Chapter Six

 

Olmec date 4.15.9.0.18 4 Etznab 11 Pax (5 April 1231 BCE)

Sacred Women’s Cave, Lord Ajaw’s lands, ancient Olmec (Juluwik, modern Mexico)

Gasping for air, Ix emerged from a smoke-filled sweatbath into the torchlit Sacred Women’s Cave. Stumbling blindly towards Kimi’s voice, she wiped rivulets of eye-burning water from her forehead.

Ix’s breathing began to ease as Kimi, dressed as Midwife- Lake, guided her through the cave’s tunnels. Kimi murmured prayers and invocations to Lady Midwife and the Divine Twins as they went.

Edging through the twisting shadows of the cave’s main chamber, Ix groped towards the sandy bank beside the under­ground lake. She eased herself onto her back along the shore. Kimi first placed, then lit, a series of small fire vessels on both sides of Ix’s body.

Ix’s mother, Imox, crouched next to her head. Kimi settled at her feet. ‘Ready?’ she asked.

Ix knew this fertility ritual was dangerous, but she was determined to make her husband A Man Who Has Fathered Sons. ‘Yes,’ she said, then held her breath.

Pain tore through Ix’s right thigh as Kimi slowly forced a maguey thorn deep into the flesh. Ix clamped her teeth together to ensure she didn’t scream and scare the spirits away. Imox stroked her forehead and begged the Divine Twins to grant Ix a son.

Blood poured freely from the soft flesh of Ix’s inner thigh. Kimi caught it in a small ceramic bowl, stirring the blood with her finger. When the flow had eased, Kimi sprinkled a powder into the container and continued to stir. Ix knew the ash was the dried, ground bodies of tiny foetuses and male babies birthed by their mothers before they were fully formed.

‘You must ask,’ Kimi said, prodding Ix to begin the Words. Hot, slippery blood congealing on her thigh, the roof of the cave spinning, Ix sucked in her breath and began.

‘Divine Twins, hear my prayers,’ she hissed.

‘Hear her prayers,’ Kimi and Mother intoned.

‘Lady Midwife, hear my prayers.’

‘Hear her prayers.’

Ix’s lungs burned. ‘Lords of Maize, hear my prayers.’

‘Hear her prayers.’

‘Divine Twins, I offer my blood,’ Ix whispered. ‘Blood that has seen combat on the Great Ballcourt, blood that has prevailed, in exchange for a son of my own.’

Kimi pierced Ix’s other thigh, triggering an involuntary scream in Ix’s throat. She turned it into a groan, and then a hum.

‘Lady Midwife, I offer the bodies of the unformed.’ Ix’s voice had dropped to a drone. ‘May the potential of these returned Children of Maize nourish you in exchange for a son of my own.’

Kimi shifted in the sand. Ix was aware of, rather than saw, Kimi pour more of the powder into the basin of blood.

Ix sucked in another breath. ‘Lords of Maize, I offer you the sacred maize, which forms the bodies of all people, in exchange for a son of my own.’

Ix could hear Kimi glopping clumps of wet maize into the mixture of blood and desiccated foetuses.

‘Lords of Maize, Lady Midwife, Divine Twins,’ Kimi chanted. ‘We implore you. Give Ix a son. She brings you blood, she brings you maize, she returns to you your unborn sons.’ Kimi shifted towards the fire vessel closest to her and held the bowl over it, still stirring. ‘And we bring you fire!’

‘We bring you fire,’ Ix and her mother repeated.

‘Bring Ix a son.’

‘Hear our prayers!’

The cave echoed with the pleading of the three women, who begged the spirit world to make Aqabal’s fire hot and Ix’s womb cave receptive. In the haze Ix was certain she saw the Divine Twins run across the flickering shadows that played on the cave’s walls.

Kimi moved the fire-hot bowl to Ix’s side, and began to smear the scalding mixture over Ix’s face, into her mouth, over her stomach and down her legs.

Please, please let this work, Ix begged silently, just before she passed out.