From Night On: Sacred Grounds

Chapters 5-6

Chapter 5:

Stay Warm, Stay Cool

Les awoke the following morning as the sun peeked from behind the horizon, filling the car with golden rays so bright his eyelids couldn't fight back. Back cramped and neck sore from being cramped in the back seat, he slowly climbed from the car. Terry and Marcus were sitting near the remnants of the fire, discussing more of the history that Marcus had bypassed during his time dead. As Les approached, his foot sank slightly into a patch of the soft ground he had felt the night before, but, before he could say good morning, the light of the morning sky offered a full survey of the area.

"Holy shit," he gasped as his attention was pulled from his friends and grasped by the layout. "This is an archaeological dig site." He began wandering the mountain top and periodically peering off into the distance. Unfortunately, the cloud coverage from the evening hadn't left, so he was without a reference point or a possible view of other sites. Marcus and Terry stopped in their conversation as they observed Les as his excitement grew. "After any major materials are excavated," Les continued, "and while those materials are being examined, the sites are filled back in to preserve any undiscovered items from being destroyed by the elements." He paced around and observed the layout of the rectangular patches. "There were structures up here," he said,"but what happened to them?" He looked about the area and back out over the clouds.

"What do you mean?" Terry asked.

"All of the Mayan, Zapotec, and Aztec ruins are virtually still standing,"Les answered. "They were amazing stone architects. Terry, you should be familiar with them."

"I am," Terry answered. "We studied them a little bit, but you would be the expert here."

Les didn't notice the compliment and continued, fueled by some inner workings that drove him out of reflex. "If we are in the mountains around Oaxaca," he proceeded, "then this would be a site of the Zapotec, or," he grinned with excitement, "this is a site that predates the Zapotec."

"What is a Zapotec?" Marcus asked, feeding Les' urge to delve further.

"The Zapotec were a civilization from Mesoamerica that dated back,arguably, from 2500 to 3500 years ago. Their architecture was...," the thought that ran through his head spread down to his feet and he bolted across the mountain top to where the clouds had begun to recede as he slowly stepped down along the sloping side. He lightly tapped his toes about as the others watched, confused by his odd behavior. "YES! Right here!" Les had found the stone steps of the outer structure. "The Zapotec architecture was mostly plateaued,not terraced like the Mayans or the Aztecs." He ran about from one point to another. "At best," he held up his hands as he looked back over the mountain top, "there would have been one or two large rectangular structures on top," he squinted and lowered himself to get eye level with the ground, "but I'm not seeing any abnormal deviations that would indicate the perimeters."

"There it is," Terry said, crossing his arms. "That's the Les I know."

"What are you talking about?" Les asked, being broken from his analytic trance.

"That passion you had for this stuff," Terry answered. "The Dungeons and Dragons stuff didn't nearly set you out as a nerd in high school as much as you carrying around an extra fifty pounds of books on ancient civilizations."

Les looked blankly at the ground, still grinning and lightly panting in exhilaration. "We must be close," he said, ignoring Terry's comment. "We should probably keep going in the same direction," he said as he began marching back toward the car.