Secrets of the Anasazi

by Sky Whitehorse

  "Continue on," Dr. Parker said. His words were nonchalant, as if he had never punched Lance in the face. As if it were just time for everyone to move on like they were taking a stroll through the park.

  "You don't understand how dangerous this place is,” Maya said with conviction. “There is a higher power here.”

  "Oh, is it really dangerous?" he patronized her. "The Kachinas will fry me up and eat me for breakfast?" He laughed. "You really believe this, do you?"

  Maya didn't respond, but she was getting chills at the thought of something jumping out from the darkness in the crevasses of the cavern. She laid her hand on Chantal's back, rubbing in circles, more for her own comfort than for her cousin.

  They continued through the cavern until the path forked in three directions. Dr. Parker flashed the light to the left where there were two tunnels. The third path the farthest to the right continued next to the stream. Maya knew this had to be the way to the underground lake. Each path had a symbol on the floor in front of it.

  In the light of the headlamp, there were a couple of floating black beads, just like the ones Maya had awoken to during her nightmare.

  "What are these?" Lance reached out to one of them, curiously.

  "Don't touch them, Lance," Chantal shouted.

  Lance pulled his hand away like they might bite him.

  "They're nightmares," Chantal whispered.

  "Where?" Dr. Parker asked, making his headlamp dart in several directions. "I don't see anything." He looked at his nephew.

  James shrugged. "Neither do I."

  Maya exchanged looks with her cousins but didn't say anything. One of the black beads made its way in front of Maya. She gazed at it and inside she could see it's dreary-coated covering, with a grey cloud swirling inside. She stepped back, leaning away from it as it floated past her. She watched it go in its eerie way, somehow suspended in mid-air as if searching for its next sleeping victim.

  Dr. Parker walked up to the symbols, rubbing his hand over one. "What do these say?"

  Lance went straight to the first symbol. "Pow wow. It leads to a chamber where they had dancing and celebrations." He moved to the next one. "This one leads to where they stored seeds and food from the harvest." He continued to the final path, the one next to the stream. "This one takes you to the pueblo–" he opened his eyes, his hand hovering over the symbol, "Cibola."

  "Cibola!" Dr. Parker repeated. He smacked his hands and rubbed them together, with a grin plastered across his troll-like face.

  Seeing him happy made Maya disgusted.

  "There’s no time to waste,” Dr. Parker said. “Lead the way, Lance!"

  Lance touched his face where he had been punched and winced, then continued down the narrow path.

  "What is that in your belt?" Dr. Parker asked, referring to the rubbing Lance had made from the pottery in the basement.

  Maya did a facepalm at Lance's decision to keep it where it was so obvious. It was a wonder Dr. Parker hadn't asked about it sooner. This could cost them their escape.

  "It's nothing," Lance said, averting his eyes from Dr. Parker.

  "Come, come now, boy,” Dr. Parker laid his hand on Lance’s shoulder. “This is no time for secrets. Let me have a look and do tell everything."

  Lance reluctantly pulled it free and handed it to him.

  Dr. Parker unraveled the scroll. "What is this writing? I've never seen anything like it."

  Lance shrugged.

  "Where did you get it?" Dr. Parker asked.

  "I-I drew them," he stammered.

  "Do you think I'm a fool? This is a rubbing," Dr. Parker said. "You know perfectly well how to read it. Your medicine man friend taught you, no doubt."

  He frowned and looked at his feet.

  "James,” Dr. Parker gave him a serious look. “Bring Chantal over here."

  James carried her to him. Dr. Parker’s eyes flashed as he struck Chantal on her broken leg. She screamed and Dr. Parker tried to hit her again, but James tried to protect her by stepping back. "Uncle!" He shouted.

  "We're on the same team, James." He extended his arm to where Lance was standing. "The boy is punking us."

  "Do what he says, Lance," James shouted. The vein on his neck was visible, and so was his disdain for his uncle. "And no one gets hurt."

  Lance was on the verge of tears. He closed his eyes while holding his palm over the scroll and read aloud, "Thieves who come to steal and destroy beware, for this will awaken the dead from their slumber."

  Dr. Parker stared at him in amazement. "It's remarkable to see you do that. Too bad you don't want to be friends. The last thing we would want to do is awaken the dead from their slumber," Dr. Parker commented sarcastically. "Sounds like another curse to keep thieves away from treasure. It's very similar to the curse of the Egyptian mummies. What else does it tell you?"

  Lance closed his eyes, held his hand over the rubbing again, and uttered the words in native language this time. He went on for a while and then stopped.

  Dr. Parker looked puzzled. "Translation?"

  "Oh... It's a prayer... for rain," he told him.

