Secrets and Wanderers

As he waited for his drink, the door of the tavern opened again with a bang and someone called to him, "Diaz!" He turned to see his second in command, Lieutenant Fernández, and another soldier, Reyes, walking towards him. The other two soldiers also ordered beer and then sat on either side of the Captain.

"You spoke with the Viceroy for a long time," Fernández stated.

"What did he think of the golden bird and the two mysterious children with the crescent medallions?" Reyes asked. Conversations hushed a bit at these words and Diaz looked at them sternly.

"First of all," Diaz replied, dropping his voice to a low growl, "we are not to speak of the bird to anyone. Is that understood?!" His companions looked disappointed, but nodded their compliance.

"What about the children?" Fernández prompted.

Diaz sighed. "Those two are as stubborn as mules. They would say nothing of where they came from or what they knew of this matter. Even Cortez could get no information from them."

Fernández looked surprised. "The Marquis was there?"

Diaz laughed slightly. "Yes. As usual he is battling the Viceroy however he can, trying to regain the power he has lost. He seemed very interested in the two children. He insisted that they be put into his custody, as his wife would be better able to care for them, or so he says. The man is plotting something. He is as wily as a serpent."

The bartender finally brought the trio their drinks and Diaz looked longingly toward the table closest to the fire, wanting to move and warm himself. To his surprise, the table was now vacant. Its occupants hadn't even finished their wine. With a silent word of thanks to the two fools who had given up such a comfortable perch only to face the cold, rainy night, Diaz and his companions moved to take their place.

*****

Esteban and Zia examined the room where they were being held, hoping to find some way to escape. They soon learned that it would not be easy. The room, thought comfortable, had no windows and the door was locked and guarded.

"Things just keep going from bad to worse," Esteban said irritably.

Zia sighed and sank into a chair. "Cortez is just like Pizarro. His hunger for gold is insatiable."

Esteban walked over to sit down next to her, but jumped up again at the sound of a knock on the door. A moment later a beautiful woman entered followed by a young native girl who was carrying a tray laden with food.

"Good evening," the woman said, smiling pleasantly at Esteban and Zia. "You must be hungry after such a long day." She motioned for the girl to set down the tray. When the food had been laid out, the woman sat down at the table and said, "Please join me."

Esteban looked at Zia hesitantly. She shrugged slightly and they both walked to the table and sat down.

As the children began eating, the woman introduced herself. "I am Juana Zúñiga de Cortez. My husband says that you will be staying here with us for some time."

Esteban hastily swallowed the food in his mouth and protested, "He can't keep us here!"

Doña Juana looked surprised and said, "But it isn't safe for two children to be alone. Where are your families?" Esteban fell silent at her words and Zia looked worried. Neither knew how to answer her. "Then that settles the matter," the lady stated. "You must stay here." Esteban and Zia spoke very little though the rest of the meal and finally Doña Juana stood, biding them goodnight. The girl was left to clear the table.

"Don't worry," she said as she worked. "Doña Juana will see to it that my father treats you well."

"Your father?" Esteban asked confused.

"My father is the Marquis."

Zia and Esteban looked at the girl in surprise. "But you look like the native people of this city, an Aztec?" Zia said.

"My mother was an Aztec princess, a daughter of Moctezuma," the girl said proudly, but her face showed sadness. "She died when I was still a baby. My name is Maria."

"Why are you serving us?" Esteban asked.

"Well," Maria said, slightly embarrassed, "I asked to bring you this meal. It is so lonely here. My brothers have been sent to Spain to study with my grandfather in Seville and my father won't let me play with other children."

"Oh, how sad," Zia murmured.

"Please tell me," Maria said eagerly, "what is it like in Mexico City? I rarely leave this house and know very little about such things. What do your families do?"

Zia and Esteban looked at each other, trying to decide how to respond. Before they could say anything, the reason for their hesitation entered the room. Cortez smiled warmly at his daughter. "It is time for you to be in bed, Maria," he said.

Maria looked at him sorrowfully. "But, Papa, I so rarely get to be with other children. Can't I stay just a little longer?" she pleaded.

"Don't worry," Cortez said, smiling at Esteban and Zia as he spoke. "They are going to be our guests for quite some time. Get some rest children. Tomorrow will be an important day."

Esteban and Zia looked on grimly as the Marquis ushered his daughter from the room. They also heard the lock click into place as he shut the door.

*****

Esteban tossed and turned for hours before finally falling into a fitful sleep. His dreams were filled with images of the destruction of the City of Gold, the Olmecs and their flying machine, Tao and Zia, but mostly of the High Priest. Esteban tried to reach out to the man he had only known for a few short hours, to ask him a question that burned in his heart, but that his mind could not give form. The High Priest seemed to fade into the darkness. Esteban struggled to follow him but all that came to him was a voice that said over and over, "Esteban, Esteban..."

