CHAPTER 1: The Forest Guide

Golden rays pierced through the dense canopy above, throwing spears of light across the jungle floor. The air was a furnace, thick with humidity that clung like a second skin. She moved through the underbrush with ease, her reddish-brown skin glistening with sweat, feet barely disturbing the carpet of decaying leaves and twigs beneath her. In stark contrast, Mr Chevalier was a study in discomfort; his drenched clothes stuck to him as he swatted at the relentless swarm of mosquitoes, struggling to keep pace with the barefoot guide leading him deeper into the heart of the jungle.

“We are… getting close.” he said, gasping for air, his eyes darting to the screen of his phone. 

She offered no response. She did not need a phone app to tell her where they were and where they were going. She also knew the path ahead was a dangerous one that required caution. 

“Ouch! Putain de merde!” he kept cursing as he slapped the mosquitoes laying siege to his skin. “How can you live like this?”

She stopped and he almost bumped into her.

“Wait, why did we stop?” he said, phone in one grip, while the other hand scratched his arm. “We need to keep going.”

She turned around and grabbed his arm to examine it.

"European blood... it's like vintage wine to them," she said in flawless French, a mischievous smirk playing on her lips. “We need to keep quiet.” She continued, now in a more serious tone. “There are some dangers unnatural to the forest in this area.”

He nodded, put his phone back in his pocket and retrieved a repellent spray from his backpack. 

“I’m trying…” he said, shaking the repellent. “This cost fifty euros. Can you believe it? It’s freaking useless!” he groaned while spraying his arms again.

She snatched it from him.

“Hey! I need that…”

She looked at it, sniffed it and shook her head.

“Very good repellent…” she said. “...against European mosquitoes.”

She veered off the trail and waved him over.

"Come.” she said.

He felt like protesting since they were deviating from their original route, but this was Yanomami territory. All this land was her backyard and he had to trust she knew what she was doing. 

He looked at the path they were going then back at her, moving in another direction. The wrong direction. The thought of continuing without her crossed his mind. A stupid thought, as he couldn’t even deal with the mosquitoes, much less the real dangers unknown to him. Definitely not a hard decision to make.

“Hey! Wait up!” he said and hurried after her.

They stopped by a tree where thousands of tiny ants moved up and down the trunk, like a sixteen lane busy highway during rush hour. The ants were so small and so many they looked blurred.

“Put your hand there.” she said.

“On… the tree?”

She nodded.

“I think I have enough bites already.”

“Don’t worry. Look.” she said with a demonstration. The tiny ants quickly covered her hand while she looked at him unphased.

Tentatively, he mimicked her, his apprehension visible. Closing his eyes, he slowly approached his hand to the tree trunk, but dared not touch it. Then he felt her firm grasp around his wrist push his hand to the tree and keep it there. He was a head higher than her, but she was incredibly strong for her size. 

He glanced at the ants covering his hand and then half looked away. She then removed his hand and rubbed the ants against his skin.

“Smell it.” she said.

He brought his hand to his nose and coughed at the first sniff. The potent smell felt like a punch to the senses, making him a bit dizzy and watering his eyes.

“Very good repellent…” she said. “...against Amazon mosquitoes.”

With a drastic change in attitude, his previous fear was then replaced by excitement for this most unusual discovery as he proceeded to smear the natural deterrent over his arms and neck. 

They soon returned to their original trail. Now that the Frenchman was properly protected, they were moving at a much faster pace. But he still wouldn't shut up.

“So, Amazonia is a very unique name. Who came up with that idea?” he asked.

“My mom.” she said. “She just loved this forest so much she named me after it. But you can just call me Amy. It is easier.”

“OK. Amy it is.” he said. “So, Amy… I don’t want to sound ignorant, but how is it that you speak French so fluently?”

“My dad is French Canadian. He used to teach anthropology at McGill University in Quebec.”

“Used to?”

“Well… I lost contact with him several years ago. I don’t know what he does now. And I don’t care…”

“I see… and your mom is…”

“Yanomami. He met her while studying our Yanomami tribe. They fell in love, got married and had two kids. We moved to Canada after my brother was born and, well, the rest is… complicated.”

“So, you are half Canadian, half Yanomami? Magnifique!”

She halted.

