Thunder of the Gods

A few seconds later, they were treated to the sight of a large tapir entering the river from the opposite bank. Its apparent objective was no more than a cooling bath in the quiet river, and they watched in silence as it lolled noisily in the shallow waters. Although reluctant to disturb the happy tapir, they eventually had to return to their canoe to continue their journey. They were reminded just how far from civilization they were, when the tapir did nothing more than watch them from its resting place as they paddled upstream.

For the rest of the afternoon they pulled upstream on the silent green highway, drawing ever closer to the silent remains of Akbalcab. Lacee grew increasingly nervous as the time passed, occasionally envisioning in her mind white plastered pyramids and temples situated along a clear river. She wondered if Akbalcab bore any resemblance to her fantasy city, questioning how she could have any idea of what it looked like. It was certain that now it was nothing like her imagined site, as Philip had described its ruined, forest-covered condition to her back in Northbury. They finally rounded a long bend in the river and saw the Rio Las Cuevas ahead and to their right as it joined the Rio Oscuro.

"We've finally reached it, Lacee," Philip said reverently.

Lacee nodded her head , experiencing another strong jolt of deja vu as they pulled into the smaller stream, especially when they approached the jumbled pile of limestone blocks that had obviously served as an ancient dock. With the excitement of landing the strange feelings left her, but she would continue to remember this moment far into the future.

It was now late afternoon, and Philip said, "we'd better get busy and set up a temporary camp before dark."

"Are you going to camp in the main plaza?", asked Jose.

"We'll make our permanent camp there," Philip responded, "but with rain threatening tonight I think we'd better make a shelter here by the dock for now."

Philip indicated to Lacee that the main plaza was about a quarter of a mile to the east of them, and that they would move all of their supplies there the following day. In order to protect themselves and their gear from the threatening rains, they all set about collecting palm fronds and enough poles cut from small trees to construct a temporary thatched shelter under which all would be protected.

After unloading the canoe and hanging their hammocks, Philip suggested, "why don't we make a quick reconnaissance of the site?"

Lacee said, "I'd love to do it! It looks so dark and mysterious, and yet I feel so comfortable here."

Jose decided to stay behind to build a fire and prepare tortillas for their dinner, so they told him that they'd return in about an hour. The previous year, Philip and his unfortunate companions had cut a trail through the forest from the dock to the main plaza , and although now slightly overgrown, he and Lacee had no problem in following this route. About thirty yards from the dock the trail passed between the ruins of a platform and a pyramid, entering what appeared to be a small plaza or ceremonial center.

At the far side of this plaza Philip pointed to their left, saying, "those two rubble-strewn mounds paralleling each other are undoubtedly the remains of Akbalcab's ball court."

Lacee was reminded of the descriptions of the game as played by the ancient Maya that she had studied in her classes, and strangely enough she could vividly envision games being played on this court.

Stopping briefly, she said, "you know Philip, I feel depressed over the present condition of this court, and yet I can't explain why."

Philip gazed quietly at the scene enveloped in the gloomy darkness of the exuberant forest, replying, "I feel a little strange myself. Maybe it's just the strain of our long journey here."

Shivering slightly, Lacee smiled wanly and they continued along the trail towards the main plaza. Within a short distance after leaving the ball court, the trail passed between the corners of two overgrown pyramids, the one on the right towered at least 100 feet above them. Stopping at the base where a series of broken steps began, Lacee and Philip gazed upwards towards the tree-shrouded top of the pyramid, and Lacee softly spoke the words balam k'u na.

Philip turned to her with a puzzled look on his face, asking "what did you say?" Lacee flushed and gave him a perplexed smile, answering, "I said balam k'u na, but I have no idea why I used those words. I'm not even sure what they mean."

She moved closer to Philip, and hugging him closely asked if they could continue on along the trail. Philip kissed Lacee firmly, telling her how happy he was that they were here at last, and taking her hand led her along the trail to the east. About a hundred yards further along, the trail breached a small rise at the edge of the plaza and dropped abruptly to a beautiful stream that flowed to their left towards the Rio Oscuro.

As they took in the refreshing sight of a series of waterfalls cascading downwards from their right, Philip said, "this stream is known as Crique Abeja, Bee Creek, on the maps."

"Do you feel as hot and dirty as I do?", Lacee asked. "Why don't we take a quick, cooling bath before it's dark," she continued.

Philip readily agreed, and they swiftly descended to the edge of the pool at the base of the last waterfall. Supporting each other they eagerly shed their clothing. Although the stream was liberally laced with limestone boulders in places, the pool was relatively free of them and was provided with a firm, sandy bottom. They entered the pool hand in hand, gradually reaching a depth of about four feet in the center. The water felt cold at first, but as their bodies adjusted they were able to relax and float on their backs with the protective green canopy of the forest far above them. As Lacee's eyes slowly adapted to the waning light in the trees above, she was able to make out the shapes of several spider monkeys quietly observing them. It was hard to predict how spider monkeys would react to the presence of humans, as they sometimes would flee immediately and noisily through the trees, while at other times they would act unconcerned but interested.

