I knew that we should have left. I knew it was getting dangerous. But Elisabeth had wanted to stay. Actually I shouldn't blame her. Deep down I know I had wanted to stay as well. We were witnessing the decline of a civilization, a primal nation of South American Indians that were being slaughtered by disease and famine.
When we first arrived in the jungles of Brazil, the king of the Onguancins had been Quonset, an aging man who had tried to restore his people by abolishing the worship of their pagan gods, eradicating their primitive rituals and sacrifices, and making peace with the surrounding Indian tribes. He had hoped to make his people strong by removing the hindrances of war and mindless idol worship. Quonset had taken Elisabeth and myself into his tribe, wanting us to witness the transformation of his people and take their tale back to the white men beyond the jungle, as they called us, so that we would leave his people and their land alone.
We lived with the Onguancins for three months during Quonset's short reign. We watched as he had the statues and idols removed from the temple and locked away. We watched as he invited the kings of the dwindling tribes around him to talk of peace.
Elisabeth and I thought we had found a great story. We talked of the book we would write about it and the speeches we would give at conferences back in England. We thought we had found the most inspirational story that any anthropologist could hope to find.
We were both blind to the truth. In our desire to see these people survive we discarded the facts that the Onguancins were not accepting Quonset's demands. In fact, an uprising was being formed by his general, Mael, who still believed in the traditional Onguancin way of life and who had grown bored with the lack of war and sacrifice.
Mael led his soldiers against Quonset. Quonset was murdered and Mael ascended the throne of the Onguancin nation. To our shock, the people accepted him eagerly and cheered his name to the heavens when he restored the old gods and idols. A new fervor took over the Onguancins, fueled by Mael's mindless bloodlust.
Mael did not accept us as Quonset had, seeing us as the symbols of the destruction brought upon them by the white men from beyond the jungle. Elisabeth and I had discussed leaving the tribe, taking what information we had gathered, and going back to England to write what we could. But we both decided to stay to see the end of the tale, which we both knew would come soon as Mael led his people on a self-destructive path of ruin.
We shouldn't have been surprised when one morning, as we were waking to another day, several of Mael's soldiers burst into our hut. We had supposed, actually hoped, that Mael would suffer having us there, fearing the retribution of our people if we were harmed, but we were wrong. Five men came into our hut and pulled us both from our bed. We fought, but they overpowered us and carried Elisabeth away. Me they stripped naked and beat until I was on the ground, almost unconscious. They removed everything from our hut and left me there naked and alone.
I approached the door and found two guards standing outside who rudely shoved me back inside and pointed their spears at me, showing that they'd kill me if I tried to leave. I sat on the ground, my back against the wall, and I was so angry and depressed that I wanted to cry and yell at the same time, but I was too tired and sore to do anything but sit there, worrying about Elisabeth, cursing myself for not getting us away when I knew I should have.
That day was the longest day of my life. I tried talking to the guards but they couldn't understand me. They just pointed their spears at me and threatened to kill me. I paced the small hut, listening for noises outside that would tell me what was happening, but I heard nothing. Then, night came and I was becoming frantic, not knowing what was happening or what was going to happen and devising plans to kill the guards, find Elisabeth, and escape.
Then, three men came into my hut. Their dark faces were covered with red and black paint. One had the ceremonial headdress of an ancient priest, a hideous adornment made of bones with a skull perched on top. He had a large dagger hanging from the leather strap at his waist. The two men with him carried swords. They grabbed me, tied my hands behind my back, and pulled me out of the hut. I begged with them to tell me what was happening and what were they doing with Elisabeth. They wouldn't answer me. One guard hit me in the mouth and I shut up, knowing that soon I would find out.
As we walked into the jungle I heard the tapping of drums and saw the flicker of flames. I knew we were approaching the temple. We broke into the clearing and I saw the entire tribe gathered at the foot of the temple. They were humming silently in beat with the drums, a music that was like ice cold water running down my spine. Eyes turned to me as I was shoved through the crowd. I looked into the faces of people I knew, had talked to, and thought I had befriended, but saw only angry glares.
