The Serpent Road: A Science Fiction Novel Read online

  “But…” said Tohil again, feeling stupid for saying it.

  “No,” said the old man. “Think hard and choose well. Your life and the lives of all of us, not just our people, may depend upon it.”

  With that, the old man wrapped his blanket around himself and without a further word, or backward glance, left Tohil standing there, gaping at his retreating back.

  Accept your destiny: your flesh shall be tom to pieces. So, shall it be. This shall be your lot

  — Popol Vuh, Part I, Chapter 2

  TWO

  That night, Tohil sat in the young men’s house, his legs crossed, digging at the ground with a stick. It was all too much to take in. Parts of what the old man had told him made no sense to Tohil. How could the Bird People gain access to the Temple when every attempt he and his friends had made had failed? How could the influence of the Dark Serpent that Haracan spoke of work if it lay sealed within the temple? He pursed his lips and shook his head. Perhaps this was some sort of challenge that the old man had given him, something to test his wisdom. He grimaced and shook his head again. That didn’t make sense either. He didn’t understand why the old man might be testing him. He was young. He had thought, perhaps to become a hunter. Though he was not as skilled with the weapons as some of the others, he was clever, clever at laying traps and snares, at steering prey in the right direction. He would not be a warrior. He was not strong enough for that, even though there would be times that he might be called to defend the walls with the others. And an elder? A shaman? The thought was simply unimaginable.

  He looked around the long hut, the sleeping pallets, the clusters of young men either playing with their reed dice and pebbles or conversing. In one corner, a pair were wrestling, their grunts of effort indicating that it was nothing more than a friendly spar. The old man had told him that he would have to choose his companions. In that respect, Tohil was already there. He had his friends and allies already. One by one, he looked at them in turn, considering. There sat Acab telling some tale to Quapar. Acab was round of face, his eyes small, always calculating the advantage. Quapar had longer features, his eyes larger, widely spaced, an almost permanently worried expression on his brow. He was the more timid of the two and perhaps that was why Acab tended to seek him out as someone more easily swayed, someone he could dominate.

  On the other side sat Oquis. Oquis was older than those two, well-defined features and a strong brow. He didn’t actually seem to be doing anything at the moment, but that was not unusual. He often appeared to be doing little, but Oquis was solid, dependable and he normally had meagre time for the lighter pursuits of most of the other young men. Generally, he simply liked to have an assigned task and get on with it. No, Oquis would definitely be a worthy choice.

  As if hearing what Tohil was thinking, Oquis caught his gaze and lifted his brows in query. Tohil acknowledged the look with a toss of his chin and then returned to looking back down at the small furrows he was digging in the ground. He didn’t want any of them to know yet. There would be time in the morning. He glanced back over at the other two. Acab would be good because he was generally fearless, despite his other shortcoming, and he was excellent with his blowgun, probably the best of their group. Quapar, on the other hand, was always faultlessly loyal. He would supply them with needed caution that might just balance Acab’s impetuous nature. Three. Would that be enough? He scanned the others, considering, but he felt less affinity with any of them, and he knew that whatever they did and whomever he chose, they would have to work together. There were other young men who had skills, had talents in other areas, but he wasn’t sure that any of them would really fit. Tohil himself was a decent shot with his bow, though not the best. Oquis was strong. He could handle a macuahuitl or dagger without any problem. The heavy wooden club with obsidian shards inset along its length was a fearsome weapon, slicing easily through unprotected flesh, but usually only carried by their most seasoned warriors. On this occasion, this circumstance, he thought that acquiring one was justified.

