The Serpent Passage

by Todd Allen Pitts

  “I will take your clothing and remain in your place. Here in the dark, they will not notice the difference until the Jaguar Priest makes his final ascent, when the moon is at its peak. By then you will be outside the city.”

  “They will kill you,” Balam said.

  “Perhaps. I will look for an opportunity to escape. But if not, it is of no consequence, for you are more important than I am, Balam.”

  Teshna’s head dropped, feeling the pain of his decision, yet knowing that the priest was correct. “Yes, Balam, it must be this way.” Teshna ordered Lamat to go below with the guards and servants to delay the Kohunlich warriors from approaching, while she helped Balam with the wardrobe change.

  Ik-Tanil showed Balam the proper method for waving the incense burner, and said, “Our guard Axel—who accompanied me here—is waiting for you around the side of the temple. He will lead you out of the city through another route.” Ik-Tanil regarded Teshna. “They will meet you at the clearing from another trail. Wait for them there.”

  “Thank you, Priest Ik-Tanil. This action will never be forgotten,” Teshna said.

  Ik-Tanil nodded and let loose a heavy sigh, appearing to resign himself to his fate in the chamber, lying beside Subiac’s body.

  The sound of someone rushing up the steps caught their attention. Teshna gave Balam a quick hug and shoved the incense burner into his hands, sending him on his way with a nudge. “Go now,” she whispered, just as Captain Muluk arrived at the top of the stairway.

  William held his breath when he passed by Muluk, waving the incense burner as he headed toward the steps. The warrior began to ask him something about the coming ceremony, and William had a momentary panic about what to say. But the sound of Teshna’s exaggerated crying near the chamber captured Muluk’s attention, and he moved on.

  William felt a little awkward with the heavy mask on his head, staring out through the opened mouth of the jaguar like that. He still felt woozy, the after-effect of being drugged, and it demanded his complete attention to take each step down the stairway, while also waving the incense burner around in the half-assed manner that Ik-Tanil had shown him—like a fairy casting pixie dust, he thought. He worried that others watching from below would notice his odd performance, and he hoped that the advancing darkness shielded that view to some extent.

  Upon reaching the last step and planting his feet upon the plaster floor at the base of the pyramid, William scanned the area ahead of him, trying to remember which side of the temple Ik-Tanil had said to go to. He noticed some guards looking his way, and William felt tempted to launch the mask off his head and take off in an all out sprint. Up ahead, he caught sight of Salmac and the others, and he detected a worried look on Lamat’s face, his teeth clenched as though he was about to witness a car crash. While pretending to stretch, Lamat subtly pointed to his left.

  William understood Lamat’s gesture and followed the temple wall around the corner, where a man grabbed his arm and pulled him into a room at the base of the temple. He yanked off the stinky jaguar mask, and William recognized him. It was Axel, the guard who had stayed behind with the priest in Kinichná.

  Axel shoved a pile of clothes into William’s hands and gestured for him to change. He rushed to the doorway to keep watch, fidgeting where he stood, looking anxious to get moving.

  William felt something wiggling beneath his sandals, and he jumped back. He had been stepping on the fingers of an old man sleeping on the floor, beside ceramic vases filled with brown powder. A feathery dart protruded out the side of his neck, and William realized that it was the Jaguar Priest that Ik-Tanil said he had sedated from the dart of a blow gun.

  While changing his clothes and situating the droopy feathered headdress that Axel had selected to shield his face, William became aware of odd things in the room; there were blades of varying sizes, stone axes, ceremonial masks, and strange costumes. Dead rodents, dogs, and bats hung from ropes tied to the ceiling rafters. It dawned on him that he was in the priest’s gruesome ready room.

  “Hurry!” Axel said, urging him on.

  Not requiring any further prodding to leave that horrible place, William bolted out the door, following Axel with his head down, rushing away from the pyramid.

  Teshna felt a sense of desperation while being ushered out of Kohunlich, praying that Axel would succeed in his task of getting Balam outside the city without being discovered.