I was thrown to the ground as we reached the center of the tribe, gathered around a small wooden platform, ringed with torches. A group of four men dressed in ceremonial costumes and animal masks were beating drums in a circle to the side of the platform. The flickering light from the torches cast strange shadows revealing a stone table on the platform supported by four stone legs. Four wooden posts with cusped tips stood upright on the platform, each at a corner of the stone table.
The crowd's chanting ended abruptly as a man wearing only a mask and a dried grass skirt stepped out of the temple. Everyone dropped to their knees and bowed before him. I watched him descend the crumbling steps and realized he was Mael as he stepped onto the platform. I recognized his mask as the black death mask of Ah Puch, one of the many gods that Quonset had abolished. Ah Puch was the god of war and blood. That mask was worn during ceremonies the kings would use to get the people ready for war, ceremonies where the chastity of female virgins would be sacrificed, consecrating the coming battles in the vaginal blood of the tainted virgin, a barbaric rite that all female virgins had to undergo before being with a man to appease the jealous Ah Puch. This was a ceremony that had never been documented. Quonset had told us of it. I must admit a bit of professional satisfaction that I would be able to witness it and hopefully document it.
Mael stood on the platform, solid as a statue, the only movement being his chest barely rising as he breathed. Then, the priest who had come to my hut stepped beside him. He began to chant with the drums, a harsh, guttural tune that brought the people up from their prone positions to sway and undulate as they kneeled on the ground. Mael began to beat his feet on the stage and raised his arms to the sky. He screamed, a piercing loud shriek that made me cringe but brought a cheer from the crowd.
Then, from the temple came four men walking in two columns, two poles resting on their shoulders and hanging from the poles was Ah Puch. Ah Puch was carved from a single tree, was over 2 meters tall and had a very human form with two carved legs, spread apart slightly, and two arms outstretched down the length of the body. The head was much larger than a normal man's head with a face that had large evil eyes and a vicious grin bearing sharpened teeth. The entire body of the idol was painted a dark green with symbols painted across it. A huge phallus was attached to the idol just below it's waist. It was at least a meter long and ten centimeters in diameter. It curved upward slightly, tapered out to a rounded tip, and was made of solid gold that had been polished and shined in the torchlight.
Mael continued his frenzied dance on the platform and the priest led the group of men carrying Ah Puch. The men climbed the platform and stopped at the edge. The drums stopped and everyone, including Mael and the priest, dropped to their knees, facing the idol. They raised and bowed several times, some people muttering prayers to the god.
Then, Mael stood, bowed before the god again, and the men turned to carry it towards the stone slab. They lifted it and set the poles on the four posts sticking up out of the platform at the corners of the slab table. The idol hung horizontally above the stone slab, facing down, swinging back and forth with its phallus almost touching the slab. The four men bowed and walked off the platform. They followed the priest back into the temple.
Mael stepped in front of the hanging idol and bowed deeply, lowering down to his knees before rising. Then he began speaking to the god, condemning the previous king for forsaking the gods and asking for Ah Puch's help for victory against their enemies, the white men from beyond the jungle. He turned his head, nodded at me, and the guards picked me up off of the ground. The crowd broke into a furious cry, cursing me as the representative of all white men.
As the din died down the guards threw me to the ground again. Mael said a prayer to the god and raised his hands high. He screamed a loud, maddening shriek that slowly dwindled out as he lost his breath. Then, the drums started again with a slow, deliberate beat.
The priest emerged from the temple with the four men behind him. Their arms were extended over their heads, holding a woman in their hands, each man holding a limb in one hand and the other hand on her back. I recognized Elisabeth by the color of her skin and her long blonde hair that hung from her head. She struggled weakly in their grasp, her knees and pelvis rising slightly as she pulled against their hands. As they stepped onto the platform I could hear her breathing heavily and quiet grunts as she struggled, but she moved so listlessly I wondered if she was drugged or just beaten and tired.
