Sweaty, and feeling a bit frazzled from her unplanned rushed wake-up call, Layla eventually walked over to where the vehicle was parked, to load up her pack with even more than she already had in her increasingly heavy load. Lanie was still there herself, and the girls took turns grabbing bananas, ramen cups, and whatever else they could seem to manage. "He... He doesn't mean it, you know? How he's always so hard on you?"
Layla had been filling up her teal aluminum water bottle at the time, when she looked up, surprised, hardly having heard the meek voice of Lanie addressing her. "Who, Dr. Ruiz?"
"Yes. I... I overheard him commenting to another professor once that he thinks you actually have a lot of potentials. That he sure you'll make a great archaeologist someday."
This, Layla, found exceptionally hard to believe, and she fought to stifle a chuckle and an eye roll to this, as she strained to respond to Lanie's well-meaning words, "Look, I... uh... I appreciate it, really. And I know you gotta say that kind of stuff, cause he's your dad and all, but to be honest, it doesn't really bother me. I'm fine, honestly, either way." That was a blatant lie. It drove her crazy how much Ruiz was always on her, and wished she could figure out how to garner more respect from him, while still remaining under the radar. "Besides, we're all mostly just here for the experience anyway, right?" Layla could see the girl beginning to regret her words, and again retreat back into her mousey meekness, so she quickly added, "but thanks. That means a lot." Lanie smiled, weakly, and walked away to gather up the rest of her belongings.
Layla had nearly finished filling up the last of her water bottles, when she once again overheard the voice of her advisor, continuing to with explaining their plans to their supply runner. "Look, it's here. I'm sure of it! How can we pass up a chance like this?"
"Senior Ruiz, you never said anything about where it was you were going. Chi Ubah Kan... the Mouth of the Serpent!... Senior, the ancient ones have cursed that place, and it is guarded by monsters," Alejandro lowered his voice, as if he feared the gods themselves might hear him, and hastily made the sign of the cross over his sweaty chest, "and Kukulkan, he is not the compassionate type! The only thing out there in that part of the jungle--anywhere near those old, forgotten ruins--is death! Please, I beg you and your team to turn back!" Alejandro's tone was becoming increasingly anxious, as he forced a smile once more, and continued, "Tikal!... I can take you to Tikal... lots of ruins there, you Americans like that, and..."
"It's fine. Don't be a superstitious fool! We're prepared and well researched. We have plenty of supplies..."
Alejandro gestured emphatically to Ruiz's "X" on the map, "there is no way my baby can make it out there, and neither will you and your team. The jungle's too wild!"
"Then... get as close as you can, and call and let us know where we can meet you safely," Ruiz smiled, and patted his pack, "we have a sat phone, so we can't get lost, and you can always track our location by pinging the GPS."
Alejandro, whose smile had replaced by a worried frown, shrugged and picked up the map. "It's as you say. You're the boss." He climbed back into the driver's seat of the Jeep, before calling out, "Alright, listo?"
Dr. Ruiz looked around to his students, making a quick assessment, before responding, "yep, good to go," he slapped his hand down on the yellow hood, before adding, "thanks, and see you in three days!"
Defeated, all Alejandro could do was sigh, and give a quick smile and wave to the team of intrepid explorers, before putting the car into gear and driving off. As the car distanced itself further and further recklessly back into the jungle, Layla and the others could just make out the dance beat and the high pitched strings riff from the opening of Britney Spears' "Toxic", as it faded into nothingness, and the sounds of the jungle once again overtook everything around them.
Chapter 10
The Fall
By mid-afternoon on the second day, it was clear that the mood of the expedition had changed dramatically. Gone was the sense of excitement and wonder, marveling at the colorful diversity of flora and fauna, and the feeling of playing at being Lara Croft, adventuring towards some lost city ruins none of them had ever heard of. No, these things had now been replaced by the miserable humidity, aching, tired feet, treacherous, unforgiving terrain, and an almost militant level of perpetual cadence and momentum. Even the constant bickering between James and Becca had wained considerably, though as irritable as everyone still was, it never disappeared completely.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ruiz, Garmin eTrex handheld GPS unit firmly in one hand, a machete in the other, continued leading the slumping mob of grad students, over steep ridges and through dense vegetation, with the motivation and certainty of a man driven by the thought of his own imagined renown-to-be. Following closely behind him, of course, was James, who still seemed to have it in his head that proximity denoted level of interest. The three girls were lagging a bit farther behind, doing a better job at pacing themselves apart from Ruiz's breakneck speed.
