by Sam Puma
The old man reached out with the last of his strength and pulled on a small shrub on the ground. He pulled it over to his mouth and nibbled on the leaves. Jankaro watched as the old man ate the leaves for a few minutes. He pushed himself to a seated position, then stood up and smiled at Jankaro. Jankaro lowered the bow and put away the arrow. He stared at the old man with his mouth agape. The old man pointed at the dead snake. “Sukumi.” He pointed at the leaves he had just eaten and smiled, showing off his missing teeth. “Sukuwasi.” He chuckled as he hopped over the log and disappeared into the jungle behind it.
“Wait!” Jankaro cried out as he came to his senses. He tried to follow the old man, but he was already gone. He didn’t want to follow too far, lest he forget where to find the antidote. So he went back and collected leaves from the Sukuwasi plant and stuffed them into his bag. He noticed them all around. He sang joyously as he gathered as many leaves as his bag could hold.
He hurried back to the rendezvous point in a daze and nearly tripped over a fallen tree. He was astounded and perplexed by the old man. He had come to know Anhael as a powerful healer, but now he could see his limitations. The search for the cure took Anhael into darkness and caused him to fail and become ill. But this old man handled it with mastery. He obviously knew they were coming, and waited there to offer them the cure. Jankaro’s head spun with questions as his mind tried to wrap itself around the mystery of the old man and his power. He wished he could bring him back to Caladon to oversee Ixtlayo’s care. But obviously if the old man wanted to be in Caladon, he would be there already. He had his reasons, and they would remain unknown. Jankaro dragged his focus back to the present and kept an eye out for sleeping Cruxai as he approached the rendezvous point.
“Hey!” Janesa hissed at him in a whisper and frantically waved him over. “Where were you? There are Cruxai around. Franco killed three of them in the area you were foraging.” She squinted at his pack and patted it. “This isn’t juzi stick!”
“It’s something much better: Sukuwasi – the antidote to the sukumi venom!” He opened his bag and excitedly held it out before them.
“How would you know?” Maximus inquired with a tone of skepticism. “Even Anhael couldn’t find the cure.”
“Sukuwasi?!” said Franco. “With enough of this you could kill someone in their sleep. Don’t be a fool, Jankaro. Dump it out and fill up your pack with juzi stick like Anhael said.”
“Wait,” said Janesa. “What makes you think this is the cure?”
Jankaro recounted his tale of his encounter with the old man while the others raised their eyebrows in astonishment.
“How do we know we can trust this old man?” said Maximus. “It could be Agustin himself, trying to fool us into killing the Ashtari.”
“Or it could be one of his people,” said Franco.
“For all we know,” said Janesa, “Agustin and all of the people to the north of here have been killed off by the Cruxai. In any case we should take it back to Anhael and see what he wants to do.”
“Lets get going then,” said Maximus. “There are Cruxai around.”
When they made it back to the surface streets of Caladon, they took a moment to check on Ixtlayo, at Jankaro’s behest.
“He looks worse,” said Janesa.
“Much worse,” said Jankaro. “He is wasting away. Has he moved at all?”
The man who was Ixtlayo’s handler before Jankaro liberated him looked up from cleaning the Ashtari’s vomit and had a disgusted look on his face. He nodded with a grimace. “We served him the last of the breath of life just like Anhael instructed. You coming back soon?”
“We’re going to make medicine. We’ll be right back and I will take over for you.” Jankaro shuddered as he turned away. He was desperate for the Sukuwasi to work.
They found Anhael lying on his back in his room. He was lying on top of the blankets, and as they entered he raised himself up to a seated position to greet them.
“You look better,” said Janesa.
“I’m on the mend,” he said as he stretched his neck from side to side. “Let’s see the juzi sticks. Are they dry?”
“We have something else to show you. Jankaro found something that could be the cure.”
Anhael’s eyebrows went up and lines creased his forehead. He lit his pipe and took a puff. “Show me.”
