Chapter 6

The conquistadors drew their swords and waited with great anticicpation for the native warriors to attack, every second felt like a year to them. The native's shreiks and yells were amplified through the tall pine trees, Captain Santonio could only hope that their fortifications would hold up. Nearly every spaniard was saying their prayers in hopes of surviving, the one cannonball they had left was loaded into the cannon in a desperate attempt to scare the natives away. Leaping Fawn began to awaken from her unconciousness, as her beautiful, brown eyes opened she tried to say something to Captain Santonio. Leaping Fawn opened her mouth but through all the trauma her voice had left her, she could only groan indistinctly as she desparately attempted speech.                          

  Diego had an even bigger problem to worry about, the natives were surrounding the camp. " What will we do sir? " asked Luitenant Iglesias as he nervously crawled across the ground to Captain Santonio. " I'm not sure myself Hernando, we can only try to hold them off the best we can. " The captain replied. Luitenant Iglesias saw fear in the eyes of Diego Santonio for the first time, all of the sea battles he had fought in the mediterranean could not compare with the fear he was experiencing at that moment. The fear Captain Santonio felt was completely different than the kind he had felt on the high seas, now he was fearing that he would fail his country.                           

              The Captain began thinking of what would ever become of his legacy, would he simply dissappear  and never be heard from again? The natives started dancing around the camp and making hideous vocalizations with their shreiks and cries, the sound of sudden death filled the conquistador's ears. In this instance Captain Santonio thought of the spartans making their last stand in the battle of Thermopylae, maybe somtime in the future someone would appreciate his heroic death. In the end the captain had to remember that he was dying in the name of Spain. " Perhaps King Ferdinand will remember me once the news reaches Madrid, if there will be any news of this massacre. "                      All of the sudden dead silence filled the air, Captain Santonio's heart beat violently inside him as he anticipated the attack. The conquistadors were expecting any minute arrows and spears to come swiftly flying over the fortifications, they stood completely parilized for a few moments. The silence was shortly interrupted by Sebastian whinneing, the men could'nt help but silently laugh. A loud beating of drums now was heard outside of the camp, they were neary as loud as the men's heartbeat. As a captain in the spanish armada Captain Santonio had never experienced a more tense moment then the intensity he felt as the native warriors surrounded the camp.                                     Diego sent a lookout to peer over the fortifications for any sign of attackers, the soldier immediately climbed over the boxes and crates and slowly peeked above them. The soldier stayed there for a few moments and then returned to the captain, " Well, what did you see? " he asked. " Their leader is headed this way with a few other warriors, it looked as if they want to talk. " replied the soldier. " Talk? how will we talk? we don't even understand their language. " the captain said sternly. A voice came from ten feet away " but I do. "   The voice was none other than Leaping Fawn, she had time to rest and regain her voice and could speak perfectly. " Could you attempt to somehow inform them that we want peace? " The Captain asked.  Leaping Fawn then reluctantly agreed to speak with the native cheif, as she wandered from the fortifications around the Spaniard's camp Captain Santonio and Luitenant Iglesias watched carefully. Leaping Fawn fell to her knees and begged the cheif not to attack, tears streamed from her eyes as she cried and pleaded with him. The cheif raised his arm in an attack gesture and Captain Santonio immediately drew his sword in anticipation of the soon coming battle.             " Did you have to send her out sir? " Luitenant Iglesias asked him. " She was our only hope Hernando, perhaps when you are a captain you will understand. " Diego replied. Suddenly the unthinkable happened, the cheif of the tribe began speaking in some European language . " Is that english Luitenant ? " asked the captain stunned and confused. " I'm afraid it is sir. " he replied." What on earth is he saying? " asked the captain.  " He is saying show me your leader sir." replied the Luitenant  " Well let's not keep him waiting. " " I don't think that's a good idea sir. "  " Why not? it's the only chance we've got. "                  Captain Santonio swiftly made his way through the fortifications around the camp to speak with the cheif, Luitenant Iglesias's english skills were priceless in making peace talks with the native leader. In the peace talks Captain Santonio learned that the native tribe was terrified of the cannon and belived it to posess some sort of mystical powers, the cheif was willing to surrender the whole tribe for mercy. Knowing that his bluff had worked,the captain used the cannon as leverage against the natives. While the spanish were communicating with him he made a wild claim that the conquistadors were crusaders coming to avenge the knight which the natives had killed long ago. Diego was highly intruiged by what the cheif was saying, but after all the events that had taken place in the last twenty-four hours he was in much need of a good night's sleep.                                          