THE CAVE OF GLOWING SKULLS

THE CAVE OF GLOWING SKULLS, by Gary Every

 

 

A small stream exits the cave at the mouth

tumbling and cascading down the cliff

before plopping onto the sand and seeping softly into the sea.

The climb is rugged but not dangerous.

One can easily walk a half mile inside the mountain,

then the pottery sherds appear,

thousands of years old, as old as any pottery in the Americas.

Eventually the explorers notice the bones on the ledges,

the bones stuffed into crevices,

bones which are covered with a fine layer of crystalline calcite.

Most fascinating of all are the slightly elongated skulls,

also covered with teeny tiny crystals,

making the skulls glitter beneath the headlamps,

empty eye sockets holding nothing but shadows.

The grave goods become more precious

the deeper into the cave, the further inside the mountain you go;

treasures including ceramic effigies and carved gemstones.

One corpse has been ritually mummified,

face covered with a jade mask and great big googly eyes.

This priest king is descended from the wizards of Teotihuacan

and their city of giant pyramids.

His ancient body is brutally misshapen,

bones showing signs of being battered and beaten.

His painful injuries include broken collarbone,

shattered fibula, splintered wrist, and fractured vertebrae.

These scars were not inflicted in battle by spears and blades

but come from the great ball game,

the same game played by the twin brother gods in the underworld,

the same game which once decided the fate of empires.

Wizards and kings, princes and priests were all expected

to participate in these athletic contests

It was a requirement of royalty and nobility

to compete in these fierce and brutal ballgames

where contestants often died or were maimed.

This wizard priest with the jade mask and googly eyes

was once a champion, bringing, fortune and fame to his city state,

earning the blessings of the gods.

Even now on astronomical holidays such as lunar eclipses

the mummified king arises and walks the length of the cave

as all the bones stuffed in crevices quiver and quake,

clattering against themselves

The elongated skulls chatter their teeth

as lost voices yell once more

until the entire cave echoes with applause

as if the dead king has just scored another goal.

 

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Gary Every is the author of nine books including the science fiction novellas Inca Butterflies and The Saint and the Robot.  He has been nominated for the Rhysling Award for year’s best science fiction poem 7 times.  As a journalist he has won several awards including best lifestyle feature of the year from the Arizona Newspaper Association in consecutive years for his articles Losing Geronimo’s Language and The Apache Naiche Ceremony both of which are included in his anthology Shadow of the OhshaD (OhshaD is a Native American word for jaguar).

Miguel Santos is a freelance illustrator and maker of Comics living in Portugal.  His artwork has appereared in numerous issues of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, as well as in the Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Best-of Volume 2.  More of his work can be seen at his online portfolio and his instagram.