A long moment of silence was broken by the King yelling, “Honac-Fey!” Yet the man with the diamond tattoo had run off.
The Serpent Priest went down to the ballcourt, his teeth clenched in anger. He took a moment to watch the guards chasing after Honac-Fey; the burning torches reflected the concern in his silver eyes. He turned and approached William. “Retrieve the bloodstone, Balam.”
“Are you crazy?” William asked. He was worried to touch it after seeing what it had just done to the Governor.
“It will not harm you. Pick it up and hold it so that all can see that you are its rightful master.”
William nodded, knowing that he could trust Priest Quisac. As he staggered toward the lifeless man in the yellow cape, William glanced at his fallen teammates; they were all dead, with green foam dripping off their faces. He looked up to find Betty in the stands and mouthed the words ‘thank you’ to her, realizing that she had saved his life by stopping him from drinking the poison.
He tossed off his helmet and yanked loose his shoulder and hip protectors; they fell to the ground behind him. He reached down, pulled the necklace free from the limp fingers of the dead man, and studied the gem that dangled before him. Its previous reddish hue had faded; it was nearly black. William grasped the bloodstone, carried it to the center of the ballcourt, and held it high over his head for all to see. Its glow radiated from between his fingers, and he felt a tingling sensation in his hand. He relaxed, for the bloodstone somehow soothed his aches and pains. It made him feel steadier on his feet.
Many in the assembly chanted his name, while others were in tears, or in a frozen state of shock from the alarming turn of events.
William opened his hand and stared at the bloodstone again. Its color had brightened a little, but lacked the vibrancy it used to have. An uncomfortable feeling crept over him. He figured he was just feeling sorry for those who had died on the ballcourt. But that wasn’t it, he realized. The feeling of distress was emanating from the bloodstone itself.
Chapter Six
William awoke to the sound of someone screaming, followed by a stampede of footsteps-sandals clacking against the plaster floor as people rushed about. He went out to investigate and discovered a large crowd gathered in the main courtyard. Everyone was transfixed by the tall ceiba tree, staring into the canopy of its branches overhead. William joined the growing group of nobles, servants, and guards. As he made his way to the tree, he wondered what had them so concerned.
Yax arrived at the courtyard a moment later with such a look of shock, that one might think someone was hanging by his neck from the tree. He rushed over to a gnarled old noble nearby; he had a nasty looking scar along his cheek and was missing his left ear. “What has happened, Subiac?” Yax asked.
“The Tree of Life is dying,” he said.
“That’s impossible,” Yax said, with tears forming in his eyes. He placed his hand against the ceiba tree’s trunk and stroked its thorny bark with the concern one would show for a sick pet.
Teshna entered the courtyard with the same horrified expression as all the others. “What is this?” she asked.
“It is the beginning of the end,” said the Serpent Priest, standing in the arched entrance of the western hallway.
Yax pulled himself from the tree and spun around. “What do you mean?” he asked.
Priest Quisac moved through the crowd, as the fallen leaves fluttered up around his feet. “A terrible curse has been set forth on our land by Honac-Fey.”
“What’s going on?” William asked.
“The Tree of Life has been poisoned, Balam,” Priest Quisac said. “She is dying.”
Teshna kneeled by the tree and ran her hand along the large buttress roots at its base. She smelled the sap on her fingers and looked up with hope. “But she is not dead yet,” Teshna said.
“No, not yet… but dying,” the Serpent Priest said with certainty.
Betty entered the courtyard and shuffled over to William with a grumpy look on her face. “Boy you guys sure like to get a head start on the day! I thought you’d all be sleeping in after yesterday’s shenanigans.” She noticed the mess of leaves all over. “What’s this, some kind of tree pruning party?”
Yax gave Betty a blank stare, not understanding her, and then turned back to Priest Quisac with his arms crossed, becoming impatient. “What is this curse?”
Priest Quisac regarded Yax with profound worry. “Honac-Fey used yesterday’s ceremonies against us. He cast a plague on our soils.”
“How?” Teshna asked.
Priest Quisac stomped around the large base of the ceiba tree, waving back the crowd of nobles that had gathered too close, as though he was shooing away pesky flies. He stared up the towering trunk, studying its empty branches, and then turned back to Yax. “Honac-Fey placed the bloodstone into a container with sacrificial blood, chanted the curse of the soil plague, and smashed it onto the northern cardinal point of the ballcourt. Did you not see how the cursed blood crawled into the earth?”
“Yeah, I saw that!” William said, understanding his words, while also seeing images of the blood dissolving into the ground as the Serpent Priest spoke.
Yax moved in close to the Serpent Priest and whispered, “What is the end that you speak of?”
“All the land that is sacred to your kingdom will wither and die, just as the Tree of Life dies before us now,” the Serpent Priest said.
“You mean the fields? The crops?” Teshna asked, blurting out her concerns louder than she should have. Nervous grumbles spiraled through the crowd about the crops being poisoned.
“Yes,” Priest Quisac said. “Thus it is so with the soil plague.”
The King walked several steps and spun back. “Then all is lost?”
“No,” Priest Quisac said. He glanced at William, a subtle smile crossing his lips. “Had Balam died with the others, the bloodstone’s power would now reside with Honac-Fey.” The Serpent Priest gazed at Betty, and his face lit up. “However, a twist transpired in the planned events. We have Bati to thank for that. Balam did not die, and Honac-Fey fled without the bloodstone. Perhaps Honac-Fey assumed all would be lost before we could understand the impact of his actions.”
Betty perked up upon hearing her name amidst the jumble of Mayan conversation, and she gave William a gesture to explain. He translated as best he could about the curse-how they thought the bloodstone might help in some way.
Yax paced around the tree. “The solution to the soil plague,” he asked Priest Quisac, “will it take an extended time?”
“Yes,” Priest Quisac said, “and it is a difficult and uncertain proposition.”
“Then we must harvest the crops now,” Yax said.
“A wise decision, my Lord, before the sickness reaches them all,” the Serpent Priest agreed.
The heavy noble with a bone pierced through his nose approached Yax. “King Stone Frog,” the man said with a short bow. “I was at the fields yesterday. A few plantations of beans, peppers, and squash are nearly ready. But the maize fields are far from maturation. The stars… they do not advise harvest at this time.”
“Forget the stars for once!” Yax said. “We must salvage whatever we can, noble Lamat, down to the last berry.” Yax raced up the steps of the platform overlooking the courtyard, glaring at several nobles who were on their hands and knees. “Now is not the time for prayer!” he shouted. The nobles jumped up. “We must save our food supply. Each and every one of us-noble and peasant alike-are to work the fields and orchards. Scour the jungle for anything that is edible.”
Yax pointed at a group of royal guards near the entrance. “Shake the royal palace! Wake each and every family from here to Kinichna. Pass on my order of the harvest to all!” He rushed over to a little boy kneeling beside a potted plant. “Belasar.”