The Serpent Road

by Anthony James

  Acab for once held back the inevitable smart comment and stood still, listening too, a spear to hand.

  “There’s nothing. Come on,” he said after a moment.

  With some scrambling and sliding, they reached the poolside, Acab nearly tumbling headfirst into the water before he managed to steady himself at the edge. Tohil looked around and then dumped his burdens and weaponry at his feet and then lowered himself to sit cross-legged on the ground and beckoned the others to do the same. He scanned the surrounding trees as he did so.

  “I think we are all right here. We should have plenty of warning if they’re likely to find us. So…. Listen, thank you my friends for trusting me with this, just as the Elders have put their trust in us. I will try to tell you as much as I can, but I’m afraid it is not much more than I’ve already told you.”

  He reached into the pouch and pulled out the leather map, carefully unfolded it and spread it on the ground between them.

  “What’s this?” said Acab, making a grab for it, but not before Oquis reached out in a flash and seized his wrist.

  “Let Tohil speak,” he said.

  Oquis let go of his arm and Acab withdrew his hand, rubbing his wrist, a petulant expression on his face.

  Tohil nodded. “This map tells is where we have to go. Here...,” He pointed to the circle representing the village. “…is where we came from. That’s the temple. That surrounding it is the village. This here is a river that we need to reach. And this is supposed to be a road, whatever that is. I think he called it the white road. Over this side is the great city that they talk about. That’s where we need to go.”

  “But that is weeks away.”

  “Perhaps. I don’t know. I don’t know how far it is. But maybe. See here? These are the mountains we can see from the top of the temple hill.”

  Oquis sat back and grunted, looking thoughtful.

  Acab had already apparently forgotten his wrist, because he reached forward and reoriented the map to see it better. He traced the river with his finger, and then the mountains before finally touching the shape that represented their destination. He sat back and looked around at the trees.

  “That’s fine,” he said,” but how are we supposed to find our way, and all that distance? What if we get lost?”

  Tohil was surprised. He would have expected that reaction from Quapar, not from Acab. He looked at Quapar, but he was just sitting there listening. Finally, he stirred.

  “Why is this so important?” Quapar said. “Why do we have to go on this journey?”

  Tohil looked quickly around, as much out of habit as anything, but decided that there was no harm in using the old man’s name now. They didn’t even know if he was still alive, if any of them were still alive. Besides, there was no one else to hear.

  “Haracan told me that the Elders have been having deep visions, visions of blood and death. They say something will be released from the temple and it will wreak disaster upon our world. If we do not convey this message to the Dwarf King, then it will surely happen. Perhaps the Seelee are deep within the temple and they will ride their Dark Serpents across the sky once more.”

  “But why the Dwarf King? I have heard of him, but I wondered if he was just a story,”

  “Hmph. Me too,” said Oquis.

  “From what he told me, I believe Haracan believes he is real. And the stories about powerful magicians as well. You know that dwarves are supposed to be magical. Look, we don’t know what’s in the Great City. We don’t know anything about what is or isn’t true. All we know is what we’ve seen in the village and anything else is just some sort of story, whether it came from the Elders or not. We just need to have faith that Haracan knows the truth of what he is telling us.”

  Tohil looked around at each of their faces looking for further signs of doubt. Of course, it was there with Acab, but then it always would be. It was then that he realised something else. For a journey such as this, they should have painted their faces. It was important. It was something strong. It would test them. He looked around the area again, but there was nothing useful that he could see. Then he spotted a patch of darker earth where a small rivulet trickled down one of the slopes. The black mud would do the job for now.

  “Wait here,” he said. They looked at him questioningly as he stood.

  Carefully he picked his way over the uneven slopes and then scooped up a handful of the black ooze. It smelled, but that might fade as it dried. He stepped his way down to the pool, crouched at the edge, and then using his shimmering reflection in the pool’s surface, in one finger he drew a black mask across his eyes. He added a spiral on each cheek and then marked small shapes around the edge of the spirals. It was not perfect, but it would do until they found something better, if they ever did. He rinsed his hands off in the water and stepping carefully, made his way back to the group. He stood before them, his fists on his hips.

  “Now I am ready,” he said.

  “Ahhhh!” said Acab and leapt to his feet. Showing far less caution than Tohil, he dashed across the bank to the patch of black mud and moments later was performing his own ministrations.

  The other two nodded and stood a little more slowly than Acab. Quapar also made for the black trickle, but Oquis had spotted something else and moved in the opposite direction. It did not take long before they were all back, standing in a circle and inspecting each other’s work. Oquis had found a patch of white stuff that he had been able to daub on his face, vertical stripes on one side and horizontal on the other, straight, and simple. Acab had taken Tohil’s mask motif and expanded on it. Most of the top of his face he had covered with a thick dark band. He’d set this off with a simple black splotch on his chin. Quapar, however, had covered almost all his face with dark wavy lines.

  “Wait,” he suddenly said and dashed over to the place where Oquis had found the white earth. He was back a few moments later. He had filled in all the blank spaces on his face with white pigment, making it entirely black and white. He seemed satisfied, though Tohil himself though it a little too much. It was not in his nature to say anything though. Leave that sort of thing for Acab.