  The Kohunlich warriors returned the weapons they had confiscated from the group the day before. “There is a good place to make camp up ahead,” Muluk said. “Follow the trail to the west, just over this hill.”

  Teshna thanked Muluk for his assistance and agreed to his offer, while knowing they were planning to travel through the night—for fear of being recaptured once they realized that Balam had escaped. They hiked up the hill and picked up their pace toward the grassy clearing, where they planned to wait for Balam and Axel to arrive.

  As William followed the guard, he noticed that Axel was also wearing different clothes to blend in with the local townsfolk. Although the darkness of night helped to conceal their identities even further, a half moon had made its way into the starry sky, reflecting off the plaster roads. Torches burned at various points along the way, providing even more illumination than they desired. They passed by residents of Kohunlich who were heading to the ceremonial center for the coming ritual, attracting strange looks from the townspeople who noticed their opposite bearing.

  “This way,” Axel said, directing him away from the flow of the crowd, behind a market district around the outskirts of the plaza. Delicious aromas filled the air, and William’s stomach growled.

  A cocoa bean trader was counting his inventory on a mat at the corner they rounded. “Greetings,” he said as they passed.

  Startled by the sudden appearance of the old merchant at his feet, William couldn’t help but to look his way. The trader’s eyes bolted open and he lurched back, his mouth agape. When they ran off, William heard the cocoa beans spilling from the man’s sack and scattering on the floor as he called for the guards.

  Knowing they had been spotted, they quickened their pace to an all out run, zigzagging through the residential areas until they made it to the outer reaches of the city. They skirted off the main road onto a dirt trail through the thick jungle, heading in a westerly direction. William began to feel lightheaded and called to Axel to wait. They stopped to rest for a moment; William was totally out of breath, gasping with his hands on his knees. Axel handed him his water jug, and William guzzled down most of its contents.

  In the distance, seashell trumpets blasted; they exchanged a knowing look. William capped the jug, tossed it back to Axel, and they took off down the trail with haste, certain that they were now being pursued.

  Teshna kept a steady eye on the moonlit horizon of the grassy field swaying before them, pacing along the border zone between their two kingdoms. She was nervous that so much time had passed since they arrived at the clearing.

  A rustling noise became audible, followed by one of their guards returning from his lookout spot along the trail to the east.

  “Why have you left your position?” Salmac asked.

  “I heard voices echoing through the valley. Many voices!” the guard said.

  A moment later, the other two guards came rushing in from their posts and reported a large number of Kohunlich warriors heading their way.

  “Look,” Lamat whispered, pointing down the trail to the southeast where pin pricks of light danced like fireflies in the jungle, from the burning torches of the approaching men.

  Teshna spotted William and Axel sprinting up the trail from the east. She hollered and waved her hands to get their attention. At the southeast end of the field, Kohunlich warriors emerged from the wall of the jungle and began launching arrows at the two runaways.

  William heard Teshna call out to him, and he spotted her on the trail. Arrows fluttered by, and Axel took one right through the side of his head. He staggered several st
eps sideways and fell over. William glanced down at the poor guard as he rushed by. Axel was dead; he probably died before hitting the ground, William figured.

  When William reached the path, Teshna jumped into his arms and held him tight. Lamat tugged at their shoulders, urging them on. They ran toward the edge of the jungle with native battle cries resonating behind them.

  William shot a quick look down the trail and skidded to a stop, surprised to see Salmac and the other three guards charge off in the opposite direction to confront a number of Kohunlich warriors who had caught up with them. They engaged the warriors in a blur of activity. Salmac took down three enemy warriors; he sliced one man’s chest open with his sword, smashed another over the head, and stuck a dagger into the ribs of a third warrior. One of the royal guards fell, and Salmac rushed over, striking down the two warriors who had just killed him.

