The Black Orchid by Sawyer Caine

Author:Sawyer Caine [Caine, Sawyer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781626393486
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2014-06-11T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

I woke from that nightmare into a reality that was far worse than the waking dream. I was bound upright to a stake anchored into the stones beneath me. I could see the stars above in the night sky and understood that I was on the flat platform atop the pyramid. On the ground next to me was Nekana, sitting up against the base of a similar stake, her hands tied behind her and a gag in her mouth. I turned my head from side to side as best I could, but I saw no sign of Frederick.

Nekana gasped and struggled, trying to tear free of the stake that bound her. I followed the direction of her horrified stare and beheld a sight that ran my blood cold. Nekai was bound face down upon a large, stone altar a few feet away. Paulo stood to the side of the altar, facing us. He held in his hands, a large, machete after the fashion of the ones the idols held in the pyramid. Paulo’s eyes were dark and fierce, his mouth set, his expression violent and crazed. When he spoke, the voice that came forth was almost unrecognizable and dripping with hate.

“A prince is missing and must be replaced. We must make sacrifice now to give our tribe back the force it once had when we took our strength from this pyramid. The Christians came to tame us and weaken us. We must get back to our old ways.” Paulo reached down with one hand and placed it on the back of Nekai’s head, lifting the boy’s long hair and pulling it to one side, exposing his neck.

The torches in their niches all around us on the rooftop flared up and the spirits brushed forcefully against us, their whispers desperate and urgent. I felt dazed as I saw the ghosts of the murdered boys, their dark eyes and hair so like Nekai’s. They weren’t trying to harm us. They were trying to drive Paulo away from Nekai, but he brushed them off, his face set and determined.

“With all the sons of our shaman dead, I can be free to marry the daughter of my father’s brother. The shaman has no more sons, and I will lead in his place. Nekana will be my wife, and I will restore our tribe to the strength it had when we made our sacrifices and ruled in this place as a power,” Paulo cried as he lifted the weapon above his head.

I could feel the helpless hands trying to untie me, the sad, mournful voices and faces speaking in that old language, pleading, and begging for release.

Paulo stood above Nekai, chanting in that same language. I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but Nekana was going completely mad on the ground next to me, fighting and straining against her bonds. Nekai turned to look at me, his face stained with tears, his eyes pleading as he called my name one last time.

“Alfred…” My heart broke, and I screamed behind the gag as Paulo brought his vengeance down.

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