THE RAVEN

We were descended upon like locusts on the crops. The few men in the crowd were no taller than five feet, the women shorter, and they crowded around us with their hands holding up whatever they were selling, all the while trying to out-shout everyone else, in Spanish, to get our attention.

Mr. Stephens had told us the Yucatecans used silver to trade with foreigners, so I took from my trouser pocket one of the silver dollars I had exchanged in New York for pound notes, and pointed at the yellow mangoes in one native woman’s basket. She in turn, pointed at the coin, then at one of the half-blood Eldarions at the edge of the crowd.

The young female was thin, far more slender than the stout women and a head taller, with a rather attractive face the color of a hazelnut, ears that came to sharp points and slightly arched eyebrows. She wore a white dress like the other women’s but with black embroidery at the sleeves and the hem. Her long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

Looking at the native woman, I made a gesture like I was casting an Aethyr spell onto the coin and she nodded. So, I handed her the coin and she called back to the half-blood Eldarion to get her attention. The girl looked our way.

A delighted grin spread over the half-blood’s face. Ignoring the other women also holding up silver coins, she strode over to where we were standing and began speaking to me in rapid fire Spanish. I looked to see who was close by. “Catherwood, I am at a loss here.”

The Eldarion smiled and came to my rescue. He listened to the girl repeat herself, began to laugh and then turned it into a cough. “Jonathan, one thing John and I failed to mention is the status of half-blood Eldarions here. Instead of being thrown out by their mothers and ending up on the street or in brothels, in the Yucatan they remain a member of the clan they were born into. Those of mixed blood are the primary liaison between the full blooded Eldarions and the humans, with their magical skills in great demand by the Maya people.”

“Really? Well, I would say that is rather good and absolutely bricky on their part, but what does it have to do with me?”

“It means that Cornflower here has the same carnal desires as anyone sharing our blood, and being an important person, she decides who she will get horizontal with. She, ah, wants to borrow you for the evening in exchange for any small Aethyr Artifact you might find interesting.”

I stared at him. “Borrow me? As in…” I left the question hanging and he nodded. “Catherwood,” my voice dropping to a whisper, “I hate to admit this, but I have, ah, never been intimate with anyone of the opposite sex.”

His arched eyebrows rose. “Truly?”

“It is not from lack of desire; I want to, badly. But with my grandfather the way he is…” I suppressed the sigh I desperately wanted to make, feeling it to be unmanly. “Life is just not fair at times.”

Catherwood shook his head. “You humans are a strange lot. However, I do understand your dilemma and will inform her of such.” Before I could tell him not to breathe a word of it to her, he conversed with the girl in somewhat more halting Spanish. She spoke a word that seemed to say ‘Truly?’, and he nodded.

She began speaking even faster, making hand gestures at me then back towards the city. Catherwood burst out laughing. “Jonathan, I believe we could outfit the expedition with a good number of Aethyr Artifacts if we could spare you for a few days. Cornflower mentioned sharing you with several of her half-blood sisters.” It was a young man’s dream come true, and as I stared at her in confusion mixed with desire, the girl smiled at me like the promise of heaven.

Then a black hand came down on my shoulder. “Catherwood, please tell the young lady that my grandson cannot be spared.”

I spun around. “But sir, it would only be for a few days.”

My grandfather was trying to keep a stern expression on his face and failing miserably. “Jonathan, I swore myself an oath that I would keep you safe from all corrupting influences while we were here, and that includes half-blood Eldarion girls.”

I motioned toward her. “Sir, Jarl Aran said all half-blood Eldarions are safe. Cornflower is an important person, and I feel I would be doing the expedition a great service if I-”

“Sorry, kid,” Miss Ravenwood said with a wide grin, “but your offer of hospitality’s got to wait.” She said something in Spanish, with the name Ran-Li mentioned at the end. At once the half-blood Eldarion bowed and took the coin from the patiently waiting native woman. “Ran-Li specifically said not to let anyone get a hold of you until she’s had a chance to talk to your grandfather,” she said as the mage placed the silver dollar on her palm and made a web of Aethyr energy around it, doubtless to check the purity of the silver.

The glow faded, and she handed it back to the Maya human, the two of them speaking in Spanish as she added, “Ran-Li told me to get you and Mr. Goldspear to the hotel without incident, and when she wants something done, no one crosses her. Especially not me.”

Cornflower finished with the shorter woman, turned in my direction and gave me a rueful smile. Then she put a gentle hand to my face. She stroked my cheek and, summoning my courage, I bent down to give her a simple kiss.

