by Lani Forbes
Mayana slapped him on the shoulder. “You’re lucky she doesn’t smite you. For someone supposedly so reverent of the gods . . .”
But Ahkin shrugged. He had a feeling the Mother goddess had a rather twisted sense of humor. A warm breeze gently blew past them, so unlike the icy winds of the storm. Ahkin felt he had his answer. The thought lifted his spirits. Slightly.
“I’m sure there’s a reason,” he told her. Mayana didn’t look so sure as she stuffed the doll back into the bag and rose to her feet.
“I wish I understood. She gives us these random gifts, tells me I’ve been right about the rituals all along, warns me I’m going to make a decision that could possibly end the world, and makes us promise to bring her the bones of Quetzalcoatl. You’d think she could be a little clearer, or at least a little more specific. Where are we supposed to find these bones? What decision will be the right one to make? And what in the hells is the stupid worm for?”
“You’re asking me to explain the mind of the creator of the universe?” Ahkin gave her an amused look. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her about the possible warning he had received. He couldn’t place that burden on her shoulders.
“Good point. Part of me worries she’s using us, like we are just pieces in some bigger game we don’t see.” She sighed, squinting into the semibrightness of the world outside. The dark clouds hadn’t cleared, but mercifully the storm had stopped. Now that they could see more clearly, Ahkin was both thrilled and terrified to realize they had nearly reached the base of the mountains.
Jagged black peaks curved over them like a massive cresting wave, hiding unknown terrors within their wickedly dark crevices. But forward was the only way, and the “mountains that crashed together” was one of the layers of Xibalba, even if he wasn’t entirely sure what that meant.
Thunder rumbled again somewhere in the distance, and Ahkin eyed the sky with distrust. Hopefully they could make it into the crags before another storm hit.
His body dragged with exhaustion, but Ahkin forced himself forward, leading the way over the last few rolling hills of grasses. By the time the pale dust of the dead grasslands transitioned into dark pebbles and stone, a twitch had developed over his right eye—something that only happened during those long nights he had studied texts and star charts, sometimes until his father had performed the ritual to raise the sun. It seemed a lifetime ago that his only worries were to impress his battle mentor on the training fields or his tutors with his knowledge of the star charts. That had been before his first battle. Before the reality set in of how many lives truly rested in his hands.
Perhaps he should have tried to get some rest, but the thought of leaving Mayana unprotected had forced the idea from his head.
He’d have to push himself away from the ledge of exhaustion and shoulder that burden on his own. He refused to let Mayana carry the weight of his mistakes.
Boulders littered the base of the mountains like rubble from a collapsed house, making their climb slower, but also more dangerous. Ahkin watched the progression of the Seventh Sun across the sky, or at least where it appeared to hide behind the clouds. Had it really been an entire day since they fell? How long would it take to cross a mountain range like this?
Eventually the boulder field transitioned to steeper rock ledges, stretching high above their heads. Ahkin’s stomach clenched with anxiety as a cold wind roared in his ears.
“Are you any good at climbing?” he asked Mayana. Hopefully there would be some kind of path to follow. Climbing these uneven surfaces was sure to become more perilous the higher they ascended. Ona leapt onto the nearest narrow ledge and yipped at them to follow. Mayana secured the bag around her shoulder and pulled herself up with incredible ease.
“You forget, Your Highness, I had five brothers to keep up with and a stone temple that was perfect for climbing adventures.” She scrambled up another ledge and gave him a playful smirk as though to say, Aren’t you coming?
Ahkin looked down and immediately regretted it. His head swam as he took in the distance between them and the ground far below, but he curled his fingers over the coarse volcanic stone and heaved himself up after her. He’d show her how well he could climb.
The scratchy stone bit into the flesh of his hands. He wedged his sandaled feet into every crevice they could reach. Each time, he feared a scorpion or snake would emerge from the dark cracks and startle him into losing his grip. Mayana managed to stay ahead of him, and a swell of pride swept over him. He loved the sight of her slender yet strong legs, bare in the winds that whipped at the tattered remains of her loincloth skirt. The muscles of her back worked each time she reached a hand up higher. A small smile of satisfaction pulled at her cheeks as she proved herself to be the excellent climber she had claimed.
Thunder rumbled again, shaking the stone beneath his hands and pulling his attention away from watching her. He frowned, a thrill of fear fluttering in his stomach. Thunder shouldn’t be strong enough to shake the stone. Not like this. Now that he thought about it, he had never heard thunder like that before . . .
“Mayana, wait. Stop climbing.”
Ona noticed something was wrong the same moment Ahkin did. The dog hunkered down, his ears flat against his head. He let out a warning bark not a moment too soon. A boulder taller than a ceiba tree flew toward them, hurtling out of the sky like an earthbound comet. It smashed into the cliff face just above Mayana, rattling Ahkin’s teeth and raining down an avalanche of debris upon them.
Ahkin flattened himself against the face of the mountain, clinging to the stones and squeezing his eyes shut. Shards of rock cascaded onto his back, slicing as the sharper edges found his exposed skin. He gritted his teeth, sure the tips of his fingers were bleeding with the effort to hold on.
