As he stood with his back to the waterfall with no place to go other than down, Chaz thought to himself "Great!!...Another fine pickle you’ve gotten yourself into".

After being bequeathed the journals and transcripts of his long time friend and mentor Cecil, a seasoned archaeologist and protector of ancient treasures, Chaz found himself drawn into the writings of his old friend with such excitement and anticipation of the discoveries of treasures his old friend had uncovered and in many transcripts, of those Cecil had yet to find.

One such quest that Cecil had embarked on many years before his death was that of a little known relic reputed to exist deep in the Mayan jungle many days from civilization. Cecil's writings tell of a cave hidden behind a waterfall that had in ancient times been the burial place of the Mayan goddess Ixchel, the patron of midwifery and medicine described as an aged woman with jaguar features.
In a secret recess of the wall of her tomb was told to be a solid gold jaguar with two perfect azure diamonds estimated to be 150 carats each and reputedly to have been cut flawlessly, identically into 58 facets. Cecil’s writings tell that due to the high phosphorus content in the location of the land around where the diamonds were found, this has caused the diamonds to glow with a brilliance that the Mayans who buried Ixchel, believed them to be their beloved goddess' watchful eyes perpetuated for time eternal beyond her mortal being.

Cecil's writings continued to say that despite many years of searching for this tomb, due to the thousands of waterfalls scattered throughout the Mayan jungle, he had yet to find that particular cave.

Nothing hindered Chaz's decision to make this his quest. He was determined that where Cecil failed, he would once again pay homage to his departed friend in finding this treasure. That is, if someone else hadn't beaten him to it.

After trekking for a month through almost impenetrable, unrelenting jungle that sapped even the toughest of guides resolve and energy, Chaz and his stoic yet committed friend and sidekick Tom, arrived at what they believed was the exact waterfall Cecil had been searching for all those years ago.

It had all started to unravel when unbeknownst to both, Tom had been bitten by some toxic insect that had sent Tom in a near fatal fever on their first night in the base camp they had set up at the foot of the waterfall. Tom went in and out of consciousness but when awake, experienced extreme periods of hostile hallucinations where he was convinced that Chaz was out to kill him.

The native guides had seen this before in others and conveyed to Chaz that they needed to administer a concoction made up of various jungle leaves and berries which according to them if he was able to last the night, Tom would be ok in the morning.

With a concerted effort by all which wasn't easy, they restrained Tom and administered the potion which seemed to settle him down almost immediately. He fell into a restless sleep and for a long while his temperature was still dangerously high. So much so that Chaz was starting to regret his decision to take on this quest for fear of losing his buddy. He sat guard next to Tom all night occasionally nodding off only to be woken by Tom's moaning but thankfully, Chaz had noticed Tom's temperature was coming back down and his sleep was becoming more peaceful.

When Chaz had found out from the guides that what Tom had could be fatal, he had decided that despite the guides somewhat nonchalant prediction that Tom would either be dead or alive in the morning, he wasn't going to take that chance. He knew they had trekked for a month but they now had geographical bearings of where they were and according to his maps found that in actual fact if needed, and given a fast helicopter, they could be back in civilization within a day. Having come to this realization and also given the dire threat to Tom at that very moment, Chaz sent off a pre-arranged distress signal to his backup team in Palenque the closest civilized town south of the Montañas del Oriente, where they were now. If he needed to call them off he would, but at that moment, he did what he had to do for Tom's sake.

As day broke, although looking a bit weary, Tom woke bright as a button and raring to go. He assured Chaz he was fine and it was time to get to the cave above them. Relieved by Tom's recovery and with a renewed exhilaration of what was ahead of them, Chaz forgot to call off the backup team as they set off up the mountain.

Within two hours they were in the dark damp cave inching their way around the narrow ledge that had been cut out by the water flow. Another half an hour and they had located the tomb. A nondescript looking mass of stone embellished with crude carvings of a jaguar with deep gouges for eyes.

Now all they had to do was find the supposed secret recess and locate the golden relic.

That’s when Tom started convulsing, his body going into spasms and his eyes taking on an animalistic threat in the light of Chaz's torch.

"TOM....TOM....are you ok buddy??" Chaz yelled at him as he grasped both of Tom's arms trying to steady him which seemed to lessen his convulsions marginally.

"TOM!!"

"You damn bastard, I will kill you before you kill me" Tom spat in his face as he wrenched an arm out of his grip pulling away and lashing out to plant a fist on Chaz's jaw.

