Chapter-14: Under The Sun
Chuey wiggled its beak and fluffed its feathers. “This next step only works in the reality of echoes, nowhere else … now, repeat.” The little bird looked up and stared at Diego with a concentrated gaze and waited.
“Alright, alright … this next step … only works in the reality of echoes … nowhere else.”
Chuey paced back and forth like a general before his troops. “Right, o-okay, remembers, this only works here … now, take your daggers and rip the sun eagle’s heart out; and eat at least three full bites of its heart. Quick, quick, before it reanimates.”
Diego lumbered over to the beast, head still spinning and legs off balanced. He moved the eagle’s blood-soaked wing aside and carved and ripped flesh and bone away. The sun burned his skin with greater strength as he dug out the eagle’s heart. He looked over to Chuey and held the heart up.
The little bird bobbed his head. “Yes, that’s it. Go on, eat.”
Diego’s body trembled as he chewed, blood gushing out with each bite. More heart, I need more heart, he thought as he chewed and swallowed more meat. Unmeasured time passed, and Diego finished a third of the messy heart and stopped.
Chuey perched on Diego’s right shoulder and said: “Well, you see … what had happened was, that … some centuries ago … I was not clear about this ripping heart thing. Honest mistake … and, well, when the battles were over, the warrior returned to his reality … and … there was a small, teeny tiny bit of misunderstanding that returned back to Mexico. Pero, pero, lo que paso, paso … you know; and we learn from our mistakes, and we move forward.”
Blood dripped from Diego’s mouth, and he felt like throwing up as he listened to Chuey. But he managed to swallow it all away.
With his breathing under control, Diego looked at the trees and mimicked their gentle movement, swaying back and forth. He felt drained as hinged forward and sat cross legged in front of the giant sun eagle, trying to rest.
His muscles twitched from exhaustion as he stared at the slain eagle.
A burst of pain settled all over Diego’s body. He spat blood to his side and inspected his body: multiple deep claw gashes over chest and back; bruised ribs on both sides; and his lungs ached with each rise and fall. Sticky blood and sweat mixed together all over his body; and his knees pulsed with purple heat as they both swelled to grapefruit sized mounds.
Diego pondered on his victory as the little green bird fluttered about him, chirping a soothing melody. His eye lids grew heavy and closed shut as Chuey froze mid air.
A light wind licked over his pains as Diego tried to sit still. His entire world wobbled about as the weight of the day pushed him into rest. All spent, he lost himself and crashed sideways onto the ground. Another slow deep breath and Diego fell into a heavy sleep, exhausted and victorious under the sun.
Thank you
I appreciate your time in reading this blog post. Next Monday I will upload the first part of Chapter fifteen, Beneath The Full Moon, from my first novel: Guerrero of Passions.
Total Consciousness 