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.In one upraised hand was a dagger, large and slick with dripping blood.In theother was the still-beating heart of the youth.At the sight of the intruders, the finely robed men gasped and murmured amongthemselves.Only the one in the middle, the one holding the dying heart,remained silent.His eyes narrowed as he muttered something low and menacingin a language half fluid, half guttural, a language Remo had never heardbefore."What'd he say?" he asked Chiun, who knew the speech of most of the world.The old man frowned."I do not know," he said."I have not heard this languagebefore.""I thought I picked out certain derivatives of local Mayan speech," Lizziesaid excitedly."Maybe it's some kind of cult, or ""It is the Old Tongue," the boy said softly.They all turned to look at him."The Old Tongue?" Remo asked."The language of my ancestors," Po said, his eyes fixed on the tall mancovered with blood."He told us to leave.""Gladly," Chiun said.The man spoke again, pointing at Remo and Chiun.His voice was deep andresonant, his face cruel."What was that?" Remo asked.But the boy didn't answer.Instead, he steppedforward, his chin jutting, his face flushed, and shouted something at the man.As he spoke, the other members of the group around the bloody table lookeduncertainly at one another, then fixedly at Remo and Chiun.At one point, theleader of the group opened his mouth to speak, but the boy silenced him with afresh torrent of the strange-sounding words, gesturing to the sky, thenpointing again at Remo and Chiun.His childish voice took on a peculiar air ofcommand as he spoke, standing still, his posture erect, his voice clear.Whenhe was finished, the men standing around the table lowered their eyes.The boysnapped out another command, and they sank to their knees, chanting somethingin unison.Only the central figure remained standing, the man in the splendid robes whosetopaz amulet glinted with reflected blood.He stared at Po, his eyes as coldas the dagger still in his hand.Po did not speak again, and his eyes never left the man's.Then, after whatseemed like hours, the tall man laid down the stilled heart and the dagger,nodded once curtly, and strode out."Come," the boy said."He is taking us to his king."Page 44ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"That was some showdown," Remo said, following him through the temple towardthe entrance."What was going on back there? Should we have done something?""No," Po said."It was a sacrifice.That is their way.The man is a priest."He added, "But I do not trust him."He didn't look like he was crazy about you, either," Remo said."How'd youtalk him into taking us out of here?""I told him the truth," Po said."Oh? You mean that we got stuck in an earthquake and somehow ended up in thewrong temple? He bought that?""Well, not exactly the truth," the boy said."I told him that we fell to earthin a flaming chariot.""Oh, good," Remo said."Something believable.""And that he should be prepared to deal with the great god Kukulcan and hisson."Chiun beamed."I knew there was something I liked about this boy," he said.Outside the temple, the view that greeted them was a shock.The jungle brushthat had all but obliterated the sunlight had been cleared.In its place was athriving city of baked clay and cement and stone buildings, some of which wereof immense proportions.A row of merchants in cloth covered stalls shouted to passersby, displaying awide variety of wares: obsidian blades; tobacco in large, dried leaves; blocksof white rock salt; dried fish; stacks of dishes and pottery; masks decoratedwith fine colored feathers and bright paint; metal incense burners; flint;canes and staves; jade and jewelry.Dazed, Lizzie exlained some of the more unusual items in the stalls as theypassed by.A shop displaying nothing but white spikes was, she said, the placeto buy stingray spines."They used to be used for bloodletting," she said, adding lamely, "Maybe theystill do.Somewhere."She was beginning to shake."Calm down," Remo said."We'll find out where weare soon enough.""But we didn't move!" she protested."We don't know that," Remo said reasonably."Everything went crazy once theearthquake hit.We might have moved [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]