Toledo

Toledo

“And here you can see the spot where the horse knelt down”, said the guide, indicating a painted brick in the street.

José Muñoz, a dealer in antiquities, looks at the spot with the other tourists. After, he looks at the Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz, and thinks about the legend that the guide told them. Of course, it is just a legend, but imagine entering the city with Alfonso VI and el Cid! As always, his dreams overcome him and his head becomes full of drawings of that epoch, drawings bought and sold by him. “What a romantic you are!” he tells himself.

“Come, friends, pass through the entrance and see the spot where they found the light and the cross.”

All enter, except for José. He remains outside, looking at the narrow, cobblestoned street, and continuing with his dreams. Finally, he realizes that everyone is going down the street towards Puerta del Sol. He hurries and reaches them just when the guide finished his explanation of the door’s origin. Slightly upset for having missed the information, José continues the walk with the group, promising himself to pay more attention, and no more daydreaming while he is with the group.

That evening, upon returning to the hotel in Zocodover Plaza, he reviews all the information and everything that he has seen: The Cathedral, Bisagra, Cristo de la Vega. He knows that tomorrow he is going to visit the house of el Greco and the Iglesia de Santo Tomé, in addition to other interesting places, and thinks about going to bed early. However, he doesn’t do it. He decides to visit the plaza and antiquities stores that he saw in the morning. He knows that there are many trinkets for tourists there, but he goes hoping to find something of interest as he did when he went to el Rastro in Madrid. There, under a pile of rags in one the antiquities’ shops, he found a small Aztec medallion brought from Mexico to Madrid by one of the conquistadores. He looked at it for an instant and bought it. Now he is looking for something else from the same era. Who knows what can be found here in the city called “la gloria de España” by Cervantes?

He goes down the stairs of the Arco de Sangre and walks until finding a small store at the foot of a hill. As in all the stores in Toledo, he sees the famous swords of Toledo that were used during centuries, Arabic-styled jewelry, and copies of the paintings of el Greco. But, at the same time, he sees a dark corner full of spider webs that interests him. He pushes aside an ancient, empty trunk, and begins his search.

Ten minutes later, he finds what he was hoping to find- two Aztec medallions. What a surprise, two identical medallions from his homeland here in the “mother country” of the New World! But, how did they get here? He never heard of identical objects, and especially in such perfect condition as these.

“Excuse me, sir. Can you give me some information about these medallions? I bought an identical one in the Rastro in Madrid, and I am surprised to find more. I am an antiquities dealer, and I know that finding two identical things is very rare.”

“Well, stranger, it seems that you have certain ideas about this subject, so let me show you my answer.”

The storeowner indicates for Juan to follow him and goes to the corner where Juan found the medallions. Once there, he opens a door hidden in the darkness, and invites Juan to enter. Juan hesitates, but the owner pushes him ahead. As soon as he crosses the threshold, Juan feels something cold, and also feels dizzy. He closes his eyes. A bit later, he opens them and sees something surprising. He is in a cave where he sees many strange-looking Indians.

“How is this possible, I am in Spain and see people that seem to be Aztecs?”

Surprised by the sight, he hides behind a boulder. He hears the voices. They are speaking something strange, but every once in a while, he hears something familiar or, at least, similar to the Spanish spoken in the mountains and Mexican villages. He peers over the boulder. The Indians seem to be in a factory, they are in rows, one after another, with hammers in hand, and are working with a metal.

“What are they doing, are they making religious jewelry?”

He looks out a bit more when he sees something extraordinary, a man dressed in a business suit from the XX century! The man is talking with an Indian who appears to be in charge.

“Tell them to work quicker, we need the medallions soon.”     

José hears a sound not far from him. He ducks down behind the boulder again.

“Raúl, we have problems.”

José turns around and sees the storeowner approaching the other.

“What happened, Enrique?”

“Did you see the man I pushed through the portal? He found two of the medallions near the entrance. I suppose the Indian who tried to escape had them. You did well in killing him, Raúl, It served as an example to the others, but you didn’t recover the medallions.”

“Well, Enrique, we didn’t know he had them. But look- I haven’t seen this guy yet. What should we do when we find him?”

“Since he knows there are identical medallions, I suppose we will have to kill him if we want to keep the secret of this portal and our business.”

Upon hearing these words, José looks all around for an escape or, at least, a better hiding place. He sees a light-it must be the entrance to the cave. He crawls slowly so they don’t see him, and finally arrives outside. He gets up and runs toward the trees that he sees ahead. Upon arriving in the woods, he sees that he is on a hill facing a ravine. On the other side, he sees a village that looks familiar.

“Is this possible? I have seen all this in the drawings in the chronicles of the conquistadores. Can this be my hometown of Taxco? It’s impossible that I have traveled more than 450 years in the past, but it seems the same as what I have seen in the chronicles. Wait! The Indians that seem to be Aztec, why would they be dressed like that if it weren’t true? My God, I am in the time of Cortés! But, how do I return to the present? There ought to be a solution, and I am afraid that it is in the cave with those two men who want to kill me. Well, I don’t understand all this, but I know it’s necessary to return to the cave if I want to return to my time and my family. I will wait till nightfall.