  Tohil sighed to himself. Already he was thinking about combat. The old man had said nothing about having to fight, but if they were to embark on a long journey, they were sure to have encounters. What if they stumbled across the Bird People, a raiding party? He was just thinking ahead. He dropped the stick and rubbed the scored earth in front of him flat with the heel of his hand. If he slept, perhaps there would be dreams to tell him what was right. Deep inside, he knew that was a vain hope. He was no elder or shaman. He was but a young man and one without any outstanding skills that might choose a clear path for him. It still remained a mystery why the old man had singled him out

  Retreating to his sleep pallet, he lay and turned himself to face the wall. For a long time, he lay like that, looking for sleep, but the noise of the others and the tumbling thoughts within his head kept unconsciousness away from him. He tried stilling his thoughts, but it was a long time before sleep eventually came.

  oOo

  Tohil woke early. When sleep had finally found him, it had been filled with dreams of the Bird People and the Dark Serpent flying sinuously through the sky. More than once, he had woken in the darkness, a sweat upon his brow. Finally, in the early hours of the morning, he could sleep no longer, and he rose quietly and made his way outside.

  First light was touching the edges of the land. Bird noises drifted across from the trees, and other cries. In the distance, he thought he heard the deep growling voice of a jaguar. He stood there for a few moments, stretching his back, and rubbing the back of his neck. It was still cool in the morning air and he shivered a little despite himself. With a quick look around—no one else seemed to be up and about—he moved around to the back of the house and relieved himself. There would still be sentries down by the earthen walls, but their attention would be focussed outward to the trees. Again, he found himself shaking his head. He had no idea what the old man really wanted of him. Why not choose some of the warriors to go? He looked up at the temple standing broad and squat in the morning light, none of the carvings visible in the dimness. With another look around, he walked away from the young men’s house and headed for the slope that rose to the temple’s broad base.

  No one really knew how old the structure was, but they all knew it was ancient. It had stood there at the village’s apex for all remembered time. The Elders told tales of the times when it was built, but Tohil was sure that they kept many things to themselves. Perhaps the Seelee themselves had built it, and Tohil suspected that might be the case. He had seen the carvings, seen some of the figures they depicted. Of course, there were representations of gods and spirits, of serpents and jaguars, of birds and warriors, but there were other things among the carvings too. Slowly he climbed the slope, thinking. There was one in particular that he wanted to look at again. As he reached the flat top, Tohil ignored the great double stone doors and instead started to trace the well-trodden path around to the temple’s rear.

  The entire temple surface, every step, including the double doors at the front were covered in various carvings. Some had deteriorated over time, attesting to the structure’s great age. Here and there, what remained of various paints, blues, and reds, and whites, still survived, harder to see in this light, but there all the same. There were times when he had counted the paces around the temple’s base, but not now; he had a specific goal in mind. The sky was beginning to lighten and he needed to confirm what he was sure he had seen before he returned to the young men’s house and spoke to the others before finally seeking out Haracan. If he was right, he would have more questions for the old man.

  Tohil found what he was looking for, set a little higher than his head and what would be directly opposite the double doors at the temple’s front. There. He reached up with one hand stretching to trace the outline of the single stone carving. It looked like it had never been coloured, that it had always been plain stone and even a different stone from that of the rest of the temple, darker, more brown than grey. Its features were
worn a little in places, but there was no mistaking the face that stared out across the valleys and trees and further to the mountains beyond. Tohil turned to look in the direction that the face was staring and then back to the carving. Again, he reached up and traced the peculiar round structure surrounding the face. At the circle’s bottom, there was some kind of device, covering the mouth and sitting flush with the base of the nose. This head, this face, did not look like any of the representations of the gods that peppered the temple surface. It was more lifelike than stylised. Nor did he recognise it from any of the creation stories passed down by the Elders. The thing around its head, though he supposed it could have been a mask, didn’t look like any of the masks he was familiar with, not even those of the Bird People. The face looked just like one of his own people, but one who was wearing some weird thing over his head. On each side of the mask thing and on the top edge, there were three round balls, perfectly circular, but flat on the surface. On the top of the mask thing, twin coiled tubes led from the top, snaked around the back then, he presumed, fell back behind the shoulders. Perhaps, indeed, they were meant to be serpents. They wouldn’t just go nowhere. Tohil stood there staring, trying to make sense of it. He’d never really studied it in such detail before.

