“Chekaj K’inich says that the changes will lead to the Fall of an Empire.” I shook my head. “I’m sorry Choj, but I didn’t get all of that. I think I got lost along the way. I believe I’m still suffering from the k’aas.”
Bo grinned. “Once Choj gets started, it is hard to stop him. What he is saying is that the cities of Maxam, Yax Mutul, Topoxte, Nakúm, and even the smaller towns and villages have definite reasons to fear our small army.”
“But do we normally attack the smaller towns and villages?” I questioned, denoting disapproval.
“We do,” responded Choj. “We do. It is an important strategy, as I said earlier, as it results in loss of control of the frontier regions of a kingdom.”
“Chiac, my achalal,” sighed Bo. “Sometimes I am puzzled by what you do not seem to know.” He looked around him. “If you are going to ask basic questions you should already know the answers to, ask them only when you are among us or suspicion, mistrust, and loss of confidence will develop among the ranks.” He raised his eyebrows and I nodded. “What we do is, we take control. We do not attack villagers, destroy crops, or harm the livelihood of koolnáals. It is the koolnáal that we all depend on for prosperity. But we do take control of the towns and villages. When it comes to the bigger cities, the rewards of victory include the opportunity to wreak havoc on the enemy’s stelas, portraits, and temples in their city centers, to destroy the records of their history, and the right to extract humiliating tribute. Of course, taking their women to the mat is also a good reward for any Warrior.”
“It’s fuck, Bo,” chuckled Choj, rotating his hips and grinning. “Just like the name the citizens of Ox Witz Ha gave him. Chiac himself explained that to us. Remember?” I smiled mischievously at Choj and Bo’s comments while the other men laughed. I could have been in my other world.
“So, what do we do?” I asked, after the brief moment of levity.
“We continue north,” said Zyanya. “While we wait for scouting information from the Runners, we train our Warriors in our new tactics, day and night, how to move and kill quietly in the jungle. If necessary, we send out our own scouts.”
“And Xico?” I asked Zyanya.
“They continue their march to the north, on the sacbeob, announcing the might of Ox Witz Ha,”
I nodded. “Yochi! Zyanya. Get your Nimal Nacons. Set up groups for training, all through the night and day.”
“And what about us Nim-q’ij Alaxels?” asked Choj, smiling.
“You two are with me.”
“I mean about training,” insisted Choj. “I immediately realized that I had to give them the opportunity to train, that they were not assigned to any of the sections. “Choj will work with Yochi, and Bo with Zyanya. You report to me from time to time. And both of you dress as we dress.” They both raised their right fist, grinning. As I saw their grins, I thought of Teul and Choco and couldn’t help wondering if that grinning was becoming infectious.” I shook my head. I can‘t have a platoon of grinning guerillas.
“Is that all,” asked Yochi, realizing I had drifted.
I nodded. “Yes. I will meet with Xico and Ehecatl and tell them what we plan to do at this time and confirm what they will do.” They all raised their fists and returned to their sections. Patli, who had been sitting a short distance away, got up and came to me and stood, waiting to see if I had any instructions. “Locate the Warriors from my kingdom. Tell them I will meet with them at aq’abil.” He nodded and left after which I waded across the nim-ja’ to Xico’s camp.
Illustration 15: Chiac’s march from Ox Witz Ha to Topoxte.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
A
REDEPLOYMENT OF WARRIORS
K’iin 30 - The Uinal of Mol
Monday, May 31, 1973
I woke up, feeling as if I had just fallen asleep, responding to a couple kicks in my thigh. I looked up to see Teul grinning. “Get up, you madafok. Patli told us you wanted to have a briefing.”
“Madafok yuself,”429 I responded, getting up. It was still dark, with only a suggestion of aq’abil.
“We’re all here,” he said.
“Good,” I answered.
“Should I ask Patli to go?”
I wondered about that momentarily. “No. Just let me piss.” I finished, shook Tóolok, placed him back in my loincloth to rest comfortably. I sighed, remembering Zyanya’s question, “When last did you chakuj tutuchci, Nabe Nacon?” I knew that I should, not only for my own physical and mental release, but to keep up the tradition of the Warrior. I just couldn’t. I kept thinking of Molly. I threw away the thoughts and looked at my men, the men who I had brought to this world we were in, the men who I had taken from their homes, their families, their lives. I knew that some would never be able to return to the world they had left as they were dead in that world. The others, I hoped I could get them back to their homes safely.
