I stared at the serpent sculpted from the stone block, a serpent with an apparent hood of feathers. Scholars worldwide were in disagreement about the hood. Some maintained that this represented the feathered serpent of the Aztecs of South America, a creature today extinct, or at least a creature unseen in times recorded by the written word. Others vigorously defended their position that the serpent represented only a deity of the ancient folklore.
I had come again to this place, as I had so many times before, to contemplate my future and to remember my past. I was not alone in my search into the past. The woman beside me was silent in her perusal of the carving which sat with other like blocks around the courtyard of the temple.
She was a beautiful woman, with deep, blue eyes that glowed with life, and skin the color of wildflower honey highlighted the yellow-blonde mane of hair that cascaded over her khaki shirt. The shirt was open down the front enough to offer a glimpse of a white bra from time to time, and the same coppery color appeared to have no demarcation. This I perceived at the short distance that had separated us until she came to stand beside me.
Her body was exquisite. Hips rounded by maturity nicely filled the khaki shorts, the seam tucking in between buttocks that promised firmness and responsiveness to any man with fortune enough to touch them.
Her breasts were another feature that hinted at ripe femininity and passion. Large enough to force open the shirt and afford a view of soft, rounded curves, they stood proudly from her chest, and no undergarment could have accomplished the elevation by pure mechanics. The absence of a belly indicated that she had born no children, or at least, if she had, she had restored the muscle tone after the birth.
As she came closer, I saw that the tanned skin was smooth and soft. She wore no ring on her left hand, and I debated speaking to her. I must be certain, for she may not be strong enough, and once begun, the journey must proceed to its end. In almost two hundred years, my search had found none I believed to have the strength.
"To which theory do you subscribe?, the pleasantly soft and sensually low voice said.
I awoke from my private thoughts to see her looking at me, the blue eyes glowing with the question, and with some other flame I could not decipher.
"Which theory?"
"Is this a myth, or a real, though extinct, animal."
Would that I could tell you, my flaxen-haired beauty, the truth that I know, the dual curse and blessing bestowed on me so many years ago. Would that you would believe me, even if this truth were revealed to you now. But I know that you, like all others, would brand me a lunatic, a victim of some grievous mental disease or simply think me consumed by childish fantasy.
"It is difficult to say. The figure appears so often in this culture that one would believe it a deified, living creature, but why would the sculptors not have depicted it in the scenes of ceremonies if it were so? Perhaps it was a living, feared creature, and the priests placed its effigy around the temple to fend it off, much as Australian farmers hang dingo carcasses on fences. Perhaps it was merely the vision brought to an ancient priest by the use of strong medicinal plants. Who can say, so many ages after these stones were carved?"
"You have adroitly sidestepped giving me an answer, sir, but no mind. Perhaps the mystery should remain as such. Sometimes, the truth is less palatable than the myth, and greater knowledge is not always to one's benefit."
"Spoken as one versed in the pain of truth and the comfort of myth, my lady. Perhaps you are a scholar?"
The soft eyes suddenly flared brighter as she looked at me, and then returned to deep, unfathomable pools.
"I am Isa Bjoran, curator of antiquities for the Museum of Civilization in Copenhagen. I have studied the ruins of the Maya and Aztec for many years. The origin of this serpent has escaped me thus far, but I believe it to be an actual creature of the past."
The eyes settled on mine, or rather, into mine as she waited for a response. Perhaps she could bear the experience. If she could...
"My name is Richard Wainwright, and, alas, I am but a layman in these matters. I enjoy collecting artifacts for my private pleasure and for my business, but my studies are surely less exacting than yours. I suppose it would please me if the creature were real, for that would give more meaning to the sculptures."
She smiled.
"Well, it seems as if we have at least one thing in common."
"So it does. Miss Bjoran, and since I am alone and you appear to be so also, would you do me the great pleasure of dining with me tonight? We could discuss this matter in detail over coffee afterwards."
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The truth of the serpent is a tale best begun at the beginning, and it is in the summer of 1823 that I start.