To Sacrifice the Sun
Chapter Nine
September 17, 2016
08:17
Palenque, Mexico
"That's the queen, right?" Oliver asked, almost in a whisper. "The one from the Lost City?"
Felicity glanced at Oliver, then back at the carvings…fresco…it was both really...wow!
She found herself laughing with sheer awe. "Yeah, yeah, it's gotta be." She had never…hadn't dreamed…to find something like this…it was incredible. It was like a window straight into the world of the Ancient Mayan. How many centuries had it been since anyone had seen this?
Brushing aside the rust colored powder, Felicity revealed more and more of the woman with the gold-gilded hair as she knelt in front of her similarly positioned mate. At least Felicity assumed…no, that was definitely the Warrior King. The markings. The profile. There was no one else it could to be!
"Though, I'm kind of surprised you remember that," Felicity murmured, her attention divided as she leaned down and blew some of the dust away. Oliver had never seemed all that interested in the details of the Mayan Mythology. He was more of a bottom line kind of guy.
"Forget the Mayan Princess with the real gold hair?" Oliver ran a finger along the length of carving's hair as it cascaded to the floor. That alone was very unusual amongst the Mayans, whose hair was usually portrayed as up in elaborate braids and loops.
And the gold, the veneer, was incredibly well preserved. The way it shinned…
"Wow. Do you think it's real gold like the others?" Felicity breathed. Every other carving, and there were maybe three depictions (four now, if this was for real) of the Daughter of the Sun had real gold hair. This must be too, but Felicity…she was almost afraid to hope.
Oliver shook his head. "I'm not an expert, but," he too, blew on the area to clear more dust, "it sure looks like it."
Somehow, Oliver's inexpert opinion made it all the more real and excitement bubbled. Felicity's heart sped up and her boot tapped on the hard ground trying to release a new excess energy.
She popped up, scrambling to grab her small archaeology kit from her bag, pulling out a brush. When Felicity knelt back down, Oliver was pouring water from his canteen onto a bandanna and carefully, almost lovingly, wiping residue off the girl.
The colors, the pigmented fresco, the carvings were incredible, yet…Felicity was having trouble pulling her eyes from Oliver's face.
Despite her excitement over the discovery, for a moment, Felicity had to stop and stare. At Oliver.
His anger had melted away in the excitement…and it was pretty incredible that he appeared to be as enthusiastic as she was, as in awe. That feeling, the sixth sense that had just been causing them so much angst, twisted and expanded as Felicity watched him. And it wasn't of doom and gloom this time. It was of…rightness.
"She has sapphire eyes," Oliver murmured, pulling Felicity back to the here and now.
"Moonstone," Felicity corrected automatically, shaking herself out of her mini daze. "They don't have sapphire in this part of the world. They used blue moonstone…"
Felicity trailed off as she caught Oliver's eyes, so much bluer than any moonstone. He didn't look annoyed at the correction. He never did. He just looked at her with a small fond smile, apparently, having forgiven…or forgotten his irritation over her not telling him about her strange intuitions so long ago.
She had been so afraid that she'd messed up bad this time. Swallowing, Felicity returned his smile. She liked this Oliver so much better and was incredibly grateful to have him back.
Then, because it would be so easy to get lost in Oliver's eyes and that was the last thing they needed, Felicity deliberately turned her attention back to the slab, working to clean the figure kneeling in front of the woman.
Oliver finished cleaning off the princess…queen…(Felicity wasn't really sure which was the most correct translation) and he ran his finger over her gilded hair. It certainly looked like real gold. What else could survive the centuries like this? But it was the way Oliver ran his finger down that carving…
It sent shivers across Felicity's skin. The good kind. The dangerous kind.
"The golden-haired blue-eyed child of the sun god," Oliver recited, almost to himself. "Plucked from heaven and sent to rule over the gods' most beloved city. Not a story easily forgotten."
Felicity's breath hitched. Oliver had the most romantic soul. That was something she had never forgotten. "No, I suppose not. It's a lovely fairytale."
Oliver's fingers found the queen's pert-little (rather unMayan) nose. "You doubt she existed?" He turned his eyes on Felicity and the intensity in his gaze made her twitchy, nervous.
"No…no…I mean…" Goodness, Oliver was close. Why had Felicity sat so close to him? She never knew what was good for her. She never did what was good for her. "I'm sure she existed. Probably. I mean Pocahontas existed, but I'm pretty sure she never sang a duet with a tree."