Lacee quietly whispered, "look Philip!"

She pointed them out to him, and together they counted three females, one male, and two juveniles that were within their sight. Although Lacee remembered it from her youth, Philip had reminded her earlier in the trip about how the female and male spider monkeys differed. To the uninitiated, the female with her enlarged, pendant clitoris was usually mistaken for a male, while the male with his cryptic penis and testicles was often labeled as a female.

As they watched their long-limbed observers, Lacee reached out with her hand and fondled Philip's lolling cock, quietly exclaiming, "I really am happy that you're not a spider monkey!"

As his less-than-cryptic manhood responded to her delicate stroking, Philip inserted a questing finger into Lacee's fur-fringed crevice, whispering, "no well-endowed spider monkey female could have a clitoris sweeter than yours."

Now that the soothing waters of the Crique Abeja had refreshed them, Lacee and Philip's bodies hungrily responded to each other, uninhibited by the simian audience in the balcony above. Philip submerged and brought his head up between Lacee's legs, his face with a periscope-eyed view of her glossy black pelt. Bringing his mouth to rest on her fragrant mound, he dog-paddled to push her backwards towards the waterfall and the large, smooth boulders at the base. As Philip assisted by gently lifting her buttocks from below, Lacee squirmed on her back upwards over the moss-covered surface of a large boulder. Once comfortably resting on the gently sloping rock, Lacee reached down to pull Philip's face firmly against her heated mound. He filled her honeyed tunnel with his searching tongue, paying special attention to her hardened clitoris, as Lacee stared skyward and silently asked the female spectators if their male could match this performance.

As darkness approached and Lacee's temperature rose, she gasped, "Philip, I want you to mount me and fill me."

She had observed the splendid state of erection of his prick as he dined at her table, and it was obvious from its glistening head that it was salivating with anticipation. Philip stood and pushed his hands beneath Lacee's buttocks, and as she wrapped her arms and legs around him as he plunged his voracious staff into her heated tunnel. With their bodies performing a torrid ballet, Philip gradually moved them through the shallow water into the billowing mist from the waterfall.

Both of them were nearing their peak of sexual fulfillment as the vaporous waters coated and cooled their surging loins. As Philip's pendant globes tightened and released their load, Lacee drove her hips forward and threw back her head with a cry of ecstasy. While their love juices mingled in her steaming cauldron, Lacee's glazed eyes gradually focused on the overhanging trees. She pulled Philip down into the shallow water, and together they cradled each other in suppressed laughter at the sight of four monkeys hanging by their tails and observing them from a distance of only thirty or forty feet.

Chapter 8

The three of them awoke early, refreshed after their first night of sleep in the ruins of Akbalcab. The first thing they did was to move their camp away from the Rio Las Cuevas to an area of the main plaza, so that they would be near where Lacee and Philip planned to build their small house. By late morning all of their supplies and gear had been moved, and they rested for lunch at the base of the main pyramid. Philip surveyed the forested plaza from his vantage point and pointed to a semi-open area not far from Crique Abeja.

"Let's make use of that treefall area over there," he said pointing. "We won't have to clear away as many trees and it's close to our source of water."

Philip knew that they would have to clear a place for their small house they intended to build, and he had brought along a couple of axes to use in felling them. He had been tempted to bring a chainsaw to ease their labors, but he'd rejected that idea as insulting to the quiet ambience of the mysterious ruins. He even felt some guilt about the axes, since he knew that they ancient Maya had no hard metals for chopping trees, but realized that they had not the time to employ the ancient ways.

The area they selected to use had been opened to the sky by the recent fall of a giant mahogany tree, which had left an opening of about 100 feet in the forest canopy. The three of them set about clearing away the branches and vines that had come to earth, saving those materials that could later be used to construct their small house. They made no attempt to do anything with the huge trunk, which was at least eight feet in diameter at the base, leaving it as a large neighbor upon which they could lie, sit, or store things. As the late afternoon approached, they used the tree trunk as a back wall for the temporary shelter that would house them until the house was completed.

"Jose," Philip said, "tomorrow if you and Lacee will begin construction of the house, I'll work on cutting away more of the small trees from the edge of the clearing. I'd like for us to have at least six hours of sunlight on the clearing during the day to keep things from rotting in the humidity."

"You're right," Jose responded, "this place is going to be very wet during the rainy season, so you're going to want all the sunshine you can get. The ancient ones knew that, and in the old days this entire plaza would have been open to the sun."

Lacee had a brief vision of temples surrounding an immense open plaza, the entire scene bathed in dazzling light reflected by the whitewashed pyramids, and she could only nod in puzzled agreement.

