Sisimito III--Topoxte

by Henry W. Anderson

  “Nabe Nacon!” he shouted, raised his fist then turned away. He looked back and raised it two more times. I simply nodded. Hitting the chest is much quicker and easier than raising the fist. Why do I keep interfering with things?

  We continued through the jungle, south of the sacbeob and south of Ha’ Yaxha, ignoring the slight movements of the jungle floor below our feet. The frequency of the tremors was increasing, but they remained weak. We marched very quietly, the only sounds being the chirp-chirp of xirs, and that of small animals like ch’o’s and huuhs481 running away from us as we walked through. Once there was a masat, and the occasional k’oy looked down at us from the canopy, but they were mainly quiet. Even the paap remained quiet. There were scourges of chan-koxols, but we were moving so they did not bother us too much.

  It was just after nik’aj-q’ij, Kinich Ahau having passed his zenith, and we were on a hill overlooking the peninsulas. The summit of the hill had been cleared of jungle, serving as a mirador for the citizens of and visitors to Topoxte. Drizzle had begun to fall and Kaán was becoming cloudy.

  Yochi came over to me. “We will set up our base camp here,” he said. “There are no travelers on the sacbeob and if we remain in the jungle, we won’t be seen. The scouts have advised that nothing has changed in Mahanamtz’ formation. I have also sent out Warriors to look for fruit and berries as the men are hungry. They were able to drink at the creeks we passed over, but they need food.”

  “What about chakuj tutuchci,” I asked, humorously.

  Yochi stared at me. “This is not the time for levity, Chiac,” he scolded.

  “This will soon be over, Yochi. Our Warriors are strong. The taste of battle alone feeds us. We will not lose our strength.”

  Yochi stared at me. “You have changed, Chiac, and so must we. We will fight as Warriors must and we will die as Warriors must, but, yes, we will also want to live. We fight under the new ideas of K’an II. To accomplish that, we must be completely and effectively prepared. Part of that preparation is to provide our Warriors with food. We need food.” He raised his eyebrows. “I am rotating guards and having the Warriors rest while we wait.”

  I looked at Yochi and smiled, sadly, not angry at him. I knew that he was my friend. I also knew there may come a time when I would have to ask him to do something terrible for me, keep a promise I was going to ask him to make. “Yochi.”

  “Yes, Chiac.”

  “If I should die, Yochi, you must kill Xch’úup Xma’ K’aaba’. She must not spend the rest of her life as Mahanamtz’ woman. She would not want that. Kill her for me.”

  Yochi knitted his brow. “I will kill her, my friend.” He turned to walk away then stopped. “I will kill her, Achalal.”

  I leaned against a tree and slid down until I sat on the jungle floor. I put my hands over my eyes and cried and cried.”

  “What the madafok’s wrong with you again?” I looked up at Teul.

  “It’s just been a lot, Teul. A fokin lot.”

  “Well, you can’t madafok give up now. And you’re T’oit’ik-jolom, not a madafok weeping chicken. Pull yourself together.”

  I jumped up and felt my fists tighten.

  “Do it! Do it you madafok. If that’s what it takes, do it. We don’t have time for that,” he stormed as he pointed to the tears on my face. “Ahn doo nat tink ah wahn jos stan op ahn teke wahn bangin. Ah wahn lash yu madafok.”482

  I felt as if all my control was lost, then I made my fists slacken. “Fok! Fok! Fok!” I shouted. I stared at Teul. “Yochi told me once, Then let me say that it is only the greatest of T’oit’ik-joloms that cries for it is only the greatest of T’oit’ik-joloms who knows that there is no glory without life on U Wach Ulew. Glory without life is without meaning. Yes, Teul, there is no glory in death. Yet, Teul, and I may have to kill Molly.” He stared at me. I shook my head, tightened my muscles, stood straight with my feet about two feet apart.

  “That’s better,” he responded to my stance. “And you won’t have to kill Molly. We’ll get Molly back and we’ll get rid of the enchantments Mahanamtz put on her. Coatl was able to get rid of yours. You have to believe. Believing provides hope.”

  I gazed at my friend. “Sometimes, you amaze me, Teul, not often in a good way, but … sometimes in a way that’s not too bad.” I exhaled loudly. “I don’t know, Teul. Papan says Molly’s in a bad way. Even if we rescue her, I don’t know if she’ll ever be normal again. As I said, I may have to kill her.”

