PAYING THE PRICE

Dame Kerry kept watch over Rune’s body while the rest of us waited for the sun to set over the mountains.

Our reunion had been joyous, my three friends and even Je’kyll laughing and pounding me on the back in the way of the Orku, while Acorn thanked me in the formal way of her people before latching onto Rainbow like glue.

Jack, along with the remnants of Cahal’s war party, tied up Professor Bella with Ran-Li keeping watch beside her, the old Eldarion’s wrinkled face inscrutable. Jack had wanted to bind Dame Kerry as well but I stopped him, explaining how she had saved my life. He had reluctantly agreed.

When I asked him how they had managed to find us, he patted Ripper on the head. “Soon as you both drifted out of sight, Ripper took off down a path following the river, keeping us to a pace everyone could handle.” He chuckled. “Reckon Je’kyll may never forgive me, though, seeing as how I pushed him a mite hard. We found the shrine of Ix-Chel where you’d holed up for the night, and the priestess there told us how you’d been taken prisoner. Acorn led us to the Sac'be, and we eventually met up with the war party, what was left of it. Turns out some of them speak Spanish, and when I explained we were chasing after you and Rainbow, they joined up. Cahal’s death has them a mite riled. Ripper took the lead again and so, here we are.”

Rainbow and I explained what had happened and Jack said, “Reckon there’s nothing to be done for the dead ones still down in the hole. We’d best make tracks back into the tunnel before nightfall.”

That was when Ran-Li figuratively threw a grenado into our midst. “Not leave until sun rises. Camazotz-Ahau not appeased, send Zotz after us even in Sac'be. Spend night by pillars, leave first light. Not stop until far away. Then maybe safe.”

Rainbow asked, “What if the Camazotz-Ahau decides to drop the building down on our heads?” Ran-Li only shrugged before turning away.

The oily cloud soon dissipated, though when Jack went down to look, he said the entire bowl had been swept clean as if nothing had happened. Now, everyone else had settled into our new camp among the pillars, but I was sitting alone in the archway with Ripper beside me, Myste’s locket and Dame Kerry’s ringlet in my hand, when boot steps clicked on the stone floor at my back. Jack stopped and sat down on my other side. “Old Hoss, how you holding up?”

The setting sun made the mountains before me glow as if the world were on fire. “Numb. I should be mourning my grandfather, crying my eyes out like Rainbow did when she heard he had died, but instead I feel… nothing.”

Jack let the silence hang between us a few moments before he spoke. “I hated my old man for what he did to me and mam. But when he died all sudden like, reckon it was like getting gut-punched, knocking all the wind plum out of you.” He sighed. “Mam died the next day and it felt like the world had just up and ended right then.”

I turned to look at him, the last rays of the sun making his face look all angled and stark, like his skin had become rough stone. “Did you cry for her?”

“Not a lick for either one. Reckon I was too busy trying to keep me and the horse alive, and after a while there didn’t seem to be any need. Cried like a baby when the horse broke his leg bad and I had to put him down, though.”

“But I thought all Eldarions learned healing as their first spell.”

Jack shook his head. “I can’t use Aethyr any more than you can, or Terramagica for that matter.” He looked at me. “Half-blood Eldarion males don’t come into the world any kind of normal way, so I reckon wielding magic just can’t happen.”

“Eldarions sicken and die if they cannot use Aethyr, or so I have heard.”

Jack hesitated. “You remember when the old man in the courtyard talked about the Black Bastard in my head?”

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“I remember, though I have no idea what he was speaking about.”

“Reckon you wouldn’t. But he’s tied up with them old gods he was going on about-”

“Who in turn are tied up with us, in a manner of speaking.”

The cold voice blew through us like the breath of a dark, brooding mountain, with as much compassion. Jack was on his feet in a heart’s beat. “Who in tarnation is there?”

I rose to my feet as well. “The Lord of the Night,” I said, failing to keep the quaver out of my voice.

