“I want to be named as the man who discovered Cibola,” he announced, looking up.
Maya nodded, trying to think of a plan. In her most sincere tone she said, “You have earned that title.”
He put the knife back in his belt, then gently laid his hands on her shoulders and planted a kiss on her forehead. His lips disgusted her. She closed her eyes wishing he would stop touching her.
“I wish I could trust you to stay here, my Indian Princess.” He smoothed back her hair, gazing into her eyes in a way that felt dirty. The way he flirted with her made her skin crawl.
Even with as much as she despised him this was an opportunity. She hated herself for thinking of it, but she felt desperate. She put her hands on his chest, the way she did with Warren, and took a step closer, trying her best not to show him how much he repulsed her. “If you promise to cut me a share in the earnings for your discovery I’ll not only stay here… I’ll be your Indian Princess, and I’ll help you.” She talked to him in a husky voice and looked straight into his eyes.
Dr. Parker’s eyes widened. He stiffened and tilted his head, eyeing her up and down, yielding to the charm of the moment. She hoped he believed her.
A smile spread over his face. “You’re playing with me.”
She wrapped her arms around his middle and pulled him in. His shoulders slackened, and he looked at her again with a flicker of hope. She closed her eyes, imagining he was Warren, and pressed her lips on his cheek. The stubble on his chin scratched her face. His fingers clenched briefly on her shoulders, then relaxed. He breathed heavily as she pulled away. She wanted to spit and wipe her mouth but couldn’t risk undoing what she had started. If he suspected she was at all insincere who knows what he might do to her. She tried to read his face, looking for any sign she had convinced him. His posture slackened. He lifted his fingers to his cheek with a smile. She smiled back.
“I’m not playing, William.” She rubbed her hands on his back.
“Well… we’ll work something out,” he said, leaning in for another kiss.
She pulled her head back with a smile, backing away, she grabbed for the dwelling she stood beside. As she did, she noticed writing on the side of the building. An idea came to her. “Wait!” She put her hand on the building and lowered her head.
“What is it?”
“I’ve been lying to you.” She frowned.
His eyes flickered. “Lying?”
“Yes,” she looked him straight in the eye. “I know how to read the ancient writing.”
A smile spread over his lips. “I knew it.”
She placed her hand over the symbols and pretended to concentrate. After a few moments she opened her eyes wide and her mouth as if she had just had a revelation.
“What?” Dr. Parker looked at her as if she was about to read the winning lottery numbers that matched his ticket.
“The treasure you seek is at the top of the cave dwellings,” she lied.
He looked up to the house at the top of the buildings. It was a far climb.
“I really want to see you make history,” she said.
“I already have. What more can I do?” He asked.
She finally knew how to control him. “I want you to be the first man to climb to the top of Cibola in thousands of years.”
He smirked and whispered, “that’s a brilliant idea! Why didn’t I think of that?”
She raised her eyebrows, smiling up at him. He smiled back. She nodded toward the ladder encouraging him to start.
As he turned towards the dwelling she pulled the knife from his belt. She caught a glimpse of James and Chantal who gaped at her. She felt ashamed of the kiss she had given him, but she shrugged it off. She was going to what she had to do.
She grasped the knife getting ready to plunge it into his back. She held it up, thinking about where to put it. All she could think about was how bloody it would be. The thought made her sick. She grasped the handle so hard her hand began to shake. Do it! He’s a horrible person.
He began to climb the ladder and her moment of opportunity was gone.
Her head drooped, and she hid the knife behind her back, feeling like a coward.
Dr. Parker got to the first porch and looked back at her. She smiled at him, and he smiled back, then started to climb the next ladder. Maya looked around and noticed old tools and ears of corn that lay outside the dwelling. Woven baskets and pottery lined the walls as if the Anasazi had just left everything where it was while they were out for a quick walk.
"Maya," James whispered, "this is our chance."
She nodded as she tried to remember what Lance had translated on the rubbing. She put her palm over her face. "Don't disturb the slumber of the dead. Pass through the chasm where the sands withstand time.”
“We need to follow the direction of the water.” Maya checked on Dr. Parker’s progress. He was halfway to the top. “Let’s go!”
Maya and James sprinted down the path passing sand paintings of Tawa and many other gods from legends of old like the one of Spider Woman in their laundry room. As they got further away the light from the revolving room became a distant spot and they relied on the light from James's headlamp. As they ran it draped across the rib cage of what appeared to be an animal.
