Time Spike: The Mysterious Mesa, page 9
part #2 of Time Spike Series
"Ho!" Nate shouted, and they both heaved with all their might, tipping the basket and its contents over into the terrible beast's open jaws.
The priest was pitched out into a feet-first free-fall straight down the creature's voluminous throat. His head was the last thing to disappear, with a final, strangled scream. The rattlesnakes spilled out onto the wide, glistening tongue, immediately biting it savagely, their instinctive defense against danger. The giant gator moaned like a foghorn, snapping its jaws open and shut with terrible speed and force. The angry clacking of its fangs striking against each other was an eerie echo of the drums that had accompanied the gruesome ceremony. With a shudder, the gator went limp, sliding back down the hill. In a bit of serendipity, it landed right on top of another charging gator, pinning it to the muddy ground. They heard a merry female laugh and looked up to see that the Raven Priestess approved of their ingenuity. She favored Nate with an admiring smile, smoky-amber eyes catching the moonlight like twin lanterns in the dusk.
The danger had moved on, the remaining monsters having followed the fleeing crowd deeper into the city. The Sun Warriors took their leave then, dutifully going to help as they could. The Sun Captain gave Nate a nod as he left, which the Texan returned, hoping it meant that bygones were bygones, at least for now. They might not be friends when they met again one day, but hopefully they wouldn't be enemies, either. He climbed to the highest tier to see what he could do to help their injured friend.
The Raven Priestess had joined Many Mouths by the poor fellow's side, checking his breathing and pulse. Neither were very good judging by the sad expression she wore on her supernaturally lovely face. She consulted with Many Mouths in low, serious tones. At last, the old man looked up at the waiting Nate and Gonzalo, his face deeply lined with sorrow in the fitful light of sputtering torches and pale-blue moon.
"We are too late for this one," Many Mouths told them, cradling the dying man's head in his hands, the man's muscles frequently clenching in terrible spasms, his face swollen almost beyond recognition. His two faithful companions, undoubtedly close kin and sharing a family resemblance, stood to the side, frozen in grief and fear.
The hapless victim of the Rattlesnake Priests began to speak, a faint mumble. Many Mouths leaned his head in close to listen.
"What's he saying?" Nate asked, wishing he knew some kind of cure for snake bites, but even a bonafide doctor probably couldn't do much at this point.
Many Mouths turned to them, his usually bright eyes dull and near exhaustion. Gonzalo worried for the well being of his long-time comrade. The day had been a bit too much even for as strong a soul as Many Mouths to bear. The old man's voice was low and devoid of hope.
"He knows he will not recover. He is suffering much. The pain could go on for hours. He wishes to hurry to meet those of his kin who have passed on before him. He wishes someone would help him on this journey."
"He wants someone to help him . . . die." Nate said, just to clarify the matter.
"Yes, that is his wish." Many Mouths replied, "It cannot be his kinsmen here."
Nate looked over at the two tribesmen who had guided them here. The older of the two spoke then, his voice freighted with anguish, while Many Mouths listened, nodding slowly.
"That is Ni-T'o, this man's elder brother. He has given his blessings to his brother's last wishes and begs that we help him."
Nate looked to the Raven Priestess, who knelt nearby, holding the dying man's hand. She met his gaze, gleaming tears running down her lovely face. She whispered to Many Mouths, who then translated, "It is what a friend would do, Nate."
Nate nodded his understanding. Lastly he turned to Gonzalo, a man who in a short time he had come to trust above all others. The Spaniard's face was pale in the wan light, tears running down his cheeks. Gonzalo met Nate's eyes, and they locked for a moment. A silent understanding passed between them: Gonzalo was incapable of performing the act himself, nor could he, as a Catholic, voice his approval.
Nate spoke then, his voice graveled with emotion.
"I've sent a lot of men to meet their maker, but never a friend. But, if it is truly his wish, I could end his suffering."
Gonzalo lay a comforting hand on his friend's sweat-soaked shoulder. "I know it disagrees with my faith, but in my heart I feel it would be a mercy. Nate, I know not the will of God. You must listen to your heart," Gonzalo told him, his voice hoarse with sorrow.
