Free The Second Ring of Power by Carlos Castaneda Page A

me."
    "What I've done to you tonight has nothing to do with what he
feels for you or myself. This is only between the two of us. There have
been no witnesses to what took place today between the two of us, because both
of us are part of the Nagual himself. But you in particular have received and
kept something of him that I don't have, something that I need desperately, the
special power that he gave you. The Nagual said that he had given something to
each of his six children. I can't reach Eligio. I can't take it
from my girls, so that leaves you as my prey. I made the power the Nagual
gave me grow, and in growing it changed my body. You made your power grow too.
I wanted that power from you and for that I had to kill you. The Nagual
said that even if you didn't die, you would fall under my spell and
become my prisoner for life if I wanted it so. Either way,
    your power was going to be mine."
    "But how could my death benefit you?"
    "Not your death but your power. I did it because I need a boost;
without it I will have a hellish time on my journey. I don't have enough guts.
That's why I dislike la Gorda. She's young and has plenty of
guts. I'm old and have second thoughts and doubts. If you want to know the
truth, the real struggle is between Pablito and myself. He is my
mortal enemy, not you. The Nagual said that your power
could make my journey easier and help me get what I need."
    "How on earth can Pablito be your enemy?"
    "When the Nagual changed me, he knew what would eventually happen.
First of all, he set me up so my eyes would face the north,
and although you and my girls are the same, I am the opposite of you
people. I go in a different direction. Pablito, Nestor and Benigno are with
you; the direction of their eyes is the same as yours. All of
you will go together toward Yucatan.
    "Pablito is my enemy not because his eyes were set in the opposite
direction, but because he is my son. This is what I had to tell you,
even though you don't know what I am talking about. I have to enter
into the other world. Where the Nagual is now. Where Genaro and Eligio are now. Even if I have to destroy Pablito to do that."
    "What are you saying, dona Soledad? You're crazy!"
    "No, I am not. There is nothing more important for us living
beings than to enter into that world. I will tell you that for me
that is true. To get to that world I live the way the Nagual taught me.
Without the hope of that world I am nothing, nothing. I was a fat old cow. Now
that hope gives me a guide, a direction, and even if I can't take
your power, I still have my purpose."
    She rested her head on the table, using her arms as a pillow. The force
of her statements had numbed me. I had not understood what
exactly she had meant, but I could almost empathize with her
plea, although it was the strangest thing I had yet heard from her that night.
Her purpose was a warrior's purpose, in don Juan's style and
terminology. I never knew, however, that one had to destroy people
in order to fulfill it.
    She lifted up her head and looked at me with half-closed eyelids.
    "At the beginning everything worked fine for me today," she
said. "I was a bit scared when you drove up. I had waited years
for that moment. The Nagual told me that you like women. He said
you are an easy prey for them, so I played you for a quick finish. I figured
that you would go for it. The Nagual had taught me how I should grab
you at the moment when you are the weakest. I was leading
you to that moment with my body. But you became suspicious. I was too clumsy. I had taken you to my room, as the Nagual told me to do, so the lines of
my floor would entrap you and make you helpless. But you fooled
my floor by liking it and by watching its lines intently. It had
no power as long as your eyes were on its lines. Your body knew what to do.
Then you scared my floor, yelling the way you did. Sudden noises
like that are deadly, especially the voice of a sorcerer. The power of my floor
died out like a flame. I