Bosque Redondo

Iris and Kyah had been asked by the big and little people of Bosque Alto to look for the bodies of three Duendes who were lost when a downpour washed them off a cliff as they searched for a midnight horse rider.

Jane was weary from the search but grateful that Rocky was an extremely good pilot.

He carefully maneuvered the chopper up and down the mountain slope. She shielded her eyes from the sun as she strained to see the Duende bodies or, at least, lumps in the flash flood debris deposited by last week’s storm. I’m beginning to think this is hopeless.

Try as they might, she and the crew had no luck seeing the corpses from the air, so Rocky found a place big enough to land, below the target area. They jumped out and stretched the kinks from their knees, then the four of them followed the little washouts up and down the mountain on foot.

At first, Jane’s eyes were distracted by glimmers and glints of beautiful crystals, which the rain had washed from the soil. The freshly revealed amethysts were particularly enchanting. There were also sparkles of pyrite, rebakite, feldspar, and smoky quartz crystals. Jane used the toe of her boot to uncover a thorium nodule.

She said out loud to Iris and the others. “We’d better check to see if these crystals have any cultural significance to either the large or little folk.” She snapped a few photos of the wonderful mineral finds. She would, of course, be very careful not to show them to anyone in the context of the area in which they were found. 
Last thing the Duendes need is some mine taking over their mineral-rich territory.

Her eye caught an unusual buildup of twigs, sand, and rock. She hollered, “Over here.” As the others arrived, they unpiled enough debris to expose parts of two unfortunate Duendes that lay curled up against the boulders that ended their descent.

“Iris, we should offer prayers for the souls of the departed.”
“I have been, Janey.”
“Me too,” yelled Kyah.
“Good. Let’s find the last body and get them all back home to their families.”

“Wait,” Iris yelled as she climbed higher on the mountain. At a rocky outcrop, she stopped to remove some items from her backpack. Jane yelled, “What? The other body?”

“No, but there’s blood here. Might have been left by the wounded bird, or the Duende. Either way, I’m taking pictures and samples from this crag.”
“I’m surprised it didn’t wash away.”
“It’s pretty well hidden in a protected crevice.”
“Good eye, Iris.”

Kyah, who looked further downhill than anyone else, hollered, “Got one, Mom.”

Jane joined him where the third body lay covered in gravel and branches. It went without saying that they were unable to locate the body of the rider who had been carried away by the avian predator. Iris said, “That must have been some bird. I’ll have to talk to Secora about what kinds of eagles they have here. An adult male Duende would weigh what, sixty to eighty pounds?” Jane shook her head. “I have no idea.” Rocky suggested, “It’s late, ladies.

We’ll need to pick up a stretcher, and body bags, or something, so…” Jane nodded. “We’ll come back tomorrow morning.”

They hopped back into the helicopter, returning to deliver their sad news. As they flew over the mountain scree, Kyah pointed out the barely perceptible Duende dwellings. The entrances appeared to be carved into the rock at an angle to make them look more like crannies, rather than doorways.

They landed next to the Duende village and explained to Alcalde Huamen and a couple of visiting big people, who translated, that they would return early in the morning with a stretcher to collect the bodies. The mayor said he would have suitable body coverings prepared.

*****

When Jane and her crew returned the next day with rigging to recover the corpses, they brought gifts of food to the large and little people of Bosque Alto. Strangely, when they arrived, not a soul was in sight. That was probably because the rain was blowing in sheets. Still, Rocky made the landing look easy.

The Alcalde and two associates ducked out of the ‘cafe’ doorway to greet them as they entered the city. They checked the sky, and after gesturing for Jane and the others to follow, they quickly dodged back inside.

The men excitedly told their new friends, “Those birds came back this morning. Perhaps they wanted one of our two surviving horses. They might have gotten it too, but now we keep them in a little shelter, out of the rain and away from birds.” The alcalde added with a sly grin. Warm cups of mate de coca were brought out to both warm and fortify them.

Rocky looked spooked at the idea that the birds might be flying the same skies he was, but for now, he assured the campesinos that he had seen nothing out of the ordinary on their trip into the city.

By the time their cups were empty, Jane told the men that there were some gifts in the helicopter for everyone. One of the Alcalde’s men stepped outside and hollered in Spanish and some other dialect for volunteers.

Ten large and five small men and women came to the landing site to help Rocky unload wire cages holding twenty laying hens and two roosters, and baskets of fresh fruits and vegetables that Jane and Iris brought. They shared the gifts in equal amounts since the numbers of both groups were roughly comparable. Then they took out Rocky’s personal contribution, 500 pounds each, of cornmeal and beans for both of the Mayors, as well.

The whole mountain seemed to overflow with gratitude. Jane and her son had never experienced such a bright and happy reception. It was one of those memories that you hoped you’d never get too old to remember.

After a feast of beans, limes, and tortillas, two courageous Duendes volunteered to help recover the bodies, if they were still there after the return of the monsters.