Ona’s piercing howl echoed off the walls of the ravine, reverberating in Ahkin’s eardrums.
Along with the sound of Mayana’s scream.
Ahkin’s eyes flew open. Time itself seemed to slow. Mayana tumbled past him, her arms and legs flailing to find a foothold. He lunged. Their fingers barely brushed, but when he closed his hand, he was holding empty air. Her large brown eyes widened with terror, her hand reaching desperately for him.
“Mayana!” Fear ripped its way up his throat, a scream of anger and frustration, a scream of failure. He had been so close. He had touched her fingers . . . and he hadn’t been able to catch her.
Helplessness overwhelmed him as she fell into the open air.
Chapter
8
Yemania must have fallen asleep at some point during the night. That alone was a miracle, considering every twitching leaf she heard was likely a wolf coming back to its den. She slowly opened her eyes, noticing that the soldier’s body, still pressed tightly against her own, was much warmer than it had been last night. She breathed a sigh of relief. His heart beat strongly against her own, and joy flooded her at the thought that she was the cause. She had saved his life.
But after the joy came utter terror, as she realized the soldier’s arms were wrapped tightly around her, holding her against him. Her eyes immediately shot to his face, but he was still sound asleep.
Nine hells!
Yemania moved her hands to his chest and tried to push gently away, only to have him grunt slightly and pull her tighter against him.
She slammed her fists against his chest, trying to wrench herself free. Frustration and fear mingled together inside her until she did the stupidest thing she could think of: she screamed.
The soldier’s eyes flew open as he scrambled away from her, bumping his head loudly against the rooted roof of their burrow. Yemania skittered back, grabbing her dress off the ground where it had fallen and holding it over her naked chest. The soldier held a defensive pose against the back wall, one hand reaching for the weapon Yemania had relieved him of while the other rubbed the top of his injured head.
Yemania
launched herself toward the hole where she had stored his knife. She brought it up with one hand, pointing it warningly at him, while the other held her dress in place.
Both of their chests heaved as they stared at each other, each assessing their peculiar situation. The soldier looked thoroughly bewildered, but Yemania felt panicked. She had wanted to save him, yes, but she hadn’t thought about what to do once he actually woke up.
His gaze dropped to his knife held firmly in her hand, and he frowned.
“You stole my knife.”
Yemania sputtered. “What? That’s the first thing you notice? That I stole your knife?”
“Well, that’s not the first thing I noticed, but I also didn’t want to be rude.” His gaze dropped suggestively to her chest, but darted back up to her face, a sheepish smile spreading across his face. His defensive pose relaxed, and he settled himself on the ground, leaning against the wall for support as he rubbed at the nonexistent wound on his chest.
Yemania tightened her grip on the dress covering her own chest. “How dare you! I saved your life and—”
“And unless you’re planning on ending it, can we put down the knife please?”
Yemania harrumphed and lifted the knife slightly higher. “Why? So you can take me back to Miquitz and sacrifice me to the lord of Xibalba?”
The soldier snorted. “No. I am not planning on taking you back to Miquitz.”
She lowered the knife. “Why not?”
“Well, frankly, I have no plans to go back to Miquitz myself, so it would be rather counterproductive to take you there.”
Now it was Yemania’s turn to frown. “What do you mean, you aren’t going back to Miquitz? Aren’t you one of their soldiers?”
He dropped his head and ran his hands through his long, black hair several times. She hadn’t noticed before the beautiful way it waved down to his shoulders. She shook her head to make herself focus as he wound his hair into a knot at the back of his head.
“Yes, I’m a soldier,” was all he said.
“But—”
“What’s your name?” he asked suddenly.
“Yemania,” she whispered quietly. “Of Pahtia.”
“Ah,” he nodded in acknowledgment. “So you’re a healer. I’m guessing that’s why my spirit is still with us in the land of the living?”
“Unless you’d rather it wasn’t, which I can still make happen, I assure you.” She lifted the knife again.
But to her surprise, the soldier laughed and lay back down on the ground, as though he wanted to take a nap.
“Go ahead, Yemania of Pahtia. But if you are a true healer, I’ll bet my life on the fact that you wouldn’t be able to take a life even if you wanted to.”
Bitterness coated her tongue. This death demon was as arrogant as her brother, Coatl.
“Well, you seem to be feeling well enough. I think I’ll—” She moved to crawl out of the burrow, but the soldier reached out a hand toward her instead.
“Please don’t go,” he said, his tone softening. “I’m sorry if I offended you.”
Yemania scoffed. “Why? So you can laugh at me again?”
“I’m not laughing at you, daughter of healing. I was paying you a compliment. You healers are the most valuable asset the Chicome Empire has, and you don’t even realize it.”
Yemania blinked at him. “No. The sons and daughters of light are the most valuable asset we have. Without them, we have no sun.”
“If you say so,” he smirked, putting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes as he relaxed against them.
Yemania took advantage of him looking away and put her dress back on. When she pulled the fabric down over her head, she noticed he was peeking at her with one eye half open.
She gasped in indignation, which only made him chuckle.
“Nothing I haven’t seen before, daughter of healing.”
