“Dreadful events have occurred since Balam’s arrival in these lands. As he was sent by the gods, he must now be judged by the Sun god, Kinich Ahau, in our Ritual of Ascension.”
Teshna wiped the tears from her eyes, watching William slip into a comatose state. “How could you do this?” Teshna asked the King.
King Snarl Tooth spit his gum out and stared into the sky. The sun sat halfway between midday and dusk. “If Balam does not find his way back before the sun leaves his face, then he will remain with the gods—a worthy sacrifice to restore order.”
“What if he does find his way back?” Teshna asked.
“Then he will remain here with us, as our captive for future trade… or sacrifice, if the Sun god demands it.”
“How could he find his way back?” Subiac asked. “This is not his land, and the ways of the Sun god are unknown to him.”
The King let loose another hiss of a laugh. “He will not return.”
“We’ll see about that,” Subiac said, and then he guzzled the remainder of Balam’s tainted drink.
“Subiac, no!” Teshna said. She shifted Balam into Lamat’s arms and moved beside the old warrior, as he fell to his knees. “How can it help to lose you as well?”
“Come close,” he whispered. Teshna put her ear to his lips. “I will find Balam… I will help him get back.” He passed out, and his body began convulsing.
After Teshna set Subiac down, she bolted up and glared at King Snarl Tooth.
“Careful, Teshna,” Salmac said, gesturing to the heightened readiness of the Kohunlich warriors all around them.
Teshna let out a heavy sigh. “May we at least carry them up the temple so that their souls enter the heavens with dignity?” she asked, while secretly considering that the sun would remain on their faces longer there, at the highest point in Kohunlich. It would give Subiac more time to complete his quest.
The King nodded. “Allow them to ascend,” he said, and departed with several guards.
Teshna and Lamat led the way, with Salmac and his three guards carrying Balam behind them. The four servants lifted Subiac and followed the group up the steps of the pyramid. When they reached the top, they situated Balam and Subiac in alignment with the sun.
Captain Muluk met them a moment later. “The crowd disperses now,” he said, motioning across the valley. He stared at Balam and Subiac with a sense of pity. “You can be assured that your friends are lost from this world. If you wish to remain, I suggest you leave by sunset. You will not want to be here when their heads are removed at the conclusion of this ritual, when the full darkness of night is upon us.”
The priest in the jaguar mask made another trip up the steps, distracting them with his chanting. “Only the Jaguar Priest will be allowed to approach, to continue with his ceremonial tasks,” Muluk said. “Otherwise, you will be left alone here until you go.”
Teshna was so angry that she felt like pushing Muluk down the steps to demonstrate her opinion of their ceremony. But she remained under control and simply nodded in response.
After Muluk left, Lamat turned to Teshna and asked, “What must we do?”
Teshna sat beside Balam, cradling his head against her. “We wait,” she said, and focused on the sun’s descent, trying to will it to move slower.
Chapter Thirteen
William cringed from the pain in his arm as Kinich Ahau yanked him up the steps of the temple, his sharp cat-like nails digging into his skin. At the top of the pyramid, he saw a massive orb of light glowing as bright as the sun. While shielding his eyes from its glare, he tried to pull away, but he could not break free from the Sun god’s vice-like grip.
He knew he had been drugged and was hallucinating, but the vision seemed so real. William considered the possibility that he had died and was now passing through the light. But if that were the case, he wondered why he would have such a horrible escort to the afterlife? He had never heard of any near-death stories like that before.
After a blinding flash, William found himself on a boat in the middle of the ocean. The sound of a sputtering compressor drew his attention to a tanned Mexican wearing shorts and flip-flops, refilling scuba tanks. Scanning his surroundings, he could see that he was standing on the upper deck of a commercial dive boat. Several fair-skinned Americans mingled near him, enjoying the orange and red colors in the sky where the sun neared the horizon. William approached a heavy dude with sunburned skin. “Where am I?” he asked, but the man didn’t answer. William assumed he didn’t hear him over the noise of the compressor. He tried to tap his shoulder, but his hand passed right through him, as if he was a ghost.
