The Serpent Passage

She looked down, pressing her cheek against his chest. “In Kohunlich, I thought I had lost you. You were gone, and…”

“Don’t cry. I’m here,” William said, disrupting her sad train of thought. He cradled her face in his hands, drawing her attention back. “You’re not going to lose me, Teshna, because…” It was hard for him to say, for he had never felt that way before.

She gazed deep into his blue eyes, looking desperate for him to continue. “Because, why?”

He took a deep breath and announced his true feelings. “Because… I’ve fallen in love with you.”

Teshna cried tears of joy, melting into William’s arms. The moment they embraced, they could no longer contain their desire for one another. They kissed and caressed their way deeper into the chamber, their bodies moving to the rhythmic beat of the Mayan drums below, their passion heightened further by the bloodstone- saturating the chamber with a deep amber glow as the festivities raged on beneath the pyramid.

The next morning, William awoke in his bed with a wonderful stretch, feeling more rested and content than he had felt since his arrival. He recalled the incredible night before, knowing that his love for Teshna would carry him through-would give him the strength and motivation he needed to survive the coming battle.

After rubbing the sand from his eyes, he wrapped a fresh loincloth around his waist and pulled on the other trappings of the Mayan wardrobe that had been spread out on the table in the center of the room.

“It’s about time you woke up. You look like crap,” Betty said from the arched doorway to his room.

“Good morning to you too,” William said, followed by a yawn. “What time is it?”

“Past noon, I’d guess. The Serpent Priest said we should let you sleep in. Teshna too. Funny, huh?” She wiped the perspiration off her forehead. “It’s damn hot today, isn’t it? Hotter than usual,” she said, giving him a surreptitious glance.

William sighed, figuring she somehow knew about his time with Teshna on the pyramid the night before. But he didn’t care. It was easier if their relationship wasn’t a secret. “Where is everyone?” he asked, trying to change the topic.

“Oh, you know… the usual routine. The men are down in the fields, training and what not. Yax is there too, organizing the details of the battle. I was just about to go meet up with the gals for archery practice.”

William grabbed a piece of dried mango from the platter on the table, popped it into his mouth, and gobbled it up. He regarded Betty with worry. “It scares me to think about you and Teshna being involved in the actual battle.”

Betty shrugged. “Ah, we’ll be fine. But if I were to get killed in the battle…”

“Don’t say that Betty!”

“Hey, if I were to die for a good cause, in some kickass epic war… I’d feel okay about that. Beats drying up years from now in a musty hospital with nurses treating me like a cranky old hag.”

William laughed at her remark. He shifted his headdress until it felt comfortable; it’s long turquoise and purple feathers made him feel like a peacock. “You’re not going to die. There’s still a chance we can go home.” He told Betty more about the Serpent Passage-how it was part of a crashed spaceship activated by the sun on the solstice days.

He had expected Betty to react with a measure of excitement, to learn that there was a technological way to get back to their time, but she didn’t seem all that interested. She went over to one of the small circular holes in the wall that served as a window and peeked out. The sunlight illuminated her face while she waited for him to finish. “I’ve been giving it a lot of thought, William. I’ve decided that I’m not going back… even if you do. It just seems too risky. You’d have a better chance if I wasn’t there to slow you down.”

“Don’t talk like that. We’ve been looking out for each other all this time. I wouldn’t go without you. Besides, don’t you want to get back to your husband?”

She became serious. “Burt’s much older than me. He has terminal lung cancer; they gave him a year at best. My disappearing like that could not have helped his resolve. He may already be dead.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. But maybe you can change how things turn out if you go back,” William said, thinking back to his adventure with the Sun god, where he had been given an opportunity to alter events. He told Betty about the difficult choice he was forced to make in Kohunlich.

“Sounds like you’ve already decided to stay, too,” she said with a look of revelation. “I mean, you could be home right now, living with your dad in the states in some… altered reality. But instead you chose this.” She waved her hand like a game show hostess pointing out the gifts he just won.

William shrugged. “I guess I did.” Although it was comforting to know that he had the option to return home, Teshna remained his one lingering temptation to tip the balance in favor of staying. Besides, his family already thought he had drowned. If he tried to return, drowning could become the reality of the situation. He shook the cobwebs of his confused thoughts from his head. “Like I said before, there’s no reason to even think about that for now. It all boils down to the coming battle, and that’s still a few months away.”

The days and weeks slipped by in a dreamlike blur for William as he fell into a comfortable routine-battle training and strategic exercises during the day, and hanging out with Teshna at night. He knew he had missed his eighteenth birthday, but it didn’t matter. The coming battle was just a few weeks away, and it was more urgent to spend his time preparing. He wanted to make it to nineteen.

While practicing alone with his maquahuitl sword at the ballcourt-swinging at imaginary warriors with the techniques that Salmac had taught him-William was startled by Priest Quisac’s voice. “That is a strong swing,” the Serpent Priest said. He lost hold of the sword and it skidded along the plaster floor. “Do not carry your weight so far forward-it will open your back side.”

William retrieved his obsidian-studded sword and nodded to Priest Quisac with a smile across his lightly whiskered face. He was surprised to see him because the Serpent Priest had been mostly keeping to himself since they returned from Kohunlich. William set the sword by a tree and picked up his water jug, drinking from it as he approached Priest Quisac. He sat beside him on a stone bench in the shade. “Where have you been?” William asked.

“I have been studying the stars… looking for directions we can follow,” he said with a troubled look. “I did not predict the outcome in Kohunlich, nor did I sense danger for you there… even as it occurred.”

William shrugged. “How could you have known?”

“I am a Serpent Priest, Balam-in tune with the cosmic plan. It is unusual for profound events to escape my notice.”

“I’ve heard you say that before… what do you mean exactly by cosmic plan?” William asked.

The Serpent Priest contemplated the question, his silver eyes darting around as if trying to find the best way to explain. He snatched William’s water jug and dumped it into a puddle on the ground. While studying the water as it flowed along the cracks in the plaster floor, he pointed at the little stream with his atlatl, and followed its course as it moved along. “The cosmic plan is like a river. Sometimes it moves slowly, and sometimes it picks up great speed. It twists and turns, carving out the land as it proceeds. One may predict with some certainty that the river will ultimately find its way to the sea.” Priest Quisac stood and stepped in the path of the water; it began to collect around his sandal. “Yet one may find a way to block the river, to divert its course in another direction for a time.” The water worked its way under and around his foot; he gave William a disturbed look. “When we are not in balance with our world, the course becomes difficult to predict.”

“An imbalance,” William mumbled, recalling what the Sun god had said. “Kinich Ahau said that I created an imbalance by being here. That’s why he wanted me to change events… to keep me away.”

“No. You were meant to be here, Balam,” the Serpent Priest said, reassuring him. “We had predicted your arrival katuns ago. The imbalance is from the soil plague, and the damage it has caused to our environment.”

“Why do the gods care about our environment?”

Several young boys entered the ballcourt, kicking a rock back and forth in a pretend ball game, not noticing William and the Serpent Priest there in the shade. Priest Quisac cleared his throat, catching their attention, and the boys ran off with guilty looks. He returned his attention to William. “The gods flourish when our people are in balance with nature. They are sustained by our prayer and sacrifice. In return, they provide abundant crops, wildlife to hunt, and healthy children. If our people disperse, and our beliefs and rituals dissolve, the gods would also lose their power to assist us.”

William stood and stared at the sky, trying to remember something important from his conversation with