannot tell. The forces of nature are balanced within her. I do not know what will tip that balance nor in what direction she will fall.”
Puma shrugged, “It is out of our hands. We have prevented the demon from changing their fate. That is all we can do.”
The animal spirits slipped away one by one, back to their lonely places in the sky, patiently waiting a little longer for the pachacuti – the great rebirth.
~~~~~
The next afternoon, Ned Malone returned to the treehouse accompanied by two warriors from Chuen. He listened to the adventures of his friends and told what he could remember of his own experiences. Without a word spoken Ned felt the uncomfortable undertones of a rift between Marguerite and Roxton. On the other hand, he was secretly pleased by Veronica’s attentiveness, her concern for his well-being. Part of him, though, was bitter that she seemed always to be taking care of him. He wished he was the kind of man who instead could come to her rescue once in a while.
George Edward Challenger sat in his lab, doodling in his notebook. His mind made up, he made a sketch of the uranium engine, writing explanatory notes in his careful hand.
Margurite Krux stood against the balcony railing, looking out at the dark jungle. Sometimes she still found herself looking for the raven in the treetops.
John Roxton came out and stood beside her, staring into the night. His body was close to hers but not quite touching. The silence stretched between them.
~~~~~
The jungle awoke early; the chittering of brightly-coloured birds mingled with the drone of insects buzzing around the just-opened tropical blossoms. John Roxton lay in his bed looking at the ceiling, his clasped hands supporting his head. He had thought long and hard about the events of the last few days. Jealous anger had cooled to betrayed hurt and now to resignation and remorse. He had grown so close to Marguerite these months that he sometimes felt as though he had a claim on her. He knew now that he loved her; sometimes, he was sure she loved him too. When he had found her in that clearing, so close and comfortable with Salish, her hands and his holding the golden statues, he had been so angry and in such despair. In that instant he felt with a chill of clarity that he would never truly know Marguerite.
But he had had a while to think and those thoughts had led him finally to self-reproach. Marguerite had never promised anything. She had told him she had secrets, that her future did not include him. He had accepted her stand, happy that he had these moments with her here and now, willing to take his chances on the future. He had no right to blame her for what had happened. As he had once told the others, that was the nature of the beast.
This resolution spurred him to action. Last night had ended on a painful note. He hadn’t dare speak for fear he would lose his temper and Marguerite had simply looked miserable and said not a word. He rolled out of bed and poured some water in the basin. In minutes he was ready to face the day and to assure Marguerite that he was no longer angry.
Marguerite stood on the balcony as the dawn lit the trees to colour. The creatures of the jungle began the din that was the background to their lives here. She had been awake since the early hours of the morning and, tired of tossing in her bed, rose to stretch and hopefully change her train of thought. She felt so very lonely. When had she become so dependant on John’s strength and caring? Now the strain between her and Roxton was palpable and she didn’t know how to make it end without either lying or sharing secrets she still could not speak of.
A noise in the clearing below the treehouse captured her attention. She gripped the railing and leaned over to look directly beneath her. The Chuen natives were talking quietly as they rose from where they had been camped overnight. She jumped a little as a hand crept over hers. She recognized the strong arm of John Roxton immediately and turned to read his face. The warmth she saw there triggered a release of tension. She leaned a little into his chest and drew a deep breath. They stood like that for a while; neither one having the words to put things behind them, neither one wanting to break the powerful connection between them by bringing up unpleasant reality. It was good enough just to feel that bond.
Below the treehouse the two Chuen natives packed up their camp and left before the others arose. There would be a celebration at their village tonight. It was the end of the ‘empty days’. The demons and spirits would no longer walk the earth. It would once more be safe to go out at night. The new year had begun.
The end
Background Information
Folk Legends
Most of the South American legends are based on sources.
The quipus were first ‘translated’ in the 1920’s.
The dark ‘puma’ constellation was mentioned in an article in News in Science14/09/2004. Dark constellations are not made of stars but instead the dark spaces between the stars.
The ‘empty days’ are from the Mayan and Incan calendars
The animal constellations/spirits seem to be supported by research
The interpretation of the upcoming pachacuti – the next step in the cycle of creation and destruction comes from a Q’ero shaman ‘Incan prophecies’
Incan gold and jewellery was often in the form of animals like jaguars, llamas, pumas. Info (including the long neck as a sign of beauty) in Coloured Stone article (Nov/Dec 2004
The legend of El Dorado comes from a pre-Incan tribe – the Chibcha
Raven the Trickster is a North-West Indian spirit - clever, curious, cruel, greedy
One folk tale does have Raven catching a ride with the whale.
In northern Northwest Coast mythology, Raven is the powerful figure who transforms the world. Stories tell how Raven created the land, released the people from a cockle shell and brought them fire. Raven stole the light and brought it out to light up the world. Yet Raven is a trickster—often selfish, hungry and mischievous. He changes the world only by cleverly deceiving others in his never-ending quest for food.
Science
Max Planck 1858-1947 and Robert Clerk Maxwell 1831-1879 were pre-eminent scientists of their respective eras. Planck’s quantum theory was the turning point in physics which set up Einstein’s later work. Maxwell’s discovery (that light was just one type of electromagnetic radiation) is considered in physics to be as important as Newton’s laws. Considering he went to school in Edinburgh and most young scientists of Challenger’s generation went into physics because of his work it wasn’t too much of a stretch to think he might have been a hero of George’s. Since Challenger quotes Maxwell’s contemporaries whose research stemmed from his (Heinrich Hertz in A Witch’s Calling, Johannes van de Waal in Tapestry) I thought the great Scottish scientist should have his due. Of course they never did or said any of the outrageous things I have them do and say.
Nature
I tried to have the animals look real. I’m not sure if they act anything like their real-life counterparts.
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