by Josh Law
“I’m not above smoking you rabbits out!”
“Kamikaze work for you?” Nick shrugged. Alex laughed, feeling a devil-may-care smile overtake his face. It was time for them to stop breaking neck to save each other and to dive in necks first for something more than life. Freedom.
“If Army Prescott was your father, then give these SOBs the kind of hell they’ve only seen in nightmares!” Nick shouted and forced himself up on hands and knees, crawling to the wheel like a lizard darting over the Earth. Alex did a cartwheel to the shotgun seat. All of Army’s children understood at once.
The Prescott Project kids uttered a tremendous roar from the tall grass and came diving out from all angles savage as the dying tigers. It was the last thing the hunters expected from their prey. If only for the sheer impossibility of their under-foot resistance, the Prescott kids suddenly had Snake on the rocks. They came crashing out of the brush with the fire behind them and the river to Snake’s back.
It would seem that their spontaneous burst of valor had won their lives. Until the Jaguar came rolling over the water, golden teeth gaping and dispersing the murky crests, an omen of death to their hopeful youth.
Chapter 7:
The mercenaries raved like jackals with their insane laughter and mocking words as their unknown government slid over the river’s shoulders and pulled to a stop before the gaping children. The battle came to a sudden inexplicable still. A ramp was lowered from the side of this Golden Ark.
Out strode a woman in a long white judge’s robe. Around her neck was a collar of solid gold. There was a mask drawn up off her face now that was also made of solid gold and resembled an Ancient Mayan war mask.
Nick and Alex climbed out of the Jeep. They looked at each other understanding gradually yet finding it impossible to believe.
“Ah, so you’ve brought me the one responsible for the death of my sister, Snake.” She stopped halfway down the staircase, smiling at Nick.
“Hello, Nicolas Avalon Walking Jaguar. Welcome to Panama, where Maya never died.”
Nick stepped forward and felt Alex step close behind him. What had she just said? What had she just called him?
“You know me?”
She laughed and plucked the mask away allowing her long brown hair to tumble down her back.
“I know you’ve got a lot of questions. Like, who is this Snake guy, why is everyone in the World hunting you for the power that lies in yours and your family’s blood? I have those answers, Master Jaguar. I have those and many more. Things that will make an end of your mind.” She giggled and tossed her head.
Nick looked around at his siblings who were all with the exception of Alex sprawling on the ground, nervously looking at the mercenaries who were simply not killing them for reasons they couldn’t explain.
“Well, you could start with the basics. Like, why you keep calling me that, why you’re dressed like a Jungle Princess and float around in a giant golden cat. That and apparently these mercenaries that used to work on the Prescott Project now work for you or they would be trying to ice us both, eh? So, yeah, that’s just for starters.” Nick folded his arms and looked at Alex who wrapped an arm around his shaking shoulders to steady him on his yet uncertain feet.
“Everything in your whole life has been leading up to this moment, Nick. Everything from the Prescott Project’s inception, to what went down in Durango, to a few weeks ago when Mexico got flambéed. You see, you’ve been sucked into the midst of political drama hundreds of years in the making.” The woman giggled and took another step down the ladder, coming closer to him. He drew closer to her to show her that he wasn’t afraid.
“Well, it’s going to take a tiny history lesson. Sure you read about Pre-Columbian America in school. How Panama used to belong to some pottery makers known as Chocoans, Ceuvans, and Chibchans. Simple folk perfect for a much more advanced culture like the Aztecs or the Mayans to take advantage of, eh? Yeah, here’s where your history books got it wrong. Modern Americans believe that the Maya are extinct, right? That the great Empires of the Central/Southern American region have totally disappeared, eh?