Nate's face was pale and drawn, a man facing a task that was supremely awful, yet sorely needed.
"Please, Many Mouths, what is this man's name? I should know it by now, shame on me."
"He is Fvni, the squirrel."
Nate looked directly into Fvni's feverish eyes and said his name, trying to get his attention.
"Fvni?"
The dying man smiled, reached up, and took Nate's hand. He squeezed it weakly, then let loose, having used the last of his strength. Nate had seen all that he needed to. He drew his Bowie knife, which was sharp enough to split a hickory log. He gently brushed his palm across Fvni's eyes, signaling him to close them, which he did. Nate got into position, Many Mouths gripping their dying friend's head firmly to keep it still, Gonzalo and the Raven Priestess on either side holding Fvni's hands while his brother and cousin looked on, weeping openly.
"It will be quick," Nate told them all, his voice like dark water rushing in on a storm tide. Without further warning, he plunged the blade deep into Fvni's neck, and pulled it across, opening the jugular vein, cutting nearly to the bone. There was a last rasp of escaping air, less blood than there should be, then Fvni fell limp, released from his torment.
Gonzalo crossed himself, tears sliding down his weather-worn face as he whispered a fervent prayer to the Lord to have mercy on the fallen's soul.
"Fvni is going to meet his ancestors now, they come to lead him away," Many Mouths said, carefully setting Fvni's head to rest on the soft, green earth.
Nate wiped his knife clean on the grass. "I wish I could have used my pistol. It's a good, clean death. The thing is I'm getting low on bullets, and there are so many monsters out there. . . . Anyway, I made it as quick as I could."
"You did well," Many Mouths told him, "Fvni is grateful to you, he has been freed from his torment and he smiles upon us. He is leaving this place now, with the spirits of his kin." Many Mouths was looking up into the air as if able to see things hidden to most eyes, a relieved smile forming on his lips. Nate noticed that the Raven Priestess also watched in the same way and a shiver went down his spine. When it came to such things he had never been a believer, but he had never been an unbeliever, either, and always thought it best to keep an open mind. The thought of poor Fvni going happily to his reward in the company of his ancestors was some small comfort here at the end of a perfectly dreadful evening.
Nate nodded solemnly, and took a deep breath. "We need to leave, too. It's long past due that we parted from this city, as much as it has grown on me," he announced, standing up.
"What of the man's body? Surely we cannot just leave him like this?" Gonzalo asked plaintively.
"I will see that he is laid to rest properly in the fashion of his people. You must go now, do not linger here." Many Mouths rose to his feet, and gave a series of orders to the group of wide-eyed young assistants that had accompanied him, who rushed away.
"Aren't you coming with us? Gonzalo asked him.
"No, my friend. Out there I would be a burden, just another old man waiting to die. Here I am useful. I have a purpose. I will stay and do what I can here, assisting the Raven Priestess in her good works. The future peoples will come to parley at some point and the city folk will need my help, whether they realize it or not."
"You are a brave man, Many Mouths. It's a pleasure to know you," Nate told him. They shook hands, two hands on two, as old friends do.
Gonzalo stepped forward to do the same, his face a picture of sorrow.
"Good-bye again my friend. When next we meet, I hope it will be in better times." Gonzalo's tone was mournful enough to make a carved saint cry.
"It would be hard to find any worse," the old man answered, then laughed softly, removing some of the regret from the Spaniard's long face. "Farewell, Gonzalo. I have always known you are a good man. I believe your God knows it, too." With a soft smile, he let loose Gonzalo's hands, and walked over to where the Raven Priestess stood, observing all with her bright eyes. They conferred in hushed tones. At last, he motioned for them to listen.
"The Raven Priestess will lead you to the back gate. She will see that you pass through freely."
"Our horses?" Nate asked, worried for their safety and relieved that the giant gators had headed in the opposite direction from their paddock.
"They are here now, as are your belongings." Many Mouth's gaze went to where their three horses cantered across the immense field, each piloted by a proud Raven Warrior.
