by David Wood
“You’ve got a deal.” He laughed inwardly as they came in sight of the dark lagoon, where the others were just dragging two boats into the water. Maybe Bones was right. Maddock needed to spend less time trying to figure life out, and more time enjoying it.
The return trek, though grueling, was blessedly uneventful. They encountered no more deadly natives, giant anacondas, or legendary beasts, not to mention ScanoGen agents. By the time they had returned to the main branch of the Xingu River, Maddock felt like he was waking up from a bad dream.
“You know something, Maddock?” Tam stroked her baby eagle, which she had clearly adopted. “You guys are wasting your talents finding sunken treasure.”
“I don’t know about that.” Maddock closed his eyes and laid his head back, soaking in the warm sun. “We’re pretty good at it.”
“You know what I mean.” She laughed as the little eagle snatched a grub from her hand. “Seriously, though.” She fixed him with a grave expression. “The government could use guys like you and Bones. Men like you are rare.”
“We’ve served our country. Now we’re doing our own thing, and we’re happy.”
“It’s not only that. Kennedy said the Dominion knows about you. What if they come after you? You and Bones might need us on your side.”
“We can handle ourselves.” Maddock’s voice was as cold as his insides. She might be right. If the Dominion was truly the powerful organization Tam said they were, and he and Bones were on their radar, no telling what they might try.
“I know you can,” Tam sighed. “That’s why I need you. I’ve already talked with my superiors.” She held up her sat phone. “It looks like the Dominion is going to be my white whale.” She lowered her voice. “I’m forming a team whose sole job is to find out who and what they are, and put a stop to their schemes. I told them I want you and Bonebrake.”
“You’re taking me by surprise here.” Maddock’s head was spinning. “I’m flattered, but, I don’t know. I like my life the way it is.”
“I don’t blame you, but if the Dominion comes after you, your life will never be the same.” She smiled down at the eagle, which now lay asleep in her lap.
“How are you going to get that thing through customs?”
“Don’t have to. I got our ride home all taken care of, and we ain’t flying commercial.” Tam grinned. “Sometimes it pays to work for Uncle Sam.”
“Works for me.” He looked out at the lush, green forest as it slid by, trying to imagine going back to work for the government. He couldn’t fathom it.
“You don’t have to give me an answer right now,” Tam said. “But think about it. I can just about guarantee you’ll be paid a visit by my employers sometime soon. Maybe you can decide on your answer by then.”
“We’ll see.” Maddock closed his eyes again and lost himself in the gentle rolling of the boat as it cut through the water. He had thought trekking off into the Amazon was a challenge, but he had the feeling his life was about to get a whole lot more complicated.
Epilogue
The small grass pouch was no match for the rapid current and sharp stones that tore at it as it rode the water. It snagged on a limb and hung there, buffeted by the current, until it fell apart.
A gray seed, large enough to fill a man’s palm, floated free. For days, weeks, the water carried it deeper into the depths of the jungle, into land which no human foot had trod, until it came to rest on a sandbar.
A parrot, its emerald feathers glistening in the sunlight, took the seed in its beak and carried it away. Choosing a suitable perch, it set about trying to crack the seed, but soon gave up trying to penetrate its hard exterior. In a rustle of wings, it took flight, letting the seed fall to the ground.
It came to rest in a sun-kissed clearing, where it lay undisturbed. It baked beneath the warm sun, and, in time, it settled beneath the soft earth, nestled in its nourishing arms.
The rainy season came and went, and, in the fullness of time, the seed sprouted, and brought forth life into its secluded domain.
A tree grew in the jungle.
~The End~
AZTLAN- A Dane and Bones Short Story
By faith we understand that the worlds were set in order at God's command, so that the visible has its origin in the invisible.
Hebrews 11.3
Aztlan
“Holy crap, it’s hot out here.” Bones Bonebrake mopped his brow and cast a challenging look at the sun high in the cornflower blue sky. “And don’t give me that ‘It’s a dry heat’ stuff. Hot is hot.”