The sun was peeking through the clouds as the big chopper took to the sky. Two terrified Duendes, along with their mayor, Huamen, and Alcalde Ortiz, rode in the back of the Messerschmitt. As they flew over the washed-out ravine, Jane spotted trouble right away. Two gigantic spotted eagle-looking creatures were trying to peck the two bodies by the boulder out of the debris pile. When the frighteningly large beasts could ignore the helicopter no longer, they reared their heads back with beaks open and hissing, as if to dare it to take their carrion.

Kyah said, “Are those eagles, Mom? Looks like they are going to put up a fight.”

“Pretty weird looking,” commented Iris, “I think they might be teratons.”
Rocky’s eyes were protruding. “Except that they’re extinct, right?”
“Right.” Jane checked in the back. Their guests looked very pale.
“Rocky, can you do something about them?”

For all his fear talk, Rocky didn’t shy away. He went on the offensive, turning on all the lights, bells, and whistles. The birds finally gave ground, hopping away. Then they coasted off the cliff and soared down the canyon.

“That was great,” Kyah cheered.

Rocky landed in the washout area as before, but the propellers were winding down before Jane and the others fully broke out of their shock. Jane shook her head as if waking from a daze, then she, Kyah, and Iris jumped out with the custom stretcher and bagged the two bodies as quickly as possible.

Kyah and Iris vomited because the bodies were quite putrid and torn up from the pecking, making it an unpleasant task even more difficult. Still, they were careful and respectful while putting on the body covers, and Jane again asked Iris to use Baha’i prayers for the souls of the departed to help the Duendes and Ortiz deal with the horrific loss. The process was repeated for the third corpse, which the birds, thankfully, had not yet discovered.

The Duendes guarded the three cloth-wrapped bodies as they returned to the mountain. Alcalde Ortiz sat in the front and explained, “Señora Roanhorse, I volunteered to come along to translate with the Little Ones and also because I just wanted to enjoy a helicopter ride, which I did, a little. But we couldn’t ask your team for a better rescue, and we value the respect with which our dead were treated.”

He spoke to Alcalde Huamen for a moment. “Mayor Huamen is also humbled by the respect you have shown his people. We are both in your debt.”

Jane thanked them. Rocky set down on the mountain top as close as possible to the Duende city. Everyone jumped out to help carry the deceased to a designated site. Small Ones were still arriving from the lowlands on foot. Kyah walked along with them, reveling in a world of people nearly his own size. Jane still had a hard time processing the existence of these Little Ones. Looking into their marbled eyes was a real stretch. She felt a little sympathy for Gideon’s encounter.

She addressed the Duendes, and Alcalde Ortiz translated. “You should tell your people it would be safer for them to learn to ride horses during the daylight, and with permission. Leave the dusky hours and stormy days to the winged ones.”

Alcalde Huamen nodded and spoke while Mayor Ortiz translated.
“Yes, I think we’ve figured that out, thanks.”

Iris added, “We will spend the rest of the day searching for perilous flying predators in the mountains, and we thank you for allowing us to be a part of your small circle for the past couple of days.
We wish all of you a bright future. Thank you.” Iris and Kyah left with Rocky to surveil the skies.

Jane remained with the people who were going to bury the victims.


*****

After checking for the dangerous birds, the crew returned, quite low on fuel. Iris let Alcalde Ortiz know that there didn’t seem to be any threat from prowling birds in the vicinity of Bosque Alto at the moment. Now that the bodies were buried, they probably would not return.

Both Alcaldes humbly thanked them again. Ortiz also told them that the veterinarian had succeeded in patching up the black horse, which had been torn by the birds’ talons. The vet also performed an agonizing surgery on the bay, but in the end, she was too weak to pull through. She would be missed. Jane, Kyah, Iris, and Rocky felt their loss.

After partaking in generous cups of mate de coca, Jane and the others reluctantly received little stone trinkets and smoky quartz crystals, which the Duendes gave them as tokens of protection and gratitude. Though they didn’t want to seem disrespectful, Jane explained that they simply did what was asked, and they were afraid that if they accepted the gifts, others might find out about the cliff’s precious mineral reserves, but the Little Ones insisted.

As the rotors revved from a whine into a roar, Jane bit her lip as she watched the Duendes cower below. She imagined it would seem to all of the tiny watchers who gathered round to see them off that the machine screamed at them. The taillights flashed, and the running lights flared as the mechanical beast lifted off into a turn. One of the Duende warriors who accompanied them to the helipad couldn’t take the stress. He hefted and cast his spear.

It clattered against one of the “eyes” and ricocheted back to the rocks, harmlessly, as the chopper vectored out of the area. Jane was worried. “Those poor people will probably be traumatized for months.”
“Maybe longer.” Iris was unusually quiet.

Kyah grinned. “Yeah, but they’ll have great stories to tell the grandkids. You were great, Rocky.”


********

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