The Usurper

by James Alderdice

  Gathelaus kicked him from the ground and the Brujo went staggering back.

  Waving Grass screamed, this time in rage, a particularly dire curse.

  Gathelaus found the falcata in the dust, he smiled wickedly and pointed at the shadow he thought was the Brujo. He faltered suddenly, he couldn’t take a chance of accidentally cutting Waving Grass. Unable to get a clear shot yet because of his watering eyes, Gathelaus struggled to his feet, ready for his opponent. It was hard enough for Gathelaus to see him in the dim light but the clotted blood color of the dark priest’s cloak helped him remain invisible.

  The hissing, buzzing sound in the pit grew louder, faster.

  “We must flee!” shouted Waving Grass.

  “Hang on,” gasped Gathelaus, “I can’t leave that bastard behind. Gotta finish this.”

  The Blood Brujo lunged out of the spider-haunted gloom at Gathelaus with his copper knife.

  Gathelaus batted the blade aside and slashed, narrowly missing his target. The Blood Brujo knocked his shoulder into Gathelaus and he lost the blade again. No weapon stood between them any longer.

  Tumbling across the altar, they rolled and gained their feet only to batter each other again.

  “The Blood God wakes!” shouted Waving Grass.

  But Gathelaus and the Blood Brujo couldn’t hear her, they were grappling against one another in a mad attempt to throttle the life from each other.

  Struggling to the far side of the altar, Gathelaus sensed they had slipped closer to the precipice. The sound of turmoil within was growing. Darkness swirled over itself, black on black, shadow melting into shadow.

  Straining against one another, the two men were matched like titans on the brink, neither yet overpowering the other. The Brujo’s right palm crept over Gathelaus’s face in a vain attempt to tear out his eyes. Gathelaus’s hand in turn found the stuck sacrificial blade in the Brujo’s back.

  Gathelaus twisted and ripped it out.

  The Brujo screamed and his hands shot away from his body, then cringed like claws. He fell backward, yet grasped Gathelaus as he did so, pulling the Northman into the abyss after him.

  Gathelaus felt the sudden absence of earth. He was enveloped by flowing darkness. Falling into the black.

  The Brujo screamed shrilly below and was suddenly silenced by a sickening crunch. The terrible echoing song of rattles grew louder.

  Desperate hands reached and Gathelaus caught the lip and strained to hold on, let alone climb. His handhold broke and crumbled. He caught another but was slipping ever closer to the yawning black doom below. The hissing, the buzzing, the very sound of the earth vibrating rattled his teeth.

  The stone lip in his right hand puckered and broke free in a kiss of death. The fraction of a second that Gathelaus was falling seemed a cruel eternity.

  “I’ve got you!” Waving Grass caught his hand, granting just enough time for Gathelaus to kick his feet and find purchase on the precipice. He struggled to climb as she yanked him upward. Just over the rim and something tugged at his heel. It slipped off and he looked back into the pit.

  It was rising, or they were rising, he couldn’t be sure. There was too much movement, variations of crisscrossing shadows swarming over the outline of a massive bulk. Larger than an ox, larger than a wagon the thing rose up. Rattles and hissing and groaning’s from more than a thousand fanged mouths.

  Gathelaus could never be sure of what he saw within that maddening gloom, it had the appearance of a great ball of rattlesnakes entwined as all snakes do for the winter but also it had the outline of a man or woman. As if there was gigantic person made of snakes. In just the right—or wrong—light it almost looked as if it had two heads and was looking right at him. Then the rising pile collapsed, and the snakes slithered forward in droves.

  What he had thought might have been the double heads of a giant were instead the heads of two giant rattlesnakes, big around as tree trunks.

  “Let’s go!” Gathelaus shouted, as he picked up his falcata and the gold handled sacrificial knife.

  Waving Grass said, “I told you the legends were true.”

  He tugged at her, directing her to run with him back the way he had come into the chamber of horrors.

  A colossal hiss and the pile of snakes seemed to be tumbling if not slithering after them all at once.