Scuba divers emerged from the ocean in small groups, waving to the vessel. One by one, the divers made their way up the boat’s ladder in their shorty wetsuits and began stowing their gear.
A scream for help caught everyone’s attention from the group of divers that had just surfaced. When the boat neared, it became obvious that one of the divers was unconscious. Another diver in the group hollered to the dive master, “He passed out underwater!”
When they pulled the unconscious man onto the boat and began giving him CPR, William nearly fell over the railing, staring down at the diver with big eyes. “It’s my dad!” He rushed down the steps to the platform where his father lied. The dive master tried to revive him; he pounded on his chest, counting the strokes as he went, and gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in between. “This is the trip where my dad died. Why am I seeing this?” William asked. “This isn’t real!”
“Oh, but it is, Balam,” Kinich Ahau said, now sitting cross-legged atop the upper deck of the boat like a monstrous version of Buddha in a peaceful yoga pose, with his clawed hands resting on his furry knees. His eyes had a bright orange glow as he gazed down at him with a mischievous smile.
William lurched back, startled to see the frightening creature there. “You’re making this up just to mess with me! I wasn’t even on this dive trip. How can you know about something that didn’t happen in your time?”
Kinich Ahau had a long and raspy laugh. He raised his hand, freezing the scene before them with the suddenness of pressing the pause button on a DVR. “As the sun shines upon all who inhabit this world, I have the power to see through the souls connected to me through the Ritual of Ascension. Time is irrelevant to me.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“I am the Sun god! Through the power of the sun I illuminate the darkness. There is darkness within you, Balam. It eats at your soul, and it has changed your life’s course forever. It began at this place… and in this time.”
“What are you talking about? Who are you?”
The Sun god growled and spoke with a hint of frustration in his voice. “Your people see us as gods. By your standards, perhaps we are. We once traveled the universe, but are now bound to this world on a higher vibration. Beings such as myself have the ability to harness the elements of this world—to effect change on your physical plane by uniting with the energy of the souls that inhabit your world. Our kind may promote growth, or create chaos.” He pointed a sharp claw at William, and the scene continued before him, with the dive master thrusting his weight against his father’s chest.
“Please stop it,” William said, as he fought back the tears that began to surface.
“Passing through the Serpent Passage and binding the bloodstone to the soil plague created an imbalance. It has drawn the attention of the feathered serpents to our place in time. They seek to end our influence on this world… they will send the chupacabras for you and the bloodstone. You are to blame for this disruption,” he said. The color of Kinich Ahau’s eyes darkened from orange to red, and he glanced at the sun’s position near the horizon.
“How can it help for me to see this?” William asked, pointing at his dad.
“I will give you a chance—a gift—to redeem yourself, and to alter these events.”
“What? Anything!”
He leaned toward William. “Remove the bloodstone an
d place it near your father’s chest. It will draw out the destructive energy that now attacks his heart.”
William did just what the Sun god advised and held the bloodstone over his dad. A red mist rose from his father’s chest and was absorbed by the stone like a range hood collecting smoke off a frying pan. William held the bloodstone up to the Sun god; it buzzed like an electric razor in his hand and glowed in a pulsating manner—like a beating heart. Yet his dad still didn’t move. “It’s not helping!” William said.
“To save this one, you must transfer the damaging energy to another. Touch the stone to any other person on this boat. Do it now, before the sun sets.”
“What?” William asked with a worried laugh, hoping he had misunderstood. But the creepy smile on the Sun god’s face confirmed his fears. He couldn’t believe what he was being asked to do.
Teshna glared at the sky, watching with dread as the bottom edge of the sun made contact with the horizon. She studied Balam and Subiac, sprawled out on the hard stone floor, their arms and legs twitching like dogs running in their sleep. She tried to detect any change in their health, but couldn’t notice anything different. Teshna covered her face to conceal her sadness.