“No argument here.” Dane Maddock plucked at the neck of his sodden shirt. It wouldn’t stay damp for long in this dry climate. He hunkered down on the tiny rock ledge where they’d stopped to take a breather, took a bottle of water from his pack, and took a long drink. He gazed out at the parched red landscape of southern Utah. Sharp peaks and low hills dotted the horizon, all shades of the same reddish-brown as the mountainside on which they perched. It had been a long time since he’d ventured into this part of the country, and he realized he’d missed the open skies and sweeping vistas.
“Are we close to the top?”
“Why? Are you ready to wuss out on me?” Bones’ heavy breathing belied his bravado.
“Hardly. We both know I’ll reach the summit before you do. Why don’t you just give it up?”
“Not on your life.” The tall, powerfully-built Cherokee squatted down beside Maddock, removed the tie from around his ponytail, and let his long hair blow in the breeze.
The two made an odd pair: Maddock was fair-skinned with blue eyes and short, blond hair. He stood just a shade under six feet tall, but alongside the six and a half foot tall Bones, he looked small.
Bones stood, knuckled his back, and turned to examine the rock face above them. “Only about fifty meters to go. Shouldn’t be too bad.”
“Remind me again why we decided to free climb here?” Maddock asked, tucking the water bottle back into his pack and rising to his feet.
“Because no one ever has. Because it’s awesome.” Bones bared his straight white teeth in a wolfish grin.
“How’d you find out about this place, anyway?”
“My cousin Isaiah.” Bones’ cousin, Isaiah Horsely, was a professor and archaeologist working the American Southwest. “He found out about it from a local storyteller who says few people even know this place exists.”
“I don’t wonder,” Maddock said. “Considering how much trouble we had just getting here, much less climbing it.”
Motec Mountain’s height and steep sides made it look less like a mountain and more like a butte that had been stretched out until it touched the sky. Nestled in the heart of Utah’s Red Rock region, it was one of the most remote locations Maddock had ever visited in this part of the country.
“He told me some other stuff about it. Legends mostly. Weird stuff but pretty cool.”
“Tell me when we get to the top. The longer I stand here, the more I think about the cooler of beer waiting in the car.”
“Dude, you can drink beer any time. How often do you get to boldly go where not very many men have gone before?”
Maddock frowned at Bones. “Seriously? We do it all the time.”
“And that’s why we rule. Now let’s get back to climbing.”
Upon reaching the summit, Maddock expected to be rewarded with a refreshing breeze and a spectacular view, but he found neither. A fine mist hung over the landscape, slowly swirling in a clockwise pattern and giving the air a tepid quality.
“This is weird.” Bones waved his hand in front of his face, the mist curling around his arm. “It’s like it wants to grab ahold of you.”
“Nothing about this makes sense,” Maddock said. “We’re in an arid climate. Why doesn’t the fog dissipate, or at least burn off? And where is the moisture coming from?”
“The storyteller said there’s a lake up here. Want to check it out?”
Maddock gazed at the curtain of mist. It was odd, to be
sure, but it didn’t seem to be dangerous. Curiosity winning out over caution, he nodded. “Let’s see what’s up.”
The way was smooth, with only a few scattered boulders here and there to impede their way. Though the mist shrouded the landscape in white, it was thin and visibility was more than adequate. Soon they came to the edge of a dark lake.
“Want to go for a swim?” Bones asked.
“I don’t know.” Maddock felt uneasy as he scanned the surface of the water. He realized in an instant what caused his discomfort. “The water doesn’t move at all. Look at it. It’s like a sheet of glass.”
“Maybe it is.” Bones knelt down and touched the surface. It scarcely made a ripple. “This is jacked-up. It’s water, all right, but it’s like there’s a surface tension holding it in place. I don’t know how to describe it.”
“I think you describe it just fine,” Maddock said, dipping his own finger into the water. “It’s warm, too.”
“Isn’t there a lake in the Middle East where people float really easily?” Bones asked. “You know, like without an inner tube or those water wings you love?”
