Freedom's Horizon: Spirit of Belize (WLW)

Part Two: Chapter Seventeen

This chapter contains dark themes.

July 1747, Sailing the Caribbean Sea

Genny kept her head down as she listened to Ines describe all that transpired in their almost year apart and let it sink in, clenching her jaw tightly as to not speak. It wasn't as if she'd be heard. In the heat of the moment, Ines had literally charged the enemy without a single regard for her life. The skittish young woman she knew before was gone. Well, she had mostly disappeared, though Genny knew in theory that in truth she still remained there and only submerged within a deep, lonely crevice of herself as Ines appeared rather hollow with a singular goal in life: To bring an end to Zyanya and Sol's other followers.

She dared to peek up at the woman who haunted her dreams and found her gazing right at her, only for her to hurriedly glance away. Ines had been doing that ever since Genny challenged her on the beach to behave more rationally. In fact, she was somewhat surprised Ines had even survived, though she's always known a cunning, curious woman lay within her all the way back to the day they met. If only she could return time, Genny might have another chance to do all of this right and never be separated from her.

Although, by the coldness in Ines' demeanor, Genny was unsure if she would have even been welcome.

"...Listening to us, Genny?" Margaret's voice cut through her inner contemplations and she looked at her.

"Huh?" Genny shook her head and waved her hand as she swallowed. "I'm fine. Continue."

"As I was saying," Ines spoke, though Genny remained focused on a damp spot on Esme's desk. They all stood in her cabin -- Ines, Margaret, Esme, Felipe, Aimee and herself -- around a small, round desk in the corner of the room with a map of Belize spread across its center. Ines pointed at a forested area near the north, but still south of the lagoon wherein she found out the truth of her origins and Genny could no longer fight the urge to look at her. As she spoke, Ines' neck muscles strained with her head kept facing away from Genny as if she was literally fighting the pull to glance her way. Genny made it easier for her by walking away to lean on a nearby built-in shelf unit and listened to her plans. "Here is my old village. Now, I know you all didn't destroy the dagger, I can sense it, but we must now for sure. However, that can only be possible through weakening its true holder."

"You mean Francisco Senior?" Esme probed as she peered over at Genny, though her words were definitely directed elsewhere.

"No, actually." At this revelation, those within the room looked at Ines and apparently waited with just as much anticipation as Genny. "When he recruited Zyanya, she was still bound to Belize. To two people in particular, one of whom was out of reach. Colel. She is the person who saved my life, though from afar. She is much more powerful than any of you realize, but upon Zyanya's release, she was significantly weakened and is now her puppet."

"So then Colel's twin really is quite evil." Aimee gritted her teeth as she spoke, adding to the already mounting ire in the room. "No one should be turned into someone else's pawn. With that said, why would her resurrection cause the dagger to change ownership?"

"In order for her to be revived, he gifted it to the elder leading the ritual. When she slew him, he lost its hold and Francisco reclaimed it. He then gifted it to Zyanya when the ritual was thwarted and she knew right then that she had to deal with Colel." Ines pointed at the map again, then turned her head around the table. "We must take it here to the temple and leave it on the altar."

"Wait... What?" Margaret quirked her head to the side and caught Ines' hand. "If we leave it there, then--"

She yanked her hand away as if she'd been burned and backed up from the table. "Then they will use it. Yes." Genny leaned forward, standing upright as realization dawned on her. "Bottom line, the dagger must be used against Zyanya, but only at her weakest. In order for that to happen, we must achieve several goals. The first is getting some of her blood. Once we have it, we have to smear it on the inside of the cup, then take some of Colel's to coat the opposite side."