  Another wave of Kohunlich warriors appeared at the top of the hill—at least thirty men flooding their way. William couldn’t believe it when he witnessed Salmac and the two guards refusing to back down, readying themselves to take on the onslaught of the advancing warriors. It was hopeless, William thought. Even if Salmac could stop half of the warriors before getting mowed over, the remainder would get by and catch up with them.

  “Balam, come with me!” Teshna shouted, her hands flapping so hard that it seemed she might take off like a hummingbird.

  However, William couldn’t move. He felt planted like he did during the Binding Ritual, when he became the ceiba tree. He couldn’t budge his legs; they were rooted in place from the anger that burned inside him. They had gone to Kohunlich in peace, with noble intentions, and it cost them the lives of good men; they had sacrificed themselves just to save him. He even had to witness his own father die!

  The bloodstone burned on his chest, fueling his rage. His anger further energized the stone, creating a combined hostile energy that exploded like throwing gas on a fire. William burst out with a deafening roar from the path. “Enough!”

  The grassy fields that separated Salmac and his men from the advancing Kohunlich warriors burst into flames; a plume of smoke rose high above the tree line—like a mini-mushroom cloud. William fell to his knees, drained from the intense climax of power that he had somehow channeled through the bloodstone.

  Salmac and the other two guards raced toward him, away from the raging wall of fire. From his position, William saw the Kohunlich warriors retreating back the way they had come, with the exception of a few men who had been caught in the middle of the blaze; they ran around like human torches, screaming until they fell over in the flames.

  “Oh my God!” William muttered, beginning to grasp the severity of what he had just done. Although he felt terrible for those he had just harmed in such a painful way, he knew that the fire had ended their assault, and it prevented more potential casualties.

  Teshna helped William to his feet as Salmac and the other guards arrived. They supported him as they hurried up the trail, out of the clearing, and into the cover of the jungle. As they rested there for a moment, contemplating what they had just witnessed, William noticed that the brush fire had already begun to smolder out, due to the damp conditions from recent rains. The road could now be traveled by the Kohunlich warriors, but none approached. William assumed that he had given them enough of a fright to scare them off for good.

  “I have never seen the bloodstone used like that, Balam,” Teshna said, breaking the silence at last.

  William shrugged, returning a confused look to Teshna. He also didn’t know how he did it, or if he could even do it again if he tried.

  Without further delay the group began the long journey back to Dzibanché.

  Chapter Fourteen

  By the time they reached Kinichná, just after dawn, William felt like a zombie staggering down the road. They had hiked the entire night to get as far away from Kohunlich as possible. Being back in familiar surroundings, they felt safe to stop and rest for a while. The guards and servants took turns keeping watch so everyone could get some sleep.

  After a long slumber, William awoke to Teshna running her fingers through his hair. He glanced up and smiled. “How long did I sleep?” He couldn’t tell if it was mid-morning or late afternoon.

  “Long enough,” Teshna said. “We need to go if we’re to get home before sunset.

  They arrived in Dzibanché at dusk, accompanied by the usual hoopla; seashell trumpets signaled their approach and cheering townspeople followed them in. William was happy to see Yax, Priest Quisac, and Betty waiting for them at the palace entrance.

  Yax frowned as they neared. “Where are the others?” he asked.

  Teshna recounted the entire disastrous trip to Kohunlich, and how King Snarl Tooth had put William through the Ritual of Ascension.

  William continued from there, elaborating on his experience with the Sun god: how he had to watch his father die, how he was given a choice to alter events, and how Subiac saved him. “Subiac, Priest Ik-Tanil, and others gave their lives just to help me escape,” he said in conclusion.

  Yax looked away and let out a heavy sigh. “Then it was a mistake to go… a wasted effort!”

  “Yet Kohunlich does not blame us for the death of their ambassadors,” Teshna said, grasping for any measure of success to justify the losses they sustained. “King Snarl Tooth declared that they would remain neutral.”