  Maya exchanged glances with Chantal and smirked.

  "A prayer for rain?" Dr. Parker scoffed.

  "Yes. Rain is necessary for the tribe's fruitfulness."

  Dr. Parker's eyes glazed over with disappointment and boredom. "Yes, yes, indeed. They've written down their prayers for rain.” He looked at his watch. “It’s already 5:35. We have a lot of exploring to do. Come along."

  They continued down into the depths of the cavern.

  ⭐⭐⭐

  Sunday, 5:35 a.m.

  Warren lay in the riverbed, starting to get the feeling back in his legs. His boots were extra heavy; the water weighed them down.

  What use am I now? he thought. I may never be the same again after the effects of the poison. Tears trickled down the corners of his eyes at his own helplessness. He had always been the strongest, most able-bodied person at the hotel next to his father.

  The memory of Dr. Parker puncturing his arm flooded back to him. His gut filled with revulsion. He had caught a glimpse of his father, passed out, and Dr. Parker tried to hide him from view. He lied to me! How could I have been so wrong about him?

  His anger gave him the motivation to try and pull himself from the current. His arms barely moved toward the edges of the rock while he pushed with his feet into the rocky riverbed. It was a fight. He struggled with his core to move a couple of inches, but his muscles weren't listening. He slid back down.

  He grunted, exacerbated from the movement.

  In the distance, he heard the faint sounds of a flute, but he had no idea where it was coming from. He laid there listening for a few minutes, hoping it was his father. Moments later, he heard the hooves of horses in the canyon. Impossible! he thought. The horses won't go down the dirt slide.

  He strained his neck and looked over the rock in amazement; Fearless, Ancient Orange, and Hototo were there, but no one was riding them.

  A slight twinge of burnt-orange began to fire up through the canyon walls as the first rays of morning sun peeked through the horizon in the east. He looked up to the top of the canyon to see the silhouette of a man playing a flute with two other men dancing in a circle. The flute player had an arch in his back and a mohawk—just like Kokopelli, kachina God of fruitfulness. The other two men were dressed as the Kachinas he knew well from his childhood, Eototo, the god of rain, and his assistant, Aholi.

  It was the same melody he had heard his father play before the rain came, and at that moment he heard a slight roll of thunder. Hototo and Ancient Orange let out threatened neighs.

  If it rains, the water level will rise and the Anasazi dirt slide will flood into the river. I'll wash away!

  33. Spelunking

  Sunday, 5:45 a.m.

  Back at the hotel, Oriel woke up in a room. She didn’t know Roy had laid her there to be cared for by Roslyn. She tried to call Roslyn’s name but found herself unable to s
peak, and she couldn’t move one side of her body.

  One thing she could hear clearly was the clairvoyant voice of Lance's words to the rain dance song loud and clear. That’s when she remembered tonight was the snake dance celebration. It was a night when the Kachina god’s celebrated and roamed free. Her spirit filled with jubilee. His words made her feel alive. She had never missed the rain dance, and she wasn’t going to let this be the first time. She followed her instincts, trying to get up.

  The rain dance was a special celebration for her, one that she didn't want to miss as long as she lived. She thought of her childhood, of people that were dear to her that had long since passed. Her memories of this being a majestic day, when the elders of the tribe dressed as Kachinas. This was the day they took the snakes they gathered from the north, south, east, and west and put them in their mouths, then released them to bring their prayers back to the Earth Mother.

  She moved her left arm and leg and tried to sit up, but it didn't work. She tried to focus on her right leg. She made every effort to wiggle her toes. It took a lot of concentration. She tried to maneuver her leg off the bed; it barely moved. She grabbed it with her left hand and tried to help it. It took everything she had, but it worked.

  She stood and hobbled ahead. Her palms were extended to feel what lay ahead of her. The first thing she touched was the door. She recognized the feel of the antique doorknob right away as one of those in the hotel, but it wasn't her bedroom in the turret that she was used to, which was confusing. Why was she in this unfamiliar room? She felt inside out and backwards in this place.

  She turned the knob and limped into the hallway at a slow pace. She touched the wall in the hallway where one of the pictures hung. The bumpy texture of the frame was all the information she needed. Twelve steps to the front desk then forty-six more through the lobby to reach the front doors. As she neared the front desk, she could hear Roslyn breathing heavily. Roslyn often fell asleep at the front desk. She worked long hours.

  The ninety-year-old Native American grandma hobbled through the lobby to the great double doors. She knew she wouldn't be able to open them herself; they were too heavy. To her surprise, someone was there to open them for her. She tried to say, "Thank you, Chase," but the words didn't come out quite right because of the numbness in one side of her face. She knew it was Chase; after all, no one else would have allowed her to go outdoors alone in her condition. She grabbed his arm, gave him a kiss, and carried on to the front driveway.

