The Serpent Passage

guess that makes him your master as well.”

“You have deceived me!” the demon shrieked. He rushed up the steps of the small pyramid. William’s eyes grew wide as Yum Cimil charged him with black pus streaming from his jaws.

The Maize god leaned toward William with a half-smile, seeming unconcerned. “Take this, Balam,” he said, handing William his pipe. “Smoke from my pipe and return to your friends.”

William snatched the pipe from the Maize god and took a long drag of the incense, coughing from its harsh taste. He could see the demon at the top of the steps, its claws reaching out to him through the thick fog that he coughed up.

When the smoke cleared, he saw the limbs of the ceiba tree above him. Priest Quisac was still holding him against the tree, while another priest waved incense around his face. William coughed and used his free hand to swish away the smoke. “Okay, I’m awake,” he said in a cranky tone, as if coming out of a deep sleep.

Teshna kneeled beside William, caressing his shoulder. “Balam, you did it… the harvest is complete.”

William removed his hand from the ceiba tree. “But the tree… the land…. it will still die.”

“We shall see,” Priest Quisac said.

Chapter Seven

After the Binding Ritual, William came down with a fever and rested in his bed for the remainder of the day. The Serpent Priest explained that his reaction was normal and would soon pass. However, William was in no rush to get better, for he loved having Teshna take care of him. She tried to keep his temperature down by patting him with a damp cloth. Yet her mere presence caused his blood to race, especially when she leaned over, allowing the front of her huipil to drop enough for him to see her body. She had a great figure, with curves in all the right places. Teshna noticed him ogling her, but she didn’t seem to mind. It was obvious to him that Teshna wanted to be there-her soft touch and flirtatious body language made that apparent.

William told Teshna about his strange dreamlike journey in the underworld with the demon, Yum Cimil-how he convinced the creature to return to the temples by making up stories about each plant. He explained how Yum Cimil seemed to enjoy his company, and William feared he would be stuck there forever as the demon’s permanent assistant.

The entire community had been overwhelmed with processing the crops from the harvest, and Teshna gave him updates along the way. She said there was only enough food to last one season, and that rations had been enforced.

Betty also popped by now and then to check on William. He wondered where Yax was, for he had not come by at all that day. When he asked Betty about Yax, she rolled her eyes, saying that she’d explain when he was feeling better.

Just before drifting off to sleep, he heard Priest Quisac talking to Teshna in the hallway. The Serpent Priest said that no crops would grow in their land until the curse had been lifted. To make matters worse, neighboring kingdoms were refusing to help them for fear that the soil plague would infect their land as well.

William awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and back to his normal self. Teshna arrived soon thereafter with a plate of assorted melons, tortillas, and mashed beans. She sat beside him on his bed, setting the plate on her lap.

“Thank you,” he said in English, munching on a crunchy piece of guayaba seasoned with spice.

Teshna looked confused. “Thank you,” she said, repeating his words. “Ah, Nibpixanil.”

“Yes,” William said, pleased that she learned an English expression. He thought he would teach her more English if he had to stick around there for very long.

Teshna giggled, placing a small piece of mango in her mouth, staring into his eyes. “Mmm, sen kii,” she said. She leaned over and placed a piece of mango in his mouth too. “Sen kii?”

“Sen kii,” he said, agreeing that the food tasted good. But her stare seemed to imply something deeper.

Teshna ran her fingers up his left arm, and she touched the whiskers on his face. “Sen kii,” she said again, in a more provocative manner. She leaned forward and kissed him softly on his lips. William reached out, wanting to embrace her to extend the kiss further, but he forgot about the plate of food on her lap and bumped it onto the floor. The ceramic plate cracked, and his food went everywhere. Teshna’s face tightened, holding back her urge to laugh. She picked up a piece of the broken plate and set it on his lap with a smirk. She stood and sighed. “Uts’ kin, Balam.”

William blushed from his klutzy blunder. “Uts’ kin, Teshna. Oh, and nibpixanil,” he said, gesturing to the food on the floor. He wanted to say more, but he felt tongue-tied.

She nodded in a charming manner and went on her way.

William picked up his mess of food on the floor, ate some of it, and then dressed in the clothes that had been spread out on his bed. He really didn’t feel like wearing the feathered headdress again; he never liked wearing hats to begin with. But he put it on nonetheless and meandered down the hallway to the courtyard. He found Betty sitting alone on a bench near the dying ceiba tree, and he sat beside her.

“Well don’t you look spiffy,” she said.

“Thanks. You don’t look so bad yourself.”

The royal guards moved in closer when they saw William arrive, and they surveyed the area with the added attention of the Secret Service at an event with the President.

William studied the branches of the ceiba tree. “During the Binding Ritual, I actually became this tree for a time.”

“No kidding?”

“Yeah, it was so… weird.”

“Nah, you’re pulling my leg,” she said, and punched his arm.

Mayan women busied themselves in clusters around the courtyard, grinding corn into maize powder. They glanced over and seemed to be gossiping about them.

“No, really. I saw you walking with Teshna. You told her about planting rose bushes at your grandmother’s house.”

Betty’s eyes opened wide. “You’re right, I was talking about that.” She stood and tapped her foot nervously. “This is sure a wild barrel of monkeys we got ourselves into here, William.”

He thought about what Priest Quisac had told him just before the ball game. “Do you think it’s our destiny to be here?” he asked.

Betty laughed. “Seems more like crazy-ass bad luck, if you ask me… in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

William scanned the courtyard; groups of servants arrived with baskets of crops and began distributing the food to different work areas. Teshna had told him how the crops were being processed under supervision to better control the distribution of rations.

He looked around for Yax, but the King wasn’t there. “Where has Yax been lately?”

“Now that’s an interesting story,” she said, her eyes darting from left to right as if she was about to tell him a big secret. “After the harvest, that crazy kid went back up that owl pyramid-you know the one he showed us the other day?” She spoke in a hushed tone even though no one could have understood her regardless. “He wouldn’t come down to eat, to go to the bathroom, or for anything.”

Betty motioned for William to follow her. They moved away from the center of the courtyard to the shadows of the northern hallway. “Sometimes that kid just sat there on the steps. Other times he hopped around and was dancing to a nifty jig. Then somewhere around dusk, I went out for a walk, minding my own business, and I saw him again-prancing around, bucknaked, covered in blood, no less!”

A collective laugh from the group of Mayan women echoed through the courtyard, and Betty paused to make sure nobody was coming. She turned back to William with a sigh. “Sure, I dropped some bad stuff during my heyday too… did some things I wasn’t too proud of neither. But I’ll save those stories for when we run out of other things to talk about. Anyhow, I don’t know what the boy was on, but he was trippin’ big time. Finally, he came tiptoeing down the steps, high as a kite, with cuts all over his body… even on his boinker.”

William smiled, amused by the pain on her face when she described where Yax was bleeding from. “It must