  “Now we are ready,” said Acab.

  They set about filling some of the gourds from the pool. They should find plenty of water along the way—small streams, even a smaller river or two. Pools were plentiful throughout the forest. The only risk was that they attracted some of the larger predators that made the forest their home. But it also brought larger game. That would be an advantage. Of course, water was heavy, but then it was better to err on the side of caution.

  Tohil sat back down. “What have you brought?” he asked. Of course, he had seen some of it but he wanted to know in his head what they had and what their capabilities were. “We will need to hunt. I hope you have plenty of pellets for the blowgun.”

  Acab nodded, patting at a pouch strung around his waist as he sat down again.

  Quapar and Oquis joined them.

  “I brought some extra strings for your bow,” said Oquis.

  “And you brought the macuahuitl too.” The heavy wooden club with its inset obsidian edges could prove useful.

  “I have maybe enough darts,” said Quapar, “but I could run out. I might need to make some.” He could be deadly with his atlatl and dart. The throwing stick gave him power and accuracy that he couldn’t find with a dart alone.

  “We all have knives?” asked Tohil? The others nodded. “Did anyone think to bring one for me?”

  Oquis grimaced and Tohil sighed. “Ah well. We didn’t have much time. My bow will have to do. We have spears? Yes, right, I see two. I can always use one of them.”

  Quapar suddenly lifted his hand, motioning for quiet and they all froze. Somewhere within the surrounding bushes came a rustle. As soon as they went silent, the noise stopped. All of them sat there, straining to hear anything, but there were only the normal sounds of the forest, and the splashing of water rushing into the pool. A faint breeze stirred the leaves above them.
After a few seconds and they heard nothing further, they relaxed a bit, but Quapar continued glancing around, alert.

  Tohil sat there for a moment, saying nothing, just thinking. Less than two hours ago, he had been in Haracan’s house and the Bird People had attacked. He could not help feeling that he had left something important, that there was something he should have done. Perhaps it was merely his guilt at having run from the battle. Had his people overcome? Had they managed to drive off the attackers? There was no way he could know. There was no way any of them could know, and that sat like a stone in his belly. He shook the thoughts away. He had to focus on what they needed to do now. There was nothing to do about the other things. Whatever had happened had simply happened and their path now was clear. The old man had stressed the importance of what they were undertaking. He had to trust that.

  As if picking up on his thoughts, Acab spoke. “So now, where do we go?”

  Tohil looked down at the map looked back the way they had come and then looked to the other side of the pool.

  “We need to go that way,” he said, taking the piece of painted leather from the ground, and folding into his pouch as he got to his feet again.

  “All right, let’s go,” said Acab, reaching for his things again. “And Tohil, maybe you can carry something else now?”

  Tohil nodded and accepted an extra sack.

  Making sure that they had left nothing behind, he started stepping carefully over the banks, steadying himself with one hand in the earthy ground as he navigated a path around the narrow edges. The others followed shortly behind in single file. Oquis brought up the rear, his heavy, bladed club hanging from one hand, its strap around his wrist. The sun was high in the sky now, and the day warmer, bright sparkling lights reflecting from the pool’s surface as beams lanced through the green leaves. There was a gentle bank beside the waterfall and Tohil headed towards that. Better than having to struggle up the steep slopes with everything that they were carrying. Despite that load though, he could not help but feel that they had not brought enough. They could hunt, certainly, but did they have enough to make a fire? Should they make a fire? What if it became cold during the night? If they had to cross those mountains, it surely would. Right now, it was still rainy season, but in the dry season, the nights could become chill. He had no idea how long their journey would take and it could easily take them from one season to the next. He did not keep track of the calendar in his head. That was something for the Elders. There was too much to think about for a simple journey. Why had he not seen it before? It made him wonder if Haracan had made the right choice after all.

  Using both hands, he climbed up the bank. At the top, he could see that the small stream ran roughly in the direction they intended to go, so he thought it wise that they could follow it. It provided a ready path through the thicker areas of vegetation, and if it veered away further on, then they could make their own path through the forest, or find another one.

  Without waiting to consult the others, he started forward, trying to leave his doubts behind him.

  oOo

  They’d been winding their way along the side of the stream for about an hour, when it swung away from the direction they were heading, turning upslope. The route they needed to take would take them down. They pushed through some low bushes and found themselves in another section of forest, different from the last. The trees were broader with wide buttress roots and pale trunks. The roots snaked out from those trees across the forest floor. Not only would they have to contend with the undergrowth now, but also the obstacle course that lay before them. None of them had been in this section of the forest before, and Tohil tilted back his head to look up. Less light came through the thicker canopy here. A sudden squeal from Quapar snapped his attention back.

  “What? What is it,” Tohil hissed.

  Quapar merely pointed and then Tohil saw it. Slithering alongside one of the extended roots, partially concealed by leaf litter was a snake. It was no wonder that Quapar had spotted it. Bands of yellow, red, and white intersected shiny black scales. It was coloured like some of the warriors they had seen before. So, they were snake people as well as Bird People despite their name. Tohil took a step back. At the same time, Acab laughed aloud.

