Darque Wants (23 page)

              Nai laid back on the rock and let the sun warm her body. She held the bracelet up toward the sky and looked it over. The sunlight bounced off the gold band and sparkled in her eyes. She had seen it so many times before, but now it was like she was really looking at for the first time. The little jar designs were spaced out over the whole band, except where the little hinge was on one side and the bolt that acted as a clasp was on the other. The ends slipped into one another, and the bolt went through them both to hold it in place. Part of Nai felt guilty at the thought of putting it on, but she was proud of it, none the less. She wrapped the band around her wrist and slid the ends together. She pinched the tiny bolt between the tips of her fingers and tightened it down. She turned it hard to make sure it was fastened. The last thing she wanted to do was lose the bracelet. As she twisted the little bolt, her fingers slipped.

              “Shit,” Nai cursed out as the tips of her fingers sheered on the bolt, causing a few drops of blood to trickle down. The drops ran down around the edge of the gold band, encircling the tiny jars as Nai held it up between her eyes and the sun. It looked odd to her, really. The little stream of blood seemed to flow around the whole bracelet, leaving just the raised images of the jars above the red sheen. As she watched, the blood swirled around on the gold surface and then began to flow, it seemed, into the tops of the jars themselves. The sun burst out overhead. It grew in intensity so much that she lost sight of her hands right in front of her, and she had to clamp her eyes shut. Nai felt hot and suddenly dizzy, as she laid there on the rock. The sun burned through her eyelids blindingly, and her thoughts spun in a nervous panic until she tried to sit up. She felt as if a hole had opened up inside her and was sucking her in, and she opened her mouth to scream. Nothing came out of her mouth, no sound or breath. The light quickly faded, and she fell into darkness.

*****

*****

The Santa Casa Mission had been here longer than the town itself. It had been a temple of the Mayan empire, though a suspiciously far removed one. The original temple was mostly underground inside a vast cave system deep in the limestone. The mud brick mission had been built on top of the existing structure to hide it from the outside world. The Sisters had been surviving mostly on their own for years, when the gold was discovered over the bluff and down towards the opening of the desert. Their lives went on much as they had, as the bustling town grew around them. There were always two things that followed settlers and prospectors to a new gold rush town in the West, wives and trouble. Many of those wives arrived just in time for a mine shaft collapse or a rough night in the saloon to leave them husband-less and desperate in a rough new territory.  Not long after the main street had been lined with shops and bars, the Santa Casa Mission became a home for many of the widowed women of the western town. Those who couldn't go back East or didn't have the disposition to find work in the brothels wound up working the small farm at the Mission.

              As the gold rush grew, so did the number of women seeking refuge at the mission. As the gold dried up and the prospectors faded, so did the bars and brothels, leaving the mission as the sole place in Santa Casa where one could find a host of unattached women. The trouble started small. One or two drunks banging on the door late at night or firing their pistols at the bell and raising hell. As the decent intelligent folk became fewer, the gall of those others grew. There had been some hard nights at the Mission, and avoiding more serious trouble was becoming more and more difficult. Guy Richards was the richest man in town. He owned the gold mine and half the land around. He owned all the brothels as well and used them to keep his men in line. Incentive, he called it. However, with no more gold and no more prostitutes, Richards was having trouble keeping men on his payroll. So, he waited for the railroad to come through and bring his property values back up. As the local sheriff made his money off Richards too, there wasn't much help for the ladies of the Mission. Sister Marjorie knew she had to protect the women of the mission, but there was more at stake. She knew she couldn't have strangers roaming free through the Mission. That's what they were there to protect in the first place. Even though she knew what it would mean, the Sister had already sent out the word for help, and she knew he would come. And that meant “She” would come soon as well.

              “Wake up, dear,” Sister Marjorie said as she nudged Nai's shoulder. “Wake up, now.” The nun stood by the rock, leaning over Nai as she slept.

              “What the hell?” Nai said as she started to regain consciousness. She rubbed her hands over her eye as she felt a dull ache pulsing in her head. 'What the hell happened?”

              “Oh yes,” Sister Marjorie said as she stood over her. “I had forgotten about your mouth. You always did talk like a man.”

              “What, what the hell do you mean?” Nai said as she sat up and swung her feet down into the sand at the base of the rock. “Who the hell are you, anyway?”

              “I'm Sister Marjorie, Mother Superior of this order,” the nun said. “Now be careful. It takes some getting used to, and this was your first time.”

