The Serpent and the Crown

by Sam Puma

  Jankaro felt rejuvenated by the mere scent of the juzi stick and his brief interaction with Ixtlayo. He ran to his side. Anhael was already there, sucking the poison out and spitting it on the ground. Janesa had the poultice ready and it was all done in a few seconds. Anhael wasn’t affected by the poison at all. “Bamboo tube and breath of life,” he said to Janesa and she turned to fetch something from his saddlebags. He walked over to Ixtlayo’s mouth.

  “A very special wagon is on its way,” he said to Jankaro. “It is three wagons attached together, and it will carry him back to Caladon.” Anhael received the bamboo tube from Janesa and used it to push down Ixtlayo’s tongue. He positioned it at the back of Ixtlayo’s throat. Janesa held up a big gourd with a curved neck that led to a small opening. She put the opening to the tip of the bamboo and started to tip up the jug and pour the breath of life down Ixtlayo’s throat. “Jankaro, massage his throat and tell him to swallow.”

  “Swallow Ixtlayo, swallow,” said Jankaro as he put his hand to Ixtlayo’s throat.

  Ixtlayo calmly swallowed while Janesa emptied the whole gourd. “Another,” said Anhael.

  “That is the only one you brought,” said Janesa. Anhael looked up. A pair of riders came galloping toward them. It was Maximus and Franco, the two young men who had come along on the mission to harvest the yanigo.

  “They bring more,” said Anhael.

  “Breath of life!” Janesa called out. Franco dropped a gourd into her hand. She held it up again and poured. Anhael steered the bamboo tube. Jankaro stroked Ixtlayo’s neck and bade him to swallow as a massive cart pulled by eight horses rumbled over the hillside, escorted by twenty mounted archers.

  “Back it up right next to him,” said Anhael to Maximus while Franco passed down another gourd. Ixtlayo released a burst of urine and it fouled the air. “Good boy! Get those toxins out.”

  When the third gourd was empty, he removed the bamboo tube and handed it to Janesa. “Juzi stick.” Janesa ran over to where the juzi stick had fallen and brought it back. She placed it gently between Ixtlayo’s teeth. “Don’t push quite so hard this time. Let’s just pop him up on his feet and push him over into the wagon.”

  They pushed his teeth down on the juzi stick and the bitter smell filled the air. Ixtlayo leaped to his feet and looked around. He tried to roar but started to fall asleep again. Jankaro leaped onto his back and spoke into his ear. He gently bade Ixtlayo to lie down on the cart, and Ixtlayo complied as Jankaro jumped off. He then recovered his bow, got back into the cart and perched next to Ixtlayo’s head.

  “Move out!” Anhael cried as he and Janesa mounted their horses.

  Rafael and his group patrolled the rear as the triple wagon lumbered forward. The sun was setting behind them. Jankaro stood next to Ixtlayo and Anhael rode alongside them.

  “Here,” Anhael held out the bamboo tube to Jankaro. “We need to keep flushing him with fluids.” Anhael fixed a flexible tube to the end of the bamboo tube and squeezed on an animal skin bag.

  Jankaro watched the fluid slide into Ixtlayo’s mouth. “Swallow it big guy.” He turned to Anhael. “Will he live?”

  Anhael finished squeezing out the bag, and gestured for Janesa to do the next one. He reached out, grabbed the wagon and slid himself off his horse, next to Jankaro. He loaded his pipe and started humming in Ixtlayo’s ear. He lit his pipe and blew smoke on Ixtlayo’s head. Ixtlayo took a deep inhale and sighed. Jankaro sensed that he was soothed. Anhael looked up at Jankaro.

  “First we must get him back to Caladon alive, without any more poison arrows hitting him. Then...” Anhael took a deep breath and sighed. He puffed on his pipe and looked all around. “I will journey in the dreamtime and search for a medicine for him. I have never cared for an Ashtari shot with arrows dipped in sukumi venom, but there must be a medicine out there.” He continued puffing on his pipe and humming to Ixtlayo.

  Jankaro heard a bow snap. It was soon followed by another. Then the entire group of mounted archers was firing away. He dropped the bamboo tube, unslung his bow and saw the glow of several Cruxai coming over the southern hillside. Anhael ducked down behind Ixtlayo and kept up his chanting. Janesa tossed her bag, unslung her bow and fired. “Kill the ones targeting Ixtlayo!” Rafael commanded. Jankaro saw one aiming at him and shot him down.

