Jaguar Wind and Waves — David L. Smith

AD 378. Chak Tok Ich'aak, the Lord of Tikal, sent his third daughter to marry the son of one of the lords of Teotihuacan in Central Mexico in fulfillment of an alliance. Thirteen years later Ix B'alam Ich'aak (Lady Jaguar Claw) returns with her husband, Jatz'om Kuh (Spearthrower Owl), who has been chartered to deliver a prophecy and establish a new order in the jungle cities. He orders Sihyaj K'ak' (Born of Fire), his warlord enforcer, to execute his wife's family and erase even the memory of her father and the former rulers. Battered by bouts of anger, bitterness, and guilt, Lady Jaguar Claw descends into an abyss of depression and despair. Her birth prophecy said she would battle a mighty demon amidst “powerful winds and waves.” This is the story of that battle and her rise from the abyss.