The Serpent Passage

Kinich Ahau. He walked part way into the ballcourt and spun around to face Priest Quisac. “The Sun god said that the soil plague drew the attention of the feathered serpents… they want to end the power of the gods. They will send the chupacabras after me… to get the bloodstone.”

Priest Quisac nodded, seeming to understand. “The feathered serpents appear at moments in our history to control our people. The gods protect us from this. Perhaps the feathered serpents see an opportunity to weaken the gods’ protection. The Sun god used the power of the bloodstone during the Ritual of Ascension to try to prevent this.”

William held the bloodstone in his hand, staring at it with a confused look. “What is this bloodstone, Priest Quisac? Why is it so important? How can it do so many amazing things?”

Priest Quisac smiled, looking pleased, as if he had been waiting for William to ask him all along. “The name of the stone has evolved over the katuns. When I was a child it was still called the heartstone. But in the beginning, it was simply called Pakal’s heart.”

“What does that mean?”

The Serpent Priest put his hands on William’s shoulders, locking eye contact with him. “Balam, this is something that very few know. Of those that have heard, most think it is just a myth. But my knowledge descends from the Solar Cult, passed from one Serpent Priest to another, and I tell you that this is the truth.”

“Ok, let’s hear it.”

“The bloodstone is the heart of King Pakal of Palenque, taken from his chest upon his death nearly a baktun ago.”

William almost laughed at the idea, but Priest Quisac’s unwavering stare confirmed that he was serious about it. William held up the bloodstone, studying it. “It seems kind of small to be a heart… and it’s so light too. If it’s just someone’s heart, why is it so smooth and have powers?”

“Pakal the Great was the last physical incarnation of a god into the body of a Mayan king. His heart is now a gateway to the dimension of the gods, and that is the reason for its power. The heart compressed and hardened to stone over the katuns. It was polished to a smooth surface from all the hands that have held it along the way, and it has been empowered by blood and sacrifices. After the last ruling son of Pakal was captured, and his direct bloodline ended, the bloodstone was passed to the Serpent Priests of the Solar Cult… and then to the kings who protected them.”

“You mean I have a human heart hanging from my neck?” William asked, dropping the bloodstone, feeling a little creeped out.

“Come,” the Serpent Priest said, ushering William away. “You have spent sufficient time learning to fight. Now you must learn to control the bloodstone.”

As the following weeks passed, William spent more time with Priest Quisac, learning to focus the imagery in his mind to make the bloodstone do different things. He felt like a superhero trying to learn his powers.

William was not allowed to attempt the fire explosion skill again-like he had inadvertently let loose on the return from Kohunlich. Priest Quisac explained that he would need to experience sincere rage for that ability, which might exhaust the bloodstone’s remaining power in a single burst. He could, however, start small fires by focusing a small degree of his anger onto an object for about a minute, while visualizing a flame in his mind. It surprised William how difficult that was… to maintain anger on an inanimate object, like a stick, for any length of time, before becoming distracted and laughing at the absurdity of the task. But in time, he found he could do it through sheer determination.

One of William’s favorite skills was the empowered throw. While gripping the bloodstone in his left hand he would direct all his attention to the object in his right hand. Upon throwing the object-a spear, rock, or whatever-he could make it go much further by visualizing a strong wind, while pushing it with his breath. He could also direct the projectile’s trajectory by seeing through its point of view. It was like watching through the eyes of a Kamikaze pilot crashing an airplane into its final destination. With practice, he found he could hit a target with a spear from over a hundred yards away.

Another unique power he learned was to tap into the minds of animals, to see through their eyes. Priest Quisac said it was possible to take the skill to the next level and push the animal’s consciousness aside-to take control of its body. However, the possession skill could only be performed on animals with smaller brains, those with less resistance. Birds were the most useful animal to possess-to survey from the sky. But after the soil plague, there weren’t many birds around to practice on… only those passing through their land. Whenever William came across a bird, he would drop whatever he was doing to attempt the technique. He had to get close enough to acquire and maintain eye contact with the bird until he felt its heartbeat through the bloodstone-to sync up with its pulse. Usually, the bird could feel William invading its mind, and it would flee before he could get a firm hold. He only had one successful possession in several attempts. For a brief moment, he could actually see through a bird’s eyes, staring back at himself before losing his grip.

Strangely, after learning the possession skill, William began to have weird dreams nearly every night, where he was flying around the jungle and hunting small rodents. During the dreams, he always sensed the bloodstone calling him from far away. He felt compelled to reach it.

Having just those skills would have been amazing enough. Yet Priest Quisac told him that the bloodstone’s true power could only be fully utilized by focusing on positive energy. “Better to use the bloodstone’s power to heal and to shield,” the Serpent Priest said.

The healing ability of the bloodstone was obvious to William, for he had seen how it mended his own injuries much faster than they would have healed otherwise. Priest Quisac explained that the skill could also be extended to others. There were plenty of opportunities to practice with all the cuts and sprains from the warriors-in-training. Upon holding the bloodstone against the wound, the blood circulated through the stone, and it replaced the damaged cells with some kind of super-healing cells. But the healing technique required a different mindset than the other skills, for he had to focus loving thoughts toward the injured person. At first, he found it difficult to feel genuine love for someone he didn’t know. To get around the mental challenge, he imagined that the patient was a family member-a process that ultimately brought him closer with the Mayans that he helped along the way.

William also learned how to use the bloodstone as a shield, but he didn’t appreciate how effective that could be until the last official training event.

The coming battle with Calakmul was just ten days away-when Venus would appear as the evening star. They had planned to separate the enemy forces, to entice them in numerous directions, into scores of lethal traps set all about the area: pits with spikes below, fields that would be lit ablaze, women archers positioned in the trees, warriors with atlatls on the hilltops, and deadly snares all about. The details of the strategy had been rehearsed over the months. If everything went as planned, William thought they just might win. His attention drifted back to the one detail in the strategy that had not yet been practiced. It was the purpose for his being there at the women’s archery range that afternoon. William took a deep breath when he saw Yax approach.

“It is time, Balam,” Yax said.

Teshna left the line of women archers and made her way over. “I don’t like this, brother,” she said to Yax. “I am not going to take part in it.”

“You must,” Yax said. “You are one of our best archers.”

“Exactly. If this fails, I may be responsible for the death of Balam. Can’t it wait until the battle?”

Priest Quisac scolded Teshna with a stern look. “Balam requires faith in the bloodstone’s ability to shield. We must practice this now so that he has confidence during the battle as well.”

“It’s okay, Teshna,” William said with a brave smile. “I can do it. I want you there with the others. Take your best shot.”

Teshna regarded William closely, seeming to evaluate his confidence level. “Oh, okay. But only because you asked me.” She gave him a wink.

While following Teshna to the field behind the ballcourt, William observed more than a hundred women readying their bows, watching him with grim expressions as he passed.

“Good luck, Will,” Betty said from her position with the other women. She gave him a big thumbs-up

William proceeded to the other side of the clearing. He turned to face the long row of archers, feeling the intensity of their collective attention. Other citizens had gathered on the stands, gazing down from the eastern side of the ballcourt. William glanced over to Priest Quisac; he bowed slowly, reminding William to collect his scattered