They stopped to take a quick look. "What kind of animal do you think these bones belong to?" James asked.
"I don't know. We don’t have time, James. We should keep moving."
James didn’t listen and bent down to rub his hand over the soft sand. A white skull was barely an inch under the surface. Maya gasped as she realized it was human. They backed away from the shallow grave. “Let’s just get out of here,” Maya said.
Chantal grabbed her by the arm. "Don't forget why we’re here. We need to find Ahote."
She let out an exasperated breath. "I know. What do you think happened to him?" She looked back up at Dr. Parker to make sure he wasn’t at the top yet.
James swallowed. He averted his eyes and his chin dipped toward his chest. "My uncle got him with a dart.”
They gasped.
"But he awoke and made it here, just like he said.”
Chantal narrowed her eyes at him. "How could he have climbed up the canyon walls under the influence of the poison?"
"We don’t know. One moment he was laying behind a rock, and the next moment he was up the canyon wall getting into the cave." James shrugged. “Divine intervention?”
Maya was unsure if she believed him, but she didn't have time to question it. He was their only hope of getting away.
Dr. Parker called from the top of the cave dwelling holding a tomahawk in one hand. “I’ve done it!" He was deliriously happy, jumping up and down. "Teach me everything!"
“Hurry!” Maya said, with a darting gaze. She grabbed James by the back of the arm. “Before he figures out we’ve left.”
35. The Underworld
Sunday, 5:45 a.m.
Warren lay in the river, contemplating his situation, as the mysterious flute player danced atop the canyon with the two others. The pitter patter of rain began to fall around him. It started out so light he didn't realize it until there were droplets that pooled and ran down his face. He felt numb and his head was throbbing, but the sound of droplets hitting the water was soothing.
He managed to pull himself up a few inches to look at the horses and catch their attention by his small movement. They turned their heads in his direction. Ancient Orange twitched his ears, Hototo flicked his tail, and Fearless stood aloof with nostrils flaring.
Ancient Orange turned away and headed up the dirt slide. Fearless and Hototo continued to watch Warren.
Warren considered the short distance it was to the sand, but in his condition it seemed as impossible as a tattered leaf that was dependent on an erratic wind to blow it to the riverbank.
He tried maneuvering himself, splashing face first into the river. For a moment, he thought he was going to drown as his face submerged. He tried to push himself back up, but
he lacked strength. He gasped, taking in a large gulp of water through his nose and mouth, then he continued to roll until he was face up. He sputtered and coughed. Without the rock to prop his head on the water filled his ears. All he could hear was the rolling water.
The rain began to pelt.
Warren managed to lift his head enough to see Hototo galloping up the dirt slide. It hadn't taken long for the rainwater to gather and trickle down from it into the river. It was washing down from the Valley of Spires. Warren remembered the panic in his father’s face when he was just a young boy. He had been near the dirt slide when it started to rain. The valley had flooded within minutes and all the water roiled down it in an amazing gush. His father had scooped him up onto his shoulders and made a run for the exit.
The sky darkened as grey clouds rolled in. Lightning flashed, followed by a loud crash of thunder that he even heard through the water.
Fearless stood staring at Warren from the sand. He paced a few times by the riverbank with his big brown eyes locking on Warren.
Warren extended a hand to Fearless and gave his best effort to call out, "Come, Fearless." His voice felt as weak as the perfume a flower gives forth.
⭐⭐⭐
Sunday, 7:55 a.m.
Maya jogged beside James at a steady pace as he carried Chantal while Maya calculated their escape. She looked over her shoulder to see where Dr. Parker was as they continued further into the tunnel. He was nowhere in view which added to her tension.
They came to a place where the cave forked into a tunnel behind the numerous cliff dwellings. Maya put her hands up, spreading her fingers as she tried to quickly discern which direction to go.
"Watch out," James told Maya, pointing to a fully-dressed corpse. They stopped. It was a female skeleton, wearing a dress that looked like it had been in style about a decade ago. A bandanna was tied around the skull.
Chantal gasped, cupping her mouth. "I know her."
The three of them stopped and stared.
"Are you sure?" Maya asked. It was strange to think Chantal could recognize a skeleton.
Chantal put her hand over her mouth and nodded. "Ahote and Warren are-" her voice cracked, and her eyes glimmered in James’s light as they welled with tears.