Yemania narrowed her eyes at him. “And what’s your name, soldier? You’ve conveniently forgotten to tell me.”
He closed his eyes again. “Ochix.”
“Ochix of . . . ?”
“Miquitz.”
“Well, obviously you’re from Miquitz, but—”
“Are you going to tell me why you saved me, Yemania?”
Ochix was blatantly avoiding talking about himself, which made Yemania even more suspicious.
“You were hurt. So I healed you.”
Ochix opened one eye, this time in disbelief. “That’s it? I was hurt, so you healed me?”
Yemania leaned back slightly, feeling embarrassed. How was she supposed to explain? “Yes. That’s it.”
Ochix rolled onto his side and studied her, both eyes open and narrowed as though he didn’t understand. “But I’m the enemy.”
“Doesn’t matter to me. If someone needs to be healed, I heal them. That’s my gift, and I use it to the best of my ability.”
“Why were you lying naked next to me, then?”
Her face went hot again. “Your body temperature was low, and I needed to bring it up to get your blood circulating better. My body heat was the quickest way to do that.” She wrapped her arms across her chest as if she still weren’t wearing her dress. But even with it on, she felt suddenly exposed, like she needed to protect herself.
Ochix didn’t say anything for a long time. He continued to stare at her as though he’d never seen anything like her before.
Yemania felt suddenly flustered. “You probably need to eat something. I have some yellow guava in my bag or I can try to find you something else.”
Ochix tried to sit up, but swayed slightly before lying back down against the soft earth. Yemania was on her knees beside him in an instant.
“Why am I so—so dizzy?” he asked, bringing a hand to his forehead as though he could stop his head from spinning by holding it in place.
“You lost a lot of blood. I healed your wounds, but your body needs to replenish what it lost. That might take a little while.” She dug in her bag and pulled out the small round fruit. “This helps with a variety of ailments, but I think the sustenance is what you need most right now.”
“Thank you,” he said, his eyes intensely focused on her own. “Yemania of Pahtia.”
“You’re welcome.” She smiled, feeling a little arrogant herself. “Ochix of Miquitz.”
Chapter
9
Mayana was falling.
What had thrown that boulder? She knew it hadn’t been an accident. It was sheer dumb luck it hadn’t splattered her across the face of the mountain.
But she’d have to worry about that later. Because the more pressing issue was that she was careening through the air like a flightless baby bird falling from its nest.
She slammed against the side of the mountain’s slope. Her fingers scrabbled for a grip, the rough surface of the volcanic rocks ripping open her palms. Warm, sticky blood coated her hands.
Her stomach collided painfully with the lip of a jagged edge, and she threw out her hands as she tumbled across it. The muscles of her arm screamed as she caught a handhold. A shooting pain shot down her shoulder and back, but she didn’t dare let go. Her other hand flew to join the first, securing her hold. Her sandaled feet scrambled helplessly against the rock. Her pulse pounded in her ears as panic overwhelmed her.
“Ahkin!” she screamed.
Her stomach continued to feel as though she were falling, bringing back horrible memories of her initial plunge into the underworld. She pressed her face into her arm and fought back a sob of terror.
“I’m trying to get to you. Hang on,” Ahkin yelled from somewhere above her.
How far away was he? Mayana tilted her face up to see. He was still a good ten body lengths above her. Ahkin delicately inched his way down, his balance precarious. But her arms began to tremble with the effort of holding on. She kne
w the truth deep in her bones.
He wouldn’t reach her in time.
She frantically assessed her surroundings, seeking any possible way to steady her hold. A root, another rock ledge, anything. But that was when she noticed it. Far to their right and high above their heads, the dark slash of a crevice whistled in the whipping wind. There was some kind of cave or passage there. If they could find a way to make it all the way up . . .
But first, she couldn’t fall. She tightened her grip, blood slippery beneath her fingers. Her heart pounded against the jade skull necklace on her chest, as though begging the goddess Atlacoya to help somehow. It still felt so cold, icy almost, not unlike . . . Mayana gasped in realization.
Not unlike the same coolness that swept across her skin in the presence of water.
Hadn’t there been a legend about her ancestor? That the first sun, the sun Ahkin’s ancestor had sacrificed himself to create, had been destroyed by a great flood. Atlacoya, goddess of drought, used her jade skull pendant to withdraw the waters, to capture them inside the skull and end the flood that had destroyed the world. Then she sacrificed herself so that her blood might be used to resurrect the bones of humanity and usher in the age of the second sun, Water Sun.
The flood waters. They were still trapped within the amulet of Atlacoya. The same jade skull used to save the world must be the pendant hanging around her neck. And surely the power of Atlacoya, housed in the blood that flowed through Mayana’s veins, could summon them forth. Blood that now coated the rocks under her hands. How had she not realized it before?
Mayana closed her eyes and called to the waters, willing them to emerge. At first she feared nothing would happen, but then, through the gaping mouth of the jade skull, water burst forth as though it had been waiting millennia to be freed. She commanded the freezing waters to surround her, to embrace her, as they had so many times before.
Ahkin still clung to the rocks some distance above her, his eyes wide as he beheld the miracle of water emerging from the amulet.
