WALKÜREN - THE THREE MARIAS Chapter Two

 WALKÜREN - THE THREE MARIAS

Chapter Two

- Repeat again, please... I don't understand!

- Your delegate, we had camped to spend the night with the cattle...

- Until then I understood... I didn't understand what came after...

- Sorry, but what did the doctor not understand?

- The dead...

- He died, uh...

- Yes, I know... that he died, I see. What I want to know is how he died!

- And how do you want us to know? When we found him, he was already dead...

- And nobody saw anything?

- The cows saw it.... but they don't know how to tell us...

- Are you kidding...

  - No, doctor... I'm serious.

- Who is in charge of the troop?

- Zé Cardoso...

- You can go get him. please?

- It'll take a while...

- It doesn't matter how long it takes... I need to talk to him.

Manguaça tried to leave quickly towards the south pasture, where Zé Cardoso was. The delegate seemed impatient, so it was best not to antagonize him. Zé was meeting with some cowboys, distributing orders, defining positions. Each rider had his position in the management of the cattle defined before they left towards their destination. Since the entourage was large, if he did not make a rational distribution of his men, he could run the risk of ending up losing some heads of cattle for not having enough coverage at all ends. When Manguaça interrupted him, he looked slightly annoyed. After all, if he had known that he would have such a headache with what had happened, he would have done what was done a lot when traveling... buried the cowboy, marked the place of his burial with a cross and had a mass said in intention of his soul in the First church I found. But things were changing… so it was better to follow the new procedures. The problem was the delay, which would further increase his travel time. Now it would take at least three days longer than planned to reach their destination... and that wasn't something he was excited about. Anyway... there was no point in getting discouraged... the thing was to talk to the chief, see what he could do...

  - No, doctor...

- Are you in charge of the entourage?

-Yes... Zé Cardoso, at his orders...

- Are you Zé Cardoso? From Caçapava?

- Yes sir...

- Wow... you are a legend all over this sertão! He never missed a single res in all his travels!

- Thank you, doctor... but how can I help you?

- Seu Cardoso, we have a problem...

- Yeah, I know... the late Chiquinho...

- No, no... the problem goes beyond your lost cowboy...

- Sorry, doctor... I don't understand...

- I didn't want to tell your cowboy... but this isn't the first time this has happened in this region...

- No?

- No. This month alone is the fifth case in that area. And you will remain in the region for at least one more night...

- Do we have to stay right here?

- No, no... they can go on their journey. The problem is that with this herd, you won't make much progress until nightfall. That's why I wanted to talk to you... don't leave your men alone at night, under no circumstances. Preferably, leave them in threes. As a last resort, stay in pairs. But under no circumstances should they remain alone...

- But what is happening in the region?

- Sincerely? I can't tell you. What I can tell you is that, for some time now, people have started to appear with their throats smashed, their heads almost ripped off their necks... and I have no idea what that could be...

- Well, apparently it's some animal...

- Around here there are no animals of the size that the one that is attacking people would have...

- Well, somewhere there must be... suddenly the beast hides in some corner during the day...

- That's what I thought too, at first... but we've already hit this region many times... and we've never been able to find anything...

- Have you asked for help yet?

- From the Capital? Of course... they said they will ask for help from the Federal Government...

- Uh... does it have to be from the Federal Government?

- In that case, yes... they say there is a delegate, in particular, who specializes in this type of case...

- Then it must be well requested...

- And he is... it seems that he is solving a little problem over by Andradina... and as soon as he finishes there, he will come to our aid...

The delegate ended the conversation. His real intention was to let the head of the entourage warned, so that he at least had an idea of the danger they were in, while they remained in those surroundings. He was confident that the cowboy would not spread what he had told him among his men, as he knew that the caboclos were very influential and some could even run away, leaving the person responsible for the trip feeling like a spider... he mounted his horse, said goodbye once more of Zé Cardoso and headed towards the village at a slow pace... he was in no hurry to get to his office... later he would send someone to fetch the body so that the coroner could examine it, but he already knew what the result would be from the analysis... attacked by an unknown animal... he preferred to stick with that verdict, although he had his suspicions as to the real culprit behind the attacks... yes, he had his theories... but it was better to keep them inside his head. After all, he already had enough problems, to get one more...

Zé Cardoso called his trusted men to give them the last instructions before continuing their journey. Chiquinho's body, as he had agreed with the police chief, would remain in the same place where it was found, and three of his cowboys would remain on guard until the police station went to get him. Finally the train set off, with that endless blur formed by the cattle following the sound of the bell. From time to time one or another animal would stray from the group, so the dogs in the entourage would surround them, leading them back to the herd. In exceptional cases, the cowboys used their lassos to bring one or another of the more aloof animals back... and so they moved on. After the conversation he had had with the chief of police, Zé Cardoso couldn't wait to leave that region behind... the farther he was from them, the better. But he knew he could hardly get out of the county before nightfall... and driving cattle at night would not be a very smart decision.

A thousand thoughts were running through his mind. He had already heard about monsters that attacked people on full moon nights... it was the full moon... but until that moment he had never witnessed anything of the kind in his wanderings through the backlands. Yes, he had already heard stories, and many... including, over there in Lageado, where they were going now, he had heard rumors that monsters from beyond were at work... but he always credited that to an extra dose of the cachaça on the minds of the peons... but now... yeah, he had to rethink his travel plans... he didn't want to be surprised again... if he started to lose his men in a violent way, as happened with Chiquinho... .well, it would be more difficult to recruit the cowboys to accompany you on your travels...