  “You are back to normal. If you were ever madafok normal.” He shrugged his shoulders. “We’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, we have a battle to fight. We have a battle to win, so pull your madafok shit together. I never want to see you like that again. I brought you some fruit.” He handed me some sorosi483 and rum-p ‘ok.484 I broke open one of the yellow-orange sorosi fruit and started sucking on the red seeds.

  “You really expect this to give me energy?”

  “Shut the madafok up and suck and you’re lucky it’s not my cock. But if you want to suck that, I’m willing to pull it out. And you don’t have to worry about the bad-siknis. Taat took care of that.” He stared at me, trying to appear very angry.

  I chuckled. “Fok you, Teul.”

  He grinned. “The rum-p’ok will give you some energy.”

  I made up my face. “Never did like rum-p’ok too much.” I looked up at him, taking one of the yellow fruits and starting to eat it. “Sounding like an old woman?”

  “Yes! And acting like one too,” came Taat’s voice from behind me.

  “Taat,” I responded, taken aback by his scolding, especially just having gone through Teul’s, having just gone through Yochi’s. He and the men from the two sections that marched with me were there.

  “We’ve come to tell you, Paal, that we’re sorry for what has happened to Molly. I’ve been talking to Teyacapan and to Coatl. There may be something we can do once we have her back.”

  “Thank you, Taat. Thank you, men. I do hope there’s something we can do. That’s if we get her back.” I shook my head. “When we get her back. Believe! Right Teul?”

  “Right to madafok.”

  “We will.” Taat looked around as if hesitating to say something else then he continued. “This battle will be dangerous, Paal. If anything should happen to me, tell Nah’ I was thinking of her,” he blurted out.

  I frowned at him and decided to try to make as light of our situation as I could. “If I survive, I’ll tell her, Taat. But you will be there with me, Taat. If not, then it will have to be Teul. Teul’s too fokin evil to die. That’s what they say, don’t they? Only the good die young.”

  “Madafok right,” agreed Teul, chuckling softly, but he looked disturbed and agitated.

  “Well, I better get back to Teyacapan and Coatl. We’re discussing how best to get rid of Mahanamtz’ enchantments.”

  “Okay, Taat,” I said. “Don’t forget, they must also use the Raax Ch’ayom Puag.” He nodded and went back into the jungle. I couldn’t help wondering if that would be the last time we saw each other alive.

  The other men stood around fidgeting a little and I was just about to suggest that they rest when I saw Robertson staring with interest at Teul. Then he spoke. “Teul!”

  “Yes, Medic … Q’akoj Hun.” Teul still looked troubled.

  “I suppose when you’re married and have children they’ll cuss just like you.’

  A storm suddenly blew over Teul’s face. “Wara?” he bellowed. “Fi mi pikni kos front a mi! Kos front a mee, fi dehn madafok faada! Dehn udn laas fi dehn madafok plays! No taim! Ah mi wahn slap dehn rait owt a di hows! Laas rispek fi mee, fl dehn faada! No madafok way!” By then all of us stood around him, slack-jawed at his outburst. He glared at Robertson who was looking very sheep-like at him. “Ahn koming fram yoo! Wahn Suppaintendent of Babilan in P.G.! Mi pikni kus front a mee! No taim a madafok!” he shouted as he stormed off into the jungle, still ranting and raving … “kus …polees
… madafok …pikni …”485

  “What was that?” asked Robertson, incredulously, totally confused.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Teul,” I answered.

  Illustration 17: Ha’ Yaxha and the Topoxte Islands.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  THE BATTLE FOR

  TOPOXTE

  K’iins 32, 33, 34 - The Uinal of Mol

  Thursday May 31, Friday June 1, Saturday June 2, 1973

  Chiac slid down to the jungle floor and, once again, lay back against a tree, drifting into a light sleep. The distant roll of thunder woke him out of his troubled slumber to an early breaking aq’abil, dawn. Yochi and Teul were across from him. They had been sleeping or resting on the jungle floor, but they were also getting up, responding to the distant rumbles. Patli stood nearby and nodded to Choj and Bo as they walked into the circle and sat.

  “Thunder,” said Chiac, raising his eyebrows.

  “Itztli, who is scouting, says that heavy clouds are building in the northwest,” advised Yochi. “Tun taal le xaman ka’ano’.”486

  “At this time of year, it could be a Maria,” added Teul. “Those can be madafok nasty.”

