“Mare, what did you see?” I manage to ask, breathless but equally as curious about his response. If it’s not what I guessed, then I just destroyed our energy for nothing.
“Rei, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to–”
“It’s okay,kori, just tell me what you saw,” I say, trying my best to sound supportive. How would Suyai handle this? “You’re not in trouble.”
“They were small and running around. I thought they were younger than me and lost. I didn’t realize until one tried to throw itself at me and I saw its teeth,” he says.
So, I was right.
“Duendes,” I say, and Mare bursts into tears again.
“Duendes,” the princess tries out the word. “Duendes like the mountain gnomes. Mischievous creatures that don’t exist.”
“That don’t exist in Lima, you mean. They very much exist here, princess, and they're not just mischievous,” I say with a shake of my head. Classic city behavior to take the old legends for granted.
“Well, I’ve never seen one,” she counters. “And I don’t know why gnomes would have us running for our lives like that. They’re no taller than our knees. I could kick them away if I wanted to.” Her arrogance ignites the little energy I have left.
“Yes, because it would be so easy when only children can see them. Not to mention the fact that if they get their hands on you, they’re bonded to your body for life. I mean, why else don’t allchildren just kick them down? Maybe because the moment you do, they can eat your heart from the inside out–”
“Those are stories told to scare children into not leaving their houses at night, champion. Not real threats that require the strongest fighters in the empire to retreat,” the princess throws out her words like an insult, but all I can hear is the praise.
Strongest fighters in the empire. Maybe we are getting somewhere after all.
“Why on this Guardians’ blessed earth are you smiling?” she says, sounding so similar to Suyai it shocks me out of my thoughts.
“They’re not stories, princess, and they’re more than real threats. They’re a reminder of where we are. Duendes shouldn’t be this close to the valley. It’s too populated for them. Something is wrong here, and we need shelter and food immediately,” I bark out orders like I’m back at Lima and top of my rank, something that doesn’t go over well with my dearest princess.
“We need to get shelter and food, no matter if those creatures exist or not. I don’t need you wasting our time stating the obvious.”
“What’s wasting our time is you arguing–”
“Or rather it’s your arrogance that’s–”
“I’m not the one arrogant enough to belie–”
Our voices fight in the air between us, jab after jab, so different from the gentle touches before our sprint. It’s electrifying the way I always imagined mimicry to feel, like suffocating on charged air during a lightning storm.
It’s Mare who stops us. “Rei, I’m hungry,” is all he says, but it’s enough to stop us both short. Food and shelter, right. We both agreed on that, so what are we fighting about? Why don’t I want to back down?
Because I have the princess’s full attention when she’s upset. Because I’m a fool.
“I’ve only ever made the trip to Ollantaytambo through the chaski roads,” the princess tentatively starts up again, pointing in the direction of the town, where a single long road can be seen entering it. “Always carried in by our guards. I don’t know as much as I should about this area. The Panaka only visited the ancestral lands to pay homage to the Gods.”
I hear her message for what it is. A peace offering. She’s admitting a weakness. I look at Mare holding his stomach and pull myself together. I can work with a peace offering.
“I grew up around here. We passed through on the way to the main markets a different way each time, depending on the season.” Telling the princess a part of my life feels like stealing a piece of divinity. Her attention is worth more than gold.
“But we can’t go down to the markets looking like this, and we need to find shelter and food for tonight…” she drags out the last word, lost in thought and heavy breathing.
“…Yes?” I prod when she never continues her thought.
She snaps back to attention, getting up and brushing dirt off her tunic.
“The Ollantaytambokollkas, the storehouses full of the food we desperately need, are close enough to see. Even if it’s guarded, if we come in through the east side, up the peasants’ trail, they’ll wait to ask questions before attacking. Still, at this time, it’s unlikely they’ll have anyone stationed there. Especially after what happened in Lima…” the princess continues to outline a plan, going over contingencies and possibilities to herself. She’s in her element, but all I can focus on is one detail.
What happened in Lima. She says it so casually that it almost feels like a training exercise. If there wasn’t so much on the line, if it wasn’t for Suyai, I would be impressed at her strategic detachment. As it is now, I can only feel the familiar frustration when I’m around her.
She’s using a stick to draw out a map in the dirt, including the distance from trail to trail. It’ll be about a two-hour hike from where we are to the top, but that’s if we were at our best with no injuries. As it is, it’ll probably take four hours, and then some, to get to the cave the princess says is at the end of the kollka.
