The Chuchqajaw Rech Tinimit of Naj Tunich shouted in fear, “What have you done? The anger of Manik will descend upon us. There must be sacrifices today … and you have also killed the anointed. All will be lost.”
The Ahau Can Mai of Ox Witz Ha stared at me then spoke. “I recognize you. You are the stranger who brought the woman with no thumbs to Ox Witz Ha. It was you who brought the evil of Mahanamatz to Tipú and Ox Witz Ha. It was you and Xch’úup Xma’ K’aaba’ that brought the sacrilege known as the Ix Na Li Kawa to Ajawinel K’an II, causing a smoldering but rising chaos among our people.”
I rested my bloody maquahuitl against my foot and stretched out my right hand to Zyanya who stood beside me. I still heard the sounds of battle down the passage from where we had come. Zyanya handed me his bate’. The eyes of the Ahau Can Mai of Ox Witz Ha grew wide in fear. “It was you who wanted to sacrifice my woman, Xch’úup Xma’ K’aaba’, to Kukulcan. It was you who wanted to sacrifice me, T’oit’ik-jolom Fuck, to Kukulcan,” I said, darkly. “Yet, we lived and here I am today in K’u Multan with you.” I looked at the Chuchqajaw Rech Tinimit of Naj Tunich. “You said there must be sacrifices today. Chuchqajaw Rech Tinimit of Naj Tunich, I give you the first.” I raised my bate’ and hurled with all my strength, the bate’ entering the chest, piercing the heart and bursting through the back of the Ahau Can Mai. He stood momentarily then fell to the floor. I walked up to where he had fallen and pulled the bate’ mercilessly from his body. I turned around and walked to Zyanya, giving him the bate’. “It is your turn now, Zyanya, to give Manik his second sacrifice.
Zyanya took the bate’ and looked towards his son still covering his sister. “Teyacapan! Bring Coszcatl to me.” Teyacapan was dazed, but he rose slowly, picked up his sister in his arms and brought her over to his father. He placed her standing at her father’s feet then knelt before him, his head lowered and his tears flowing freely.
“I will be your sacrifice to appease Manik, Taat. “I am not fit to be your Nabeal K’ojol,” sobbed Teyacapan.”
“You left your family and took the ways of the Chuchqajaw Rech Tinimit of Naj Tunich. You almost sacrificed your own anäb. You did not resist. Yes, Teyacapan, there will be another sacrifice to appease Manik.”
“As you wish, Taat,” replied Teyacapan, his head still lowered, teardrops continuously falling.
Zyanya raised the bloodied bate’ and hurled it violently into the heart of the Chuchqajaw Rech Tinimit of Naj Tunich. “Manik has been appeased. Rise, Teyacapan. You have much to atone for before you are Nabeal K’ojol again.” He turned around and headed towards the Warriors fighting in the passage. I could hear his voice ring out above the clamor. “This battle is over,” he commanded. “I am Zyanya, Ukab to Izel, Nabe Kaloonte’ to Ahau Naj Tunich. I command you to stop.” The sound of battle immediately stopped. “The Lady Chalehiuitl had a dream and the dwarf and the hunchback advised Ahau Naj Tunich that Manik was demanding a great sacrifice today, as Naj Tunich had been spared the K’o-chuq’ab Kiäqiq’-jab, the Qas Nim Wo-ja’, and the K’o-chuq’ab Kabraqan. The Chuchqajaw Rech Tinimit of Naj Tunich and the Ahau Can Mai of Ox Witz Ha, high priests sworn to Malik, and the Sworn Guards of Malik who accompanied them have been sacrificed to Malik. Ahau Naj Tunich gave me and the T’oit’ik-jolom, Fuck, our instructions and it has now been carried out. The Ahau, Lady Chalehiuitl, and the citizens of Naj Tunich will be blessed. Great Warriors have also begun their journeys to the Underworld and the great city of Xibalba. There is no need for more sacrifices today. Malik’s thirst has been satiated. Go to Ahau Naj Tunich and inform him that the instructions have been carried out. Let the festivities be great for the greatness of this sacrifice will resound throughout our kingdoms. The scribes and artisans will sing and paint this day for many baktuns.”
I had followed Zyanya and saw doubtful looks on some of the faces of the Warriors of Ahau Naj Tunich. One of the Warriors stepped forward. “Is that your command, Ukab Kaloonte’?”