“The Dead Sea.” Maddock ignored his friend’s jibe. “But that’s because of the high salt content. I don’t think that’s the deal here.”
“If it’s all the same to you, I’m not going to taste the water.” Bones wiped his hand on his shirt.
“And I think we’ll pass on the swimming, too.”
They stood and began to walk along the shore. They quickly discovered that the lake was perfectly round, or something close to perfect. As they walked, Maddock’s discomfort lessened. Maybe this place was more odd than sinister. None the less, he took a moment to dig into his pack for the dive knife he always carried, and hooked the sheath onto his belt. Bones did the same, and they continued their exploration of the mountaintop.
Maddock estimated they’d reached the side of the lake opposite where they’d begun their circuit when Bones halted in his tracks.
“Look at this.”
Maddock followed his friend’s line of sight to where a complete skeleton grinned up at them. A tarnished breastplate covered its chest and a tarnished helmet and the rusted remains of a sword lay nearby.
“Spanish,” Maddock noted. “Probably an explorer.”
“And he climbed all the way up here in his armor?” Bones said doubtfully. “I’m not buying it.”
“It wouldn’t be the strangest thing we’ve seen. Who knows? Maybe there is, or was, another way up.”
“I have another idea.” Bones folded his arms and turned to face Maddock. “Hear me out on this. This is an alien hot zone.” He raised a big hand before Maddock could argue. “Just listen. That could explain the weird water and the mist. And like you said, we’ve seen enough strange crap that it’s not the most far-fetched idea in the world.”
“So the aliens abducted the Spaniard and then dumped him here?” Maddock couldn’t believe he was indulging his friend’s fixation with extraterrestrials, but Bones wasn’t wrong. They’d seen and experienced enough strange things that nothing could be discounted.
“Now you’re thinking like an honest-to-goodness conspiracy theorist. I knew I’d win you over sooner or later.”
“Just trying to follow your train of thought, and believe me, it’s a scary ride.”
They continued on and made it only twenty or so paces before something on the lake caught Maddock’s attention.
“Bones, look at that.” Far from the shore, a dark shape loomed in the mist. At their feet, flat round stepping stones formed a bridge.
“Another of the storyteller’s details I forgot to mention,” Bones said. “There’s supposed to be an island in the middle of the lake. And, of course, it’s cursed.”
“Do you believe in curses?” Maddock asked.
“Other than a woman scorned? Nope.” Bones grinned. “Lead the way.”
Maddock tested the first stepping stone and found it was solid. He tensed slightly as he put his full weight on it, and relaxed when it held. “I don’t know if it’ll support your fat butt,” he said to Bones, “but I’m good to go.”
“Screw you, Maddock.”
Maddock almost felt like he was dreaming as he moved through the mist across the motionless lake.
“I bet this is what Heaven is like,” Bones said in an uncharacteristically soft voice.
“You’ll never find out.”
“That’s cool. Better parties in hell, anyway.”
At the center of the lake, they stepped onto solid stone. It didn't take long to discover that what Bones had believed to be an island was, in fact, a giant stone disc.
"I told you, dude," Bones said. "Aliens."
"Aztecs, more like. See?"
Symbols and other imagery covered the rock beneath their feet. Though he didn't know the meanings of most of them, the patterns and motifs were familiar. "It looks like a giant Aztec Calendar Stone.”
“You’re right.” Bones dropped to one knee to get a closer look. “Doesn’t mean aliens didn’t help them, though.”
“True. Let’s keep going.”
They moved deeper into the mist and soon the dark form toward which they’d been moving began to take shape. They soon found themselves at the foot of a miniature pyramid. At the top stood a small temple, surmounted by a sculpture of the feathered serpent head of Quetzalcoatl. That sealed it. The site was definitely Aztec.
They climbed the dozen stairs to the top, where, just inside the temple door, a tight spiral staircase descended into the darkness. They clicked on their mini Maglites and headed down. Time seemed to slow down as they wound deeper into the heart of the mountain, Bones grumbling all the while about the low ceiling and tight quarters.
