Quote:
Originally Posted by blue jellie
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Treveon Collins
Coming off a lucky hunt, Txcata along with his other Tikal friends were bringing home two deer. The gods were on his side today. Hopefully that means the luck in the city is changing. Times were growing tough for people in Tikal. There hasn’t been much rain as of late and it was causing none of their crops to grow. The people didn’t understand why either. Was Chaac angry at them?
“Come on. What do we need to do?” Txcata heard his close friend, Gopo ask. He turned his head to see his friend looking at the sky, as if the gods would answer his questions right then and there.
Txcata sighed, “I heard there was going to be a sacrifice later today for him to give us rain.”
“Maybe we’re sacrificing to the wrong god.” Gopo said. “Maybe we-”
“That’s enough.” Txcata turned to Pilgeo, the usually silent one. “Can we just get home already? I have a family to feed.”
Txcata knew he was right. They were all suffering form this lack of rain. Everyone was growing more and more hungry with every passing day with no rain.
“He’s right,” a fourth voice, Kapil. “Let’s hurry up.”
Everyone picked up their pace and reached their home in a fairly short time, the sun was barely passed its peak when they arrived. Food is so scarce, they had to sneak to their houses to avoid fighting.
There definitely wasn’t enough to share with everybody. The six of them probably just barely had enough to feed themselves and their families for tonight.
The food was split evenly between the six of them so there was enough for them and their families, taking the little remains elsewhere. Someone was bound to scavenge it.
Just then, a sound came from atop the pyramid. “The sacrificing will begin soon.” Txcata told the others. He got this creepy chill down his spine.
He felt a hand on him, it was Gopo’s hand. “Calm down, we all made a promise. We will stick to that promise.”
He nodded. It was a promise made back when they were little. Him, Gopo, Pilgeo, Kapil, Aapua, and Sachite were a little pack of their own, doing what they want, when they pleased, as long as it followed the rules of their gods. All six of them promised not to turn their back on each other and that they would always help each other out. Back then, they all thought it was dumb, but throughout the years, they always stuck to that.
“Gopo’s right.” Aapua said. “Everything will be alright.”
Txcata nodded. “Thank you. I really needed that.” He looked up at the pyramid seeing someone being laid on the altar. The knife was being raised slowly as the crowd erupted, not for celebration though, this sounded different. Desperation.
“Close your eyes.” Pilgeo said to the others. Txcata obeyed and closed his eyes as the black blade struck into the poor man on the altar. “May your journey with the gods be safe and filled with happiness.” Pilgeo said and the others repeated and opened their eyes, seeing the heart raised into the air.
“I’m telling you guys,” Kapil started. “We should leave, go where the sun rises.”
“We shouldn’t abandon this place like this.” Gopo countered.
“Well what do we do?” Kapil asked back. “If Chaac does not forgive us soon, this place will be a graveyard.”
“I agree with Kapil on this one.” Txcata agreed. “I’m not saying we leave, but we have to do something.”
“Like what?”
He thought about that for a moment. “I don’t know.”
“Because there’s no other option.” Kapil spoke again. “We have to leave as soon as possible.”
“What about my wife?” Gopo snapped. “She is bearing my child right now.”
Everyone was so focused on them that they forgot about their wives in the planning.
“We bring them with us.” Aapua replied.
“I say let them decide what they want to do, and tomorrow we can talk about our options.
Txcata liked that option and the others seemed to be nodding their heads to it as well.
“Very well,” Aapua smiled. “We’ll all talk about it to our wives tonight during our meal and we will come to this very spot in the morning. And we will not lie to each other.”
Everyone was happy about this decision as a large cheer went through the crown. Another sacrifice.
“Are you serious about doing this?” Sacniete asked her husband.
“This was we have decided, but we all wanted to hear your words about it.” Txcata responded.
She was silent for a moment, thinking about her next words carefully. “I thank you for letting me give you my opinion,” she started. “I must stay here.”
Txcata stood up. “But you must come! You’ll be here all-”
“Txcata.” She slowly stood up, holding his hand in hers, looking deep in his blue eyes. “You said I could have my opinion. Did you not?”
“Yes. I did.”
“And I gave you my opinion.”
“Yes you did.”
“And you understand my choice.”
“Yes I do.” He looked down.
“Now if you do leave, just know, I will be here, thinking about you.”
This gave Txcata a smile for the first time tonight. “I know you will. You’ve always had that fight in you.”
Sacniete kissed his forehead ever so softly. “Go. Be safe.”
Tears started coming down his cheeks. “I'll miss you.” He whispered.
