The whispering ended, and the king spoke. “The Dark Rift is a book of fates, but it is a very special one. We all know that books of fate are consulted by soothsayers to divine what the gods have determined to be the destiny of a person. The Dark Rift Codex does not foretell the destiny of a person, but of the One-World itself.”
I was shocked, and I’m sure that it showed on my face. “How can that be?”
“It can be because that’s what the gods have ordained. Storyteller, you know that the gods have broken the One-World on the Wheel of Time four times in the past. The secret contained in the Dark Rift tells what will happen to the One-World in the future.”
I didn’t dare ask him why he was so desperate to know. Perhaps he thought that if he knew what would happen and when, he could convince the gods to change their minds. Or if the roof was going to collapse, he could move out from under it.
Regardless of his motives, knowledge was power.
“You are going to get the codex for me.”
58
Lord Janaab explained more about the task given me as we walked back to his palace. “No one knows how old the Dark Rift is,” he told me. “As with all our history, it was at one point recorded in a book. Whether that happened once or many times, we don’t know. What we do know is that the great god-king of Tula, Quetzalcoatl, set out to gather at Tula all the knowledge of One-World.
“Tula was conquered and destroyed by the Aztecs after the Feathered Serpent left in disgrace and came to our land to build a new empire with Chichén Itzá at its core.”
“Had the codex been kept in the royal library at Tula,” I said, “it would have been destroyed or taken by the Aztecs.”
“The legend is that before the city fell to the Aztecs, the codex was hidden by a scholar.”
“That’s a story I have never heard.”
“Few people have heard it, even storytellers, because even the existence of the codex has been hidden by members of a secret society over the ages. That knowledge is passed down from generation to generation by members of the society to a few they choose.”
He stopped, and his eyes searched my features as if searching for lies and deception.
“Jeweled Skull is a member of the group. You are the person he chose to pass the secret on to.”
59
In the palace we sat in the shade in the courtyard, where servants served cool fruit drinks and stared at me, wondering why I was once again getting special treatment.
The last time the great lord granted me such privileges, he had shoved a snake in my face.
This time a secret society was sending me on a mission that I did not understand but which I was sure boded ill.
I wanted to explain that I was just a simple village stoneworker—that the existence of a codex going back to the time of nameless ancestors whose own existence has been wiped away by the winds over the eons was beyond my comprehension.
Proclaiming innocence would only persuade him I was lying.
“Why do you believe I have been chosen?” I asked. “Is it because you believe that Ajul—Jeweled Skull—is a member and that I lived with him for part of my life? I can assure you he never told me about a society or the location of the Dark Rift Codex.”
“Jeweled Skull was a member. The discovery that he knew where the codex was hidden and refused to tell the king is what sent him into hiding in your village.”
“He told you that he knew where it’s hidden?”
“The members of the society are fanatics who reveal nothing, not even under torture. But what they won’t say when put to the question with fire, they often tell when under the influence of a beautiful woman and a potion that robs them of their senses.”
Eyo! I understood. The High Priestess had been Ajul’s lover. She had gotten him to reveal something by giving him the elixir that robbed men of their senses. The potion did not take all my senses, but he had a smaller body than I, and perhaps it affected him more.
The great lord read my mind. “Yes, just as she was going to loosen your tongue with her wiles and drink, she had done the same to Jeweled Skull. You are fortunate that Flint Shield was in too much of a hurry to wait for her to gently extract from you what he wanted to know. He could have waited until her chicanery worked and then cut your throat when she was finished.”
“In the end, she saved me.”
He shrugged off her deed. “He most likely coerced her assistance. She was not a stupid woman. She knew Flint Shield was finished and that her complicity would come to light. If she could learn the whereabouts of the codex, she probably figured she could leverage the book for leniency.
“She was not the High Priestess when she drew information from Jeweled Skull, but she was ambitious. He fell in love with her, and she used her lust for power and position to draw enough out of him to confirm the king’s suspicions that Jeweled Skull knew where the codex was hidden.”
“What did Jeweled Skull actually reveal to the High Priestess?” I asked. “Not the location of the codex. They still do not know where it is hidden.”
“As soon as he recovered his senses, he vanished. But the king never gave up trying to find him. For years there was no word of him; then someone would recognize him. The king sent me, but he would leave before our warriors arrived.”
“That’s why he left my village? He realized that someone had sighted him?”
“Yes. A merchant saw him and boasted when he returned to Mayapán that he had seen Jeweled Skull. I don’t know all the details—my father was still High Lord, and I was not an adviser to the king back then. I have been told that the king sent someone to your village who had known Jeweled Skull to see if it was truly him. The man reported the death, and the king realized Jeweled Skull had simply moved on again.”
He paused and eyed me again narrowly. “No one reported that he had in essence adopted a son. Had your relationship with him been known back then, you would have been put to the question.”
“And then painted red?” I asked, knowing the answer.
