David Golemon - Event

"I think it looks like my mother-in-law," Torrez shouted to the staring company as he slapped the captain on the back in an attempt to lighten the darkened mood.

The men laughed, even Padilla smiled as he chanced a wary eye toward Suarez.

"Captain, look!" one of the men shouted.

Padilla lowered the small creature and looked to where his men were pointing toward the calm waters of the lagoon, as another of the small animals stood holding a struggling fish in both its clawed hands. The first animal scurried up to the newcomer, waddling bowlegged on its paddle-like feet, and started jabbering loudly. The animal looked on and then tossed the fish underarm toward the group of Spaniards. It landed on the sand and flopped around, then lay still, the small claw marks evident on the smooth skin of the large catfish.

As they watched in amazement, another and then another of the animals exited the water, stepping up tentatively and tossing more flopping fish onto the small shoreline as the soldiers looked at each other and nervously laughed.

"Maybe it's an offering?" Rondo ventured to no one in particular.

"Gather the fish, men, we will not waste this gift brought by our new friends," Padilla ordered. "Collect them all so we can also feed the men who are guarding the perimeter."

As the men moved forward to collect the offered bounty, they failed to notice as large bubbles appeared in the middle of the lagoon and slowly circled under the sunlight, then vanished after a moment. Nor did they hear the sudden silence that filled the trees around them as the birds grew momentarily still in their high nests and roosts, but they did see the small creatures look at one another as they jabbered back and forth and then slowly headed back toward the water. The first one, the one Padilla had saved from the murderous Suarez, was looking back at the newcomers to its beautiful world. To the men who were watching the strange exodus, it looked as if the animal were saddened at leaving.

Padilla looked away from the lagoon and was amazed at the horde of fish as he counted over ten species of varying types. But just one caught his eye, and he bent over to examine it. He called Torrez over to see this wonder. The fish had huge scales and very strange fins on its lower belly toward the thick and powerful-looking tail. These most unusual fins looked as if they had small feet-like appendages on the very tips. The mouth was huge and filled with lethal-looking teeth, the jaw jutted far forward, unlike any fish he had ever seen, almost like a barracuda's, only far more pronounced. As the two officers examined the strange fish, its eye seemed to roll and look at them, and as it did, the mouth snapped open and closed. They quickly straightened up and looked at the men who were starting to build fires for cooking and to guard against the coming night. Padilla once again bent down toward the large fish. He was looking at something on its blackened scales; he reached down and lightly rubbed the strange, coarse scales. The fish moved momentarily and then lay still. Padilla held his fingers close to his face and rubbed them together; small gold flakes gently fell to the tips of his worn boots.

Padilla lay under one of the many ancient and beautiful trees that permeated the area with their massive roots projecting from the earth like a giant's arms ripping through the fabric of a blouse. He had his booted feet close to their small fire, drying the thick leather as best he could. His diary was in his hands, and he had just finished recording the observations of this eventful day. His last entry written before he closed the small book declared that the battle with the Sincaro was due to his own negligence.

He had considered not recording evidence of gold found lodged in the scales of the fish. But he had never omitted anything from his observations and would not start now. Pizarro would be startled to read about a source of gold so abundant that it was actually brought to the surface on the backs of fish. The captain shook his head at the thought as he placed the diary back into his tunic.

Torrez lay beside Padilla, playing with one of the strange monkey-like animals that had appeared after the sun had set behind the dense jungle. The other men played with the numerous animals that came and went with their strange jabbering and constant curiosity of the many fires the men had built up. They were a nuisance as they emptied rucksacks and even a few of their precious black-powder bags, actually spilling the contents dangerously close to the fires. Padilla had eight of the men out on watch making sure the Sincaro didn't make a return visit.

"What do you make of them, my Captain?" Torrez asked, holding a small piece of bacon out for the visitor who sat on his chest, its tail swinging back and forth like a happy puppy. Its little claws finally stabbed the small piece of meat and popped it into its mouth, smiling and jabbering softly at the man, the mouth working frantically along with the small gills.

"I think they are an offshoot or very close relative of the monkey, just one that happens to live in the water, surely not a design that God had intended." Then the captain laughed. "But who knows the mind of God, but God himself?" Padilla watched Torrez and the animal a moment. "What is truly amazing is the fact that you can see their small gills working, moving like those of a fish, but then you notice that the rise and fall of its breathing is light, almost as if it is taking air through both systems. It must be so for them to live out of the water for such long periods of time."

"We need such devices, my captain, for breathing on board those stinking vessels of ours."

"Yes, if our friend Rondo over there gets a bellyful of beans and pork fat, the whole ship is in danger of choking to death or exploding like a musket," Padilla joked.

The two men were silent a moment as they listened to the comforting sound of the men as they spoke and talked of things other than death and this accursed mission. Then Padilla placed his diary in his belt pouch and looked over at his friend.

"When we entered the water in the outer valley, the stone monoliths, what did you think of them?"

"I was hoping that subject would not have arisen after the sun went down, if at all," Torrez said as he gently laid the small animal on the ground and watched a moment as it scurried away. "As for what I thought at the time? They scared me." He looked over at Padilla and could make out the captain's eyes on him. "You know me, I fear no man, or for that matter, nothing I have come across before. But those carvings gave me chills as I looked upon them, even as I ridiculed our men for the same reason."

"The Watchers of this valley, gods of the lagoon, that's what I called them in my diary. They were very old carvings, I suspect even older than some of the Inca dwellings we found in Peru."

"The age isn't what concerned me, my Captain, it was the forms themselves. I would hate to run into one of those while bathing, I'll tell you."

Padilla laughed loudly and was about to comment when a shrill piercing scream ripped through the night around them. The small creatures screeched and jabbered at the noise and shot off for the water, making little splashes as they dove for the safety of the lagoon. Padilla and Torrez were up in a second, Ivan with his sword drawn.

"What is it?" Padilla called to his men as they entered the circle of light cast by the fire. The men were angry, yelling as they pointed forward toward the small shoreline.

One man stood at the head of the others and was holding the limp and obviously lifeless body of one of the little creatures. He had the small animal clutched by its broken neck, and it dangled, almost formless in the firelight.

"You bloody bastard!" one of his men yelled. "Why did you have to do that?"