Oliver gave her a mock horrified look. "Felicity…it's Pocahontas, of course, she sang with the trees. She sang with all the voices of the mountains."
Felicity burst out with a trill of laughter that she hadn't even thought she had in her any more. "Of course, how foolish of me."
"Thank you," Oliver hummed, his smile still in place as he used his bandana in wider and wider circles. "As the girl who has premonitions, I'd think you'd have more faith."
Her eyes widened and Felicity was glad Oliver wasn't looking at her just then. Had he truly just…teased her about that? In a lighthearted way? That was quite the 180. Not that she was complaining.
Swallowing, Felicity managed to say, "To be fair, I think I have about an equal amount of faith that my premonitions are real as I do that the Daughter of the Sun was real."
Oliver shook his head, his eyes twinkling. "Ever the skeptic. It was all that time in MIT, I tell you."
This was her Oliver and it just filled her with…Felicity felt strange and warm and happy….
That was the weirdest of all of them. And after their near fight just a short while ago, it left Felicity almost dizzy. When was the last time she'd felt happy? Not fine. Not content…but happy. Of course, it had been brought to the surface by her secret sweet funny Oliver. The one only she got to see.
Had Oliver been saving this side of himself just for her all these years? Did anyone else get to see it? That though was both sad and intoxicating. But no matter what, the mere fact that Oliver was letting Felicity see him like this after all this time brought tears to her eyes.
"Actually," Oliver murmured as he turned his eyes back to the princess, his lips still curved in a small smile. "She always kind of reminded me of you."
At that, Felicity's heart did this weird leaping thing and she had another strange sensation…like déjà vu, but different. Surely, this wasn't another premonition. Surely, the reaction was just because it was the most romantic thing. And from the man whose heart she broke.
So, of course, Felicity said something equally romantic and eloquent. "I die my hair."
God, she was a doofus.
But Oliver…sweet wonderful Oliver, who she deserved not at all, chuckled. Looking at Felicity sideways, he suggested, "Maybe she did too."
That made Felicity smile, relieved for the safer turn to the conversation. "That's actually very likely. How many Mayans have you seen with anything but dark, dark hair." Because the Mayans, rather their descendants, still very much lived today. Just like the Iroquois and the Cherokee and the Aztecs, they were all that was left to a once great Native American Nation.
Oliver's slid her a sly look and a cracked smile, "Next you're going tell me she didn't actually have blue eyes."
Felicity shrugged, unable to meet his gaze. She could feel herself blush. Was he flirting with her? It really felt like he was flirting with her. And this wasn't even the first time she'd had to ask herself that question in the last twenty-four hours. Oliver sent her another smile, one that sent a shiver tripping over her skin and a bolt of arousal to her core.
Yeah, Oliver was definitely flirting with her. Question was, what was Felicity going to do about it?
"All the early Mayan rulers, pre-Pacal, were depicted with blue moonstone eyes. Legend says that since they were the descendants of the gods, they a small piece of the sky in their eyes."
It wasn't the most flirtatious thing she could have said…actually, it wasn't suggestive at all, but for some reason, it felt…intimate.
Felicity felt herself just kind of falling into Oliver's eyes (that blue truly put the moonstone to shame) and it seemed impossible to break the hold they had on her. She was in so so much trouble.
"Well," Oliver licked his lips and Felicity just couldn't keep her eyes off the path of his tongue, "I refuse to believe that the queen didn't have blue eyes. It would be far too disappointing."
Felicity bit back a giggle…what the hell was wrong with her? She didn't remember feeling this much like a lovesick teenager when she was a teenager. Not when they first started dating. Not…well, ever.
She had to forcibly pull her eyes from Oliver's, and it didn't even work the first time. Finally, Felicity was able to get her gaze (if not her focus) back on the carving and she leaned over to blow the dust from the Warrior King.
She ran her finger over the handsome, if indistinct, profile. The Sun Warrior's nose was straight, not at all the hooked Mayan beak usually depicted. "He has moonstone eyes too." Actually, it could have been Oliver sitting there across from his queen with his blue eyes and dark hair pulled back in intricate braids (that was, if Oliver had dark hair).
It was a silly and fanciful notion. So why did it have Felicity's heart pounding?
"I couldn't care less what color his eyes were."
This time, a giggle actually escaped before Felicity was able to bite her cheek to stop it. She asked herself again, what was wrong with her? She felt almost drunk. But really, the idea that Oliver Queen had a vested interest in the color of a several millennia old mythical princess' eyes was so absurd that it was hard not to laugh.
