Olmec Obituary

by L. J. M. Owen

  Sobbing, Kimi looked down at the newborn in her arms and made a decision. Kimi knew she would not live to see another sunrise herself. He would kill her, if her own grief didn’t kill her first. But she could save this one tiny, fragile child of maize, this daughter of Ix.

  Kimi looked into the sky and judged the time until sunset. She bundled the newborn into a blanket and carried her to Imox’s hut, placing her gently on the bed. Imox might not have held her tiny new granddaughter, but the baby would breathe Imox’s scent.

  One by one, Kimi then dragged each of the bodies from the clearing back into Tzikin’s hut, careful not to touch their skin, blood or the sticky purple juice. She jumped at every noise from the jungle.

  When she was done, Kimi retrieved the newborn from Imox’s hut and returned to the edge of the village, where she sat rocking back and forth. Waiting for the forest to darken, Kimi berated herself for not finding another way to save Xpiayoc, her own daughter. He said if Ix gave birth to another girl, Ix must die. He wanted Xpiayoc to wed Aqabal, Ix’s husband, certain that Xpiayoc would bear sons to Aqabal. And if Kimi didn’t ensure Ix’s death, he would kill Xpiayoc and sacrifice her to the Lords of Maize instead.

  Lord Ajaw believed that Aqabal was his son, by Lady Qanil; and that Xpiayoc was his daughter, by Kimi. He thought he was setting up the marriage of his own son to his own daughter, to produce a grandson that was his, twice over. Thankfully, it wasn’t so.

  Kimi had known for years that Lord Ajaw was broken, beyond the help of any medicine or prayer. She hadn’t realised just how deformed he was until recently. By the Lords of Maize, what fire could build a man so twisted?

  Kimi beat her chest. She was as much to blame as Lord Ajaw for the tragedy in Tzikin’s hut. If she hadn’t lied to Ajaw all these years he might not have devised his terrible scheme.

  Kimi had been such a gullible young woman. Despite having a loving, gentle husband, she allowed Ajaw to turn her head. She was ecstatic when she realised her first child would have fire from both her husband and Ajaw. She told Ajaw it was his fire that turned her firstborn, Batz, into a son, hoping for Ajaw’s special favour.

  Kimi hadn’t anticipated Ajaw’s jealousy, though, nor his obsession with having more sons. Ajaw pestered her every day. It wasn’t until he went on a long mission to the Tok, seeking a wife, that Kimi became pregnant again. By then she knew more of midwifery. She knew there was no fire from Ajaw in this child, and probably none in her son Batz.

  When Ajaw returned from the Tok with a bride, he insisted he could turn Kimi’s new child into a boy, and forced himself on her daily. She protested her husband would find out. When Kimi’s husband died three moons later, from what looked like a snake bite, Kimi realised it was Ajaw’s doing.

  After Kimi gave birth to her daughter, Xpiayoc, Ajaw left Kimi alone. But as a widow with two children, Kimi couldn’t resist Ajaw’s command that she join his household as companion to Ajaw’s new bride, Lady Qanil.

  The next two years passed in a haze of terror and confusion. Lord Ajaw raped Lady Qanil nightly, beating her for not producing a son. Qanil’s pitiful cries broke Kimi’s heart. She knew now that Ajaw had no fire at all.

  So she lied.

  She told Ajaw how much she loved him. She told him she would share secret knowledge of the midwives to help him succeed. She told Ajaw that if he wanted a son, he must only sleep with Qanil the two days after her moon time, and build the fire in his loins otherwise. Kimi’s brother, Kej, visited her every few weeks to check on her and her children. With Kej’s help, Kimi ensured Qanil was pregnant a few moons later. The three of them thanked the Lords of Maize it was a boy, Aqabal.

  Lord Ajaw was pleased by Aqabal’s birth, but he wanted another son immediately. With Kej’s help, Qanil gave birth again within a year, this time to Tijax. Ajaw left Qanil alone after that.

  Kimi wasn’t surprised when Qanil died before Tijax turned one. She understood Ajaw better now.

  As all four children grew – Kimi’s son and daughter, and Qanil and Kej’s two sons – Ajaw kept a watchful eye on them. He favoured Aqabal over Tijax, and held disdain for Batz and Xpiayoc, but at least he did not beat them. Kimi knew he would kill them all in the space of one breath if he ever realised they were not of his fire.

  So Kimi lied again.