“Hey Rune,” Dame Kerry said as she walked up beside me, “Jonathan’s got himself a shagtail.” The half-blood Eldarion snatched her hand away from my face and hissed at the Koncava, making a gesture toward her of a V with the fingertips pointed at her nostrils, before spinning on her heel and stalking off. Dame Kerry made a gesture back like she was throwing out trash. “Yeah, and your mother’s an East-end gin crawler. Hey!” She jumped as the native woman tossed a monkey onto Dame Kerry’s shoulder. “What the bloody hell is this?”

As the native woman spoke, Catherwood said, “That is change for Jonathan’s silver dollar. She knows we cannot use their currency, so Jonathan gets a basket of mangoes, which one of these fine fellows,” motioning toward Drog, Goro, and Baroda, “can take back to the hotel, and you get a monkey.”

“What am I going to do with a monkey?”

Mr. Stephens replied, “Personally, I would treat it kindly. Oh, and they are attracted to bright, shiny objects”. Catherwood began speaking to the native woman, both of them gesturing at the monkey now playing with one of Dame Kerry’s braids.

We waited for the others to conclude their bargaining. Drog came over holding the basket of mangoes, the three of them with a piece of fruit in their hands, biting through the skin into the soft flesh underneath with their broad, uneven teeth. Miss Ravenwood motioned at the basket. “You’re supposed to peel them first.”

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“Why?” Drog realized I was standing there, and a guilty look stole over his face. “Sorry, boss.”

“We had to make sure they aren’t poisoned,” Goro said.

I couldn’t help but smile. “So, are they?”

“Ain’t killed us yet,” tall Baroda said as mango juice dripped down his chin.

“Well, carry on. But at least save me a few.”

“Right.” Drog stripped the flesh off the large, hard seed inside it, tossed the remains into the ocean, and started on another one as Je’kyll concluded bargaining with a woman for herbs, Mr. Stephens translating, and joined us.

Dame Kerry was arguing with the monkey. “No, you don’t get to have that braid or anything woven into it.” The monkey chattered at her as it held up a strand of brown hair. “I don’t care. I only give up a piece of my braid as a token to someone I respect, and you haven’t earned it yet.”

The monkey continued its chittering as I fingered the piece of woven hair in my pocket a moment before removing my hand, Miss Ravenwood leading us down the pier as the natives, still holding up their wares, followed. The wind off the ocean breathed of salt and the heavy smell of seaweed, as gulls called to each other from overhead and pelicans dove into the water after fish.

A group of about a half dozen native men in well made tunics and trousers stopped in front of Miss Ravenwood, who spoke to them in Spanish as if giving instructions, and the men continued on toward our ship. “Those are the porters from my hotel,” she said.

Goro tossed his mango seed into the ocean as well. “Miss Ravenwood, when I’m not working for Mr. Goldspear, I’ve got a bang-up job at a hotel in Londinium that also puts on shows, and I’m curious to know how running one works out here.”

“Thinking of leaving me when the expedition’s finished?” My grandfather asked.

“No way, boss. But if you decide you’re gonna stay when this is done, I might want to open my own place.”

Miss Ravenwood turned towards my grandfather. “Are you thinking of staying?”

“Probably not. However, I have learned to always keep all of my options open. So, I am curious as well. Why did you decide to open the only hotel in Campeche City?”

She laughed. “Blame it on Mr. Stephens. Right after my husband died, leaving me quite well off if I might add, I went to a lecture Mr. Stephens and Catherwood were giving in New York city. Their passion so fired my blood that I decided to travel here on the spot. Jose and his family took me in and helped me secure the building I turned into the Raven hotel.”

“I am quite sorry to hear of their deaths.”

“I know; it’s been terrible for business. Anyway, once I acquired the deed to the building, I had to…” They continued talking about the ins and outs of running a hotel, but I lost the thread of their conversation as we reached the sea gate, a rounded arch in the Spanish style with a bell above the open doors, and went entered the city.

An officer in a blue uniform spoke to Miss Ravenwood for a few moments, the American pulling out a list of names and pointing out who was who on the list. Well dressed, Spanish looking women, a few with men on their arms, gave us curious looks as they passed us, as did the native people who were carrying baskets on their heads or pulling carts loaded down with barrels or bales of fibers. All of the Maya people seemed to be strong as an Orku.

Beyond them, the street went straight as an arrow until it reached the land gate, visible to me above the throngs of people walking to and fro along the cobblestone road. To either side were buildings two, three, even four stories tall, each one presenting a solid front along the knee-high sidewalks. However, every building was painted a different color than the ones to either side, giving the street a festive look, unlike Londinium’s more sober appearance. I also noticed something else. “Grandfather, the streets are clean.”