“There wouldn’t have been enough of you left to drain blood from.” He leaned forward and locked eyes with me. “Remember that. And don’t think that when you leave Mayapán you will be free to vanish as Jeweled Skull did. We will hunt you down, and before we’re through, you will beg us to kill you.”
I sipped juice and kept my eyes averted. I didn’t want to raise his already suspicious attitude about my loyalty and inspire him to give me a beating to ensure my continued obedience.
“The blind librarian? Was he also a member of the cabal guarding the secret of the Dark Rift?”
He shook his head. “No. He may have known it existed, but he was not part of it. Little information was obtained from him when he was put to the question years ago, not even when he was told he would be blinded.”
I didn’t realize that was how he had lost his sight. The picture he drew of a war lord must have been the excuse he told others.
“Tomorrow you will leave for Tenochtitlán.”
“What?” That surprised me. “I’m being sent to the Aztec capital?”
“The secret to where the codex is hidden is there.”
“In the emperor’s library?” It was a guess on my part.
“The Aztecs still have everything they stole that bears the mark of Tula on it, because they treasure it. After they conquered the city, those who could even took Toltec wives for the prestige and to infuse Toltec blood into their children.”
“They admired the Toltec?”
“Like a starved, beaten dog watching its master eat raw meat, the Aztecs stared at the Toltec capital blinded by their lust for the treasures and the knowledge within the city walls. And the Toltec kings after Quetzalcoatl handled the barbarian horde badly. Instead of keeping them outside their walls as the Toltecs dissolved into internal fighting over the throne, they invited the hungry dog in, hiring Aztecs as mercenaries to fight their internal disputes and foreign wars.
“The Toltec leader
s who succeeded Quetzalcoatl were fools who grew fat and lazy. Worse, they became enthralled with their own cleverness. To rely upon the Aztecs to fight their battles—to literally invite hungry beasts into your home to watch you gorge yourself—was the height of stupidity and went against everything that the Feathered Serpent had stood for. While he was king, the Aztecs were kept at bay, like the rabid dogs they were.”
The picture Lord Janaab painted for me about the Aztecs was a new one to me. I knew little about them not just because I was Mayan, but also because they did not appear to have the great number of legends we had. I said that to him, and he explained why.
“When the Aztecs conquered Tula, they were still wandering tribes of half-naked barbarians with dirt between their toes. They had no great cities, no great temples, no architecture of note, no art in terms of books or inscriptions that were significant. They were a people without high culture, but with something even more important—they were militant. They fought like people who had nothing to lose because that was their state.
“When Tula burned, they took everything they could as loot. Unfortunately, they were ignorant savages, and at the time, books were less valuable than sandals. They burned books to cook their newfound supplies of food, which is why the answer to your question as to whether the codex found its way from the royal library at Tula to the one in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán is no.”
I found his statement that they burned the great library at Tula astonishing. “Are you certain that they didn’t burn the codex when they destroyed the rest of the library?”
“The legend, which Jeweled Skull knew well and freely related, was that the codex was hidden before the city fell to the Aztecs.”
“Did he say where it was hidden?”
“No. And I’m not sure he knows. To make it more difficult for anyone to discover the hiding place, not all the members of the society know the exact location of the book. Membership in the society is passed down, and the secret is passed to a chosen one.”
“Then how am I to find the book?”
“We don’t know where the book is, but we do know who can tell you. Have you ever heard of Huemac the Hermit?”
“I’ve heard the name.” I didn’t mention that Ajul cited him one night during a drunken talk about the Dark Rift. “An oracle of some sort.”
“Yes. He’s said to be Toltec. And no one knows how old he is. Some say he worked in the royal library at Tula when Quetzalcoatl was king.”
He laughed at my look of surprise.
“That would make him over five hundred years old,” I said. “Can he really be that old?”
He shrugged. “We don’t know or care how old he is. Like the soaring eagle you were supposed to have jumped down from onto the jaguar’s back, the deeds of heroes grow in the telling. What is important is that we are sure he knows where the codex is.”
“Is that what Jeweled Skull told the High Priestess?”
“It’s what we know not from the members of the society but from their messages. The members are willing to die under torture to keep from exposing their secret, but over the years, communications sent by ordinary messengers have been intercepted. One directed to the Hermit was intercepted recently.”
“Why don’t you just get the information from him?”
I didn’t elaborate by pointing out that torture and mind-breaking potions had been used in the past.
“He is in Aztec territory, under the protection of the emperor Montezuma. The emperor respects and even fears the old man. He believes the Hermit walks and talks with the gods. Montezuma would go to war if he found out we have considered cutting even a toenail off his pet.”
Which meant, of course, that torturing the information out of the old man had been considered but rejected as too risky.
“Do the Aztecs think he knows where the codex is?”
“No. If they did, they would have it and let the world know it is theirs. We just learned about the Hermit’s involvement recently.”
