THE CREATURE AT THE CENOTE
THE CREATURE AT THE CENOTE
by Jamie Lackey
Red twilight seeped across the jungle like blood into packed dirt. Ehecatl knelt on the path and examined smudged tracks. His torch cast flickering shadows, and the tracks slithered from side to side.
“Maybe we should camp here for the night and continue our pursuit in the morning,” Necalli, Ehecatl’s brother, said.
Ehecatl thought longingly of sleep. But they couldn’t allow their quarry to slip into the underground system of watery caves and escape.
Now was the moment he’d been training for his whole life.
“We need to keep moving,” he said. “Bring the sacrifices.”
A jaguar’s coughing bark echoed in the distance, and one of the sacrifices whimpered.
Insects buzzed, and the wind stirred the trees. Leaves whispered and branches groaned. Dark miles slipped by.
Between one step and the next, the jungle went silent. Ahead, the cenote’s still water reflected moonlight and unfamiliar stars.
Ehecatl prayed that he wasn’t too late and pulled his tecpatl. The sigils carved into the hilt were hot, and a strange strength flowed into his arm.
He pulled one of the sacrifices forward and stabbed him in the chest. His breastbone parted like overripe papaya under the obsidian blade. Ehecatl pulled his heart from his chest and held it overhead.
He sang the chant. The discordant words scraped his throat raw, and he tasted blood.
His consciousness expanded. He felt another mind wrapping around his own, tasting and shaping his thoughts.
A twisted creature appeared at the edge of the torchlight, standing on the still water of the cenote. Its too-long arms ended in long, glistening tentacles, and its face was a mass that looked like a clutch of frog eggs.
It greeted him by pulling at his thoughts. Memories of his training flickered at the edges of his vision.
Ehecatl held the heart in his cupped palms and walked toward the figure, still chanting. His feet sent ripples across the water’s surface, but it held his weight.
The creature bowed its head and ate the heart from his hands. It licked blood from his palms with a hot, pebbly tongue. It was a pleasant feeling, and Ehecatl smiled down at it. It filled his mind with memories of his mother’s hand brushing back his hair.
He waved for Necalli to bring the next sacrifice.
But when he glanced back, Necalli stood alone on the shore. The rope that had bound the sacrifices lay in pieces at his feet.
“What are you doing, brother?” Ehecatl asked.
“There is still time for you to end this,” Necalli said. “This thing is no god, and we dishonor ourselves by making sacrifices to it.”
“Our sacrifices will earn us the power to build an empire.”
“But is that worth our souls?”
The creature looked up at Ehecatl. The sacrifices were slow and feeble–it could catch them while he dealt with the traitor. Ehecatl nodded, and it vanished.
Ehecatl walked toward the shore. “Why didn’t you run?”
“Do you remember when we were boys, and you promised to always protect me? I stayed to protect you. We can destroy this monster if we work together.”
A scream echoed through the jungle, and Ehecatl tasted the sacrifice’s blood in the creature’s mouth.
“It and I will become one, and we will lead our people to great glory. It’s not too late for you to join me.”
“That creature will bring nothing but evil.”
Ehecatl took a single step and appeared at Necalli’s side. Their breath mingled.
“I love you, Ehecatl,” Necalli said.
“I love you, too.” He remembered holding his brother in his arms the night after their parents died. Necalli had cried and cried, and Ehecatl had promised that everything would be all right.
He sliced open Necalli’s chest with a single stroke. His heart still beat, and his eyes still stared up at the dark canopy.
“What are you doing?” Necalli whispered. Blood bubbled on his lips.
Ehecatl brushed Necalli’s hair back and kissed his forehead. “I must consume your heart.”
The reflection in Necalli’s eyes shifted from dark leaves to strange stars. Tears flowed down his cheeks. “Don’t do this,” he whispered.
“I will end your suffering,” Ehecatl said. “Nothing will ever hurt you again.” But his hand shook, and doubt crept into the corners of his mind. What if Necalli was right? Would his victory be empty without his brother by his side?
The creature appeared at his elbow, and its mental touch destroyed his doubts. It gave him the strength he needed.
Necalli whimpered, and Ehecatl bowed his head and ate his heart out of his chest.
The creature flowed into Ehecatl. It strengthened his limbs and sharpened his mind.
They kicked Necalli’s empty body into the cenote, and it vanished into the dark water. The strange stars rippled, then vanished. The rite was over.
There was one more sacrifice to catch. Then, they had an empire to build. They walked into the jungle. Behind them, blood seeped into the packed dirt.
Fiction © Copyright Jamie Lackey
Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
Jamie Lackey lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and their cats. She has over 160 short fiction credits, and has appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Escape Pod. She has a novella and two short story collections available from Air and Nothingness Press. In addition to writing, she spends her time reading, playing tabletop RPGs, baking, and hiking. You can find her online at www.jamielackey.com.
