AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The woman comes,” he smoothly ordered. There was a hint of a smile on his face as he said it.
Adam’s expression went grimmer.
Perhaps Jacobs only wanted Ellie there to better threaten Adam into compliance. That was fine. At least she would be going along, rather than moldering back here with the mules where she stood no chance of protecting whatever lay on the other side.
Jacobs flicked a hand at Mendez, Flowers, and Staines.
“You three stay with them,” he ordered, and stepped into the dark mouth of the cliff.
The air inside the crevice was strangely cool. The walls rose dizzyingly to either side, and then narrowed to frame a line of hazy blue sky. The light that filtered down to where Ellie and the others walked was dim and otherworldly.
The wall to her right was all jagged gray limestone. On her left, the limestone mingled with threads of the thick vein of obsidian which ran through the mountain.
Verdant life surrounded her. Plants clung to the stones, sending tentative tendrils down toward the ground. They were framed by patches of jewel-green moss and bundled orchids.
The clamor of the caravan faded. In its place was only the soft crunch of boots against the packed earth and the uneven breathing of the men who surrounded her.
The way broadened ahead of them. A wider patch of sky overhead spilled light down into a slight opening in the ravine, revealing something that brought the entire scouting party to a reverent halt.
On the wall before her, all the remaining limestone had been chipped away to expose the gleaming obsidian beneath. The black mineral had been carved into an elegant mural which rose at least twenty feet up the face of the cliff.
The bas relief depicted an assemblage of gleaming figures. Each of them was elegantly ornamented with ear plugs, wrist cuffs, and necklaces. They were crowned with feathers and elaborate sculpted headdresses.
It was a dynasty—an awe-inspiring conclave of kings, queens, and priests. As Ellie studied it, details leapt out at her from the scene.
A feathered serpent. A foot of lightning. Jaguar teeth and sprouting maize around falling drops of rain.
Ellie knew those symbols. They were the signs which other scholars had used to identify the gods of the Mayan and Aztec pantheons.
An idea crept to life in her mind.
The portrait clearly depicted the great nobles of Tulan—perhaps even the city’s founders.
How might those awe-inspiring leaders have appeared to the less powerful people who had come to them seeking wisdom? How might they have been transformed in the stories those petitioners carried back to more distant lands?
Perhaps… they might have sounded like gods.
With a jolt of surprise, Ellie wondered if she was looking at the birth of a faith.
The assemblage of nobles was gathered around a circle inscribed at their feet. Each of their hands was pierced by a blade. Blood dripped down from their wounds.
“It’s here,” Dawson uttered with quiet awe as he gazed up at the image.
Ellie startled beside him.
“What is?” she demanded.
Dawson snapped his mouth shut. He treated her to a mulish glare before he stalked away.
Ellie lingered to study the black disk over which the divine figures were gathered.
She didn’t need Dawson to answer her. She knew what it had to be. It was the Chay Abah—the prophecy-granting obsidian stone said to lie beneath the heart of Tulan.
The Smoking Mirror.
“We are losing daylight!” Velegas’s authoritative tones cut through the stillness of the ravine.
“Keep moving,” Jacobs ordered.
