Xbalanque - A Visit to the Ruins

[x-rictor.livejournal.com]

The tour of the area ends with a visit to the local Mayan ruins. Unfortunately, Monet's head meets the centuries old historical treasure. Guess which one wins.



Julio frowned at the clouds overhead. They'd rolled in as they pulled up to Tehuantl Kal, and had grown thicker and darker as they'd walked along the perimeter. At this rate, they'd probably be stuck there overnight. He shook his head and turned back to the others. "So, the man back there said this place was called Jaguar Mountain?"

"Yes," Berta said as they made their way along the path. "Or, well, Jaguar Hill, more accurately. Jaguars are fairly significant in Mayan mythology."

"So... Why is it in Aztec then?" Julio said amiably as he ducked under a low-hanging branch.

"What, you've never before run into some place that was called by the name the invading people's gave to it?" Berta grinned over her shoulder at the boy. "Don't you all go to school in a place called 'New York'?"

Monet winced. "Ouch. You've got a point, though." She looked around. "Still, for ruins, it's kind of pretty."

"There a giant ball that drops outta the ceiling and tries to flatten you, too?" Kevin glanced around. "C'mon, am Ah the only one havin' Indiana Jones flashbacks right now?"

"Only if we are talking about the first three," Julio said. "As far as I'm concerned there are only three-- ack," he tripped over a root that had grown up through the pathway. The ruins over on this side were far more worn, the stone blackened with age and weathered through hundreds of years of monsoons. He lay his hand against the wall to pull his foot out, and then squinted at the hieroglyphics under his hand.

It showed a young man kneeling with a strange figure cradled in his arms. Julio squinted at it. The figure looked like it had the head of a jaguar and the body of an infant.

"Weird," he muttered.

"Careful," Berta said, turning back as she heard Julio stumble. A quick glance assured her he was fine and she grinned. "I mean, you wouldn't want to accidentally set off the traps guarding this ancient site. There could be poison darts." From her look she was clearly joking.

Monet turned to laugh at Julio. "Dude. That was, like-" The path was far from flat and slippery with a thick layer of mud and fallen leaves that often hid uneven sections. Where Julio had only stumbled, Monet fell sideways, head and shoulder and one arm going through the wall as she hit the ground.

"Slick Miss Perfect." Kevin held out a hand to help Monet back up, but then he heard a noise. "Uh, what's that? Medicine ball?" He was kidding, but he did hear something and since he was in the land of Confusing the White Boy he wasn't going to doubt there might be ancient, slain Mayan ghosts in there ready to attack them with spears or something.

Instead he was answered by a rush of chittering and flapping wings. A group of bats, their nest clearly disturbed, rushed out out the hole Monet's head had created, knocking the other two back.

Julio ducked, as they flew past, disappearing into the trees. He bushed his hands through his hair and the then smirked at his two companions on the ground. "Way to piss off the gods, there. I refuse to sit next to you on the ride back in case you are now cursed."

Kevin groaned and rubbed the back of his head that he'd managed to smack when he'd fallen. "What, no one gave you the memo? Been cursed for years. Just talkin' to me's gonna give you three-headed cow babies or somethin'. Either that or Nori's gonna turn into an actual praying mantis and y'know how males of their kind come to their end, right?"

"Screw you and your curses, Julio." Monet deliberately mispronounced his name, giving it the hardest 'j' she could manage. "You're just worried about your pants."

"I'm not the one who put her head through the wall of a Mayan temple, chiquita," Julio teased. Overhead lightning flicked through the clouds, and thunder rumbled soon after. "You see?" he pointed up at the sky innocently. Inwardly Julio hoped that they could sneak away and hope no one noticed the Monet-shaped crater in the centuries-old historical treasure. He stepped closer, carefully and peered inside, whistling. "What were these used for anyway?"

"Personally, I'm less worried about the angry, curse throwing gods, and slightly more worried about what will be the angry, potentially jail throwing guards." Berta frowned at the other three, although she couldn't help a bit of a smile at the banter. And it wasn't like, if the heritage site staff came by just now they'd really believe that Monet had stuck her hand through the wall... Crouching down next to Julio she peered into the hold, curious herself about what they'd found. "Ah," she said after a second, settling back on her heels. "Well, then. The ornately carved flat rock in the middle of the room? That would be a sacrificial altar."

