The Lost Treasure of the Aztec Kings

by Wyatt Liam Anderson

  "Oh my God," Jacques muttered. Jody turned and buried her face in Miles's chest, trying to block out the image from her mind.

  "Jasper, please help Gary and Robert. Take them to go meet Dr. Samuel." Miles was quick to gather himself and dish out instructions. Jasper was frozen in place and did not seem to hear what Miles had said.

  "Jasper!"

  "Yes?"

  "Take them to the surface, please, so they can get medical aid."

  "O-Okay."

  He walked back to the two injured and helped them up, supporting them as they strode away. They asked what he had seen, but he gave no response and could not even bring himself to look back.

  "This is..."

  "Sick!" Jody had snapped out of her shock. She pulled herself away from Miles and stepped into space. It was an expansive room with four walls that stretched high. The walls had what seemed to be hundreds of human skulls placed in carved-out squares. Most of the older skulls were already embedded into the walls. Jody stood directly opposite the farthest wall, staring disgustedly at three freshly placed heads with gouged-out eyeballs and pecked flesh. Dried blood trailed down from the heads to the floor of the room.

  "The kids..." she whispered. "Those bats...they were, they were...I'm going to throw up."

  "Tzompantli," Jacques muttered, but the echo made it loud enough for them to hear.

  "What?" Miles asked. He could not bring himself to look at the decapitated heads of those children.

  "Tzompantli. Nicholas was right. There's the ancient sacrifice being done here, but I just assumed he was talking about Mexico. This is unbelievable."

  "Is it? Unbelievable?" Jody snapped. "There are three dead children's heads on that wall, as well as hundreds more." She suddenly turned to face Miles and pointed the finger at him.

  "You could have stopped this. You should have said something yesterday."

  "I didn't see you offering to do anything either."

  "You're supposed to be our leader, remember? Or that just doesn't mean anything to you."

  "Jody, stop yelling. It's not going to solve anything. Miles did not do that to them; your anger is misdirected," Jacques said. She sniffed and let out a shaky breath.

  "I'm sorry," she apologized, and stared Miles in the eyes. He said nothing, just gave a tight smile, and turned his gaze back on Jacques.

  "What is tzompantli?"

  "It roughly translates to skull rack, like this one. It dated back centuries ago, and it was used in Mesoamerican civilizations, like in Mexico to display human skulls, usually those of war captives or for...human sacrifice..."

  An awkward silence ensued. They could still hear the screeching of the bats in a far-off distance and the dripping sound of water somewhere not far away.

  "How come no one has discovered this?" Jody questioned.

  "Maybe they have," Miles responded solemnly, staring at a decaying head, conveying exactly what he meant.

  "This is horrendous!" Jacques exclaimed, unable to contain himself.

  "Isn't it? Does your god condone this as well? Is this part of his teachings?"

  "This is NOT Christianity."

  "Isn't it? Last I remembered, churchgoers sacrificed those poor children, did they not?"

  "STOP! Both of you!" Miles yelled suddenly, startling them. "Get your cameras out. We need as much evidence as we can gather."

  ___________

  "What did they see back there?" Robert asked as he held on to Jasper for support. Climbing up the scaffold, they had come down from was the most challenging part, but he helped them through it.

  "I think the heads of those kids..." Jasper's voice was barely a whisper, and he was still reeling from the shock. The guilt he felt earlier for not trying to help the children became even worse.

  "I fucking wish I took that deal and left this fucking place," Gary grumbled as he limped forward. Neither of them responded because they were thinking the same thing.

  "Hey!" Jason called out when he saw them approaching. "Are you guys alright? We heard screaming."

  "We're alright...I guess. It was bats, tons of them. These two got injured, so I'm taking them to meet Samuel."

  "I'll go with you, and I think I twisted my ankle," Karen, one of the female miners that were on Jason's team, said.

  "Really?" Jason asked her, surprised because she hadn't complained before.