“I am not half anything. I am Yanomami. This forest is where I was born, this is where I live and this is who I am.” she said, then glared back at him over her shoulder. 

Granted, nobody looking at her would ever guess she was also of Canadian blood. She looked just as much an indigenous woman as the rest of them. The reddish-brown skin, the blue feathers hanging from her ear lobes, the long, straight black hair with the bangs cut in a straight line above the eyebrows and a round face painted with black dots and lines, resembling a jaguar. There were only a few features that stood out when you compared her side by side with other women from her tribe, like her nose and mouth, which were more delicate and not as thick and wide as the other women’s. 

She was definitely a beautiful young woman with an athletic and sexy body, which would be completely naked if it wasn’t for a red cloth she was wearing down her waist. Still, she blended so well with the environment around them that he couldn’t feel aroused by her sight in the same way the trees and the birds didn’t allure him either. Nor did the mosquitoes.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend…” he said.

“It’s ok.” she said, interrupting his apologies with a wave and continued to walk. 

Ever since she started guiding him through the forest, this was the first time they did it in complete silence. Usually, that is how she enjoys her world, contemplating the abundance of life all around her, all the sounds, colors and smells. And yet, this time, the silence was bothering her. It was an awkward silence and she knew she had to deal with that right away.

“I’m sorry, Mr Chevalier…” she said, slowing down her pace to walk by his side.

“Sorry for what, mon cheri?” he said.

 “My outburst before. Truth is….” she said, making a pause as if searching for the right words. “You remind me of my father.” 

She looked at him with her almond shaped eyes and offered him a shy smile. Unknowingly, Mr Chevalier had poked at an open wound. One it took her many years not to heal, but to make the pain go numb.

“Oh, my. Do I look that old? It’s this heat. It’s dehydrating me. It’s probably adding five to ten years to my face.” he said with a chuckle.

“No. It is not that.” she said. “Now I am the one who doesn’t want to sound prejudicial. But… There is no other way to say this. Your… looks…”

“You mean the blonde hair, blue eyes and…white skin?” he said, with a mischievous grin. 

She could tell he was feeling pleasure at her discomfort.

“... yeah. Sorry.” she said with a blush. “It’s just that… I don’t often see people that look like you around here and you are the closest in appearance to my father that I have ever seen since… Well, since my mom divorced him years ago and we came back here. Even though you don’t actually look anything like him. Does that make sense?”

“Daughter of divorced parents with daddy issues. As exquisite as you are on the surface, mon cheri, deep down you’re just as boring and unoriginal as the rest of us.”

True words cut deep and she felt those down to her bones. To the point she fell back into silence to ponder over them. 

Is Mr Chevalier right? All these years, all my anger, have I just been acting as an immature child with daddy issues? 

This bothered her a lot but that was not the time and place to deal with that, so she bottled it all up and refocused on the task at hand.

He was about to ask another personal question when she signaled him to stop. 

“What is it?” he whispered, reaching close to her.

Ten paces ahead on the trail a jaguar was feasting on the open stomach of a dead man, his body laid by a huge tree. Didn’t take long for the jaguar to feel their presence, turning its head in their direction, jaws wide open dripping with blood, showing its fangs menacingly to protect its meal. It had only one good eye, the left one covered by a gnarly old looking scar it probably got from a not so friendly encounter with humans a long time ago.

“This is not good.” she said, her senses scanning their surroundings.

“You think it is going to attack us?”

“No. Jaguars don’t usually attack people.”

“Tell that to that guy.” 

The jaguar returned its attention to its fresh meal, but often raised its one good eye at the duo just to keep tabs.

“The jaguar didn’t kill him.” she said. “See that long arrow coming out of the man’s chest?”

He nodded. “One of your people killed him, then?”

“No. That black feather at the butt of the arrow. It is from another tribe. A not very friendly one.”

“But they’re not gonna attack us, right?” he said.

“Us? No. You…” she said with a pause. “Maybe not. Not while you’re with me.”

“Maybe not? MAYBE?” he said, raising his voice just enough to bother the jaguar and make it stare at him again, a long piece of flesh dangling stuck between its fangs.

She motioned him to be quiet as they circled around the jaguar to leave it alone, returning back to their trail further ahead.

“Do you think it is following us?” he asked, looking back.

“The jaguar?”

“Yes.”

