Words of Love

chapter FIFTEEN



“Behold the large hat,” said Jesse.

They stood at the base of the pyramid again, next to the stela. Jesse pointed up the staircase, to the building at the apex.

“A hat because it’s at the top?” Brett asked.

“No,” she said, going over to the stela. “Here are the glyphs for hat.” She let her fingers run over the top of them as they pulsed in blue and green. “The glyphs for hat literally translate as house head.”

“A hat is a house for your head,” Brett said. “Okay, that makes sense.”

“And they want you to construct a large one.”

Brett shook his head.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve been over every inch of the inside of that building. It always seemed like the right way to find the Red King but there’s nothing there.”

“Until you knew to look for the plumeria, you thought nothing was on the other side of the pyramid.”

She glanced at the river of dirt that had flowed from that side of the pyramid. She hadn’t been able to stop him in time and he’d picked the wrong lever. A shudder went down her spine at the memory of it. The first king of the Maya played a lethal riddle game. He always had. He wasn’t called the Blood Gatherer for nothing.

“There are glyphs up there, aren’t there?” she asked.

“There are but…”

“You’ve already read them and they don’t say anything meaningful,” she said.

“Well, actually I didn’t get very far with them,” he said smiling. “But…” His face grew more serious. “Yesterday, we got lucky. I don’t know what’s in store up there but I don’t want to put you in more danger.”

“Then stop pushing levers,” she said, smiling, and grabbed his hand. “It can’t hurt to at least read them.”

Her heart started to race, even at the thought. The glyphs in this city were unlike any others she’d seen. It was a challenge, a thrill and, more important, it was something Brett needed.

“Come on,” she said, tugging him along.

The stairs of the pyramid were tall. Though Jesse was fit, she had started to breathe hard nearly from the start. At the front of each row of stairs, as at the Caracol, the risers were embellished with carved panels. Instead of rows of glyphs, though, each riser depicted the Lords of Xibalba performing their storied feats. She paused briefly over one that showed the Twin Heroes being buried under a mountain.

“A mountain of dirt,” she said breathlessly as they stepped over it.

Scene after scene, showed the lords playing ball, making blood offerings, receiving obeisance from vassals and finally Blood Gatherer sat on a throne as he made judgments.

As they mounted the final step, Brett held up his lantern. The floodlights didn’t reach into the interior of the building. Unlike the Caracol, it didn’t have an altar.

Jesse held her lantern up to the lintel over the wide door. It showed the Red King in the center of stylized plumeria flowers, his hands held out to each side, grasping the thick vines that connected them. This was his house, no doubt of it.

As she passed below it and into the building, another shudder went down her spine. A single panel of glyphs on the back wall suddenly jumped to life. As with the stela below when she’d read it for the first time, the glyphs leapt out at her. They were so intense, that she had to shield her face.

“Jesse, are you alright?” she heard Brett say but his voice sounded distant.

Despite the deep red glare of the foreboding symbols, she slowly approached them. As usual, she reached her hands out and touched them. A jolt like electricity pulsed through her and she sucked in a quick breath. Her internal dictionary began to swirl around her head and the new glyphs in front of her began to break apart into their most basic elements.

“Blood Gatherer is set upon the mat,” she read, a little breathlessly. “Set upon the throne, when their ruler is set up. The heavenly fan, the heavenly wreath and the heavenly bouquet shall descend.” She followed the glyphs closer to the floor, keeping her hands in contact. “The drum and rattle of the lord shall sound, when flint knives are set into his mantle.” She sank to her knees as the glyphs continued to whirl at a frenetic pace. “The Red King comes and red is his garment also.” And then she touched the final row of glyphs. “My son, bring me that which hooks the sky and also the hooked tooth.”

That was it, that was the riddle. She stayed frozen, panting now.

“That which hooks the sky,” she whispered. “Also the hooked tooth.”

She shook her head. No, that’s not what it means. Other dialects popped in and out of her vision as she closed her eyes. Not a hook. Not a tooth. As one sound-alike word suddenly aligned with another, she jerked her head up.

“My son,” she breathed. “Bring me the deer and the gopher.”

She leaned heavily against the glyphs, breathing hard and felt Brent’s arm around her shoulders.

“Jesse,” he was saying. “Can you hear me?” She blinked as the swirling glyphs stopped. “Jesse,” he said, again.

“I hear you,” she whispered between breaths. “I hear you.”

“Sometimes you scare me, Jesse, you really do. I don’t know where you go when you’re reading but it’s very far away.”

She slowly shook her head and wiped sweat from her forehead.

“I’m right here,” she said, finally looking at him. He was kneeling next to her, propping her up, and his face was scowling. “I’m right here,” she repeated smiling. “Just in another time.”

Then she remembered the steps they’d come up. She started to get up and Brett helped her.

“The deer and the gopher,” she said. “We passed them.”

As he supported her around the waist, he helped her descend and she glanced back at the riser that was second from the top.

“There,” she said, pointing.

They both turned to look at it.

Like the scene of the Red King grasping the vines of plumerias, this was also a complex foliage scene of the jungle. At the far left was a deer amidst a set of brambles and at the right, a stylized but large-toothed gopher in a tree.

“But look,” Brett said, pointing. “Those could be hooks.”

