DESCENT OF THE JAGUAR

CHAPTER 1 2012, Western Honduras The thought played over in her head as if it was a broken record, “What am I doing here?” She tried to remain focused, tried to see the world with blinders, but the sights were too overwhelming. The sound of her pencil echoed off the cave walls reverberating in her mind as she scratched a copy of what she saw onto her sketchpad. As she gazed up to study the glyph she was recording more carefully, she caught a glimpse. It loomed over her like a plague of death. “Jesus—” she murmured to herself as if it provided some since of comfort against her surroundings. Her eyes slowly panned up. A face scowled back at her as though it was wishing her death. Though the forbidding face was in stone, its meaning was no less clear than if it were alive - leave. The stone face guarded the temple by instilling fear just as it had done sine A.D. 540. Alexa tried to observe the face without allowing its piercing gaze into her soul. The curving of the eyes combined with what she had learned from following her best friend aided her in recognizing the image as the Mayan sun-king. The deity adorned a headdress of red, yellow, and green plumage, representing the feathers of the quetzal and macaw birds. Although well-worn, the temple walls were painted a bloody shade of red with the use of the toxic mineral cinnabar. This further promoted the scowl to peer out from the stone. Alexa quickly continued to sketch the glyphs below the face. With every effortless pass of her pencil on the humble sketchpad sheet a masterwork was formed. Images of faces, swirls, and birds meshed like fluid continuous filigree. She followed each sculptural element as it spelled out a name. K’inich Yax K’uk’Mo. “Sun-Eyed Resplendent Quetzal Macaw” she whispered to herself. “This is the temple of the first king of Copán.” The temple had been excavated for study, though the removal of stones to form a tunnel had, over time, destabilized those above. Alexa was currently on what might be termed the basement floor of a pyramid 100 feet tall humbly labeled Temple 16. An extensive labyrinth of more than two miles worth of tunnels descended through the temple. As the need called for it, or as a new king became successor, the Mayans would build a new temple on top of the predecessor below. Because each generation would build directly upon the ancestor, the previous king would be entombed in his burial chamber below the new king. The new king would thus be raised higher, closer to their sky god, and therefore metaphorically more holy than the king before. Each deeper section of the step pyramid was as if one was walking farther back in time. Just as Alexa came to the realization of the significance of the find, she took a step backward. The step forced her to contort her body around the curve of the excavation tunnel. Large boulders hung above her ominously forming the arc of the tunnel. She arched her head up through a crack in the tunnel, allowing her to see the level above. “Oh my God—” She drew the words out slowly, trying to make out what her eyes had come upon. Just then she lost her footing. She began grasping. Her hands were frantically gripping for anything that could stop her fall. The ground was crumbling from beneath her. She panicked. She tried to call for help but her voice failed her. Her mouth opened, gasping for air, trying to force out the word, but nothing. She was falling. Falling down a cave to be consumed by darkness and no one would find her. Her manicured nails tore at the walls beside her, but she pulled off nothing but dust. Her heart beat so frantically that she could feel each pulse in her throat. “Finally,” she thought as her hand clasped around something solid. Her heart leaped for joy as she struggled to catch her breath. Just as she felt saved she could feel the rock slipping. The rock gave, crashing upon her forehead. Alexa reflexively emitted a scream. As her vision went black she could see only one thing. The solitary image lingered in her mind, ready to accompany her through the end of her life’s journey. She squinted at the image, trying to focus through the pain. Piercing eyes blankly returned the stare to her from the level above. The stone face remained above her, relentlessly mocking her during her last moments. The damn eyes had peered into her soul.