As I walked toward the southeast corner, Graham rounded it from the opposite direction. "Pretty amazing, huh?"
I nodded.
He gave me a wily grin. "How do you feel about climbing it?"
I cocked my head.
"There's a staircase back there." He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder. "It leads to the top."
Chapter 38
My heartbeat quickened as I followed Graham to the south wall. It looked similar to the other three walls. Large limestone blocks, cut into perfect rectangles, were stacked high into the air. Strange vegetation covered them. Looking closer, I noticed traces of speckling on the individual stones.
For the most part, the blocks were set close together. This resulted in pyramid steps that only jutted out a few inches. A single stairway, twenty feet wide, rose up the south wall. Tangled vines and other plants twisted across the steps, forming an intricate weave of foliage.
Miranda, Tum, and the Maneros stood at the bottom of the staircase. Tum's attention was fixed on the jungle. Miranda peered at the pyramid with a cold, clinical eye. The Maneros also stared at the pyramid, albeit in far more reverential fashion.
"The ancient Mayas sure knew how to build things," Renau said quietly.
"I wonder if Hunahpu built it from scratch." Graham said. "Or if he added to a building that was already here."
Rain fell faster. Deafening wind swept over the area. The available moonlight, already dim, shrank to near nothingness.
"Either one is possible," Dora replied. "But personally, I'm betting on the latter. Our work indicates the Mayas repurposed the gold plate from the sarcophagus, as well as the ones for their library, from an earlier civilization. We believe that civilization lived in this canyon prior to Hunahpu's arrival."
"Agreed," Renau added. "And if Xbalanque was willing to repurpose gold plates, it stands to reason Hunahpu might've done the same thing with Proto-Maya buildings."
"The civilization that lived here might not have been Proto-Maya," Graham said. "There's plenty of evidence suggesting other cultures braved the oceans before Columbus."
"Lies. A bunch of racist lies." Renau breathed through his nose like a dragon. "It's been a long day. I need some sleep."
My jaw dropped as he and Dora walked back to camp. It took me a minute to find my tongue. "What was that about?"
Tum sighed. "The Maneros take their heritage very seriously."
"I don't understand."
"In other words, they don't take kindly to the idea of pre-Columbian contact between the Old and New Worlds."
"It's just a theory," Graham said.
"Let me put it this way. Ancient and massive pyramids exist here and in Egypt. So, lots of people wonder if the Egyptians sailed across the oceans and taught the Mayas how to build them. However, no one ever considers the reverse. No one ever wonders if the Mayas sailed across the ocean and taught building skills to the Egyptians."
"That's because the most famous Egyptian pyramids predate their Maya counterparts by centuries," I said. "Even millennia in some cases."
"Maybe so. But think about it from their point of view. It's as if the Mayas were too dumb to learn anything on their own. Instead, they sat around like brainless savages, waiting for the Egyptians or the Chinese or aliens from outer space to teach them the basics of civilization."
"But what if the people that lived in this canyon really did come from somewhere else? Maybe the Maneros find that offensive, but that doesn't mean it's incorrect."
"I don't disagree with you. Then again, that sort of thing doesn't bother me." Tum glanced at Miranda. "I'm tired. I think I'll get some sleep too."
As he trailed after the Maneros, the rain began to fall even faster. I looked at Graham. He shrugged.
Gingerly, I placed my left boot on the first step. A few wet vines squished under my heel.
Miranda clucked her tongue in disapproval. "You realize you're potentially damaging history right now, don't you?"
I felt a twinge of guilt. The pyramid had stood untouched for hundreds of years. And yet, I was stomping all over it like it was no big deal.
I turned around. "I don't have a choice."
"There's always a choice. Every time you touch that pyramid, we lose a little bit of knowledge."
"How am I supposed to find the library without touching anything?"
She gave me a haughty look. Then she spun around and began the long walk back to camp.
Taking a deep breath, I lifted my left foot out of the marsh. I placed it on the next step, squishing more vines.
Slowly, I ascended the staircase with Graham at my heels. My boots touched each step, crushing dozens of plants in the process. My initial guilt began to fade. A rising sense of exhilaration replaced it.
At the top of the steps, I saw the entrance to a small summit shrine. A stone table rested in the middle of it. Intricate murals covered the walls and ceiling.
I aimed my flashlight around the shrine. The murals were painted as frescos. They reminded me of the brilliant artwork at Bonampak's Temple of the Murals. However, the colors in front of me — blue, red, purple, green, yellow, sepia, and mauve — were far more vivid.
I turned to the west. A giant mural took up the entire wall. It showed a war party, outfitted with knifes, spears, and bows and arrows. They were marching away from a group of cheering villagers, en route to dark mountains in the distance.
I moved to the north mural. It depicted a horrific battle in a dark, grassy clearing dotted with small buildings. The Maya warriors were shown as tall, brave, and triumphant. Their opponents were shorter, devious, and possessed unusually elongated heads.
Turning east, I saw another mural. It featured a giant fire. Maya warriors appeared to be throwing prisoners into the flames.
I cast my beam at the ceiling mural. The background looked similar to that depicted in the north mural. The clearing was unchanged and the tiny buildings remained in place. However, the colors were lighter and livelier. A ramp led from the edge of the jungle to an unfinished pyramid. I saw workers, blocks of stone, and little things that looked like ancient cranes.
"I guess that settles it," Graham said. "The Mayas marched here. They fought a battle and sacrificed the prisoners. Then they built this pyramid."
My gaze lingered on the ceiling. "That's odd."
"What's odd?"
"It looks like they used a ramp to build the pyramid. But that doesn't make sense."
"Why not?"
"Look how long it is. It's almost to the jungle. Now, look at the pyramid. It's only about a quarter of the way to completion."
"Hunahpu must've steepened the ramp."
"It couldn't be too steep or the workers wouldn't have been able to drag the blocks up it." I frowned. "There's no way around it. As the pyramid got taller, the ramp would've had to be lengthened considerably. I'm not sure it could've fit inside this canyon. Plus, there are no signs of it anywhere. Where'd it go?"
"I don't know about the last part. But maybe he switched to a spiraling ramp. One that circled around the pyramid."
"It's possible. But it would've caused an engineering problem."
"How so?"
"The pyramid gets skinnier with height. A spiraling ramp would've been forced inward. Eventually, it would've completely covered the pyramid's lower half. Without a constant view, Hunahpu wouldn't have been able to build the top half with any kind of accuracy. And yet the pyramid's edges are remarkably straight."
I shifted my gaze to the canyon walls depicted at the very top of the ceiling mural. "I wonder how the Mayas got here. Remember what Emily said? The canyon is sealed off. There's no way in, no way out."