Sky Knife (23 page)

“Whatever happened to the others, at least this woman was faithful to Ah Mun at the end,” said Sky Knife. “The others may have been misled, but that doesn't mean this woman wasn't found worthy.”

“Should we bury her?” asked Jade Flute.

“We don't have the time,” said Bone Splinter.

“We have to have the time,” said Sky Knife. “This woman deserves a burial at least. There ought to be some hoes around here, unless the farmers took all their tools with them.”

Bone Splinter stood. “I'll look. We'll have to do this quickly. Midday is already here and we have work to do.”

While Bone Splinter was gone, Sky Knife and Jade Flute wrapped the old woman in a cotton blanket.

“We should bury her with something,” said Jade Flute. She untied her shell bead choker and placed it inside the blanket.

The light of the sun was temporarily blotted out as Bone Splinter entered the doorway. “Here,” he said. He handed a hoe to Sky Knife.

Bone Splinter struck the ground with the hoe and turned up a clod of dirt. Sky Knife did the same. Soon, they had dug a shallow trench.

A third hoe struck the ground. Sky Knife glanced up in surprise. Jade Flute looked back at him. “Well, Bone Splinter didn't bring me one,” she said. “I had to go find my own.”

“You're going to dig?” asked Bone Splinter.

“Why not?” asked Jade Flute. “The old woman died right beside me. It only seems right to help bury her.”

“Have you ever used a hoe before?”

“Have you?”

Bone Splinter closed his mouth and said nothing. He went back to his digging. Between the three of them, the hole was completed quickly. Bone Splinter and Sky Knife lifted each end of the cotton blanket and lowered the woman into the ground. Filling in the hole took very little time.

“Come on,” said Bone Splinter when the last clod of dirt had been thrown onto the mound that marked the grave.

“I'm thirsty,” said Jade Flute.

Sky Knife nodded. “We need to find some water, especially since we're not going back to Tikal just yet.”

“There are water jugs in back of the house,” said Bone Splinter.

Bone Splinter led the other two to the water jugs. The jugs had been made from gourds. They were tied to the poles that formed the back wall of the house. Two of them contained water. No doubt the old woman had consumed the rest during the last
uinal.

The
nagual
waited patiently inside the
caanche
for them to finish. Sky Knife approached his coati and petted its wiry fur. A dead brown lizard lay at the coati's feet. The coati nosed the lizard, then stared into Sky Knife's eyes with a sadness Sky Knife didn't understand.

“What is it?” asked Jade Flute. Her ocelot bounded over to her.

“A dead lizard.”

“It must be the old woman's
nagual,
” said Jade Flute. “We should have buried it with her, but I didn't think about it.”

Sky Knife thought he understood the coati's sadness now. Perhaps the two animals had known each other when they had lived under the protection of the Totilme'iletik. He petted the coati again.

“We need to go,” Sky Knife said.

Jade Flute picked up the lizard and took it inside the house. She came back almost immediately.

Sky Knife set off toward the east. The
nagual
animals followed the people eastward.

Sky Knife led the others across
milpa
after
milpa.
They encountered more green worms in the fields, but no people.

By mid-afternoon, Sky Knife was tired and angry. In the weed-choked fields, it was impossible to tell whether anyone had even come this way. No weeds seemed bent or stomped down.

“Let's rest,” said Jade Flute, “and start back. I haven't noticed anything unusual besides the worms—have you?”

“No,” said Sky Knife, “but I'm not giving up yet.” He looked around for a place to rest. Somewhere away from the fields and the squirming grubs.

“There,” he said, pointing to a tall stand of trees just ahead. “Among the trees.”

They pushed on. The trees were dense, but broken branches on the meager undergrowth showed someone had been here before. A path had been worn between the trees, and all the plants in the way had been trampled.

“Let me go first,” said Bone Splinter. He shouldered on ahead. Sky Knife followed him. Jade Flute and the spirit animals came behind.

The path wound between the trees for nearly a hundred yards, as nearly as Sky Knife could figure. This deep in the jungle, the sounds of the birds and monkeys should have filled his ears, but only the crackling of the dying plants at their feet could be heard.

“Where are all the animals?” he asked no one in particular.