What was wrong with them?
"Well…I might have a theory that could explain how she could have actually had blue eyes and blond hair." Felicity barely recognized the raspy tone of her own voice. Oh, wow, now she was flirting.
Oliver's answering smile made it worth it though. Hopefully. "That's my girl. Lay it on me."
Her heart all but seized when he said that. Oliver really needed to dial it back a bit or Felicity might just have an aneurism.
Felicity cleared her suddenly dry throat, her voice coming out unintentionally husky when she answered, "Vikings."
"Vikings?" Oliver repeated, simultaneously baffled and amused.
"Mmmhmm. Many people believe that the Vikings discovered America centuries before Columbus. They just had no interest in it, so they left and went home."
"So…" Oliver gave her a lop-sided smile. "You think a little Viking girl…what? Stole away in a Viking ship for the months it would take to make it here from Scandinavia and then...wandered into a Mayan Stronghold?"
Well, it did sound silly when Oliver put it that way. Felicity screwed her mouth up to the side. "No, I think…"
"Ahhhh…you think a Viking 'plundered' a young Mayan girl?" Oliver gave her a knowing look and Felicity shrugged. Because, yes, that was her theory. "Then he left and she presented her blonde-haired blue-eyed baby as a gift from the gods?"
"Yeah, pretty much." Felicity nodded.
Oliver seemed to be considering it. Then he nodded as well. "That is an excellent theory." He sounded impressed and it made Felicity want to preen.
Smiling, Felicity took the brush and started cleaning off the carvings as swiftly as she could. Palenque had gone from a waste of time to not having nearly enough of it to examine it all. Besides, suddenly, she had all this excess nervous energy to burn off. "Of course, with dominant and recessive traits," she mused as she cleared away more red clay, "it's unlikely that the blonde would have—"
"Oh, stop ruining it with science."
That really made Felicity laughed. But it hurt too. She missed this so much. Much more than she had realized. Shooting Oliver a teasing grin, she warned, "I'm going to tell Caitlin you said that."
Oh, dear god, was that a blush? Oliver bit his lip and his eyes fell away as he doubled his efforts cleaning the slab as well. Felicity had forgotten how embarrassed he became at the mere mention of the others seeing him like this. Which was absurd. This was the very best of him.
But she had to be careful, the last thing Felicity wanted was to scare this Oliver away. "Well, recessive traits do occasionally shine through. Genetics is complex." The look he sent her was so warm, she found she had to clear her throat before she could keep speaking. "It's still the best theory I have." Assuming that any of these people actually existed in the first place and they weren't just a fairytale.
Oliver's answering smile was oddly shy. He seemed intent on cleaning the princess as well as he possibly could, so Felicity worked on getting the dust off the rest of the scene. Then he asked quietly, "Did your dream show any of this?"
Felicity froze, because…okay, not prepared for that question. And she'd thought…hoped they were done with that conversation. Swallowing, she made herself answer, "No. Not at all. Like I said, it was indistinct, no carvings, no Daughter of the Sun or her Warrior King…just tombs and Pical and King Cadmeal and his wife dancing..."
Oliver's head jerked up, his face splitting into a delighted grin. The twinkle in his eye just made Felicity want to die of embarrassment. Why did she have to mention that part? Clearly, it wasn't important.
"Was it more of a waltz or maybe the Macarena—"
"Very funny." And if their relationship was what it used to be, Felicity would have swatted him.
"What? It could be important!" But the look on Oliver's face said he thought no such thing.
Rolling her eyes, Felicity tried to shut down his teasing with a, "It was a very tribal sort of dance, okay?" She really didn't mind being teased by Oliver in general but being teased about the dream…it just seemed like it could go very wrong.
"So, with drums and…Felicity? What's that around her neck?" Oliver asked, his tone losing its playful lilt.
Felicity looked up from where she was cleaning clay off the sun carving and the hieroglyphs above it. "Where?"
Oliver pointed to a piece of jewelry around the queen's neck and Felicity squinted. It was too small to get a good look at it.
"I dunno." She reached for her watch and turned her glasses into a magnifier, leaning closer to where Oliver was pointing. "Wow, that is detailed. It's a…huh…it's a moonstone. How the heck were they able to carve something that small? Out of a gemstone of all things?"
It was incredible. Felicity moved her enhanced eyes over to the Warrior to examine him for similar details.
"Do you think it's a representation of a real piece of jewelry?" Oliver asked, all teasing gone as he helped her by wiping dust away from the warrior with his wet bandanna. He may find her dancing dream Mayans fodder for teasing, but this…this he was taking very seriously.
