Ear to the Serpent | ONC 2020 WINNER ✓ [ PUBLISHED ]

chapter IO

I AWOKE TO the sound of my own gasp, in a bed that felt both soft yet hard, in pitch darkness.

My heart pounded and ached so much that I doubled up and clutched at my chest. It took me a few seconds to realise that woven leaves and feathers were binding my torso, while I peeled back the blanket over me to discover a simple cloth was wrapped beyond my waist, and a red grass skirt fashioned over it.

'Are you sure you want to follow the coyote-man?' a foreign and distant voice echoed in my mind. Like a dream that I was forgetting. 'It might lead to answers,' my own voice flittered through.

Coyote-man? What on Earth...

It sounded so out of reach —unclear and barely distinguishable. Perhaps it had been a dream after all.

Though something...something felt off.

"What have you done, child?" a harsh voice suddenly hissed in old Mayan dialect from across the room. I turned to see a frail elderly woman hobble towards me with a lamp in her hand. "You were not meant to fall asleep. The ritual is ruined. What do you have to say for yourself? Now the wrath of the gods will be upon us!"

Somehow, I couldn't open my mouth to respond.

The woman dragged me out of the strange bed —which I found to be a block of dried mud and clay, with a thick layer of sheep's wool fastened atop for comfort —and led me out, into the chilly night. It was supposed to be moonless, but my eyes widened at the sky as a full moon shone blue-green.