William squinted, staring at the small bump in the ground that rose perhaps twenty feet above the steady contour of the land, wondering if he was looking in the right direction. “You mean that hill? That’s it?”
“Yes, that is it,” the Serpent Priest said, confirming.
“I thought it would be much bigger.”
“It is merely the entrance. Come.” Priest Quisac plodded forward through the mucky swamp.
“Where is the entrance?” William asked, unable to see any visible openings on the hill as he splashed through the wet marsh. Their progress slowed due to the water that rose to their knees at one point. He grimaced at the feeling of the silt squishing through his toes, while keeping an eye out for any creepy critters that might be lurking just under the surface.
“It is on the other side, near the top.”
Just as dusk settled in, they broke free from the swamp, back onto solid ground, and arrived at the obscure little hill hidden in the overgrowth of the jungle. Ferns, short shrubs, and flowering vines blanketed the hill. Agave plants grew throughout; their thick pointy leaves formed clusters of bluish balls that looked like ornaments from the distance.
After following Priest Quisac to the other side of the hill, William watched him climb up the embankment using the vines for support. William tried to follow his lead, but he slipped on the way up, swearing under his breath when he scraped his knees on the rocks. Once situated at the top, he spotted a shadowy area amidst the vegetation. Priest Quisac cut away the brush that he said had grown over the entrance since his last visit there. “Based on the growth, I would guess it has been several years since anyone has been here,” he said.
Mesmerized by the shape of the opening, William moved in closer to get a better view. “Did your people carve it like that?”
“Like what?” he asked, hacking off the last few vines with his dagger.
“The entrance is completely round,” William said. “The edges are so smooth.” He ran his hand along the curve of the five-foot diameter opening. Instead of a rocky texture that he would have expected for the entrance to the cave, it felt more like the slick surface of a Teflon frying pan.
Priest Quisac shrugged. “It has always been as such.” He retrieved the sacred flashlight from his pack, casting its beam inside, lighting up the green mossy walls of the cavern’s interior. William peeked in. “The initial descent is steep,” the Serpent Priest said. He beamed the light further into the tunnel; it went down at a forty degree angle into the darkness below.
“Maybe we should wait until the morning,” William said, feeling a little uncomfortable about exploring creepy caves at night.
“We will make camp in the caverns.”
“Down there?”
“It opens up below,” Priest Quisac said. He fished around with his free hand and grabbed a rope just inside the entrance, pulling it up from the moss that had grown over it. A haze of dust and pollen filled the tunnel as though he had just dumped out a vacuum cleaner bag. “Use the rope to steady your descent.” He positioned the flashlight in his belt, aiming it upwards to illuminate the tunnel, and then climbed through the entrance, shuffling his way down.
William followed the Serpent Priest, descending hand over hand along the guide rope; he assumed the Itzae had put it there decades before, and he hoped it was still sturdy. While maneuvering his way down, the sounds of their footsteps and labored breathing echoed through the tunnel. Although the walls were covered in a thick layer of sediment and plant growth, he could also sense an artificial quality to the tunnel that gave the echoes a metallic tone. “I can’t believe how smooth these walls are. Surely, someone built this tunnel, Priest Quisaahhh!” William slipped and slammed hard onto his side, clinging to the rope with just one hand. His pack slipped off his shoulder and slid down the ramp. The Serpent Priest snatched it up as it passed by him.
“Be careful. There are some slick spots,” Priest Quisac said, flinging William’s pack over his shoulder and continuing on.
“Yeah, thanks for the warning.” While pulling himself up, William noticed that he had fallen on an area free of the dirt and mossy vegetation that covered most of the tunnel. He rubbed his fingers against it, detecting the same metallic texture as with the entrance.
Upon reaching the bottom, the slope leveled out beneath William’s feet. He dropped the rope and turned. Standing frozen with big eyes and his jaw hanging open, he gazed into the enormous cavern ahead of him. The chamber was the size of a basketball stadium. However, unlike most caverns, there were dozens of triangular green stones embedded in the walls.
“The Sacred Cavern of Jade,” Priest Quisac said, his arms outstretched; the sacred flashlight cast its beam of light at the ceiling high above, where moss-covered formations hung down, and long black vines dangled throughout.
Shifting his attention to the cavern wall beside him, William gazed across the long line of triangular jade stones. Each appeared to be the same size, and they were precisely spaced apart, like they had been attached to the wall. “Who built this place?”
The Serpent Priest smiled. “As our people have built above the land, other civilizations have built below.”
“Did your people put those jade stones there, and sculpt them like that?”
“They have always been there, just as they are now,” Priest Quisac said. He aimed the beam of light toward an arched doorway at the other end of the cavern. “That is the entrance to the tunnels that lead to the cavern of the cenote. It is not far. Allow me to show you so that you can determine if it is the same place where you and Bati discovered the Serpent Passage.”
He followed Priest Quisac down a long corridor-that seemed more like a big tube-and through a maze of other connecting passages. The uneven floor made him feel off balance. Along the way, the path leveled off, and it dawned on William that the passage had taken on a typical rocky appearance. A mild stream trickled beneath their feet.
“The ground is wet here. You must watch your footing during the remainder of this trail,” Priest Quisac said.
While continuing along, Priest Quisac bounced the beam of his flashlight off the walls to light the way, and William noticed the same kind of florescent algae that he recalled seeing before on his ride down the underground river, beneath the Cenote Azul. The rugged tunnel opened up into another large chamber before connecting with another stretch of rounded tubes. The tubes joined up with rough passages again, and William began to wonder why some sections of the tunnels were built so much better than others.
A steady splashing noise grew louder as they neared the end of the tunnel. They stopped along a ledge that overlooked a cavern. The stream ran over the ledge, pouring into the cenote below with the meager velocity of a garden hose filling a swimming pool.
Priest Quisac pointed the light into the cavern. “Does this resemble the underground cenote from your journey?”
William borrowed the flashlight and shot the beam all about the cavern; goose bumps surfaced on his arms. “It’s the same,” he muttered. “I never thought I’d see this place again.”
“The Serpent Passage is beneath the cenote?” Priest Quisac asked, pointing below.
“I think so,” William said, with a hint of confusion, remembering the waterfall he had gone over before. He looked at water moving beneath his feet, and shifted his gaze below.
“If you are not sure, we can climb down to investigate.” Priest Quisac pointed at the guide ropes tied along the rocks.
William tapped his sandal in the water. “A thousand years from now, I think this little stream becomes that underground river I went down. It connects all the way to the Cenote Azul-it’s what pulled me in. In my time, this entrance here becomes the waterfall that I went over.” He aimed the light into the lake below, scanning across the rocky shores; he was relieved to not see all the skeletons that were there in his time.