river that lulled him into a very deep sleep.
William slept for a long while. Vague memories of being forced to eat and drink intertwined in his dreams. He found himself at the edge of a lake. His father stood on the other side. He waved to him, but his dad didn’t see him. He yelled, but he didn’t hear him either. As he approached the water to swim across, a giant crocodile lunged out from the lake, roaring like a lion.
He snapped awake to the sound of a thunderclap, kicking his feet as he attempted to escape the beast from his nightmare.
“William,” Betty said, “you’re up!”
He looked in every direction until he found Betty at the foot of his bed. For a moment he wasn’t sure if it was really her, wearing a necklace of colorful sea shells, jade bracelets, earrings, and a silly looking feathered headdress.
“I know, I know, I look ridiculous, don’t I? But they insisted that I wear all this stuff,” she said.
“How long…”
“You’ve been out for a couple days… since that escapade on the pyramid. You came down with a bad fever from the infected cuts on your feet. They drugged you with something… you were pretty much out of it. You seemed to be getting better, so I figured they knew what they were doing.”
William looked down at his wrist to check the time, but his watch was gone.
“Don’t know what time it is for sure,” Betty said. “I’d guess it’s late morning.”
A heavy rain tapped on the roof with occasional thunderclaps in the distance. William sat up and stretched out the ache in his back from sleeping on such a firm bed; a stone rising, low to the ground, covered by thick layers of animal skins. “Where am I?” he asked.
“The palace of that little boy you saved. Would you believe that he is some kind of king here now?”
While trying to comprehend that idea, William scanned his surroundings like a sleepy bear coming out of hibernation. Small holes in the plaster wall allowed minimal light to enter from the outside, but a couple of lit torches kept the room illuminated. Beautiful artwork surrounded him. A Mayan wall painting of a half-man, half- jaguar creature caught his attention. Beside it, a tall statue of a Maize god stood in the corner of the room, facing William’s bed.
He tried to recall the events of the other night. “How could that boy be a king? They were about to kill him!”
Betty shrugged. “I know, weird, huh? That’s what I wondered too. It’s like you killed the wicked witch and then the kid you saved took charge. Maybe you can figure it out. I don’t understand anything they’re saying.”
William sighed, feeling guilty. “I’ve never killed anyone before.”
“Hey, he deserved it,” she said, reassuring him. “Besides, he took that last step back on his own… more of a lucky accident. Everyone here seems delighted about the sudden turn of events, from what I can tell. So don’t worry about that. We’re safe now.”
William detected a flowery smell, and he traced it to an incense burner drizzling out a small stream of smoke from a stone slab in the center of the room. “How did I get here?” he asked.
“You passed out up there like a cut-down tree. Kerplop! They carried you down here and cleaned you up-put some goop on your cuts.”
When he looked at his bandaged feet, he noticed that his shorts had been exchanged for a loincloth wrapped between his legs and tied at his waist. Small ruby-colored stones sparkled along the length of fabric draped between his thighs.
The sound of giggling drew his focus to the arched doorway of his room, where he noticed two Mayan women peering in. Seeing them sparked an odd vision-a foggy memory of a beautiful young woman with long black hair flowing over her shoulders; she was rubbing oil on his body while gazing into his eyes.
The women in the doorway ran off, hollering something he couldn’t understand.
“I guess they know you’re awake,” Betty said. “I’m sure that little king will be here any minute. He’s been checking in on you a lot. He can’t wait for you to wake up.”
“Uh huh,” William mumbled, not hearing a word of what Betty just said, still thinking about the girl caressing his body, wondering if it was a dream. He wiped his hand along his chest, feeling a greasy residue, and he smiled, realizing that the girl really had been there with him.
“They put something on your skin-mine too-to help with our bites. It also keeps the bugs away,” she said, and looked over to the doorway. Fast approaching footsteps drew William’s attention as well.
The boy king charged into the room, out of breath from running all the way there. He approached William with a giant grin on his face, exposing his pointy jeweled teeth.
Betty stepped away from the bed and sat on a stone bench, watching with a smirk as the King began blabbering away.
“Wait, hold up.” William held his hands out in a halting gesture. “Ma’ti naati kech.” He explained that he didn’t understand. “Please speak a little slower,” he said in Yucatec-Maya.
The boy didn’t seem to understand William’s words at first, but he picked up on his hand language to slow down. Yet even at a slower pace, William could only grasp occasional words. He gathered that the King wanted to know how he was feeling, where they were from, and what his name was.
“Ah, let’s start with that,” William said in Yucatec-Maya, pointing to his forehead, “William.” He enunciated each syllable. “Will-iam.”
“Balam,” the boy said, mispronouncing William’s name somewhat. His eyes grew wide in reverence, and he raised his hands to the heavens as though William had just said he was Jesus.
“Sure… that’s close enough,” William said with a laugh. He pointed at Betty. “This is Betty,” he said. “Be- tty.”
“Bati,” the King said. He gave her a respectful nod.
“Yes, Balam and Bati,” William said. He gestured to the boy. “What is your name?”
“Yax,” he said with a big smile. He turned to the doorway and clapped his hands twice, drawing in two chubby Mayan women with baskets of jewelry and accessories.
“No, that’s okay,” William said, waving his hands.
“No use trying, William,” Betty said. “They think they’re doing you a favor.”
“Oh, fine.” He tried to relax as they adorned him with a beaded necklace and a headdress with a colorful collection of quetzal feathers. He glared at Betty. “If my girlfriend saw me like this… that would really be the end of our relationship.”
Betty’s face tightened as she held back her urge to laugh. “No, I think this is
The elder Mayan woman inspected William’s feet. She seemed pleased with how they had healed and presented him with sandals. As he put them on, Yax explained how they had made them just for his extra large feet. He urged William to stand.
William stepped gingerly on the floor and smiled, pleased to not feel the painful sting in his step anymore. Betty walked beside him as they followed Yax down the hallways of the grand palace. A bit of an entourage gathered behind them as they went-Mayan nobles trying to get a peek at them. William sensed that they had never seen such unusual visitors before.
As they passed by statues of gods and wall paintings of battles and sacrifices, it occurred to William that had he been an archeologist, the experience would have been the highlight of his career. But at that moment, all the beautiful artwork only reinforced the reality of their predicament and brought on a wave of dread.
They arrived at a large courtyard open to the outdoors; a vast spread of food had been laid out before them on colorful embroidered rugs. Giant stone columns supported a thatched roof that protected them from the rain.
Yax sat on a raised stone slab covered with animal skins. “Kutal’ex,” he said, motioning for William and Betty to sit on the rugs beside him.
Other Mayan nobles-men and women-entered the courtyard, gawking at the two strangers as they made their way in. William never liked to be the center of attention. Being treated like some royal Mayan celebrity made him feel awkward.
Servants busied themselves bringing in more food, bowing as they set it down. Large wooden trays contained an assortment of fruits-mangos, papayas, and other food he had never seen.
