Slowly, Talu lifted the basket and stared down at its contents, shaking his head sadly.
At the same moment, Neil reached into his back pocket for the cigarette lighter Dave had put in his trust.
Talu walked down the steps, the basket held before him. The crowd below was silent, as silent as death.
Neil stepped closer to the pile of tinder on the platform, standing behind it so that the spark of the lighter would not be seen. There would be a sudden burst of flame after Talu threw the basket into the well. And Tela would be saved.
Impatiently, he waited.
His long white robe trailing behind him, his head held high, his back straight and proud, Talu walked down the steps in front of the temple.
He paused before the gaping jaws of The Sacred Cenote, the basket held before him. The crowd’s eyes shifted from their priest to the platform piled with straw and twigs.
Neil’s fingers began to sweat around the lighter. He kept his thumb pressed on the trigger, ready to snap it.
Talu put the basket down at his feet. He touched his hand to his forehead, as if in apology for the abomination he was about to offer the gods. The crowd followed his example, still silent, expectant.
Then, he reached down, lifted the basket, and threw the contents into the well. The fruit and flowers spilled from the basket like a stream of blood, into the black maw of the pool.
This is it, Neil thought.
Rapidly, his thumb snapped down over the trigger.
Wet with sweat, it slipped off the trigger, and the wick remained covered.
Neil wet his lips as he immediately put his thumb back on the trigger and snapped down with all his might. The covering on the wick moved back, and there was a faint spark.
But there was no flame.
Frantically, Neil released his thumb and the lid clamped over the wick again. He pressed down, heard the faint click as the wheel rubbed against the flint. There was a spark again.
He looked down at the wick.
No flame.
All eyes were fastened to the platform now. Talu, the empty basket in his hands, had turned to face the temple, a faint smile of triumph on his lips.
With sweat covering his body, his shirt clinging to him wetly, his hair sticking to his brow, Neil took a deep breath and snapped his thumb down on the trigger again.
Chapter 16
Still No Kukulcan
He held his breath as he heard the dull click of wheel against flint, the grinding of the spring mechanism as the trigger snapped to expose the wick again.
There was the same faint spark, and a sickening wave rushed over Neil.
No flame! There was no flame.
Talu stood at the base of the steps, his eyes blazing, his arms folded across his chest.
“Where is your sign?” he shouted, and a wave of protest rose behind him as the Mayas began grumbling aloud.
Beside Neil, the girl Tela began to tremble violently, her frail body like a thin rush in its white garments.
“Talk to them,” Neil snapped at Erik. “Hold them a while longer.”
“But what are you trying to…”
“Talk to them!” The Norseman saw an intensity flare into his young friend’s eyes.
“Where is your sign?” Talu repeated from the foot of the steps.
“There will be a sign,” Erik said half-heartedly.
Neil covered the lighter with the palm of his hand and tried the trigger again. With his thumb flat against it, he examined the wick. It was short, so short that hardly any part projected beyond the metal circle around it.
Talu turned to his people.
“The gods are dissatisfied with this mock sacrifice.” he said.
A roar of approval went up from the Mayas.
“The gods demand the girl,” one man shouted.
“Give them the girl,” the cry was taken up.
Erik turned a hasty glance toward Neil. Neil was deep in concentration, trying to pluck the wick between his fingernails and yank it up higher.
“The gods are confused,” Erik said. “They will give their sign soon.”
“There will be no sign,” the crowd bellowed. “The gods are displeased.”
“The gods are considering your gift,” Erik said, his fingers nervously touching his ax. “Be patient.”
Neil plucked at the wick with ragged fingernails. He gripped the fiber between his nails and pulled. It moved a fraction of an inch, and then slipped from between his fingers.
“Hurry, Neil,” Erik said. “Hurry.”
Below, the Mayas were moving slowly toward the temple steps.
“There is no sign,” Talu said. “I am asking you to leave the temple. The sacrifice will go on as planned.”
Erik drew his ax. “No one moves onto the steps,” he commanded. “We will wait for a sign.”
Neil plucked at the wick again, pulling out at least a quarter of an inch. He breathed a deep sigh, and dropped the metal lid in place again.
“You are extending the bounds of hospitality,” Talu said menacingly. “There is such a thing as…”
Now, if only there were enough fuel. And if only the flint were working.
Neil snapped the trigger.
There was a click, and a spark.
And a flame!
It licked out at the straw, caught, hung like a red curl of silk, and then flared up as it spread to the surrounding straw.
Neil put his hand quickly into his pocket, the lighter clutched in his trembling fingers.
The flame spread, licking at the straw, dancing a brilliant orange, yellow, and red adagio.
A fearsome gasp went up from the Mayas when they saw the platform burst into flame. Talu backed away several steps, his eyes wide in awe.
“There is your sign,” Erik shouted. “The gods have spoken.”
The Mayas dropped to their knees as the straw ignited the twigs and the entire platform became a great torch that blazed into the night.
Talu dropped to his knees, too, and touched his hand to his forehead.
“The gods have spoken,” he intoned in a solemn voice.
Erik put his arm around Neil’s shoulder. “And I’ll never know how,” he said softly.
Later, when the Mayas had heaped bushel upon bushel of fruit and flowers onto the temple steps and then sacrificed them to the well, Talu approached Erik.
There was wisdom in his eyes and a gentleness to his hand as he took Erik’s hand in his own.
“My friend,” he said, “you have taught us much this night.”
“It is bad to destroy,” Erik said, “unless you are destroying your enemies.”
“Forgive us our ignorance,” Talu went on. “We thought the gods…”
“The gods are just,” Erik interrupted. “They would not have their grandchildren destroy themselves to appease their whims. They are satisfied with the fruit.”
“I shall pray they never have another human sacrifice,” Talu promised.
“It will be better that way,” Erik replied.
The time of harvest was slowly growing nearer. The fields began to burst with green, and Erik proudly supervised the care of the maize plants. Neil, meanwhile, was engrossed in the work Dave was doing on the time machine. The engineer was a tireless worker, up long before Neil stirred. He would eat a hurried breakfast and then go to where the time machine now stood in the city, resting on the stones before one of the temples.
After finishing his breakfast Neil would often join his friend and usually found him deep within the controls of the machine, fumbling with the wires, tightening here and there, his hands grimy and his face covered with sweat.
Several weeks after the near-sacrifice of Tela, Neil joined Dave. “You’re really giving your all to the old girl, aren’t you?” he asked.