Return to the Caravan

The first, pale rays of dawn pierced the high canopy, sending down shafts of soft, gray light that illuminated the mossy enclosure. The magical glow from their lovemaking had faded with the night, but the air was still sweet with the lingering scent of golden pollen and a thousand flower petals. Etalcaxi and Ixtic were asleep, tangled in each other's arms on the living bed of moss, their bodies still dusted with the glittering remnants of their earth-shaking passion.

Etalcaxi woke first. He did not wake with a start, as a warrior on watch does, but with a slow, gentle drift into consciousness. He felt... peaceful. The abject terror of the past day, the grim march to his own death, the horrifying vision of a cannibal monster—it all felt like a distant and slightly ridiculous dream. He looked at the sleeping woman in his arms, her wild, dark hair a soft cloud against his chest, her face calm and serene in the morning light, and a slow smile spread across his lips.

As if she felt his gaze upon her, Ixtic's eyes fluttered open. Her moss-green eyes, clear and bright, found his. She smiled back, a soft, sleepy, deeply contented smile that held no secrets, no ancient power, only a warm and easy intimacy that made his heart ache with a new and unfamiliar emotion. The tension was gone. The fear was gone. They were simply two beings who had found each other in the heart of the jungle.

They rose and dressed in a comfortable silence. The mood was not sad, but purposeful. It was time. She helped him adjust the new, leafy loincloth she had woven for him, her hands lingering at his waist for a moment, a final, warm touch. She led him from the ceiba's sanctuary to the hidden clearing where her... shrubbery grew. In the pale morning light, the sight of the planted Nictexs was no less bizarre, but it had lost its horror. It was now just a strange and slightly pathetic example of Ixtic's unique sense of justice.

She turned to her Nictex shrubbery and, with a brisk air, snapped her fingers. With a wet, sucking schlorp, a dazed, dirt-covered, and now completely leafless Lord Cozoc was ejected from the soil. He landed on the ground in a heap, his eyes wide and vacant with a terror that had transcended screaming. Before he could even scramble to his feet, living vines snaked out from the ground and wrapped themselves around his wrists, binding him securely.

Ixtic turned to Etalcaxi, a proud, satisfied smile on her face. "A gift," she said, as if presenting him with a particularly fine piece of fruit. "For my champion. To show his people the strength of his new... ally."

He looked from the bewildered and broken Nictex lord to the smiling Ixtic. A bubble of laughter rose in his chest, and he suppressed it. "And the... other shrubbery?" he asked, his voice low and serious.

A mischievous glint returned to her eyes. "I will... let them grow," she said, a thoughtful look on her face. "They will be unharmed. Mostly. We will see how they do in the wet season." She turned back to him, her expression becoming serious once more. "Now go. The sooner you leave, the sooner the seasons will turn, and the sooner you will return to me."

He pulled her into one last kiss. It was deep, sweet, and full of the weight of their new promise. It was a kiss that said, until next time. He pulled away, gave her one last, meaningful look, and turned to leave, pulling his dazed and unresisting captive behind him.

He walked back through Coatl-Cuahuitl, and the jungle seemed to sigh a fond farewell around him. The birds sang a brighter tune. The monkeys chattered from the high branches, not with mockery, but with a familial respect. His step was light, his face serene. He was a man with a secret, glorious, beautiful secret.

He emerged from Coatl-Cuahuitl at the split in the paths and walked into the Itzotec campsite. He was leading the bound and bewildered Lord Cozoc behind him by a vine leash.

The scene that greeted him was one of abject misery. The porters were huddled together near the cold ashes of the fire, their eyes wide with sleepless terror. Xochi stood guard, but her fist tightly gripped her knife, her stoic demeanor a thin shell over a core of fear. Tlico was staring blankly into the distance, looking like a man who had aged a decade overnight. Citli was pacing, his movements full of the trapped energy of a caged animal.

They all froze when they saw him. They had been expecting never to see him again. Instead, he looked... wonderful. He was relaxed. He was happy. He was glowing with a strange, vital energy. And he was leading a captive Nictex lord.

Tlico and Citli rushed toward him, their faces a mixture of shock and disbelief.

"Etalcaxi!" Tlico breathed, his voice a harsh, croaking whisper. "You are alive!"

Citli's eyes were wide with a new and even more confusing kind of awe. "The monster!" he stammered. "Did you fight it, Commander? Is it dead?" His gaze fell upon the dazed captive. "Commander... is that... Lord Cozoc of the Serpent-Head Clan?"

Etalcaxi clapped his hands together, his voice cheerful and booming, so jarringly out of place in the camp's atmosphere that it made the porters flinch. He gave them a triumphant smile, the smile of a commander reporting a great victory.

"Good news!" he announced. "The spirit of the jungle and I came to an accord. She is not a cannibal." He paused, letting the relief of that statement wash over them. "She is... a powerful ally. The spirit has gifted us this prize to show her favor." He gave Lord Cozoc's leash a little tug. "The other Nictexs have been... dealt with."

Tlico and Citli stared at him, baffled. Tlico's gaze flickered from the captive Nictex lord to Etalcaxi's serene, confident face. The old merchant was no longer just suspicious. He was terrified.

"Ally?" Tlico whispered, his voice trembling. "Etalcaxi... you didn't kill the she-demon?"

Etalcaxi gave him a serene, knowing smile, the smile of a man who is in on a great and powerful secret. "There was no need for violence. It was all a simple... misunderstanding. Over local customs. We came to an accord."

Citli, who was completely lost, looked from his commander to the captive and back again. "An... alliance? With the cannibal monster?"

"She is not a cannibal," Etalcaxi corrected him patiently. "She is merely... passionate about the jungle not being harmed."

Tlico stared at Etalcaxi, at the calm demeanor, at the faint traces of golden pollen still glittering in his hair, at the general aura of a man who had been thoroughly satisfied. The old merchant did not believe a single word of the "ally" story. He knew a pact with a dark power when he saw one. He whispered to himself, his voice low, "Gods preserve us. The warrior has made a pact with a demon."

But Tlico looked at the living, breathing Lord Cozoc, a prize that would bring them all great honor. He looked at the clear, open path leading back toward the their nation. He was far too tired to leave to argue the theological details of his commander's demonic liaison.

"PACK UP!" he roared, his voice suddenly full of a desperate energy. "EVERYONE, PACK UP! WE ARE LEAVING THIS CURSED PLACE BEFORE THE SPIRIT RENEGOTIATES THE TERMS OF THE ALLIANCE!"

The porters, galvanized by the order and the promise of safety, began packing with a frantic, joyous energy. Only Citli remained, looking at his commander with confusion.

"But Commander..." he began, his mind struggling to reconcile the cannibal monster with the powerful ally. "The alliance... what about the other Nictexs? What happened to them?"

Etalcaxi clapped a firm, reassuring hand on the young warrior's shoulder. A mysterious smile played on his lips. "Let us just say, Citli," he said, his voice a low, confidential murmur, "that the Nictexs have been given a unique opportunity to… reconnect with nature. Now help Tlico with the llama. Tlacaxinachyotl awaits."

He turned and gave the jungle one last, fond, lingering look. His smile was full of a deep longing and the sweet, certain anticipation of his next "trade mission."

The End.