Lamat came near, placing his hand on Teshna’s shoulder. “Princess, I would stay and care for them until the very end. You should leave now. Go with Salmac and the others… while it is safe.”
When Teshna hesitated, Salmac threw his hand up. “Balam will be sacrificed either way—whether he awakes or not,” the Captain said, looking anxious to leave.
“Yes, I also heard King Snarl Tooth’s declaration,” she snapped. Teshna froze when the Jaguar Priest approached, making another ascension in his jaguar mask and robe, chanting and waving his incense burner on his way up the steps. The Jaguar Priest bowed to Teshna, entered the chamber at the top of the temple, and then returned back down the steps.
While watching the Jaguar Priest exit around the side of the pyramid, it occurred to her that his next ascension would be at sunset. She would have to ready herself for that painful moment when the light of the sun faded from Balam’s face. Teshna returned to Balam’s side and noticed a glow flickering from the bloodstone, renewing her determination. “As long as they live, there is still hope,” she said to the others. “We will wait until the sun sets.”
“You now hold a powerful weapon, Balam, that only you can wield,” the Sun god said. “The bloodstone may transfer death from one life to another. Use it now!”
“If I do this, my dad will live?” William asked, wanting to understand the implications.
“Yes,” Kinich Ahau said.
“The person I touch will actually die… right here?” he asked, a little confused. “It will be like my dad never died?”
“Yes, but you must do it before the darkness comes,” Kinich Ahau said, as the sun began to dip beneath the blue horizon of the ocean.
While holding the buzzing red stone in his hand, William found himself considering the idea, scanning the faces around him. In a simple touch he could erase all the pain that he and his family had suffered from the loss of his father. He could remove the guilt that he carried for not being there on that dive. Had he been there that day, his dad would not have gone so deep, and he would not have had a heart attack. Most agonizing to William was living with the knowledge that he could have been there, but he had turned down his dad’s invite to hang out with his stupid friends at the beach.
“Yet now you are here, Balam,” the Sun god said, as if hearing his thoughts. “The chance you seek is here before you.” To help William with his decision, the Sun god pointed out possible candidates to transfer ‘death’ to. “That man cheated others from their wealth. That woman hit her children in rage. That man is a murderer! He struck another while his mind was clouded, and he left his victim to die on the street.”
William moved toward the most obvious choice; an image of the man driving drunk and causing an accident flashed in front of him. He held out the bloodstone as he approached the stranger.
“No!” a voice called out from behind William. “Balam, do not do this!”
William spun around to see a familiar scar-faced man on the boat. “Subiac?” he asked, surprised to see him.
“How dare you come here and not heed my warning, old man,” Kinich Ahau said. “I shall deal with you when my business with Balam is complete.” He shifted his focus back to William. “The task… do it now!”
Subiac moved between William and the man he intended to touch with the stone. “Should you do this, Balam, it will alter events. Your life’s course will change.”
“But my dad will live!” William said, begging for Subiac to understand.
“You are being challenged to take the right action, Balam. You must ask yourself if you are putting your personal wants before the needs of others.”
“It must be done at once! The darkness is at hand,” the Sun god said, pointing to the setting sun.
William pushed Subiac aside and took another step toward the murderer.
Subiac grabbed his shoulder from behind. “Do this, and all those you have saved in our land will be lost. Teshna and Bati will have lost their lives too, because you would not have been there to save them. Surely your father would not want this, Balam. He would want you to let him go.”
William’s memory of the horrible nightmare of his dad’s head on a platter came flooding back, recalling his dad’s odd words in the dream, when his dad had said, “You must let me go.”
“If you do not do this, Balam, your father will die,” Kinich Ahau said, urging him on. “You will also die on my temple, for you will not find your way back.”
“You will find your way back, Balam… through me,” Subiac said. “Use the bloodstone on me instead.”