  For a few minutes commotion reigned all around. The wagon kept moving forward while Rafael and his scouts scrambled around and fired on the Cruxai. Rafael took an arrow in the chest but didn’t seem scathed. It simply stuck in his thick wooden armor. He flicked it away right after he shot the Cruxai who shot him. After a few minutes the fighting died down, and dozens of Cruxai lay scattered on the ground. None of the Galdeans appeared to be hurt.

  “Hard to say if that was a rogue group or if they rallied all their scouts to take another shot at Ixtlayo,” said Rafael as he rode up next to the wagon. “I would search for more poison arrows but it will have to wait until tomorrow. We must get everyone into Caladon before more of them come.”

  “Anyone hurt?” Anhael asked.

  “Nothing we can’t handle. You see, Jankaro, this is why we don’t keep our scouts out at night. The Cruxai like surprises. They kill your horse first, then you can’t get home, and they kill you. We lost too many men like that. If those 100 we just killed had killed or critically injured just one of us, it would have been a victory for them. We have 900 soldiers. We estimate the Cruxai number over 90,000. But if we kill all the Juruga the rest of them will be nothing but weeds to pull. How is our Ashtari, Anhael?”

  “As you can see, he is not well. He was hit with nine arrows tipped with Sukumi venom. I do not know the remedy. Tonight I will ask my guides for help.”

  They crested a hill and the torches of Caladon’s front wall came into view. Jankaro heaved a sigh of relief, but was still worried about the fate of his new friend.

  Sukuwasi

  The Galdeans confined Ixtlayo in his familiar cage adjacent to the arena. He was far too incapacitated to protest. After a long night of cleaning the excrement and vomit that poured from Ixtlayo, Jankaro collapsed in a heap on the cold stone floor. The smell was so foul it gave Jankaro a screaming headache. His resolve was shaky but he forced himself to stay by Ixtlayo’s side. He needed to be there when his companion awakened.

  “Now that we have him in captivity, we can suit him in the yanigo armor.”

  Orion leaned on the bars from the arena side. He slowly side-stepped between two vertical bars and entered the large, cavernous chamber that had cut Ixtlayo off from his former life.

  Jankaro couldn’t bear to look up, his head hurt so much. He tried to move his fingers but couldn’t remember why. “Go on, get some sleep. Get yourself cleaned up.” Orion grabbed Jankaro’s arm and pulled him up to standing. Jankaro walked slowly through the bars onto the arena floor. The dawning sun cast its beams on him. He squinted as he felt the heat of the sun on his face. His headache started to recede. A wave of nausea came over him and he vomited all over himself. “Drink water and get some rest,” said Orion. “We will send someone to check on you later.”

  Jankaro turned to look into Orion’s eyes. “Protect him,” he muttered as he stumbled away, out of the arena.

  He lied on his bed on his back and sang to himself, recalling Anhael’s advice from the night before. Anhael told him to pray to Sagaya and sing his mother’s song into Ixtlayo’s ear. He gave him a bag of smoke and a pipe and told him to blow it on Ixtlayo. Jankaro had prayed, sung, blown smoke and cleaned Ixtlayo’s messes all night.

  He fell asleep for a time. His body ached when he awoke to the sight of Janesa’s face and the sound of her calling his name.

  “Wake up,” she said, and poured water on his head. The smell pleased him. He sat up and looked over at her. She handed him a jug of water. “Are you there?”

  He had to take a moment and drink. He was covered in sweat. He remembered a dream of
a black snake wrapped around his leg, threatening to bite him. “What happened?”

  “Can you walk?”

  Jankaro was shaky as he stood up and drank water again. “Yeah.” He rubbed his head. His body was aching but he was happy to be out of his armor. He picked up the armor and hung it on the railing outside as he followed Janesa and kept his eyes averted from the afternoon sun.

  “Anhael summoned you, follow me.” She led him down the corridor and up the stairs.

  “Did he find medicine for Ixtlayo?”

  “He tried. He is sick in bed. He will explain.”

  “Seems like you fared better than the rest of us who tasted that poison.”

  Janesa stopped at a doorway and turned to face him. He saw dark circles under her eyes and her face was pale. “I wouldn’t say that. I would say I feel the way that you look. It will pass.”

