Free Dai-San - 03 by Eric Van Lustbader

promise of the Book of Balam, keeping us here, waiting, waiting for the katun of Ce-Acatl to come again.’ He gestured and Kin Coba moved silently to stand beside him, staring up at the wall of glyphs. ‘It comes now. At midnight the katun of Ce-Acatl returns; the primary; the beginning of the sixth age; the time of the Majapan’s return.’
    Within one arch’s deep shadow Ronin gestured to Moichi to follow Uxmal Chac while he stayed to listen.
    ‘He may return to see if we are in our rooms,’ he whispered in Moichi’s ear. ‘We will meet in your chamber later tonight.’ He returned his attention to the pair in the light.
    ‘The origins of the Majapan are steeped in mystery,’ Cabal Xiu continued. ‘They carried with them the knowledge and the power of an age before the birth of man. Then the Majapan lived in a land of heat and jungle bordered on all sides by a great fathomless sea filled with monstrous creatures. From their gods, they received great gifts and knowledge but they were cursed for they came into being at the end of the Old Time and, as the time of man grew nigh, vast upheavals of the earth and the sea and the sky occurred.
    ‘And the priests, who foretold these cataclysms, for even then was the Book of Balam in existence, now went among the Majapan and, gathering them all upon an immense plain near the shores of the writhing seas, bade them construct ships, speaking to them thusly: “Now you shall build strong ships to sail upon the seas for the land of our birth will soon be no more. If the Majapan shall survive, it will be in another land.”
    ‘And the people were terrified, for they were not good sailors and had no love for the water and they milled about, contending amongst themselves. Thus the priests said unto them: “Fear not the high seas nor the leviathans of the deep, for the true danger lies here. Now will our land turn red and black and belch smoke and sulphur and the blood of the earth shall pour forth. Then will our land split asunder and hurl itself into the fathomless caverns of the earth for all time and the seas will wash over it like two hands clasped together.”
    ‘Thus spake the priests and the Majapan listened and set themselves to build the ships of their salvation. And they went then to their ships, gathering up their children and their food and leaving all other manner of possessions behind. And the priests took up their sacred scrolls and left and the great wealth of the Majapan was left behind.
    ‘So the Majapan set out from their doomed land, which already burned at its heart with the ending of the Old Time, and they were divided by the priests. One quarter went to the north, one quarter to the south, one quarter to the east and one quarter to the west.
    ‘Thus the Majapan came to this island, this vast jut of limestone ledge, thrusting up from the floor of the sea. And here they founded Xich Chih, the city of their forefathers, the true city.
    ‘Only here were the Majapan not assimilated into the birthing cultures of man, who spawned upon the world like maggots. Only here the Majapan remained unadulterated. And when they saw the Chacmool, they knew it at once for what it was: the personification of Tzcatlipoca.’
    ‘And now,’ breathed Kin Coba, her voice rich and tremulous upon the thick air, ‘in the katun of Ce-Acatl, in the dawning of the sixth age, the first of the Majapan have returned to their sacred city, where this night Tzcatlipoca may be reborn to once again see His Xich Chih.’
    Here and there streaks of water, last remnants of the hard rain, passed to platinum in the moonlight. Each carved stone block was moved to eerie calligraphy by the swift interplay of light and shadow; a numinous history hewn into each surface. It is a city of the dead now, Ronin thought, as he followed the fleet figure of Kin Coba through the dappled city. Perhaps time and solitude have turned them mad, for these three, the keepers of Xich Chih, were apparently not