It seemed so long. It seemed ages, eternities. Neil saw everything clearly and distinctly. The eyes were close now, moving so slowly, closer, closer. And yet he knew those eyes and those gaping jaws were moving more swiftly than he could possibly imagine.
There was a dull sound and the ax connected with the flashing head. This was followed immediately by a slight squishing noise as the ax sank into flesh.
And then there was no more head threatening-only a great writhing, twisting body that hung from the branch, thrashing wildly, blood spurting from the severed end of the body.
On the ground the jaws of the severed head snapped open and shut in a convulsive last burst of energy. The muscles of the body shook in convulsion, tightened on the tree, seemed to squeeze the branch in a powerful grip, and then loosened completely.
The body dropped to the earth, writhing once in the dust and then it lay still, a pool of blood soaking into the ground beneath it.
Neil let out his breath.
Erik, his face covered with sweat, his eyes tired, dropped the ax to the ground and helped Neil and Talu to their feet. His arm tightened around Neil’s shoulder.
“My friend,” he whispered. “I thought I would lose you.”
Talu was still trembling, his thin body shaking like a hollow tube in the wind.
He reached out and touched Erik’s arm.
“Thank you,” he said. He looked down at the still body of the snake. “You are mightier than the serpent, stranger.” His body shook in a new spasm.
Neil tried to grin, but his teeth were still chattering.
“Let’s eat,” he suggested, but he didn’t feel hungry.
It was four days later when Erik approached Talu about the food.
“How much food will you need?” Talu asked.
“Enough for my crew. That is all.”
“And how long is your journey?”
Erik thoughtfully considered this. “Many months,” he said at last. “At least eight.”
Talu sighed deeply and said, “Come with me, friend.”
He led him to a square stone building before which two soldiers stood. The soldiers touched their foreheads as Talu approached, admitting him to the building, along with Erik and Neil.
The room was dark, and a soldier inside hastily lighted a torch. Neil waited for his eyes to accustom themselves to the darkness, the single torch providing very little light.
Lining the walls of the room were baskets of food. Fruit, vegetables, jars of honey and crushed chili. Hanging from pegs set into the wall were cured meats and fowl. Neil thought he recognized a few monkeys.
“This is our storeroom,” Talu explained.
“Then you will supply me?” Erik asked.
Talu sighed again. “My friend, you have saved my life, and I am eternally grateful to you. Anything you ask for, I will grant. Gold, fabric, water, weapons.”
He paused, wrung his thin hands together, and added, “Anything but food.”
Erik stared at him curiously.
“This is our entire stock until the harvest. We have not yet begun to plant, and the harvest is a long way off. Already my people are eating less, trying to prolong our food supply.”
Neil looked around the room again, and noticed that there wasn’t really as much food as he had first imagined. Not enough, at any rate, to keep an entire city alive for many months.
“How many men are there in your crew?” Talu asked.
“Twenty-seven, counting myself,” Erik answered.
“Feeding twenty-seven men for eight months would require a great deal of food.”
“But you feed us while we are here,” Erik said. “What difference if we eat it here or if we take it with us?”
“We hunt daily,” Talu answered. “And we add other foods to the storeroom in small numbers whenever we can. I would have to give you much meat from our storeroom, if you were to leave. If you stay, I can feed you from the small amount we bring in daily.”
Erik nodded. “How soon will you plant?” he asked.
“A month, two months. When the fields are ready.”
“And after the harvest?”
“If the gods are good,” Talu said, “and if there is a good harvest, I will give you all the food you will need for your journey.”
Erik stroked his beard. “I will have to wait, I suppose,” he said.
“I know you are anxious to rejoin your own people,” Talu said softly. “I hope it will be soon, my friend.”
They left the storeroom, Erik silent as he walked beside Neil.
“I will tell my men,” he said to Talu at last.
“And you are not angry?”
“Your people come first. I understand,” Erik answered simply.
Together, he and Neil went to join the waiting Norsemen. They sat at the edge of the forest, their faces anxious.
Erik stood in the center of the Norsemen and rested his foot on a boulder.
Without preamble, he said, “The Mayas have very little food. We must wait until after their harvest before we can sail.”
The sailors began talking among themselves, their low grumbling reaching Neil’s ears.
Olaf stepped forward as spokesman for the crew. His face was completely healed now, his eyes no longer puffed and discolored.
“When will the harvest be?” he asked.
“Several months from now,” Erik answered.
“And we must wait until then?”
“Yes.”