"Hey, Professor! How about us taking a bit of water break?" Becca called up ahead, winded, and looking to Layla and Lanie to back her up.
"What's wrong, Becc? Little hike too much for you?" James responded almost instantly as if he were straining to cover up the exhaustion in his own voice, "I could go all day!"
Layla gave Becca a reassuring glance, before shooting James a look. "Shut up, James! You wish!" she fired back, "Besides, we're all of us pretty tired, and you know it!"
"Yeah, even you, you pompous little suck up!" Becca was enjoying a renewed burst of energy to stick up for herself, especially with the added support, "You think so, too, aye Lanie?"
Lanie's olive complexion instantly flushed, "I... uhh... I guess so?... I mean..."
"Alright, alright... you've all made your point!" Ruiz boomed over the commotion that was beginning to escalate, "We'll take five, and pick this up again after a short rest to refuel," he walked a few meters away and sat down on a rock, before adding, "SHORT REST!" The professor shook his head, similar to the way a defeated parent would, and produced a worn composition book to continue reviewing his notes.
Lanie similarly sat down and, after hydrating, pulled out her book of Mayan Folklore, and resumed her own research. Becca, having observed this, shook her head and made a motion to get Layla's attention, before whispering, "poor girl. Y' know, if she isn't careful, she's liable to end up like her old man over there!" Becca took a long swig of water before a smile crept across her face, and she went on, "reckon we oughta do something."
Before she knew it, Layla was chasing after Becca, wondering what it was she had in mind. She knew, however, that unlike perhaps James, Becca's heart always seemed to be in the right place, and Layla often found herself admiring, maybe even attracted to the girl's confidence and charisma. Whatever Becca was up to with Lanie, Layla didn't have any problem following her lead.
"Oye, Lanie! Heads up!" She watched as Becca threw a wrapped protien bar in the direction of their resident bookworm.
Lanie responded with a slightly startled jolt and bent down to pick up the bar where it had landed near her feet. "Oh... uh... thanks," she responds, meekly, flushing a bit out of the embarrassment of being called out.
"Come on, I can't sit still. Why don't you take a quick hike with us?" Layla chimed in, pushing aside a branch of very large green leaves, revealing the closest thing to a "path" this jungle had to offer. With an awkward, reluctant smile, Lanie relented and followed the other two girls as they explored the vicinity of their chosen rest point. "What're you reading, anyway?" Layla inquired, looking over at the book, still tucked under Lanie's arm. A surprised Becca turned to her and gives a slight smile as if to admire her prying.
"What, this?" Lanie fumbled with the book, closing it and shoving it briskly into her pack, in an attempt to obscure the label from view, at least a little. "It's nothing. Just research. I was just thinking it might be a good idea to know what it was we were looking for out here."
"Lanie, you wrote your bloody midterm pape
r on Mayan Cosmology and Archaeoastronomy!" Becca interrupted, rolling with laughter, "You don't exactly strike me as someone who needs a refresher!"
"Yeah," Layla agreed, "I thought you already knew more about this stuff than any of us."
"Yeah, well," Lanie flushed a bit more, as she averted her gaze from the others, though still holding on to a hint of an endearing smile, "I guess I've always really loved the Myan culture. I grew up with my dad telling me all the stories since I was little. Most little girls I suppose got Cinderella and Rapunzel. I got stories about Hunahpu and Xbalanque," the other girls just stared blankly, "The Hero Twins?" Lanie clarified, sounding a bit like a quieter, more reserved and less condescending version of her father, before recoiling a bit once again, scrunching up her shoulders out of embarrassment, "I guess that was just me."
"Wait... so, like, he told you all that stuff as a kid? With all the violence and human sacrifice and stuff?" Layla couldn't seem to hide her genuine shock and disapproval.