Esteban woke with a start and would have yelled in surprise had a hand not quickly covered his mouth. In the darkness of the room he could discern an even darker shape of a figure standing over him, their eyes gleaming in the gloom. He struggled to break free, but the figure held him tight and leaned close to him whispering earnestly, "Be still, Esteban. I am not going to harm you!"

Esteban stopped fighting and stared at the figure. How did this person know who he was? He didn't recognize the voice, but he could tell that it belonged to a woman. "Will you be quiet if I take my hand away?"

Esteban nodded and he felt the pressure leave his face. He sat up and tried to see through the shadows. "Who are you?" he asked.

"A friend," the figure said, straightening up. "I promise I will explain everything, but right now I need you to trust me. We have to leave quickly."

"Esteban!?"

He turned in the direction of this new voice and said, "It's okay, Zia. I think she is going to help us." Zia hesitated a moment but got out of bed.

"Please, we must hurry," the woman said earnestly. "It's only a few hours until dawn and your absence could be discovered before then. We need to find a place to hide or to cross the bridges before dawn if we are to escape." As she spoke, the two children jumped up and Esteban fastened his dagger onto his belt. "Now follow me as quickly and quietly as you can."

The woman moved to the door, cautiously opened, and whispered to someone outside. The children followed her out and saw her companion, whose shadowy outline in the black corridor seemed to be that of a slim man. The children watched as he clicked the lock back into place and then motioned for them to follow him. Esteban and Zia did as they were bid and the two strangers lead them through Cortez's mansion to a window that faced an open courtyard. The woman's companion carefully opened the window and agilely jumped to the ground without a sound. The mysterious woman motioned for the children to join her and carefully lowered each of them to her companion. After setting Zia down, the man turned back to the window as the woman quickly exited, though she paused for a moment, standing on her partner's shoulders, and carefully pulled the window closed. She jumped lithely to the ground and whispered to the children, "Guards patrol the city at night so we must take care. Follow us as quietly as you can and stay in the shadows of the buildings."

"Wait," Esteban said in an annoyed whisper, "who are you? How did you know about us and why are you helping us escape."

"We don't have time for questions now," she replied, glancing meaningfully at the silent house behind them. "I promise we will explain but it must wait until we are safely in hiding." Esteban didn't move and the woman sighed. "Very well, I am Andeanna and this is Hisoka and we are helping you because we have met before. That is all I can say for now for the story of how we know you, Esteban, is long and complicated. Now please, come with us."

Esteban looked at each of them and then nodded. With that Hisoka plunged into the gathering mist and disappeared with Esteban and Zia following closely behind. Had they paused a moment longer, they would have seen a dark form leave the shadow of Cortez's home and track them into the maze of Mexico City.

*****

The sun was beginning to light the eastern sky when Hisoka called for a halt. They had been moving very slowly and carefully for the last hour or so as the number of Spanish guard patrols increased.

Esteban didn't know what to make of the strange pair who was helping them. Both were dressed very strangely in loose pants, flowing cloaks, and shirts that wrapped around them and tied at their wastes. The woman, Andeanna, had said that they knew him and yet Esteban couldn't remember them. She seemed to be of both European and Indian descent with her black, wavy hair, amber colored eyes, and bronzed skin. Hisoka was even more of a puzzle. Esteban had never seen anyone like him before and certainly didn't know where he came from. His skin was darker than a European's yet not like the Indians Esteban had met in his travels. His eyes were the color of mahogany and almond shaped. Esteban's curiosity only grew as the day began.

The strange group took shelter in an abandoned and crumbling house on the outskirts of the city. Seeing that the adults didn't intend to continue for sometime, Esteban protested. "We must keep going. Our friend Tao is trapped in a temple north-east of the city."

Andeanna looked up, surprised, "In Teotihuacan?"

"I think so," Esteban replied, "I didn't know its name."

Andeanna looked to Hisoka, as if asking his opinion. "I am sorry for your friend," he said to Esteban after some consideration, "But you will do him no good if you are captured again. The hunt will be up by now although I doubt Cortez will alert the city guards unless he has no other choice. He will not want the Viceroy to know that you have escaped. It would be an embarrassment that would further undermine his power. Also, I doubt that Viceroy Mendoza would allow Cortez to see you again if his soldiers found you first. However, Cortez employs a vast number of guards himself and they will certainly be searching for you. We must wait for the cover of darkness before we set out again, but I promise you, Esteban, we will do whatever we can to help your friend."