Anhael listened intently to Jankaro’s tale while he puffed his pipe and examined the leaves. “Sukuwasi… we do use it already. When a soldier’s injuries are too grave to cure, we use it to help him cross over, if he requests it. It is toxic to humans.”
“But the old man,” said Jankaro. “I watched him drink the venom and get sick. He ate the Sukuwasi and was revived.”
“It was a crazed old shaman playing tricks on you,” said Maximus.
“When I found Ixtlayo in the spirit realm,” said Anhael, “there was another presence there besides me, Ixtlayo and the serpent. Perhaps more than one. There were more forces at work there than I was able to perceive in the darkness. My spirit guides were unable to help me. It could have been Agustin, it could have been the old man, it could have been both of them. The old man could be Agustin’s enemy, he could be his ally. Both of them may possess shamanic power far beyond my own.”
He paused as he peered down at the plants and thumbed the leaves with a distant look in his eyes as if he were looking through them.
“You are the one who has bonded with the Ashtari.” He looked up at Jankaro. “The decision is yours. We could continue to clean him out with the breath of life, give him juzi sticks frequently to keep his muscles moving, try to feed him and hope his body can work the poison out on its own. When I have my strength back in a few days I could journey into the dreamtime again, with a bite of Sukuwasi on my tongue, and ask my guides if it truly is the remedy. The other option would be to mash up these leaves and mix them with the breath of life, and see how he responds. This would mean putting your trust in the old man you met down in the jungle. Are you sure the snake he held was a sukumi? Have you ever seen one before?”
“I have seen many different snakes…” Jankaro paused for a moment to consider.
Fear weighed on him while he reviewed what he had seen. Moropo had always been his friend. Monkeys had always been his friends, they showed him how to live in the jungle and move through the trees. Even though the old man scared him at first, he sensed he was a friend. He felt there was a reason that the old man came to him. He came to help, to show him the cure.
“I want to give him the Sukuwasi. Moropo led us to yanigo. Now she has delivered again.”
“That old shaman could have used the butterfly to trick you,” said Maximus.
Jankaro spun around to face him. “This isn’t an easy choice but the choice has been made!” He snapped. Maximus took a step back.
“Jankaro,” said Anhael. “Come closer.” He stood and placed a hand on his shoulder. Then he put his hand on the top of his head and directed him to bow his head. He blew smoke on top of his head. “May you be blessed.”
Jankaro remembered this was the man who healed his foot and guided him through his initiatory trials in the underworld. He was honored that Anhael would trust him with the decision. Maximus and Franco didn’t seem to understand the respect that Anhael gave Jankaro. But Janesa did, and with reverence she packed the Sukuwasi leaves back into Jankaro’s bag.
“You really trust that old shaman?” Janesa asked as she helped Jankaro mash the Sukuwasi leaves in the work room.
“They said that Agustin was hunting down the shamans. I think the old man is trying to protect himself by helping us.”
“Why wouldn’t he just come and join forces with our war effort? With that kind of power, he could have been helping us already.”
“Maybe he has no idea what’s going on. Maybe he is like me and has never seen a Galdean in his life. Maybe he had a visio
n in the spirit world and knew that he needed to come to that place and offer his knowledge to a youth dressed in blue.”
Janesa put the mashed Sukuwasi leaves into a gourd full of the breath of life. “I know how much Ixtlayo means to you. I pray he lives.”
A heavy mist settled over Caladon as Jankaro and Janesa walked together to the arena and into Ixtlayo’s chamber.
“Never seen him like this before,” said Arno, Ixtlayo’s former handler. “Normally we just keep him fed with meat and he is fine. He won’t eat.” He wiped his hands on his pants and walked out.
Jankaro couldn’t help but feel a surge of anger as he was reminded that Ixtlayo had been held in that chamber for so long.