“That will not save his father!” Kinich Ahau said.
William felt so confused. As much as he wanted to save his dad and have his comfortable life back, he knew he couldn’t turn his back on those he had come to care for in the time of the ancient Maya. Also, his dad’s request in his dream—to let him go—had to be honored, he decided. He took one last look over at his dying father, and then regarded Subiac, shaking his head. “But it will kill you, Subiac. I can’t do that either,” he said, about to chuck the bloodstone off the side of the boat.
“You must! My sacrifice is the only solution,” Subiac said, grabbing William’s hand and pulling the bloodstone against his chest.
The Sun god let out a painful groan. “You fools!” His eyes turned black. The darkness expanded across his face, and his entire body faded out, along with the images around them.
Blackness enveloped them, and William could only feel the vibration from the bloodstone in his hand. “How do I get back?” William asked.
“The bloodstone will carry you through my heart,” he said, his last words fading to a faint whisper.
When the last rays of sunlight dropped below the western horizon, Subiac let out a painful moan and did not take another breath. His convulsions ceased, and his body relaxed with a peaceful expression spreading over his face. Teshna kneeled beside the old man for a moment, until she was certain that he was gone. She then focused her full attention on Balam, praying for him to come back. “Don’t leave me,” she murmured, jostling his shoulders.
Balam had the same reaction as Subiac, and his body went limp. Teshna buried her face into his chest, unable to hold back the flood of sorrow that poured out, and she wept there for a painfully long moment. Lamat came near and attempted to draw her away.
Sensing heat from the bloodstone, Teshna glanced down; it was sparkling. A burst of violet-red light flashed from the gem. Balam gasped for air, and his eyes snapped open. “Balam, you’re back!” she said, embracing him and planting kisses all over his face.
Balam responded with a dazed smile. He spotted Subiac and sighed; he didn’t appear overly surprised to find the old noble lying dead beside him. Teshna assumed he already knew what had killed Subiac.
Salmac came near with a mixture of relief and worry, his busy eyes darting between Balam and the stairway. “Teshna, we have another problem,” he said, pointing at the Jaguar Priest who was making his next ascension up the steps.
“Balam, you must pretend to be asleep,” she said. He complied, closing his eyes again.
When the Jaguar Priest arrived at the top of the pyramid, Teshna explained that Balam and Subiac did not return from their journey with the Sun god.
“Come with me,” the Jaguar Priest said to Teshna.
As they followed the ceremonial priest inside the chamber at the top of the temple, Teshna exchanged a worried look with Salmac and Lamat. The priest removed his jaguar mask, revealing a familiar face. “Ik-Tanil?” Teshna whispered with a surprised smile, almost not recognizing the priest without the usual streaks of black and white paint on his face.
“How did you get here?” Lamat asked.
“We followed close behind and out of detection,” Ik-Tanil spoke in a rush, stringing together more words in a single moment than Teshna had ever recalled him speaking before. “We blended in with the townspeople to observe. I was certain that Subiac would find a way to bring Balam back.”
“Yes, Balam has returned. How did you know?”
Ik-Tanil gave her a look as though it was obvious to him. “I sedated the Jaguar Priest in his chamber. He is unconscious for now, but we must move quickly. Bring Balam and Subiac inside.”
Teshna nodded to Salmac; he rushed out to get them. Ik-Tanil pulled off the dark huipil cloak that covered his body. “I have given this much thought,” Ik-Tanil said as the four servants carried in Balam—who was still pretending to be asleep—and set him down. “It is the only way for him to escape. To wear this ceremonial attire and descend the temple undetected. The guards will think he is the Jaguar Priest—they will not stop him.”
“It is brilliant, Ik-Tanil!” Lamat said, slapping the priest on the shoulder.
Balam sat up after hearing the conversation. “But how will you get back down the pyramid, Priest Ik-Tanil? They will know you weren’t with us before.”
The Serpent Passage Page 17