As morning came the sun shined directly into Captain Santonio's face, he looked down at his hands and feet and took a deep breath. Diego realized that he was alive and not dead, it was the greatest feeling he had ever known. The captain immediately mounted Sebastian and took a morning ride, the sounds of squirrels barking, birds chirping, and woodpeckers drilling holes in the pine trees were incredibly soothing after the events of yesterday. Riding through the woods he pondered in his mind what the native chiftain meant when he said the conquistadors were crusaders coming to avenge the knight killed many moons ago, the crusaders must have stopped by on their way to hide the ark. " The natives must know where the crusader's gold rests! " the captain thought to himself.                        Diego finally arrived at the lake where he first witnessed the native camps, the lake was beautiful this time of the morning. Steam arose from the transparent, rippling surface, fish jumped gracefully from the water from time to time to catch an unsuspecting fly landing opon the freshwater sea. Total silence engulfed the small slice of heaven during the morning, only broken by the occasional raven calls. Watching the tiny waves crash opon the shore the captain longed to take a small boat out on the lake, but he had to return to his men and he needed to make his visit as short as possible.   Diego slowly sat opon a tree stump and wrote in his diary.      " The events of the past few days have left me confused, exhausted, and bewildered. I don't know what is harder to believe, that I am holding an entire native tribe hostage with one cannonball or english-speaking natives. The fact that the cheif of the tribe speaks english is proves of the tribal legend of the crusaders arriving in the new world. The question that still resides in my mind is did the crusaders bring gold with them, I'm sure I will find out soon enough. Luitenant Iglesias's english skills have proved to be invaluable on our journey, if Hernando was not with us we may have been massacred last night.  I cannot wait to return to Madrid and tell of all that I have encountered to King Ferdiand, he will most likely never believe me. I must get started back to camp now, my men must be worried about me. "                           On the ride back to camp Captain Santonio took in the beautiful sights and sounds as much as he could, he knew he would,nt get much of a chance to stop and smell the flowers on the rest of the journey.  " Good morning sir! " said Luitenant Vasquez cheerfully. " Morning, would you summon Luitenant Iglesias for me? " the captain replied. Luitenant Vasquez's cheerful mood had now turned sour knowing that his position of second in command know belonged to Luitenant Iglesias, Francisco Vasquez now despised the navigator who had taken his place. In the night he would dream of revenge.                  " You wish to see me sir? " asked Luitenant Iglesias. " Yes Hernando I wish to go to the native cheiftain and ask him about this crusader business, I'll need a translator. " The captain replied. The two soldiers then set out for the native camp to investigate the crusader legend, the thick tree limbs and brush made traveling difficult. The forest seemed to always have an erie feel to them even in broad daylight, Captain Santoio hoped that the terrain would change farther along the journey. Suddenly an idea swiftly flashed through his mind, " The ark and the gold must be hidden somewhere in this area! " he thought.    The crusaders must have stayed with these natives for quite some time to be able to teach them to speak english. Looking ahead through the trees Diego came into view of the natives camp, immediatly their cheif came to greet them. The cheif's name was war cloud, the name he had given them in the peace talks the night before. In english the cheif said                                     " Greetings white warriors! What can my people offer you? ".                                  " We would like to hear your tribal legend of the crusaders. " replied Captain Santonio                                " Come to my teepee, I will tell you the story my father told me and his father told him. "                                    As Captain Santonio and Luitenant Iglesias strolled through the native camp they were looked opon as something from another planet, their helmets and armour were all too strange to the people of the new world. The natives would drop what they were doing just to glare in amazment at the spaniard's appearal. The camp reminded Diego of the market in Barcelona. Women weaving blankets, men sharpening knives and arrowheads, every group of natives seemed to have their own trade. As the conquistadors entered War Cloud's teepee they saw the medicine man sitting inside.                                The tribal medicine man was the most overdressed doctor the spaniards had ever seen, he wore a giant fur hat with bull's horns projecting from each side. His buckskin clothing was so covered in necklaces made of animal teeth that Luitenant Iglesias once joked that if he had a few more necklaces he would rival Captain Santonio, Hernando was the only Luitenant the captain ever allowed to make jokes at him. Cheif War Cloud slowly stood in the middle of the teepee and began telling the story.                 " Many moons ago white warriors called crusaders come to our land, they bring with them much gold. They made peace with our people and taught my great ancestor to learn their language, one day my ancestor ask him about a golden box the crusaders bring with them. He offer to trade the knights four squaws and many furs for it, they refused. The knights would not allow my ancestor near the box, this made him angry and he try to take box from crusaders, a knight killed him in front of his squaw and son. The tribe became angry with them, a brave shot an arrow that went through the knight's iron coat and killed him. The leader of the crusaders said he would return and avenge the knight that was killed, the crusaders have never returned ever since. Come now, I will take you to the cave of the crusaders and show you the story my ancestor painted on it's walls. "  The story was very intruiging to the captain, he knew the box could only be the ark. The two conquistadors were led through the woods for nearly two miles through rugged terrain until they reached a rather large cavern, Cheif War Cloud walked proudly inside as if he were a rich man showing off his castle. The cavern was cold with water dripping from stalactites hanging from the ceiling like a chandelier, the walls of the cave were covered in native artwork which depicted the ancient stories and legends told by the tribe. The cheif pointed to a section of drawings that depicted men covered in armour carrying swords and riding stallions, depicted right beside them was a box with two angels on the lid stretching their wings to each other. The unmistakable image of the ark.                                 Captain Santonio nearly fainted with excitement as he gazed opon native drawing of the priceless object, he somehow knew that Cheif War Cloud was aware of the ark's location.                               " Tell me, what ever became of the knight who parished ? was he buried ? " the captain asked.                         " I will take you to his burial ground, the crusaders dug a grave for him. " Cheif War Cloud replied.                        The three began walking out of the cave and through the bushes just outside it, they walked an additional two miles through the forest with Cheif War Cloud until arriving at a clearing in the brush. Peering through the bushes Captain Santonio could only see a cross with an engraved stone in front of it, this time he did not need a translator to read the inscription. The engraving on the stone read " Sir Henry Lindisfarne, April 12th, 1190 to July 7th,1230. "   " Poor devil. Thank you Cheif War Cloud, you have been most helpful. Now if you will guide us back I must return to my men. " said the captain. It was a long journey back to the spaniard's camp, the daylight had gone in a matter of minutes. This made it extremely difficult on the march back home, with the thick brush and tree limbs one could'nt see a hand in front of his face. As the two weary travelers arrived back at camp Captain Santonio proposed a rather radical assumption.                            " The Ark is here! all we have to do is find it! " he declared                                    " What do you mean sir? " asked Luitenant Vasquez.           " We may not know it's location but War Cloud does! "       " How sir? "                           " War Cloud's ancestor was willing to kill for the ark, according to tribal legend the crusader's retreated. That could only mean that the natives were victorious in their attempt to capture the it, I am sure they've hidden it in some secluded place."                          The captain had one major downfall, the feeling he was always right no matter what. This fault had been his strength on many occasions, but sometimes his hasty assumptions proved failure prone. Captain Santonio had his men prepare the cannon to take to the native camp the next day. After having dinner at the campfire Diego glanced at Seargent Montana, an extremely familiar face flashed across his mind. The leader of the crusaders depicted in the native cave drawings bore a striking resemblence to Seargent Montana, the natives must have mistakened Seargent Montana for the leader of the crusaders.                   The captain knew the natives must have had a special reson for torturing him as they did, still it was astonishing the resemblance Seargent Montana and the knight depicted in the cave art shared. Diego layed on the ground in hopes of getting some much needed rest, he knew of the risk he was taking by bluffing the natives with one cannonball. As Diego's eyes closed and his mind dozed off his dreams were filled with gold. In his dream he was floating down a river in a rowboat, the ark was sitting atop a raft just ten feet ahead of him. No matter how hard he paddled with his ore to catch the raft holding the ark he could not reach it, no matter how close he came he could not touch it.               

Author's Note

please ignore grammar problems, misspellings, etc.

Reviews

[ByJ.T.Rogers]

you have a lot of characters do you think you could put a character reference some were? I always have a hard time remembering who is who when I'm reading books. Your writing has truly caught my interests.