It had been a late night for everyone involved.
The pair of them barely remembered climbing into bed early that morning, Eugene curled up in Miguel's arms.
They could have slept for days… if Tzekel-kan hadn't interrupted, appearing with a metallic clattering which startled them awake, causing them to yelp/gasp in fear.
"Good morning, my lords!" He greeted cheerfully, before disappearing again, leaving Miguel and Tulio to groan in both annoyance and pain.
"He's back." Miguel whispered, as Tulio groaned,
"Oh no."
Slowly the pair got up, practically dragging Eugene out with them…. They felt like death warmed over as Tzekel-Khan announced.
"THE GODS HAVE AWAKENED!"
When they sensed that all the people were staring at them, they all straightened up, acting like they were completely fine… well Miguel and Tulio did, Eugene just buried his face into his Papa's leg.
Chel moved past them, scattering flower petals on the ground.
"Hey Chel!" Miguel hissed, "What's going on?"
"It's not gonna be good."
The pair frowned at the panic in her voice. "Thank you." Tulio muttered.
"This has been granted a great blessing!" Tzekel-Kan continued, "And what have we done to show our gratitude? A. Meager. Celebration!"
The Chief was clearly unhappy at the insult but didn't say anything (much to his credit).
"The god's deserve a proper tribute!"
Well… that sounded nice.
"The beginning of a new era, the dawning of a new age… demands… sacrifice!"
That sounded… less good.
"I don't like this." Eugene whispered, pressing up against Tulio's leg, all eyes on the bag that was near the edge of the precipice. When it was opened up to reveal that a person was inside, Eugene buried his face into Tulio's leg.
"Tulio, we've got to do something." Miguel hissed, as Tzekel-kan pushed the man closer to the whirlpool, raising a club into the air.
Seconds before the man was bludgeoned to death, Tulio darted forwards.
"STOP!"
Tzekel-Kan did stop, turning with a confused look.
"This… is not a proper tribute!" Tulio stated, as Miguel moved to drag the man to safety, Eugene helping as best he could (aka, grabbing the man's ankles).
"You do not want the tribute?"
"No, no, no!" Miguel protested, "W-we want tribute. Uh, it's just that, uh- Tulio, tell him."
Tulio shot him a vicious glare, before thinking quickly. "That stars… are not in position for this tribute!"
"Like he says, the stars!" Miguel agreed, "Can't do it! Not today!"
Tzekel-Kan looked a little ashamed as he glanced down at the ground, "Ah… Perhaps it is possible I misread the heavens."
"Don't worry about it." Miguel beamed, placing a hand on the priests' shoulder, "To err is human, to forgive…" He cut himself after catching Tulio's stern glare from out of the corner of his eye.
"My lords!" The Chief broke the silence, "May the people of El Dorado offer you our tribute."
He moved to one side to show several woman carrying plates of gold, the small family's eyes widened at the sight.
"My Lords, does this please you?"
Tulio nodded, a weak little sigh breaking free as Miguel quickly cleared his throat. "Yes, very nice. Certainly acceptable!" He nudged Tulio in the side, prompting him to answer as well.
"Yes! Lovely! It'll do!"
"The Gods have chosen!" He glanced over at them, "To Xibalba?"
Eugene was the only one who saw Chel desperately trying to tell them that this was a bad idea.
"Umm, I don't think- "
"TO XIBALBA!"
Too late.
The women moved forwards and started to throw the gold over the family's heads and into the whirlpool behind them
"Hey Chel, um… what are they doing?" Miguel asked as she made her way over.
"They're sending it to Xibalba, the spirit world."
Gold continued to be thrown into the whirlpool.
"The spirit… world." Tulio pushed back the urge to whimper.
"I'll take care of it." Chel sighed, making her way back to the Chief and clearing her throat, "Um, excuse me, Chief. The gods have changed their minds about Xibalba. They wish to bask in the reverence that has been shown them."
The Chief was quick to react, "STOP!"
Everyone stopped, one singular gold plate rolling towards the edge, which Eugene grabbed.
"They wish to bask! Take the tribute to the God's temple!"
The crowd cheered as the gold was, thankfully, taken away from the swirling whirlpool. The family sidled over to Chel, who gave them a smug look.
"Nice going." Tulio muttered, none of them noticing the silent look exchanged between the Chief and Tzekel-Kan.
They were also unaware of the danger that had just landed on the beach.
….
"Tons of gold for you, hah!"
"And tons of gold for me, hoo!"
"Tons of gold for we, ah!"
The small family collapsed back against the silk cushions, all chuckling and giggling.
"Not bad for a day's work, eh?" Tulio chuckled.
"Not bad at all!"
"We just became richer than the King of Spain!"
Another laughing fit.
"You know, speaking of Kings, the chief and high priest seem a bit, uh…" Miguel made a vague hand gesture, "… tense."
"Buenos Dias!" Tulio beamed, "Listen, all we have to do… is keep playing the one against the other. You know, do a little god chant, chant some mystic mumbo jumbo, dazzle 'em with some smoke and mirrors and then get the hell back to Spain!" Tulio clapped his hands together, "We could buy a proper home for us, send Eugene to a proper school, and so much more."
"Ummm, Papa?"
They both turned to Eugene, who was playing with a golden plate.
"How are we getting all this back to Spain?"
"Ummmm…."
….
"A boat?"
Tulio and Miguel nodded at the Chief, who looked stunned by the news.
"Yeah." Tulio glanced over at Miguel, who took the lead.
"We really hate to be ascending so soon, but uh… some urgent business has come up, you know, family matters, you know and it's just a bit- "
"- Right, family!"
"Badda-bing, budda-boom, you know what I mean?"
The Chief clearly didn't understand them fully, a look of confusion appearing on his face, "Oh, we expected you to be staying with us for the next… thousand years!"
Eugene lowered his gaze to the floor, resisting the urge to smirk as both his parents floundered slightly.
"Well…" Tulio began, "… as we say in the spirit world, there's your plan… and then, there's the god's plan."
Miguel nodded.
"And our plan, uh, calls for a boat… because we're gonna ascend kind of a horizontal pattern at first, and then we're going to- to go vertical as we, uh, get further out to sea."
The Chief narrowed his eyes, thinking for a moment. "Hmmm, to build a boat large and glorious enough would take about… a week."
Eugene couldn't help but gasp in amazement. A week to make a big ship like that?
Woah!
When he used to spend
His parents however, seemed less than impressed.
"A week?"
"Um- "
"- I wonder how long it would take Tzekel-Kan to do it."
Unsurprisingly, the Chief was easily manipulated.
"But- but for the Gods! Uh… three days!"
Eugene tried not to sigh too loudly… he liked it here. Was it too much to ask that they stay here? There was no-one chasing them down here, no soldiers to dodge, no begging and stealing for food.
It was perfect.
"Well, if that's the best that you can do?"
"Or, perhaps if you were not burdened with so much tribute, you could leave sooner?"
Eugene fought the urge to chuckle.
Like they would ever take that option.
Three days was just going to have to do.