  Gathelaus wasn’t sure what was worse, not being able to see them very well in the gloom of the pit or being able to see them now that they had run as far as the next chamber where the guttering torches remained. He gathered up as many of the torches as he could.

  There were thousands of rattlesnakes, but they weren’t acting natural, they were entwined with one another, moving together almost like they were one giant snake.

  Gathelaus and Waving Grass reached the end of the open chamber. He handed her a torch saying, “Crawl thru until you get to a tunnel like a chimney going up! I’ll be right behind you!” He handed her a torch and ushered her on.

  Facing the oncoming snakes, he threw a torch into the serpentine morass and then tossed his flask of whiskey. Fire erupted about but there were so many snakes that it had no discernable effect. The flood of rattlesnakes would soon drown him in their dripping venom.

  7. Coils of the Serpent

  Waving Grass crawled ahead and Gathelaus was right behind, albeit a bit slower as he was scooting three torches behind himself in a desperate plan to hold off the snakes.

  The wedge-shaped heads hissed and snapped and struck. Gathelaus wasn’t sure himself how the foremost rattlers had missed him.

  Gathelaus reached the chimney passage, he left the three torches to defend his position and started climbing up. He knew the rattlers could maneuver up it themselves, he just hoped he was faster than they were along with the three torches holding them at bay for just a bit.

  He was dependent on Waving Grass’s torch for light and hoped she didn’t get too far ahead of him when she reached the top. She waited.

  “I don’t remember which way they brought me down,” she said.

  “This way, come on,” said Gathelaus, as he cast a look at the shaft. The hissing and rattling were rising albeit slower than the initial slithering charge, but he knew the snakes would be at their heels in a moment. Searching the gloom for a moment, Gathelaus saw a few good-sized boulders. It would be all he could do to move them, but it might be their only chance. “Here,” he called to Waving Grass.

  Together, they rolled and shoved a massive stove into the chimney. It fell halfway, lodging tight and likely crushing a few reptiles with it. They gather a few more loose stones and threw those in to help plug the open spots. Then they found a larger stone and moved it over the top.

  “Let’s get going, before any small ones get out.”

  Gathelaus led the way and soon enough they were almost back to original defile that he jumped. Gathelaus jumped first then took the torch and let Waving Grass jump. They moved around the edge of the deep slanted tunnel when they each heard a buzzing rattling, deep from down in the black.

  “I didn’t see the bottom to that when I got here but I think I know where it leads to now. Move!”

  Gathelaus helped Waving Grass up the steep slope. A reverberating hiss had him look back. Waving his torch, Gathelaus saw the dim flame light catch the yellow around the black slits on a gigantic set of eyes that slithered back and forth up the incline. He threw some stones but the monster snake didn’t slow down at all.

  Just a few paces above Gathelaus, Waving Grass had her feet braced up against a massive stone. She was pushing as hard as she could. Gathelaus joined her and together just as the snake was a few paces from them, the boulder went free, tumbling down at an awful crooked pace.

  It caught the snake god full in the mouth and the monster fell back away into the dark.

  They hurried the rest of the way out and came to the original cavern entrance. Soon as they passed through, Gathelaus started trying to light a fire.

  Waving Grass gathered fuel from around
the inside and the smoke started to tickle into flames just as a mess of regular size rattlers started through the passage. They weren’t nearly so difficult to manage but it was unnerving. They either stabbed the serpents or flung them out into the snow outside the entrance.

  Between dealing with the dozen or more rattlers, Gathelaus got the fire roaring in front of the serpent’s doorway. No more snakes came, and there was certainly no sign of the giant ones.

  Shadows appeared at the door. Two servants of Coatlicue. They pointed their bows at Gathelaus and Waving Grass, barking orders.

  “They say to drop your sword belt and get against the far wall,” said Waving Grass.

  Gathelaus slowly undid his belt and cast it at their feet. He was ready to lunge soon as one of them leaned down to pick it up and the other took his eyes off him for even a second. But that chance never came, they ignored the sword-belt and shouted at Waving Grass.

  She reluctantly gathered snow from outside the cave mouth.