Suddenly, Bone Splinter stopped dead in his tracks.

“What?” asked Sky Knife.

“Take a look.” Bone Splinter stepped aside. “But be careful.”

Sky Knife took a small step forward. Through the branches of a shrub, he saw a deep hole in the ground—a
cenote!
Sky Knife parted the branches. Water glistened at the bottom of the circular hole. The steep limestone sides were bare of anything but the merest bushes. Sky Knife realized the bush he touched was actually rooted in the side of the
cenote
rather than the surface around it. He stepped back quickly, afraid the rim might give way beneath his feet.

“What is it?” asked Jade Flute. “Let me see.” She pushed her way up to stand beside Sky Knife.

“An entrance to the underworld,” said Sky Knife. “Perhaps the old woman was right. Maybe Ah Mun called the farmers here and took them from the
cenote
to his fields.”

“And maybe there are just a lot of dead farmers at the bottom of the
cenote,
” said Bone Splinter. “Only a proper sacrifice can die in a
cenote
and petition the rain gods. I doubt the farmers qualify.”

“Do you suppose they just came here and jumped in?” asked Jade Flute. “Why?”

“The path ends here,” said Bone Splinter. “Or, rather, here.” He stood aside. Just to the right of the bush Sky Knife had held was a gap in the shrubbery that edged the rim of the
cenote.
Bone Splinter leaned over the edge and stared at the water.

“The water is very blue,” he said. “I would think, with hundreds of dead farmers at the bottom, it would be fouled.”

“Maybe they're not here at all,” said Sky Knife. “Or maybe this is where they met their guide, and they turned around and walked out of the jungle.”

“And the guide came from where—the
cenote?
” asked Bone Splinter.

“I don't know,” said Sky Knife. “But we're not finding any answers here. Let's go home.”

The three of them and their
nagual
left the
cenote
behind and went back to the sunbaked fields. After the stuffiness of the air in the jungle, the open fields, though hotter, were a relief.

Sky Knife set his face to the sun and walked back to Tikal. The coati trotted along beside him.

25

The familiar sight of Tikal's temples eased Sky Knife's mind somewhat. The temples reminded him that, even though bad luck had come to Tikal, the gods remained, eternal and vigilant. Bad luck would fall away eventually. Only the gods were forever.

Sky Knife went straight to the Great Plaza. Today it was almost deserted. It seemed the merchants really were leaving the city. The love-gift vendor remained in her prime spot on the eastern edge of the plaza in front of the great pyramid. Several other merchants remained, but only a handful of people milled about their goods. The plaza, normally a busy, loud place, was eerily quiet.

“I don't like this,” said Bone Splinter. “It's as if the city is dead already.”

“The city won't die,” said Jade Flute. “I'll ask the gods to save it.”

“Why should you?” asked Sky Knife. He turned to the young woman. “You're being sacrificed for no good reason. Why should you ask the gods for anything?”

Jade Flute smiled. “That's my secret,” she said. She winked at him. Sky Knife blinked in surprise and his heart beat rapidly. A wink—normally, a young girl would only do that to encourage some young man she thought attractive. Jade Flute had to be teasing him. She couldn't be interested in a junior priest who should never have been more than a mere temple attendant.

“Girl—what are you doing here?”

Sky Knife whirled in surprise. Stone Jaguar strode across the patio of the southern acropolis, a solid blue skirt knotted about his waist and large blue-green jade ear spools in his ears. Jade necklaces of various colors dangled around his neck, and his wrists and ankles were heavy with shell ornaments. His hair had been freshly greased. A small green parrot with blue feathers on its forehead and shoulders sat on his shoulder.

“Go on, back to the nuns,” said Stone Jaguar as he stepped down from the patio level. “You should be fasting and praying you will be found worthy tomorrow.”

“It is you who should be praying, priest,” said Jade Flute, “that I do not ask the gods to strike you down.”

Stone Jaguar raised his hand to hit her, but Jade Flute darted out of the way. She and her ocelot ran off toward the temple of Ix Chel. The sound of laughter drifted back behind her.

“Foolish girl, she'll ruin everything,” muttered Stone Jaguar. His
nagual
hissed. “With the
nagual
running loose, everyone should be more careful than ever. She's not worthy of the honor.”

