Sweat dripped into Fredrick Carlisle’s eyes as he slashed at the tangle of green vines in front of him. They had been trekking through the jungle for most of the day now, and Fredrick’s arms were beginning to ache from swinging the machete.
“Master Carlisle!” one of the guides called.
Fredrick stopped and rubbed his shoulder. “What is it?”
“The men- they are tired, and the sun goes away. Gone far enough for day.”
Fredrick nodded, trying to hide his relief.
As the other natives began to make camp, Fredrick looked around. The jungle all looked the same to him and he couldn’t see very far into the distance.
“You know, Fredrick, if you squint like that all the time, your eyes may never fully open again.”
Fredrick spun to see Veronica standing behind him with a mischievous grin on her face.
“Don’t be silly. And besides, that’s easy for you to say because you’re wearing a hat.”
“You have a hat; you just don’t wear it,” Veronica pointed out.
Fredrick opened his mouth to say something, but then sighed. Despite being seven years younger than him, she always seemed to get the best of him. Knowing this, Veronica smiled as she undid the tulle around her neck and took off her hat.
“Enjoying the trip, brother?” she asked as Fredrick eased his aching body onto the ground.
He glared at Veronica. “I’m not supposed to be ‘enjoying’ this. The only reason we’re out here in this god-forsaken heat is because Lord Hammond promised us thirty percent of the profits from this treasure.” Fredrick irritably swatted away flies. “I should have asked for more.” He glanced at Veronica and was annoyed to see her hiding a smile. “What?” he asked.
“You never can see the adventure in things, Fredrick. Why don’t you stop thinking about the money and instead think about all the new things we’ve seen?”
Fredrick sighed. “I can try, but honestly, don’t you mind this heat? I mean, it’s cold in Russia, right?”
Veronica shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. I’ve lived almost all my life in the ‘perfect weather of the beautiful English countryside’!”
She was mimicking Mistress Orth, a very proud neighbor of the Carlisles.
Fredrick had to laugh; Veronica was very good at doing impressions. But as she smiled and went to help the natives, Fredrick chastised himself for making the comment about Russia. He knew perfectly well that she wouldn’t be able to remember Russia because she had been a baby when she’d arrived in England. His seven year old’s memory remembered the event well. Now he was twenty-four and he still couldn’t forget the tugging on his heart when he’d first seen her. That had served him well after his father had died five years ago, when Veronica had been only twelve. His last words to his father had been a promise to look after her. Was he doing that now, he wondered, by dragging a seventeen year old girl into the jungles of Thailand? But looking back, he knew that if he had tried to leave her at home, she would have put up such a fuss that it would have been the easier option to take her along as he had ended up doing anyway. His first instinct was to protect her and leaving her in the company of all the gossiping women who made up the social circle of their community would not accomplish that.
As Fredrick watched the natives, he realized that they seemed on edge. Something was wrong, but he didn’t know what. Veronica came up and handed him a tin plate of food.
“Somehow I almost prefer it out here,” she remarked thoughtfully, sitting down beside him.
Fredrick looked at his sister in surprise. “What? Why?”
“Out here, no one cares where you’re from, or what your last name is. Everything is so simple and honest too.”
“But what about fine dresses and concerts and dances?”
Veronica was quiet for a minute. “Fredrick, don’t you ever see it? The looks and the whispers? Forced politeness to my face and gossip behind my back. They don’t accept me, and they never will. Even your mother didn’t. I just- I don’t feel as if I belong there.”
Fredrick’s mind again flashed back to his younger self. He had been ten when his mother had told him that Veronica was not a charity case, but his half-sister. Fredrick recalled the anger in his mother’s voice when she spoke of how his father had had a passionate affair with the beautiful daughter of a Russian nobleman, who had then died shortly after Veronica’s birth. “Your father didn’t have enough self-respect to leave that child in the frozen wasteland where it belonged.” His mother’s exact words. But Fredrick knew it hadn’t been lack of self-respect that had caused his father to bring Veronica home. It had been compassion. He too, shared that.
He put his arm around her shoulders. “You belong with me, Veronica. I’m your big brother-” he smiled fondly “-and I’m going to take care of you.”
Veronica smiled up at him. She rarely complained and even now the sadness vanished from her face. “I know,” she said.
