Arrows

excerpt

Then we saw her. About half of their men had disappeared, or
else they had hurried ahead, because the women appeared to
outnumber the men. I didn’t stop to wonder about it. We were
getting close enough that if I had had the temerity to shout her name,
she might have heard. But my cowardice overwhelmed my
impetuousness. Tamanoa was urinating in the bushes so I waited by
the horses, wondering what I should do next.
Everything happened so swiftly after that. There was a rain of
arrows, like a swarm of diving, narrow birds. The horses were
immediately spooked by this terrifying flurry and began to scatter.
Babieca rushed towards me, knocked me down, but not before I saw
an arrow protruding from her right flank.
I scrambled to my feet. Amid the confusion, I saw another horse
coming my way, to the left. It whinnied, twisted its head to one side
and fell.
As a parting gesture, evidently Chacao had decided to return the
niceties of his captivity. It did not occur to me until later that
possibly his revenge was strategic, and that by killing some horses
and dispersing the rest, he was ensuring his group could not be
followed. The worst of it was that Chacao was proving Infante was
right and Losada was wrong.
Before I could dodge another horse, I lay sprawled on the ground
again, gasping for air. During a second rain of arrows, one lodged
between my neck and my right shoulder. I fell flat on my back. I
could neither sound the alarm for Losada nor chase after Apacuana.
The pain was excruciating. Black dots appeared in my vision, and I
blinked them clear.
I fumbled for the arrow, pulled, and immediately regretted my
instinct to remove it. It was like pulling out my bone. I screamed so
loudly that I knew Tamanoa must have been able to hear. It was an
unmistakable cry for help. At the same time I was able to think
clearly amid all this, as though it were happening to someone else.
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