Except for the doorway and the limestone blocks behind the rack of skulls, the rest of the walls were plastered and covered with vividly painted scenes and drawings.
“This is all undiscovered,” she exclaimed. “Everything’s totally intact. What a find!”
“You may be used to this kind of stuff,” Zack muttered, staring at the skeleton. “But I’m not. This is really freaking me out.”
“You don’t need to be afraid of him. He’s dead.”
“I noticed.”
“Look at this,” she said, holding up a six-inch piece of carved dark green jade. “It’s fantastic. Look at the detail.” She held it close for him to see. “See the edges? How it’s a profile of a face? These are the feathers of his headpiece.” She ran her fingers along the high, slanted forehead, down the nose, and line of the jaw. “This is his earbob. And, here’s his necklace.”
“Maria,” Zack said. “I hate to spoil your fun, but in case you haven’t noticed we need to find a way out of here.”
Carefully she set down the artifact. “You’re right. But, what if there isn’t one?”
“In that case, it’s going to be a very long two weeks. We have no food and only two bottles of water. Plus, even though I have another pack of flashlight batteries, eventually they’ll run out and we’ll be stuck here in the dark. Same with the torch. But, I refuse to accept that possibility until we’ve searched every inch of this place.”
Zack walked the perimeter of the room, melting away the cobwebs and illuminating the artwork. The panels on the walls recounted the tale of the Third Creation of mankind as well as stories about the Hero Twins defeating the Lords of Darkness in Xibalba.
Only, some of the stories seemed out of order. Maria went up to a panel that told the story of how the Hero Twins survived the House of Knives by promising the flesh of all the animals to the animated, stabbing daggers.
In the floor below the panel was an Ol glyph.
Holding her breath, she rushed to the next panel. Sure enough, below it was another portal glyph. Then, one by one she checked the rest of the drawings.
“In Mayan myth,” she explained to Zack while kneeling in front of the panel of the House of Gloom. “The Hero Twins were taken down into Xibalba. They escaped by tricking the demons. These panels tell the story and in front of each panel is a portal glyph. See?”
He knelt down beside her and ran his fingers around the edges of the stone, clearing away years of accumulated dust.
“Think these might open a door?” he asked. Quickly, before she could warn him he pushed down on the stone. They heard a scraping noise that seemed to come from all sides at once. Then there was silence. The fire on the torch flickered and the cobwebs swayed gently. Other than that, there didn’t seem to be any changes.
Zack stood up. “Uh, oh.”
“I think these were supposed to be opened in sequence,” Maria said. “So, what happened? Do you see anything?”
Zack pointed down. Below each of the panels, and only a fraction of an inch above the floor, an opaque, smelly substance oozed out from the stone blocks. From inside the wall a scurrying sound could be heard. Horrified, Maria realized that insect trails in the dust began at the walls and ended at the skeletons. Sudden fear tingled in her arms, shoulders and up her neck beyond her hairline.
“I think we’re in trouble,” she said.
Shiny black three-horned beetles began pouring through the narrow slits, covering and devouring the pasty substance.
“Holy shit!” Zack muttered. “What are those things?”
Maria shook her head slowly. She’d never seen insects like these before. Flat when they squeezed through the walls, they filled out as they fed. They were at least three inches high and still growing. She and Zack retreated to the middle of the chamber.
“A better question would be what are they going to eat when they finish with that smelly, stinky stuff?” she cried.
In a panic she looked back at the panels of the Hero Twins and their ordeals in the different houses of horror. The panels had to be important; they each had an Ol glyph. If the stones were to be pushed in sequence, then maybe it still wasn’t too late to right the wrong that Zack had done.
There was the House of Jaguars, the House of Gloom, the House of Fire, the House of Bats, the House of Knives, and the House of Cold.