Zyanya looked at the Warrior. I was surprised to see that painful messages were passing between them, just from the look in their eyes. “It is
my command, Oxib Nacon.” The Nacon stepped back and hit his chest three times. Zyanya returned the salute, hitting his chest once.
“Ko’one’ex,” shouted the Oxib Nacon, and he and his Warriors started running down the passageway, stepping over the dead that lay on the floor.
“That is Votan.348 He is my chaq’,” said Zyanya, looking pained. “I wonder if I will see him again.”
I looked down the passageway at the retreating Warriors and felt a deep sadness for Zyanya.
“We need to get out of here,” urged Bas, who had come up to me. “I don’t suppose there’s any truth in that story about the dream?”
“No,” answered Zyanya. “I had to find a way not to fight Votan in battle.”
“Then it was a trick,” I stated. Zyanya nodded. “Does Votan suspect?”
“He knows. He saw it in my eyes. He is giving me a few minutes to escape.”
“As soon as Votan meets with Izel, he will have to acknowledge that he has been tricked and he and his Warriors will return. He’ll have no choice,” Bas warned. “And we can’t go back through the passageway we came.”
Zyanya hit his chest again. “As I said before, Votan was not tricked. He is a great Warrior. He knew that I lied. I made him see it in my eyes.” Zyanya shook his head, sadly. “He will not be coming back for Izel will take out his heart for withdrawing from the battle.”
I felt Zyanya’s pain, but I forced it aside. I looked at Bas. His hair was matted with blood and drying blood was splashed all over his body and loincloth. I unconsciously reached for my Green Scapular which still hung around my neck.
Bas stared at me and snorted. “The last time you held the Green Scapular you said that there would be a passage out. Have your prayers been answered, Chiac?” I furrowed my forehead. I had never heard Bas talk like that. “We must get out and continue our march to Ox Witz Ha,” he urged.
“I know a way.” We turned to see who had made the statement. It was Teyacapan. “I know a way that will get us beyond Naj Tunich and into the jungle.”
“Already you begin to atone, Teyacapan,” remarked Zyanya. “Perhaps you are still my Nabe K’ojol. Ko’one’ex!”
Teyacapan nodded. “We must hurry. From there we can reach the sacbeob to Oz Witz Ha.”
“The children?” queried Bas.
“Teul,” I shouted.
“Right beside you,” was the reply.
I looked at Teul. No grin. I reflected on the young boyish, mischievous soldier I had known. It seemed long ago. “Are Sacnite and Xochitl still with us?” Teul nodded, then I saw the grin breaking through the horror we were going through. “You did tell me to take care of my pussies.”
“Indeed, I did, Teul. Take them to Ichik. Tell him they will help look after the children. We will take the four incense carriers and all the other children. Bas, go with them.”
“We have to hurry,” Teyacapan reminded us. I looked to Zyanya.
“Lead us, Teyacapan,” ordered Zyanya. “If anything goes wrong, I’ll kill you myself.”
“That’s only if I don’t get him first,” I warned.
Teyacapan showed no fear. He took a torch from the wall. “Bring more torches,” he said as he moved off.
“Wait,” shouted Yochi. “Some of our Warriors are dead, but some are only injured.”
“Fok! I couldn’t allow myself the extra burden of thinking about the dead. I had to think about the living and I was relieved when Zyanya intervined.
“We will carry the wounded if they have a chance to live or we will help them on their journey to Xibalba as the Warriors they are. The dead we leave. We will offer them to Ek Chuah once we have escaped. They will have a Warrior’s burial in our hearts. Now, we must escape. Ko’one’ex, Teyacapan. Lead us out of this horror.”
“Huehue,” I shouted.
“Kaloonte’.”
“Burn the altar.”
Teyacapan led us up a steep rise at the end of the chamber, opposite where we had entered, and onto a ledge that then dropped precipitously six to eight feet to the floor of a tunnel heading away. We hurriedly let ourselves down. The floor of that tunnel rose higher than the one leading to K’u Multan and the ceiling was just a few feet above our heads. We raced on for five to six hundred feet without incident until we approached another chamber Teyacapan called T’or Pa-raqan-ja.349 Teyacapan raised his hand and we stopped. He headed to the left among large stalagmites, the flames from his torch reflecting like stars on the stone pillars. He started climbing a very steep incline on little steps that had been cut into the stone so expertly that one would not have recognized them as steps if one did not know they were there or examined the area attentively. Zyanya and I followed Teyacapan closely. He bent down, putting the torch ahead of him and started removing pieces of rocks from the wall. After making a hole about three feet in diameter, Teyacapan put the torch into the hole and went through. Zyanya followed immediately. I was about to proceed, but Yochi stopped me. “I will go,” he said.