  "Yeah...I didn't want to say anything before, but since they're going, might as well join them."

  "Hmm, alright then. Be careful," Jason said and continued working while they left the tunnels.

  Karen lagged while Jasper helped the others out. He turned to look at her but saw that she was limping, so he didn't try to hurry her up. He wasn't in much of a hurry to go back to the horrors down below himself.

  "I can't believe those children are down there. Do they even have parents?" Gary spoke, breaking the silence.

  "What children?" Karen asked.

  "Where the bats came from, there are skulls there, and the children's heads were there."

  "Oh my god!"

  "Yeah, it's horrible."

  Jasper was a bit annoyed that Gary had told her about the skulls. They were still looking for Nicholas, and as far as they knew, anyone could be a mole.

  "We're almost there," he said as they approached the opening. Samuel was seated on a rock nearby and stood, startled when he heard them getting closer.

  "More injured miners here," Jasper said with a slight chuckle. He turned his head back and saw that Karen was not with them.

  "Oh, what happened?" Samuel asked, helping Robert and Gary sit on the ground.

  "Bats," Robert answered. "Hairy, ugly, flying bastards."

  "Oh. So sorry. You'll have to get those scratches cleaned up immediately," Samuel said and started fussing over them, asking different questions. Jasper stood over them and started looking around. All the miners that were injured earlier were nowhere to be found.

  "Hey Samuel, where are the others?"

  "Huh? Oh! I had to send them to the hospital for proper treatment. Don't worry about it."

  "Oh..."

  "Yeah...why don't you go back to your work? I'll take care of these two."

  Something about the way the medic said those words rubbed Jasper wrong, but he just nodded and turned to leave. There was something off about the whole thing, but he could not tell what it was exactly. Karen was still not anywhere to be found. Maybe she had stopped due to shock because of what they told her.

  He stepped back into the tunnel, but something kept nagging at the back of his mind, telling him to wait and see what the medic would do with the people he had left behind, so he sidestepped into a darker part of the tunnel that allowed him a view of the outside.

  He watched as Samuel reached into his first-aid box and brought out two syringes. The two men reacted but calmed down after Samuel explained that he wanted to prevent any toxic shock, which did not make much sense but seemed to convince them. Jasper started to feel like he was overreacting when he noticed that Robert and Gary were acting drowsy, then slumped over.

  "What on Earth," he muttered quietly under his breath. Samuel pulled out a phone from his pocket and dialed someone. Jasper's head was all over the place, wondering why the medic Jason had brought to them was drugging them. He contemplated waiting until he knew why or rushing to call the others, then a pick-up arrived.

  Two men got down from the truck carrying ropes. They tied Samuel and Gary then moved them into the cargo space.

  Jasper was sweating at this point. He wanted to move, but he could not bring himself to. It had been so obvious all along—Samuel was the mole! He wondered if Jason was in on it with him or if he did not know. It was important that he met Miles and tell him immediately.

  "What about the others?" one of the men asked Samuel after they had dumped the two miners in the truck.

  "They are still in there, and we'll get them all soon enough."

  "Of course, that is our duty as members of the Knights Templ
ar," the other man said. "People who will defile and pilfer our lands, and laugh at our traditions, shall be punished."

  Samuel and the other man seemed to revere him because they both nodded solemnly as he spoke on and on about how the Roman Catholics were foolish to have banned them. Jasper could hear everything. He suddenly remembered when Jacques was telling them about an ancient sect of the Roman Catholic Church mainly used for punishments and prosecutions. They were big on sacrifices and would often seize and sacrifice strangers that entered the towns they resided in. They were banned by the church eventually but continued to operate underground.

  The men got back into the truck and drove off while Samuel returned to his rock. Jasper turned around quietly and started walking back into the mines. He had to tell Miles what he had seen. Once again, he did not do anything but observe something bad happen. He hoped that they would be able to get them back safe. As he turned a corner, he bumped into someone.

