In another room, Anpiel felt a cold breeze against his body, which forced him to open his eyes. But when he awoke, he was not in bed—he was crucified upon a huge wooden cross.
How did I get here? the angel wondered, when he realized he was completely naked and covered in wounds. The cross had been raised atop the roof of the cabin.
“Anpiel, I am sorry, but you are nothing more than a burden,” said a woman emerging from the cabin. When the malak saw her more clearly, he realized it was Tania, looking at him with contempt and disappointment.
“Wait, Tania, what does this mean?” the angel asked.
“I helped you so many times in the past because you were, and always have been, a weak and useless malak,” Tania said. “Do you really think that knowing strange languages will make you useful in any way?”
“Forgive me, Tania. I truly never meant to be a burden,” the angel said in shame.
“Did you think I did not know whom you worshiped, and what I had to lie about in order to save you?” the goddess continued maliciously.
Anpiel fell silent.
Then the angel saw all the members of Orniskem who had gone with him to Vinland coming out of the cabin. All of them were laughing at him and mocking him.
Could this be one of Coyote’s nightmares? the angel wondered. But it feels so real, he thought, trying to close his eyes and wake himself up.
“But what are you doing, Anpiel?” Epona asked, approaching the angel from behind.
“Epona, help me get out of here!” the malak cried to the goddess, his face full of desperation.
“Do you really think I haven’t noticed? Do you really think I haven’t seen the way your vulgar, filthy eyes look at my breasts and my legs?” the equine goddess went on.
“I do not know what you mean, Epona,” Anpiel said. “I do not look at you that way.”
“Of course. That is what they all say,” Epona said. “But it disgusts me that some filthy malak should look at me with lustful eyes,” she finally shouted, then leapt up onto the cross and faced the distressed angel directly.
Epona braced herself against the cross with her arms and placed her feet upon the malak’s knees.
“You’re dying to kiss this face of mine, aren’t you, you son of a bitch?” the goddess asked.
At that moment, the angel heard all his companions laughing and saying how disgusting that was.
Then the equine goddess kissed Anpiel, and he could not help but surrender to it. But the moment the angel slipped his tongue into Epona’s mouth, she bit it off.
The equine goddess spat the tongue onto the roof while everyone laughed. Anpiel tried to say something, but he could not, having lost his tongue, and could only convulse in pain.
“What is the matter, Anpiel? Did the mice eat your tongue?” the goddess mocked. “Now, without a tongue, your uselessness has reached one hundred percent. Do you see how little you’re worth, you piece of shit?”
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Then Epona spat in Anpiel’s face and jumped down from the cross.
“Stay there and bleed to death,” the goddess said, turning her back on him while all the others continued mocking the angel.
Anpiel then closed his eyes and began to lose consciousness.
Tul, on the other hand, awoke with a start when she heard noises all through the house.
What is this? What is this evil pressure I feel? the rabbit goddess thought as she climbed out of bed to see whether everyone was all right, but it struck her as strange that no one was in the bed beside her.
“Freyja? Menrva?” the goddess called, just as she saw a shadow peering through the doorway.
The goddess nervously moved closer, but the shadow quickly withdrew, like a wild animal.
Did some wild beast get into the house? the rabbit goddess wondered, opening the door, but she saw nothing.
It must’ve just been my imagination, Tul thought, and she shut the door again—only to feel that something was standing behind her. The goddess turned quickly, but saw only a white wild rabbit.
“Oh! So it was you!” the goddess said with a smile as she stepped toward the little animal, though it did not move.
Yet just before drawing too close, Tul remembered they were in the middle of the desert, and it was impossible for a wild rabbit to live in that sea of dunes outside.
I don’t think it was hiding in the cabin, the goddess thought, slowly beginning to step backward. The rabbit kept staring at her without moving, without even blinking or making a sound.
“Is it you, Coyote?” Tul asked, but received no answer.
“No, that is you,” said a woman’s voice behind her. Tul recognized the voice at once.
“Kaansaj Ixchel?” Tul asked nervously, turning to see a woman standing right in the doorway.
The woman looking at her was very beautiful. She had long bluish hair that fell to her knees. Her eyes were aquamarine, and her skin was brown. At the top of her head she wore an ornament shaped like a great serpent, and in her ears hung very heavy, elaborate earrings.
The goddess’s clothing was very similar to what Tul had been wearing when she was imprisoned in Cahokia. Since she had changed clothes since then, she had been forced to store those old garments away because they were torn and stained with blood and filth.
The woman leaned provocatively against the doorframe, looking at her nervous disciple with those beautiful eyes, for Tul did not understand what she was doing there.
“Yes, Tul. I had to come all the way here to find you,” the Maya goddess said, pushing herself away from the doorway and walking toward her.
“Forgive me for running away, kaansaj, but I really wanted to see the world, just like I always told you,” the rabbit goddess said in shame.
Ixchel began stroking Tul’s face.
“Why did you not tell me of your exile? I was very worried...” the goddess said.
“Forgive me, kaansaj, but I still stand by my decision to travel,” the rabbit goddess answered, looking at her teacher with determination.
“Oh yes, I was terribly worried... for about five minutes. By then, I had already found someone else to take over your duties,” the goddess Ixchel said, fixing Tul with a malicious, hate-filled stare.
Tul pulled away from Ixchel’s hand and glared back at her.
“You are not my kaansaj!” the rabbit goddess shouted furiously as she reached for her bag, only to realize it was not near her.
At that moment, Ixchel struck Tul hard across the face, sending her crashing into the bed where she had been sleeping.
“You disappear for a few months, and this is how you speak to me, you worthless rabbit?” the Maya goddess shouted furiously.
“My bag, my bag,” the rabbit goddess began searching across the mattress for her satchel, but when she looked to the left, she saw that the rabbit held it in its mouth.
“This rabbit will make better use of that ragged little bag than you ever could,” Ixchel said, glaring at her.
Ignoring Ixchel’s words, Tul tried to take the bag from the rabbit, when to her horror the rabbit bit off one of her fingers.
“Tuul, go ahead—you may devour this useless rabbit to your heart’s content,” Ixchel said, just as the rabbit began to grow and take on a horrific demonic form.
Faces emerged from its body, and its mouth became a row of fangs. Its paws turned into claws, and its white fur stood on end. Its red eyes became black with a white pupil. Then the rabbit smiled at her with a diabolical look.
“Coyote! I won’t let you take my life!” Tul shouted, trying to get to her feet, when she felt Ixchel’s kick slam into her stomach.
The rabbit goddess doubled over in pain just as she saw the monstrous animal leaping toward her and begin devouring her chest.
Tul tried to tear it off her, but both her hands were grotesquely ripped away.
The rabbit goddess let out a muffled scream of horror as the monstrous rabbit bit into her neck, and she lost consciousness.