I went after Yochi and emerged into a tunnel where I inhaled the smell of death. On the right side of the entrance was a terrifying statue of Manik and, on the left, a large stela carrying inscriptions. Teyacapan kept running and we all followed. The tunnel was about the same width as the one we had just come through. There was, however, a preponderance of stalactites and stalagmites making running difficult. Every so often, as if set between the columns, there was a shallow hole, some carrying the bones of adults, others the bones of children, some carrying bodies that were still putrefying. In corners were large pottery vessels while hundreds of pottery fragments littered the floor making running hazardous and slow. Statuettes, bowls, other pottery, carvings, sculptures, baskets, feather work, sochs, töts, and ch’aw-baqs, most decorated with ya’ax-chich, seashells, chay, tok’,350 were in smaller pots spread about the floor in no particular order. There were also many pieces of jewelry made for ya’ax-chich and q’an’-puaq,351 necklaces, bracelets, ear and nose plugs, ankle chains, and many others. Teyacapan kept going, ignoring what we were seeing. Beside the sound of our feet hitting the floor and our deep breathing, there were no other sounds in the passageway. After a while, the sounds of our feet became one, as they fell in unison.
After about three miles, we started going up a natural rise. We took a turn around a very large stalactite and once again found steps carved out on the stone walls. The ceiling was coming lower and lower and as I watched Teyacapan, he knelt down and began crawling, pushing the torch ahead of him. Zyanya and I followed him closely through a tunnel, narrow yet large enough that our bodies were not touching the walls. We reached a small funnel shaped chamber and Teyacapan began moving rocks from the wall ahead of him. Light began seeping into the chamber.
“Be careful on stepping out,” said Teyacapan. “We will be on a ledge. “Tell the others to wait.”
I turned around. Yochi was behind me, followed by Iztali and Huehue. “Wait here,” I instructed them. They nodded, sent word to the rest of the Warriors, then sat, their weapons across their laps.
Teyacapan then Zyanya went through the hole and I followed close behind. It was blinding and we all shut our eyes. “Kinich Ahau is already three hands past his zenith,” said Teyacapan. “We need to get to the nim-ja’ and the jungle quickly, but there is no sacbeob down to the nim-ja’ and we have no suum.”352
I opened my eyes against Kinich Ahau. We were on a small rocky ledge, completely enclosed by rocky projections on the sides and with a craggy roof that projected outward. As I looked down below, there was no slope descending, just a perpendicular sharp and jagged wall dropping to a nim-ja’, river, that flowed from the northwest then curved towards and along the base of the wall before taking a northeasterly tract. It then abutted the jagged cliff and disappeared from view. The river was not very wide and the opposite bank was shallow with a sani-bay running along it. Because we were above the inside curve, the river was deepest below us and there was some erosion of the wall at the bottom. We were about thirty feet above the river so it was not a great drop, but even though the pool below us appeared deep enough I wasn’t sure. “We need to continue now,” urged Teyacapan. “Warriors will soon arrive.”
“Yochi!” I shouted. He, Iztali, and Huehue came onto the ledge. “We’ll jump to the nim-ja’.”
Huehue looked over the ledge. ‘Tot‘!”353 he swore.
“Huehue!” He looked at me. “Go back into the cave and send out two at a time. Tell them what’s happening. Instruct them to bring up their legs as they fall. I don’t know how deep the pool is.”
“And the children? The wounded?”
“One Warrior holds one child and jump. Two Warriors hold one injured and jump. Let the others jump in pairs, as much as possible, so that there is the least delay.” Huehue nodded and disappeared into the hole.
“I will remain here to see that everything goes as it should,” said Yochi. “You go, Chiac. See that they get to the sand bank.”
“I will stay also,” added Teyacapan. “When everyone is through, I will close the hole.”
