The Crystal's Curse Read Online Free Page B

you think about trying to contact that medicine man ourselves?”
    “There’s no harm in trying. Rob’s from around here, maybe he knows him.”
    ***
    Maria, Ricardo, and Rob left early the next morning. They skirted the town, hoping to avoid Erik Johansen. Rob was able to lead them to the medicine man’s village another couple of miles to the east.
    They found the old man sitting on a stump outside his hut, carving on a six-inch wooden board. He was small and thin, dressed in jeans with no shirt and barefoot, only a few gray hairs left on his head. His gnarled hands expertly wielded the knife. When Rob approached and asked if they could speak with him, the old man looked up. He paused when he saw Maria.
    Ricardo explained that Maria’s son had gone missing and that they needed his help. The old man gave Maria a toothless grin and motioned for her to sit beside him. Ricardo and Rob sat on the ground facing him.
    With Ricardo translating, Maria showed the old man the picture of the recess and glyphs. “We found this at the back of a cave in a room by itself. This is where my son disappeared. Have you seen anything like it or the carvings around it?”
    “I have not seen this myself, but I have heard stories.”
    Maria leaned forward. “What can you tell me?”
    The old man looked at her. He placed his carving on the ground next to him. “I don’t know that I can tell you anything that will help you find your son, but I will share what I can. We are the Quiche tribe. What do you know of our origins?”
    Maria thought about wha t she had read about the Quiche and some of their ancient traditions in the Popol Vul . According to the priest who wrote about the Quiche` geneses myth, they believed the earth was brought into form by Gugumatz, the Plumed Serpent, who eventually created four men and four women who became the ancestors of the race. It was said that the Quiche believed that they were created by extraterrestrials. She decided not to mention that. “Only what I have read in books written by the white man.”
    The old man nodded. “The story is long and complicate d and many parts are for Quiche ears only, but it will help if we start with what I can tell you.”
    Even though Maria couldn’t understand his words, his voice demanded her attention.
    He paused periodically for Ricardo to translate. “The gods were lonely so they came to earth and decided to create man. First, they created mud men, but decided they were not sturdy enough. Then they tried wooden men but they too were unsatisfactory. Next, they created beings that were just as strong and intelligent as they were, but the gods soon became afraid of these and destroyed them as well. Finally, they created the humans, the Quiche. The gods decided these were perfect, not as strong as the gods, but beings they could interact with. The gods came and visited the Quiche often. There were good gods like Kukulkna, who taught us about time and space and when to plant and harvest.
    “These carvings,” he said, pointing to some of the glyphs that Maria had recognized, “are part of that calendar. There were also evil gods who ruled the underworld and demanded blood sacrifices. They brought famine and disasters to the Quiche. Kukulkna helped the Quiche to anticipate the times of evil.
    “This,” he said, tapping one finger on the picture of the recess, “is how Kukulkna traveled between his world and our world. Tradition says only he possessed the power to activate the chamber. He left instructions painted on a wall that if he ever failed to return, the room was to be hidden so that the evil gods could not use it to bring more like themselves to plague the Quiche. If you have uncovered this room, it could be very bad. Perhaps that is why your son was taken,” he said without looking at them.
    Maria gasped. Thinking that the Quiche had taken Joshua as punishment for uncovering the room, she asked, “What can we do to get him back?”
    The old man looked into