He nodded. “Rather impressive. Miss Ravenwood,” my grandfather said as she concluded her business with the officer, “we were commenting on the well maintained condition of Campeche.”

“Everything within the city walls has to be kept up by city law, and the Maya people work like fiends to keep it so. The hotel is right up the street.”

Five doors down was the entrance to a four story building with its wooden doors swung wide open, and as we reached them, a big man with a beard, wearing a tan suit without a tie, walked down the stone steps and swung his own arms open just as wide. “Welcome my friends to the Raven, the best hotel in all of Campeche.”

Miss Ravenwood gave us a smirk. “Told you.”

The man continued. “My name is Rhys, the hotel manager, and I’ll be taking care of you until the expedition begins.” He shook hands with everyone, getting names, and as he spoke, I heard a definite Welsh accent. “Mr. Goldspear,” he said to my grandfather, “while you are conversing with Ran-Li, I’ll make sure both of your rooms are ready.”

My grandfather looked as if he would ask to have us share a room again like he had done in New York, so I jumped in first. “Sir, that sounds wonderful. If I may ask, how did a Welshman end up in the Yucatan?”

He pointed a thick finger at Miss Ravenwood. “It’s all her fault. She’s been dragging me all over the world in search of ancient Eldarion civilizations and lost treasure, so when she finally, finally, decided to settle down, it seemed only natural to take over the position as hotel manager.”

Miss Ravenwood made a ‘who, me?’ gesture with her hands. “It’s not my fault. Henry, my dearly departed husband, preferred to have me out from underfoot, as he called it, so he could concentrate on making money, which he felt to be his highest and noblest calling.” She shrugged. “It would’ve been a shame to let it all just sit there and accrue interest. So, as a way of spurring him onward, I organized trips with my faithful companion Rhys to various exotic places in the world. My passion’s for all things Eldarion and let me tell you, I’ve got some great Artifacts and met some interesting people.”

“Would that include Professor Bella?” Catherwood asked. “Something has been niggling in the back of my mind, and I just recalled her speaking of you during the lecture.”

“Bella?” Miss Ravenwood shrugged again. “I met her-” She looked at Rhys. “How long has it been, fifteen years since we met?”

“More like twenty.”

Miss Ravenwood winced. “Ouch. Yeah,” looking back at Catherwood, “I met her on a trip to Africa, and she invited me to join her on a couple others, including the one where she contracted that horrible disease that made her white as a corpse.”

My grandfather moved closer. “Can you tell us anything about that expedition?”

“Yeah, I absolutely hate spiders now.”

“It was a bad time,” Rhys said in a soothing voice. “We were deep within an Eldarion temple when the group was attacked by men with spider-like appendages. Professor Bella was stung by one of them, but I dispatched it with a shotgun and Miriam helped her get out into the light, which our guides told us the creatures abhor. Once we reached a good sized city, we tried to get medical aid for Professor Bella. However…”

He spread his arms in a ‘what could we do’ gesture as Miss Ravenwood shuddered. “Bella survived but she changed. Started getting weird ideas about the end of the world and other nonsense. We’ve kept in touch by letters, but I haven’t seen her in close to ten years. Haven’t wanted to.”

She forced herself to smile. “Hey, whatever happened in the past is over now. You’re safe, all of you.” Her smile became a warm thing. “The sun’s over the yardarm, so follow me into the cantina and I’ll buy all of us a drink before dinner.” She gave me a wink. “Maybe two.”

“Just a moment,” my grandfather said. “Rhys, when you assign rooms, please make sure Jonathan has a room adjacent to mine. One with thin walls.”

“Grandfather, there truly is no need.”

He gave me a knowing smile. “Jonathan, I have not always been an old man with his juices drying up. I remember, with a good deal of clarity, how I was at eighteen.” He looked at the manager. “Adjacent rooms with thin walls.”

There was a definite twinkle in Rhys’ eye as he gave us a slight bow. “I’ll see to it.” Laughter rippled through the air behind me, which I made myself ignore, feeling quite put upon as Rhys motioned for everyone to enter. Miss Ravenwood led the way.

I could not understand my grandfather’s concern at all. I mean, for heaven’s sake, I was not about to bring a girl back to my room. Of course, if I ran into the half-blood Eldarion after Ran-Li spoke with my grandfather, that might be different. Then I remembered other men who had been with Eldarion females, telling stories of Eldarion enthusiasm and lack of inhibition, especially in the sounds they made. I sighed and felt quite put upon as we followed Miss Ravenwood inside.

The wild places of Earth are almost all gone, their mysteries laid bare by the icy glare of scientific reason, and the wilderness made safe to walk in. Instead, we have brought the wilderness into the hearts of our cities. I often wonder if this is truly a fair exchange.