Maya felt a knot in her throat; it was Warren's mother. She thought of the painting she had given him. She had felt his mother was as elusive and fleeting as a dream, and now seeing her in an unknown world was just as riveting.
“What should we-“
“Stop!” Chantal put her hand out and listened with her eyes closed.
James shifted his weight from one leg to the other while Maya waited for Chantal to speak.
"I hear drums," Chantal whispered. "Coming from the tunnel."
Maya closed her eyes as well, and for the first time she could hear the faint beat, not only that, in her mind she could see a glow like nothing she had experienced before. There were four transparent auras down in the distance. The only way she could have seen it was by having the gift of sonar. One of the Auras was a tall skeleton that stood watch in front of an archway. He wore woven clothing over his shoulders and decorative robes with boots. The top of his skull was painted black and had colored circles on top. The others were human, wearing traditional clothing. She knew without a doubt this entrance was sacred. This was where the Kachinas spent their days. It was more peaceful and happier than she’d imagined, and she didn’t feel threatened. The auras gawked at the three of them with curiosity, like children peeking at a present.
"Do you hear it?" Chantal asked.
"Yes, but do you see them?" Maya said.
“See what?” James asked, wrinkling his forehead.
"You see them?" Chantal craned her neck and gasped. "It’s the door to the afterlife."
"Skeleton Man guards the entrance," Maya said, repeating what Ahote had told them.
"Is this where we need to go?" James sounding confused.
"No," Maya replied, "we're looking for the door to the third world, but–" She stopped as a spirit walked down the tunnel towards them. She looked exactly the way Warren's mother did, and was wearing the same outfit as the skeleton that lay at Maya's feet. She felt uncertain of what she might want. The woman gave her a smile, approaching slowly, but stopped when she was near enough to extend her hand to her.
"When the blood in our veins returns to the sea...” the woman said with a tone that was ethereal, “and the earth in our bones returns to the ground... it is then we remember this land does not belong to us... it is us who belong to the land." She grabbed the transparent necklace around her neck and held it out for Maya to see.
Life after death seemed to be like riding on a thought. It’s not physically there, but it’s there all the same. Her face was pale as wax, and her eyes clear as starlight in the dark of night.
"Take this necklace and bring it to my husband," she said.
Maya looked down at her bones, which had the real necklace around its neck. She bent down and unclasped it. As she did so, the necklace around her aura vanished. She would no longer have it to wear in the underworld. The thought made Maya’s heartbreak, but it was her wish. She put it around her own neck for safe keeping.
"Now go," she said, motioning downstream.
Maya looked in the direction and nodded, feeling relieved that they were headed in the right direction.
James was oblivious to the woman as his eyes rolled around trying to see what Maya saw. Chantal had a soft expression while she fixated on the spirit. She skimmed her fingertips along her shoulder.
Maya turned to James. “It’s this way.”
They headed down the path. Maya’s shins hit something that scraped across them tripped over something. She tripped and fell head first into what felt like a hollowed trunk.
"Are you okay?" Chantal whispered as the light flooded into what Maya had fallen in.
"Fine.” Maya squinted, rubbing the back of her temporal bone. “I just bumped my head.”
"It’s a lightweight canoe," James said.
It was a bit unruly but was indeed a canoe. It was brown and dirty without seats to sit on. The wood was flimsy and each end curved up into a point.
"James," Maya said, "put Chantal in and we Can push it into the river."
"I don't know about that," Chantal said, grasping James’s neck harder. "What if it has wood rot? I don't want to go sinking to the bottom!"
"We'll have to chance it. It's our only hope of getting away." Maya's eyes rested on James, who nodded.
He placed Chantal carefully into the canoe.
"James! Maya! Chantal! Where are you?" Dr. Parker’s voice was like a clap of thunder, the kind that disturbs chirping birds and makes them scatter.
Maya felt like she might have whiplash from jerking her head. James jumped back and threw his hands up at the sound and Chantal grasped each side of the canoe while looking around in alarm.
They went into full panic mode as James grabbed hold of the back of the canoe, trying to push while Maya yanked the front. The bottom of it seemed to have settled into the dirt like an iron anchor. James began counting softly, "One, two, three, push! One, two, three, push!" Slowly, the canoe inched closer to the edge of the canal. Maya could feel the back of her heels trudging into the flow of the cold water.
Secrets of the Anasazi Page 32