Chaz jumped away stumbling on a loose stone sending him crashing heavily with his back to the stone tomb. The hand grip of his whip smashed against something with a resounding crack leaving Chaz to whisper under his breath "fuck...my favourite whip too" thinking he had snapped the hand grip as he lost his footing sliding with his back against the tomb to the ground on the loose pebbles beneath his feet.

Tom came looming toward him for another swing but stopped dead in his pose, his arm still raised poised to punch when Chaz noticed Tom's face had become illuminated with an almost neon azure glow and his eyes mesmerized by what he was looking at. It was as if whatever had triggered Tom's rage off had been calmed like some medicine by this glow that was emanating from the chamber now unlocked and opened by what Chaz thought was the snapping of the whip's hand grip.

Chaz retrieved his hat as he quickly got back to his feet, standing back from both Tom and the glowing azure chamber. He was amazed at how intense the glow was and came to the conclusion that the reason it was so intense was because over time in the confines of this small chamber it had become concentrated to the point of actually seeping into the rock chamber itself.

Tom was still mesmerized but stood back as Chaz moved forward to lift the golden jaguar from its resting place holding it with reverence, marveling at the beauty and weight of the gold statue but more-so at the perfect glowing azure diamonds for eyes.

"Tom......are you ok buddy? You had me worried there for a moment. I thought I might have had to knock you out before you hurt either one of us" said Chaz with a wary chuckle as he eyed Tom out.

Tom didn’t respond.

"TOM!!" Chaz raised his voice.

He decided to test a theory that the glowing light was somehow sedating Tom's anger and as he turned slightly away from Tom to shadow him from the light, he noticed that threatening look in Tom's eyes that were there when he tried to attack him. He turned quickly back toward him and it went away. Obviously he was still suffering the effects of the bite that nearly killed him last night.

"Ok" he muttered under his breath to himself knowing Tom wasn’t hearing him. "How the hell am I going to do this? I have to get all of us out of here safely. There’s only one thing I can do right now".

"TOM! I’m sorry that I have to do this to you buddy but I have no choice. I promise I will be back" he said and with the speed of a champion boxer, Chaz planted Tom with a swift uppercut laying him out cold on the ground.

He didn't know how long Tom would be out cold but knew he couldn't waste any more time and had to move fast. Thankfully he noticed the hand grip of his whip was still intact as he headed back down the narrow edge of the cave following the water flow to the waterfall calling back over his shoulder to the unconscious Tom.

"Back soon buddy!"

Chaz could see daylight again and as he rounded the last corner of the twisting water flow, he was stopped dead in his tracks by Tom's voice yelling through the thundering of the cascading water.

"Chaz!! My pistol is aimed at your head. Don’t make me shoot you. Turn around slowly and no smart moves!!" he yelled.

"Ok buddy, I hear you. I’m turning around now" Chaz yelled and as he turned, drew his pistol with lightning speed.

"Tom, you know how much I hate it when it’s not fair play. Now it's an even playing field."

Somehow he had to play for time. He had to get them all out of here alive. Tom needed help.

Suddenly through the thundering of the water around them he heard the distinct repetitive sound of chopper blades getting louder and louder.

The backup team! Thank Christ he had forgotten to call them off he thought to himself with renewed optimism that NOW there was a chance that this could all still end up ok.

All he had to do now, was to somehow entice Tom to come in closer...to feel the calming light of the Eyes of Ixchel......



Story written by me....KarlaP


I have left this story open as I do most of my stories so I can revisit them when the mood, inspiration and stocks suit.


I hope you have all enjoyed both the story and visual of The Eyes of Ixchel, another adventure of my character the intrepid treasure hunter Chaz and his sidekick Tom.


You will find another of his adventures as a trilogy in order here:
She Search of the Emerald Panther and Legend of the Emerald Panther

IMPORTANT ©COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Final manipulated image and written story rights are reserved to SilEnigmaArts. All art pieces contained in my deviantART gallery may not be reproduced, copied, edited, published, transmitted or uploaded in any way without my written permission. My art does not belong to the public domain.

This image is registered and protected under ~ Copyrighted.com This story is registered and protected under ~ Copyrighted.com
~

A great big thanks to the following Stockists:

DA stocks:

Chaz [link]
Golden Statue (no longer in stockists gallery)
Cave [link]
Background Mountain [link]
Steamy Forest [link]
Helicopter [link]
Water in cave [link]
Water splashes [link]
Waterfall outside (image pack was used as I cannot use brushes) [link]

Stock whip is personal stock from a farming relative. All else is either personal stock or made by me in PaintshopPro7.
Cave waterfall effect from personal stock taken of a shopping mall waterfall.



Sorry if I cannot thank every personally, but I will respond to all comments.
Know however, that every is a compliment and highly appreciated. Thank you!!