  Kimi and Kej were prone to suffer headaches as their mother had; so were all four of their children. Kimi told Kej not to mention his headaches to anyone ever again. Every time Ajaw felt unwell, Kimi commented that his head was hot, that it must be his fire causing a headache. Every time Aqabal or Tijax had a headache, Kimi commented it was their father’s fire burning in them. Anytime Batz or Xpiayoc felt unwell, she commented in front of Ajaw that they had a headache.

  Kimi was certain Ajaw never suspected the children weren’t his. If he had, they would all be dead. They all survived Ajaw’s presence well enough until Aqabal’s wife, Ix, failed to produce a son.

  Ajaw’s impatience for a grandson grew until, like a branch high in the jungle canopy, his mind snapped. Kimi knew Ajaw was sending Aqabal away just after Ix’s moon time. She suspected Ajaw was drugging her, then attempting to start a maize child in her womb with his fire. Kimi knew it wouldn’t work. Ajaw was not A Man Who Had Fathered Sons, he was not even A Man Who Had Fathered Children.

  Kimi looked at the newborn in her arms. This maize child was Ix’s and Aqabal’s, and she was Kej’s granddaughter. Kimi would save her.

  The sun had set. Kimi stole through the forest to Iqchel’s village. She snuck to the back of a hut and peered through a gap in the wall. Iqchel lay still on her bed, her dead baby in her arms. Kimi walked as quietly as she could around to the entrance of the hut, then padded across the floor to Iqchel’s side.

  Kimi laid Ix’s newborn daughter on the bed, then eased the dead baby from Iqchel’s arms. Iqchel whimpered, but didn’t wake; she was still heavily sedated. Kimi unwrapped both babies, and swapped their blankets. Her heart in her mouth, Kimi laid the very last child she would ever guide into this world in Iqchel’s arms, then picked up Iqchel’s dead daughter.

  Kimi turned, the room hazy with tears, to find Iqchel’s bewildered mother standing in the doorway.

  ‘You must say you found the baby awake,’ Kimi whispered. ‘Say she was still womb asleep when she birthed, but she’s woken now. The baby is weak, she may not survive, but Iqchel is full of milk.’

  Iqchel’s mother grasped Kimi’s shoulder. She pulled back the covers from the dead baby in Kimi’s arms and kissed the tiny forehead.

  ‘Thank you,’ she whispered. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘From now on you must say that you had headaches as a child.’ Kimi pointed at Ix’s baby. ‘If she grows to have headaches, you must say they are like your headaches. And you must keep her away from everyone in Lord Ajaw’s household. Understand?’

  ‘Yes, I understand,’ Iqchel’s mother sobbed. ‘Thank you.’

  As Kimi walked through the jungle back to Imox and Tzikin’s huts with Iqchel’s child, her legs began to shake. She knew she walked to her death.

  — — —

  Lord Ajaw peered into the dark outside his house. Kimi would return soon, he knew, with favourable news. It would be as Ajaw predicted: Ix would birth a boy, built of Ajaw’s fire, to inherit Ajaw’s empire.

  Ajaw heard footsteps approaching his hill. Kimi stumbled in the door, white faced and shaking. Idiot woman.

  ‘Tell me, has he arrived?’ Ajaw demanded.

  ‘I gave Ix the potion to bring on birth, Lord, as you commanded. But, Lord…it was a girl.’

  Ajaw slapped Kimi across the face. His weak son, Aqabal, had drowned Ajaw’s fire with his cold seed.

  ‘And Ix?’ he fumed ‘Does she live? Or will I sacrifice Xpiayoc to the Lords of Maize?’

  ‘No, Lord! I gave Ix the drink as you instructed…but…but…’ Kimi was sobbing.

  ‘What? Speak!’

  ‘Tzikin gave the drink to everyone. They’re dead, Lord. They’re all dead,�
� Kimi looked pathetic crumpled on the floor. Ajaw couldn’t believe he’d taken pleasure in her once.

  ‘Who is dead?’

  ‘Ix, Tzikin, Imox and all their girls.’ Kimi wailed.

  Ajaw pummelled her head. ‘Shut up!’

  Kimi’s cries grew louder.

  ‘Shut up or I’ll snap your neck,’ he hissed.

  Kimi stopped immediately.

  ‘Was anyone else there? Could anyone have seen them?’

  ‘I…I don’t think so.’

  ‘Where are they?’

  ‘In Tzikin’s hut, where Ix gave birth.’

  ‘Was anyone expected to join you tonight?’

  ‘No, Lord. Tzikin sent the boys to their father at the building site. They shouldn’t return until tomorrow.’

  The building site for Ajaw’s new ceremonial city! It contained Ajaw’s womb-cave, the seat of his power…and with fourteen, no…

  ‘Is the girl alive?’

