Spanners - The Fountain of Youth (4 page)

Adam knew he had to get Diego’s help, but
still couldn’t lie.

“Yes,” said Adam. “It’s odd that you take advantage of these people’s …
simplicity
.”

“Last time you saw me, I was a
conquistador
,” said Diego. “I found people like this and killed them. Would you prefer I revert to my original behavior?”

“No,” said Adam. “But spanners don’t do this. They hide, perhaps, but they don’t—”

“This is my penance, Adam.”

“Your penance?”

“Indeed,” said Diego, skewering two slices of fish and eating them both at once. “As you know, I spent my natural life murdering the less advanced, and after I gained immortality I chose to protect the last pre-Colombian civilization left. I trained them to kill intruders, and here they live unsullied by modern life, more or less.”

Adam smiled and then had a second bite of his meal, which was even better than the first.

“Perhaps you’re right,” said Adam.

“I am,” said Diego. “I’m no longer a conquistador, vassal or landlord; I’m but a beekeeper to these people. I give them protection from the predatory world ar
ound them, and all I ask for is a bit of honey in return.”

Adam nodded, and Diego smiled. Diego barked some commands and the warriors and women both bowed and left, leaving only Adam and the boy.

“My friends’ obeisance shall bother you no more,” said Diego. “Now, before we speculate as to what my brother Juan is up to, we must explain our story to my son. Would you allow it?”

“Of course,” said Adam.

The child looked at his father, and the boy’s eyes glowed deeply with excitement.

“This tale started years ago,” said Diego, “with our first visit to the New World.”

/***/

“The year was 1493,” said Diego. “We were three brothers
: myself, Santos and our captain, Juan Ponce de León, and we were sent by Spain to follow Christopher Columbus on his second expedition to the East Indies. We soon realized that there was land in between of course, so when we reached the islands of Hispaniola we made several colonies there, and in a few short years Juan had muscled his way to a high position: the governor of Puerto Rico.

“Years passed and we prospered, and soon rumors came of a large island to the Northwest. We didn’t know at the time that this ‘island’ was what is now Florida, but Juan was willing to give up his governorship to travel there,
so Santos and I went with him. I quickly arranged a small crew for Juan and took off to Florida with him, filled with the usual conquistador dreams of women, land and, of course, gold.

“Spain had only sent us on a mission to scout and map the territory, so we arrived with three lightly armed boats. We found a small cove that we used as a base for our operations, and then proceeded to launch small expeditions from there, mapping out the coastline and trading with the
naturals. Sometimes the naturals were vicious and we had to battle them, but we spent most of our time traveling, and most of our struggle was against the elements.

“After months of expeditions, it soon became obvious that this was no island, so Juan sent one ship back with copies of the maps, and a request to scout inland. While he waited for a response, he set up missions for Santos and
me to lead. He had proven himself loyal over the years and knew Spain would grant whatever he requested, so he sent us forward.

“Santos and I weren
’t so eager to leave the coast though; the naturals had become increasingly violent, and it soon became clear that there was no gold in this land, no matter how vast it might be. We came to Juan Ponce and he chided us.

“‘
Do you not care for Spain? For God?
’ he asked.

“‘
We honor Spain neither by being massacred inland nor by succumbing to malarial flies,
’ said Santos in response.

“I was not so politic in
my complaint, of course. I brandished my knife, stuck it in Juan’s desk and yelled at him. ‘
There is no GOLD here!’
I
said
. ‘Why are we here if there is no gold?
’

“Juan wasn’t bothered by our hostility, but he did worry about his brothers’ confidence, so he asked us to wait until our crew had gone to sleep and promised to tell us the real reason he went to Florida.

“We agreed to meet in secret, and later that evening he woke us up and took us to a tent far from the camp; it was pouring rain and both the distance and the weather colluded to ensure that no prying ears would hear his plans. Juan was not alone; he had brought his steward, Balthasar.

“‘
Santos, Diego and Balthasar,’
said Juan. ‘
I trust you three and no one else, so hear my tale. I was visited in a dream by an angel who told me that this land is filled with the gold that will help us rule the world
.’

“Santos and I were both perplexed; Juan wasn’t one to speak of dreamtime visions of angels.

“‘
Forgive me
,’ said Juan with a laugh,
‘I don’t mean to speak in riddles. Let me tell you what I’m really after.
’

“Juan told us that the naturals weren
’t hiding any gold. ‘
The real gold,
’ he said,
‘lies within the naturals themselves.
’

“He explained that there were rumors of angels with strange powers floating around Europe, beings that we now know today to be
spanners
. But he said that there were rumors of
whole tribes
of these beings living in the New World.

“‘
In Europe, these angels know to hide in the shadows,
’ said Juan,
‘but one of those angels visited me in a dream and told me that in the virginal territories here, they live openly. It’s up to us to find a tribe of these creatures, and take their powers for ourselves.
’

“I knew it wasn
’t that simple to take a spanner’s abilities, and so did my brother.

“‘
But if we find this tribe, we can’t simply take their powers,’
said our brother Santos.
‘They have found angels in Europe and fruitlessly tried to extract their powers; it’s of no use, and you should believe me because I personally oversaw the extractions.
’

“‘
You’re right, hermano,’
said Juan,
‘but the angel in my dream told me that there was one creature here who is the source of these powers and can bestow abilities. This creature can give us the ultimate spanner power: eternal life. I call this angel the Fountain of Youth.’