  “Don’t worry about that,” he said. “I’ve seen them before. They’re only a problem if you try to catch them, or you step on them by accident.”

  “Hum,” said Tohil. “Well, I suppose we’ll have to watch our feet for now as well as everything else.”

  Acab poked Quapar in the arm. “Better keep your eyes in the treetops too. Those big ones just sit up there waiting for an unsuspecting boy to walk beneath them. Mmmm-mmm,” he said and rubbed his belly.

  Quapar looked nervously above him.

  “Stop it, Acab,” Tohil said. “We have enough to worry about.”

  “Yes, we do,” added Oquis. “Let’s get moving before the rain starts.”

  As they got underway again, Tohil had once more found something he had forgotten to think about. The rains that came every afternoon would make their progress more difficult, they would loosen his bowstring, and as for their rudely daubed face decorations, who knew how they would fare. He gave another sigh as he clambered over one of the exposed roots.

  The snake had already disappeared, going about its own business.

  “We have no names,” they answered, “we are nothing more than shooters of blowguns and hunters with bird-traps on the mountains. We are poor and we have nothing, young man. We only walk over the large and small mountains, young man, and we have just seen a large mountain, over there where you see the pink sky. It really rises up very high and overlooks the tops of all the hills. So it is that we have not been able to catch even one or two of the birds on it, boy. But, is it true that you can level all the mountains?” Hunahpú and Xbalanqué asked Cabracán.

  — Popol Vuh, Part I, Chapter 9

  FIVE

  Tohil was starting to become frustrated, and he could sense that the others were the same. The rains had come, pouring from the sky in large spattering drops that fell from the leaves above as even bigger drops, forcing them, for a time, to take shelter beneath one of the larger trees. The foul mud that they had daubed their faces with had turned back into foul mud, leaving streaks intersecting the designs. He had been forced to release his bow as an attempt to keep the string dry.

  After an hour or so, the heaviest of the rain had passed and they pushed forward, slipping, and sliding on the damp forest floor and slick roots that criss-crossed their path, made even slipperier by that patches of moss growing on their surface. And still there was no sign of any landmark by which they could orient themselves. The trees stretched on and on, unbroken. All through the canopy came the noises of parrots, other birds, howler monkeys, and other things Tohil didn’t particularly want to think about. Right now, all four of them were tired, wet, and miserable. Even Acab didn’t have much to say, but still they pushed on. Once, Oquis had slipped and sworn loudly, his voice carrying through the trees. They had stopped, hearts pounding, listening for any sign that there were others around to hear, but there was nothing. Oquis apologised rubbing his knee, and once more, they moved forward, faces set. He was really starting to wish now that they’d had more time to prepare, but there really wasn’t any point dwelling on that now.

  The afternoon was starting to draw in. It would probably rain again before the night was done, and they would need to find somewhere that would provide at least a little shelter. A sudden noise to the right halted them in their tracks for what seemed like the fiftieth time, they stopped, listening carefully, scanning the trees, and bushes around them, but after a few seconds there was nothing more, nothing other than the constant familiar forest noises, and they started forward again. All the while, Tohil was thinking, trying to plan in his head.

  They had enough supplies with them for a simple evening meal now, but they would have to think about hunting soon. They could make do with birds for a while, but ev
entually they would need something more substantial. He glanced around at what the others were carrying: corn they had, water they had. It was not enough to sustain a continual daily march. And what about when they reached the mountains? Game was unlikely to be plentiful. Perhaps some lizards, or...he didn’t really know what animals lived in the mountains. They could catch fish if they had the tools to do it, but he doubted that any of them had though to bring a net. That would leave them with spearing, hard at the best of times, and they only had two spears among them. Perhaps when they made camp, they could fashion some more spears.

  “Tohil, look,” said Quapar dragging him out of his thoughts. “It looks like there’s something up there, between the trees.”

  He was right. Tohil peered forward, trying to make out what it was. It could be some sort of rocky outcrop, but it was too defined for that. It appeared to be some sort of structure.

  “Maybe it’s a village,” offered Oquis.

  “If it’s a village, we need to be careful,” said Tohil. “Acab, do you want to go and scout out what it is?”

  Tohil didn’t think it was a village. Not out here. There was no sign of land clearing, no noises, no smell of smoke in the air, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious. Acab dropped most of what he was carrying, keeping hold of a spear, and crouching low and taking advantage of the trees for cover, moved quietly forward. The others crouched down where they were, keeping silent, watching Acab’s progress, and scanning nervously for any other sign of movement.

  Acab turned and was walking back within moments, his spear held loosely at his side, no longer keeping himself bent low. He waved them forward. Tohil leant over and grabbed a couple of the items Acab had left behind, and Oquis reached for the others.

  “Come on,” said Acab. “You have to see this.” He waited impatiently for them to reach his position.

  Very soon, they all emerged into a clearing and all stopped at the edge.