Pindor followed, mumbling his usual dour advice. “You’re Calypsos’s only Magisters? Then we’re doomed for sure.”
PART FOUR
23
WHISTLING IN THE WOODS
The Sacred Woods spread like a black sea beyond the outskirts of the besieged town of Calypsos. It washed up against its walls in a twisted tangle of trees. All of the trees were giants with corkscrew trunks, like the one that graced the castle courtyard.
A path wound through the woods, lit by solitary lampposts of glowing crystals, but they were spread far apart, leaving long stretches of pitch-black darkness. The group raced along the path.
The temple lay in the heart of the woods, over a mile away. As they ran, they heard sounds of fighting. The war continued to spread. Other townspeople were seeking refuge in the forest. Voices called out to them from hiding places as they ran past. But they kept moving, led by a determined Bach’uuk.
Jake searched the woods for any flicker of flame. Kady had come to this forest with her friends for some post-game bonfire. But Jake saw no sign of any fire. Either it blazed much deeper in the dense woods, or they’d doused it once the fighting started.
Worry kept his jaw muscles tight.
“We’ll never get inside the temple,” Marika whispered as she ran alongside him. “As the crystal heart of Kukulkan protects our valley—at least until this night—it also casts a shield over the opening to the temple. Only Magisters are allowed to pass through.”
Jake pictured the grakyl at the Broken Gate, writhing against the force shield. “Are you saying there’s a barrier across the entrance?”
Her face was in shadow, but Jake knew she was frowning. “What do you think I was saying back at the park? Only Magisters may enter…and apparently the Ur.”
Jake had thought the temple was guarded by men or by mere superstition. “What if we can’t get in?”
“Like you said, Jake, maybe we are the Magisters now, and we’ll be allowed to pass. Or maybe Bach’uuk will know a secret way inside known only to the Ur. He mentioned a tunnel.”
Jake nodded and increased his pace. He would cross that invisible barrier when he got to it.
They continued through the forest in silence. This deep in the woods, the whispers and calls had grown quieter. None of the townspeople hiding in the Sacred Woods had gotten this far. And why would they? If Marika was right, the temple offered them no refuge.
Jake sensed the pyramid before he saw it. The air grew heavier and somehow charged, like before a thunderstorm, when the skies were low and dark and chains of lightning crackled in the distance. His senses grew keener. His ears picked out the rustle of leaves over the canopy. He smelled the sweetness of night-blooming moss that grew with a ghostly luminescence on the twisted trunks of the trees. His skin prickled with every skittering breeze.
Then there it was.
The forest stopped a few yards from the pyramid’s bottom step.
Jake stepped out into the clearing. It wasn’t a wise thing to do as the war continued to roll toward them overhead. But he had never seen such a wondrous sight. There was no doubt. It was exactly the same as the golden artifact at the museum, the one recovered from his parents’ dig.
Only this one is giant-sized.
Each of the pyramid’s tiers was taller than Jake’s head, rising higher and higher to crest above the tallest trees. And there, perched at the very top, crouched the stone dragon. Moonlight turned it silver, crisply outlining each and every detail.
The outstretched wings were inscribed with feathers. Jake stared up at it. The statue truly was a feathered serpent! No wonder Marika’s people named it Kukulkan when they first came here. Then again, perhaps the myths of Kukulkan among the Maya came from this place. Jake remembered what he had spied in Magister Balam’s library. It made him wonder once again: Had ancient people long ago found a way back home from here? Had they carried myths of monsters and feathered serpents from this place back to their native lands?
Jake studied the statue. The dragon’s face stared toward the horizon. The face did not look quite saurian, nor did it look even reptilian, but somehow something entirely new, even vaguely human. That last sense came from the crinkled stone eyes that looked outward with such hope and seemed full of ancient wisdom.
Lastly Jake noted its tail. It curled fully around the uppermost level, as if it were protecting a nest of eggs. The tip of the tail formed a perfect circle, marking off a round door at the top of the pyramid. It looked to be the only entrance. It was at the spot where Jake had inserted the two halves of the Mayan coin into the golden artifact at the British Museum.
“This way,” Marika said, pointing forward.
Down the center of that side of the pyramid, the giant tiers had been sliced through with a narrow staircase of ordinary-sized steps. The stairs aimed straight for the round entrance. She headed there.
“We’d better hurry!” Pindor added, looking over his shoulder as he passed Jake.
Jake craned up and saw the writhing storm of grakyl and razor-taloned raz had reached them. They had no more time. Jake hurried after Pindor with Bach’uuk behind him.
Jake hit the stairs and began climbing. He fumbled out his penlight. He wanted it in his fingers if they were attacked. He kept a thumb on the switch, but he kept the light off. He wanted to save the battery. He didn’t know how long it would last. He also feared the beam might attract the wrong eyes.
But in the end, it made no difference.
The grakyl proved to have sharp vision. A few of them spotted the four figures climbing the moonlit pyramid. A screech pierced the night. Jake glanced up and saw a dozen grakyl diving toward them. The one in the lead was the largest, with spiraled horns on his head, and his black blade reflected the moonlight off its wicked length.
One of the grakyl lords.
“Everyone together!” Jake screamed.
They were only a quarter of the way up the side of the pyramid. They’d never make it. All around them, grakyl crashed to the stone sides of the pyramid. The lord of the foul beasts landed a few steps below Jake. It crouched, wings out, its sword pointed straight at Jake’s heart.
Jake raised his only weapon. He pointed his penlight at the grakyl’s face and clicked on the light. The glare bothered the beast at first. A wing snapped around, shielding its eyes like a cape. Then it suddenly wailed as the freezing touch of the light turned its eyeballs to ice. It fell backward, clawing at its own face, tearing gouges as it rolled down the steps.
Its sword struck the step below and rattled. Jake lunged and grabbed it before it bounced away. They needed every weapon. Jake passed it to Pindor, but he caught a glimpse of an emblem melted into its hilt. It struck Jake as familiar, but he didn’t have time to examine it further.