The Serpent and the Crown

by Sam Puma

  “When I journeyed into the spirit realm to seek a cure for Ixtlayo, there was a dark force there that I was too weak to face. But with the help of Saskala, Icala and Maravaya, I can journey farther than ever before. I can look upon Agustin and see him working in the spirit realm. They showed me how he became who he is. They showed me that he is coming personally to take Caladon. And with the limited power we have, we will not be able to stop him.”

  “That’s nonsense!” Titus pounded his fist on the table. “Let him come to our walls! I will kill him myself! Take your disgusting worms and…”

  “Wait,” said Orion, extending his arms out toward Titus and Anhael. “Just for the sake of argument, let’s just imagine that everything he said is true. I want to hear his plan.”

  Titus leaned back again, crossed his arms tighter and shook his head. “Thank you, Orion,” said Anhael. “We journeyed far and wide in the spirit realm, searching for allies. We found three spirits, embodied in plants, who volunteered to help us. If we blend those three plants together, we can make a powerful weapon that can help us kill Agustin and all the Cruxai when they come to attack again.

  “I sent Maximus and Franco and a few civilians into the jungle to gather these plants. When brewed together they form a powerful poison. We will paint the front courtyard with this poison and vacate the city. The Cruxai will climb over the walls, and all will be exposed to the poison. They will occupy the city for a few hours until they collapse and die.”

  “You expect us to just walk away from our most powerful fortress and gamble away Caladon on this crazed idea?!” Titus stood. “I’ve heard enough of this rot.”

  “It won’t be safe to return to Caladon for about a year or more, but the war will be won and all the Cruxai will be…”

  “Dead? And what if this poison doesn’t work? We just gave away our strongest fortress and lost the war. You’re sick, Anhael, you need help.” Titus drew his sword and walked behind Jankaro toward Anhael. “Sit still and I will liberate you from the Cruxai agents that have stolen your mind.”

  Anhael’s chair went flying as he sprang to his feet and drew his sword. “Titus, don’t do this!” Titus’s sword came down and clashed into Anhael’s. The two worms on his arms slipped and fell to the floor. Titus continued his attack and the clash of swords rang through the chamber.

  Jankaro was stunned and conflicted. He stood back from the fight. “Orion!” Titus called out. “Kill those worms!” The worms were slithering under the table.

  “Jankaro, help!” Anhael cried out. He was blocking Ttius’ attacks but Titus was clearly the stronger fighter. Jankaro watched, frozen, as Orion pulled a torch from the wall and burned both of the fallen worms to death. “No!” Anhael cried out as both of their lives were extinguished.

  “Please, Jankaro!” He cried out in desperation. “We have to protect Maravaya!” Jankaro’s heart hurt to watch. He loved Anhael, but he couldn’t bring himself to trust the worms.

  Anhael sobbed with grief as he fought. Titus knocked him down and disarmed him. He held up his arms so that Titus couldn’t reach Maravaya with his blade. “Please, Titus, don’t do this,” he begged. “We need her.”

  “You don’t need that Cruxai filth and we don’t either. Orion, Jankaro. Come and hold his arms so we can get this worm off. With a heavy heart, Jankaro hobbled over and pulled down on Anhael’s arm while Orion held the other. Titus pulled the worm off, threw it on the floor and chopped it in half.

  “NOOOOOOOO!” Anhael cried out and struggled to break free.

  “Don’t let go,” said Titus as he reached for a torch. Two halves of the worm writhed on the floor. He scorched them and they were still.

  Anhael wailed and cried. Jankaro and Orion released him and he covered his face with his hands and sank to the floor in the fetal position. Jankaro wanted to help him but all he could do was watch in stunned silence.

  The plan had sounded too good to be true. It sounded nice to be done with the war forever, but there was no way they could try that. If Anhael was wrong, the war would still be over as the Cruxai would be claiming their victory in the streets of Calixo.

  Titus wiped the sweat from his brow. “Tomorrow we will reconvene and come up with a real plan. I will send someone to clean up this mess and throw it into the chasm.”

  “What about him?” Orion pointed to Anhael.

  “The worms are gone. Let’s see if he comes back to his senses. Maybe he can find a way to restore those new recruits.” Titus sheathed his sword and walked out.

  “If he can find a way to restore himself,” said Orion with a look of concern in his eyes. “You go on ahead, Jankaro. I’ll stay here and make sure he doesn’t try to do anything weird like eat these carcasses.”

  “No. I want to stay with him.” Anhael was sitting up, silently staring at the carcasses in disbelief while the tears dried on his face.

  Orion put his hand on Jankaro’s shoulder. “See you tomorrow.” He looked down at Anhael with pity in his eyes. “Let’s hope he can get past this.” Orion hobbled out on his stiff wooden leg.

  “Jankaro…” Anhael moaned with sorrow in his voice. He choked up and couldn’t speak. Jankaro wanted to reach down and put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, but he saw the slime from the worms on his bare skin and felt afraid to touch him. There was a strange energy about him. Jankaro feared him and stayed a few feet back. He looked at the remains of the white worms and they were surely dead, but a foul smell filled the air. A terrible feeling brewed in his gut. He reflected on how the Galdean leadership had crumbled right before his eyes.