"Why else would they go to the trouble of carving something so small? Thank you…oh wow, look at this…" Felicity pointed to the warrior's chest, feeling another bubble of excitement. "He has this crazy detailed sun medallion around his neck."
Oliver leaned closer, squinting. Of course, without the magnification it would be hard to make out.
"Here," Felicity placed her glasses on Oliver's face, blinking as the world suddenly got very blurry.
But as soon as they were settled on the bridge of Oliver's nose his head jerked back. Almost immediately, he snatched the glasses from his face and rubbed his eyes. "Felicity…" He shook his head, chuckling, before turning the glasses and placing them back on her face. "Your vision is terrible."
"Tell me about it." But Felicity's voice was barely working because Oliver was smoothing the glasses over her ears and brushing hair from her face. It was easy to get it to stay, what with all the sweat. It was starting to get really humid down there. "I guess they're only calibrated for me," she mumbled, completely flustered.
Oliver swallowed and he was close enough that Felicity couldn't help but watch his Adam's apple ripple under his stubble. Thankfully, he turned his eyes back to the carving before he caught her staring. She hoped.
"Do you think that's the Gift?" Oliver's asked, startling her.
"What? The medallion?"
Actually, that hadn't occurred to Felicity (and she really hoped it wasn't because she was so damn distracted by the line of Oliver's neck), but now that he mentioned it (and she was able to take a good look without letting herself get distracted) it set her weird Spidey Sense a tingling. She grabbed the bandanna out of Oliver's hand and cleaned off the warrior's necklace, leaning down to get a closer look.
"Or the moonstone pendant?" Oliver suggested and Felicity had to bite her lip to keep from making a teasing comment. He was, maybe, just a teeny bit fixated on this princess and, for some reason, that made her feel rather warm inside.
Felicity tried to blow out a breath as subtly as possible. "There really isn't a great description of the Gift anywhere. Why do you think it might be a necklace?" Besides the fact that Oliver seemed to have a tiny crush on the Daughter of the Sun.
And Felicity wasn't even jealous. Of course, being jealous would be absurd, given…dead for multiple millennia and…
Anyway, it wasn't that Felicity was ruling out the possibility that the queen's necklace was the Gift. In fact, it was probably the best theory they had.
Oliver shook his head and shrugged, his eyes falling away. "Not sure…I guess, if it was important enough for them to put the effort into carving something so small." He swallowed, then murmured, "Maybe I'm having my own…intuition or something. But I feel like those necklaces mean something."
Her eyes moved over Oliver's face, even though he was decidedly not looking at her. But despite his earlier words, he wasn't prone to flights of fancy and his instincts were excellent. Felicity looked back and forth between the two stone figures with new gravity.
"What's that they are doing with their hands?" Felicity tilted her head. At first glance it just looked like they were entwined, but…
"They aren't just holding hands?" Oliver's voice was so low now, it felt like a caress. Lord, this was hazardous to her health…her mental health.
Focus, Felicity! "No, I…look at their fingers. They're spread out, not closed together."
"Maybe it's just hard to carve hands?" Oliver suggested with a tiny shrug.
It made Felicity smile. "Oliver, considering the intricacies of this carving, I really can't imagine it's a mistake." Really, this was the most elaborate scene Felicity had ever seen from any ancient world. Ever. Though, it also hadn't weathered the centuries out in the elements either.
"So…what do you think they're doing?" Oliver's shoulder was pressed against hers now, making it hard to keep her mind on the task at hand…ha, hands…that was a good one.
Okay…she was losing it. Felicity shook her head, more to clear it from her tumbling thoughts then in answer to Oliver's question. It was a damn good thing her brain could multitask. She spread out her fingers with overlapping thumbs, comparing it with the carving. "Not sure…"
Leaning close, Oliver whispered, "You think they're making butterfly wings?"
She smacked him before she had a moment to stop and think about it. Thankfully, Oliver chuckled, seeming pleased at his joke and her reaction. Felicity head no idea what to do with that. "Stop making fun of me and look! They're making a pattern."
Still chuckling, Oliver obliged, leaning so close that the entire side of his body was pressed against hers. "Yeah, I…" He made the same butterfly pattern as Felicity, then held his hands under hers, but at an angle so their fingers spread out in all directions. "Does it kind look like—?"
"A sun! It kind of looks like a sun, right?" Felicity felt a burst of elation as she said it and angled her whole body towards Oliver to improve the picture made by their combined hands.