  ‘Which girl?’

  ‘The newborn.’

  ‘No, she died, too.’ Kimi’s voice shook.

  Ajaw laughed. And with fifteen females, five of them from his own fire, sacrificed to the great Lords of Maize, in the name of Ajaw…such favour, such fortune! With that much power, his destiny was guaranteed.

  Now, how would he move the bodies to the cave? He’d have to get rid of all the workers at the site, and use Kimi to transport and bury the dead women and children…then he’d kill Kimi, too. The old crone was unlikely to hold her tongue once Ajaw married their daughter to his son.

  ‘Wait here,’ he commanded.

  Ajaw took a torch and descended his hill. He walked the short distance to the nearest cluster of huts. One of Ajaw’s runners was crossing the clearing.

  ‘You!’

  The boy knelt immediately. ‘Yes, Lord.’

  ‘Go to the building site. Find my son. Tell him his wife, his wife’s sister and mother, and their children, have been kidnapped by the Tok. We need to recapture them.’

  ‘Lady Ix has been taken?’

  ‘Yes. This is an outrage. They must be brought home. Tell my son to gather every man at the site, to the youngest boy, and go after them. This is a matter of honour!’

  ‘Yes, Lord.’

  ‘I will seek the counsel of the Lords of Maize and pray for their safe return. Now go, run!’

  — — —

  Lord Ajaw entered Tzikin’s hut and saw the bodies of the women and children. Moonlight shone on the slick black juice dripping from their mouths. Kimi groaned and crouched next to Ix, patting the baby in Ix’s arms.

  Ajaw stared at the baby, an undersized, pointless girl. He had drugged and raped Ix at the right time to ignite the fire to start a boy, but it was a wasted effort. Ix had grown so large in this pregnancy that Ajaw was certain she grew his son inside her. But she must have eaten too much and just been fat.

  ‘I can move two of the women at a time. You bring three children. Pile them onto blankets and drag them.’

  ‘Yes, Lord.’ Kimi’s face was wet, covered in tears. Snot bubbled from her nose.

  The moon was high, glinting off palm leaves and the blood of the dead. Lord Ajaw and Kimi dragged the bodies halfway to the building site in three trips, carefully avoiding contact with the poison.

  ‘I’ll go ahead and ensure the site is empty.’

  ‘Yes, Lord.’

  Ajaw reached the building site and listened closely: through the din of cicadas and howling monkeys, a distant jaguar rumbled, but there were no sounds of man.

  Ajaw approached the temporary sleeping huts. They were empty. He gathered tools from around the site and took them to his precious womb-cave. Then he went to gather his sacrifices.

  Ajaw and Kimi dragged the first five bodies to the cave’s entrance.

  ‘You make a start on digging the graves. We’ll cover them with spoil from outside the cave.’

  ‘Yes, Lord,’ Kimi croaked.

  Stupid, weak woman. Ajaw was looking forward to killing her. Kimi, too, had defied Ajaw, defied his fire by bearing him a daughter. At least that mistake, Xpiayoc, would now prove useful.

  It took Ajaw two more trips to finish dragging the dead to his cave. He entered. Kimi was on her knees scraping a hole in the ground, one among many.

  ‘What is this? What have you done?’ Ajaw roared at her.

  ‘Begun each grave, Lord,’ Kimi stood. ‘Isn’t that what you wanted?’

  Ajaw punched her in the stomach. ‘They don’t each need their own grave.’

  ‘But, but the rites, Lord. The Lords of Maize demand the ceremony.’

  That was true. The stiffening bodies were a sacrifice to the Lords of Maize. Ajaw should bury them with the ceremony to maximise the fortune they brought him.

  Ajaw dug the first hole deeper and placed a child in it.

  ‘Kat,’ Kimi moaned.

  ‘Shut up and help me. Dedicate the sacrifice to me then fill in the hole.’

  ‘Sacrifice, Lord?’

  ‘The girl, stupid, the girl.’ Ajaw pointed to the pile of bodies. ‘They are all sacrifices to the Lords of Maize, from me, to build my power right here in my womb-cave.’

  Kimi’s mouth dropped open. She looked at him with fear, which pleased him enormously.

  ‘Hurry, woman. The sun will rise soon.’

  Kimi began muttering over the body, touching it here and there, then scraped dirt into the grave.

  As Kimi chanted over the second last body, Ajaw noticed her tuck something under it. What was she doing?

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘A maize child statue, Lord.’