Esteban nodded glumly, unable to argue with the logic of the stranger's words. He then grinned sheepishly as his stomach growled very loudly. They all chucked and Andeanna said smiling, "It seems our young friends are in need of something to break their fast." She stood up and said, "I'll see what I can find."

"I'll go, Andeanna," Hisoka insisted as he stood, wrapped his cloak around him, and moved towards the opening in the wall through which they had entered. "I think it is time to remind young Esteban of who we are and you know that story better than I."

"Yes," Esteban agreed heartily. "How is it you know me when I don't know you?"

"'Don't remember' would be closer to reality, Esteban," Andeanna replied as she sat down again. "But I will explain as best I can." She paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts and deciding where to begin. "Just over ten years ago I sailed with my father, the captain of a merchant vessel, to the port of Malacca on the Indian Ocean. The voyage had been difficult and we had lost several crewmen so we were in need of sailors for the return journey. We were surprised that one of the sailors that applied was a stranded European named Mendoza."

"Mendoza!" Esteban and Zia exclaimed in surprise.

"Of course," Andeanna confirmed. "And you were with him, Esteban. Mendoza needed a way to return to Europe and sought employment on my father's ship. My father gladly agreed. He proved a fine sailor and a good friend." She sighed and smiled wryly at the memory. "He saved my life on more than one occasion in the five months it took to sail back around the Cape of Good Hope and on to Portugal. You were with him of course and I took care of you while Mendoza was busy with his duties," she said looking at Esteban's astonished face.

"When we reached Lisbon, Mendoza disembarked in order to continue his studies of navigation at Sagres and we continued on to Barcelona where my father sold the goods we had brought from India. I took you to a woman named Maria Zuñiga who had raised Mendoza after his father was lost at sea. Maria's family was ill so she brought you to Father Rodriguez who baptized you with the name Esteban. My father was anxious to begin another voyage and so we left you in the care of Father Rodriguez. (Read Mendoza's Story Part I from chapter 17 to the end for the complete story of this meeting.) I'm surprised Mendoza never told you any of this," Andeanna finished.

"But I only met Mendoza again a year ago in Barcelona and he never told me the whole tale of how I came to the cathedral."

Andeanna looked confused. "Only a year ago? How can that be?"

Zia shook her head. "Why would he come back? Mendoza doesn't help people unless there is something in it for him."

"Zia," Esteban protested, "that may have been true in the beginning, but things between us have changed."

"He decided to go back to Spain with his gold, didn't he," Zia pointed out and Esteban's face fell, his expression one of sadness.

Andeanna smiled at the boy and said, "I don't know what has happened to him in the last ten years, but the Mendoza I knew didn't only seek rewards. He was cautious and sometimes greedy, but he was never heartless. He had nothing to gain from saving your life all those years ago and went through many hardships to keep you safe. Of course, that was a long time ago and many things have changed since then."

They all fell silent at that and did not speak again for sometime. Eventually, Zia asked a question. "How did you know that we were here and that we were being held by Cortez?"

"Hisoka and I arrived here in the Mexico City several weeks ago from Europe on business of our own. We frequented the pubs in order to learn the lay of the land and gather information. Last night we overheard three soldier's discussing the capture of a boy who wore a medallion shaped like the crescent moon." Andeanna shrugged and continued, "We immediately thought of you and decided to find out if this mysterious youth was the same boy I left in Father Rodriguez's care so many years ago. From the talk amongst Cortez's servants, we had a good idea where you were being held and broke into the hacienda. When I saw your medallion, I knew it had to be you, Esteban. And the rest you know."

"What business do you have here?" Zia asked with some suspicion in her voice.

Andeanna gave the Inca girl a slight smile. "I think you have already guessed part of it. We were seeking our old companions, Esteban and Mendoza. The reasons for this are rather complicated and will have to wait for another time. Speaking of Mendoza, where is he? You said that you were traveling with him and that you only met him again a year ago. What has brought you here?"

"Perhaps we have some secrets we wish to keep as well," Zia shot back.

Andeanna chuckled. "I suppose that is only fair. May I at least know where Mendoza is?"

"Far away," Esteban replied. "We parted ways southeast of here and have crossed a vast distance since then."

"You have traveled so far on your own?" Andeanna exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes," Esteban responded simply, unwilling to reveal any information about their great Golden Condor that could fly.

"You are both very mysterious," Andeanna said quietly. Then the puzzlement abruptly left her face as she yawned and stretched. "Well, I think that is enough answers for now. You should get some rest. Tonight's journey will not be easy."

"And you?" Zia asked.

"I will stand watch."