While awaiting the arrival of night, he observes everything that is happening in the village and the outskirts. There are many mules leaving loaded with silver, the region is famous for its silver mines, and he also see a small plaza where he knows the cathedral will be built. He sees the twisted streets that still exist in his time and looks for the place where his house will be. There it is, but it’s a hut!

“Now I understand how the things that I discovered under my house when I was small arrived there, they were things left by the conquistadores.”

In the cave, Enrique and Raúl search all over, but don’t find anything.

“Raúl, we need a guard tonight, so the intruder doesn’t escape.”

“I will assign an Indian tonight. He won’t escape.”

Upon saying the words, Raúl approaches the head Indian, and gives him the instructions regarding José. Then he goes away.

That night, José approaches the cave. He enters cautiously, looking all around, and sees the boulder where he appeared for the first time. He looks for a door but doesn’t find anything. In vain he continues looking. Suddenly, he sees an Indian guarding something.

“This must be the door to the future, even though I don’t see anything special. It’s simply a hole.”

He begins to approach the Indian when he hears a sound from the bottom of the cave. He decides to investigate and walks until arriving to a point where there are lights. There, he sees many Indians working like those that he saw when he arrived. He also sees the storeowner with the other…Raúl.

“I don’t know what power they have over the Indians so that they continue working, but it must be very strong. Anyway, I need to escape.”

He backs away silently when, suddenly, he feels something sharp in his back. It’s the tip of a lance.

“Stop, I don’t know why the whites want you, but if they want to kill you, you must be a threat to them. And if you are their enemy, you are my friend.”

“Spaniard!” José turns his head and sees the Indian chief. The chief lowers the lance and smiles.

“I don’t understand any of this. My name is José and I am a dealer in antiquities. I was in a store in Toledo looking for some things when I found these medallions. I began to talk with that man when he pushed me through a door, and now I find myself here in the past in a cave full of Aztecs making what seem to be the same medallions as mine, in a country on the other side of the world from where I was. I don’t…”

José stops talking because he sees that the Indian doesn’t understand what he said.

“I don’t understand all the words, stranger, but I understand the meaning of what you are telling me. These two men arrived a week ago from I don’t know where and were carrying what they call a pistol. They were speaking a language like that which the whites in the town speak, but they don’t dress like the others, those from whom we fled more than a year ago. We were living peacefully here when these two arrived, and now we are forced to work for them.”

“But how is that possible, there are only two of them?”

“They took my daughter and told me that she is in a secret place from which she will not leave until we finish the work. I only know that she is in their house.”

“But this means that she is in my world, not in this world. If I could return, I could probably release her if I knew where she was.”

“She is locked in the store, idiot, but this news will not help you because you will never return to Toledo.”

José and the Indian turn around and see the enemy. Raúl has a pistol in his hand and it is pointed in the direction of José. Without thinking, the Indian throws his lance, and Raúl falls with the lance in his chest. José throws himself on top of the storeowner and they fight on the ground. The storeowner is stronger and begins to overcome José when the Indian approaches with a rock in his hand and hits the storeowner on the head. The latter collapses unconsciously on the ground while José staggers to his feet, and thanks the Indian.

“I have to return to my world to find your daughter. You stay here and, when I find her, I will push her through the portal. Until later.”

The two go to the hole where the portal is located, and José enters. Once again, he feels the cold and dizziness and, in a blink of an eye, he is once again in the store. He searches in all the rooms and finally discovers the girl in the basement. He tells her what he wants to do, and the two go up the stairs and enter the portal.

On the other side, the Indian is anxiously waiting for them. Finally, they appear, and the girl runs to her father with open arms. José, who remained near the portal to observe the two, sees a movement behind them. It’s the storeowner with a pistol pointed at José. José jumps back and enters the portal just as he hears a shot. While José is returning to the present, he hears a barely perceptible explosion. He arrives to the present and quickly leaves the store. Upon arriving on the street, he turns and sees that there is an explosion in the store, destroying it, and throwing José to the ground.

The next day, he is in his hotel, reading the news of the explosion in the store. “It is believed that explosion was caused by a gas leak.” He continues reading the paper.

“Yesterday, in Taxco, México, an Aztec cave was discovered in the outskirts of the city, near one of the many silver mines. Upon exploring the cave, many skeletons and medallions were found (see the photo). In a hole in the cave, however, they discovered something even more curious than all the identical medallions –three skeletons, one being that of a child, and Magnum pistol. It is not known how a XX century pistol got into the cave. More information when available.”

José drops the newspaper, closes his eyes, and once again his dreams overcome him, filling his head with Aztec drawings.