Beyond Cibola to Aztlan
A Novel
by
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Beyond Cibola to Aztlan The Fate of Cuauhtemoc Seferino, his arms stretched horizontally out from his upper torso, with a series of pulleys and rope, hangs directly over a fire, like a side of beef, by his black-and-blue wrists, from a ceiling support. Reminiscent of Cuauhtemoc, Montezuma’s brother the last Aztec emperor of Mexico as los españoles tortured him to find Montezuma’s treasure. After being suspended for over twenty minutes over his smithies fire, very little remain of his leather boots that now resemble poke rinds while the soles melt like butter and the only thing left is the bailing wire tied around his ankles. His singed obsidian colored feet drip a clear liquid substance, while certain areas around his ankles have an apple red texture. The outer skin, the epidermis, lies back exposing the true membrane, the corium. Gone are both of his small toes, stumps, as perspiration pours from his head and makes a hissing sound when it lands on the flames below him. From his position, Seferino look outs from his black smith’s world, the world he has known for the last forty to fifty years and gazes, oblivion of the pain and sees the mountains. The white, grey and black clouds fusion come together to form into cumulus nimbus hammer-head-shaped forms, as lighting strikes scissor across the sky. “Hablas viejo o mueres, como un salvaje –”Gonzalo asks. “Do you choose to speak, or die like a pig on spittle?” Three feet away, with one foot crossed over the other, Gonzalo leans comfortably against an oak post supporting the ocotillo made roof covered with sod. Wearing a sneer across his sharp chiseled chin, Gonzalo crosses his arms. For an audience he entertains: his younger brother Lazaro and Justio, his father’s, Mario Castillo’s ranch foreman. So tell us viejo imbecile – what is your death of preference?” He pauses briefly, the question being rhetorical. “Por supuesto – perhaps a quick bullet to the head?” Lazaro spins the barrel of his pearl handle revolver with his left hand. It is beginning to get warm in the late morning as Gonzalo removes his new Stetson hat. He rubs his hand around the smooth felt brim. “Or Justio can cut your throat- just like that.” He snaps his fingers. Justio turns his head, from watching the road, to the on-going horrific scene in the shop, when he hears his name. Dios mio, I never imagined… He does not look to comfortable with what is unimaginably occurring, something akin to Dante’s Inferno. In the beginning, he had been led to believe, by Lazaro, that they were just going to talk to Seferino because Justio secretly admires the old man in spite of being in the opposite camp. El viejo, is a history book of what has transpired in these parts for the last…He does not finish his thought because he does not know how old Seferino is. Not even Justio’s father knows and he is eighty-one years old.
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About the Book
During the early 1940s, young Mateo’s favorite pastime is exploring the mountains near his home. He and his friends have heard the rumors about the seven mysterious cities of Cibola where the walls and streets are covered with gold and gemstones and Aztlan, the ancestral homeland of the Aztec. The friends intend to find the treasures buried within the lost cities. Seeking to escape the poverty in his small ranching community, Mateo continues to search the mountains at every opportunity, and he narrowly escapes dying there after finding what he imagines are veins of gemstones and other precious minerals. He also finds a grotto with a strange obelisk and several mummy-like individuals. Since his best friend, Modesto, has moved to California, Mateo confides in the village blacksmith, an old man who has been there for more years than people care to remember. But a greedy villager overhears their conversation, and that person becomes Mateo’s mortal enemy.
About the Author
Rafael Melendez is a playwright, novelist, and poet. His first novel, From Cibola to San Miguel, was published by the University of New Mexico State in Las Cruces. A Cal-Arts Council recipient, Melendez has placed in national playwriting and poetry contests, and his plays have been read or produced in Texas, Arizona, California, Oregon, and New York City. Melendez is writing his third novel, The Key to San Miguel Encantado.