On The Trail We Blaze

Chapter 13 - Stone Jaguar

But, before he could say anything, a loud thunderous roar blared through the air. Everyone turned their sights on Tzekel-Kan's temple, that burst open in an alarming display, as the giant stone jaguar clawed its way out.

They all watched as Tzekel-Kan walked out of the rubble, laughing maniacally at the city's screams of fear. "Now everyone will know the truth of your 'divinity'."

The jaguar jumped down into the city streets, causing the people to run away in terror. A few warriors attempted to defend the city, throwing their spears at the gigantic stone beast, but it had no effect. It only succeeded in making it fight back. It pounced on one of the warriors, making the others run off, before throwing the man in the air and then biting down on his leg, making him dangle almost lifelessly in the terrifying beast's mouth.

The trio gazed up at the stone terror, petrified as it towered over them. Its horrifying green gaze shifted towards them and it dropped the warrior as it made its way towards them.

"I'm okay!" The warrior belted out in delight...before getting crushed. "I'm still okay!"

Chel road over to the trio, atop of Altivo, gaining the group's attention as he commanded, "Come on! Get on!"

(A/N: Sooooooooo, let's address this. I know horses cannot carry this much weight. But, this a fanfic based on an animated movie, let's not look too deeply into reality when viewing these things. Let's pretend that one horse could totally carry this many people.)

They all scrambled to get on the horse, Chel even grabbing (Y/N)'s arm and pulling her into his chest before they all rode off, with the stone jaguar chasing after them. It jumped in front of them, blocking their path, but Altivo was quick to turn around and run in the opposite direction.

The beast continued its pursuit, hot on the group's heels. They went through a large, stone archway but the beast easily destroyed it. They attempted to ride up some stairs but the jaguar, in one swift movement, pounced on top of the structure and the stairs began to crumble beneath Altivo's hooves.

He fell against the head of the jaguar, making it roar as it raised its enormous paw to crush them. But, with an angered huff, Altivo kicked the beast in one of its horrid green eyes, causing it to crack.

The action actually had an effect, causing harm to Tzekel-Kan. He held his own eye in pain and shifted his body around violently because of it. As a result, the jaguar moved about wildly as well, flicking the small group off it and up the stairs.

They all fell violently to the ground but, in the chaos, Chel landed further away from the others - and was also the closest to the raging stone beast.

He slowly attempted to lift his aching body off the ground but gasped in fear as the gigantic jaguar loomed over him. He closed his eyes, fearing his fate, before large rocks were thrown at the creature, courtesy of an angered trio.

"Get away from him!" (Y/N) yelled out.

Tulio chimed in with, "Over here, you big Tzekel-Kan cat creep!"

As the stone jaguar turned to face them, slowly making its way up the broken staircase, (Y/N) turned to their horse and ordered, "Altivo, get Chel out of here."

Altivo nodded dutifully as he jumped down, flung the man onto his back, and rode off as fast as he could. In the meantime, the trio began to run away just as the enormous beast made it to the top.

"You should have escaped with him!" Miguel called out to (Y/N).

In response, she gave him an almost offended look as she yelled back, "I'm not leaving my partners! We're in this together, no matter what!"