“‘
We might find this angel
,’ said Santos, ‘
but I’m not convinced we’ll be able to extract its powers. I’ve tried in many sessions, and have come away with nothing.
’

“‘
Help me find the Fountain, and I will take its powers,’
said Juan. ‘
I have many methods of persuasion at my disposal.’”

/***/

The servant girl brought in a cup of cloud-white tea in a wooden gourd. It was one of the smoothest things Adam had ever tasted, and he asked for more.

“It’s brewed from an herb that’s common here, and
it’s available nowhere else on earth,” said Diego. “The Sentinelese drink it every day of their life.”

“You’d be a multimillionaire if you brought it to the world,” said Adam. “You’d finally get your gold.”

“The temptation arises every time the rain leaks through my hut’s roof,” said Diego with a smile, “but I’ve made my choice, and here I’ll stay;
king of nowhere.
”

Adam smiled and
looked into his glass of the cloud-white tea before drinking it. Diego pointed at Adam’s eyes before talking to his son.

“See his eyes glow just a bit?” said Diego to
the boy. “A spanner’s eyes glow during times of strong emotion. Adam likes our tea, and that was enough to bring out the green in his pupils. My eyes glow and so do my brothers’ eyes, but not like Adam’s and not like yours. You and Adam, your eyes glow like embers.”

“Why?” asked the child.

“I don’t know
why
exactly,” said Diego, “but it’s how spanners
are
. You and Adam were
born
spanners, so your eyes glow brightly. Juan, Santos, Balthasar and I
became
spanners, so our eyes glow too, but not as strongly as yours.”

Diego looked right at Adam.

“But do not underestimate my brother Juan Ponce de León, Adam,” said Diego. “Though his eyes glow faintly, he’s not weak.”

/***/

“We sent our crew back to Puerto Rico, stating that we—the three de León brothers and Balthasar the steward—would scout alone. So we traversed inland slowly, but lightly,” continued Diego. “We brought a few dogs to scare the naturals, a couple of trinkets to bribe some armies to our side, and lots of weapons. But we didn’t have to use the weapons at first; the land was all but abandoned near our first landing.”

“Disease,” said Adam. “My brother Phage claims that he’s responsible.”

“Indirectly, perhaps,” said Diego with a grimace, now talking to his son. “Adam’s brother Phage is an immortal, but he was born without an immune system. So every disease that ever existed flourishes within him, and he spreads them wherever he goes.”

Diego now looked at Adam.

“Phage spread a few plagues throughout Europe at the time,” said Diego. “Perhaps some of his plagues were brought by us to the naturals, but he wasn’t responsible.
He
didn’t walk onto the Florida shores and bring the sicknesses to the natives; we did.
We
were
responsible for the devastation that they wrought.”

Diego’s jaw was quivering with emotion. A woman came in to rub his back again, but he calmed himself and gently shooed her away.

“And though we didn’t know what we had brought,” said Diego, clenching his jaw, “we knew what we did next. We had learned enough of the various tongues to communicate with the naturals, and when we did find a village with survivors, we let them know what we were looking for. The naturals didn’t have a clue as to what we were talking about, but Juan had to be sure that they weren’t lying.”

Diego began to choke up a little bit, but continued.

“We took the villagers, most of them delirious and weakened with various sores and pustules,” said Diego. “We took these villagers and put them on wooden racks.”

Diego’s eyes became downcast and he stopped talking.
He’s ashamed,
thought Adam,
and he hasn’t thought of this for a century. But I need answers now.

“I was on the rack during the Spanish Inquisition,” said Adam. “It was horrible, but it was a dark time; a lot of people did a lot of bad
things back then. They burnt my brother Geryon at the stake for sorcery, and he still hasn’t recovered to this day.”

“The Inquisition was brutal, to be sure,” said Diego. “But we were worse. The tortures of the Inquisition were such that they wouldn’t leave visible mark
s. And though extreme cases like your brother’s immolation did occur, his agony was only meant to last a few minutes; we took hours, and sometimes days.”

Diego’s emotion was rising again, but he was talking and Adam decided to let him talk.

“We went from village to weakened village, tormenting the pockmarked, sore-addled naturals until we could be sure they weren’t lying about their ignorance of the angels we sought. There was no Grand Inquisitor overseeing our activities, ensuring that we didn’t leave a bruise, and they couldn’t end their suffering by simply converting to our religion. Juan was determined to get the truth, even if he had to keep a natural alive for a week to do it.

“No one had answers, but Juan wouldn’
t relent. We would torture the naturals for a week and then let a few go so that they could run to the next village and spread the infection forward. We went from village to village doing this until six months had passed and untold numbers of these innocent people had been eliminated in the slowest way possible.”

Diego gathered himself and then spoke grimly.

“But Juan’s patience paid off,” said Diego. “We finally got word from a tormented woman that there was indeed a tribe of angels living deep within Florida’s central swamp. To be sure of it, Juan still went to the next village, and an old man who had no connection to the previous woman said the same thing.

“‘
These people do not die
,’ said the old man, ‘
and their eyes shine like stars
.’

“We traveled immediately
, and within a fortnight we’d found them. They spoke Arawak and must have migrated to Florida from the West Indies. They were a tribe like any other, though their eyes occasionally glowed in the night. There was not an old one amongst them, and they seemed to be content with their small lives, hidden deep within the swamp. We hid in the mud for two days to observe them; at night they had strange ceremonies where they would cut each other and then heal almost instantly, and they kept no scars.