“I will stay with you, Teyacapan,” advised Zyanya. “You go with Kaloonte’, Yochi.” Yochi hesitated then nodded.
“Make sure that the nim-ja’ is clear before the next pair of Warriors go off the ledge.” Zyanya nodded. “Let’s go,” said Yochi, stepping off the ledge.
Fok! Doesn’t he have any fears? I looked down and saw Yochi falling to the river. There was a splash then he rose, holding onto his short bate’ and to’bal-rib. He moved quickly towards the sani-bay. I threw my maquahuitl and to’bal-rib away from me, closed my eyes, held onto my Green Scapular, and jumped.
I pulled up my legs as the air rushed past me and I was soon plunging into the water. I felt my stomach in my mouth. I immediately put out my hands to stop my descent and started pulling upward against the water. My feet did not touch the bottom so it was deep enough and I soon rose above the surface. Yochi had returned and retrieved my weapons and so we started swimming towards the shore. After only a few strokes, we were in the shallows and on the bank. I heard the simultaneous splash of the next two jumpers.
As the Warriors came to the sani-bay, they began helping with getting weapons that were thrown off the cliff, helping with the injured and the children. No one had made a sound while jumping, even the children. Zyanya
and Teyacapan were the last two to leap, after closing the tunnel with rocks.
As Zyanya walked up on the sand I asked, “What do you suggest?”
“We travel along the sand against the flow of the nim-ja’, westward for less than a k’ab, until we clear the rock walls. We then cross the nim-ja’ and take to the jungle, going generally north. The sacbeob to Ox Witz Ha will be west of us, but we do not head for it as yet. Once it is realized that we are no longer in the Ch’ajch’oj Jul, Izel will send Warriors along the sacbeob and the nearby jungle to search for us.”
“The wounded?” asked Robertson. We need to look after their wounds.”
“And the children. They must be tired and very affected by what is happening,” cautioned Ichik. He chuckled. “They still carry their incense burners. They won’t let them go.”
“I suppose the burners have become a part of them, just like how a rif …” Robertson cleared his throat loudly … “bate’ is a part of a Warrior.” Ichik nodded.
“We have no time to treat the wounds now. Once we have found a safe place in the jungle, we will look after them. We carry both the wounded and the children, as best we can,” stated Zyanya.
“Yochi. Once we have found a safe place, see that the wounds are looked after. Now, Ko’one’ex,” I shouted and started running along the bank, Zyanya at my side.
We had run for about half-mile when the rocky walls on the opposite bank sloped suddenly down into the jungle. The r
iver was shallow and Zyanya immediately started running across it to the other side which had a bank about two feet high. The bank was thick with ch’om-tuxe’rix354 and he used his short bate’ to hack a path through the vivid green leaves and fiery red flowers, and onto the bank. He looked up at Kinich Ahau and disappeared into the jungle. We followed and once through the flattened ch’om-tuxe’rix, we entered the jungle where, due to the thick unbroken canopy of the broadleaf trees, the undergrowth was relatively sparse.
The area we were in was mountainous with gullies and small creeks. We followed Zyanya, who having looked at Kinich, knew the direction he was going. We started climbing one of the higher mountains and I wondered why we were not going around it, but I had no doubt that Zyanya knew what he was doing, so I just followed, keeping my mouth shut.
The climb was hard and I could hear occasional cussing from the Warriors and muffled cries from the wounded. Yet, there were no cries from the children. I reflected momentarily that I did not know how many of my War
riors were wounded, how badly, and how many had died. I pushed the query from my mind. Our life was the Way of the Warrior.
Suddenly, we broke the tree line and we were on a small rocky summit covered with grass and a few pine trees. Zyanya stopped at the very top and looked around him. “We will spend the night here.”
I frowned. “But we have not travelled far,” I said, impatiently. “Shouldn’t we proceed to the sacbeob? I need to get to Ox Witz Ha.”
“Kinich Ahau is just one hand above the mountains. He will soon leave his fiery chariot for the Underworld and it will be dark. That is good,” stated Zyanya. “Izel’s Warriors will still be on the sacbeob, searching for us. Tonight, it is unlikely they will approach us through the jungle. If they do, we are in a good defensive position. We will have scouts and set up our Warriors to provide the best perimeter defence possible. We will look after the wounded and take care of the children. Tomorrow we decide how best to
Sisimito III--Topoxte Page 30