Obsidian & Blood

  'Not that I could see.' Nezahual-tzin's face was serene.

  'And now what?' Teomitl asked.

  Nezahual-tzin stopped, looked at us, pondering for a while. His eyes rolled up again, becoming the uncanny white of pearls, of milk and the looming Moon in the Heavens. 'It depends.'

  'On how much we're worth to you?' I asked.

  He smiled. 'You're learning.'

  'Not what I wish to learn.'

  'All knowledge is good.' He smiled again.

  'You want to sell us?' Teomitl's hand strayed to his macuahitl sword. 'You'd dare to–'

  'Teomitl,' I said, warningly. The palace wasn't ours and it was full of warriors, not to mention whatever sorcerers Nezahual-tzin might have in his service. 'He'd sell his own sister.' He already had, unless I was grievously mistaken.

  'Of course,' Nezahual-tzin said. 'But she'd understand.'

  'You lie.' Teomitl's face was all harsh angles, his skin slowly whitening to the pallor of jade.

  The worst was, I didn't think he was lying. He and Xahuia – and Tizoc-tzin, and Quenami, and even the She-Snake – seemed to operate by a different set of standards, as alien to me as the ways of the southern tribes.

  'Of course not,' Nezahual-tzin said. 'You're a fool, pup. I'm ruler of Texcoco. I do what is best for my city, and that includes not going to war against Tenochtitlan. Making, how would you call them, peace offerings to the new Revered Speaker?' His teeth, when he smiled, were the same uncanny white as his eyes.

  'Why help me escape then?' I asked, and then realised that he had been caught in the same accusation as I. 'Of course. You weren't welcome in Tenochtitlan either, after my arrest.'

  'No,' Nezahual-tzin said. 'But it will change, when I come back.'

  'As long as Tizoc-tzin doesn't find out you helped me.'

  Nezahual-tzin smiled, in that smug way I was coming to hate. 'I'll explain to him it was the only way to get his brother to reveal his true allegiances. And he'll have both of you back; and that will matter more to him than alienating a valuable ally. The forms will have been respected. I will have made my amends for dealing in magic on his territory.'

  'We're not bundles to be passed on!' Teomitl snapped.

  I noticed, from the corner of my eye, the warriors getting closer, circling us like vultures hoping for an easy kill. Teomitl's skin shone with sweat, and with something else – the otherworldly light of Chalchiuhtlicue, Jade Skirt.

  'Everyone is a tool, at one point or another. Better get used to it, pup, or your life will be brief.' Nezahual- tzin watched the warriors converging on us with the distracted interest of a man pondering the words of a poem. 'Briefer than it could have been, at any rate.'

  Above us were the stars, an oppressive reminder of the stakes if I ever needed one. 'You're intelligent enough to know what is upon us,' I said.

  'Of course I am. As you said, Tizoc-tzin will claim the Turquoiseand-Gold Crown. The Southern Hummingbird's power will once more flow into the Fifth World, and that will be the end of this incident. Meanwhile, I'll have worked my way back into favour at the Mexica Court.'

  'With our deaths.' Teomitl's face was frozen, halfway to divine light. Sweat dripped on his cheeks.

  Nezahual-tzin laughed. 'Don't bother. The ground you're on is blessed by the Storm Lord, and your goddess won't have any hold here.'

  He might have been right – and it was my duty to see the Fifth World preserved, beyond any selfish grievances I might have. No, the Storm Lord's lightning strike me, I couldn't do this. 'You do know how I escaped.'

  'With our help.' Nezahual-tzin shook his head, contemptuously.

  I snorted. 'You do have tremendous faith in your abilities.'

  'I serve a god.'

  'So does the She-Snake,' I said.

  'The She-Snake? I don't see what he has to do with anything.'

  'The She-Snake said…' I swallowed, remembering darkness all around us, the rustle of something large and malevolent which hated all life, all movement, all sound, and wouldn't rest until everything was silent and dark. 'He said that Tizoc-tzin wouldn't be able to channel the Southern Hummingbird's favour into the Fifth World.' He'd said, too, that Quenami might have a trick, a way of bending the rules to his advantage. But Quenami had miscalculated before.

  'You're lying.'

  I met his gaze head on, staring into the numinous white of his eyes. 'I'll swear it by my face and by my heart, or by any god you name.'

  Nezahual-tzin didn't move for a while, his eyes still on me. There was a chasm, deep inside them, colours, swirling amidst the white like oil on water, a spiral that opened and drew me in…

  I came to with a start, the air burning in my lungs. Nezahualtzin was standing next to me, one hand on his macuahitl sword, another holding up my chin. His touch was as cool as shadowed stone; and I could barely hear his breath. Teomitl had shifted, caught by surprise; but he'd been too late, his sword barely drawn.

  'All right. I believe you.' Nezahual-tzin released my face, and took a step away from me. I fought the urge to reach for the knives at my belt. It would only show weakness.

  The warriors remained where they were, while Nezahual looked up into the sky, his eyes on the largest star, the Evening Star, which belonged to the Feathered Serpent, the only one which would not fall upon us, when the time came.

  'From here to Teotihuacan, it's a two-day trip.' The Birthplace of the Gods was on the same side of the lake