              “What the hell are you talking about, lady?” Nai said as she lifted herself up from the rock. Her legs wobbled, and she felt weak. Sister Marjorie grabbed her arm and steadied her before she folded completely and fell to the ground.

              “I told you to be careful, Nai,” the nun said as she helped Nai get her footing. “It can be very disorienting when you first use the bracelet.”

              “Use the bracelet?” Nai looked at the woman who was holding her up. “What the hell do you mean?”

              “I will explain it all to you inside. Come on, Nai,” Sister Marjorie said as she tugged at Nai's shoulder and started her back up the path to the wall of the mission. “And do try and watch your mouth, young lady, or everyone will know you don't belong here.” Nai, still struggling with the pounding in her head, figured questions would be best left for later, and she followed the nun up the path and back through the little doorway. Back inside the little room, Nai felt better. The darkness helped with her head, and the cool shade felt good on her skin. She had no idea how long she had laid out there, but she felt like shit.

              “Here, Nai dear. Chew this. It will help with your head,” Sister Marjorie said as she shoved a small handful of leaves into her hand and continued to rummage round a set of jars on the shelf. Funny, Nai hadn't even noticed the shelf when she was in the room earlier.

              “Chew?” Nai asked, “the leaves?”

              “Yes, dear. They are coca leaves. They will make the headache go away,” the nun said as she returned with a small bottle, which she dug her fingers into and began to smear some strange jelly on Nais face.

              “Hey, lady,” Nai said in protest as she tried to back away from the onslaught of the nun's mothering.

              “Put the leaves in your mouth and chew, girl,” The nun insisted. “And you got too much sun on your face. If you don't let me do this, you will regret it.” Nai relented and slipped the leaves in her mouth and began to chew them. The green bitter taste wasn't too bad, she thought as she let the woman rub the jelly into her skin. Her burning face instantly felt cool, and it sent shivers down her back. “Now, what are we going to do about those?” the nun said pointing at Nais breasts, the exposed cleavage shimmering with sweat. “We don't want people thinking you're a whore, dear.”

              “Whoa! Wait a fucking minute,” Nai said as she pushed away from the counter. “I don't know what the hell you think, lady, but I'm not signing up here,” Nai said as she pushed past the woman and moved towards the opposite doorway. She grabbed the door latch and yanked the door open firmly. As she turned to step outside she stopped. The air in her lungs felt like it had been sucked out instantly. As she looked out into the cemetery, she couldn't believe her eyes. Where just a short time ago there was a large cemetery, dusty and dry with sparse weeds popping through the clay, there were rows of crops. The ground was green, and there were women working between the rows. And the women looked, well, they looked old-timey. Sister Marjorie walked up behind her and took the door from her hands and slowly pushed it closed.

              “You always were a stubborn one, Nai,” Sister Marjorie said as she moved the stunned girl back against the counter. “Chew the leaves a minute, and then we will head down into the temple.”

              “Why do you keep saying that?” Nai asked as she leaned against the wooden counter top. “I don't have a clue who the hell you are, lady. And what the fuck it going on out there?”

              “Farming is what the fuck is going on out there,” Sister Marjorie said calmly. “We don't have a Walmart in Santa Casa in 1866. They don't have one in 2014 for that matter. 2014, that is where you were wasn't it?” 

              “OK, lady. I think you had better back off the sacramental wine a bit,” Nai scoffed.

              “Yes, well, that you may be right about,” the nun said as she went to the large stone chest and began pushing at it much like Sister Mia had earlier. “Never the less, it's 1866 now, Nai. And, of course, you don't know me. You just met me. But I have known you most of my life.”

              “Hey, I got..,” Nai said as she vigorously chewed the small handful of leaves. “These are coca leaves, right? You nuns baking up a bunch of coke in here? Is that it?” Suddenly the floor rumbled, and the chest slipped downward into the floor. Behind it was a large hole in the floor of the small room. The nun walked to the edge and stepped in. The shadows hid a set of stone steps.

              “Come on now, Nai,” the nun said with a wave of her hand back towards Nai. Then she quickly moved down into the hole. Nai walked to the edge and saw the dust of the floor spilling over the edge and raining down on the stone steps below.

              “What the hell?” Nai mumbled under her breath.

              “Come on, girl,” the nun shouted as she kept spiraling down what seemed like an endless set of steps. “And stop cussing, I said!” Nai carefully stepped down into the hole and followed down the staircase. As she went, she noticed some of the stone blocks that made up the walls had carved symbols on them. They looked like the little jars on her bracelet, but she shook it off and kept moving downward. The mystery of it was just too much to withstand. She reached the bottom of the stairs, where Sister Marjorie waited for her. “Now, on the other side of this door is the real temple,” Marjorie said. “And I will explain everything to you. But I know you. So save the question and answer phase for after I'm done.”