“I have not been able to spend much time with you,” I began. I want you to know that it is not intentional. We are always on the march, things just happen, and we march quickly. For now, we must live as the people of this world live. Do what they do. If we don’t, those of us who can return to our world won’t. We will be killed and sent back to Xibalba. I don’t think any of us want to go back to Xibalba, so we must live. I don’t think anyone escapes Xibalba twice.”
“What about Taylor?” Rhys asked. “Irrespective of what you said, do we just leave him there?”
I had just instructed my men to live like the people of U Wach Ulew. Yet, I could not allow myself to sound like the Warrior who glorified dying in battle and going to Xibalba. We didn’t want to fokin die in battle. We wanted to be victorious and we wanted to live to enjoy the fokin victory. “Taylor is on his way to or already in Xibalba. There is nothing we can do about Taylor, except preserve his memory. He is not alone. Kish is also there. We mourn them both. If there is anything to be done, they will have to do it. What we can do, however, is to be victorious in killing Sisimito, rescuing Molly, and for those of us who can, return to our world. Bas, Parham, Anderson, Clarke, and Hulse, you will have to make your home here. You might say that it is easy for me to say that. It is not easy. You are now Warriors. You have a job as a Warrior of Ox Witz Ha. You have to live the Way of the Warrior. I will speak with K’an II to ensure that you are all given the opportunities you need. Get a woman, make a home, have children. Be happy. Explore this fantastic world. In order to do that, however, you will have to leave the other behind. I know that will be difficult.” I heard a little commotion and glanced around. Teul and Choco, grinning as usual, were hitting Clarke on the back. “What the fok is it Teul and Choco?”
“Tell Chiac, Clarke,” urged Teul.
“There’s nothing to say,” answered Clarke, obviously trying to keep a smile off his face.
“Oh yes, there is,” insisted Choco. “Clarke has been keeping his tutuchci well-oiled with Ixtli. They go into the jungle at night, thinking we don’t see them. I don’t know why they think they have to hide. Anyhow, they make so much raucous, they sound like hach-k’ek’ens rutting.” We all laughed, and 1 was happy for the moment of diversion.
“You’re just jealous,” jeered Clarke.
“I looked at Clarke. He had travelled all the way from Barbados to come with me on Expedition Bold. I felt regret at what had happened to him. But we had to move on. “So, you’re settling down, Clarke?” I asked.
“It’s more like settling on top,” Teul snickered, sending all of us into laughter, including Clarke, once again.
“There’s another issue,” announced Teul, loudly. Actually, there are two. I just couldn’t believe it.”
“And what is it you couldn’t believe, Teul?” I asked, anticipating some fokry.
“Do you know that when you ordered us to blacken our skins, Clarke and Rhys were going to do it too.” We all looked at Clarke and Rhys. “Why the madafok would a black man blacken his skin?”
The laughter and guffaws w
as so loud that time that many of the other Warriors stopped what they were doing and stared at us. I glanced at Patli and could hear him thinking, What are they laughing about?
“Ai-yai-yai! ¡Hijueputa! You’re just a pile of fok, Teul,” Rhys grimaced. Clarke just stood shaking his head.
“And … have you heard the latest?” asked Choco, not waiting for a response as he continued. “Zyanya has given new names to some of our Warriors. He said he never liked foreign names. Parham is K’aqoj which means Brown. Medic is Q’akoj Hun which means Pale Brown One. Hulse is Q’akoj Ka’ah, which means Pale Brown Two. Rhys is Q’eq Hun, which means Black One. Clarke is Q’eq Ka’ah, which means Black Two. Anderson is in Ox Witz Ha and Taylor in Xibalba, so they got no new names. Great, isn’t it?” finished Choco, obviously very amused.