  “Then why is Anhael laid out in bed?”

  “He will explain.” She opened the door and entered. “Come in.”

  Jankaro walked into the low-lit room and saw Anhael slumping in bed. His face was pale and his eyes were barely open. He laboriously opened his lips and spoke.

  “Jankaro,” he whispered faintly. “Come closer.” He made a small motion with his finger to beckon him to the bedside. Janesa approached and stood on the other side of the bed. “Breath,” he said and nodded in her direction. She held up a small gourd and tipped the fluid into his mouth. He swallowed a few times and turned his head away.

  “Why am I so sick, you ask?” His eyes shifted to Jankaro then dropped their gaze. “Pipe. Smoke.” Janesa placed his pipe and open bag of smoke in his hands.

  Jankaro was restless as he watched Anhael slowly reach into his pouch and load his pipe. He shot Janesa worried looks and she mirrored them back. Anhael lifted the pipe to his lips. “Light stick.” Janesa picked up a short stick from his bedside table, held it over a candle’s flame for a few seconds and passed it to him. He lit his pipe and puffed on it a few times. He passed the light stick back to Janesa and allowed the pipe to smolder as he rested his hands in his lap. The puffs of smoke seemed to wake him up a bit.

  “Looks like it was a long night for you too,” he said as he turned to look at Jankaro. “Did you sleep?”

  “Yes. I slept. What happened to you? You look like you are about to die.”

  “That good?” Anhael cracked a smile. “No, I’m not going to die. Sadly I can’t say the same for Ixtlayo.”

  “What?! There is no cure?! You can’t save him?!” Jankaro was fully awake and he was bounding across the room, pulling his hair.

  “Calm down. There may be hope for him. Let me explain.” Jankaro took a moment to compose himself and returned to Anhael’s bedside. “Last night, I entered into the dreamtime to seek the help of my spirit guides. I traveled into the spirit realm, called out Ixtlayo’s name and called upon my guides to show me how to help him. I floated in desolate darkness for a while until I found him. He was lying down and the black snake was biting him. I pulled on the black snake as hard as I could, but could not pull it off. The longer I held the snake, the weaker I became. I called on my guides to help me, but they were gone. There was a powerful presence lurking nearby, but I couldn’t identify it. The darkness closed in on me until I could neither see nor hear, and I begged to be awakened from the dreamtime. I awoke there,” he pointed at the floor behind Jankaro. “I was covered in sweat. I vomited and defecated all over. I was as sick as Ixtlayo. Fortunately for me, the snake never bit me. But I picked up an energetic trace of the illness in the dreamtime. So here I lie in recovery.”

  “So,” Jankaro spoke through a sick feeling that surged in his gut, “What can we do for Ixtlayo? Is there anything?”

  “Yes! There is much you can do! Sadly I cannot help you at this time. The two of you must go with Maximus and Franco into the jungle and gather medicine. We need more breath of life and more juzi sticks. He has gone through our supply already. He is so big that he consumes it at a pace far greater than any human. Hunt for meat and feed him. It will be up to him to work the poison out of his system.”

  “So there is no remedy?” Jankaro felt hopeless.

  “None that I know of at this time. Do your best to keep him alive, and when I have regained my strength, I will journey into the dreamtime and search again.”

  “But look what it did to you the first time!”

  “Jankaro!” Janesa snapped at him. “Don’t give in to negativity. Keep your head up and hold on to hope. Come with me, Anhael needs to rest.”

  “Wait,” said Anhael. He propped himself up higher in the bed. He reached for the light stick and puffed on his pipe. He blew smoke on Jankaro and hummed his mother’s tune. Jankaro breathed deep and was soothed. He turned and blew smoke on Janesa, humming a different tune. “Go now. Don’t worry about me. Take care of Ixtlayo.”

  “This is our rendezvous point,” said Janesa as she wrapped a braided vine around the base of a huge tree. They were back in the jungle below Caladon with Franco and Maximus. “Maximus and I will gather the elements for the breath of life. Franco, show Jankaro how to identify the juzi stick and the two of you can collect as much as you can possibly carry. Get the biggest pieces you can find.” Janesa passed a distress ball to every person in the group. “If you get in trouble, call out. Use the distress ball if you need to, and the rest of us will come to help. Meet back here when you are finished.”