For years, history teaches you that the Kingdom of Gold was a myth. You want to know why? We forced your leaders to do that or risk a fate worse than diplomatic minds could ever conceive. See we, the destroyers of Worlds, we never died out, my young friend. The upper-ranks of our society merely enacted an ancient protocol to protect our vast wealth. Then we assimilated into your society. Passing ourselves off as humble Natives, fruit sellers, nobodies. The royal house of Maya has never died out. It has endured behind the scenes embedded in American politics, pulling strings on decisions of the American legislative body that attract the interest of our rather large investment portfolio. As the seasons change, we adapt our currency to the realm in the limelight, of course. We never die. We only disappear.” She smiled, revealing that all of her teeth were capped with solid gold.
“Wait, so you’re saying that like…the whole El Dorado thing…is true?” Nick started whistle-laughing through his teeth.
“Ah, child. You clearly don’t know your history. Yes, a city of solid gold would be kind of hard to spirit underground. Which is why I’m not offended that you’re laughing in my face right now. In Spanish, El Dorado actually means the “Golden One”. The Spanish Invaders used this term to refer to my great ancestor who was a sort of president in the Muisca Confederation, who would bathe himself in gold and dive into Lake Guatavita in Colombia to offer homage to the gods. He was El Dorado. I am El Dorado. El Dorado isn’t a place, stupid. It is a dynasty. One that’s about to rise again.” She shivered.
Nick held up a hand.
“Not so fast, sister. You just said you were Mayan, then you said you were actually Muiscan. Not the same thing, are they? What’s this got to do with golden cats?” He tossed his hair out of his face, jutting his chin cockily. Alex swallowed. His brother’s audacity was admirable and alarming all at once.
“I am from a Muiscan bloodline, yeah. You got that right because you’re smart. Not so hard to believe is it? There are all sorts of ancient royal families throughout the World. My exact lineage escaped the chaos and manhunt in early American conquest when ignorant people warred over gold. We assimilated deep behind the scenes of American development to survive, yet were always there in the shadows pulling strings, making threats unless we were accommodated. We now back the Colombian mafia, which is why that dog never stays dead no matter how hard it gets beaten, eh? A displaced people, we longed for the glory of an Ancient America. Maya was a kingdom. We the indigenous people of the Americas long for a kingdom united under the power that was the Mayan society. We are looking for a Renaissance of that glorious kingdom. A revived Mayan empire to rule the American continent.” She sighed and stepped all the way to the ground, throwing off the judge’s robe. Beneath it she was dressed in a business casual suit like any typical Modern politician would wear.
“In the ancient religion of our heritage, there was a belief of the Day world and the Night World. Living people walked in the Day world and the Night world was the Underworld belonging to the jaguars. In everyday life, in the Day world we’ve integrated ourselves into, you may or may not know me as Senator Kelly York. In my Night Life, I am the queen regent of the ascending Revived Mayan Empire. In the language of my Meso-American allied heritage, I am called Guatavita, named for the goddess who was appeased by my ancestors’ gold.” She handed the robe dismissively to one of the mercenaries.
“I am the Senator that authorized the Prescott Project, young Master Jaguar, to the purposes of further advancing our primarily Mayan but also all Meso-American peoples inspired ascending society. The so-called mercenaries that have been hunting you for further test purposes are in reality my finest soldiers that act as double agents of my society, becoming expert U.S. soldiers to deceive the Republic we are about to overthrow so that such a project as the one that gave you life could actually take place within the confines of diplomacy. They were promi
sed the power of gods if they would deliver you safely to me so that I could transform you into the weapon I’ll need you to be if my government is to ever rise from the ground. Observe the flag-ship behind me. It was just a regular fishing rig before I dipped into the vast treasures of my ancestry’s astronomical wealth to overlay it with gold. Only gold would do for the leading ship in Guatavita’s fleet. It’s all coming together wonderfully, Nicolas. Now all we need is you.”
“Oh God, not another hoodoo mama!” Nick face palmed. Guatavita laughed and nodded.
“You’re talking about my half-sister, Ashe, huh? Yeah, she um…Yes. She was a usurper. Didn’t share our vision, per se. She wanted to tweak it where the convention she’d developed out of many different world religions could seize our family’s wealth and build a new Republic with herself in the pinnacle of power. She needed the Jaguar, of course, to go down to Hell and appease all her traitor debts. That and only a man who walks both the Day and the Night would be able to unite the Spirit World revered in our Ancient American heritage with the Modern society she was going to develop out of a religious coexistence coalition.” She leaned closer to him, eyes dancing with malicious plots.