The men were hitting the newly baptized on their backs, congratulating them and calling them by their new names. It was great fun, but I felt a little sad. Choco had spoken about Taylor being in Xibalba without any sign of regret. Perhaps they were really becoming one with U Wach Ulew. I had to do that too, but I feared that I would lose an essential part of me and I knew that once I lost it I would never be able to bring it back again. Sometimes, I wondered if I was losing my sense of mirth.
“At least, Clarke,” I heard Parham say, “you won’t be saying “Even the good times are bad” anymore. When you’re fucking the way you’ve been fucking, even the bad times are good.”
“Okay men,” I said, trying to remain amused. “We soon have to move out so let’s finish this up. And sorry to tell you, Clarke, no more raucous in the jungle. We’re silent.” Clarke nodded, sighing.
“Oh madafok!” grumbled Teul, then he grinned. “Well, that doesn’t apply to me? I can juk430 silently.”
“Goes for you too, Teul.” I looked at Bas, who was staring at me. “And you, Bas. How is it going?”
“Oh, it’s going good for Bas,” interjected Hulse. “He has struck up a little thing with Yoloxochitl.”
Bas put his head to one side briefly and smiled. “Yes. I suppose so. As you said, Chiac, we have to forget the other world. There, thereis one thing I want you to do for me, however, when you get back.”
“What is it, Bas?”
“I want you to tell Rosalia that I did love her, and I’m sorry I can’t be there with her anymore. Tell her to find a good man, just as I have found a good woman.” Bas smiled. “Choc’s a good man. He’ll look after her.” He sighed. “I don’t know how you’ll explain, but do a good fokin job for me.”
I looked at my friend, the friend who had become my only brother. The brother that always looked after me, took care of me. The brother that had died in my arms while holding the Green Scapular I now wore around my neck. “I will, Bas. I will,” I responded, fighting back my fokin tears.
“But you, Teul, you’re the last one who should be talking,” chided Rhys, breaking the silence that had followed Bas’ remark.
“What do you mean, Rhys?” asked Teul, grinning, accepting that he was going to be the subject of something distastefully funny.
“You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Both you and Xipilli jukin the same women.” Once again, the laughter was tumultuous. “I don’t care how you explain it, but something is wrong with that.”
“I think you better explain it, Teul,” I said, glad to put Teul on the hot seat.
He shrugged his shoulders. “You may not believe it, but we have no choice.”
“No choice?”
“Oh yes! We believe you,” jeered most of the men, in unison.
“Back in Zactun, Xipilli and I fucked Nimalaj Achi Tochtli’s daughters. I didn’t know who they were but that madafok Xipilli knew. Anyway, I had Sacnite and Xipilli had Xochitl.”
“You took advantage of those two young girls, Teul,” said Clarke. “Virgins, Taylor would have said.”
“I didn’t, Clarke. We drank a lot that night and it was dark when Xipilli and I went to our hut. They came. It seemed Xipilli had already asked them if they had flowered. They obviously said Yes, and since they wanted to lose that piece of flesh, we accommodated them. Mission Accomplished.”
Uwa-Uwa-Roarrr! Uwa-Uwa-Roarrr! whooped the men, loudly. I looked at them. They were becoming a part of this world, and quickly. That was good for those who would not leave U Wach Ulew, but, irrespective of what I had thought before, I was not sure it was that good for those who would. It was all becoming very confusing.
“Anyway,” continued Teul, “We didn’t only juk. Funny, but it was much more than that … if that’s possible. We talked about many things and we drank more. We actually liked the girls and they seem to like us, Xipilli and Xochitl, Sacnite and me. We regarded it as a one-night-stand with a big extra of taking maidens, but it wasn’t.” The men began to chuckle. “You may know some of the rest of this, but after Tochtli found out, and I still am not certain how, he sent the girls with his son, Nabeal K’ojol Atl, to find us.” He frowned then shrugged his shoulders. “I have a feeling that it was then the girls turn to say, Mission Accomplished. They told Tochtli, the whole affair probably all planned by the girls or by him or both. Xipilli thinks so. When we all met at Pusilhá and after discussing the developments with Xipilli, Atl informed us that Sacnite was to marry Xipilli, and Xochitl to marry me. Well, if we were to be married any at all, it should be the other way around as Xipilli likes Xochitl and I like Sacnite. I don’t know about love, but …” he shrugged his shoulders. “But there are snags. Xipilli thinks that Tochtli wants him to marry Sacnite because she is Nabeal Mial and that would give him stronger ties with Nito.”
