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I know what it is, of course. They are everywhere, these creatures, though I don’t know its name in its own language. I only know that it is a Chemei, a demon of the forest.
It is still wary of me, and I think I am the first of the human race that it has seen in a great many years – perhaps ever. My chanted prayers are keeping it at bay, but I am more and more aware of it every day. It is very hungry.
If you were here, Mei, you would ask me why I do not leave. The answer is simple. Gold. The curse of gold. This is a rich claim, and I cannot bring myself to leave before I have emptied the river of its riches.
The gold will let us live as we deserve, my love. We will become big in the new city. We will pave our roads with this gold, and buy ourselves a building, a business. With that, we will be safe, your future will be assured, the futures of our children.
I know you were happy enough with what I brought out early in the summer, and did not want me to return. But there is much more here, and I want so much for you and the children to be free from worry and drudgery.
The Chemei watches from between its trees, and so far does not come close. I can feel its alien thoughts, trying to worm their way inside me, to see what is there, and what it can take from me. It is so hungry, Mei. But it is also weak, and I have some little more time before it gets over its fear of me, and begins to hunt.
I will leave before then. Whether the gold is all mine or not.