The Amazon Triangle (NaNoWriMo 2016 Project)

Chapter 19 (The Terragyth)

Jan sat under the tree next to Neyri's hut as she watched Frank pace back and forth in the small yard protected by a low gate delineating her property. He held a small palm frond, with which he swept the ground periodically. He'd been pacing for so long, he'd worn that small patch of dirt almost perfectly smooth.

For the tenth time, he stopped and squinted at the sun, matching it with the previous position he'd marked above the tree line.

For the tenth time, he asked, "Is that woman back yet?"

This time, however, Jan didn't bother answering. She kept drawing whorls in the dirt. Zentangles, Edith called them; Jan admired how easy and therapeutic they were to make, twisting and winding and expanding over and over again.

The lookout stationed at the edge of the village sent a shrill cry, and many of the Materu flocked to the main entrance, eager to greet their appointed leader.

Neyri strode into camp with Carnossus at her side. She waved at her two short, pale guests, but Frank frowned and didn't wave back.

When Neyri took a seat and released a long sigh of relief, Jan leaned forward.

"Well?" she asked. "Where's Henry? Did the primal tribe execute him?"

Neyri didn't appear to understand anything was amiss. "Hank is alive," she shrugged. She leaned back and closed her eyes.

"It wasn't supposed to be a bloody visit!" Frank snapped. "Did you even try to rescue him? We heard one of the Japanese ships explode and saw it sink; was Benjamin still aboard?"

Neyri shook her head. "The Yardenru have Ben, and they have the other two, also."

"My son?" Frank gasped.

"And Edith?" Jan squeaked. "Oh, Neyri! Why did you leave them behind? Will they all be killed?"

The tall Materu wagged her head. "I tried to bring them with me. Look, see, I have brought the Book of the Water People, the Vaderi." She reached into her deep satchel and pulled out a large tome. Its leather cover bubbled and swirled with ornate etching. "Ben stole it from the Geida before the Yardenru reached him."

Frank glared at the unfamiliar symbols and markings that served as the text for the book. "What use is this to us?" he grunted. "Henry's the bloody anthropologist."

"It is not Earth language," Neyri informed them. "Hank already tried. That is how I know it is Vaderi, even though I do not know what it says."

"Your people have a book, but you can't read?" Frank asked incredulously. "Who wrote it, then?"

Neyri shrugged, "There are some of our ancestors who knew how to make the marks that send words from them to others, but that art was lost. I do not know how the Geida have this book, but perhaps this is the way they caused our worlds to be tangled up."

"Oooh, really?" Jan's eyes lit up as she gazed at the strange writing, now so much more mystical and intriguing. "But how are you ever going to be able to find that out unless someone translates it? I mean, it's not like Frank or I are any good at it."

A grimace of pain flickered in Neyri's face. "I did try to request permission of Chief Callio, to bring the others with me in the hopes of translating the book, but there was another, a warrior named Kadim who is angry with humans, and she told the chief that it would be better if they kept the prisoners they had already, and sent me back to you, so that you would translate it yourselves, and when I returned to bring the message of the book back to them, only then would they allow the prisoners to go free."

"They expect us to do it?" Jan dragged her foot over the zentangle in the ground, smearing the careful design. "How? We don't know the first thing about your language, except that we don't understand it!"