"Kind of." Oliver's voice was husky, distracted, but Felicity was intent on the carving. This was too important to lose focus now.
Then Felicity had the strongest sense of déjà vu she had felt yet and she realized…
"I've seen this before…"
"Really? Where?"
It was a whisper in her ear. Oliver's breath warm on her cheek. They were almost…cuddled up against each other. How had she missed that? Felicity's hands on top of his. Their fingers almost tangled together. His lips by her ear…
Felicity couldn't breathe. She completely lost whatever Oliver asked her…because she couldn't breathe. Her skin was on fire and her brain was foggy and all she seemed to be able to focus on was the way his body pressed against hers.
She turned her head. Toward him. Why toward him? She should be pulling away. Safety was away. Felicity had never been a masochist before.
"I don't know." Felicity didn't even know what the question was. But, still, she felt it was a good answer. For…everything.
Oliver's lips were right there. If he moved an inch closer…
Then he did. Oliver shifted and Felicity could feel his breath on her lips and, oh god, he was going to kiss her. He was going to kiss her.
After five years and innumerable days, Felicity was going to feel Oliver's lips on hers and she wanted that so badly and…
But what then? It didn't stop with a kiss. It could never stop with a kiss. Felicity wouldn't even want it to.
Felicity would have to tell him. She would have to tell Oliver everything. There was so much he still didn't know. He was going to feel so betrayed. Would it be worse if she kissed him first? How could she let him kiss her when he didn't know?
Would Oliver be furious? Would he be crushed? Would this kiss…this kiss Felicity could already taste…make it all worse? For her? For him?
Now Felicity really couldn't breathe. Her heart was beating way too fast and she couldn't seem to get enough air in her lungs. The walls were closing in and her vision were blurring…
Then…Oliver's hands were no longer beneath hers, they were on her shoulders, squeezing, pushing her back, holding her away from him, the firm pressure bringing Felicity back to herself. But then she was away from him and if she knew one thing, she knew that she didn't want that.
"Are you okay?" Oliver's face wasn't nearly as close when he asked this time and Felicity didn't know if she was relieved or if she wanted to cry.
Cry. Definitely, cry.
Because the last thing Felicity had wanted was Oliver to think him almost kissing her had triggered a panic attack.
Even though that was exactly what just happened. This was a new low, even for her. She'd be back in therapy after all this was over, Felicity just knew it. Assuming she survived, that is.
"I'm fine. I just…" Desperate to make this better, she reached for Oliver's hand, but found his thigh instead. She supposed her vision was still off.
Oh, the hell with it.
Felicity squeezed Oliver's leg and closed her eyes, taking slow, measured breaths, saying, "I'm just feeling lightheaded all of a sudden."
If only she had a reasonable (not insulting) explanation as to why she was feeling lightheaded.
Oliver started to pull away and Felicity dug her nails into his thigh, blurting out, "Don't go," a little too desperately for her taste, but she supposed seeming pathetic was the least of her concerns at the moment. But still, he leaned away and, god, Felicity wanted to sob. Why was she so fucked up?
But then Oliver's arm settled around her shoulders. "I'm here." Felicity felt a canteen pressed to her lips. "Drink."
Oliver was too good to her. Felicity didn't deserve him.
But she drank, took great gulps of the cool water and leaned into Oliver's shoulder and it helped. Almost too much.
"Better?"
Nodding, Felicity wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, wishing she didn't feel like a child. "Uh huh."
Oliver took the canteen away and then…he wasn't touching her anymore. Felicity had ruined it. The way she ruined everything.
And as if to prove her right, Oliver stood, not even looking at her as he said, "I'm going to open that last tomb. See if there's another…secret message or something."
He sounded unsure. Felicity hated it when Oliver sounded unsure. But why wouldn't he? Mixed messages thy name was Felicity Smoak. Maybe if she decided what message she wanted to send that would help.
"Good idea," Felicity forced herself to say. She even managed a smile. A completely fake smile, but still.
Oliver might have even noticed if he would look at her. Swallowing, Felicity pushed up her glasses and pressed her thumbs against her closed eyes, willing the tears to stay where they were. Why did god hate her?
"Uh, Felicity…" Oliver called, his tone back to the way it was before their little foray down the path of destruction via flirtation. "You gotta see this." He was looking down at the tomb, the one that the slab had come from.
Felicity struggled to get to her feet, eager for whatever was already distracting Oliver. Her right foot was asleep and she was still unsteady from her mini-panic attack and…suddenly there was a hand on her elbow, steadying her.