  “What are you doing?” asked Gathelaus.

  The servants of Coatlicue shouted at him.

  “They said for you to be quiet. They asked where their master is. I told them he is below. They told me to put the fire out or they will kill us.”

  “We put that out and we’re all dead,” argued Gathelaus.

  One of the servants of Coatlicue approached and struck Gathelaus with his spear butt.

  Waving Grass said, “They say the source of all life will die if we don’t feed the gods blood. It must be done.”

  “Let me guess who’s blood you’re gonna feed ‘em.”

  The servant of Coatlicue said nothing but gave a cruel smile and nodded at Gathelaus.

  Waving Grass made eye contact with Gathelaus then dumped an armful of snow in the fire and it sizzled and steamed in a great splash.

  Each of them lunged at their captor’s. Gathelaus knocked the one into the dying fire and at the serpent’s doorway. The man shot up screaming in pain from the steam burns and coals and was further afflicted with waiting snake bites from the other side of the doorway. He stood up but fell over again.

  Waving Grass grabbed the spear of the other.

  Gathelaus tackled the servant of Coatlicue after he shoved Waving Grass aside, and they rolled outside the cave mouth through the snow, sliding down the hillside at a greater rate than anyone would have guessed.

  The sun was beaming, and snow melted just enough for the ground to be wet and slick.

  Waving Grass grabbed Gathelaus’s sword and raced outside after them.

  The short-lived slide down the hillside came to an abrupt stop at a boulder and Gathelaus throttled the servant of Coatlicue. He looked back up the hillside and shouted at Waving Grass, “Get away from that cave, Sister!”

  She turned to see the head of the second of the two giant rattle snakes, gingerly flicking its tongue in the outside air. Its massive wedge-shaped head was bigger than a horse. It slithered through the breach and outside into the sunlight and gleaming snow.

  Waving Grass faced it but slowly backed away.

  The giant snake watched her intently. It started to move forward; its head higher than Waving Grass was tall.

  “Move it, Sister! Off the cliff! Jump! There’s snow!”

  Waving Grass understood and ran to the cliff face on the leeward side. The great snake followed her swift as the wind.

  She leapt, arms wide as if she could take flight.

  The snake god’s mouth opened wide, its fangs more than a foot long extended, and struck—and missed Waving Grass by a hair’s breadth.

  She hit the snow twenty feet below and lay still. The snake god pondered a moment if it should follow down into the snow or back toward the man.

  Then it saw the horses.

  Slithering through the snow it left a trail like a ship’s wake going over the sparkling white. The horses had been tied up to the trees, some might have been hobbled, Gathelaus wasn’t sure, but they saw the giant snake coming and screamed trying to break their tethers. It wasn’t enough. The monster struck. It bit and slammed with its tail and destroyed them.

  Gathelaus went up the hill but watched in horrid fascination as the snake god unhinged its mouth and swallowed one of the animals whole. Its belly swelled and now it left an even wider trail through the snow.

  Waving Grass stood up out of the snow and signaled to Gathelaus.

  He kept his hand low, signaling her back to remain where she was, relatively out of sight. The wind shifted and blew from Gathelaus toward the great rattler.

  The snake god swung its colossal head back and watched Gathelaus standing halfway up the hill.

  Its massive tail curled closer to itself and Gathelaus could not count the rattles at the end. It seemed there were dozens in great folds of its bone-like material. This monster must be hundreds of years old.

  He had no more weapons but the sacrificial knife. But he would not go down without a fight. Gathelaus clutched the blade, figuring he would tear out the monster’s insides if he was swallowed whole like the horses.

  The snake slithered closer, covering yards in seconds despite its huge bulk. It came right up on Gathelaus eyeing him like desert.

  Gathelaus stared back, hard and sharp as the obsidian in his hand.

  The snake god’s tail slipped around behind Gathelaus. There would be no running away, no place to hide, no place to flee. He was trapped but good.

  Gathelaus didn’t have a lot of options but he would never give up. He fingered the obsidian blade and backed away until he was bumping into the tail. The snake readjusted a few times but Gathelaus moved with it. Once the tail bumped him purposely in an attempt to make him stumble but he kept his footing.

