Winds of Fate [Books IV - VI]

Chapter 193: Amparo

The church is a humble gray stone-and-white coral block building with a sloped roof, a circular window and two rectangular ones at front, two grand wooden doors with intricate black iron hinges underneath the windows, and at the very top is a single metal cross. It is at the corner of two streets: Calle Cuba and Calle Acosta. Eleanore beams as she stands before it, quite dazed. This is Havana that she hasn't seen before—past the politics, past the tragedies of slavery and poverty, past the noise and busyness of the shipyards, past the vibrant wares and clothes and delicious food... Here, the world seems to still and slow. The shepherd, Carlo introduces them both, is a free African. The African freemen had been the ones behind the establishment and dedication of this church, which is why it is the parish church of them and the other unwanted ones who usually flock it. The shepherd's Cuban name is Julio.

"Not completely free," Julio explains as he herds his sheep away, "I am lucky with my señor. Kind man. Let me do this for him. Gives me honor." He beams and nods at them. To Carlo, he promises to drop by soon and send his regards to Carlo's uncle and the Padre, and to her and Anton, Julio wishes them the best and congratulates them... on their marriage.

Anton smiles and thanks the man, shaking his hand.

I am happy for him, Eleanore quietly thinks as they watch Julio and his sheep leave, someday... may all of them be free, not only because of kind masters.

But because it is what they deserve.

Carlo then quickly guides them to enter the church. Seeing the little boy struggling with the box, Anton quickly swoops in to take it. "But how have you been?" Eleanore asks the boy, holding the pot with Torkin and Poco closer. "And your Mama Guadalupe and your sisters? Your abuelo?"

Carlo opens the large wooden doors. "They are doing well, Señora," he answers in Spanish, as Anton translates, "and abuelo could sit to eat now! His fever is gone!"

They look at each other, and Eleanore gasps. "Oh that's wonderful!"

"Thank you to your doctor, Señora," Carlo beams and offers them the pews, the little sheep bleating as it follows him. "My uncles will be returning in the weekend. Mama will not be alone anymore." The little boy lets out a sigh like an adult. "El Señor is right! He is with us in the darkest valleys, and His mercies—"

"Are new every morning," Eleanore and Carlo both say at the same time, in Spanish too, making the little boy beam with joy. "I am really glad. And Pilar? How about the village?"

"Oh." Carlo worriedly looks at them. "Our Cacique and the other older people are still not getting better. She..." He sighs.

Anton nods to encourage the boy. "What is it, Carlo?"

"She... she will be in Havana soon. Here." Carlo visibly pales and glances sadly at Torkin. "Please be careful, Señor. Señora. When she raids—"

"Pilar does what now?"  Eleanore gawps and sits down, asking Carlo to do the same. Anton, bothered by that, remains standing as if on guard. Torkin holds onto Poco, but Poco is not the slightest scared—the puppy is playing with Carlo's little sheep.

Carlo swallows hard and obeys, sitting down beside her, his tiny fist still holding onto the sheep's rope tightly. "She has been doing it little by little, Señora," the boy explains. "Stealing from the city. She... she asks for tributes too, sometimes, from the mestizo merchants... I... I should not be telling you this." Carlo crumples his robe and shrinks to himself. "But... But..."

Her chest tightens. This is not just petty stealing, Eleanore could feel it. She has to stop Pilar for her own sake. What does she have against Dela Vega and a whole colony's worth of soldiers under his direct command? If she gets discovered! "Calmate, calmate," she softly tells Carlo, embracing the boy to her heart, and the little child clings to her too. With how adept he is, they often forget he is just that: a baby still. Eleanore closes her eyes. "Thank you, Carlo... Sí... Pilar would be in danger." She frowns. "And the whole yucayeque too..."