Necahual turned back one more time. She was only a few steps up the temple sides and yet, what was left of her family seemed so far away. Her two year old daughter, who shared her bright emerald eyes and long obsidian hair, was smiling and oblivious. She was the most beautiful thing on the planet. Holding her and near tears was her husband, Ahuiliztli, who had fought this sentence the most of the two. There was a gruff grunt to her upper right and she turned back, the feathers of her top swaying in the warm breeze. The Messenger three steps above her, grunted for her to keep trudging upward. She didn't mind the thought of what lay above those steps; it was an honor to be offered this chance. Who didn't want to help the Hunters with their Hunt?
Let the flames begin.
She took another step and her body froze. Something was stopping her. Her heart hurt and for a moment, she was on fire inside. She looked up at the Hunter in front of her questionably. He growled at her to keep going, but when she attempted to step again, her strength failed.
You are a weak mind, bad for my children.
"What is wrong with you human!" the Hunter near her shouted this time.
He roughly grabbed her by her hair and began to yank her up the steps. This time, she shouted for him to stop and when he did, she knew she was not alone in alarm.
"Mommy! Who is that lady?" Her little girl's voice drifted up from the bottom of the steps. How she longed to stand next to her one more time, to hold the little on in her arms.
She is stronger than you.
Another shadow hovered above her and abruptly she saw not only the feet of the Hunter that had been dragging her, but his chest as he bowed to whomever stood above. She recognized him with his voice.
"Do you hear her human?" the Hunter known as Dachande, different knife, asked calmly.
"Wh-who is she?" Necahual's voice was shaking.
I know what will happen…
"She is the Queen." Dachande answered in reverence as he pulled Necahual to her feet.
She still did not have the strength to stand, and therefore the nine foot tall Hunter carried her upward as he continued to speak.
Burn her eyes without hope of understanding them.
"Only those who listen the right way can hear her."
Necahual shook her head to rid herself of the deep watery voice. It didn't work.
Kiss her mouth that you may fathom its strange tongue.
"What is she saying?" Dachande smiled, but none could tell for he had donned his metal mask.
"Does it matter what she says?" Necahual's voice still quivered and she was sweating slightly.
"No, not really, but most of the time it is interesting."
Rape her mind because it is not your own.
"She keeps saying something like a poem. Burn her eyes without hope of understanding them. Kiss her mouth that you may fathom its strange tongue.Rape her mind because it is not your own…"
"She says things like that often. Most of them are poems from our own people."
He was at the temple door now and heading inward to the sacrifice chambers. Something smelled faintly of rot and death and slime. Necahual assumed it was the Queen creature that the Hunters hunted. Frowning as her strength faded even farther and at the fact that Dachande became quiet; the woman huffed to herself and grew more and more nervous. She was being carried to her death by one of the most honored Hunters the humans knew. The Queen continued to talk in her head.
Your offspring can hear me as well.
Necahual didn't know how to answer. She simply hoped that her little girl never figured out what was happening here. Especially when Necahual didn't come home like promised.
She will forget you.
To be forgotten was Necahual's biggest fear. She shouted out loud at the Queen's thoughts and began to cry silently.
"No! Don't let her forget me…please" she began to pray to any God or Goddess that cared enough to listen.
She will forget you. But I will not.
Necahual cried and ignored Dachande's talk to the other Hunters. The smell of horror grew stronger as the sacrifice chamber came into view. She could see the long stone "beds" she was to lie on.
The stone was cool and hard beneath her back. Twelve other women had been chosen, all of them cried either hysterically or calmly. One from Necahual's right spoke to her.
"Will it hurt?"
Yes. The Queen answered in her mind.
"No." Necahual lied. Hope was their last chance now.
"I hope my child is the strongest."
It will not be, bad for my children. Yours will be strong Queenbearer.
Would the Queen not shut up? Necahual asked herself in her mind and finally she was rewarded with an answer.
I will not be silent!
Necahual only had this final chance to speak. The Hunters and priests were leaving so that the eggs could be brought up and hatch. She grabbed Dachande's arm as he turned to go.
"What is a Queenbearer?" she asked solemnly. She had given up all hope and was numb.
"What?" he never answered her question for he was dragged out of the room too quickly.
The doors closed with a final slam and the silence was only broken by the cries of the other women and the grinding of stone on stone. Necahual's mind flashed back to memories and dreams to keep her sane.
Her baby first coming to life. The pain and joy at her first cries and finally naming her Tonalnan.
The eggs had been transported from the Queen all the way up to here. A swishing and gooey noise could be heard.
Her little girl sleeping in between her husband and her. The giggles of a baby and the cries of a father changing a cloth diaper.
Something very much like a spider began to crawl up Necahual's thighs. It left a trail of slime in its wake and threw a dream away with every step.
Teaching her daughter how to walk. Laughing at her first birthday.
It reached her line of vision and stopped on her chest. Something told her that this one was different than the rest; it had three more legs and rib-looking protrusions on its back. Necahual began to think of all the things she would miss out on in the coming years.
Her daughter going to school, learning to fight as her mother had, and watching her grow into a woman.
The thing was up at her throat now. Something was being forced into her mouth.
Tonalnan killing her first animal. And finding her husband, having children, and living her life.
Something was in her throat; it was gooey and tasted much like rotted flesh. Slime dripped down her tongue. The Queen's voice was gone now. Necahual's air supply was being cut off and for a moment she couldn't think. The last thing that flashed through her mind was the one thing she could not have.
Her little girl and husband smiling, standing at the door of their hut and watching her come home.
Outside the temple, a father went mad, the sky began to cry, and the Gods called thirteen of their children home.