  “Well, come on! Let’s do this!” Gathelaus shouted.

  Just past the myriad rattles the tail coiled about Gathelaus holding him fast. Only his arms were free. Then it struck, the massive fangs dripping venom. Gathelaus did his damndest to bring the blade up and position himself between the spear-like fangs.

  The two fangs went either side of his body but the outstretched right arm with the sacrificial knife stabbed into the roof of the snake god’s mouth. It drew back in an instant with the knife still stuck to the top of its palette. Flailing wildly, the tail whipped up and down across the snows, slamming down with enough force to smash trees to kindling. He coiled and knotted, distended and spat. Gathelaus dodged and rolled in a superhuman effort to evade the maddened beast. The tail whomped down a number of times almost crushing him but for rolling through the snow inches away just in time.

  Waving Grass called trying to distract the snake god but it was too disturbed and in pain to pay any attention.

  As the snake convulsed in an effort to be rid of its insufferable thorn, Gathelaus escaped and ranged back toward Waving Grass and the cave. “Did any horses make it?”

  She shook her head, saying, “Maybe, but if they didn’t get bitten they are a long way away.”

  “We can’t stay here, we better head off after them.”

  Gathelaus motioned back to the cave, “We can look for any supplies the old man left and start hunting then.”

  “What about the snakes?”

  “I think we killed one with that boulder, but ain’t nothing more I can do about that other there.”

  The snake god was slowly making its way down the valley in terrible writing motions.

  “I don’t want to stay here. I don’t want to go back in there,” she said.

  Gathelaus breathed aloud. “Then wait here while I gather what I can,” he said, in a huff. He trudged back up the hill, slipping once or twice on the melty slick hillside. Once inside the cavern, he found a store of jerky and a few more weapons and one full bottle of whiskey he must have dropped in any number of the melee’s encountered.

  Gathelaus was aghast at what he found from the warrior who had been bitten. The man had disintegrating blackened flesh from the terrible snake venom. The big one must have bit him as it exited the tunnel. He wa
s glad now that Waving Grass didn’t have to see this.

  Stepping outside he worried for a moment. Two dozen Pict warriors on horseback were at the bottom of the hill speaking with Waving Grass. The most troublesome thing was they appeared to be dressed similar enough to the servants of Coatlicue with bright feathers, jaguar skins and copper ornaments. Why weren’t they attacking? At least they didn’t seem to be wearing the sinister war paint that the servants of Coatlicue did.

  She saw Gathelaus and motioned for him to come down and that everything was all right.

  He slipped down the hillside to be by her side, rather reluctantly.

  She spoke rapidly in Tultecacan to the Chief, then she turned to Gathelaus. “Gathelaus this is Amoxtli. My brother.”

  “Brother?”

  She nodded. “I was stolen when I was a girl and sold as a slave. I learned Vjornish from a white woman who was also a slave. When Ichtaca Eztli came north to wake the Blood Gods, he recognized me in the city of Avanyu. He bought me to be used as a sacrifice here. I told my brother of your bravery and facing down the Coatlicue.”

  The brother nodded to Gathelaus and beat his chest.

  “That explains how well you can speak but now what? Will they give me a horse?”

  The brother understood well enough and shouted for a someone to bring Gathelaus and Waving Grass a horse. He spoke quickly and fiercely to Waving Grass and she reluctantly nodded.

  “What is it now?”

  She said, “We must follow the snake god and try to return it to its lair.”

  Gathelaus laughed out loud. “That ain’t gonna happen. Why do they wanna do that?”

  The brother looked incensed and Waving Grass said, “The snake god is one of the most powerful gods of my people. If we can contain it, we can grow in power. We don’t want it to go back to the ruins of Texocanocan and bring back the other Blood Gods. There are too many. It took Modac years to defeat and banish them.”

  “I’ve heard that story before, but I still don’t see how it can be done.”

  “We must try.”

  Gathelaus rubbed at his forehead and nodded with a big sigh. “All right. I’m with you.”