Free The Visionary Mayan Queen: Yohl Ik'Nal of Palenque by Leonide Martin

wisdom and esoteric practices, their unique relationship with time and the cosmos as reflected on earth.
    This great ruler would come from an issue of her body, from her blood and loins and the holy B’aakal lineage of which she was the keeper.
    5
    Ahkal Mo’ Nab II, K’uhul Ahau of Lakam Ha, Holy B’aakal Lord, mediator with the gods and bringer of abundance as the embodied Maize God, was not feeling well. During the night his thin body was shaken with fever, his bed pallet drenched with sweat. This morning he was weak, drained of the vigor that his 45 year-old body should rightfully have. He was steadily becoming weaker. Each attack depleted his reserve and lowered his life force. Shuddering, he sensed the relentless approach of the Death Lords of Xibalba. Not immanent, not yet at his threshold, but not so far away.
    He sighed, thinking of his strong and still youthful wife who was denied children by his infirmity. Greater than this personal emptiness, however, was the lack of dynastic succession through a son. Now he accepted the inevitable, that the lineage would continue through his brother Kan Bahlam.
    The ruler’s ruminations were interrupted by attendants bringing him a bowl of nourishing liquid made of ground maize, peppers and venison broth. The Shaman-Priest had carefully instructed them about the ruler’s needs after fever attacks, and also sworn them to silence about these episodes. They bathed their K’uhul Ahau once the fever broke with tepid waters infused with medicinal herbs, and wrapped him in dry cloaks of soft cotton. They encouraged him to drink plentiful clear water conveyed into his quarters by Lakam Ha’s extensive aqueduct system that also supplied chambers for bathing, eliminating and steam baths.
    To satisfy his attendants, who would report the meal to the Shaman-Priest, the ruler tried to eat but his appetite was small. He gestured for them to leave the bowl with him, signaling that he be dressed in casual garb for his brother’s visit this morning. To his surprise, two visitors appeared shortly at the door of his day chamber: Kan Bahlam and his daughter, Yohl Ik’nal.
    “ Ma’alo k’in , greetings of the day,” said Ahkal Mo’ Nab, concealing his surprise.
    “ Ma’alo k’in ,” father and daughter said in unison, bowing while grasping the left shoulder with the right hand, gesture of respect and honor.
    The day chamber was larger than most. Its outer door opened onto an interior plaza while the inner door gave access to the sleeping chamber. Two tall rectangular windows faced the plaza where small trees and shrubs in ceramic pots added color. The ruler sat on a raised platform covered by woven mats and his guests settled cross-legged onto mats on the floor. The mats were richly woven in bright colors and intricate designs, made of dense cotton that provided cushioning. A similar woven drape covered the inner door, hanging from a wooden pole wedged into small holes on either side to give the sleeping chamber privacy.
    “Here beside me is my daughter,” began Kan Bahlam. “That of which we speak today also pertains to her. It is time that she enters into these things, these considerations. May the Holy B’aakal Lord be in agreement with this understanding.”
    Ahkal Mo’ Nab nodded gravely, his right hand signing acceptance.
    “It is fitting that she is here. This understanding we share.”
    Yohl Ik’nal kept her eyes discretely downcast, hands folded in lap. When her father told her about this meeting with the ruler, she knew why. But there was much more she needed to learn, and her mind was alert and focused.
    “The meaning of the messenger is clear,” Kan Bahlam continued. “This discontent of Usihwitz and Yokib is not solely of their doing. It is fed by the ambitions of Uitah Chan, ruler of Kan. He plots and schemes for expansion, and his gluttonous eyes are turning toward the land of B’aakal. To support his objectives, he sows covetness into the minds of young