CHAPTER 45 -THE CONFRONTATION
The very next morning, feeling more confident, the four gringas chose to stroll through the open market place. It wasn't long before they spotted a raven sitting in a tall tree on the edge of the activity. The bird sat silently, waiting patiently for Ramon to appear. Eventually, the bird was rewarded for, suddenly, the little sorcerer appeared on the outskirts of the crowd.
Ramon began to move slowly, deliberately, his eyes fixed on his prey. Then Raven's feathered sentinel cawed a harsh warning. Four pairs of Wiccan eyes quickly scanned the crowd. It was Raven who spotted him first, then Sam and Robin.
Cat turned to find herself momentarily separated from her companions. She realized the raven’s warning meant Ramon was dangerously near, but she was standing in the lowest point of the marketplace and, tall as she was, she just couldn’t locate him. Her eyes searched the crowd in vain. This cost her precious seconds and she had no idea that she was the one he was stalking. Realizing Ramon might strike at any moment, she desperately tried to home in on him.
Failing that, in desperation, Cat spotted Raven on high ground beyond the crowd. With all her might, she locked eyes and minds with that of her Wiccan sister. Raven felt Cat connect and understood. Through her own eyes and the eyes of her feathered namesake, Raven could relay Ramon’s exact location and intent. Raising all the psychic energy at her command, Raven directed everything she had at Catherine. She had to warn Cat quickly for, if Ramon emerged as victor, Raven would be so drained of energy she’d have no defense.
Raven wasted no time with wordy messages. Instead, she zapped a series of brilliant, mental images to Cat, much in the nature of flash cards. Cat stood with her back to Ramon, as she saw and felt Raven’s flashes of information.
Ramon alone, hat slouched down to
hide his face, silently coming through
the crowd in Cat’s direction.
Ten people between Ramon and Cat.
Ramon passing the tourist couple arguing
over the best way to use their new camera.
Ramon pushing past the small boy.
The boy protesting.
In a land where magic is the rule rather than the exception, this psychic broadcast did not go unnoticed. Some of the locals realized something was about to happen. They scanned the market with their eyes. It was only a matter of moments before they spotted Ramon as he came through the crowd. And through Raven’s eyes, Cat saw him, too.
Ramon slipping around the pretty, young
woman in the bright-yellow dress.
An angry undercurrent ran through the people at the market. At one time or another, most of them had been wronged by the little sorcerer.
Ramon weaving his way past the chubby
couple with their noisy brood in tow.
Ramon advanced confidently, knowing once his magic touched the foreign woman’s skin, went into her eyes and up her nose, she was as good as dead. He crept ever nearer.
Ramon coming up behind Cat.
He crouched, bringing one hand up in front of his face in a furtive gesture, lips pursed to blow the deadly powder into her face. And Raven flashed off the last image. It burst into Cat’s brain.
Poison! Airborne! NOW!
Cat whirled to meet him and found Ramon already in place. They were face to face. And Ramon froze. Suddenly, he was no longer in the marketplace, confronting Cat. He was inside Luis’ head, looking out through Luis’ eyes. And it wasn’t Cat’s face he saw in front of him. It was Maria’s face.
But not just his sister's face, for deep within her eyes he could see other people, other powers swirling to the surface. There! Yes, right there, he saw Sheree and Mamman. And he knew who they were. He stared harder and could make out René. And Leroi. And Thomas.
He would have gasped in surprise, but his chest seized tight and he could no longer breathe. Ramon's free hand clutched at his heart and he continued to stare in horrified fascination as he saw Manny in those eyes. And a group of angry Santeros. And beneath that layer lay the accusing eyes of the five Americans. And Amanda's face cursing him with her dying breath. And Rosalinda. And the faces of his other victims. The young women. The children. Each coming to the surface in turn.
But while Ramon hesitated, Cat did not. She completed her turn, dropped to a crouch, and sprang to the side, out of harm’s way. Ramon recovered himself and blinked. The tall rubia had disappeared. By the time he realized she’d simply moved to the side, to his horror, Cat blew first!