Kevin's eyebrows darted upward and he gave Julio a pointed look. "See? What'd Ah say 'bout the human sacrifices." He paused and looked over at Berta. "We are talkin' 'bout the human kinda sacrificin', right?" Peering through the Monet-hole he looked for the sacrificial altar. Then Kevin narrowed his eyes at it and muttered in a horrible Mexican meets Alabama kind of accent, "'Usted hijo de una cabra y de una puta, le cortaré." Well, it wasn't a spear-wielding Mayan right now but preventative measures were good, right?

Berta turned to gawk at Kevin for a moment before shaking her head. There was no way the young man knew what he'd just said, and she certainly wasn't going to enlighten him. "Yes, that's right," she agreed, forcing her mind back to his original question. "Given the carvings on the wall and the statue behind the altar, they were either sacrificing directly to the jaguar spirit or believed that the jaguar was sacred to their particular god."

Julio's eyes widened and he pressed his lips together in a desperate urge not to laugh. He raised his eyebrows at Berta and said, "~It's a joke, I'll explain later~" in Spanish, He shook his head and peered further into the cavern. Inside was a long, flat table, looking to be supported by a man, no, a boy, with strange markings carved on his face, shoulders and knees. Grooves were carved into the floor. Something to catch the blood, Julio's mind whispered. He removed his hands from the wall and wiped them on his shirt. "So, did they sacrifice to bring rain or something?"

"~Odd joke,~" Berta replied, cocking an eyebrow at Julio before continuing in English. "There were several reasons for sacrifices in the Mayan culture," she said, "but yes, asking the gods to bring rain during times of drought was definitely one of them. In a land like this, rain has always been seen as a gift from the heavens, whoever one may believe resides Above. The jaguar carvings," Berta added, peering inside once again to get a better look as she spoke, "and the interior location, make it likely that this site was primarily for water rituals. Jaguar spirit was often seen a messenger of the underworld, which is actually where most of the fresh water in these mountains comes from."

Overhead, thunder cracked loudly, heralding the start of the evening's rain. It began with little fat drops, with very quickly turned into a heavy steady rain.

Julio swore. "There goes getting back tonight," he said. Muddy roads plus nighttime driving equaled badness.

"Fucking awesome. Why are we here in the wet season again? Also, that is possibly the creepiest thing ever. My head went near it, too." Monet carefully picked another piece of plaster from her hair.

"Sleep over with the human sacrifice altar. Just what Ah always wanted. It was on my list of things to accomplish in my lifetime," Kevin remarked dryly. "Watch you're head, Monet, it'll end up sacrificed to try to stop the rain now."

"No, your head will. They can't damage mine. Duh."

"Ah'm usin' mine. Can't we use Julio's? It'd be a change, havin' his head be used for somethin'." Somehow mocking the only person among them who could speak Spanish just wasn't a very bright idea. Did Kevin care? Not really.

"~So Berta,~" Julio said, "~Why don't we leave these two here and go find the jeep?~" There was a little touristy stop in the village over, with a small hotel. Julio hoped the other two remembered where it was, because he hadn't bothered to read the sign to them...

Berta gave Julio an indulgent smile. "~Ah, only the best of friends tease so,~" she told him, then turned to the others. "We can't get all the way back, but we can make it into the near village, I think. Come, if we hurry we may not get too wet on the way to the jeep."

"~Who said I was teasing?~" Julio added. "~I live with that guy, and I'll get all of his stuff...~"

Kevin leaned closer to Monet as Julio and Berta conversed in Spanish. "Think we could just shove him in a sack and only take him out when we need someone to translate?" He was smiling as he asked, at least.

She laughed. "You're welcome to try but things might be awkward if you do that. Since, y'know, we don't speak Spanish."

"Hence why we'd take him out when we needed someone to speak Spanish," he pointed out. "He already said most people 'round here don't speak Spanish anyway."

"I lied," Julio called over his shoulder. Whatever he was going to say next as the rain came down harder, and they were all forced to run for it.