  “After Balam’s display with the bloodstone,” Lamat said, “it is unlikely that King Snarl Tooth would change his mind.”

  Priest Quisac shot a stern look at William, his brow furrowing. “What event occurred with the bloodstone?”

  “Oh, I forgot to mention that part,” William said, exchanging a guilty look with Teshna. “During our escape, I got angry. The bloodstone made my anger grow… it started a fire.”

  Salmac stepped forward, his face stretched with enthusiasm. “Not just a fire. The whole field went up in flames… all at once!” he said, waving his hands like a conductor orchestrating the crescendo of a symphony. “It’s a good thing that it happened, or else none of us would be here now. I never saw Kohunlich warriors run so fast.” He laughed.

  Priest Quisac grumbled to himself. “The bloodstone is changing,” he said. A worried look came over him. “Since the soil plague, it has become open to destructive forces.” He pointed at William with a scolding finger. “We have much to discuss.”

  William nodded, agreeing. He welcomed the opportunity to better understand the bizarre stone that did so many strange things. He wanted to learn how to control it before he hurt someone he cared for.

  Betty gave William a confused look, and he remembered that she couldn’t understand anything they had been talking about. He gestured that he would fill her in later.

  “It is unfortunate that Kohunlich will not side with us against Calakmul,” Teshna said, “but we did all we can do.”

  “Yes! Let us not worry of the coming battle on this night,” Yax said, rushing up the steps overlooking the plaza. “On this night, we celebrate the safe return of our people!”

  A loud cheer erupted from the crowd of citizens that had gathered outside the palace. Yax shouted to his people, “There shall be no rations tonight, for our city will have festivities as we have never had!” He cheered with his arms raised high, followed by the bellows of a dozen seashell trumpets resonating in alternating blasts, maintaining a unified low-pitched hum for several minutes.

  In less than an hour, the entire ceremonial center of Dzibanché, from one end to the other, became a massive Mayan block party, like nothing that William had ever seen before. Dozens of fire pits burned throughout the plaza cooking all varieties of Mayan cuisine; the aroma of delicious spices infused the air.

  While dining from one serving area to another, William lost track of the others and found himself alone amidst the noise and confusion of the packed crowd. In such a collection, everyone looked the same and he couldn’t spot his friends even when he tried. He searched and called out for them while
wandering about, hoping he’d run into them somewhere. After a while, he gave up looking and decided to take a mental snapshot of the moment, knowing that another party like that may never come.

  He sensed the admiration and praise of all those around him, and for a time it lifted his spirits. But some people went overboard, shoving food and gifts his way. Waves of peasants came too close, groping him. Some fell to their knees, as if hoping to be blessed by his touch. It was uncomfortable and annoying, and William felt freaked out by all the attention.

  Someone in the crowd grabbed his wrist. He pulled to break free, but the grip held firm. He turned with relief to see Teshna standing there at his side. With her turquoise-painted eyes, she motioned for him to follow.

  While holding hands, they meandered through the crowd to the Temple of the Owl and went up the steps together, with the noise of the celebration fading below them. She pulled William into the chamber at the top of the pyramid. “The look on your face when they were touching your feet… I will never forget that,” Teshna said, starting to laugh.

  “You mean you were watching me the entire time?”

  “Yes. I like seeing you that way… needing my help,” she said in a flirtatious manner.

  William scanned the empty chamber, realizing that he had the Princess all to himself, and gave her a sly smile. “I’m surprised that no one else is up here.”

  Teshna’s mood turned mysterious as she moved in close. “Only royalty may ascend the steps of this temple during festivities such as these.”

  “I guess I should feel important.”

  “Yes, you are,” she said, wrapping her arms around him. “You are especially important to me.”

  William smiled, becoming lost in her beautiful brown eyes that twinkled from the light of the torches burning in the room. “You’re very important to me too.”

  Teshna started to cry.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  She looked down, pressing her cheek against his chest. “In Kohunlich, I thought I had lost you. You were gone, and…”