| Chapter Eight | | | | second life, or could have with the right enchantments. |
| The Dead Attack FastThe middle aged drunk asked | | | | Thus, I felt the presence of the Manticore, why or how |
| calmly, “Give me some money,” I was a | | | | I don’t know. I have to admit I was enchanted |
| stranger, walking along the creek, the bum feeling he | | | | with the idea of the magic that surround this |
| could persuade me of some loose change, trying to | | | | phenomenon, possessive of it almost, and |
| anyhow, he also wanted to talk, tell me what he had | | | | unconsciously had hoped to find its secrets, and |
| seen:“Cat! That thing was a cat, in a | | | | consciously prayer to see the Manticore once |
| cat’s body, red; wild eyed, a voice like pipes, | | | | more.This shouldering tribulation put me in a vulnerable |
| swift”… (He was falling about, perhaps hit | | | | circumstance: if I did see her, it means my death, or |
| by the needle like tail of the Manticore, it had leaped on | | | | could; if not, I’d wish I’d have tried harder |
| him I figured—like it had leaped on me and my | | | | to see her, somewhere along life’s line. For |
| friends in Lima, it had these long pine like needles on its | | | | sure, the devil himself was on her shoulder, and would |
| tail—poisoned, and it shot out from its tail in all | | | | show no mercy; but she was only a part of a trinity of |
| directions, paralysing anyone in its way, and here was | | | | souls, one disconnected from the others. I knew she |
| this bum, now spitting out goo from his mouth, like a | | | | had heard Enrique’s summons; evil has wings, |
| horse slobbering over some grass and substance | | | | and can attack fast, so I’ve learned. She had |
| dripping out along its sides—he looked like he | | | | two faces, one evil, one beautiful, I had noticed that in |
| was dying, I saw some of the Mantic ore’s | | | | the mirror; in a dream, I could even feel that: what face |
| needles in him.“Where,” I asked, | | | | would she put on this evening, if indeed she appeared: |
| “where did you see him?” he was on | | | | so I wondered.Evil had revealed itself in this peaceful |
| the ground, exhibiting much fear, and still spitting up and | | | | valley, the very place I called my second home. And |
| out of his mouth that same slime, that fat and creamy | | | | like lighting striking a tree and it falling on top of you, I |
| like substance, perhaps his insides. He kept saying | | | | collapsed flat on my back, the ground shook around |
| ‘…the cat,’ holding his head; he | | | | me, it sounded like an earthquake to my ears: like |
| started laughing at the whole thing, pointed to the hills | | | | trumpets, I was entombed with a body over me blue |
| on the left side of the creek. I started to hum that | | | | eyes, a deep red body, she had changed, the ill omen |
| magical chant for some odd reason, knowing the | | | | had found her feast, me, as her three rows of teeth |
| Manticore was about. I left him where he lay, and | | | | grinded in my face; the man-eater crouched over me |
| headed further up the creek.The night came upon the | | | | to the point of almost sucking the life out of me: ugly |
| valley fast, twilight seeped over the hills, an uncanny | | | | as a dried up heart, her beauty had transferred to |
| feeling come over me, as if the world of dead souls | | | | some kind of evil looking beast, with bat wings |
| were upon me, the resurrected ones from the tombs | | | | attached to her. |
| where the second souls lived, and seemed to have a | | | | |