“Then find another sacrifice,” said Sky Knife, “if her worthiness is truly an issue.”

Stone Jaguar jabbed a finger toward Sky Knife. “Watch your mouth,” he said. “You haven't the rank to question what I do.”

“It doesn't take rank to question your actions,” said Bone Splinter mildly.

Stone Jaguar refused to be drawn into an argument with the warrior. He didn't even glance toward Bone Splinter. “We have to continue your instruction,” he said to Sky Knife. “Death Smoke grows weaker by the hour. How he lasted this long is a mystery in itself. By tomorrow, you and I will be the only priests of Itzamna in Tikal, and you do not yet know any of the important things you should know. Come.”

Stone Jaguar set off across the plaza. Sky Knife glanced toward Bone Splinter, then followed. The love-gift vendor waved to Sky Knife as he passed. He nodded to her, relieved to see she was all right.

Stone Jaguar stopped short of the steps to the northern acropolis. He waved to Sky Knife to stand beside him. Bone Splinter stepped up as well, but Stone Jaguar turned to stare at him. After a few moments, Bone Splinter bowed slightly and stepped back. One step. Sky Knife fidgeted, sure Stone Jaguar would be angry at Bone Splinter's continued refusal to be awed by the priest. But Stone Jaguar accepted Bone Splinter's slight retreat and turned to Sky Knife.

“Since the temple has been violated, I was sure the acropolis would be next, so I have left it under the protection of Itzamna,” the priest said.

Sky Knife was momentarily confused by the reference of the violation of the temple, until he remembered the obsidian point he had found there. Someone who wasn't afraid to dare the wrath of the gods by going onto the temple probably wouldn't let the legends about the acropolis stop them, either. Protecting it was a wise move.

Stone Jaguar held his hands out in front of him, palms out. In a calm tone, he chanted, “Hail, Itzamna, giver of life, giver of luck. Release this sacred area from your protection until I deliver it to you again. Hail, Itzamna, giver of life.”

To Sky Knife, nothing seemed to change. He had expected Stone Jaguar's hands to glow blue as they did during a sacrifice, but the other priest's hands remained unchanged. Stone Jaguar dropped his hands and grunted. The parrot flew into a tree and stared down at them. “All right,” said Stone Jaguar. “We can go in now.”

The cracked stones of the patio and the twisted tree roots that grew out of them seemed even more menacing today than before. Sky Knife watched his step and carefully avoided stepping on any roots.

Sky Knife turned back to the plaza before entering the acropolis. Bone Splinter stood at the bottom of the steps to the acropolis, watching Sky Knife. The tapir and the coati watched him also. The warrior nodded to him. Sky Knife waved and then plunged into the darkness of the acropolis.

It took a moment for the significance of the darkness to register with Sky Knife. It
was
dark—the glow of the
chic-chac
did not light his way. Sky Knife stopped and his hands flew to his neck. The serpent was still there, but it was cold now. So cold. Sky Knife thought it was dead, but he felt it move slightly. Its tongue touched his hand briefly.

“Sky Knife—where are you?” demanded Stone Jaguar.

Sky Knife walked forward into the room where he had saved the
chic-chac's
life. Bright blue fire blazed over his head in the highly vaulted ceiling.

Stone Jaguar spread his hands. “What is the perfect number?” he asked.

“Four.”

Stone Jaguar nodded. “There are four directions, four Bacabs to hold up the sky, four great
chacs
to bring the rain, four great
chic-chacs
to guard the waters of the world. Four is the number of completeness.”

Stone Jaguar dropped his hands and pointed toward the firepit in the center of the room. A blue tongue of flame flashed upward, then retreated and burned, bright and hot, in the bottom of the pit.

“Sit.”

Sky Knife approached the pit and sat next to it. Stone Jaguar sat opposite him.

“There should be four priests to instruct you,” said Stone Jaguar. “I am grieved I am the only one left to teach you what you should know.” Stone Jaguar smoothed his skirt down over his knees. “I am
Ah nacom,
He Who Sacrifices. I am not qualified to teach you everything Death Smoke could about being
Ah kin,
He Who Divines the Will of the Gods. But I will try.”