"Well... yeah? I mean, I guess? He omitted a bit of the more graphic subject matter, of course," Lanie stammered, fidgeted with adjusting her glasses, and seeming more and more embarrassed as this conversation went on. Though, it would appear that a part of her was at least enjoying the attention and practice in socializing. "Those stories aren't all that bad, really if you think about it. I mean, yeah, there's all the death and human sacrifice and everything, but it's so much more than that.
"I guess I always saw the Mayan gods and myths as more tactile. More real than anything you'd get in, say, the Bible, or in the Greek pantheon of gods and goddesses. Like, in these stories, these are still deities, of course, but the thing is, they don't behave like deities. Not really. They're more human. More like us. They can love and They can hate, They can be selfish. Jealous. Vain. Curious. Kind. Their driving motivation is to be praised and appreciated, and loved by someone else. I think..." Lanie paused, and let escape a slight sigh, before continuing, "I think we can all relate to those things on at least some level, right?"
The two girls had stopped walking and were listening intently, mouths agape, as neither could ever remember hearing Lanie speaking more than a few words in any one instance. Layla gazed at Becca and smiled softly, though quickly recomposed herself.
Becca on the other hand was grinning impishly, from ear to ear, "I am liking this new little chatterbox Lanie! Still a bit of a nerd, but we can work with this," She clapped an arm around the girl's awkward shoulder, "we'll have you tossing back pints and singing drunk karaoke in no time!" Lanie gave a weak smile, clearly uncomfortable, but still appreciating the attention.
"Becca!" Layla spat, shooting her a look.
"What? I'm just saying... it's the quiet ones you have to watch out for," Becca quipped, smirking impishly.
Layla, sensing Lanie's rising discomfort, gave the girl opportunity for an escape, back into something she was perhaps a bit more familiar with. "So, uh... I guess your pretty familiar with all this stuff then, huh?"
Lanie shrugged, "I guess?"
"So, what do you know about this Kukulkan?" Layla queried, hopeful that if she understood more, the other night might make a little more sense. But even as she said the name, she watched as Lanie's smile faded, and all of the colors instantly drained out of the girl's face.
"Ku...kulkan? The Feathered Serpent?" She stuttered, "I never liked that one. The stories used to give me nightmares when I was little."
Layla instantly backtracked, attempting to set the mousey girl back at ease, for fear that she might run back into her burrow, and never ever come back out. "Well, it has to do with the lost city we're looking for, right?" She did her best to remember what it was Dr. Ruiz had said to her last night, "He, uh... helped create the world and people or something, right? And he's supposed to guard the underworld and all that."
"Something like that," Lanie chuckled nervously, almost as if she were straining for words that didn't want to sound condescending or insulting. "Sometimes he's also referred to as the War Serpent, too," Layla instantly remembered that monaker from her encounter with Ruiz last night. Lanie continued, "basically, he's really similar to other references to dragons in most of the rest of the worlds folklore. Medieval Europe, Japan, China, Scotland, Greece... all of the dragon-like figures share so much in common in the ways they are described! It kinda makes you wonder if they're all talking about the same thing. Something fantastical, but based in something real and classifiable."
Lanie looked out onto the perplexed faces of her colleagues, and sputtered to find a more tactile method of explanation, "take Kukulkan... he was a feathered serpent by his description, and as a result, was known to go have the power of flight, much like those found in Eastern folklore. But then you have descriptions of him swimming and occupying sacred sacrificial pools and lakes, which is more akin to creatures like the Loch Ness Monster and other mythical sea serpents from sailing mythology. And in some cases, he was even said to have the ability to breathe fire, which harkens back to the dragons described in Medieval Europe," Lanie paused, realizing she was getting increasingly excited in discussing something she had a great deal of interest in, "it... it really makes you think, you know? Like maybe they're more than just stories."
Lanie trailed off and gave an anguished, fearful sigh, her mind going back specifically to the feathered Mayan serpent god, "anyway, Kukulkan was a key figure in Mayan Cosmology. He was one of those gods that were born of more human-like parents, him and his sister, Sacniete. Not a demigod, like what you see in Greek mythology. No, Kukulkan was a full god, but, you know, he definitely wasn't just another humanoid god like the others. It was clear very early on that Kukulkan was... different."
"Clearly," Becca scoffed after stumbled a bit, recovering as best she could after tripping over a protruding root, "I mean, he was like a giant snake, dragon... thing... right?"