“Isn’t it nice to have the wool pulled away from your eyes, son? Oh, and just consider my vision. After we’ve united what once was North and South America into New Maya, we’ll really begin expanding. We’ll use diplomacy to unite our new Americana with the rest of the World Powers. One world government, Nicky! One world economy. More wealth than anyone alive can possibly imagine.” She smiled. Nick took a step back.
“Well, everything makes sense now. Except where I am in the card stack?” Nick staggered. Alex pushed himself protectively between his brother and this mysterious monarch.
“Nicky, it’s not rocket science! You were the most responsive test subject. You rose not just once but twice from the dead. If we kept up the good work, we would have found a way to continuously call you up from the Grave. We could send you down and dredge you up again. You would be able to go to our ancestors in the Deep and gather their knowledge, the treasures that we sent down to our gods and return them to us. Somehow, Nicolas, you would be our Jaguar. The man that breached the gap between the Living and the Dead. Not just one World. One dimension. One Maya, both Ancient and Modern districts collaborating through a walking dead ambassador.” Guatavita smiled.
Nick broke into rippling laughter that sent fear down the spines of everyone who heard it. Those who had walked with the great Guatavita had been terrified of this young man. Even in this Age, dead men walking were not the most popular. All those who watched his eyes suddenly realized that he could very well become the person the Queen envisioned him becoming. His siblings remembered Durango and how he had led the other Wakers to stand up against Dr. Lucien Swift and Army Prescott.
“Look in my face, Lady. You’d better hope you’re right about all this hoodoo crap that you and your sister believed in. That your gods can save you. I’m here to tell you that it will be a cold day in Hell before I work with you to do something like that. Before you threaten me-“ He held up a hand to silence the Queen as she drew in a deep breath.
“Remember one thing. You’re not wrong about me. I know my way through the Underworld, woman. Touch a single hair on any of my siblings’ heads, or my mothers, or my friends in the Death Angel’s gang and I will evangelize you to your own faith. Ask me how.” He gritted his teeth. She swallowed, amazed.
“Ask!” Nick took a step past Alex who felt his blood growing cold. This was a side of his brother he’d never seen. Not just audacious or daring. Menacing. He was threatening the current reigning queen in American terrorism.
“I-I have no idea…” She swallowed. It was hard to admit how right she was.
“For me to know and for you to hope to your gods you never have to find out.” Nick stood rigidly to his full height. There was a silence that echoed off the whole valley and almost drowned out the rush of the river.
Then there was a sound like branches being parted and a battle-cry from out of the midst of the jungle. It was Cipriano and his men coming to take them away from here.
Chapter 8:
Gangsters fell on soldiers like lions colliding with their hunters.
The human voice is savagely altered by war cries. Cipriano collided with Snake and sank his copper coated incisors into his neck. The mercenary shrieked as the sicario’s teeth sank into his veins, spraying blood along the lawn. Out of instinct, Clark rushed to give him medical service.
Nick tried to spring forward but felt suspended in vertigo when he saw his mother charge into the midst of everything. She wasn’t trained to fight and yet she was holding her own from instinct, using the butt of the rifle she’d been gifted as a club. Renee and Chance popped out of the woods on either side of her, shouting at the top of their lungs. The two hauled a vine between one another and swung it up under the legs of several of the Federal agents that had joined Guatavita’s party in the South, to report on the corrupted Durango Drop Science Trials.
“Parley!” Guatavita shouted and posed her hands in the sport’s time position. Everyone stopped. Cipriano leaned back on his heels and let Snake fall to his knees nursing his wound with eyes full of withering hate.
The Queen ascended the Jaguar’s staircase and turned back to face all of them.
“I propose we call a war council, Master Jaguar.” She flashed her golden teeth sadistically. Nick tilted his head to the side, realizing that she was trying to trap him.