“Big issue over a little tissue,” sang Rhys.
“Big issue, indeed,” I concurred.
“What is Nabeal Mial?” asked Robertson.
“Firstborn Daughter,” answered Teul. “Xipilli is Nabeal K’ojol, First Son. Well, that complicated everything as Xochitl and Xipilli already had a budding relationship, and so did Sacnite and me. So! Immediately on leaving Pusilhá, we continued at it. Who wouldn’t? Atl didn’t seem to care, as long as we were getting married.”
“But that doesn’t explain why you are also fucking Xochitl, and Xipilli, Sacnite,” challenged Robertson. “Everyone know you are.”
“We have to.” This comment set the men roaring again, including me, excluding Robertson, who looked very puzzled. “You see, Medic, Xochitl will be my wife and Sacnite, Xipilli’s wife. Tochtli demands that we marry in Ox Witz Ha. We have to marry, live with, and do our thing with our own wives. Xipilli and I have become achalals, brothers, through the blood-letting ritual so we do what we have to do with no … I don’t know how to explain it. We bed our wives as is expected of us, and we bed our sweethaats431 as we really want to do. As I said, we have to.”
“Teul! Teul!” shouted some of the men.
“Bloody Hell! That’s just … wrong,” grumbled Robertson. “That’s bollocks.”
“Q’akoj Hun. Medic. We live now in a different world from ours. It was the only thing we could do or there would be strife between Nito and Zactun. It’s palitiks.432 Xipilli is the important person here. He is Alaxel of Nito. Prince of Nito. I am nothing.” Teul smiled, almost sadly. “As I said, we have become brothers by the blood-letting. A brother is something I have never had, neither has he. We’re not going to madafok that up. So, we do what we have to do.”
“Just be careful, Teul. I am not sure how this society looks upon that arrangement. Better discuss that with Xipilli,” suggested Robertson, looking very troubled. “He doesn’t seem to tell you everything though. And you’re not ‘nothing’. Don’t ever say that again.”
Teul stared at Robertson then continued. “Well, we’re not married yet, so there’s no problem. Actually, the woman I want is Sacnite, and Xipilli wants Xochitl. I can’t believe I’m saying that. Sounds like I’m willing to get married. No way!” He shook his head. “Anyway, we have discussed the matter with Atl and he actually listened to us. Believe it or not,
he said he’d think about the affair … appropriate word.”
“But can he go against Tochtli’s wishes?” I asked.
“I don’t know, Chiac. He is the one to see us married at Ox Witz Ha. I think he can make a decision.”
“But the children,” continued Robertson. “How will you know if one is yours or his?”
“We have decided that unless Atl agrees to change things, Xochitl’ s children will be mine, as she will be my legal wife, and Sacnite’s will be Xipilli’s, irrespective who the actual father is. They may already be pregnant. Who knows? Actually, with respect to me, it’s highly possible they are because I am madafok good.”
“Teul! Teul! Uwa-Uwa-Roarrr! Uwa-Uwa-Roarrr!”
Teul smiled and looked at Choc. “And I intend to keep it that way. That’s why I don’t ride a bicycle.”
“Teul! Teul!”
“Continue, Teul,” urged Robertson. “I have to hear the end of this.”
“Well, the best thing we could come up with is that we will live as one large family. No one will know who’s sleeping with who, that it’s Sacnite and me, Xochitl and Xipilli. We’ll look after each other. We’ll be good fathers and uncles. Everything is worked out, to the last detail.” He looked around at all of us, grinning, then shrugged his shoulders, looked down and started kicking debris on the jungle floor, something I have never seen him do. “All I want is the feel that I am somebody. Not just Teul … the soldier … the Warrior. I want to feel that somebody wants me. Sacnite does that for me.” He was overcome with emotion and the men were quiet. I think the statement, “a brother is something I have never had”, had touched us all. I glanced at Choco who had been very close to Teul, his bombali. His face was expressionless, but pained. I was more than perturbed.
Sisimito III--Topoxte Page 44