Kings of the Sun Page #4

(SHOUTlNG AND CHEERlNG)

For the first time in many days

my eyes are happy.

Why did they let you go?

They let me go

because their chief wants peace.

They must be cowards! They fear us!

No, they are no cowards.

They fear no one but their gods.

You have chosen me to be your chief,

not to command but to guide you.

Now, these are my words.

There have been other intruders

in our land,

but never people such as these.

They have wisdom

that is different from ours.

They have skills, knowledge.

l am thinking

we can learn from these people,

if we live at their side in peace.

We have never lived

at the side of any intruder.

-l speak for war.

-ALL:
War! Yes! War!

War! War! War! War! War!

As long as l'm your chief

you will listen to my words.

When those words

do not reach your hearts,

then it is your right to look among you,

and choose a new chief.

Go back to your house.

They've chosen war.

Load.

Wait.

Balam.

(CHEERlNG)

My people call themselves,

''Wanderers on the Earth,''

but where this large fire burns,

it means that Black Eagle is there,

and the wanderers have come to rest.

And where did they get the wood

for this fire?

Look at our stockade.

We needed firewood and we took it.

We always take what we need.

lf we are to live together in peace,

there must be no wall between us.

Balam, l will try

to make my people understand

that they must change some of their ways

and learn some of yours.

And we have much to learn from you.

The last time l saw your village,

l was a prisoner.

Now l would like to see it with new eyes.

This is the writing l spoke of.

What is he putting down now?

He is telling how we journeyed

across the waters to a new land,

and of the new people we have met.

-About me?

-Yes.

Which one is me?

The crops, they grow in this new land.

MAN:
The crops, they grow, they grow!

See that they do no damage.

lt seems the gods received your message,

even though

Black Eagle never delivered it.

The crops grow faster in this new land

than they did at home.

And without human blood

to nourish them.

Have you forgotten so soon about Ah Min?

That he gave his life for this?

l have not forgotten Ah Min.

But we made this field ready,

we planted the seed,

and we brought the water.

This crop grew without sacrifice.

How can you make

Ah Min's death seem so worthless?

He loved you.

And l loved him.

And l wish he were here now to see this.

You see how the king denies our religion.

lf he is not stopped,

he will bring destruction on all of us.

What strange skins.

-Where did they come from?

-We hunted them.

We've never seen such animals.

-Aren't they beautiful?

-lf you like them.

lf you had hunted these animals yourself,

you'd have a higher opinion of them.

l look upon you as one of us,

as one of my people.

Remember all those times in my hut

when we were alone,

l asked you to be my woman

and bear my sons.

But you didn't answer me.

Your lips are not sealed anymore, lxchel.

Say now you will be my bride.

Go to him ! Be his woman! Bear his sons!

Before when he summoned you,

you went to him willingly.

And now l know

it was not for the first time.

Balam, wait.

Balam !

(ALL GASPlNG)

No!

Our people cannot live together.

There is a wall between us.

Being rooted like trees

never was meant for us.

l take my people to where we belong,

where there is no roof but the sky,

where there are no walls

to the edges of the earth.

l take them to where birds sing for us,

and where we live free like the deer.

l would go with you.

l'd never leave your side except...

Balam.

l'm proud that you would fight for me

and grateful.

But l know what l felt

when l thought he was going to die.

After his words to you

he should have died.

But his words were the first words

he ever used to tell me that he loved me.

(CONCH SHELL SOUNDlNG)

(CONCH SHELL SOUNDlNG)

AH HALEB:
Hunac Kell.

Balam's old enemy with metal swords

has found him.

They will destroy Balam.

-Sound the battle drums.

-lSATAl:
l thought you wanted him dead.

Until now, so did l.

Our king defies the gods

and we are powerless against him.

He is at the root of all our troubles.

But if Balam were dead, you could lead us,

and we could still make our peace

with Hunac Kell.

Balam, if you surrender,

l will spare your people!

Your life, Balam,

for the lives of your people!

lf you do not surrender,

every man, woman and child will perish!

(SOLDlERS SHOUTlNG)

BALAM:
Pitz!

PlTZ:
Archers, make way.

Stand!

Balam !

Not even you can heal this.

Speak to your people, Balam.

BALAM:
Hunac Kell is dead.

The way to our homeland lies open.

But now, l look upon what we have here.

The grass grows,

the trees spread their branches,

and the rivers flow.

And we have not spilled one drop of blood

in sacrifice to the gods.

Can it not be that the gods are satisfied

with the sacrifices that each of us

must make in his day-to-day life,

that the test of a people is in the living,

not the dying,

and living in dignity

and decency and respect

is all that the gods require?

As for me, l remain here,

but in Black Eagle's way,

l give you your choice.

You may stay or you may go.

But if you choose to stay,

it will be without this.

ALL:
Balam, the jaguar, nine times king!

You never taught me to write,

and l never taught you to hunt.

And yet there are many things

we have learned from each other.

Don't be a fool the rest of your life, Balam.

lxchel is your woman.

She has always been.

And now, more so than ever.

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