The powder, the magic touched Ramon’s face. It penetrated his pores, burned his eyes, and made its way up his nose. He howled in horror, but the sound died in his throat. Ramon would have turned and run from the market, but his limbs no longer obeyed him. He staggered and fell to his knees.
The image of the foreign woman was beginning to blur, to reform before his eyes, and the Baka appeared. It loomed before him, tall and terrible. It was laughing. And Ramon knew he’d made a mistake. The fatal mistake. The one that would allow the Baka to claim him.
NO! NO! NO! his mind screamed. He held out his hands in a pleading manner.
People in the market were crowding around. Staring at Cat. Staring at Ramon. None of them could see the Baka. All they saw was Ramon begging, pleading to the tall gringa. This gave the men courage and they edged closer. In a last, desperate attempt to communicate with the Baka, Ramon pitched forward, hands outstretched. He came down hard, catching onto Cat’s summer dress. The flimsy fabric tore away in his hands, as his weight and Cat’s desire for modesty, brought them both slowly to the ground.
At that moment, Raven, her rapport with Cat broken and her energy drained, also slipped weakly to the grass.
Robin and Samantha worked their way through the crowd until they reached Cat’s side. Cat was disentangling herself from Ramon’s prostrate form. They helped her up. She stood erect, somewhat in shock, clutching the remnants of her frock with both hands.
"Are you all right?" asked Robin.
Samantha bent over Ramon. "Good grief! Do you think he’s dead?"
The three women stared down at Ramon.
"I don’t think there’s anything we can do for him," murmured Cat.
Samantha jumped up in panic. "Where’s Raven?"
"Over there, on that little hillock, the last time I looked," replied Cat, shooting a glance in that direction. They could see Raven sitting on the ground, head resting on her knees. They ran to her. Cat arrived first, trying to hold her bodice together. "Can you stand, Raven?" Samantha slipped an arm around her waist. Little Robin flanked the other side and helped lift Raven to her feet.
"Give me a minute," Raven gasped. Then, recovering a bit, asked after Ramon.
"He’s not going anywhere. He’s dead," Robin replied.
"Hoisted by his own petard as it were," observed Catherine.
"But he may not really be dead. The doctors might be able to bring him out of it," gasped Raven. "Someone should go down and stay with him," she insisted, leaning past Cat to better view the fallen Ramon.
Raven saw a local man break out of the crowd and start toward the fallen sorcerer. Another man stepped forward, and another. "Get down there! Fast!" she told the others. Her three comrades followed the direction of her glance.
"He’s got a lot of enemies! Hurry!" Raven gave Cat a push down the hill.
The first man raised a machete over his head and gave such an agonized cry that Raven dropped to her knees. The man ran toward Ramon and swung the weapon down in a huge arc, severing Ramon’s head. Samantha screamed and covered her face. The other men took courage from this act and, one by one, they came running, each armed with a machete. Each man, in turn, brought his weapon down in a savage arc, severing a part of Ramon’s anatomy.
Catherine, ever the bold warrior, was the fastest to react. She raced toward the men, advancing across the marketplace in great bounds. As she ran, Cat gave no thought as to how she would deal with all those armed men and, to her credit, she arrived on the scene in an amazingly sh
ort time. One sickening glance told her it was already too late. Ramon, or what was left of him, lay on the grass. His head and limbs had been hacked from his body.
The men looked at her as if to say, "Stay back. This is none of your affair."
"Better to acquiesce," Cat wisely decided. She backed off and left the men to do what they would with Ramon. Returning to the hill with her friends, she watched the proceedings in silence. The men below had built a raging fire and, with the help of a policeman, were tossing Ramon into it, piece by piece.
"We never should have left him alone," whispered Raven. "But there’s nothing we can do for him now. Let’s freshen up at the hotel and see if we can’t locate his car."
And they searched until darkness forced them back to the hotel.