"How—how did they learn to ride?" Nate gasped.
"Why, they watched you! The city folk are a quick study, I find."
Nate shook his head in wonder as the Raven Warriors gracefully dismounted, all grinning like fools. He silently vowed to never underestimate these people again.
Many Mouths led the somber remainder of their original guides forward. "As I understand T'cumu promised you, he and Ni-T'o will continue to accompany you, escorting you to their home village where you will find safety. Follow them and fear not. You are bound by blood now, and may trust them with your lives." Many Mouths then turned back to the fallen, gently folding his arms across his chest. His bereft kin each touched their lost one gently on the cheek, then beckoned Nate and Gonzalo to follow them down the slope.
Reaching the blood-spattered, muddy ground at the structure's base they were pleased to see that all of the gear from their quarters, including the baskets of fruits and vegetables, had been brought and secured neatly to their horse's saddle bags.
Nate and Gonzalo helped their two native companions up onto Bella's wide back, T'cumu in front and Ni-T'o sitting behind him, the large Spanish saddle providing more than enough room for the slender men. Ni-T'o looked a bit unsure, while his younger cousin seemed quite pleased with the prospect. Gonzalo handed T'cumu the reins, but kept the lead rope, fastening it to a strap on the back of Flavio's saddle, confident the mare would follow obediently.
Once all was ready, the Raven Priestess began walking at a brisk clip, the three horses filing along behind her. Nate took up the rear. Twelve of her warriors accompanied them flanking the procession on each side, their eyes ever watchful.
Distant screams could be heard from the far side of the Sun Temple, the battle of man against fearsome beast raging on. Undoubtedly, courageous Raven and Sun Warriors were there fighting with all their might, and Nate hoped that they would be able to stem the reptilian tide before more innocents were lost.
When they arrived at the city gate at the opposite end of town from which they had entered, the Raven Priestess stopped and pointed at the heavy door. The two Sun Warriors on duty opened it without question, not a word was exchanged. Gonzalo thanked their mysterious benefactor as he rode past, bowing low as best he could from his saddle. She favored him with a smile, her wide, purple-painted lips like a wildflower blooming beneath the moonlight.
Nate tried not to stare at her siren-like beauty as he rode by, simply tipping his hat and saying, "Ma'am." She reached up and grabbed his hand. With a click of his tongue Poppy came to a halt. The Raven Priestess pulled him down by the sleeve, so that his eyes were but a few inches from hers, while Nate's heart pounded in his ears. Taking hold of his face gently in her velvet hands, she kissed him fiercely on the mouth, her tongue pressing inward like a caged, wild thing in search of a path to freedom. He responded in kind, her kiss sending an electric thrill coursing through his veins, an inescapable magnetic force holding them in an intimacy that was both disconcerting and ecstatic. Then it was over, just as quickly as it had begun. Their eyes met for a last, longing moment as she let him loose. She turned away with one last smile, a silent promise that they would meet again. Then, head held high, long, raven-black hair streaming behind her in the night breeze, the Raven Priestess strode proudly back into her city of pyramids, and the great timber gate closed behind her.
Nate gave Poppy a gentle nudge with his knees to get her moving again, following Gonzalo and their guides down the earthen road through fields of tall corn nodding and rustling in the almost cool wind that darkness had brought with it. The blue-tinted moon seemed stuck in the tops of the towering trees of the great forest, as if caught in their branches, time had slowed and was almost standing still in the unfathomably ancient epoch they found themselves in. Nate stared into the heavens, his mind far away, whirling and twirling hither and thither through the panoply of stars engaged in their long, slow dance through time and space.
Gonzalo broke the preternatural tranquility with an attention-getting cough. "Well, it seems I was right about you two after all!" Gonzalo told Nate, not missing an opportunity to tease the currently overwhelmed Texan.
"What? That?" Nate visibly shook himself out of his reverie. "Why, that was nothing, just a little peck to thank me for my help." Nate tried valiantly to keep his face impassive, but he knew he was blushing and couldn't stop it.