He was pointing at the third riser, below the one with the deer and gopher. Exactly underneath the two stones that she had identified, were V-shaped forms that might have represented archaic hooks. They looked like they were made of sharp, tapered sticks that were bound together at the bottom of the V-shape with twine.

“That’s the false interpretation,” Jesse said. “That’s the wrong one that gets the prospective king killed.”

“Right,” said Brett, returning his attention to the blocks with the deer and gopher carvings. “I don’t see any levers. Maybe that’s a good thing.” He paused and looked from one to the other and then back again. “But they are separate blocks of stone, separate steps. If you were coming up the center of the staircase, there’d be no way you’d step on them both. In fact, it’ll be a stretch for me to step on them both simultaneously.” He looked up and down the staircase. “But I’ll bet that’s what you’re supposed to do. They’re steps, after all.” He looked at her. “But I said I’d check with you first.”

“I think you’re right,” Jesse said, looking at the steps. “I don’t see any reason not to do it.”

But he didn’t move. Instead, he looked up at the building.

“I don’t know where the safest place is going to be for you,” he said.

She took a step closer to him.

“I think right by your side,” she said, putting her arms around him.

“I think I have to agree,” he said. “If something happens, I want you where I can reach you.”

She nodded.

“Ready when you are,” she said.

He looked at each of the steps but left an arm around her waist.

“Let’s go up to that step,” he said. “But don’t stand on the block with the deer.”

They stepped up together, in the center.

“All right,” he said, hugging her close to his side. “Here we go.”

He firmly planted one boot on the block with the gopher and then kicked his other foot out, placing it on the stone with the deer. It hadn’t been as far as they’d thought and he settled into a wide stance but easily doable.

The sound of stone grinding on stone began immediately.



• • • • •



Brett tensed and hugged Jesse to his side but he kept his feet in place. The grinding sound was coming from inside the building at the top of the pyramid. As they watched, a stone slab in the floor began to descend. After what seemed like an eternity, the loud grinding finally stopped and the slab was no longer visible.

Jesse started up the steps.

“No,” Brett said, holding her firm. “Let me go first.”

Slowly, he climbed the last step up and looked down at the floor. The rectangular hole was dark and impenetrable. As Brett stepped forward, he felt Jesse behind him. He passed the opening and picked up the lantern he’d left near the back wall. As he raised it over the hole, a series of steps was revealed, the first of which was the slab that had once been the floor.

“Oh my god,” Jesse whispered.

The steps fell away in darkness with no way to tell how deep they would go. Then, something on the second step caught Brett’s attention. He lowered the lantern over it and froze.

“The Jester God,” he whispered.

There, laying on the second step, was a carved stone. It was darker than the surrounding material and had looked like a shadow but Brett could see now that it was dark blue and ornately carved. Carefully, he knelt next to the opening, reached down and picked it up.

It was the image of the Jester God, seated cross-legged on his stool. He wore the distinctive headdress with the tassel of three loops dangling at its end. The Jester God was the earliest symbol of Maya rulership and they were always connected with the burial of a king–always. And it was carved in Olmec Blue Jade, once thought to have but a single source in all of Central America.

“You did it, Jesse,” he said, turning to her. His heart began to pound. “You did it!” he yelled, picking her up around the waist, the lantern and stone tablet behind her. “You did it!”

“We did it,” she said, smiling down at him.

He quickly set her down and held the lantern over the stone so they both could see it. Its edges were perfectly carved and yet they were irregular. Often, elite Maya masks and armor were carved from this rare jade. But the stone that he held didn’t resemble any of those. Its irregular edges weren’t symmetric and it wasn’t quite a rectangle, and yet it was perfectly whole, not broken. As he stared at it, he realized what it had to be.

“It’s a puzzle piece,” he said. “Look at the contours. It has to fit someplace.” He looked back down the stairs. “He has to be close,” Brett said. “He has to be down there.”

“Oh no,” Jesse whispered.

He suddenly turned to her.

“The glyphs,” she said, sliding her fingers over the stone tablet. “Another test,” she whispered. She began to brush her fingers lightly over the tiny and intricate glyphs. “Believe in my word. It hangs over the rulers of the city. They shall be destroyed and their blood gathered. On this day the end shall come.” She sucked in a breath as she stared hard at the stone. “My son, bring me your…” She frowned. “…confession of sin.”

She stopped, still staring at it as her eyebrows knit together. Beads of sweat broke out on her forehead.

“Jesse?” he said, still holding the stone and the lantern. “Jesse, what does it mean?”

She blinked at it and then looked up at his face.

“I don’t know,” she breathed, as her eyes closed and she swayed.

“Jesse!” he said, as he quickly grabbed her, dropping the lantern.

It smashed on the floor behind her but he had both his arms around her as she started to sink. He scooped her up from behind, still gripping the stone and held her draped in his arms.

“Brett?” she murmured.

Her eyes were closed and she was drenched with sweat.

“I’ve got you,” he said, watching her face.

Slowly her eyes opened but they were unfocused.

“Just dizzy,” she whispered, putting a hand to her forehead. “Just need a minute.”

“I don’t think so,” he said, heading to the stairs.

“No, Brett,” she said, trying to put her feet down. “We’re so close.”

“He’ll have to wait,” he said looking down at her. “You’re in no condition for this. Not now.”

“But–”

“And I dropped the lantern,” he said. “So he has to wait.” He smiled down at her. “But we’ll be back. We have the Jester God.”