  “Maria?” questioned Yochi. “I don’t know that word.” He looked at me. “Is it a word from the Kingdom of Belikin?” I looked at him, hesitating to answer. “I know that there are things you do not tell us, Chiac, and I accept. If this Maria can affect our battle, however, I want to know about it. We’re in the uinal of Mol and can have kiaqiq’-jabs from the north, the lands of Can-Tzicnal.”

  “It is the same in Belikin. We are now at the time in the tun when cold air will no longer be coming from the north for six uinals. Many times, there is one last push of cold air and it brings high winds, heavy rains, thunder, and u-hatz’il-cháaks.487 We call that last kiaqiq’-jab, Maria.”

  “Strange that it comes at this time, Chiac, as we prepare for battle. It may be the will of the gods. Will it help us be victorious or will it plunge us into defeat?”

  “This is the time in the tun when it comes, Yochi. It’s nothing strange.”

  “I still think it is strange that it comes as we are going into battle,” said Yochi. “Is there anything else I should know about this Maria?” Chiac stared at him. “Tell me, Chiac.”

  “Tell him,” said Teul, holding onto his Raax Ch’ayom Puaq.

  Chiac looked at Yochi. “Maria is the name of Ix Na Li Kawa.” Yochi, Choj, and Bo gaped at Chiac. Teul played with the blade of his long bate’.

  “Then this battle is no longer only about killing Mahanamtz,” said Bo. He sighed. “Patzoj! Do you realize what is happening here, Chiac? This could be the beginning of the end of our kingdom. It may even be the beginning of the Fall of an Empire.”

  Chiac frowned. “I do not understand?”

  “If we kill Mahanamtz and defeat his Kechelaj Komon and Kechelaj Jupuq, and it becomes known, or even inferred, that it was the presence of this kiaqiq’-jab that helped us, and the kiaqiq’-jab has the name of your Ix Na Li Kawa, Maria, stories and songs will spread far and wide that it was the power of your Ix Na Li Kawa that defeated Mahanamtz. Our strategies, our Warriors prowess in the battle, everything else will be overlooked including our gods. The priests and the Nobles of many kingdoms will rally their armies trying to suppress this heresy and there will be war and this war will be concentrated against my al-ch’utin-nan, Ajawinel K’an II, Ox Witz Ha, and all our allies. The peasants, long suppressed by the priests and nobles, will gladly accept this heresy and will desert their kools, burn their abix, revolt against the nobles and their priests. There would be famine. Without the assistance of the priests, there would be disease.” Bo shook his head, looking down. He then looked up at Chiac. “You are Achalal, Fuck. We have done the blood-letting. Yet, I must ask, is this what you and Xch’úup Xma’ K’aaba’ have brought to us, Fuck, to U Wach Ulew?” The only sound was the distant hammering of a kaj-rochoch. “And you tell us so little. Do we deserve that, my Achalal?”

  “We wanted change, Bo,” responded Choj. “That’s what we all studied at the Tijoxel Ja, the quest for change. Our al-ch’utin-nan has told us that change always comes at a cost.”

  “But what a cost, Choj. Is the destruction of our civilization worth it?” asked Bo. “We cannot let the people know that the kiaqiq’-jab that is coming carries the name of your Ix Na Li Kawa. It must never be discussed again. As Alaxel of Ox Witz Ha, I order this.” Bo looked at Choj. “As Nabe K’ojol, that is my command.”

  The ground shook and the canopy above them danced, the tree tops hitting each other, the trunks crying, some splitting as pressure built up within them. The noise of the jungle rose to a fervor the Warriors had never heard before. Hundreds of k’oys jumped from tree to tree, screaming in fear, while flocks of paaps and xt’uts, once again, flew into each other above and throughout the canopy, some falling injured to the ground. Yet, above the noise came the crazy laughter of the kos, Wah-co!-Wah-co!-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, the thundering howls of the batz, and the sound of rocks moving as they worked against each other. The worq’otik thundered around them then resounded over and around the mountains, echoing through valley after valley. Then all became eerily quiet except for the air that vibrated around them with a soft calming sound as hundreds of ts’unu’uns hovered around the Warriors.