“Among other names,” the voice replied in a tone soft and sinister. “Dear Jonathan, we have come to a crossroad you and I have traveled upon before. You wish for a life of safety among the Maya, who will be forced to accept you because of your bond with Rainbow and the child she will bear. However, you have a problem impossible for you to solve. When darkness falls, the Camazotz-Ahau will rise up out of the Temple of Zotz-Na and enter this outer building, likely bringing it down on your heads in its quest to kill all those who insulted it.”

“But the fault was not ours,” I said. “Professor Bella was the one who controlled the automaton, not us.”

“Yes,” it said in a voice like a snake’s hiss, “and if you could explain what had gone wrong, the Camazotz-Ahau would forgive you and accept your offering. The dance means nothing to it, though it does find your gyrations of interest. The gift of gold, however, no matter how small or trifling, means everything, for gold tells the Camazotz-Ahau the stories of those who once held the piece. Sadly, you have no way of making amends. However, I do.”

“For a price.”

“Yes, I have a price… if you are willing to pay it.”

I took a deep breath. “You do not want me to remain here, but return to England where my enemies can come after me.”

“I do,” it hissed again, “for a reason you will soon understand. However, that is not my price.” My eyes widened in surprise as it said, “When the little one, called by the Eldarion-Maya a Star-Jaguar, tasted your blood, he bound himself to you until the end of your life. If you agree, both you shall become spirit and merge together, then travel back to the ripple of time where Shabaka Goldspear is about to lead a charge against the Gupta's. The two of you will then merge with Shabaka, becoming one with him. Apedemak will heal Shabaka of his injuries, more or less, instead of transferring his wounds to Naamah, and you will experience everything he does without bearing scars of your own.”

“Reckon that’s changing time,” Jack said. “Ain’t there a chance he could do something like kill his grandfather and never be born?”

“Of course. But if he will not pay my price, he will likely die here, his enemy will return time to the last set point, and all three of us will have a similar conversation to this one again. Though neither of you will remember it.”

“No,” I said, reining in my fear, “things have to change.” I looked at Jack. “Even if my grandfather dies, my enemy’s scheme will be disrupted.” I turned back towards the growing darkness. “That is right, is it not?”

The voice spoke with an icy edge of humor. “Indeed. But remember, some patterns in the ripples of time are fixed, and I believe your birth as the Destroyer King is one of them.” I was not sure whether that was a good thing or not as its voice became mocking. “There is also the chance that, this time, Captain Waters will actually keep his promise and you will be born a mestizo, disrupting my plans as well as your enemy’s. I am willing to take that chance. Jonathan Goldspear… are you?”

I nodded before I could talk myself out of this, and the voice turned sly. “Then let me summon Apedemak and set your feet on the road. Wherever it takes you.”

Out of the darkness bounded the black lion, his glorious mane blowing in the wind. Yet as I watched, his form became translucent, until he appeared as a ghost which stood up on his hind legs and held out his paws. Swallowing my fear, I stepped forward as Jack cursed under his breath but made no move to stop me, Apedemak’s spectral paws merging with my outstretched hands as my body began absorbing his. “Old Hoss,” Jack said in a worried voice, “you’re going all ghostly-like.”

“So he is. Time for a new beginning.” Apedemak and I became one person as the world around me began to blur, becoming my grandfather laid out before the Camazotz-Ahau, the dead bodies draped in gold… became Shabaka alive, feeling his pain and fear as he walked down the stairs towards the temple… walking along the Sac’be, his heart overflowing with despair at my capture… in the throes of passion on a hotel bed with Ran-Li… standing on the deck as Campeche City came into sight… walking the streets of New York… standing on stage in Edinburgh as I danced… farther and farther back to times I only knew as stories, and farther still.

Until we reached the last ripple.

My friend, I cannot remember if you are of a gentle nature or not, but if so, I must warn you that the next part of the narrative is particularly gory.