Finally, they emerged in a large chamber. Maddock halted at the entrance and ran the beam of his light across the floor, looking for potential booby traps, but saw nothing. He took a few cautious steps inside and waited for Bones to join him.
“Interesting,” Bones observed, shining his light all around.
The room was round with a low ceiling. Spaced equally were the mouths of seven caves. At the center stood a waist-high pedestal.
“There’s an Aztec legend,” Bones began, “about a place called Chicomoztoc, or ‘The Place of the Seven Caves.’ From here, seven tribes, for lack of a better term, came together and settled at Aztlan, the ancestral home of the Aztecs.”
“So if this is Chicomoztoc, then you think Aztlan is somewhere around here?” Maddock asked.
“The Aztecs called Aztlan ‘The land to the North’, and this is well north of Mexico. It was reputed to be an island within a lake.” Bones scratched his chin. “And the word itself means ‘the place of whiteness.’ Think about it: the island within a lake, the white mist, the connection to the caves. I think the island up above us is Aztlan.”
Maddock frowned. “But Aztlan is supposed to be the Aztecs’ ancestral home. An entire nation couldn’t live up there. It’s just a single mountaintop.”
“You know how legends work. They get passed down from generation-to-generation and it changes a little at a time until it’s an entirely different story with only a few recognizable details remaining. Maybe Aztlan was the place the Aztecs emerged from, I don’t know, under the earth.”
Only a few years earlier Maddock would have scoffed at this, but such a story no longer seemed far-fetched. “Let’s check out the caves.”
They began by exploring the first cave to their left and quickly discovered that it plunged downward at a steep angle, going on and on with no end in sight. A cursory inspection of the other caves produced similar results.
“This isn’t a two-man job,” Maddock concluded. “It would take a team, maybe several teams, of researchers to explore this place, depending on how far down the caves go.” He turned and shined his light on the pedestal at the center of the main chamber. “Let’s check this out.”
At first glance, the pedestal was merely a simple cylinder, but closer inspection re
vealed a detail that had gone unnoticed. At the top, set in the center of the cylinder, was a turquoise disc.
No more than a hand’s length across, it was engraved with several symbols. Around the outside ran what looked like a seven-lobed clover. Inside that lay a ring of five suns. Finally, at the center, two figures faced one another. Only a few minor details kept them from being mirror images of one another. The images meant nothing to Maddock, but Bones gasped when his light fell on them.
“Holy crap, Maddock. I know what this is!”
Maddock was not surprised that Bones had some knowledge of Aztec lore. His friend had a keen interest in myths, legends, and ancient prophecies, and the Aztecs were strongly associated with the end of days, and also with aliens, another of Bones’ favorite subjects.
“This,” he said, hovering a finger over the cloverlike outline, “represent the seven caves. The sunbursts represent the five suns of creation. And they,” he pointed at the figures in the center, are Ometecuhtli and his female partner, Omecíhuatl, the highest of the Aztec deities.” He looked at Maddock. “This is the Duality Stone.”
“What does that mean?”
“I can’t say for sure. Only the craziest conspiracy theorist believes it exists.” He broke out into a broad grin. “Tell me again what nutbags those guys are.”
“You know what they say about a blind squirrel,” Maddock said. “But in this case, I tip my cap to you and your eccentric friends.”
Bones stood for several moments in silent contemplation. “I think we should tell Isaiah about this place. After all, he’s the one who tipped me off about it, and he’s got the resources to study it properly.
“Agreed,” Maddock said. “This is one heck of a discovery.”
The sun was setting over the hills, painting the landscape in shades of orange, by the time they made it back to their vehicle. Both men were utterly spent, yet buoyed by their discovery, their spirits remained high. As they drove along the rutted dirt road back to civilization, Bones spied a small bar. It was a squat, adobe style building of faded brown, nearly the color of the surrounding earth. A faded sign, the paint peeling, proclaimed it the White Bear Pub.
