End of La Ciudad de las Bestias
Oct. 10th, 2020 02:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickWhen last we visited the book, Alex and Walimai and Nadia were going to the sacred mountain to see the home of the gods.
They meet the gods, who seem to be kind of like sloths only bipedal and intelligent and very very slow. Alex and Nadia have a misstep with the Bestias wherein they do not grasp that things must be exchanged, sort of. But then Alex plays flute and Nadia dances and it's OK. The Bestia send Nadia to the top of a mountain for three eggs in a nest, Alex gets to go into the bowels of the volcano (it's not super-active, there are trees and stuff in the inside dippy down part for which there is a word and I can't find it right now) to look for the fountain of youth. Nadia has to confront her fear of heights and she turns over the Walimai amulet for the crystal eggs. Alex has to deal with temptation-y visions that may or may not have been real and also what sounds like a giant mole. He trades his flute for the fountain water. They return with their treasures to the group of Bestias in time and then they and Walimai head back to tribe.
Back at the tribe's village, they meet up with not-the-tribe but their explorer peeps AND Businessman From SMdlL AND Captain of the soldiers, all of who have been searching for them. The tribe is hiding out because they heard the helicopters coming and skedaddled. But they come out when Nadia and Alex and Walimai come back. That night, Nadia spots Dr. Torres hooking up with Carías, The Rich Guy From Santa Maria De Las Lluvias. There are smooches and The Rich Guy is "You know we have to..." and so forth. Dr. Torres is on board. Nadia tells Alex but neither of them is sure about what it means. I, on the other hand, was all Shit, it's Dr. Torres, she's the spy.
I bet she's injecting poison into the tribes to remove them from the board so that their lands can be more easily exploited. But I'm not twelve.
The tribespeople, after some coaxing, are lining up for vaccines when all of a sudden Alex catches on. He tackles the first vaccination person before the vaccine happens and Nadia is shouting IT IS A TRAP THE SHOTS ARE POISON (or similar) and all hell breaks loose. Nadia's dad is "Shit, she's insane." Dr. Torres is "Too much sun." BUT Karakawe, who has been the surly and nearly silent porter for the idiot LeBlanc is all "OHO, I work for the government protection of indigenous persons department and Lo It Is True, The Kids Are Right" whereupon he gets shot dead by Ariosto, the captain of the soldier garrison. And then Carías (the businessman dude) shoves Dr. Torres to the ground, draws his pistol, and shoots up all the vials of alleged vaccine stuff. The soldiers and the expedition folks and the native tribespeople fight.
It is a mess.
But anyway. The soldiers emerge victorious and the natives disappear into the jungle. The expedition is prisoners of the soldiers.
Ariosto sends one helicopter (there are two) back with some of the injured soldiers and Dr. Torres and Carías who is comatose from the battle and stuff. This leaves one helicopter and fewer people.
Because Ariosto has not read the prior parts of the book, and because he is pissed that Alex spoiled everything by stopping the fake vaccinations, he decides to tie Alex to a tree away from the rest of the group of prisoners, in order to kill him over night while everyone else is asleep. Nadia sends her little monkey for help. Kate and LeBlanc hatch a plan (cards and liquor) to distract Ariosto. Walimai unties Alex. Las Bestias show up and kill Ariosto and use their horrible stench power (I have not mentioned this but the Bestias have a horrible stench power that paralyzes people and gives them amnesia. Bestias do not move very fast and they are vegetarian, but they do have this as a defense.) to paralyze everybody else. They level the village, transport everybody but Ariosto elsewhere, and so forth. They do not get Alex, Walimai, or Nadia, but everybody else gets Bestia-stenched and relocated.
Alex, Nadia, and Walimai return to the village, where everyone is gone. All the people's stuff is still there but the people aren't, so they leave.
The group of expeditioneers and the soldiers (not the guy in charge, he's missing because Las Bestias offed him with extreme prejudice) wind up with the natives, unable to communicate until Alex, Nadia, and Walimai show up which they do.
They all head back to the village, where they find Ariosto's corpse pretty badly torn up. Everybody is going to head back to SMdlL. The injured soldiers are recovering well, Carias is not, Dr. Torres is kind of still in the "We were going to get married" mindset, and our expedition is convinced that they need to save the natives (and the Bestias, which they are not going to confirm or deny)... but they don't have actual proof of what happened...
But they do. Karakawe stole one of the fake vaccine vials from Torres and gave it to Nadia's dad for safekeeping. The photographer guy, who had been ordered to turn over his film to Ariosto, had swapped the film with rolls from earlier in the expedition. Kate Cold and LeBlanc (who has moderated somewhat from being an ass) agree to write about the exploitation and stuff and they're going to set up a nature preserve thing. Somehow.
Nadia gives the three crystal eggs, which are actually huge diamonds, to Alex to use to negotiate for the tribal lands needed by La Gente de la Neblina. So he agrees to do that because it's his tribal job anyway. And he's got his magic water to take home to his mom. He and Nadia say their goodbyes and promise to write.
And that's it. Oh, and Alex ... A mi abuela le han encargado escribir otro reportaje para el International Geographic. Tiene que ir al Reino del Dragón de Oro.
(His grandma has been hired to write another report for International Geographic. She has to go to the Kingdom of the Golden Dragon.)