“Wouldn’t it be the best course to work with the Aztecs?” I asked. “Certainly they must be interested in discovering the codex themselves.”
“The Aztecs are not our friends. They are no one’s friend. Worse, they can’t be trusted. I told you, when we had a high, flowering civilization, they were barbaric savages, and they still have the blood of savages in them. They don’t think like we do. They will shake your hand one moment and cut your throat the next if it is to their advantage.”
In other words, they would keep the Dark Rift Codex for themselves—exactly what our king planned to do.
Eyo! I didn’t volunteer that observation, either.
“Besides, the Hermit is said to be old and fragile and ready for the journey through Mictlan, the Aztec underworld. He wouldn’t survive torture long enough for us to draw an answer from him.”
“I can’t get to him if he’s in the emperor’s palace—”
“He lives in a cave, and the location is kept secret. Amazingly, when the emperor wishes to consult him, he goes to the cave rather than disturbing the old man.”
Lord Janaab shook his head and rolled his eyes after he told me that. “Can you imagine that?” he asked. “The emperor of the most powerful nation in the One-World, who receives tribute from other kings, leaves his palace and goes to the cave of a recluse begging advice like a mendicant.”
I couldn’t imagine it, but it made my estimation of the Hermit’s powers of divination soar.
“How will I find the man?” I asked.
“There are ways of finding out once you get to Tenochtitlán. Emperor Montezuma never leaves the palace unless it is in a great procession. That would be true about his visits to the Hermit, too. You will have enough jade with you to buy the information.”
He gave me a sharp look. “Pakal Jaguar. The king has given you a task of supreme importance. The One-World’s survival depends on finding the Dark Rift Codex. You must not fail.”
“I won’t,” I assured him, without the slightest confidence that I would be able to back up my promise.
“No, you won’t fail. You won’t fail, because you have never failed yet, not when wrestling the most powerful beast in the One-World or when ambushed on the road or when you defeated Flint Shield and stymied his attempt to torture information from you. Somehow, you even managed to survive the potion the High Priestess has used so successfully upon others.”
“Thank you, great lord. My only wish is to serve you and the king,” I lied. “If the codex still exists, I will find it.”
“It does; that is a certainty. And understand this: If you find the codex and bring it back to me, you will find your rewards are more than you can imagine. The vast estates of the War Lord are being given to those who served the king best. You will get a large estate with many slaves and a noble title for your reward.”
“What if I am not able to find the codex?” I asked.
“You will find the codex.”
Eyo! In other words, I would be skinned alive if I didn’t bring back what they desired.
“I have a question, great lord.”
“Speak.”
“If this Hermit is the chosen protector of the codex and will not divulge its location even under torture, how am I to get the information from him? Surely not by bribery—he would not take a king’s treasures for it.”
“He will tell you when you ask.”
Was it that easy? Why would an ancient old cave dweller who after all these years had concealed the secrets of the ages take one look at me and give them up?
I was skeptical.
“Why . . .” I shook my head. “Why would he tell me?”
“Because you are the chosen.”
60
I bought a yellow dog and had it killed to be buried with the Master of the Library. I hoped that the blindness that hindered him in this world would help him in the dark underworld of the stone houses of Xibalba.
As I prepared my own journey, which would take me throug
h much of the One-World, I received bad news.
Twice.
The quickest route to the Aztec north was to travel by foot to the eastern waters, where I could hire a series of boats for the journey up the coast to the land of the Tlaxcala. At that point, travel reverted to going up and over the coastal mountains to the Valley of Mexico.
Lord Janaab decided against the route for two reasons: During this time of the year, the Sea Gods fomented ferocious storms, and the Tlaxcala and the Aztecs were often engaged in Flower Wars. I could end up a conscripted soldier or even a sacrificial captive.
“Each side needs warriors to be captured, and they sometimes press travelers into battles to get them.”
Instead, I would be making the journey by land, heading toward Palenque in the beginning.
“You will make the first part of the journey traveling in a large group that includes a Mayapán princess, a daughter of the king, who is being taken to Palenque to be wed to a prince of the ruling family,” the High Lord told me.
A caravan of porters would move too slowly to suit my anxious feet. A royal procession would go at a snail’s pace, but it would provide needed protection, the High Lord told me, until I reached regions controlled by the Aztecs.
“The roads are dangerous,” Lord Janaab said. “The worst part is between here and Palenque, where villagers who are not able to grow enough food to feed themselves have become bandits and even cannibals. After Palenque, you will travel with a caravan of porters until you reach the land of the Mixtec. It will not be safe to travel in a small group until the Mixtec region. They are under the control of the Aztec emperor, whose legions maintain order.”
They were not taking these precautions to ensure that I was protected but to ensure that my mission did not fail.
The second half of the bad news was that the Assistant Librarian, Koj, who had spied on me when I visited the blind librarian, was to journey with me—along with a captain of the king’s palace guards and three warriors who would be disguised as porters.