  "Oh my god, Karen. There you are. Where did you go?"

  "I had to go back for something. Where are Robert and Gary?"

  "Uh...listen, I don't think you should go out there..." Jasper said and turned his head back to see if anyone was there.

  "Why?"

  "It's just not—"

  He was cut short by a sharp strike to the back of his head. The force made him stagger to the ground; his line of vision became blurry. He tried crawling forward, barely seeing anything in front of him. The strike came again, and everything went dark.

  ___________

  His head was ringing, very loudly. He could feel the throbbing at the back of his head, so he reached his hand back and felt a swell the size of a tennis ball. Slowly, he squinted his eyes open.

  "You're awake." A heavily accented voice came from his right.

  "Nicholas?" Jasper's voice was hoarse, and his throat felt very scratchy.

  "Yes, my friend. How's your head?"

  "I don't..." He paused and opened his eyes fully. They were in a large, dimly lit room with high ceilings and windows. It seemed to be some sort of dungeon. There were other people there as well. He saw Robert and Gary, but they were still knocked out.

  "Where the hell are we?"

  "From what I have gathered, we are beneath a church. I have heard sounds of prayers and singing."

  "God! Are you okay? Have they hurt you?"

  "No... not yet."

  "How did they get you?"

  "Wrong place at thhe wrong time, I should say. I was looking to ease myself the night they captured me. You know how the bathroom gets with all that people in the lodge. So, I decided to take a stroll. Some natives jumped me. I try to explain that maybe they got the wrong guy." Nicholas chuckled. "I wish that was the worst part of all of this. There are demons in priestly garments over here, trust me."

  "They killed three children..." Jasper murmured, running his hand through his hair.

  "Mio dio! Children? When I got here, there were more people here. They have been taking them one after the other to give to the natives as a sacrifice."

  "WHAT?"

  "Si. They call themselves members of the Knights Templar. They sacrifice too, but the people in here are not good enough for them, so they give them to the pagans."

  "How come they haven't taken you yet?" Jasper asked. Nicholas smiled at him and held up his hands.

  He laughed. "This is because I am a dwarf. The pagans didn’t want me the first time. I'm happy about being born this way."

  After that, they fell into silence, and Jasper started thinking about what would be going through Miles's head at the moment and whether or not they were looking for him. He also wondered when the next sacrifice victim would be chosen, and he found himself wishing he was a dwarf as well.

  15

  Chapter Fifteen

  Ave Fountain

  North Johannesburg, South Africa

  Zoe sighed with relief as the last piece of cracker went down Robert's throat. She almost had a nervous breakdown watching him eat that cracker like he was carefully unwrapping a tiny gift. Watching him decide which edge to chew off was maddening. She had a good mind to slap it out of his hands if he hadn't made up his mind quickly and gobbled it up. Then he fished an apple out of his backpack.

  Not again, she groaned inwardly. If Robert ate it like he did the crackers, Zoe was sure she would waste no time knocking it out of his mouth. He wasn't as crazy as she had thought this time, but Zoe wondered why he spat the pips into his hands instead of throwing them out.

  Robert put the pips into the walls as they moved along. Finally, Zoe decided she had had enough. If Robert continued like this, she would lose it.

  "Why do you keep sticking stuff in the wall?" Zoe asked Robert.

  "I'm planting apple trees. It's something to hold the soil together and improve the air down here."

  "On the contrary, you are tearing the place apart. First, I doubt if those seeds would ever grow. Foraging ants will find them, and it would make a rare supplement to their meals. If your apple tree grew by any chance, the roots would crack through the walls of the mine as they grow bigger and tear down the structures holding it up. Worse still, the roots can get in the way and would need to be removed. "

  "Oh, I didn't know all that," Robert replied.

  "How stupid can you get?" Zoe muttered.

  "Excuse me?"