  A young woman entered and hastily began to clean up the worm parts, sparing only a glance in their direction. “I’ll take care of that,” Anhael blurted out with an air of authority in his voice, but didn’t move to get up. The young woman paused for a moment and looked over with a fearful expression.

  “No, you won’t,” Jankaro matched his tone and moved between him and the young woman. “Carry on,” he said to her.

  When she was through, she picked up the bag and hastened out of the chamber. Before Jankaro could react, Anhael leapt up and followed her out. “Give that to me, I must honor them with a proper burial.”

  Jankaro limped after them, his aching hip slowing him down. His heart ached again as he passed beneath the ram statue. He saw the girl hasten out of the meeting hall with Anhael on her heels, calling after her.

  Outside, the girl sped up, and Anhael continued his pursuit. Jankaro tried to keep up but his ailing hip prevented him. “Stop him!” He called out to soldiers passing ahead. “Anhael, leave her alone!”

  A soldier stepped in front of Anhael and grabbed his arm. “What’s going on?”

  Anhael pushed him away and ran after the girl. Jankaro continued after them to the front courtyard. He kept yelling for someone to stop Anhael and finally two soldiers took hold of him before he followed her up the stairs of the front wall. They held him as the girl flipped the bundle over the wall and down into the chasm. “No,” Anhael cried and went limp. The two soldiers lowered him to his knees.

  “Should we detain him?” One of them asked Jankaro.

  “That won’t be necessary,” said Jankaro. The two soldiers returned to their posts and the girl hastened back down the steps and disappeared into the city.

  “Come on, get up.” Jankaro reached down and helped Anhael to his feet.

  “They were my guides. They helped me to journey farther into the spirit world than I ever thought possible. My vision there was so clear. I felt like I could see everything. They were so kind and loving and they wanted to help us. I feel so broken.”

  Anhael climbed the stairs up to the wall walk and looked over the wall where she threw the bundle over. Jankaro was concerned about his fragile emotional state and worried he might throw himself over, so he followed him.

  “Icala. Saskala. Maravaya. Our time together
was too short. I honor your service and sacrifice. May we meet again on the spirit plane.” The tears on his face dried in the wind as Jankaro silently stood by. He looked over the edge but couldn’t see the remnants below. He pulled back as the immense drop made his stomach churn.

  They stood on the wall together for several moments, silently watching the condors soaring in the distance. Jankaro sensed Anhael calming down. “I can’t stay here,” said Anhael resolutely as he looked out over the land. “I won’t obey Titus any more. I must return to the jungle. I need to be with my mentor now.”

  “Anhael, we need you here. We’re falling apart. We need you here with us. Come back and be the powerful medicine man that I came to know and trust.”

  “I’m still the same person. Why can’t you get it through your head? Look at this place.” He waved his hand over Caladon. “It’s a ghost town. With Titus in command, they will surely fall. Then Calixo will fall. The jungle will be all that remains. Come with me, Jankaro. Let these castles fall. We can fight them from the jungle. We can unite the peoples of the jungle and set up defenses. The Cruxai don’t know the jungle. The Galdeans hole up in their castles and play right into their hands. In the jungle we can live. They won’t have a big wall to target and the horde will wander. Without shelter they will tangle themselves in the vines and underbrush. From there we will pick them off one by one, by day when they are weak. We are the people of the jungle and we will protect our home. The Galdeans can come with us if they want to. But their way of life is over.”

  Jankaro was compelled by his logic. It was the same strategy that he proposed to Oranos that was voted down at his first war council meeting.

  “You can bring Ixtlayo and return to Olaya. You can live among your people and protect them. You can choose a woman and have children and grandchildren. We will set up a network of communication and train a militia to respond to threats when needed. The Cruxai don’t stand a chance against us there. All this hiding and waiting in stone prisons… it’s stupid. Why live like this?”

  Jankaro stared into the distance and followed Anhael’s words. He saw himself riding back to Olaya on Ixtlayo’s back. He saw his father return from his search and embrace him. He saw a happy village. He imagined a beautiful mate, such as Janesa or Ariel, bearing him children. He saw happy children playing safely under Ixtlayo’s protection. He saw himself working the farm with his father as he had promised. He saw Kiara speaking and laughing, healed from the fright that had become a part of her.

  The wind kicked up and goosebumps rose on Anhael’s bare flesh. With the wind, Jankaro heard a voice from the past that made his stomach drop.

  “Bring me the crown.”

  It was the serpent who devoured him long ago. He could see her huge, dark face in his mind’s eye and he trembled with fear.

  “Victory,” the voice of the jaguar man whispered, and he felt the confidence of the spirit guide that he knew was linked to Anhael. The wind sang his mother’s song and he remembered that Anhael had sung it, too. He remembered the bag of smoke sitting in his room that Anhael had given him. He knew they would always be linked together in the spirit realm. Spirits were in the air, swirling all around them.

  “I can’t go with you. My place is here. We are going to fight and we will be victorious.”