Fredrick awoke, feeling damp, and muttered in disgust. For the purpose of traveling light, they had brought only one tent, which meant he had to sleep in his clothes. Every morning, he woke up drenched in sweat. He almost considered sleeping outside, but he didn’t want to leave Veronica alone. But something about this morning was different. Fredrick listened to the hum of insects and realized what it was. There was no indication that the natives were up and preparing the morning meal as they usually did. Careful not to wake Veronica, he opened the tent flap and stepped outside. And was promptly horrified. The camp was strewn about and all of the packs were gone. Their personal packs were stored inside the tent, but otherwise they had been left with nothing. Fear wound itself around Fredrick’s heart, squeezing tighter and tighter-
“Fredrick?”
Fredrick spun around to face his sister.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
He moved slightly and she gasped.
“What –what happened?”
“They all just ran off it looks like,” Fredrick said grimly, inwardly cursing himself. “I shouldn’t have trusted Lord Hammond. The bastard.”
Veronica didn’t say anything for a moment. Then she came up beside him and laid her hand on his arm.
“It wasn’t your fault,” she said quietly.
“It’s my fault that I brought you out here,” he retorted, ashamed.
Veronica shook her head. “No. We cannot blame ourselves for the choices of another.”
She met his eyes and he knew that she was talking about more than just their current predicament.
Fredrick heaved a sigh. “My guess is that he wants the treasure all to himself and leaving us out here to die relieves him of having to give us thirty percent of it.”
A gleam entered Veronica’s eye. “And if we find it first, would we not get to keep it all?”
“I suppose, but there’s no way-” Fredrick stopped as Veronica raised her eyebrows at him. “You’re not serious? You’re suggesting that we go traipsing through the jungle with no food or water to find a treasure we don’t even know the location of.”
Veronica smiled tightly. “Yes.”
Fredrick stared at his sister. “You’re crazy.”
Veronica folded her arms stubbornly. “Fredrick. You’re not even going to try? You’re just going to let Lord Hammond do this to us?”
Fredrick sat down and put his head in his hands. “I can’t do what you’re suggesting, Veronica. I have to get you safely home.”
“I don’t want to go home, Fredrick.” Veronica’s voice was soft, but there was a hardness to her words. “Please.” The hardness vanished with that word.
Fredrick lifted his head and looked at his sister’s face. Something twisted inside him.
“All right,” he said finally. After a pause, he mused, “I think the guides stopped us because we were getting too close to the treasure’s location. We’ll keep going in the same direction then.”
Veronica nodded.
Fredrick gritted his teeth and stepped forward to slash at the first tangle of vines. It was going to be a long day. Night found them exhausted in their tent. The jungle hummed noisily as Veronica and Fredrick lay side by side. Tired as he was, Fredrick kept tossing and turning, unable to go to sleep.
Finally, he whispered, “Veronica?”
“Yes?” she responded.
“Do you really not mind it out here?”
There was a pause and then she answered, “No, I don’t.”
Fredrick hoped she would say more, but only silence followed and eventually he rolled over and fell asleep.
Around noon two days later, judging from the light filtering through the trees overhead, Fredrick heard something that gave him a faint bit of hope.
“Veronica, listen,” he said excitedly.
His sister stopped. Then a smile slowly spread across her tired face. “It’s a waterfall,” she exclaimed.
Filled with new energy, Fredrick grabbed Veronica’s hand and began slashing wildly at the vines in the direction of the sound. A waterfall had been their only clue to the treasure’s location. They stumbled blindly in the same direction day after day, knowing that eventually their strength would give out and they would die just as Lord Hammond wanted them to –lost and forgotten. Their supplies dwindled away until they were gone. They continued on slowly, only being able to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. The sound of the waterfall became almost deafening, but Fredrick wondered what good the treasure would be if they died right after they found it. The leaves became wet and Fredrick and Veronica desperately dripped the tiny amount of water into their mouths. And then finally, after a number of days that Fredrick couldn’t remember to count, the jungle suddenly opened up before them and a spray of mist drenched them. Fredrick tried to shout with joy, but his dry throat only produced a hoarse cough. Fredrick’s joy was short-lived, however, as he watched Veronica collapse to the ground. He stumbled over to her and sank down beside her. He knew that since he was down, he would never get up. They had failed.
