Canyon of the Sphinx (41 page)

Christopher sat down on his
buttocks beside her. His expression was thoughtful. “That kind of thing isn’t
unusual in the Americas,” he said in his soft, gentle voice. “The Aztecs
worshipped a war god called Huitzilopochtli, who took on the likeness of the
sun over time. It was thought that in order to insure the sun's arrival each
day, a steady supply of human hearts had to be offered in holy sacrifice. They
believed that the sun and earth had already been destroyed four times and in
their time of the 5th sun, final destruction would soon be upon them. In order
to delay this dreadful fate, the practice of human sacrifice became a major
element in Aztec society.”

“I’ve read about that,” Kathlyn
said. “But these priests… they had these rich silky robes on and strange
headdresses that were shaped like boxes. I’ve never seen anything like it. They
certainly didn’t look like any Aztecs I’ve ever seen depicted.”

“Because they weren’t,”
Christopher said. “If this dig has taught me one thing, it’s that nothing in
this entire site runs contrary to anything I’ve ever known about Mesoamerican
culture.”

Kathlyn sat there, the pain in
her chest subsiding. She was breathing easier now. Then she gazed up at the
altar; it was a murky, horrible thing, looming heavy and evil in the darkness.

 “There is more to this,” she
said, her tone growing more insistent as she spoke. “This sacrificial altar
isn’t everything that’s here. I feel that there is so much more waiting to be
told in this place, dark spirits lingering in the shadows, waiting to tell us
the rest of the story. But this entire temple is filled with death. It’s
everywhere.”

Christopher was silent a moment.
His pale blue eyes roved the distant walls, the vast darkness of the space that
surrounded them. “When you were channeling yesterday, you said something I
didn’t think much of until this moment,” he looked at her. “You said El templo
de Sangre. That means Temple of Blood.”

Kathlyn’s eyes widened in
understanding. “This has got to be it. Don’t you see? This is the temple where
they killed people. I saw it; I know it. It’s only logical that it was called
the Temple of Blood. But why? Was this a cult center?”

 “Those bodies you sensed in the
courtyard,” Mark was standing behind Christopher, listening to the
conversation. “Do you think some of those people are the ones you’ve sensed in
here being murdered? Like, they would rip their hearts out and then throw the
bodies outside to rot?”

She shook her head. “I don’t get
that feeling. Those souls in the courtyard are the result of a battle. They are
part of a massacre. What happened in here happened completely separate. Yet…
somehow I feel the two are linked. I can’t explain it, but I believe that they
are.”

Marcus had been sitting silently,
listening to the speculation going back and forth. He’d seen his wife work this
way for four years and never got used to it. He was more concerned for her
health than anything, including any potentially mind-blowing archaeological
discoveries.

 “Well,” he said with a sigh. “I
think we’ve done enough for today. Why don’t we head back to camp and get some
rest. We can get an early start tomorrow and perhaps we’ll all think more
clearly.”

“No,” Kathlyn said quickly. “I
can go on. There’s much more here to see today. I don’t want to leave right
now.”

Christopher looked between
Kathlyn and Marcus; he would keep silent. This was between them, even though he
very much wanted to continue. Before Marcus could argue with his wife, Adam
crossed over the great entrance. His excited voice carried in the cavernous
hall.

“Chris,” he said. “Dr. Trent’s
colleague used his fax to transmit the tracing of the inscription that we
found.”

Christopher’s brow furrowed.
“Fax?”

Kathlyn nodded. “The laptop that
is attached to the GPR has all sorts of connection hardware. We use the fax all
the time to transmit data for analysis if we can’t get a large email attachment
through. We use cell phone links for the fax.”

Understanding, Christopher sensed
Adam’s excitement. “Did you already fax it to Dr. Ying?”

“Yep,” Adam was almost running as
he came up upon them.

“Who’s Dr. Ying?” Kathlyn asked.

