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2024-10-29 19:42:56Joaquim thought he had it all figured out. Being human, you know the basic cause and effect of things. You know the laws of physics. When a force exerts something on you, you get pushed back—or thrown off, as you would in an explosion. You know how people get killed. When shrapnel hits your body, you bleed. You die. The grenade has certainly sent the eye-patched officer lying flat on his face. Joaquim couldn’t tell whether he was still alive.
But Joaquim quickly realized he was not in a typical earthly plane. Things work differently here. After the dust settled, the nuno towered over him with a tight grimace. He didn’t even budge an inch. Though soot and dust had covered him, he remained unscathed.
“You just made things worse,” said the nuno. “Now look what you did.”
The mound of earth that was home to the nuno had been completely blown off. Now I’ve really dug myself into a hole, Joaquim thought
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Chapter 09 – The Cotton Fields The last hour or so had been filled with chaos and bedlam. Although Joaquim had been trained how to cope with it, nothing can really prepare you for actual combat, you just have to learn how to face it. But as the elder dwarf, Ruperto Isidro, approached him, his fight or flight response ebbed. Somehow, he had a calming presence about him. “Ah, pardon me, young sir, but where did I meet you?” Ruperto asked. “It’s a long story, but you once saved me from crashing my airplane.” “Did I now?” The old Katipunero suddenly emerged from the bushes from behind them and looked down at Joaquim. “Thank you for the head’s up dear dwende,” he said. “We would’ve been in front of firing squad right now if it weren’t for you and your pigeon crashing in on our table.” Joaquim felt a pang inside him o
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Joaquim soldiered after Ruperto into the jungle as he made a series of turns. The elder dwarf would shift his kamison backward, turn right, shift it forward, turn left, and so on. On every corner he turned, Joaquim would find the sunrise constantly changing its position. Somehow they were jumping forward into different places. There was no way to tell where they were headed. But even without a map or a guide, the elder dwarf seemed to know what he was doing. Nonetheless, Joaquim found it nauseating. Finally, they arrived at an expansive wetland. Hundreds of migratory birds flocked the fields. To the east, Joaquim spotted the unmistakable silhouette of Mount Arayat. By magic, they were a hundred miles north. They had traveled faster than an airplane would from Batangas to Central Luzon.
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