The Sacrifice: a short story Read online

  For the first time, Pet Jaguar attempted to speak, but only awkward sounds came from his mouth.

  She couldn’t understand any of the words he tried to say. Kaypahl tried looking at his lips to see if that would help, but the accidental sight of his tongue stump made her flinch.

  He flinched in return, the hurt obvious in his eyes.

  Kaypahl’s heart sank. For reasons she didn’t understand, Pet Jaguar had become the one person in this world who seemed willing to help her, and she had no desire to hurt him. “I’m sorry,” she said, rising to her feet. “I was surprised. Caught off guard. That’s all.”

  Pet Jaguar grunted and nodded a brief acceptance of her apology.

  “I believe you’re helping me,” Kaypahl continued. “I know I can’t go back. They only liked me when I offered to die so I could help them. If they knew the gods rejected me, they’d probably pick me up and throw me in the cenote themselves. And then they might hurt my family in retaliation.” Kaypahl shook her head. “I can’t let that happen. I will follow wherever you lead, but I’m exhausted. I can’t take another step. Can’t we stop for the night?”

  Pet Jaguar studied her for a moment and then shrugged his agreement. He led her to a nearby spot where he used his sharp obsidian knife to cut large, broad leaves, arranging them to provide simple shelter.

  Kaypahl looked up toward the twilight sky. Still clear and cloudless. A sign of the gods’ disappointment in her. “Why bother with shelter? It’s not going to rain tonight. It’s never going to rain again. Ever.”

  Pet Jaguar walked up to her and clamped his hand over his mouth. With his other hand, he gestured toward the depths of the jungle, then at his own ear.

  Kaypahl understood his message.

  Listen.

  Within a minute, Kaypahl became aware of a wide variety of sounds. Rustlings. Things moving through the jungle. Maybe dangerous things.

  She didn’t understand how an arrangement of large leaves could offer protection, except maybe to hide them from night predators. But Pet Jaguar had acted confident throughout the day, and no matter which rumors she’d heard about him might or might not be true, she’d come to trust his judgment. She looked into his eyes and nodded.

  Pet Jaguar took his hand away from his mouth. Instead of trying to speak, he pantomimed walking away with his fingers, gathering up something, and then walking back.

  “No,” Kaypahl whispered. “Don’t leave me!”

  Pet Jaguar put his obsidian knife in her hand, wrapping her fingers around its handle.

  Kaypahl struggled to hold onto it, the handle too bulky for her to find a comfortable grip with her short fingers. She shifted the knife to hold it close to the blade.

  Pet Jaguar shook his head in disapproval. He stepped behind her, placing his hand on hers, both of their fingers curled around the knife’s handle. He showed her how to stab by guiding the knife, repeatedly giving her the sensation of how to use it.

  Still terrified, Kaypahl willed herself to absorb the lesson. The position of her hand. The angle at which she held the knife. The force with which she needed to thrust it.

  Pet Jaguar let go of her hand, gave her back a firm pat, and in less time than it took her racing heart to beat, disappeared into the jungle.

  Trembling, Kaypahl stood in front of the leaf shelter, clutching the knife with a death grip. The jungle went silent for several minutes. The last bit of twilight disappeared, and the edges of the jungle surrounding her went black.

  Someone stepped out of the blackness and slammed her wrists together, wrapping his beefy fingers around them. “Look what I found,” a familiar voice said, one that had taunted her for years. “I thought that was you I saw. Won’t the king be surprised when I bring you back and he finds out you lied to us all? I bet he’ll be so moved by your wickedness and my cleverness in finding you out that he makes me one of his priests.”

  Kaypahl tried to cry out, but he stuffed his fingers into her mouth to silence her.

  When Kaypahl’s body showed the first signs of blossoming into womanhood, her mother had taken her aside and taught her what to do if any man tried to take her against her will. The memories of those lessons came rushing back to Kaypahl, and she embraced them.

  First, she bit his fingers. Hard.

  Her attacker screamed, yanking his injured hand away from her. He kept the other hand wrapped around her wrists, seemingly unaware of the knife she still held.

  Then she stomped hard on his feet, making sure to use her heel like an ax against his vulnerable toes and ankles.

  He shrieked again, letting go of Kaypahl and stumbling away from her. “If you don’t stop, I’ll kill you! I already killed that crazy mute boy!”

  Pet Jaguar. Kaypahl’s heart sank but his words inflamed her anger. She held the knife exactly the way Pet Jaguar had shown her. She rushed forward with all her might, taking the older boy by surprise and knocking him onto his back. She straddled his chest, plopped all her weight on top of him, pinning his arms to the ground with her knees. “How do you like my fat bottom now?”

  “Get off me!” He thrashed beneath her steady weight.

  “If you don’t leave me alone, I’ll cut your tongue out. Then who will be the crazy mute boy?”

  A low growl interrupted them.