“Yeah, which is crooked politician for ‘let’s make a deal that pulls one over on you in every way possible but sends me packing Benjamins’.” Nick rolled his head on his neck.
The Queen nodded and applauded him.
“I can honestly say that I am extremely impressed by you, Nicky. All the things I’ve watched you pull off from my eagle’s perch view. I realize that I’m not going to be able to beat you. The crazy circumstances of your life have made you absolutely fearless, yeah? Fierce, protective, too cocky for your own good, conniving, no stranger to the Night and expectant even welcoming of Death around every turn. See, that’s what makes you a perfect Jaguar for my cabinet. I’m not foolish enough to believe I’ll ever be able to convince you of that. Which is why I’ll trust to natural selection.” She looked back at his mother, whose eyes grew wide.
“Come stand in front of me, Marilyn Avalon. Don’t look so surprised that I know who you are. I had to put tabs on the woman who challenged my most infamous assassin and started a street war in Mexico, silly!”
Marilyn came and stood beside Nick and Alex. Alex was fighting the urge to be sick and gave her a hopeless look. She knew somehow that this was going to force her into a place that she never dared to tread.
“You, sir. You’re someone I don’t know. Tell me your name and your relationship to Nicolas Avalon.” The Queen jabbed a finger at Chance who cleared his throat and took a step forward.
“I’m a high-school friend and former scrap metal dealing business associate of his. One that he still owes 20 dollars. Sharpshooter extraordinaire. The name’s Chance Vierra.” He stood to a crisp attention, jaw clenched. The Queen laughed and nodded.
“Alright, you are perfect for this.”
“For what?” Chance spat on the ground. He wasn’t keen on taking orders from anybody.
“Helping me to prioritize. Now I need to establish communications between the land of the Living and the Dead and I will get that agent one way or another. I already have a Night-walker in Nicky. I just have to know how to persuade him. For that, I need an ambassador to the Day. Someone who will compromise and help me do odd jobs. Nothing like overthrowing the American government or seizing all of my ancient tribal lands from the current South American governments and compiling all of it into one united Trans-American kingdom. New Maya as it is being called on the spreadsheet. I just need you to agree to be my go-between and host in a contest of wills and wits with Nicky.” She raised her hand to the sun in love with
her own bizarre idea.
“What in Hell makes you think I’d actually go through with that?” Chance jutted his chin with a scoff.
“Natural preference, of course. If you refuse, then I’ll kill your sister.” Several guns trained to Renee who jumped.
Chance went pale and looked apologetically at Nick who smiled understanding what was happening.
“Ah, I see. So now we’re Gladiators.” Nick rolled his eyes, annoyed by these things that were beyond his control.
“To the last of you rebels, you are all mind-blowingly valiant. It’s time to use that valor against you in narrowing down the ballots for this new political campaign. See, I don’t have to wonder who Chance is going to choose, eh? He might really dig you, Nicky. But he charged off to war in Mexico at the request of his sister. Who do you suppose he loves more?” She looked witheringly down at Chance.
“I’m so sorry, man.” Chance coughed. Renee broke into tears.
“Dude, I’m going to find a way to get us both out of this and when I do, I’ll give you that 20 bucks with interest, got it?” Nick laughed, his knees knocking together. His mother had also been called before this demented Queen. What was she going to be coerced into doing?
“Marilyn Avalon. You know what I need from you?” The Queen smiled sickly. Marilyn thrust her chin to the sky.
“I imagine something ridiculous.” Marilyn shrugged. What could this woman possibly want from her that she hadn’t already attempted to take?
“You’re in contempt of Court for skipping out on the Drop Science Trials and facing criminal charges of your own for that stint in Mexico and helping abduct these kids. Now, I also happen to be a U.S. Senator and can clear all of that away for you, if you agree to go back and give your testimony in the Trials. One that will swing to what I say goes anyway.” She plucked a legal pad out from behind her golden collar chock full of notes.
