Jaguar Claw Ch. 03

On the sixth day of his new life with Turtle Head, Jaguar Claw woke in the middle of the night. It was dark, and a soft rain was falling outside. His bladder was full, clamoring for relief, so he quietly rose and slipped from his chamber. He ran quickly to the courtyard, out into the rain, and relieved himself on a bush with a sigh. The rain was soft but steady, and quickly plastered his hair to his head and made his skin slippery, but it felt good, and would be good for the maize, beans, and potatoes growing out in the fields surrounding the city. The great drought appeared to have ended and prosperity was returning.

"And maybe I'm part of that." he said to himself. "Am I like the rain? Have the gods caused me to fall from heaven? What good am I to my people?"

He whispered out a prayer:

You went to the world beneath the ground
And left me alone.
You said I would be a great warrior
And I am not.
The great cycle of time spins near me
And time moves on around and around
But it does not touch me.
Why is it so?

He waited a moment for an answer, but only rain fell down from the gods.

He sighed and turned to go back inside, but a movement caught his eye. There was a person in the doorway. No, it was two people.

Jaguar Claw moved behind his bush and watched, curious as to what might happen.

In the doorway was a young girl, one of the servants, and behind her an older boy, the one who ran messages for Turtle Head.

"Come," whispered the girl. "The rain is warm. All in the house are asleep. Come."

The boy hesitated, then shrugged, and together they moved out to the center of the courtyard to the fountain.

Jaguar Claw watched as the girl knelt in front of the boy and removed his covering. The boy was naked then, with the girl's face only inches from his penis.

She moved her head forward and caught the boy in her mouth. The penis grew rigid as she sucked on him, smacking her lips and slurping the rain water.

The boy arched his head back and breathed out, "Ahh."

"What is this?" whispered Jaguar Claw to himself. "What are they doing?"

The girl pumped her head up and down a few times while the boy writhed around her, sighing and gasping, as if he were being tortured but not with pain.

The girl moved her mouth off the penis and whispered, "Not yet. I want some too."

She stood then and removed her clothing. Her skin was light, and glistened in the rain water. Her breasts were still growing, but could no longer be called new buds. Each was capped with a small brown nipple that pointed up toward the sky at an angle.

The boy wrapped his arms around the girl, his hard penis trapped between their bodies, and kissed her, licking the rain water from her skin. He moved his mouth down then, and attacked her nipples, sucking and chewing on them. Her chest heaved, she sighed and gasped, and Jaguar Claw's mind was in a dizzy whirl.

The boy moved an arm under one of the girl's knees then, lifting it up while she placed the tip of his penis at the entrance of her vagina. He thrust forward once, burying himself in her depths. They both cried out then, softly, in emotion filled ecstasy.

He thrust again, bouncing her body against his, and she thrust herself back, blissfully impaling herself on the boy.

"Ah," she cried. "So good."

"Yes." he grunted.

Their bodies moved together, sliding and slipping, soaked with the warm, heavenly rain.

And Jaguar Claw watched, transfixed, astonished at what he was seeing.

"Wonderful," he whispered.

They did not last long. The boy's movements became jerky and rough while the girl's hands fluttered up and down his back. Then she was mewling and almost crying, and he was gasping, grunting as he spurted his life into her.

The were still for a moment, and then she giggled and danced away from the boy, twirling her arms around her, spinning around on the flag stones of the courtyard with her face tilted back, up into the rain.

He moved slowly, gingerly leaning down and retrieving their clothing.

"Come," he hissed, "We should go back inside before we are found."

She danced back to him, wrapped her arms around him and kissed him fiercely, then said, "Yes, I guess so."

They wrapped themselves up again, and together they slipped back through the doorway leaving Jaguar Claw alone with his bush.

"This is a thing I would like to see again," he whispered to himself.

He counted to eighty twice and then went back inside, fearful of being caught. He lay on his sleeping mat for a long time before sleep finally came. What were they doing? Was it a game of some kind they were playing? They certainly looked like they were having fun.

He looked down at his penis. It was not dwarfish like his arms and legs, but it was still very much smaller than the other boy's penis. Perhaps when he grew older, as old perhaps as the messenger boy was, then a girl would desire to play that game with him.

He slept finally, falling deeply into the land of dreams which were filled with naked breasts and buttocks and laughing girls.

Morning came early, with the servants shaking him awake.

"Up, young master, arise from your slumber. We worship at the temple today!"

They washed his hair and trimmed it, then folded it up into a knot. They dressed him then in fine clothing, white with a red stripe around the border. They then pressed a small cake of corn meal into his hands and bade him chew faster than the lightning gods.

"Hurry, young master, for our master the high priest officiates today and we must be early."

They were out the door then, as a procession, with Turtle Head and Jaguar Claw at the front. They met the other twenty seven high priests at the base of the temple, and the king was there and his first wife.

"Good morning Turtle Head," said the king with a smile. "And how is my dwarf getting along?"

"Well, great lord, very well. I find myself very much enjoying my time with him. I'm training him in the priesthood."

"Eh, is that so," said the king. "He'll be a dwarf and a priest too. The world will fall at his feet."

"Perhaps so, great lord, and if so, may our city prosper."

The king smiled and patted Jaguar Claw's head. "Time will show us the way." He looked up at the temple then and intoned, "We move through the great cycle of life. We are born, we live, we die. Our city has risen up from the plain, under the mountains, and it will fall again, and another will take our place. Thus is all of history and all future like a great round and at the center stands the tree. Let us climb up and thank the gods."

He clapped his hands once then, loudly, and the temple echo chirruped back at them.

May the gods bless us this day
And look down upon us with happiness.
May our messengers find them quickly
And remember the words they should say.

The climb was difficult for Jaguar Claw. His small legs did not do well on the steps, but Turtle Head stayed with him and eventually they made it. At the top, the brazier was already burning, and three boys and a girl stood naked to one side, waiting for the honor of their death.

A priest chanted:

Life and death are beautiful
Joy and suffering are beautiful
Without the one
The other can not be.

Horns were blown, and pipes and whistles, and a choir sang.

The queen disrobed and made an offering by piercing her labia with a thorn tied to a string. The blood dripped down onto paper which was folded and placed into the brazier and burned.

She prayed:

Thank you for the rain
Thank you for accepting my daughters.
They have brought our message up to you
And you have heard them.
We shall live now.
Our city shall prosper.
The drought is broken.
Thank you for the rain.

The boys were brought then, and their lives were ended throwing them down the steps of the temple, their blood washing it a bright red.

And then the girl stepped forward and sang:

The smoke flies north
The smoke flies east
The smoke flies south
The smoke flies west.
My life began with the flowing of water
My life ends with the flying of smoke.

And then she was tied and lowered over the brazier and burned until she died.

Jaguar Claw watched all of this, the smoke stinging his eyes, drawing out the tears, and he wept.