  Itztli came running through the trees. “Mahanamtz has started …” He stopped, looking around him in awe. He put out his hand as if wanting to touch one of the ts’unu’uns. “They’re all ya’ax,”488 he said, quietly. “Ya’ax is not always a good color. Our priests paint unlucky citizens ya’ax and throw them in the Ch’ajch’oj Tz’ono’ot as sacrifices.”

  “Blue, ya’ax, is the color of Ix Na Li Kawa,” murmured Chiac. “It is a good color.”

  “What does this mean?” asked Yochi, to no one specifically, sounding mesmerized as he looked tenderly at the hovering ts’unu’uns.

  Bo shook his head then held it. “I fear what is happening. I fear for all of my people.”

  “You once told me Bo,” said Choj, “that legends say ts’unu’uns float free of time, carrying our hopes for love, joy, and celebration. The ts’unu’uns’ delicate grace reminds us that life is rich, beauty is everywhere, every personal connection has meaning and that laughter is life’s sweetest creation.”489

  “Perhaps, the ts’unu’uns are here to give us hope, to remind us there is a better U Wach Ulew beyond Mahanamatz’ K’aas.” replied Yochi. “They cannot be a bad omen.”

  “I fear what is happening. I fear for all of my people,” repeated Bo.

  The ts’unu’uns stopped hovering and started moving up into the canopy. Wah-co!-Wah-co!-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. The jungle floor trembled.

  The call of the kos and the slight tremor brought Chiac back from his captivation. “Go on, Itztli.”

  “Mahanamtz has started his move onto the peninsulas,” he briefed, somewhat loudly. “They still have the reversed arrow formation without a tang, the only difference being that Mahanamtz, the Kechelaj Komon, and Xch’úup Xma’ K’aaba’ are in the center of the blade. Hach-k’ek’en Ajchaq’e is on the advancing rank. I don’t know if they will maintain the current formation.”

  “Patli. Get all Nacons. I’m sure all the Warriors are awake after that shaking,” said Chiac, looking troubled. “Itztli. I want scouts monitoring Mahanamtz continuously.”

  “They are.”

  “Remain with us for the briefing.”

  Itztli raised his fist. “Nabe Nacon!”

  The jungle floor had stopped moving as the Nacons gathered, only occasional small jolts remaining. Chiac began speaking. “Mahanamtz has begun his advance. We will, at some point, pursue Mahanamtz, but we will not attack. When we will begin our march, I have not decided yet. I will monitor and then decide. We do not march until I give the command, but we must be ready to march immediately on my command. The formation will be as follows. The first detail will be Eztli and Ichik on the north, Huehue
’s fireteam just a little ahead of them, heading in the direction of the northern peninsula. The second detail is Ikan and Namacuix, with Chicahua’s fireteam just ahead, on the south, marching towards the southern peninsula. In between and adjacent to the details will be Yochi, Choj, Bo, Patli, and me, generally heading towards the tip of the reversed arrow formation. To the rear is Teyacapan and his section. Remember, we do not attack. If I order us to follow Mahanamtz’ advance, we follow close behind, but not close enough that they can engage us. Keep in mind also that, as yet, we do not know if Mahanamtz will attack both peninsulas or only one.”

  “And if they attack us,” asked Namacuix.

  “Then we defend ourselves, but withdraw quickly. I don’t want a fighting withdrawal. Our objective is to have them advance against the K’aay Militia.” Chiac looked at Itztli. “Brief us on the placement of Warriors within the arrowhead.”

  “The arrowhead is long and narrow. Both halves of the blade have the same distribution. The Warriors are in single file parallel to the blade edge from tip to the barb. There are four files on each side. The outer two files have about seventy-five Warriors each, the inner two about fifty. The outermost are hach-k’ek’ens, the second are batz, and the files continue alternating. So, the base column which will approach the target first has only eight Warriors. As I said, Mahanamtz, the Kechelaj Komon, and Xch’úup Xma’ K’aaba’ are in the center of the blade guarded by Kitam Ajchaq’e and a drove of over twenty kitams. Hach-k’ek’en Ajchaq’e is on the advancing base rank.”

  “Why such a narrow formation?” asked Teul.

  “The narrow column is almost like a tip, just that you will be immediately faced with eight Warriors rather than one. It suggests a strategy requiring a quick deep entry into the militia. Then Mahanamtz’ Warriors will spread out from the blade edges engaging and eventually enveloping the entire militia.”

  “They could do that with a regular arrowhead,” countered Teul.