Fredrick’s eyes slowly opened to see an unfamiliar face leaning over him. When his eyes opened fully, the face smiled. “He awake!” it yelled. As Fredrick rolled his head to the side in the direction of the sound of footsteps, he saw his sister enter.
“Veronica,” he croaked.
Her face appeared above him. “How are you feeling?” she asked.
Fredrick eased into a sitting position. There were three other people in the room besides his sister –two men and a woman. His brain started to roll away its fog and remember.
“Veronica,” he said carefully, knowing that at least one of the natives knew English, “who are these people?”
“Our saviors,” she said quietly.
Fredrick noticed the younger of the two men, the one who had entered with Veronica, inching closer.
“Can we talk alone?” Fredrick asked his sister.
Veronica turned to the young man and repeated the question. The young man gestured at the other two natives and said something in his own language. They left. Then the young man said something low to Veronica –something Fredrick couldn’t hear –and her face changed. After she nodded, the young man squeezed her hand before leaving.
“Who is he?” Fredrick asked, a suspicion forming in his mind.
“His name is Mabitrai,” Veronica answered, and a slight flush on her cheek and glow in her eyes confirming Fredrick’s suspicion. “He convinced the others to care for us, knowing full well that we were most likely treasure hunters. We’re not the first outsiders they’ve encountered.”
Fredrick frowned. “Would it matter if we were treasure hunters or not? Would not the fact that we are white be reason enough to kill us?”
Veronica’s eyes flashed. “They are not savages, Fredrick,” she replied angrily. “Mabitrai told his people they had a duty to help us as fellow men.”
Fredrick’s pride stung and suddenly he wanted to get as far away from here as possible. “When can we leave?”
Veronica’s eyes went to the ground and she shifted uncomfortably. “We don’t need to.”
“Don’t need to? We have to find that treasure!” Fredrick felt his voice rise.
“Fredrick, it’s here,” Veronica said quietly.
Fredrick stared at his sister. “Here,” he finally managed to say.
Veronica nodded.
Another moment passed before he said flatly, “That means we’re not getting it, right? They’re not giving it up.”
Veronica shook her head.
Fredrick grabbed a bowl from the table beside him and smashed it on the ground. “Everything we endured was for nothing!” he shouted. “We were going to live together and be rich!”
“Fredrick,” Veronica said, laying her trembling hand on his arm.
Fredrick looked at her to see tears in her eyes. He calmed himself.
Veronica swallowed. “The only reason I wanted the treasure was because it would enable us to go away from where I did not belong, but I have realized now that that situation would only serve to remind me every day that I did not belong. Here, I can belong. They simply accept me for who I am.” Veronica’s voice broke. “That’s all I really want.”
Fredrick rubbed his hands over his face. “And Mabitrai?” he asked, stumbling over the pronunciation. “Do you love him?”
Veronica grew shy. “I-I think I could.”
Fredrick stared long and hard at the ground and then sighed. “Does this mean you want me to leave you here?”
Veronica’s lips trembled. “I cannot ask you to stay. You don’t belong here, as much as I wish you did.”
Fredrick’s chest heaved. “And what will I tell everyone back home?”
Veronica smiled slightly. “The truth will make for good gossip.”
Then her arms were wrapped around Fredrick’s neck, her tears wetting the collar of his shirt. “Will you come visit someday?” she whispered.
He nodded into her shoulder, not trusting himself to speak.
When the two of them emerged from the hut sometime later, Fredrick was holding his sister’s hand. He walked determinedly towards Mabitrai.
“Hold out your hand,” he said.
The young man did so hesitantly. Fredrick placed Veronica’s hand in Mabitrai’s.
“Take good care of my sister,” he said huskily.
A smile spread across the young native’s face as he brought Veronica’s hand to his chest. With his other hand, he indicated the waterfall. “Not treasure out there that important, but in heart that is.” He brought the hand to his chest.
Both Fredrick’s and Veronica’s eyes were wet as they met each other’s gaze and whispered, “Love.”
Fredrick left the native village feeling strangely more complete. True, he didn’t belong there because unlike his sister, he was an English aristocrat, but he knew now that he actually did have a treasure –a treasure in his heart.