"Oh, really?" Gonzalo's tone was faux incredulous and filled with mirth, "I was also helping, yet I didn't receive anything remotely approaching the warm, shall we say affectionate level of gratitude that you did! I told you she favors you!" Gonzalo was having a good chuckle at his friend's obvious discomfiture, he knew it was terribly naughty of him, but he just couldn't help himself.
"Yeah, well, maybe so, but whenever a woman gets to thinking she fancies me it means it's time for me to move on. Yah!" he urged Poppy into a trot to put some space between himself and the laughing Spaniard. The memory of her touch still lingered and Nate wanted more, despite himself. Best to just forget her, but he feared that might be harder than he might like to admit.
With the City of the Pyramids and all its terrors and wonders behind them, they rode on into the darkness, swallowed up by the indigo shadows of the Cretaceous night.
The Mysterious Mesa
Part One: Goose Hunt
Three horses bearing four silent men rode under a sky full of glittering stars. The moon had set, but there was still enough light to see by. They followed a well-worn path through cornfields and hamlets, outliers of the City of the Pyramids. The warm light of oil lamps flickered here and there, escaping from the shuttered doors and windows of the tall, clay-walled, thatched-roof houses that were the style of that country. Despite the odd architecture the sight made Gonzalo and Nate feel homesick for their own times and places. For their two bereaved companions the sight was strangely familiar, these being the homes of their own distant descendants.
This tranquil landscape was but an island in a world of terrors belonging to a lost age long before man was meant to be walking the earth. By sunrise the party had left the achingly familiar countryside behind and were skirting the edge of a forest filled with the impossibly tall trees of this bizarre, young world. They stayed in the shade as much as they could, but dared not venture within . . . for truly, there dwelt monsters. Even seasoned warriors like themselves trembled at the distant calls made by creatures of a size and power that defied belief.
Their trusty tribesman guides had quickly grown used to life in the saddle and now took the point, ever watchful for danger as they made their way toward their distant village. The eldest by a few years was Ni-T'o, which meant "blue water," and his cousin was T'cumu, "the bobcat." It had been Ni-T'o's younger brother, Fvni, "the squirrel", who had been cruelly slain in that spectacle of horrors perpetrated by the despicable rattlesnake Priests, a tragic death they all mourned.
As they traveled, Nate and Gonzalo learned that the three kinsmen were the best of friends, the brothers and their younger cousin had been inseparable. They had been among the first of their allied tribes to explore their new world and the first to discover the City of the Pyramids where they were welcomed as ambassadors. Ni-T'o was the eldest by several years and played the role of big brother well. He was the serious type, a quiet, thoughtful fellow, and a true gentleman in Nate's estimation— the cool water to T'cumu's youthful fire. T'cumu was in the prime of his youth and fairly bristled with energy, ready to take on any challenge with his charming grin and easy laugh. Both Nate and Gonzalo had already grown quite fond of them and rejoiced in their warm company.
Both of their new-found friends treated Nate and Gonzalo with the reverence afforded great heroes, somewhat to the recipients' ongoing embarrassment. In the tribesmen's eyes the two foreigners were quite deserving of the honor, having fought valiantly for strangers at great peril to themselves. Moreover the grateful braves had declared that they were now all brothers bound by blood, and that Nate and Gonzalo could expect to be welcomed as such in their village, offering them the gift of a home in this astonishing, and too often deadly, new world.
The party paused for lunch beneath the wide-reaching umbrella of one of the gigantic conifers, taking refuge from the cruel mid-day sun. Nate and Gonzalo found they needed barely to lift a finger. The tribesmen had the horses cared for and lunch ready for everyone before the men from farther in the future even had a chance to blink in the shade. Gonzalo looked a bit guilty, but Nate just grinned.
"Now I know how my namesake Theseus must have felt as his heroic deeds were celebrated by the grateful populace."
"I fear my life is coming to resemble that of doomed Odysseus," Gonzalo replied, shaking his head sadly. "A never-ending journey from one terror to the next, monsters and villains on every side."
"You do have a point there, Gonzalo. But for now, I think I'm going to pretend we are somewhere safe and sound and take a nap. We didn't get any sleep at all last night."
