'I know my weaknesses. There was something left within you, something the spell couldn't catch.'
'And yet here I am.'
'Teomitl,' Mihmatini said. 'You're not in any state to make coherent contributions to the conversation.'
'I almost died,' Teomitl said. He'd obviously meant it as a joke, but his voice caught on the words. 'I won't put off things any more. Time is playing against us, isn't it, Acatl-tzin?' His shadowed eyes, roaming, caught Nezahual-tzin – and then moved on to the two Jaguar Knights, who had followed us inside but said nothing so far.
There was a moment of silence. One of the warriors started to bow, but Teomitl shook his head imperiously. 'This isn't the time or the place. I apologise for dragging you into this.'
'It is we who should apologise, my Lord,' the eldest warrior said. 'We ran away when we saw the shadows over the house. You could have died.'
Teomitl's face had hardened, in a curious mixture of anger and vulnerability. 'Yes, I could have died. Ran out of time, like anyone else in the Fifth World.' He shook his head. 'I have greater things to do, before I die. Your apology is accepted – as long as you don't run away again.'
'You know we won't, my Lord,' the eldest warrior said.
Teomitl nodded; I hadn't expected him to be embarrassed, as I would have been had any of my priests said this to me, but I couldn't read his expression – was it anger, contempt? Perhaps merely anger at himself, for catching the sickness in the first place – it wouldn't have surprised me from a man who always strove to reach the Fifth Sun.
'What next?' Unsurprisingly, they all looked at me. But there were so many things, so much that wasn't right. With an effort, I quelled the panic, and forced my thoughts into some kind of order. 'Chipahua is dead,' I said. 'I don't know why, but I intend to find out.' That could be taken care of by my clergy. I spread out my hands, counting out matters one after the other. 'Acamapichtli is under arrest.' And we needed him – we needed my clergy for death, the Duality for protection, and the clergy of Tlaloc, for the epidemic itself.
I lifted the black thing Mihmatini had carried. Teomitl looked at it with curiosity. 'What is it?'
'The spell that almost killed you.' Mihmatini's voice was low, almost spent.
Teomitl shook his head. 'I've never seen it before.'
A frown had started spreading on Mihmatini's face; she looked from the thing in my hand to Teomitl – and then back to me. 'Acatl–'
'Yes,' I said. 'It looks like a human child, except smaller.'
'I don't see–'
Nezahual-tzin detached himself from the wall, the muscles in his chest rippling as he moved. I could see why he'd have no trouble finding women to marry or bed – he'd have found them even with out being Revered Speaker of Texcoco. 'Xochiquetzal,' he said. 'Goddess of childbirth.'
'You said Xiloxoch worshipped her.'
Teomitl's face hardened. 'Let's arrest her.'
'It's scant proof,' I said.
'Don't be foolish.' His voice was harsher than anything I'd ever heard. 'We have someone killing off the warriors and the priests of the Mexica Empire. If Xiloxoch isn't involved, I'm ready to apologise to her, and pay her whatever she might want as compensation. But in the meantime, I'm not taking any risks.' He made an imperious gesture with his fingers, motioning the Jaguar Knights closer.
While Teomitl was giving instructions to the two warriors, I sidled closer to Nezahual-tzin. 'You said you weren't responsible for his recovery.'
'I am not.'
'Then–'
Nezahual-tzin nodded. His eyes were still on Teomitl. 'I don't believe in miracles. If he's cured, someone must have helped.'
'Chalchuihtlicue?' I asked.
'Your sister said that she'd tried summoning Her earlier, and that it had been in vain.'
'But who–?'
'I don't know,' Nezahual-tzin said, grudgingly. He had never liked admitting ignorance. 'But I will find out.' He looked at Teomitl – who seemed in the middle of an animated conversation with the warriors, with the occasional interjection from Mihmatini. 'Can I speak to you outside?'
I felt, suddenly, like a conspirator. 'Surely anything you have to say to me–'
'I'm afraid not. It's outside, or not at all.'
I sighed, casting another glance at Teomitl. I guessed it had to do with my student – whom Nezahual-tzin had little liking for.
We walked out of the room, and back into the courtyard. The air was thick with the smell and smoke of copal incense; the altar atop the pyramid shrine covered in a mound of maize cakes. Priests with black-streaked faces were sweeping the courtyard with rush brooms, keeping it clean so the Duality would always been welcome.
'What do you want?' I asked.
Nezahual-tzin smiled. 'Don't be so hostile. You know I'm working in your best interest.'
'Until you decide you no longer need us.' He had done it often enough, after all – last year, when I'd had a death sentence hanging over my head, he'd all but sold me back to Tizoc-tzin.
He shrugged. His eyes rolled up in their sockets, revealing the milky white of faraway stars. 'You heard