The following day saw the clearing beginning to assume its final shape, and Jose and Lacee were able to set the structural logs for the hut with Philip's assistance with the larger ones. By late afternoon, the frame was completed, with the support logs lashed to one another with sturdy vines and the roof skeleton tied in place with the same strong fibers. Tomorrow they planned to cut the huge fronds from the cohune palms that they would use to roof the structure. Once roofed, they would be secure underneath from the tropical downpours that were now only a few days away. Glancing around at the clearing, Lacee and Philip were already impressed with the sense of place that was developing here in the midst of the rainforest. Philip told Jose that if they could get the roof up the day after tomorrow they could set out back down the river to his farm the following day. Both had agreed that if Lacee and Philip were going to be able to bring up the rest of their supplies, they would have to do so before the first heavy rains of the season arrived. Philip was well aware of what the flooding river could do. Their plan was to drop off Jose at his farm and the following day load up and return to Akbalcab to finish their house. All that would remain for them would be to construct the walls from small trees and to make the place comfortable with shelves and storage places for their supplies.

Three days later, as the sun began to filter through the surrounding trees, the three of them made their way from the clearing and towards their canoe at the dock . Lacee turned for a brief glimpse of the freshly roofed house, and felt a flood of warmth spread throughout her body. It didn't look like much yet, but there was something vaguely reassuring about its appearance, cradled in the immensity of the forest and the timelessness of the ruins. She knew that she couldn't wait until they returned from their trip downriver.

The trip down the Rio Oscuro was relaxing and the complete opposite of Philip's last wild and disastrous voyage down it. By paddling steadily with the current and making few stops, they were able to reach Jose's farm late that day. After beaching the canoe and greeting Jose's wife, Amalia, Lacee and Philip excused themselves to go further downstream to bathe. Just around the first bend, the river deepened and the current slowed, forming a pool of clear, warm water, not yet muddied and cooled by the summer rains. Eagerly shedding their clothes, the two of them raced to the pool and plunged into the embracing liquid as the sounds of approaching dusk began to cloak the scene. Philip surfaced and drifted towards the opposite bank, coming to rest in the folds of the roots of a giant ceiba tree at the edge. On his back, he rested his head on a partially submerged root as his body floated downstream in response to the gently moving current. Folding his hands behind his head, Philip felt Lacee's breath on him between his legs as her head appeared from beneath the water. She gently wrapped her arms around his thighs as her body slowly floated upwards and outwards in response to the current's urging. Philip's slumbering phallus was gracefully draped over his loins like a fleshy hose, and Lacee gradually inched forward to entertain it with her eager mouth. Philip dreamily watched her, struck by the absurd observation that she looked like a sleek jet fighter locking onto an aerial tanker for fueling as both floated through the air. Ridiculous as this vision was, the image was enough to awaken Philip's bong, which proceeded to engorge and distend Lacee's lips. As his shaft pushed her head upwards, Lacee brought her hands forward to grasp it for stability. When Philip's erection reached its zenith, she withdrew her mouth and laid her head alongside the monolith, working her encircling hands upwards and downwards along it in a lazy cadence. Mischievously looking at Philip, Lacee observed his hands holding onto the ceiba trunk.

"Do you know about the duende, Philip?", she asked.

"I've heard that he's a mythical forest creature," he answered, "but I don't know much about him."

"The Maya say that if you're lost in the forest and wrap your arms around a ceiba tree, the duende will find you and clasp your hands from the other side of the tree to escort you to safety," Lacee said. "But you must be very careful," she continued, "for the duende has no thumbs, and if you fail to hide yours he will pull out the sharp machete he carries and cut them off out of jealousy. I would hate to imagine what he might do if he could see you now," she laughed. "What would he think of that giant thumb between your legs?" "Let's show him what he's missing," Philip retorted, good-naturedly grasping Lacee's waist and raising her upwards on top of him.

"Help, duende!", she gasped in mock horror, as she clasped Philip's pillar to direct it into her yielding crevice.

Lacee wrapped her arms around Philip's neck, and the two of them began a slow, sensuous mating dance, buoyed by the gentle waters of the ceaseless river. Grasping the ceiba root firmly, Philip arched his back upwards to drive his distended member deeply into Lacee, who responded by clenching her buttocks and thighs to firmly meet his advances. Slowly at first, and then with gradually increasing tempo, they approached an orgasmic peak. When it came, Philip released his hold on the tree root and the two of them drifted free in the river, pumping and spiraling in the water's soft embrace while their locked loins disgorged a milky effluent that drifted downstream in the crystalline water. When their ardor had cooled, Lacee and Philip toweled dry on the sandy bank before their return to their truck to rest up for tomorrow's trip back upriver. Neither of them were aware of the sleek feline shape observing them from a tree limb a short distance downstream. Silently, the powerful jaguar licked his paws while keeping a watchful eye on the human shapes below him.