“I’ve got it!” She screamed. “The Houses! The houses are out of order!” The Hero Twins first ordeal had been in the House of Gloom. Their final ordeal was in the House of Bats. That left the Houses of the Jaguar, Knives, Fire, and Cold. Fire and Cold were separated by the House of Jaguars, that she remembered. But, which came first? The House of Fire? Or, the House of Cold? And where did the House of Knives fit? What would happen if she got them out of sequence? She didn’t want to find out. The ancient Maya were ruthless. They didn’t often give second chances. Think! She told herself. Think!
Then, she knew.
“Get ready to step on the stones in front of those panels over there!” she yelled, “But don’t do it until I tell you.”
Zack nodded.
She hurried to the House of Gloom and stood on the stone portal, crunching the nightmarish insects under her feet. Hope welled inside her as the stone depressed slightly. Then, she pointed to the fourth panel.
“Now!” she yelled, “That one! Press it now!” While Zack stepped on the stone beneath the drawing of the House of Cold, she ran to the one across the room that showed the Hero Twin’s ordeal in the House of Jaguars.
The insects, migrating in waves, had reached the center of the chamber. Still, they poured in from the walls.
She stomped on the glyph, felt it give, and pointed to the next panel. “Now that one!” she screamed. “The House of Knives!” The insects were crawling up and over the toes of her boots. She felt a bite on her leg, bent down and flicked the creature off. She ran to the House of Fire while directing Zack to the last panel, the House of Bats.
He slipped, then righted himself, and jumped on the stone. Maria held her breath waiting to see what would happen, praying that a worse fate wouldn’t await them. At first there was only silence. She stared at the insects. They were now deep enough that they came just below her sock line. She could swear she heard the little black monsters’ jaws clacking open and shut.
The wall slid open and the skulls in the rack trembled. Then, they began to rock and one by one they fell off the shelves and into the undulating black horde of bugs. The insects swarmed over the skulls, crawling in and out of the eye sockets.
Maria stood frozen in fear. Zack darted to the rack, slipped his fingers behind the edge, and tipped it over, freeing their path to the door. He climbed onto the wooden frame and held his hand out to Maria.
“C’mon, Maria!” he yelled. “Hurry!”
She ran across the floor losing her footing just before she reached the rack. Zack reached down, grabbed her underneath her armpits and lifted her beside him.
As if they could smell fresh flesh, the insects scurried over the skulls and onto the boards. Zack leaned over and waved the torch back and forth. The odor of burning insects filled the air.
“It’s open!” Maria yelled. “Hurry!”
They scrambled over the wooden case, squeezed through the narrow opening, and entered the dark hallway beyond. The black insects scuttled after them.
“There’s got to be another stone here!” Zack yelled. “Look for something that will close the door!” The black monsters were on the wooden planks, some of them chewing viciously at the wood while others continued towards the doorway.
“There isn’t one!” Maria screamed. “It’s not in the floor!” She stepped back, avoiding the advancing horde approaching the threshold.
Zack found the glyph they were looking for in the side of the wall. He slammed his fist against the stone and door began to close just as slowly as it had opened. Maria watched the advancing mass of jaw-clacking bugs swarming into the corridor.
“C’mon!”
Maria screamed, but he didn’t move. “Zack!”
He stood, waiting for the approaching insects. Then, when the door had shut completely, he lowered the torch. The bugs made sizzling, popping noises as the flames hit them and within seconds they were all dead.
Finally, Maria allowed herself to cry.
###
Zack felt like crying, too. He laid the torch on the floor, slipped his backpack from his shoulder, and put his arms around Maria. “They’re all gone,” he said. “We’re okay now.”
“I know,” she sniffed. Her tears left dirty trails down her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I hate to be such a wimp.”
“You’re not,” he said. “You’re the one who got us out of there. If it wasn’t for your quick thinking we’d be bug dinner right now.”
She shuddered, and then wiped her eyes. “I hate bugs.” She ran her fingers over the red splotch on her leg. “Those suckers can really bite.”
“Does it hurt?”
“It’s not too bad,” Maria answered. “It’s just a pinch. It’s not swollen or anything.”
Zack picked up the torch and backpack. “This has to lead somewhere. Come on, let’s take it to the end.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Maria answered.