“The scholar from the American
University in Beijing who originally translated the inscription on the
sphinxes,” Christopher told her. He turned back to Adam. “What did he say?”

Adam’s dark brown eyes were
glimmering with the thrill of the revelation. “It’s simplified Chinese, just
like the other inscriptions we found. It translates as: Enter ye, the Chosen
Ones. In your death shall be Our Life.”

Marcus looked at Christopher, who
turned to look at him in return. They just stared at each other, a million
silent words rolling between them. Their astonishment was evident. But
Kathlyn’s mind was still a little fuzzy at the moment; she didn’t catch their
amazement.

“Why do those words sound
familiar?” she said, to no one in particular.

Marcus looked at his wife.
“Because you said those exact words when you first came to Site B. Remember?
When we first heard the word ‘Dj-ni-xian’.”

“And there’s something else,”
Adam wasn’t finished. “They’ve just come across what looks like a jumble of
skeletons in the courtyard. There are bones everywhere. You’d better come take
a look.”

It was too much, too fast. Christopher
had worked on various Mesoamerican digs for fifteen years, 4 of them on this
particular site. He’d never in his life come across something of this
magnitude, individually much less all at once. He looked at Kathlyn, his mouth
hanging open, hardly able to form the words for what he was thinking. She was
responsible for everything, as difficult as it had been for her.

He looked at Marcus.

“Is this what she did for you,
too?” he asked, his voice quiet with amazement.

Marcus’s cobalt blue eyes were fixed
on Kathlyn. “Oh, yes,” he said with quiet pride. “She did all that and more.”

Christopher could only shake his
head in wonder. He stood up, holding down a hand to Kathlyn and helping her
stand as Marcus assisted her on the other side.

 “It’s a good thing you married
her, Dr. Burton,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “If you hadn’t, I would
have. She’s too amazing to let get away.”

Marcus didn’t bristle in the
least. He actually grinned, kissing Kathlyn’s temple. “Lucky I got to her
first.”

Christopher was smiling, too. He
passed a long glance at Kathlyn. “If you ever get tired of him, look me up,
okay?”

She sensed the light mood, very
surprised that Marcus was taking it so well. But, then again, things between
them had matured quite a bit over the past several months. The Marcus of old
would have cleaned Christopher’s clock. But the new Marcus couldn’t fault the
man his good taste, nor did he ever imagine his wife would abandon him. Their
bond was far too strong. Kathlyn turned to look at her husband.

 “Who could get tired of him?”
she said adoringly. “Thanks for the offer, but don’t hold your breath.”

Christopher flashed his straight
white teeth at them both and caught up to Adam. Marcus picked up his exhausted
wife and carried her until they reached the hole that lead to the clear blue
day outside. He wanted to hold her, just for a minute.

The exploration of the Temple of
Blood was finished for the day.

CHAPTER
NINETEEN

Kimberly and her crew had
uncovered a mass of skeletons in the great courtyard. Since the Temple of Blood
wasn’t going anywhere, Christopher secured the entrance and ceased all activity
until he could determine their next incursion into the structure. At the
moment, he considered the courtyard his top priority and shifted his personnel
accordingly. Everyone was on the pit; the other sites would have to wait.

Kathlyn was feeling better after
her round in the temple and took to the courtyard with great interest. Everyone
with the exception of Marcus was down in the hole where the bones had been
found, the UIR students brushing and picking under the careful eye of Dr.
Murphy.

Marcus, Mark, Andy and Otis
headed back to the canyon of the sphinx. Larry was still there, piddling on the
computer, creating graphic images of the scans they had produced earlier. With
the graphic software they had, normally used for geological surveys, it
produced a pretty map of the strata layers beneath them. But the images weren’t
particularly helpful so Otis had Larry pack up the computer and start disassembling
the GPR.

 The deadhead could be heavy and
Marcus helped them load it up on the sled that served at its carrying case. He
wanted to get all of their equipment packed up, as the day was into mid-afternoon
and he planned to make it back to the camp early tonight. Kathlyn had had a
trying day and he wanted to get her into bed early.

