cocksure boy to the list. 'He was well-known.'
Nezahual-tzin was silent for a while, pondering, giving me enough time to consider what would happen if he held me responsible. Enough unpleasant things to make me regret Tizoc-tzin's threats of dismissal.
Then he turned to the two Jaguar Knights who had escorted him inside. 'Is this true?' he asked, bluntly.
The Jaguar Knights looked at each other. 'Yes.'
'I see.' The light around him contracted as if someone had enclosed it in a fist. 'Where is she, Acatl- tzin?'
It wasn't quite the same tone, though he still didn't look happy. Not that I could blame him, though I doubted it was affection that prompted his question. To lose her would be a fatal admission of weakness to the Texcocans.
I, on the other hand, didn't care much about losing face. 'I don't know. Nettoni sacrificed himself to let her and her son escape. Presumably they found refuge somewhere in the city.' And resumably she was still weaving her webs of intrigue. She was a determined woman.
'I see.' He said nothing for a while. 'Then my men and I will join the search for her. Let it not be said that a Texcocan can escape justice.'
Teomitl stiffened in shock. 'She's–'
'A political tool,' I cut in.
Nezahual-tzin smiled, without much joy. 'You still have much to learn, pup.'
'Pup?'
'Teomitl,' I said, warningly.
'He's the one picking the quarrel.'
'No, he's the one provoking you. You don't have to answer.'
I glared at Nezahual-tzin, daring him to counter with some mocking remark about how to keep my pup on a leash. But his face was serious again, and he was watching me with a gleam in his eyes I didn't care much for, like a snake making up its mind about a rodent. 'Don't let me detain you,' I said. 'You must have plenty of rituals to attend, and respects to pay.'
Nezahual-tzin smiled, that same thin, unamused smile I had seen on the face of the She-Snake. 'No doubt.' But he did not move, still considering me in that unnerving way of his.
'You owe respect to my brother,' Teomitl cut in.
Nezahual-tzin's gaze moved, slightly. 'The living one, or the dead one?'
'You know which one.' Teomitl's face was flushed.
'The dead one.' He turned to me, slightly bending his head, looking for all the world like a snake or a bird. 'Apologies, Acatl-tzin. I knew him well in life, and I don't think he would begrudge me a little delay.'
Of course, Axayacatl had been the one to save Nezahual-tzin, to cast down the over-ambitious brothers and bring the young Revered Speaker to Tenochtitlan. Which also meant he would know Tizoctzin and the She-Snake, and it did not look as though he was eager to see either. 'The Dead can wait,' I said, bowing my head in return. 'But not on a caprice.'
Nezahual-tzin shifted slightly, the obsidian shards of his
I wasn't sure whether to be embarrassed by his accuracy, or annoyed at the distant, unconcerned way he considered us all. Teomitl had no such scruples. 'You look like a man too cowardly to be caught in anything, Nezahual-tzin.'
Nezahual-tzin's lips curved around the word 'pup', but he did not say it aloud, and luckily Teomitl didn't see it. 'I've learnt to see where the priorities are ' His gaze narrowed again, becoming infinitely distant, as if he held all the knowledge of the world. 'For instance, you must have been wondering for a while where all the blood on us comes from.'
Teomitl snorted. 'What I've been wondering for a while is how you enticed the Jaguar Knights to follow you.'
'Enticed? Hardly.' Nezahual-tzin did not turn around. 'But you're right, they're not my men.'
I looked at the Knights again. My mistake, I should have known that Texcoco had no Jaguar House. Teomitl was obviously more knowledgeable about warrior orders than me, 'Then…?' I asked. If he wanted to toy with us, fine. He was the Feathered Serpent's favoured indeed, enigmatic, taking advantage of the only thing he had, which was knowledge.
Nezahual-tzin made a gesture – satisfaction, annoyance? 'Three star-demons. In the Jaguar House.'
In daylight. Outside the palace wards. I scrabbled for words that seemed to have fled. 'Did they kill anyone?'
I'd expected him to be triumphant at the shock he'd caused, to revel in our ignorance; but he looked serious again, like a commander on the eve of battle. 'No. There are worse places where they could have appeared than a House of trained warriors.'
It could have been worse. Much, much worse. The marketplace, the Houses of Joy…
I took a deep breath, hoping to close the hollow in my stomach. It didn't work. 'So far, they've only appeared within the palace wards.' It could mean the sorcerer was outside the wards, like, say, Xahuia, but then why had the Obsidian Butterfly, Itzpapalotl, been able to appear inside the palace and carry off Manatzpa's soul? No, the most likely explanation was that the Southern Hummingbird's protection was diminishing, and that the star-demons had grown stronger in the Fifth World.
Nezahual-tzin exhaled, in what was almost a hiss. 'And one at a time?'
He was quick, the Revered Speaker of Texcoco, lithe and smooth like the snake that symbolised his
