Page:Daany Beédxe.djvu/231

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the Council of elders and through "He who speaks" or leader, granted them usage to citizens who had an established family.

The new Marine Snake obligations left him very little time available to be with his dear friend. Night Eagle became inaccessible. His anguish overtook him, like an enormous emptiness avalanche and distressing doubts.

Certain morning the sky was overcast. The wind was blowing strongly. The sea was rough, crashing its swells of waves without mercy against the deserted beaches. At noon, the Council of elders reconvened, the situation was becoming more dangerous all the time.

The situation was widely discussed and by consensus, it was decided that the entire population, would take refuge in the caves of the sacred Cenote, because a hurricane approached.

A one day walking distance inland from the village, in the neighboring town of Motul, which had various structures and an important temple, connected with the cenote by large sacbé, it had two large plazas from where various sacbe departed towards the four cardinal points, heading to the distant lands where they traded their goods. There was a cenote called Bolonchol, from where water was taken for the community, it was a public space, which was fitted with stone stairs that allowed comfortable access to the depths of the cenote, to carry water without major effort or danger. But there was a restricted area, where common people did not access. At the end of the cave, there was a small tunnel, where a crawling person could barely pass. After a stretch, the tunnel came into a huge gallery; the path went downwards a good way until reaching an interior large lake. In the center of the Lake, at the top of the cave roof, plenty light entered through a hole, the opening, which vertically came to the water surface, had traces of a cataclysm. Light colliding with the water, produced

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