Incredible. Even with everything, Oliver was always there to catch her. Felicity wasn't sure if that made it better or worse.
"Thanks…oh wow…" Felicity breathed as she caught sight of the shrouded body. It was magnificent.
Well, the body was shriveled and gross, but everything else…wow oh wow it was amazing.
And god bless the Mayans. They had come through for Felicity a second time in less than an hour, giving them something to focus on besides the personal history and tension (all kinds) between them.
"Have you ever seen a gold mask before?" Oliver asked, almost reverent.
Felicity shook her head. "Not in the Mayan world. It's always Jade."
Jade, which was beautiful but, well, rock. It had to be pieced together into a mosaic to form a full human mask, instead of melted and molded seamlessly like gold. It was amazing how much detail the Mayan's were still able to create with the jade but…the gold…
It was so intricate. It almost looked alive. They could clearly see what this man (and surely those were masculine features) looked like when he was alive. It was extraordinary.
The face portrayed by the mask had some of typical Mayan features, but they were softened, with almost European traits mixed in. It certainly led credence to Felicity's Viking theory but…
Wow, did that mean that this man was related to those ancient rulers? The ones that had come before Pacal? The carved moonstone eyes (again, instead of jade) imbedded in the gold, staring up at them so eerily, seemed to argue that very thing.
"I think you need to try and publish your Viking theory," Oliver whispered, making Felicity huff out a laugh. Feeling teary-eyed again, but this time it was because of the weight of this discovery and everything it could mean. And, maybe a little, because of how grateful she was to have Oliver to share it with.
"I may just consider it." Though Felicity doubted ARGUS would allow such a thing. She leaned in closer. This shroud was of much better material than the first two corpses and it was still mostly intact. Was that gold weaved right into the fabric? And his hands…oh, wow…oh wow, oh wow. "Oliver, look at his hands! Are they…?"
"Spread out like the carving…yeah," Oliver nodded. Then he pulled himself up tall. "I want to see what's inside that last tomb." This time, it was clear that he wasn't trying to avoid her. He just really wanted to see what was in that last tomb.
"Yeah," Felicity whispered back, because it was an excellent idea even if she was pretty damn distracted with what was in this one.
There were carved glyphs on the inside of the tomb above the man's head and she was so engrossed in translating that she jumped when a loud thunk bang sounded behind her. Felicity's eyes flew to the second (well, fourth really) slab, now lying on the floor next to the Kin Cuudad carving, before jerking to Oliver.
Shrugging unapologetically, Oliver answered Felicity's unasked question. "What? Now that I know dropping it helped, it makes the whole thing a lot easier."
Felicity smiled, glad for anything that cut the tension after the almost kiss. They may not be back to where they were before, but hopefully they could get back to camp before a third incident popped up and Oliver decided he'd had enough.
She bit back a sigh. Life was just so unfair. Why were the only things worth having the ones that could destroy you?
"Any secret messages?" Felicity asked, trying to maintain something resembling a professional veneer. She doubted she was succeeding.
Oliver crouched down in front of the slab, brushing the surface. He muttered a disappointed, "Damn." Before looking up at her and saying, "Nope. Nothing but solid limestone."
"That's alright. As it is I have so much translating here, we'll probably have to delay heading to the Door." It was very true. They already found more here than Felicity had ever dared hope for.
Oliver shook his head. "Tourists come back tomorrow."
Frak. Of course, they did. Nothing could be easy, could it? Felicity needed more time, dammit. They'd have to work through the night and leave at dawn. "Maybe we'll get a hurricane?" That would certainly keep the tourists at home and she couldn't imagine a safer place than this hole during a storm.
Unless it was still just her and Oliver. That would be unsafe on a whole different level.
"One can only hope," Oliver answered wryly.
Felicity met his gaze and they laughed together. Life was seriously surreal if she was stuck in a concrete box with Oliver, wishing for a hurricane. But…thank goodness Oliver didn't seem to be holding any of her erratic behavior against her. And if he was keeping himself at a little more of a distance, then…that was probably for the best.
Especially until Felicity found a way to tell him everything. And the more time they spent together, the more that conversation became inevitable. It was just something she was going to have to accept. Plan for, even.