  Through all the spirits that spoke to him through the air, he knew his place. He wanted to go home, but not before they defeated the Cruxai. His heart was in Olaya, but his sword was with the Galdeans. He couldn’t walk out on them. He believed they would win.

  “I will do what I can to help from the spirit world, by my mentor’s side.” Anhael turned to face Jankaro and put his hands on his shoulders. “You are brave. Trust Ixtlayo. I will see you again when this is over. Now I must take my bundle and go.” Jankaro watched with an aching heart as Anhael descended the steps and headed for his chamber. He heard the sound of Ixtlayo’s roar in the distance, carried on the wind.

  The Black Rock

  Anhael packed his bags and exited the city through the tunnels that led down to the jungle. Titus ordered his staff to paint over the face in Anhael’s chamber. It took several coats before the last trace of it was gone.

  Janesa worked with Jankaro every day, stretching out his hip and teaching him exercises to stretch and strengthen it on his own. Her face showed the strain of her added responsibilities, and she talked about missing scouting with her horse. She was too busy working with all the soldiers on their rehab.

  Titus could be heard daily in the arena, shouting curses and encouragement as he sparred with his soldiers. He handed out promotions to those who proved themselves in the last battle, and morale began to improve.

  The biggest boost in morale came from Ixtlayo. The Ashtari moved freely in and out of the city, hunting in the hills and lazing in the sun in the front courtyard. The soldiers called out encouraging words to him as they passed and he snorted back in approval. On one occasion he sparred with them in the arena. They all came at him with large staffs and he playfully swatted them away and roared. He had plenty to eat from his hunting but also ate the fish that the Galdeans served him. He put back on all the weight he had lost running around in his armor for three days, and then some. Jankaro was concerned that it might be difficult to get the armor to fit when the time came to put it back on.

  When Maximus and Franco returned from the jungle, Jankaro was disappointed to see less of Janesa. Franco took over his treatment, stretching his hip side to side and up and down. He looked terrible. An ugly rash had broken out all over his body. “One of those plants he sent us for has some kind of oil on it. Don’t touch that stuff. I’m so itchy!” His face was blotchy, bumpy and red. He kept his hands covered so he wouldn’t contaminate Jankaro.

  “What do you think of those plants? Anhael says if we blend them together we could kill all the Cruxai.”

  “Well they were very hard to come by. We had to fight off Cruxai and crocodiles to get them, and I nearly lost my hand in the process. I heard Anhael went crazy, so honestly I think it might be best to toss the plants in the chasm. Especially those cursed okapaya leaves. I’ve had this rash for days!”

  “What does Janesa say about it?”

  “She says that one of the plants is good for medicine. She hasn’t decided yet what to do with the other two, she’s not familiar with them. Normally she would just say that she is going to see what her teacher plant shows her in her dreams, but now, after everything went down with Anhael…”

  “What?” Jankaro stood up and lifted his knee in the air. His hip was feeling good. Still stiff, but he thought he might try taking Ixtlayo for a ride. He had been walking without the crutch and only had a slight limp. In spite of Franco’s rash, he carried out the therapy with the same skill as Janesa.

  “Can’t you see? Her confidence is shot. She throws all the treatment duties on us while she goes out scouting all day. I think she doesn’t trust her guide any more. She doesn’t trust her dreams. Anhael broke her trust and he was the one who prescribed her that plant. I don’t know if she is taking it any more. They say if you break your agreement with your plant diet, it can have some bad consequences.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well… like you get sick or something. Or you end up like those clowns who came out of the last initiation.”

  Jankaro winced as he pulled his knee up to the level of his waist. “We should talk to her about it.”

  “I don’t know; I’m just speculating. I’m sure she’s fine, just feeling stressed.”

  “What about you? Do you have a teacher plant?”

  “Anhael was about to give me one. I thought it was going to be one of the ones that we harvested.” Franco’s face was grim. “But that’s over with. It’s up to Janesa now. We’ll see if she can sort herself out first. And I need to get rid of this cursed rash. Maybe this plant is teaching me to be humble by taking away my good looks.” Fran
co smiled and winked through his swollen eyelid. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Jankaro followed him out and smiled at the sun. His back was better, his shoulder was better, and his hip was almost there. It was a good day for a ride.

  He found Ixtlayo in the arena, knocking soldiers left and right. Everyone was laughing and having a good time. Titus was there, right in the middle of it.

  “Jankaro! You should have seen it! I jumped up on his back and rode him for three seconds! That was the record. Jamison was up there for one second once or twice.” Titus smiled and wiped the sweat from his brow. Jankaro raised his eyebrows and a hand in greeting. He hid his jealousy. He didn’t like the thought of anyone else mounting his Ashtari, especially Titus.

  Ixtlayo walked over and stood before Jankaro while his sparring partners took a break. “My hip is getting better. I want to ride you.” He reached up and rubbed the fur on his cheek.

  “Then you better get the both of you suited up with your yanigo armor,” Titus interrupted. Ixtlayo turned and growled at him, but Titus didn’t’ flinch. “Those Cruxai scouts are dangerous with those poison arrows.”