He sent Otis, Andy and Larry on
back to camp with the fancy computer equipment. Since they were traveling alone
in a hazardous area with thousands of dollars-worth of equipment, he sent Mark
to find Tony. The Marine had been standing over the courtyard site, watching
the activity. When Marcus explained to him that he wanted him to accompany Otis
and the kids back to camp to protect their assets, Tony had initially balked,
but Marcus assured him that he would keep a watchful eye over Kathlyn.
Reluctantly, Tony headed back to camp with the others.

When everyone had cleared out,
Marcus stood alone in the canyon of the sphinxes, taking a moment to inspect
the images once again. It was rare that he had a moment alone, to think, to
study, or just to relax.  With the event of Kathlyn Trent four years ago, his
life had gone from the slow lane to warp speed in the blink of an eye. The past
several months had been like a tornado. He was actually enjoying a minute to
breathe and inspect the sphinxes without media cameras in his face or five
people wanting his attention. But he found that he couldn’t fully clear his
mind and concentrate; his thoughts, as always, were on his wife, now in the pit
with all of those skeletons. He’d seen in the past how skeletons affected her.
He began to think it was a good idea to head back over to the pit, just to be
safe.

“Hey,” Christopher suddenly
appeared, scratching his scalp underneath the backwards baseball cap. “What are
you doing hiding out here?”

Marcus took his attention away
from the sphinx. “The better question is what are you doing here? You’ve got
thirty people digging in the courtyard out there.”

Christopher milled around the
sphinxes. “I can’t find my field glasses,” he said. “I thought I had them up
here last. I must have dropped them.”

Marcus looked around and didn’t
see anything. “Well,” he said. “I suppose I’d better get back over there. My
wife is probably running the show by now. It’ll take both you and me to hold
her off so you can do this your way.”

Christopher gave a half-grin,
kicking around in the damp leaves on the ground. “Let her alone. She’s got a
knack for being bossy.”

“You figured that out, did you?”
Marcus started to walk away.

“Dr. Burton,” Christopher called
after him. “Do you play poker?”

Marcus paused. “A little.”

“Adam and I are getting a game
together tonight. Care to throw in?”

The corner of Marcus’ mouth
twitched. “Sure. Count the others in, too. But I’m warning you; Larry and Andy
will kick your ass. I think they played their way through college.”

Christopher snorted. “Bring it on.”

Marcus chuckled and headed back
towards the courtyard site, leaving Christopher to hunt for his glasses alone.
They were really magnifying glasses he used for close-up work, like excavating
fragile bones. He’s had them over at this site to inspect the inscriptions on
the sphinxes.

Christopher shuffled about,
kicking through the leaves and foliage. He was about to walk away when a glint
near one of the images caught his eye. The last thing he remembered was
reaching down to pick up his glasses when the lights suddenly went out.

***

“Adam, Kimberly, are you getting
an adequate record of this?” Kathlyn asked from her position down in the hot,
steamy pit that comprised the courtyard dig site. “If you’d rather excavate, I
can put Larry and Andy on it.”

“No, you can’t,” Marcus walked
up.

 “Why not?”

“Because I sent them back to camp
with Otis and Tony and the GPR.”

“Oh,” Kathlyn had a dental pick
in one hand, standing up while several UIR students scratched the dirt at her
feet. “I guess I can do it, then.”

“I think I have a handle on it,
Dr. Trent,” Kimberly said. “I’ve got the digital camera and Adam has his field
notes. But if you want to add your own observations, I’m sure Chris would be
thrilled.”

Marcus lowered his massive body
into the hole. “Here, give me that,” he reached for the pick in Kathlyn’s hand.
“Go take notes. I’ll do this.”

She frowned at him. “I’m
perfectly capable,” she wouldn’t give him the instrument. “Go get your own.”