El Dorado

“What did you want to show me?” asked Leora as they slipped off their horse’s bridles and let them munch on the green grass that never turned brown even in the driest season. Holding onto the long rope of Capricho’s hackamore, Rafael walked to the huge, truck-shaped boulder in front of the slanted rock face they always used to lean upon. “Nicolas found out why the dell is always cold and damp. Look!” He walked through the dense brush to the stump of a freshly cut tree behind the lava boulder. Just as Leora started to follow him into the hacked out path, a sharp whine shrilled over her head and chips of shattered rock flew in all directions. For a minute she stood still, feeling the pain of a sharp cut on her cheek. Then Rafael leapt into action, pulling her toward the tree stump. “Go on in, I’ll get the horses!” He grabbed the rope from her hand and started pulling the unwilling horses behind her down the rough path between the cliff face and the huge boulder. Leora darted around the fallen tree and in three steps was behind the boulder. Surprised, she paused for a moment, staring into the mouth of a small cave formed by the ancient lava flow, now cracked into thousands of boulders piled tens of stories high. The icy wind whistling out of its dark entrance spoke of unexplored depths to be found among the maze of stone that wound into darkness. Rafael thrust the ropes into her hand, “Get them as far into the cave as possible, I’ll try to hold these bandits off.” He pulled his rifle out of the scabbard on his saddle and laid it in a deep crack on the top of the huge boulder. “Keep down!” An unmistakable voice shouted out, “Come out rich boy, we’re after the treasure your friend found yesterday and it looks like we are going to have two treasures instead of one. You can’t protect her now!” “Ramon!” Leora cried, “How did he know we were here?” “I don’t think he did, I think that Nicolas was so excited about finding the cave, he must have told everybody of a new discovery, and, since their first discovery was treated as an archeological treasure, the word must have gotten out in the pueblo that another treasure had been found. But that’s not going to help us out of this mess now that he knows that you’re here. With the dell surrounded by stone cliffs on three sides, we’ve never been able to use our cell phones but I’ll try.” Leora tied the horses to some roots within the mouth of the cave and ran back beside Rafael. Spying carefully over the brush-covered boulders; he turned quickly as he felt the pull of his revolver being jerked from the holster at on his belt. “Leora, what are you doing?” She replied as she also began to peek around the lava formations that protected them. “We’ve been practicing with your guards and I know how to use this pistol. Ramon is not going to get anywhere near me…look, their vehicle’s coming over the rim, they don’t know that we’re armed.” She looked at the two heavily armed men standing up behind the cabin and holding onto the roll bar and her confidence deserted her. “Rafael, I’ve never shot at a human before. I never went hunting for animals; even our fox hunting was only for scent.” He looked at her with the same worried expression, “I’ve never either, better fire at the right tire and try to wreck them. Let them start down the rim before we fire. Wonder where the site guards are, they couldn’t all be at the fiesta.” Despite Ramon’s taunting calls, Rafael and Leora remained silent, each aiming at the tire of the all terrain vehicle. As it started down the steep slope they both fired a barrage, shredding the front tire and sending the open jeep somersaulting down the slope, catapulting the three men onto the rocky ground. Only Ramon got up from the driver’s seat, grabbed his pistol, and started firing in all directions as he turned and ran behind the still spinning wheels of the overturned jeep; now canted at the angle of the slope. Both Rafael and Leora fired back, hitting the wheels and chassis but no shots hitting their enemy. They looked at each other; “I can’t shoot him, regardless of what he’s done.” Leora admitted Rafael agreed, “Now what can we do? Those shots are just going to sound like more fireworks. With the angle of the slope, he doesn’t have much space on that side.” He grabbed his cell phone and tried again to call for help. “Pick up, Dad,” he begged but only heard the crack of static, “Help, we’re in the dell of the Hidden Valley and Ramon is attacking us.” “Keep trying,” he told her, passing her the phone and dropping down beside the boulder, slipping the rifle barrel under the side where the workers had cleared away the underbrush. Taking careful aim, he fired several times into the exposed tubing that ran across the bottom of the overturned vehicle. Suddenly the well-aimed shots caused a spark to flare out and a flame caught the leaking gas from the tank. Ramon suddenly realized what was going to happen and, firing wildly at their hiding place, started running back up the slope, diving over the rim to safety. Rafael grabbed Leora and pulled her down beside him as the vehicle exploded, sending clouds of black smoke and flames directly toward them, scorching the brush around the boulders. For a minute, they remained frozen, then, hearing shots, looked terrified at each other. Rafael peeked through the flaming bush beside them, “It’s Ramon, he’s running back toward us!”