"Well, yes... kinda... but, I mean, you'd be surprised. He really wasn't like that as much at first, though," Lanie was clearly straining to put something very enigmatic into real-world terms, "but you have to remember, this is a creation myth, after all. Before people and everything. It probably isn't meant to be taken completely literally. And besides, it was more like, he was this monstrous creature, with this primal, aggressive side that couldn't be suppressed. He's described at this point in the texts as a giant flying serpent, with fangs the size of a man's forearm, and wild exaggerated feathered fringe from his head to his tail," Lanie shuddered again, before going on, "yeah, I know. As a kid, pretty much the stuff of nightmares! But his sister, Sacniete, she still loved him, regardless of what he was, or what she knew he'd eventually become. She made it her duty to protect him and confined him with her, deep inside an underground cave, where she could keep him safe. She brought him food, kept him company. But as the years went on, that just wasn't enough for Kukulkan.
"Eventually, when he grew big enough, he viciously killed his own sister, swallowed her whole, and attempted to escape from the cave, only to unwittingly fly further into the heart of Xibalba. Now, he's said to be trapped down there for good this time, a sentry of the cave that leads to the Mayan underworld, and still guarded by the spirit of his sister, who's spirit is forever tethered and bound to his. Sacniete is usually portrayed through the artwork that accompanies Kukulkan as embodying the image of a large black dog."
Layla froze, mid-stride. "Can you... uh... run that last part by me again?"
"What, about Sacniete, like a black dog?" Lanie seemed taken aback by the interruption, but continued anyway, as she wondered at a patch of cerulean orchids they were passing off to the side of their path, "It's kind of similar I guess the idea of a Hellhound in Western folklore. It was a sort of curse, I suppose, for showing her brother as much sympathy and compassion as she did," Lanie gave a slight chuckle, "I know, she got a pretty bad break, right? And she usually gets overshadowed in the literature by her giant feathered serpent brother, as you can imagine."
Lanie could tell by the petrified lo
oks on her colleagues' faces that maybe she'd gone a little too deep into the folklore, and decided to reel back a bit. "But, you know, it isn't all bad. We have Kukulkan to thank for aiding in creating humanity, of course, not to mention smaller things like the seasonal wind currents, earthquakes... Blood sacrifices were made annually in his name to appease him, and guarantee regularity of the seasons and the harvest... The Cult of Kulkulkan is still around, too, and was pretty much the first Mesoamerican religion to survive past the old ways. Even if it is mostly practiced in secret now."
Layla continued to be mostly speechless, still trying to wrap her head around the part about the big black dog that she was supposed to have just imagined the other night. Becca, on the other hand, was continuing to hang on Lanie's every word. "Oh, so now there's some cult about this giant snake-god thing?"
"It... it isn't as ominous as it sounds," Lanie stammered, in a vain attempt at reassurance.
Becca still seemed genuinely concerned by this new information, but anxiously continued the line of inquiry. "Look, whatever... so, how do we even know this city has anything to do with this Kukulkan? How do we know it even exists at all?"
Lanie's expression changed to one of quiet defensiveness. "Well, my father's been researching this since... since as long as I can remember. I... I have faith in him, and that he knows what he's talking about, and..."
"And so should you," the reprimanding voice of James came stumbling up from the path behind them, as even out here, they couldn't seem to escape his snark, "I mean, otherwise, what are any of us even doing out here?"
"Oh come off it, you little kiss ass! You don't know that any of this is for real!" Becca spun around at the far end of the path. Sweaty, tired, and irritable, she was clearly in no mood to be sparring with James at this moment, "you know, the man can make a bloody mistake, ya?" She turned, apologetically to Lanie for a moment, and gave a meek, "sorry, Lanie," before returning her aggravation in James's direction. "But what... we're just supposed to blindly follow, like good little unpaid grad students, and hope that a thirty-meter tall step pyramid just happens to fall out of his pompous arse?!" Becca took another step back, her arms gesticulating exaggeratedly, "Or maybe the grounds just going to open up for us and..." But as she took one more step backward, that is exactly what happened. And in an instant, Becca screamed out, and startlingly disappeared from view.
The Dark Spirits Beneath Page 6
