Creatures of the Earth

CANELO

Canelo slung the rifle on his shoulder and watched, stupefied, as the mayor spoke to the townsfolk of Culantro. There was a decent gathering of concerned citizens, as many as twenty five so far and growing. It was ironic that they all worried about a threat that had not reached their doors: The victims had all been riversfolk.

Next to the mayor stood two dozen soldiers in battle gear. They were Tico men, whose uniforms and equipment were hand-me-downs from the wealthier Angelcynn in the north.

"Hermanos y hermanas!" said the mayor. "That is why I chose to call upon our fair country's military in Culantro's time of need. Together, we will eradicate this threat!"

"Ah, pues! How will we know if the hunt is successful?" cried one man, a baker.

"Puras pajas! I remember the lies that came during the days of the yellow fever!" cried a farm owner, who happened to own the fields the airfield station sat on.

The cries of everyone else drowned the mayor's response. But eventually, he quieted them down.

"You do not want lies?" said the mayor in a passion. He laughed. "Then come with us tonight! We can use the help of all able-bodied men on this hunt!"

They answered with cries and bravado. Many asked for beer to be brought out. Merchants obliged and also brought rations for the hunt—at a cost to the city, of course. And the men had their wives take the children indoors while they asked the teen boys to fetch their rifles and join them, and some unsheathed their sharp corvos and raised them high for the mayor to see. Nearby, drunkards yelled at the top of their lungs for the death of the riversfolk. Only the universitarios somberly retreated back to the university.

"He has them now, Jefe," said Quique. "He won't be able to control so many..."

"They will terrorize the riversfolk..." said Canelo and shook his head. "We will go with him to stop them."

And the townsfolk of Culantro set off to the Rio Amargo, now numbering in the dozens.

Three hundred and thirty years or so earlier, the remainder of the ancient Myans formed an uneasy alliance with a band of Conquistadores from the Kingdom of Iberia to fight an evil that was unleashed during the conquest of these lands. These rogue Conquistadores, called the Hero Saints by later generations, were Iberian nobles who had witnessed the bloodshed and cruelty of their fellow conquistadores and could tolerate no more. They were driven by the sympathy and good will in their hearts, and not the gold and silver in their purses.

Together with the Myans, they succeeded at both sealing the untamed evil and also at driving away the crown and its influence. And the peace that remained in these fertile lands seemed never-ending.

Canelo, being a mestizo, felt the strain in his heart as that hard-fought peace was completely forgotten by the people he followed. They lit torches to guide them, letting off chants and cries for the night and its gods and its demons to hear.