He walked up and patted him on the cheek but there was no response. His ribs bulged out, his fur was matted and his breath was weak. He looked close to death. A pang of fear shot through Jankaro. He looked up at Janesa and he could see it in her eyes too. He pulled out the pipe Anhael had given him and blew smoke on Ixtlayo, chanting his mother’s tune. Janesa lit her pipe and blew smoke on him, humming a different tune.
Janesa tilted the gourd up as Jankaro coaxed the medicine down Ixtlayo’s throat. “Get better, big guy,” said Jankaro. “This could be your last chance.” They emptied the bag and stood next to him, watching. Jankaro rubbed Ixtlayo behind his ear while Janesa blew more smoke over him. They watched and waited, but there was no immediate change.
“I must go,” said Janesa with a sympathetic look in her eyes. “Duty calls. I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Thank you for your help.” Even though he could see no change in Ixtlayo, he had a hopeful feeling. “I think he is going to make it.”
As she slipped through the bars, Jankaro prepared to light his pipe, but was interrupted.
“I heard you found the cure.” Jankaro looked up to see Orion coming through the bars looking as jovial as ever and it brought a smile to his face. “Look what we made!” He unraveled a large bundle of yanigo stitched together into a large piece. It looked the way his armor did when he took it off and dropped it on the floor.
“What is it?”
“Better to show than tell.” Orion hoisted it onto Ixtlayo’s head. “We took extensive measurements,” he said as he pulled it down over his ear and face. “See the ear hole here, and holes for his eyes and nose here.”
“Wow,” said Jankaro as he reached up and touched the flexible helmet. “How do you like that, Ixtlayo?”
Ixtlayo made a soft, breathy grunt, and the two of them nearly jumped in the air. Their eyes lit up as they looked at each other and shared their surprised expressions. “Did you hear that?!” said Jankaro. “He’s coming around!”
“He must like the armor. And the medicine too.” Orion smiled wide as he pulled the helmet off. “Keep in mind, it would be best to get his armor on before he gets all his strength back, or he may not let us do it.” He put the helmet down next to the wall. “We still have a lot of work to do before we finish the whole suit. Don’t heal too fast, Ixtlayo!” Orion patted him on the shoulder.
“Better leave some extra space in those measurements, he has lost a lot of weight since he has been ill.”
“We’ve been working with Arno to help us get a better feel for the measurements.”
“Him!” Jankaro scowled. “You should be talking to me about it.”
“You’re angry with him?”
“Ixtlayo suffered in here for years before I freed him.”
“Then you should be angry with all of us, not just Arno. Me, the king, Anhael, every one of us. That wasn’t the first Ashtari competition you watched. They’ve been happening for a long time; it’s part of the Galdean culture. The history of the Ashtari and humans is a long one, and it includes people getting killed just for fun by ferocious overgrown jaguars. No use shaking a fist at Arno over it, his role is a small one.”
“It is time for that culture to change.”
“You are the catalyst for change. You made something unimaginable happen and opened our eyes. You could ride him into battle and be the most powerful force the Cruxai have ever seen. So it’s best to put the past away and focus on the new dream that we are creating. Sound good to you, my friend?” He put his hand on Jankaro’s shoulder, gave it a squeeze and jostled him so he rocked back on his heels.
“You’re right.” Jankaro felt his body relax and his heart soften. “Let’s put the past away.”
“Good man.” Orion put his fingers into the ringlets to unlock his leg and turned to go. “Got to get back to work on that armor. Don’t let him run off just yet!”
As he slept that night, Jankaro dreamed he was an Ashtari. He crept through the jungle at dusk and came upon a river. Ahead, past the trees, he saw a large buck leaning down to drink. It looked like a fine meal, and he licked his chops. He moved silently and slowly as possible as he leaned forward to pounce.