  Jankaro was noticing how the color had returned to Janesa’s face when Franco spoke to him. “This way. It’s easy to identify, I’ll show you.” Jankaro followed and kept his eyes out for Cruxai as Franco slashed his way through the dense foliage. “It comes from these trees, the juziko. They have berries you can eat in summertime. You can’t just harvest the tree, it has to be fallen limbs. They need to age for a year or so and dry out. Some fungus and other tiny insects grow in them and well… somehow it just works. Anhael explains it better. Anyway if you are grievously wounded, somewhat incapacitated and about to be finished off by a Cruxai, you can try chomping on one of these and it might give you a sudden burst of energy that could save your life.” Franco knelt down and showed Jankaro an aged piece lying on the ground. “See the fungus and all the trails from where the insects were eating the wood? That’s the good stuff.”

  They drifted away from each other as they collected the juzi sticks. When Jankaro could no longer hear Franco’s movements, he noticed how good it felt to be alone in the jungle. He felt his feet pulling him forward and his eyes drifting all around. He wanted to climb up and swing through the trees, but remembered that he had a friend who was waiting for his help. He saw Ixtlayo in his mind’s eye and focused his thoughts on seeing him back on his feet, strong and healthy, as he harvested the biggest juzi sticks he could find. He couldn’t help but feel disheartened as he reflected on Anhael’s failure to find a cure. He wondered if his efforts were in vain. When his arms were full, he saw a moropo butterfly drift in front of him and casually wind its way through the trees. His curiosity struck and he figured there could be no harm if he took a moment to follow it. He already had a full harvest, so he set it down and planned to return for it.

  He followed the moropo for a few minutes, but he could hear Janesa’s voice inside his head asking him what he was doing and why didn’t he stay focused on the task. He could hear Anhael and the others too, and every person in Caladon. Eventually he had to just stop and ask himself what he was doing. He wasn’t a boy any more, he needed to get focused, or someone could die and it would be his fault. He put his hands on his hips, leaned back and took a breath. When he did, a tiny black monkey swung down from one branch to another and perched just above his head. “Hey you,” Jankaro greeted him with a smile.

  The monkey’s eyes went wide and it held its finger over its mouth, gesturing him to be quiet. Then it pointed in the direction that the moropo had flown. Jankaro pulled his bow off his back and nocked
an arrow. He crept silently ahead until he came to a small clearing where a large tree had fallen. He sensed a presence to his left and turned his head. He was shocked to see a shriveled old man had climbed up on the fallen log. He was looking at Jankaro. Wrapped around the trunk of his body and his arm was a big black snake. A jolt of fear shot through Jankaro’s whole body. He pulled back on the bowstring, taking aim at the man’s heart. “Don’t come any closer!”

  The old man stood still and stared into Jankaro’s eyes. His gaze was captivating, and Jankaro felt his muscles start to relax as he tried to remain tensed and ready to fire. He almost let go of the arrow, but managed to hang on. “Sukumi,” the old man said softly. That was the name Anhael had given to the snake venom that poisoned Ixtlayo. Jankaro watched in rapt attention as the old man knelt down and held the head of the snake on the log with both hands. The snake was alive but seemed calm and under the old man’s control.

  The old man placed his thumbs on the snake’s neck and forced the skin apart. The snake writhed from side to side as he ripped it open. He reached into its neck and pulled out a pair of glands, what Jankaro guessed were the venom glands. By this point he was sweating profusely watching the old man. The old man released the snake, and it sprang forward, slithering fast towards Jankaro. He fired the arrow and hit it right between the eyes. It squirmed as it fell down off the log. He watched as it squirmed a few more times then stopped. He looked back up at the old man and nocked another arrow. “Don’t come any closer,” he said again.

  The old man held the glands between his fingers. He lifted his hands up, arched his head back, and squeezed the glands until a liquid poured into his mouth and he swallowed it. Jankaro could tell by the smell of the bursting glands that it was the poison. It made him nauseous. He was confused by what this old man had done. He watched as he swallowed, then smiled at him with a toothless grin. Then he started to walk slowly towards Jankaro. Jankaro slowly backed away and kept the arrow aimed at him, ready to fire. The old man clutched his stomach and a pained expression came across his face. He slowed down and crawled to the place where Jankaro had once stood. He collapsed onto the ground and vomited. Jankaro was perplexed. His mind was racing with questions. Why would he do that?