Conversation drifted off and they spent the next hour walking in silence. Zack would have liked to rest, but his fear of what might be in the darkness beyond the reach of the torch’s light kept him on his feet.
Suddenly, Maria exclaimed, “We’re going up.”
“Is that a good sign?” Zack asked.
“Could be,” Maria answered.
The hallway was indeed going up, he could feel it in his legs. As they continued to climb, a rank odor filled the air.
“Do you smell that?” Maria asked.
Zack’s heart turned to ice. “Oh, crap. Now what?”
“Crap is right,” Maria said. “But, it’s good crap. It’s guano. Bat guano.”
“Bat shit? And that’s good?”
“You don’t understand. It means there is definitely another way out of here.”
They both began to hurry. Soon the hard rock floor had a mushy, foul smelling coating. All Zack could think about was how glad he was to have his hat. The tunnel narrowed and they had to walk single file, then it widened. In the distance a yellowish light penetrated the darkness.
“We made it!” Maria cried. “There’s the end! It’s another cave. Do you see it?”
The light they saw was the glow from a Coleman lantern set on a wooden crate. Except for the lantern, crate, and a coil of rope, what they could see of the cave appeared empty.
Then they saw the trench. Cut into the floor, it extended from wall to wall and looked to be about eight to ten feet wide and at least as deep. Beyond the trench the hallway formed a platform outside the entrance to the cavern.
“We can’t get there from here,”” Zack said.
“We can jump it.”
Zack shook his head. “Forget it. You’d never make it.”
“What?” She stared up at him. “Why? Because I’m a girl? Don’t tell me you think jumping is a guy thing?”
“A guy thing?” Zack spat at her. “No Maria, it’s not a guy thing. It’s a short thing. You won’t make it. You’re legs aren’t long enough.”
“That’s a crock. You don’t know what you’re talking about! I can make it easy!” To prove her point she mentally gauged the distance, backed up and took off running.
“No!” Zack shouted. “Let me go first!” But Maria didn’t stop. She reached the edge of the trench and tried to fly. She missed the opposite wall by well over a foot and shrieked.
“Oh my God!” Zack dropped to the guano covered floor and held the torch over the side. The walls were shear, straight up and down. Maria sat perfectly still while the floor around her seemed to be moving.
“Zack, get me out of here.” Her voice was oddly flat.
“Give me a minute.”
“Don’t take too long.”
He got up, took a running leap, and jumped the trench easily.
“It isn’t that far down,” he called to her. “If you stood over by this ledge I might be able to reach down and pull you up.”
“I don’t think that will work,” she said.
“Why not?” he asked.
“Fer-de-lance,” Maria said softly.
“What?”
“Fer-de-lance. Vipers. Snakes. I’ve . . . fallen . . . into a nest of . . . fer-de-lance,” she said again, even more softly this time.
“Are they poisonous?” Zack asked. He held the torch as far down into the trench as he could reach and saw the small gray and black snakes.
“Very. Death only takes three to four minutes. Get that fire out of here. They’re getting agitated.”
“Oh, great,” he murmured. He looked around and saw the coil of rope by the wooden crate. “Don’t go away I’ll be right.”
“I’m not moving,” she whispered.
He tossed his backpack to the wall, retrieved the rope, and ran back to the trench.
“Maria? Maria?” he called. “You still okay?”
“For the moment,” she whispered, her voice shaking.
“Ok,” he said. “Here’s what we’ll do. I’ll lean over as far as possible and throw you this rope. When I pull, you jump. At the same time push off with your feet. Hard. Really hard. It will probably be rough. Get ready to slam into the wall. Ready?”
She nodded.
“Ok, I’ll count to five. On five you jump and I’ll pull.”
Maria nodded again.
He tossed her the rope. She caught it and grasped it tightly.
“One, two, three, four.” On five he pulled, wrapping the rope around his hands as he backed into the small cavern. He heard her hit the wall with a soft thud. The soles of his tennis shoes lost their grip on the slippery floor and he started sliding forward – towards Maria and the pit of vipers.