As he moved forward, his leg pushed into a horizontal weed stretched taut across his path. A sudden, sharp pain erupted in his left front paw and he cried out. The buck sprang away, running on its hind legs. He looked down to see that a sharpened stick crafted by humans protruded from his paw. The pain screamed as he looked around to see where the spear came from, but saw no one. He leaned down and plucked the spear out with his teeth. He licked his wound and it tasted foul.
He went to the water to cleanse the wound. He spat and rinsed his tongue, but the pain spread up his leg. He started to feel dizzy. He looked down and saw a black snake swimming on the surface of the water. He saw another swim up next to it. Then another and another. They continued to swim beneath him until he could not see the water any more, only black snakes. He felt more and more stupefied as the snakes slithered all over his body. Drool dripped out of his mouth as he collapsed. The snakes crawled all over him and he could see nothing but their blackness. His heart raced as a tremendous fear came over him…
Jankaro jerked awake. He was burning hot and covered in sweat. Through the bars of the chamber he perceived the light of the hour just before dawn. He looked over at Ixtlayo and was relieved to see that he had flipped his body over onto the other side. He stood up and observed his breathing. It was deeper, slower and stronger. He sighed with relief.
“Hey, my friend,” he said as he placed his hand on Ixtlayo’s nose. Ixtlayo heaved a gentle sigh and made a feeble attempt at stretching all four of his legs. Jankaro could feel a little more force in his breath when he sighed.
He noticed the left side of his face was matted with moisture, along with the entire left side of his body. He had been lying on his left side for a long time, and now it was crawling with little white worms.
He was about to go get help when Janesa arrived at the bars. She had her hair pulled back tight and all her gear ready for scouting. “Wow, he looks like he is getting better.” She handed Jankaro a gourd full of the breath of life. “You look exhausted. Drink some of this before you give the rest to him.”
“Janesa, he has worms all over him, we need to wash them off. He flipped over last night and his left side looks putrid.”
“Uh oh, let me see.” She set her gear down and walked around Ixtlayo to examine the worms. “We need to kill them all. We don’t know how they got here or what diseases they carry. They probably are related to the venom. Water will spread them all over the floor. We need to pick them off individually and burn them. We have some pincher tools for that. I will get Anhael and more help.” She lit a torch and handed it to Jankaro. “Search the chamber. If any of them are crawling off of his body, kill them.” Janesa turned to go. Jankaro reached up for one of the worms. “Don’t touch it!” She called back to him. “I will bring back some gloves for you. If you see them on the floor, burn them with the torch until they turn to ash.” Ixtlayo heaved a soft grumble as she ran off.
Jankaro stalked around the chamber, looking for any worms crawling, but found none. They were all on
Ixtlayo, more than a hundred strong. “Cursed Cruxai. Let’s get you better and then we’ll go after them – with your armor. They will be the ones lying on the ground with worms crawling on them. We will burn their bodies and they will be forever forgotten.”
“This fellow should start writing speeches for me,” Rafael said to Orion as they passed through the bars of the chamber. Jankaro was surprised to see him there. “Got worms? We will help you pick them off.”
“You? But…” Jankaro was surprised that the commander of the army would come to help with such a task.
“Yes, well, you see…”
“We kissed our wives goodbye this morning,” Orion interjected. “They are off to the safety of Calixo with our children and all the mothers and elders. No use sitting and sulking in our rooms. We are here to distract ourselves from the pain.”
“Look at these bastards,” said Rafael with a grimace as he took the torch from Jankaro and held it close to Ixtlayo to examine the worms. “They look more like larvae than worms. Hatched by the venom.”
“But what will they become?” Orion raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t want to know,” said Rafael. “Here they come with the gear. Let’s get on with the killing.”
Janesa returned with a bucket full of gloves and tongs to pluck off the worms. Maximus and Franco carried bundles of tinder and set to work getting a fire going in the back of the chamber. Janesa distributed the gloves and tweezers and they set to work plucking the worms from Ixtlayo’s body and tossing them into the fire.