10
JUAN FRANCISCO BLANCO
While Tital rode onward, he wondered how far ahead of him
they could be. They were walking and he was riding a good
horse. He was sure he could catch up with them by late
tomorrow. They would be traveling hungry, thirsty, and tired.
Little Viviana, at eight years old, would be too big to carry easily,
but too small to make many kilometers in a day. A day of walking
with Viviana would surely slow their progress considerably. That
was the only comforting thought that Tital could have at that
point. He surely did not want to think about his own family: his
dad, mother, and two sisters. He felt hurt about his family, and
only the thoughts of finding Bardala, Jonathan, and Viviana
pushed away the painful old feelings. He rode until the sun
drifted behind the western hills. His mind wandered to the
unusual medallion, and the strange blue-green light. What of the
magical powers that it must possess to turn a brown-eyed girl
into a blue-eyed one, and put all of those people into a trance
like that? What could it all mean? He wanted to find out.
He stopped next to a tall ancient limestone stela. Old Mayan
pictoglyphs stared out at him from the deeply hand carved rock.
He could not read what the stone was trying to tell him; was it
good, or was it bad news? He made his campfire right under a
carving of some creature that looked as if it was half man and
half beast. Maybe these new world creatures would protect him,
he thought. The light from the crackling fire danced upon the old
stone carving while Tital sat, and silently ate his hot dinner of
dried meat and beans. When he fed Brilloso, he could feel the
hairs on his dog’s neck rise up under his hand, signaling danger.