  Kaypahl’s eyes had adjusted as much as they could to the dark, but she could see little more than shapes. A large cat paced by her attacker’s head. Although mostly a moving shadow, its tail whipped wildly and its thick paws plodded against the jungle floor. A constant growl lodged in its throat.

  “This girl is protected by the gods. Leave her be!”

  The words startled Kaypahl, because they seemed to come from the same voice she’d heard at the ruins, the voice of Chaac’s daughter.

  The man who had attacked Kaypahl let loose one final scream. She rolled off and let him run away. She couldn’t tell whether the jungle cat chased after him or not, because it vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

  Kaypahl jumped at the sudden touch of a hand upon her elbow.

  The hand pulled her toward the leaf shelter, and Pet Jaguar grunted.

  She put her hands on his shoulders, making sure he was real. “He told me you were dead. He said he killed you.”

  Pet Jaguar chuckled, needing no words to laugh.

  That night Kaypahl slept soundly, knowing she’d be safe with Pet Jaguar by her side.

  ###

  A few days later they arrived at a city far grander than anything Kaypahl could have imagined, seeing the tops of its stone buildings rise above the jungle hours before they arrived. She guessed it must be ten times the size of her own city. Low stone buildings with the same square rooftops and carved decorations formed a border around the city. A grand stone tower stood four stories high, each floor spacious enough to accommodate 100 men. Temples and pyramids dominated the city, its streets crowded with many thousands of people.

  Pet Jaguar led her through the bustling streets, and Kaypahl noticed two things. First, many people seemed to recognize Pet Jaguar. The crowds parted for him, and people smiled and called out to him. A few women sank to their knees in reverence.

  The other thing Kaypahl noticed was how much the women of this city looked like her. Few people looked slim and lithe. Most of the girls and women were as fat-bottomed as Kaypahl.

  Then Kaypahl remembered something she hadn’t thought of since childhood, something she’d assumed to be nothing more than a fanciful story. People had once talked about a grand city to the north, a place where different peoples with different beliefs lived in harmony. A city that had no king but many great men who fought to keep them safe. A place where the people ruled themselves.

  Perhaps it might also be a place where fat-bottom girls could live in peace and happiness.

  Pet Jaguar led Kaypahl into a grand open temple made of hundreds of tall columns, each painted with the colorful image of a different warrior in full dress for battle, each image more varied and elaborate than th
e last. Pet Jaguar paused and pointed at one of the last columns, whose painted warrior reminded Kaypahl of him. Grinning, he took her hand and led her out of the far side of the temple.

  Finally, they arrived at a fine house, much like Kaypahl’s house except larger. A few men stood in front, deep in discussion. A man who looked like the image of the warrior on the column that Pet Jaguar had pointed out to Kaypahl stopped talking, stared at Pet Jaguar, and then ran to sweep him up in his arms. In return, Pet Jaguar sank into the embrace and pounded the man’s back in joyous celebration.

  “Lamak!” the man said. “I thought I’d never see you again!” He backed away, cradling Pet Jaguar’s face. “My brother let you return to us. How has this come to happen?”

  His brother? Kaypahl took a closer look and saw the resemblance between this man and her city’s king. Now she knew which rumors to believe.

  And everything that had happened to her made sense.

  Her own people would kill her if they knew her sacrifice had failed, so she couldn’t go home. The kind princess Leepak must have been inside the ruins when Kaypahl spoke to them. She must have taken pity and asked her cousin Pet Jaguar to bring Kaypahl to this city. And wouldn’t it make sense that Leepak had disguised herself as the daughter of Chaac so that Kaypahl could never tell the truth about what happened, which would likely lead to unbearable consequences for Kaypahl’s entire family?

  The only thing that gave Kaypahl pause was the jungle cat she’d encountered, the one that sounded like Leepak. But Kaypahl dismissed it as a sight she must have imagined. It could only have been real if Leepak were a true goddess with the power to change her shape. It couldn’t possibly be true, could it?

  Beaming, Pet Jaguar’s eyes welled with tears. Stepping next to Kaypahl, he clamped an enthusiastic hand on her shoulder.

  The fine, strong man with warrior blood embraced Kaypahl. His voice broke when he said, “Thank you for giving reason for my son to come home.”

  Thunder rumbled above.

  The warrior man released Kaypahl and looked at the darkening skies. His face broke into a sunny grin. “At last! Someone has made a sacrifice that pleases Chaac.” He gestured toward Kaypahl to give her credit.

  Kaypahl felt the warmth of summer rain kiss her skin, humbled by the depth of Chaac’s love while an entire city cheered and the skies above them opened and poured down the clean, pure blood of the gods that would save them all.

  The End

  Find out more…

  Books in the Dragonslayer Series

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  The Dragonslayer’s Sword (Book 1)

  The Iron Maiden (Book 2)

  The Stone of Darkness (Book 3)

  The Dragon’s Egg (Book 4)

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  Dragonfly (Book 1)

  SF/F Mystery/Thrillers

  All of Us Were Sophie

  Our Lady of the Absolute

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