Dark clouds drifted in from the sea and sky to the east, carrying damp vapor as they scattered a sudden downpour over the coast. Huge, strange stone statues of human faces stood like silent giants, towering unmoved in the wind and rain, keeping watch by the sea for thousands of years. A vast, surging river flowed into the ocean here, flooding out fertile farmland along its banks. And amid those broad fields stood an ancient city that had endured for a thousand years—even longer.
This was the Caribbean coast, with a tropical rainforest climate, hot and rainy all year round, with annual rainfall exceeding two thousand millimeters. That ancient city lay thirteen hundred li from the Lake Capital, on the edge of Totonac territory. It was the prosperous coastal city-state of Hidden Snake City (Coatzacoalcos).
And the long river that ran from deep within the jungle and flowed past Hidden Snake City was the Hidden Snake River. In legend, the Feathered Serpent had departed from here aboard a Snake Raft, heading toward the endless Eastern Sea.
"What? We rowed seven hundred li by sea to get here from Feathered Serpent City. And now that we're here, this is also the legendary place where the Feathered Serpent went out to sea?!"
Old Militia Chiwako scratched his hair and looked at Tikalo, the Maya merchant whose head was bare and shiny. With a suspicious gaze, he sized up the calm, bald merchant and questioned him without mercy.
"Tikalo, you bald Fox. Just how many Feathered Serpents are there in these legends? How many times did He go out to sea? Do you actually know the details of these city-states or not?"
"Ahem! Captain Chiwako, of course I know!"
Tikalo choked for a moment, touched his smooth, divine head, and answered with a