  He turned back in the direction the face was looking, but he could see nothing that was worthy of attention, just the land stretching out and away, covered in jungle and the conical mountains in the distance. Perhaps it was something beyond the mountains, but Tohil did not even know what lay that far. He turned back to stare at the face and its costume.

  “What are you telling me?” he asked it, but the stone was simply mute.

  He sighed and turned to make his way back down to the flat of the village proper and meet his companions. It seemed he had taken longer than he’d thought, because by the time he rounded the temple’s corner there were already stirrings of life below. He knew what he had to do now, but as he made his way down the hill, Tohil’s feet felt sluggish as if they didn’t want to take him where he needed to go. He took a deep breath and quickened his stride, heading straight for the young men’s house. He could already see Acab out the front, grim-faced as he usually was in the morning. A couple of others were emerging, but of Quapar and Oquis, there was yet no sign. As he neared, he called out to Acab and was met with a scowl. It didn’t matter; he had no choice but to face Acab’s morning mood.

  “Have you seen Oquis and Quapar?” he asked as he neared.

  Acab frowned. “I don’t know. Probably still inside. It’s early.”

  “I need to talk to you and to both of them together.”

  “What is it, Tohil? I haven’t even had a chance to piss.”

  “Well, why don’t you go and do that while I find the others.” Maybe by the time Acab had finished his morning ritual, he might be a bit more awake and a little less ill-tempered, though he doubted it. “I’ll meet you back here.”

  Tohil ducked inside and scanned the room for the other two. Oquis was over in one corner, but he couldn’t see Quapar anywhere. He crossed the broad room and stood in front of Oquis who was crouched on his haunches scratching his head.

  “Oquis, have you seen Quapar?”

  Oquis narrowed his eyes and looked up slowly. “Why, what is it?”

  “I need to talk to you. Acab and Quapar too.”

  Oquis rubbed his neck. “Probably off in the bushes somewhere. You know how he is. Anyway, what is it?”

  “There’s something I need to talk to you about all together. Something to do with the old man.” He glanced quickly from side to side, checking that no one was listening and crouched down, lowering his voice. “Haracan.”

  “Hmph. Okay,” said Oquis. “Where do you want to have this important talk?”

  “I said I would meet Acab out front in a couple of minutes. Maybe you can go and find him and I will see if I can track down Quapar.”

  Oquis nodded and got to his feet, tightening his breechcloth.

  Tohil left him standing there and quickly stepped outside. Acab had not appeared yet, so he quickly headed for the edge of the village near the earthen walls where the shrubs reached nearly up to the defences. He stood at the top of the wall, where just yesterday they had been working on reinforcements, and called out Quapar’s name. After the second call, a slight rustling in the bushes and then Quapar’s head appeared, his expression sheepish.

  “Tohil, what is it?”

  “I need you to come back to the young men’s house for a minute. We need to talk about something.”

  Quapar immediately looked worried. “What? What is it?”

  “Nothing to be concerned about yet. I’ll just meet you there.”

  By the time he reached the front of the house again, Acab had reappeared, looking none the happier.

  “Did you find him?” asked Oquis.

  “Yes, he was just where you thought he might be,” said Tohil.

  Together they turned to look in the direction that Tohil had just returned from to see Quapar clambering over the wall, fiddling with his breechcloth, and then trotting quickly towards them. He stopped once on the way to readjust the cloth and was with them in a couple of seconds.

  “All right. We are here,” said Acab grumpily. “What do you want?”

  Tohil looked around. “I don’t want to talk about it here. Let’s walk down that way a bit.”

  Acab grumbled but started heading off in the direction that Tohil had indicated with Oquis and Quapar shortly behind. Tohil brought up the rear, checking until he adjudged that they were far enough away not to be overheard. The three of him stood there looking at him expectantly. Tohil took a deep breath. He hadn’t rehearsed this at all.

  “You three are my friends,” he started. He looked at each of their faces in turn.