Looking slightly displeased with this response, Zia followed Esteban into the darkest corner of the small hut where they both laid down and tried to rest. Esteban and Zia were sleeping lightly when someone entered. Esteban grogily opened his eyes to see Hisoka reentering their crude dwelling and was about to go back to sleep when the sight of another person jolted him awake.

"Maria! What are you doing here?" he exclaimed in surprise. Zia was started awake at Esteban's outburst and they stared at the young girl opposite them.

"I found her wandering around the abandoned section of the city," Hisoka explained as he passed Esteban, Zia, and Andeanna each a long yellow fruit, some dried meat, and a part of a loaf of bread. "I suppose you are hungry too," he said to their unexpected guest.

Maria nodded sheepishly as her stomach rumbled. He passed her some of the fare and motioned for her to sit next to the other children. As they ate, Andeanna passed a water skin around to each of them.

"I think it is time for you to tell us what you are doing here," Hisoka said gently as they finished their small meal.

Maria blushed and said, "Something woke me up during the night. I looked out my window and I saw Esteban and Zia running away. I followed, but I couldn't keep up with you. I got lost," Maria said guiltily looking at the other children.

"That was unwise to follow us, Maria," Andeanna said. "It isn't safe to wander the streets of Mexico City at night. I take it that you are part of Cortez's household. Why didn't you ask one the guard patrols to take you back to his hacienda?"

"I didn't want my father to know..." her voice trailed off to a whisper.

"Your father?"

"Her father is Hernan Cortez," Zia said.

Andeanna's face became very grave. "This is not good," she said. "Cortez will be looking for all three of the children. If we do not take Maria back and we are caught later, he will accuse us of kidnapping them. If we do take her home, we will be suspected of helping the other children to escape."

"But my father would never..." Marina began, but she trailed off into silence.

"We have no choice," Hisoka finally said. "The consequences would be far graver if we are captured with Señorita Maria still with us. She must return to her father's house."

"Very well," Andeanna nodded. "I will take her home as I will arouse less suspicion." She turned to the girl and insisted, "But I must ask you, Maria, not to reveal our hiding place or my involvement with Esteban and Zia's disappearance." Although worry flashed across her face, Maria agreed to these terms.

"We will wait for you..." Hisoka began, but Andeanna quickly interrupted him.

"No! You know that would not be wise. Cortez will be suspicious and I will be followed if I am allowed to leave. If I am detained, waiting could only put you in danger. At twilight, set out as we had planned and help the children's friend. I will meet you there when I can." Hisoka nodded gravely.

Zia and Esteban watched the mysterious woman and the conquistador's daughter slip carefully from the crumbling building and disappear into the sunlight.

*****

Andeanna set a brisk, but casual pace through the streets of Mexico City with the young woman making so many twists and turns that Maria quickly became disorientated. What the girl didn't know was that the woman was deliberately taking a long way back into the heart of the city in order the approach Cortez's mansion from a different direction. Eventually, they entered the more habitable regions of the city. Not long there after, a company of Spanish guards stopped Andeanna and Maria.

"Halt there, woman," their captain said gruffly to Andeanna, then in a far more civil tone continued, "Señorita Maria, your father has been very concerned about you. We will escort you back to the hacienda." The captain again looked to Andeanna. "You will accompany us as well."

"As you wish, Señor," she replied demurely as one of the soldiers roughly grabbed her upper arm.

They were led to the Marquis's residence in short order and taken inside where they were met by Lady Cortez.

"Maria, where have you been?" she exclaimed. "Your father was beside himself with worry when it was discovered you were missing. And do you know what has become of those the two children, Esteban and Zia?"

"I'm sorry, Doña Juana. I saw them leave early this morning and followed them into the city."

"Why didn't you alert the guards?"

Maria didn't answer, but lowered her gaze guiltily to the floor.

"I see," Doña Juana said in an exasperated tone, though she patted the girl's head comfortingly. "You thought to have an adventure in the city, without thinking of the consequences of your actions. Come with me, Maria. Your father will want to know that you, at least, have been found."

The captain of the household guards cleared his throat seeing that the lady was about to leave. "Pardon me, Señora, but what should I do with this woman we found with Señorita Maria?"

"Oh, bring her along, Captain. I am sure my husband will wish to question her as well."

Reluctantly, Andeanna allowed herself to be led to Cortez's office where Lady Cortez paused to knock on the door. The sound of voices coming from the room hushed a moment then someone brusquely said, "Come in!"

Doña Juana and Maria entered followed by the captain who pulled Andeanna in with him. A heartbeat later, Anda stopped in complete surprise. "Mendoza!" she whispered under her breath.