I have a feeling that somehow Alex is going to wind up on that trip, as well.
The end.
They meet the gods, who seem to be kind of like sloths only bipedal and intelligent and very very slow. Alex and Nadia have a misstep with the Bestias wherein they do not grasp that things must be exchanged, sort of. But then Alex plays flute and Nadia dances and it's OK. The Bestia send Nadia to the top of a mountain for three eggs in a nest, Alex gets to go into the bowels of the volcano (it's not super-active, there are trees and stuff in the inside dippy down part for which there is a word and I can't find it right now) to look for the fountain of youth. Nadia has to confront her fear of heights and she turns over the Walimai amulet for the crystal eggs. Alex has to deal with temptation-y visions that may or may not have been real and also what sounds like a giant mole. He trades his flute for the fountain water. They return with their treasures to the group of Bestias in time and then they and Walimai head back to tribe.
Back at the tribe's village, they meet up with not-the-tribe but their explorer peeps AND Businessman From SMdlL AND Captain of the soldiers, all of who have been searching for them. The tribe is hiding out because they heard the helicopters coming and skedaddled. But they come out when Nadia and Alex and Walimai come back. That night, Nadia spots Dr. Torres hooking up with Carías, The Rich Guy From Santa Maria De Las Lluvias. There are smooches and The Rich Guy is "You know we have to..." and so forth. Dr. Torres is on board. Nadia tells Alex but neither of them is sure about what it means. I, on the other hand, was all Shit, it's Dr. Torres, she's the spy.
I bet she's injecting poison into the tribes to remove them from the board so that their lands can be more easily exploited. But I'm not twelve.
The tribespeople, after some coaxing, are lining up for vaccines when all of a sudden Alex catches on. He tackles the first vaccination person before the vaccine happens and Nadia is shouting IT IS A TRAP THE SHOTS ARE POISON (or similar) and all hell breaks loose. Nadia's dad is "Shit, she's insane." Dr. Torres is "Too much sun." BUT Karakawe, who has been the surly and nearly silent porter for the idiot LeBlanc is all "OHO, I work for the government protection of indigenous persons department and Lo It Is True, The Kids Are Right" whereupon he gets shot dead by Ariosto, the captain of the soldier garrison. And then Carías (the businessman dude) shoves Dr. Torres to the ground, draws his pistol, and shoots up all the vials of alleged vaccine stuff. The soldiers and the expedition folks and the native tribespeople fight.
It is a mess.
But anyway. The soldiers emerge victorious and the natives disappear into the jungle. The expedition is prisoners of the soldiers.
Ariosto sends one helicopter (there are two) back with some of the injured soldiers and Dr. Torres and Carías who is comatose from the battle and stuff. This leaves one helicopter and fewer people.
Because Ariosto has not read the prior parts of the book, and because he is pissed that Alex spoiled everything by stopping the fake vaccinations, he decides to tie Alex to a tree away from the rest of the group of prisoners, in order to kill him over night while everyone else is asleep. Nadia sends her little monkey for help. Kate and LeBlanc hatch a plan (cards and liquor) to distract Ariosto. Walimai unties Alex. Las Bestias show up and kill Ariosto and use their horrible stench power (I have not mentioned this but the Bestias have a horrible stench power that paralyzes people and gives them amnesia. Bestias do not move very fast and they are vegetarian, but they do have this as a defense.) to paralyze everybody else. They level the village, transport everybody but Ariosto elsewhere, and so forth. They do not get Alex, Walimai, or Nadia, but everybody else gets Bestia-stenched and relocated.
Alex, Nadia, and Walimai return to the village, where everyone is gone. All the people's stuff is still there but the people aren't, so they leave.
The group of expeditioneers and the soldiers (not the guy in charge, he's missing because Las Bestias offed him with extreme prejudice) wind up with the natives, unable to communicate until Alex, Nadia, and Walimai show up which they do.
They all head back to the village, where they find Ariosto's corpse pretty badly torn up. Everybody is going to head back to SMdlL. The injured soldiers are recovering well, Carias is not, Dr. Torres is kind of still in the "We were going to get married" mindset, and our expedition is convinced that they need to save the natives (and the Bestias, which they are not going to confirm or deny)... but they don't have actual proof of what happened...
But they do. Karakawe stole one of the fake vaccine vials from Torres and gave it to Nadia's dad for safekeeping. The photographer guy, who had been ordered to turn over his film to Ariosto, had swapped the film with rolls from earlier in the expedition. Kate Cold and LeBlanc (who has moderated somewhat from being an ass) agree to write about the exploitation and stuff and they're going to set up a nature preserve thing. Somehow.
Nadia gives the three crystal eggs, which are actually huge diamonds, to Alex to use to negotiate for the tribal lands needed by La Gente de la Neblina. So he agrees to do that because it's his tribal job anyway. And he's got his magic water to take home to his mom. He and Nadia say their goodbyes and promise to write.
And that's it. Oh, and Alex ... A mi abuela le han encargado escribir otro reportaje para el International Geographic. Tiene que ir al Reino del Dragón de Oro.
(His grandma has been hired to write another report for International Geographic. She has to go to the Kingdom of the Golden Dragon.)
I have a feeling that somehow Alex is going to wind up on that trip, as well.
The end.