Oliver straightened up, looking at the slabs now lying on the ground, hands on his hips. "I think we're done with the heavy lifting for now." We're? As if Felicity had done anything. "Do you want me to finished cleaning off the carving? I know I don't have Caitlin's delicate touch—"
"Your touch is plenty delicate." Oh god…did she just say that? Felicity winced as Oliver sent her a raised eyebrow. "I mean…please, go ahead and give it your best shot…I mean, brush …I'm going to stop talking now."
Luckily, Felicity got off with a soft chuckle from Oliver as he did what she asked without another word. Thank god. Felicity wasn't sure if she could handle another word.
They lapsed into a…not uncomfortable silence as they both worked on their own area.
It was after some time passed, long enough for Felicity to really get into the zone, that Oliver suggested, "We should be able to get some good pictures. If we have to leave before you're done."
Distracted, Felicity mumbled, "No digital evidence, remember?"
"Well, we certainly don't have a film camera. Isn't your tablet unhack—"
"Eeee! Oliver!" Felicity squealed as it became clear exactly what she had just translated. "Oliver, get over here!"
She had been over it four times now and…it had to be! She was practically…who was she kidding…she was hopping up and down she was so fraking giddy. Oh god! Oh wow! This couldn't be real. Oh, please, let it be real!
Oliver was at her side in a moment. "What?"
Grabbing his arm, Felicity squeed. Yes, squeed. "Oliver, do you know who this is? This is King Cadmeal!"
The stare she got back was blank. Of course, Oliver didn't remember Cadmeal. He wasn't a pretty girl with gold hair. "Their son." Felicity gestured, a little frantically, to the carving on the ground. "The one who founded Palenque."
"Seriously?" Oliver's eyes widened and he looked at the corpse with more interest. "The one from your dream?"
Oliver would remember that part. But…nodding, kinda like a crazy person, Felicity pointed to the glyphs. "That's what this says. And it makes sense, what with the hidden message and the gold mask and the moonstone eyes and the slightly less than typical Mayan features." She was almost vibrating by the end. This alone would change everything they knew about this area of the world.
"Shouldn't this be famous then?" Oliver asked gravely, throwing cold water on Felicity's exuberance. "How could the archeologists that came before us have possibly missed the founder of Palenque?"
Oliver was right. It made no sense. Frowning, Felicity rubbed her forehead, undoubtedly making it even more streaked with dust and sweat. "You would think. But the glyphs are clear and…I mean, it could be a hoax but that doesn't make any sense either. If they found a hoax, wouldn't they have dated it? Wouldn't they have removed it, if it wasn't real?"
But if it was real, the only thing that made sense was…that Oliver and Felicity were the first people to see this in two plus millennia and, while that was understandable with the hidden carving, this corpse…with all the people swarming over Palenque, how could this have been missed?
"I really don't think that," Oliver pointed to the slab on the floor, "is a hoax, but…it's weird, right?"
"It really is." Felicity's eyes darted around the chamber at the different clues. And the non-clues.
Then Felicity realized she was still touching Oliver, still clutching his arm. Not panicking, though. That was good. She leaned closer him, just to test the waters and felt his hand land lightly on her waist. Breathing normal. Heart rate steady. O-kay. Good. This was good.
"You know what this means?" Felicity asked, trying to keep them both (mostly her) focused on the task at hand. Also, it would probably help avert another panic attack.
Raising his eyebrows, Oliver said with all seriousness, "I hope it means there is something here that will help us get to Kin Cuudad before Darhk does."
"Well, yes, I hope that too but…" Felicity shivered as the pieces fell together and she said it all out loud, a giddy sort of elation washing over her. "It means that he was real. And if King Cadmeal was a real person then they," she pointed to the floor, "were probably real and that means—"
"Kin Cuudad is real." Oliver's voice sounded as reverent as hers. In that instant, Felicity was so very glad she was sharing this incredible moment with him. She nodded, biting her lower lip and feeling like she just might burst. "What about that one?" Oliver asked, pointing behind him to the fourth tomb. "It has a gold mask too."
How could she have forgotten? Felicity may have squeaked as she spun to get a look at the one behind her. She kept forgetting there was more. It was like she couldn't imagine more.
Felicity's hand immediately reached to touch the second gold mask. "There's no moonstone eyes in this one and these features are more typically Mayan," she thought out loud, taking in the glyphs around the edge. There weren't as many, but they were there.
"His wife?" Oliver suggested.
"You think?" Felicity's eyes jerked up, trying to ignore that he sort of had her trapped in the tiny space between the tombs and the wall. There was no way out unless Oliver got out of the way.
Of course, that didn't make her panicky. An almost kiss had but not being trapped. Felicity's brain was so illogical sometimes.