              “You keep saying you know me,” Nai said. “I've never met you. I don't have a clue what the hell you are talking about.”

              “Nai, honey, for once in your life, just shut up and watch,” Marjorie said, and she pushed the large wooden door open and walked inside. Nai stepped around and looked inside the room, and again her breath slipped away from her. Past the doorway was a stone floor. In the center of the room was a sculpted rectangular stone block with a large clay jar sitting on it. Not so impressive, really, until you looked up. The room was dark but there was light from the ceiling. From the stars to be specific. The stars that spun around slowly in the sky where the ceiling should be. It was like the clearest, most beautiful night, and the heavens could be seen moving in their place just a hand’s reach away, if you stretched your arm hard enough. Without thinking, Nai slowly slipped her foot in the doorway followed by another. With her head bent back and her eyes on the exposed heavens above her, she spun in circles as she crossed towards the obelisk. “Careful, Nai,” the nun said as she took her arm and steadied her again. “If you look up too much, you will get dizzy.” But it was impossible for Nai to pull her eyes away. She loved the night sky, the way it felt endless and full all at the same time. And here, at least a hundred feet underground, she was as close to it as she had ever been. “Nai,” the Sister said with a subtle jerk on her arm. “Over here, Nai.”

              “What the hell?” Nai said as she finally pulled her eyes off the ceiling. “What the hell is this place?”

              “This is just a little temple, dear. You haven't seen anything, yet,” Marjorie said, gesturing to the jar in the center of the room. “This is one of the Thirteen Jars of Creation. As you can see, it's the jar that held the stars and the sky.”

              “I remember this story,” Nai said, grabbing at her memories. “Granny used to tell it to me. She said all the other professors were full of shit with the
Popul Vuh manuscript. She said something like the
friar
was trying to hide something.”

              “That's right. She did,” Marjorie said. “She told you a lot of stories to get you ready.”

              “Ready,” Nai said, looking at Marjorie and wondering how well she knew Granny Nai. “Ready for what?”

              “Ready to defend the jar, Nai,” Marjorie said, pointing back to the jar once more. “It's your job to keep them safe. That's why you are here.”

              “Where the hell am I again?” Nai asked.

              “Oh, you are right where you were. You just have to learn how to ask the right questions, Nai,” Marjorie said. “You are in Santa Casa, but you aren't in 2014 anymore. The bracelet brought you back to 1866.”

              “So, what? Like, Granny's bracelet is a time machine?” Nai said settling her hands on her hips and cocking them out with her best bite-me-look.

              “Well, that's the short version,” the nun said. “But, yeah, that's about right.”

              “Bullshit,” Nai said.

              “Nope. No bullshit, Nai. Your grandmother was a time traveler, a Mayan Priestess time traveler, to be exact. When the world was made..,” Sister Marjorie started.

              “Whoa, wait. When the world was made? You're just gonna jump right past that time traveling priestess bit?” Nai asked.

              “Everything in its own time, Nai,” Marjorie said. “You will understand that soon enough. When the world was made by the gods, they mixed the ingredients in thirteen jars. The moon had slipped away and gone to bed with the sun, but when her father found out, he was so filled with rage that he destroyed her and put her body into thirteen jars which he then used to make the world. From the thirteenth, his daughter was reborn and placed in the heaves to protect her virtue. But that's not really the important part of this story.  The jars are the source of all creation. They have the power to create, control, or destroy everything, including time. The Mayan people have protected the Jars and kept them safe from all who would use them since the beginning of time. A special group of Priests and Priestesses were given the gift to move through time in order to hide and safeguard the jars. There have been threats, people who want the power to move through time or the jars themselves. Those threats must be dealt with. When the Spanish arrived in the New World, as they called it, Conquistadors discovered the temple of time and stole several of the bracelets. As you saw, the bracelets are bound to you by blood. When you secured the bolt with your blood, that is what activated it. It cannot be removed until your blood is spilled again, completely. So the slaughter was enormous because the Conquistadors killed many of our people in search of the bracelets. They stole them and rushed back to Spain, where the King formed a secret group of vicious soldiers to scavenge through time and bring him the keys to creation and immortality. He wanted to enslave the world forever. They are the E
sclavista Tiempo, the Time Slavers. And they have been battling the Priests and Priestesses of the Moon throughout time for control of the Jars.”