  But Zoe ignored him and moved in front of him. She had seen enough for the day.

  "Does anyone else feel like they've traveled around half the earth? We have walked so far it won't be a surprise if we resurfaced in the Arctic. I think I could do with a break. My feet are aching," Daphne complained.

  "Yeah, same here," Robert agreed. "A few minutes won't hurt, will it?" he asked Miles.

  "Sure, you guys can catch your breath while I check out that chamber down there."

  Miles walked to a small hollow carved into the wall. It was about four feet wide and six feet high. The cavity was large enough for someone to sit in it. Miles wondered if it was a grave. He looked around carefully before sitting in it. This was the perfect place for him to get the much-needed solitude he craved. Miles was in no mood for Daphne's endless chattering, which he could hear from where he sat.

  He closed his eyes and let out a sigh. Miles wished he could achieve some inner calmness. But, instead, he felt like he was falling apart inside. The image of the headless girl flashed before his eyes. Her smiling eyes taunted him. He had watched her die, he had a chance to save her, but he recoiled like a coward and watched her die.

  Miles knew he could have pulled the trigger. He had enough bullets to blast all the monks. But he didn't understand why he watched with his hands frozen to the trigger. Zoe was right; he was a coward and a very selfish one. He was more worried about having his head on his neck to think about the pain and helplessness those children had felt.

  He could have given his life for them, but he put his first. Miles felt weak in the knees when he imagined the pain the families of those kids would be going through. The anguish was indescribable. They would never know what happened to their children nor find their bodies to pay the final respects. Would they ever understand that the same people they held in such high esteem and came to for prayers were capable of such brutality?

  Again, it was his entire fault.

  The memory of that young child being stabbed in several places at the same time filled Miles with helpless fury. He punched the wall repeatedly in angry frustration. There were painful voices in his head screaming for help.

  He put his hands over his ears, and the voices stopped. Everywhere was quiet again except for Daphne's laughter and the wristwatch ticking inside his pocket.

  The watch belonged to his brother, Eric, and he had worn it when he died. Miles took it out of his pocket and examined it carefully. Although it ticked, it still read the same time and date Eric died.

  A lot of people had gotten into trouble all because he was too slow to act. It was about time he made things right.

&nb
sp; Miles returned to the group.

  "Thank goodness. There you are," Hayden sighed when he saw Miles. "We were wondering what had become of you."

  "We are well-rested and ready to roll," Daphne said.

  Without a word, Miles led the group deeper into the mine. It got colder and really quiet as they moved on. There were animal footprints on the ground, possibly rodents. Their feet sank into the soft, damp soil as they navigated their way through the narrow passages. Strangely, no one spoke. It seemed there was an unspoken agreement on the rule of silence.

  The team came to a long passageway with about three doors on the left and an open chamber on the right. It was difficult to see where the section led to in the dark, but it stretched into emptiness as far as the flashlights could go.

  The three doors were made of steel and had signs that read, KEEP OFF – AUTHORIZED USE ONLY, written on all three.

  Miles checked for locks on the door, but he found none. Perhaps there was a code for opening the doors.

  "Maybe we should step away from the doors," Jacques suggested. "We don't know what might be hidden in it. This place looks too deep for anyone to hide something they want others to find."

  "You're right, we don't know what might be hidden behind those doors, but there's only one way to find out. Hayden, can you figure it out?"

  "I don't know, but this kind of door opens when you step on a special lever close to it. But, unfortunately, I can't find any lever here."

  "Maybe you aren't looking deep enough," Daphne said.

  Miles crouched on his heels and carefully felt the ground for any metal. Finally, he found a lever very close to the door. Hayden was right, after all. The three doors opened simultaneously, and everyone stepped back cautiously. There was no telling what lurked behind the doors.

  It turned out they had come across the communications room. The place was big enough to take fifty people at a time. Several pieces of radio equipment lined the area from the floor to the roof.