Oliver leaned over to get a better look at this fourth corpse, showing no awareness of the extremely tight quarters (or at least no reaction). "The features do seem a little more feminine, but it's hard tell."
Whoever it was, she had an awful lot of jewelry, tarnished with time but unmistakably valuable, and her hands were also splayed out in the same butterfly/sun pattern.
"It looks like she's holding something," Oliver said, reaching in and grabbing her shriveled hand. "Tangled between her fingers."
"Ewww! What are you doing?" Felicity gasped, recoiling and trying to back up…but, hello, no place to back up to. Oh how could Oliver touch it? Yuck yuck yuck!
But Oliver just chuckled. "I'm seeing what she's holding. Considering our line of work, you'd think you'd be over your squeamishness by now."
Felicity grunted, determined not to take the bait. Honestly, she didn't think she'd ever be over it. There was a reason she had a forensic expert on her team. She preferred wires and metal to dead things. "Just be careful, don't…break her." She shuddered just thinking about it.
"I don't think she'll notice," Oliver quipped, throwing Felicity a crooked smile as he pulled something out from between the Mayan's thumbs. "Will you look at that?"
At the awe in Oliver's voice Felicity looked ever and…
"Oh wow…"
It was a moonstone. Felicity scooped it out of Oliver's hand and held it out in front of her. Maybe an inch in diameter, it was intricately and perfectly, carved and decorated with…silver, it looked like. She didn't even think craftsmanship like this existed that many years ago.
"You think it's a sun? Or a star? Wow…I've never seen anything like it." Felicity rolled it around in her palm. It was gorgeous. It was…warm.
"Do you think that it's the moonstone that's shown around the queen's neck?" Oliver asked and Felicity's eyes flew back to the carving. She hadn't considered it. It was an incredible connection to make.
"Well…if it is then the necklace isn't the Gift," Felicity answered after a moment.
"How can you be sure?"
Felicity had meet his eyes to see if Oliver was joking. Incredibly, he wasn't. She held the stone out between her thumb and forefinger. "This is the greatest magical object ever created?" It was pretty and all, but…
Oliver shrugged. "It was greatly exaggerated?" That made Felicity chuckle, but his eyes got serious again and he asked softly, "You know what else this means?"
Wrinkling her forehead, Felicity looked at him and shook her head.
"It's just like in your dream," Oliver murmured, gesturing between the two tombs. "Cadmeal and his wife. They were your dancers?"
Felicity's breath hissed and a chill ran through her. Cadmeal, his wife, and the tombs.
That was her dream all right. "Are you saying I'm psychic?" Felicity tried to joke. But it didn't feel like a joke.
Oliver smiled anyway. "No, I…I think you have a connection to this place." He looked around the chamber and when he turned back to Felicity she must have been giving him a disbelieving look because he said, "What? I've seen things that can't be explained by science. You know that. There are things out there beyond our understanding, Felicity. Mystical things."
How did she even begin to respond to that? Felicity opened her mouth to try—
A loud beeping sounded in her ear and Felicity snapped her fingers shut around the stone, flipping over her wrist to look at her flashing watch. Oliver's was flashing too.
They shared a quick look before they both reached for their wrists. But the communicator in her ear crackled to life, and the emergency line went live before Felicity had a chance to pull up the controls.
Digg's voice echoed in Felicity's ear. "Green Arrow. Overwatch. Report. Alpha Delta Four, Report!"
There was gunfire in the distance.
Felicity's eyes jerked to Oliver's. Frak. They were under attack.
Author's Notes:
(More photographs and art for this chapter here)
It is true that many scholars believe that the Vikings made it to the Americas long before Columbus, but since they had no interest in gold or anything else there, they moved on. There were not, however (as far as I know), any sign of blue-eyed blonde Mayans. Though, they did believe their ruler descended from the gods, some of whom live in the sky (others deep in the underworld).
These last two chapters have been a whole lot of plot, maybe more than I've ever written, so I hope you're holding in there with me. I've got a lot of balls up in the air with this one and trying really hard not to drop any. And it's not going to get any easier. Action ahead! (God help me.)
Thank you so much to the lovelies: Ireland1733, imusuallyobsessed, and Fairytalehearts for all their help and support. This story is an epic tangle and it takes a village for me to keep it all straight.
Thank you to each and everyone one of you who left me a comment about chapter 8. It means so much to me. Please, keep them coming (and don't forget to press that kudos button if you liked it. ;-))
Thanks, and Happy Reading,
Emmy