“Nah.” she said with a wave of her hand. “She is taking her time with her meal. Plus, she doesn’t want to stay too close to you. You stink.” she said, twitching her nose.

“Well, you made me rub those ants all over me.”

“Oh, the ants are not the problem. But you are wearing some sort of perfume… it is too strong.”

“You mean my Calvin Klein cologne?” he said, sounding indignant. “I can’t even notice it anymore ever since I rubbed those shitty ants on my body!” he said and sniffed his arms, then coughed and shook his head. “It is still as repulsive a smell as when I rubbed them over me. This… this you’re ok with, but my Calvin Klein cologne bothers you?”

“It really stinks. The whole forest can smell you for over a mile. That is why it is mostly quiet. Animals are keeping their distance from you.” she said with a chuckle.

“Well, the monkeys seem to enjoy it at least. They have been screaming all around us since we met the jaguar...” he said, looking around. “Where are they, by the way? They sound so close but I can’t spot them.” 

“You will never see them.” she said and stopped moving.

“What now?” 

“I don’t know how to say this, but…”

“What?”

“We can’t go where you want us to go.”

“Wait, what?”

“This expedition is over. We need to go back. ” she said.

“WHAT? NO FUCKING WAY!” he shouted, walking in front of her. “That is unacceptable! I paid you handsomely and I expect you to do your part! We are not going back!” he said, pointing a finger to her face.

“You know why you can’t see the howler monkeys?” she said, not looking worried about his tantrum. “That’s because those are not real monkeys making those sounds”

“What do you mean?”

She then proceeded to imitate the monkey sounds perfectly and next thing he knew it seemed like she was talking to them.

“Wait… ok, now you are pulling my leg. You want me to believe you were talking to monkeys just now?” he asked. “Is this a scam? You take my money, we walk around a bit and then you invent some fake danger so we go back? I won’t have it!”

“Like I said, those are not real monkeys.” she said, keeping her cool. “It is a secret language used to communicate without raising suspicions to enemies nearby.”

“And who are you talking to?”

“The people that killed that guy back there. The one being eaten by the jaguar.”

“Ok. And what are they saying?”

“They want permission to kill you next.” she said and motioned in a direction by raising her chin.

Mr Chevalier froze. He could tell she was being serious. He swallowed his anger and tried to keep his composure. He squinted his eyes trying to see what she was trying to show him but he couldn’t see anything but a bunch of trees everywhere. 

“I can’t see anything.” he said, back to a normal tone of voice.

“There.” she said, standing by his side and pointing her finger. 

It took him several seconds until he finally saw it. Camouflaged amidst the shadowy foliage the figure of a tall man, his body painted in black, his face painted in white like an angry spirit, staring straight at him, dead in his eyes. The man was probably fifty meters away but Mr Chevalier feared he could close that distance in a flash if he wanted to.

“And… and what did you say to him?” he said with a nervous swallow.

“This is Yanomami territory. They are trespassing. I told them they can’t touch you and they won’t. But it is not them we need to worry about.”

“How can I not worry about that scary guy wanting to kill me? I mean, look at him… wait, where is he?” he said, looking around as the black painted man was nowhere to be seen anymore.

“They were telling me that the guy they killed was working on an illegal gold digging operation by the river, right in our path. Must be a new one I wasn’t aware of. The other ones will soon miss him and come looking for him. Those guys are very dangerous. They kill on sight. Anyone. Men, women, children. Sometimes they kidnap women from my tribe and rape them. Keep them in their camp as sex slaves. They are the unnatural danger I was telling you about. If we run into them, I can’t promise we will come back alive. And I don’t want to run into them. So, like I said, we can’t go where you want us to go.”

“No, no, no!” He said, pulling his hair while moving around. “Tell me your price!” he said, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking her in the eyes. “I will double your pay. Ten thousand euro!”

“I don’t need your money.” she said.

“I will pay your scary looking friends. Just do your… monkey talk and tell them. I will pay them a lot of money to be our body guards and kill anyone who gets in our way!”

“They refuse contact with outsiders. They don’t even know what money is. They would have no use for it.”

“Fuck! Merde! Fuck!” he screamed and started pacing around. He removed the phone from his pocket with a shaky hand and put the map on the screen. “We are too close.” he mumbled, “we can’t go back now. We are too close.”