  She felt the pitter patter of light rain, and the smell was fresh. She tried her best to carry out the rain dance with her limp. She was alone, but she felt like she was one with the others in her tribe who danced to the beat that only they could hear. Her white, wild, and wispy hair stood out in all directions as wind brushed through it.

  A crack of thunder rumbled behind her. The rain began to spit heavier. She continued well into the night, getting drenched and breathing in the smells of the earth.

  ⭐⭐⭐

  Sunday, 5:37 a.m.

  They continued their way through the cavern for what felt like ages. It reminded Maya of waiting to get into a creepy haunted house, only worse because there was no telling what they might find—or what might find them. Their legs were getting tired from miles of walking. Maya could only imagine how James felt after carrying Chantal, but he didn't complain.

  The rock wall to the left ended, opening into a much larger cavern. The river to the right made gurgling sounds as the water slapped over rocks as it rolled by, but it was such a far drop from the path they were walking that even the light of the headlamps couldn’t reach the bottom.

  "What's that?" Dr. Parker asked as a construction of wood came into view.

  "A wooden bridge," Lance said, in an unceremonious tone.

  Dr. Parker grabbed onto the dark wooden handrail and gave it a tug. It looked sturdy and new. "This is the way," Dr. Parker said, grabbing Lance by the shoulder and shoving him toward it.

  "No!" Lance yelled, pushing back from it as if it were poisonous to the touch.

  Maya remembered the rubbing had clearly mentioned an ivory bridge.

  "We need to cross." He slapped Lance across the face, and Lance put his hand over the spot. Chantal let out a cry, and Maya ran to his defense. She slapped at Dr. Parker. He pushed her back and she fell onto the rough floor, scraping her elbows. Lance’s face was bruised from the punch he had received earlier.

  "Not this bridge," Lance argued. He put his arm up to shield himself from another blow.

  "Why not?" Dr. Parker placed his hands on Lance’s shoulders with his feet firmly planted while putting his face into Lance’s.

  Lance backed away, leaning down to pick up a small rock and threw it across the bridge. It bumped onto one of the boards which easily dropped from underneath the bridge and fell into the depths of the cave to the water miles below.

  Dr. Parker lifted an eyebrow. "This place is booby-trapped after all!” He patted Lance’s shoulders and ran his fingers through his tawny hair. “We must use caution. Of course!” He put his shoulders back and stood up straight, putting his arm around Lance and turning to get a 360-degree view of their surroundings. He raised his voice. “It all makes sense. The Anasazi wouldn't have left their secrets unprotected.” He rubbed his chin and raised his eyebrows. “There must be another way." They passed the bridge, and he pushed Lance in front to continue leading.

  A gust of wind blew past, seemingly from nowhere.

  "Did you feel that?" James asked.

  "Yes, it's coming from an opening somewhere, nothing to fear," Dr. Parker replied.

  Maya had a hard time believing there was an opening anywhere. She had the eerie feeling, like they were crossing boundaries. She was beginning to despise the fact she hadn't brought a flashlight. Why had she trusted her cousins to pack everything? She resented having to rely upon their enemies for light. If only the torches hadn't smoldered out. If only Dr. Parker and James hadn't found them.

  After another mile, they could see a dead end ahead made of what appeared to be dinosaur bones halfway engulfed in the rocky wall. The bony vertebrate was half visible, with one side of its ribs hanging out of the rock and the other half inside. An ivory tusk extended to the cavern ceiling from the skull of a giant animal.

  "It's ivory," Chantal said, looking back at Maya over her shoulder.

  Maya took the hint. It was the ivory bridge they were meant to cross from the rubbing.

  Dr. Parker nodded, casting the beam of light over it. "Indeed. These are remains of a wooly mammoth. See the tusks?” He tapped on it with his palm. “Incredible size, this one was."

  Maya stared through the tunnel-like ribcage. There were only five of them hanging over the drop where the river rolled below, and they led to the other side of the cave where the path continued. Each rib was stretched out at a distance which reminded Maya of a catwalk at a child's playground- a dangerous one.

  At first, Dr. Parker looked as if he might go first. He grabbed onto the first rib and tugged on it, then said, "Maya.”

  Her head jerked up.

  “You first." His eyes bored into her.

  Her heart felt like it might jump out of her chest. He was punishing her for her outburst. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat, but it stuck there. She didn't want to find out what he might do to her cousins if she didn't obey. She took a close look at the bones and touched the first rib. It was dry but seemed solid.