“Zack!” Maria screamed. “Oh God, help me! Please, please help me!”
Chapter Twenty-three
Zack gritted his teeth. Pain seared his palms, surging like an electric current up his arms and shoulders. The tighter he gripped the rope, the more slippery it got. The muscles in his forearms and biceps bulged under the strain. He fell to his butt and kicked the floor furiously, struggled to back up, but slid forward instead.
Suddenly there was someone behind him, helping him pull the rope. From his peripheral vision he saw a pair of hands, one with a pink scar on the fleshy part of the thumb.
“I’ve got it,” Dusty ordered. “Let go. Get behind me and wrap the rope around yourself.”
Zack scrambled behind the cowboy, wiping his bloody hands on his shirt. He wrapped the rope around his back, clutched it tightly, and planted his feet as firmly as he could on the guano-covered stone floor.
“Hold on tight,” Dusty said. “Don’t give a damn inch.”
Zack nodded.
Hand over hand Dusty pulled rope up, while walking towards the pit. When he reached the edge he looked down. “Zack? You got it?”
“Yeah.”
“Get ready. I’m going to let go.”
“Do it,” Zack called back.
Dusty knelt by the edge. “Maria,” Dusty called, “take my hand.”
For a second Zack felt Maria’s full weight at the end of the rope, then the rope went slack as Dusty pulled her up and over the side of the pit. Zack staggered back, recovered, and rushed to Maria.
“Are you all right?” he asked. “Did you get bit?”
“I’m okay,” Maria said, her bottom lip trembling.
“You kids shouldn’t be messing around in places like this,” Dusty said, coiling up the rope. “You got yourselves in a whole heap of trouble this time.”
“Yeah, I know,” Zack said. “Hey man, thanks for being there. I don’t know what we’d have done if you hadn’t shown up when you did.”
“Maybe you’ll soon wish he hadn’t.” Raymond stood in the doorway, look
ing like hell. He might have wounded the jaguar, but he’d hadn’t come away unscathed. His unbuttoned shirt revealed long scratches that crisscrossed his dark, hairy chest. A wide, thick bandage covered his stomach and left side. Above his right eyebrow a butterfly bandage held his forehead together and another one adorned his left cheek. A scratch, still red on both sides, ran from under his right eye across his cheekbone and disappeared underneath a square piece of gauze on his neck. “Well, well, guess I get to finish what I started last night.”
Zack turned to Dusty. “This guy’s a murderer.”
Dusty laughed, placed his hand against Zack’s back and shoved him towards the smuggler. “Boy,” he said. “You are a few beans short of a burrito. It’s sure time you wised up. I think you’ve already met my partner.”
“He knows too much already,” Raymond said, pulling a gun out of his waistband. He waved it at them, gesturing them into the cave. “In there. Get on the floor against the wall. Dusty, tie them up.”
Zack gave Raymond plenty of room as he entered the cavern, backed up to the wall, and slid to the floor. Maria sat beside him. Dusty grabbed a few short pieces of rope, bound their ankles together, and then tied their hands behind their backs.
“Sorry I have to do that,” Dusty said. “But, we can’t have you running around telling folks about our treasure, now can we?”
“Treasure?” Maria asked. “Don’t you mean artifacts?”
Dusty snorted. “Yeah, those, too.” He walked over to the wooden crate, put the lantern on the floor and lifted the cover. He reached in and took out a Spanish goblet. It was pure gold with rubies and emeralds adorning the lip and stem. “Sweetheart, when I say treasure, I mean treasure.”
“What treasure?” Maria asked. “The treasure of Santa Elena!”
“Bingo,” Dusty said.
“I knew someone was involved with him.” Zack jerked his head over to the mustached man. “But, I never thought it was you, Dusty.”
“You’re not going to get the chance to tell anyone either,” Raymond said. He stuck his gun back in his pants and took out his knife. The blade gleamed in the lantern light.
Ninth Lord of the Night Page 20