'Butterflies,' Palli said. 'But we don't have those here. You can find the flowers in the temple gardens, but living butterflies… I could send to the marketplace.'
The animal marketplace would be closed, and wouldn't reopen until late tomorrow morning. 'I'm not sure we have time,' I said. 'Anything else?'
'Jade earrings. And' – I heard Palli tap the mace at his side – 'quetzals would do. Live ones, not feathers.'
'Do you have any of those?'
'The jade earrings, yes. Quetzals… I think we have a pair somewhere at the back.' He stepped into the storehouse with a torch in his hand. 'Let me see. We got a rattle and drum from the vigil of that woman, four days ago. They're for Her Consort, but She's also patron of music, when the mood takes Her…'
He was going through the rows of aligned offerings with the ease of experience, picking up small items and discarding them after no more than a casual glance. I felt… not entirely useless, but close. I strolled back to the door of the storehouse and waited in the darkness.
Which was why I saw Ixtli, the head of the search parties, walk into the temple courtyard with a grim expression on his face.
My stomach sank. Whatever news there could be, it would not be good. I detached myself from the wall. 'Ixtli!' I called out.
He bowed to me. 'Acatl-tzin.' In the gathering darkness, he looked even worse: his face drained of colour, his gnarled hands crooked like the claws of an animal.
'Any news?'
'Only bad.' Ixtli shook his head, apparently annoyed. Suddenly he reminded me of an older Teomitl, still unwilling to forgive his own failures. 'We searched all four districts of Tenochtitlan. Then we went further, into the Floating Gardens. But there was no track of that beast. It's as if it has vanished from the surface of the earth.'
As it had vanished from within an enclosed calmecac. Something wasn't right about that nahual. What had I missed?
'I see,' I said. 'You found tracks near the calmecac?'
'No,' Ixtli said. 'No tracks. We were searching houses at random, on no more than instinct.' He fingered the jade amulet around his neck, and said, 'There was no chance we would find her.'
'I see,' I said. 'Are you going to stop the search?'
Ixtli shrugged. 'No, not yet. But I don't think you should depend on us.'
No. I didn't think I should.
'The priestess,' Ixtli said. 'Do you think she's still alive?'
I shook my head. 'I think it's too late.'
His gaze held me, unblinkingly. 'So do I. Will you be needing any more help?'
I searched my mind for something he could give me, but there didn't seem to be anything. 'No, I don't think so. You can take off the jade amulets,' I said. 'Not much use against a nahual, anyway.'
Ixtli smiled. 'Better be safe. I'll go reassure my wife, and then I'll go back to the Duality House. Come there if you need us,' he said, and then he turned on his heel and left.
Palli had gathered the offerings near the storehouse door. 'You mean to go out again?' he asked.
I looked up at the sky. The night had well and truly fallen this time: there would be vigils to take, and offerings to make at the proper times. The Quetzal Flower would certainly not want to receive me at this late hour; and I had seen already what would happen if I tried to enter uninvited. I did want to help Neutemoc; but angering a goddess was not going to arrange matters.
'No,' I said, with a sigh. 'I'll go tomorrow morning.'
I was not, by any means, looking forward to the morrow. One interview with Xochiquetzal had been affecting enough; this one looked set to be even worse.
SEVEN
The following morning, I woke up, made my offerings of blood to Lord Death, and went back to my temple. The priests seemed to have all disappeared. After a cursory search, I found them gathered in one of the largest rooms, watching Ichtaca examine the body of a dead woman: the older offering priests in front, the novice priests a little way behind – and, all the way at the back of the room, a handful of calmecac students, their pale faces fascinated.
'No blood,' Ichtaca was saying, pointing at the livid face. 'She's been in that position for a while…'
He'd be cutting her open next, if he wasn't satisfied, trying to determine if her death had been natural or provoked. It was a common enough event in the temple. I'd done a few such examinations myself, but thankfully I'd never had the whole clergy in attendance.
I withdrew quietly from the doorframe, and went to the storehouse to collect Palli's offerings. Then I walked back to Xochiquetzal's house.
In the courtyard, the same insolent slave was waiting for me, lounging against the trunk of a pine tree like a man who had all the time in the world.
'Back again, priest? You must really love Her.'
I said, 'I'd like to see Her, if it's not too much trouble.' That last, because I couldn't quite contain my anger.
He shrugged, fully aware of my impatience, basking in it. 'Probably not. But then who knows?'
He sauntered into the main room, closing the entrance-curtain behind him; and came back with a satisfied smile on his face.
'So?' I asked. The quetzal birds softly called to each other as the cage rocked in my hands.
He smiled, wider this time. 'You may see Her, priest.' His gaze took in the offerings I was laden with, and he pursed his lips. 'And pray that what you bring is sufficient.'