  Ajaw slapped Kimi in the face. ‘What? They’re mine! For me! I had them made especially for my dedication ceremony!’

  ‘Lord! You said they are sacrifices to the Lords of Maize! They must each have a child of maize, a child both male and noble, to tell the Lords what you want!’

  Kimi was right again. Ajaw couldn’t wait to extinguish her fire.

  ‘Fine. I’ve decided to include the children of maize figurines in the graves.’

  ‘Yes, Lord.’

  Ajaw scraped out the last grave. He dragged Ix’s body into the hole, then Kimi began to arrange the woman’s limbs.

  Suddenly Kimi screamed. Ajaw slapped the back of her head.

  ‘What now?’

  ‘Look.’

  Kimi pulled a wet, slick bundle from between Ix’s legs. She turned to Ajaw, fire in her eyes.

  ‘It’s a boy. A boy! Not only was Ix having twins, she was having a boy – Aqabal’s fire was hot!’ Kimi’s voice rose to a keen. ‘And I killed her, I killed them all.’

  ‘You idiot woman. You have destroyed my work. The boy was mine!’

  ‘No! He was Aqabal’s! All Aqabal’s. Ix’s womb washed away your seed before this pregnancy. I know.’

  Ajaw slapped Kimi’s face, tearing her skin.

  ‘Liar. Put the boy in the grave. Cover her over.’

  Ajaw watched Kimi pull Ix’s ballplayer figurine from beneath her clothes, pat it, touch the side of Ix’s face and murmur, ‘My jaguar girl.’

  Kimi didn’t speak again.

  ‘Dig another grave.’

  Kimi’s eyes darted to the cave’s entrance, blood pouring from her cheek. She stood and ran, but Ajaw caught her, laughing.

  ‘No, you don’t. You will never defy me again!’ He grabbed her hair, wrenched her head back, then plunged his ceremonial knife into her stomach.

  It took Kimi a long time to die. Ajaw enjoyed every moan, every attempt she made to pull herself to the cave’s entrance. He would let her almost reach the opening, then drag her back inside by the ankle. He hadn’t had this much fun since murdering his pathetic, simpering wife, who begged him to let her live for the sake of their children. Aqabal and Tijax were his sons, not hers!

  Ajaw planned his next move as he tamped down the earth over Kimi’s face. He would have to keep everyone away from the building site for two or three moons to ensure they didn’t smell
the sacrifices…He would say it was a mourning period for Ix and his grandchildren.

  Walking back to his village, Ajaw smiled. Seventeen sacrifices to the Lords of Maize, including a boy from his own fire. He would win every battle from now on! Next he would marry Xpiayoc to Aqabal, and ensure Xpiayoc bore Ajaw a grandson. Ajaw was glad he’d had the foresight to dispatch Xpiayoc’s first husband two years ago.

  Ajaw was back in his house before dawn. He had to make it look like he’d spent the night praying. Ajaw pierced his penis, ensuring plenty of blood dripped onto his thigh and the lintel of his doorway. He would also drug Tijax tonight, tell him over and over that they spent the previous evening praying for the safe return of Ix and her family, until Tijax believed it was true. It was easy to trick Tijax’s mind these days.

  Ajaw heard footsteps running towards the village. The boy he had sent to the building site last night was back. He fell to his knees in front of Ajaw’s door.

  ‘Lord, Lord.’

  ‘What? How dare you disturb my prayers? You risk the safe return of Ix and my grandchildren?’

  ‘Lord, I’m sorry…but Lord.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Aqabal. Lord, he’s dead.’

  Ajaw staggered in shock before steadying himself.

  ‘How?’

  ‘The Tok. We went to them, everyone from the building site, as you ordered. The Tok denied taking the women and children. Aqabal was so incensed he attacked them, and they killed him.’

  So, the Lords of Maize demanded one more sacrifice of Ajaw, one more son from his fire. So be it.

  ‘His body? Where is Aqabal’s body?’

  ‘The others are bringing him now, Lord.’

  ‘You’re dismissed. I must pray to the Lords of Maize.’

  The boy bowed his head. ‘Yes, Lord.’

  Ajaw’s power was growing. The Lords of Maize had taken notice of the women and children he sacrificed to them tonight and agreed to support him, but had taken one more sacrifice to balance the scales. Ajaw wished they had taken Tijax instead of Aqabal.

  He couldn’t marry Xpiayoc to Aqabal now, but Ajaw needed a son of his son to follow in his footsteps. The lands Ajaw would conquer, with the blessing of the Lords of Maize, would need a firm hand to rule them. Training his own grandson was the only way.