  “Yes, so?” said Acab.

  “Yesterday, one of the Elders approached me. He wants me to do something, to go on an important journey. He asked me to choose companions to come with me. Of course, I chose you.”

  “Which Elder?” asked Acab.

  Tohil glanced around again before speaking and lowered his voice. “It was Haracan.”

  Acab snorted. “That old fool.”

  “Acab!”

  “Well he is,” said Acab, crossing his arms.

  “What’s this all about?” asked Oquis.

  “The Elders have been having visions about the temple and the Bird People. He talked about the Dark Serpent.”

  “And what has this to do with us?” asked Acab.

  “He wants us to deliver a message to the Dwarf King in the Great City. He wants us to warn him.”

  “The Great City?” Quapar said. “But that’s so far. It’s not safe to travel that far.”

  “And that’s why he wants you to come with me,” said Tohil.

  Quapar shook his head. “I don’t like it.”

  “Of course, you don’t like it,” said Acab. “It’s you.” He was stroking his chin now. “Hmmm. Could be fun.”

  “I don’t think he means it to be fun, Acab,” said Tohil. “I think this is important.”

  “So why doesn’t he send some of the warriors?” asked Oquis.

  “I wondered that myself at first,” Tohil told him. “But he talked about the Bird People attacking, about them getting into the temple and releasing something. If that’s going to happen, he needs to have all the warriors he can get.”

  “Ha. And he can just throw us away. We’re not good enough to fight,” said Acab.

  “I don’t think that’s what he means,” Tohil retorted.

  “I don’t know,” said Quapar again.

  Oquis grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him to face him. “Look, the Elders want us to do something. Have you ever questioned them before?”

  “No but….”

  “No,” said Oquis.

  Quapar shut his mouth.

  “Listen, all of you,” said Tohil. “I need to talk to the old man again. He told me to return to him after I had c
hosen who was to go with me. We will need things for the travel, plenty of pellets for the blowguns, darts, the atlatl, arrows, and food. Plenty of food. Oquis, if you can find my bow. Maybe take a spare string or two. And Oquis, I think you should carry a macuahuitl. Knives. We will need knives. Anything else you can think of.”

  “Food. That’s for sure,” said Acab. “But won’t people start to ask questions? Is this supposed to be a secret?”

  “I don’t know,” Tohil replied. “I really don’t know. I think it’s better to say as little as possible about what we’re doing for now. Anyway, they’ll eventually notice once we’re gone. And Acab, maybe you can resist telling those girls you are always trying to impress.”

  Acab placed his hand on his chest, and gave a look of fake shock.

  “Yes, you,” said Tohil. He paused for a moment then looked at each of them in turn. “So, we all know what we are doing?”

  “Sort of,” said Quapar “I think so.”

  “All right. Then let us get to it. I will go to the Elders now. Listen, just one last thing. I want you to know that I trust you. I trust all of you. Don’t forget that. I cannot think of better choices to come with me, my friends.”

  He looked at each in turn, scanning their faces and then nodded. “I will see you back here when I am done.”

  He turned away from them then and started walking across to the other side of the village where the Elders had their houses. He really could trust them. He knew that much. They might disagree or fight from time to time, but his friends were his friends and ultimately, his allies and in a way, they were family. He knew that he would be able to depend on them. Despite any doubts, he was quickly coming to the opinion that he was making the right choice.

  Of course, he knew they would be missed. The needed work upon the wall, the small game hunts that the young men undertook regularly, their absence would soon be noticed. He had to presume that the old man would justify their departure. There were brothers and sisters, parents too, that perhaps might notice, but the structure of their society meant that all of the younger man and women were as brothers and sisters, all of the adults were parents. It was like one large, complex family, with the Elders leading them all. The Elders provided guidance, knowledge, and wisdom. Not only did they hold the traditions and the stories, but they were the ones who communed directly with the gods. If Haracan were to provide an explanation, then the village, as a whole, would accept it. Of that, Tohil had little doubt.