“I will miss you too.” She told him, giving him one last full look before walking off to bed.
Txcata was left there to think about the conversation they just had before eventually falling off to sleep.
The next morning, Txcata didn’t see his wife, probably out gather what little there was. He went to the place he told his friends to meet. Walking up, he saw Gopo and Kapil. The others must be on their way, or saying their goodbyes. Hopefully not the second.
“Well?” Gopo asked him when he was a couple footsteps from them. “What did she say?”
“She isn’t coming.” Txcata responded.
Kapil’s eyes opened wide. “I thought she would for sure say she would go.”
Txcata shook his head, almost bringing another round of tears from him. “Well, she isn’t coming,” Trying his hardest not to sound like he was going to break down, he asked them. “What about you two?”
Gopo responded with a shake of his head. “She said that I was crazy for going.”
“Well, some of us did think it was crazy when we suggested it last night.” Txcata turned to Kapil. “And you?”
“She was torn between staying or going,” He said. “She eventually told me this morning that she had some dream that rain was coming so she had to stay and she tried to convince me to stay.”
Txcata nodded. “Now we wait for the others.”
The three came shortly, one after the other, each telling with what their wives said about staying or going.
“She told me maybe she could appeal to one of the gods for some good sign of rain.” Aapua told them.
“She wouldn’t give me a reason. She just told me no.” Sachite explained.
Pilgeo just shook his head, letting them know his wife wasn’t coming.
“Then it looks like it’s just the six of us going.” Gopo said. “There is said to be a sacrifice later this morning. Grab the things you can carry and we will leave during the sacrifice.” The other five nodded and split out.
“Are we ready?” Aapua said looking out into the wilderness in front of them.
Txcata and the others nodded. Between the six of them, nothing much was packed. Some food, the little bit of water they could salvage, and their spears.
The start of the journey it was silent, nothing on anybody’s mind except going forward and not falling. They felt like they were making good time. Every time they would hear a noise, they would freeze, not letting out even a breath. Animals to hunt were rare now that it was completely dry.
Txcata was getting really nervous now. If they ran into a neighboring village, they were going to get captured for sure. “This is really scary.” He whispered to the others.
“Don’t worry, we’re all feeling the same way.” Aapua said encouragingly. “We just have to stick together.”
He felt a hand placed on his shoulder. He turned to see it was Pilgeo, a warm, reassuring smile on his face.
This gave him the courage to keep going until they all had to stop when the moon started rising high into the sky.
“I don’t trust this.” Aapua told them.
“We could all take turns sleeping and keeping watch.” Sachite suggested.
“That sounds like a good idea.” Txcata agreed. “I’ll take first watch because I know all of you are lazy as all can be.”
“You got that right.” Gopo was already laid down. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
He turned to Aapua, who chuckled. “Wake me when you’re feeling tired. I’ll take the next post.”
Txcata nodded gratefully before climbing up and resting on a thick sturdy branch for high point advantage. He heard the others get comfortable. He even heard a yawn from Gopo.
He smiled at his friends below him and settled in more. This was going to be a long night.
“Why didn't you wake me up.” Aapua complained in the early morning.
Txcata shrugged. “You all looked tired and I wasn't going to sleep anyway.”
“Still. We all need our strength.” Aapua said. “We can't have you tired.”
Kapil stepped in between them. “Come on you two.” He said. “It’s better to forget about it and move on.”
The two looked at Kapil and nodded.
Before they started walking, Pilgeo handed Txcata and Gopo a bow he had made that morning. He then pointed to the trees and Gopo nodded. “I got it.”
Kapil nodded and started to walk in the direction of the rising sun, followed by Kapil, Aapua, and Sanchite with Gopo and Txcata in the back, with bows and using sharp sticks as arrows until they can sharpen them later on.
Soon the sun was bearing down on them. It was hot and dry. The six had nothing to eat or drink, forcing themselves to save the little bit they had for a little longer.
“We need to stop.” Sanchite barely let out. “We won’t go anywhere if we all pass out.”
The five were glad to stop and sat down on the hard dry dirt.
“What are we going to do?” Gopo asked hopelessly. “Were we stupid in doing this?”
“Everything we do is stupid.” Kapil said with a slight chuckle. That’s why we do these things.”
Txcata got a little laugh out of that, then a cough. “If we do this though, we wouldn’t be stupid.” He pointed out.
“You could be right about that.” Kapil chuckled.
“I know I’m right about this.”
Txcata stood up. “Come on. Whatever challenges await us we’ll conquer them and prove we are the greatest!”
The other five stood and shouted in agreement.