TWENTY-FOUR
We'd appeared behind Neutemoc and Palli – which meant that the warriors saw us first, and, as their faces widened in incredulity, Neutemoc turned round to face me. 'Acatl!'
He looked exhausted – his jaguar's furs bloodied, his helmet split with a blow that must have narrowly avoided cleaving his skull. Palli himself was holding himself with easy, casual aloofness, as befitted both his position and the situation, but beneath it all, he had to be no less tired than my brother. 'What in the Fifth World…?'
I looked for Acamapichtli – who had withdrawn between the pillars, and was on his knees, helping his Consort bandage her wound. His gaze was mild, sardonic: it said, quite clearly, that he would take no part in this, that, Master of the House of Darts or Revered Speaker, it made no difference to him at all, and that the Fifth World would endure as it always had.
Not unexpected, sadly.
Teomitl moved, as fluid as a knife through human flesh – kneeling by the charred body of Coatl-Moquihuix, which lay between the warriors and us. 'He's dead,' he said. He wore rich garb – not quite that of the Master of the House of Darts, not quite that of a Revered Speaker, as if he were still uneasily caught between both functions. But his attitude was regal.
The old woman inclined her head. 'Good. That leaves only one thing.'
Teomitl pulled himself up. His gaze was unreadable; his face turned away from me or Mihmatini. 'I know.'
I heard Mihmatini's breath quicken. She looked from Neutemoc to Teomitl. For a moment, anguish was written on her face, but then her hands clenched, and she wrenched herself from her immobility. She bypassed Neutemoc before he could stop her, and came to a stop in the centre of the courtyard – standing under the warm gaze of the Fifth Sun, which shimmered on the hundreds of wards she was weaving around her. 'We won't let you pass.' Her voice shook, but her hands were utterly steady.
'We?' the old woman's voice was sarcastic. 'I can't see anyone with you, girl.'
Mihmatini flinched – I couldn't see Teomitl's face, but never mind, it was too late for that; far too late. Slowly, with as much dignity as I could master, I walked in my sister's wake, ignoring the sharp glance Neutemoc threw at me – and came to stand by her side – blood to blood, brother to sister.
The old woman cocked her head. 'Two doesn't make an army.'
'Listen to me,' I said. 'This is foolishness, Teomitl. You can't possibly–'
'We've already had this conversation.' He still wouldn't look at me; his voice was low, emotionless, instead of the anger I'd expected. 'This is what the Empire needs.'
'You know it's not.'
The old woman smiled. 'You know he has a destiny, priest. You can feel it, hanging over him.'
Right now, all I could see was the jade cast to his features, the living remnants of Jade Skirt's magic, which had given us so much pain. 'Yes, he would rule the Mexica, and rule them well. But not now. Destiny is for fools to manipulate.'
'He'll never be this ready.'
'What do you gain?' I asked.
She laughed – low and without joy. 'Tizoc is no better than his brother. They both used me and discarded me without a second thought. Now I grow old in the shadow of Mictlan, and I would see the better brother made Revered Speaker.'
As I had thought – an imperial princess playing at politics – and she was saturated with the magic of Grandmother Earth, probably what had aged her until she seemed old enough to be a generation above Teomitl.
'As Guardian of the Sacred Precinct, I won't let you pass,' Mihmatini said. She masked her hesitation well, but I wasn't sure whether it would be enough – the old woman was a canny practitioner.
'Mihmatini…' Teomitl looked straight up, but his eyes were as shadowed as Coatl's had been, and I could read nothing from him. The Duality curse me, when had I ceased to understand him? 'You have to understand.'
'I – I understand, but I don't approve. You'll break the Fifth World, Teomitl, worse than anything he's ever done.' Her hands swung, pointed to the charred body on the ground. 'And he hated us – hated us so much…' She couldn't quite repress the shiver that ran through her. 'All that for what? To grasp a toy you can't have now, like a spoiled child?'
'You know Tizoc,' Teomitl said. 'You know his mere presence opens up the breach, that there will be more demons in the streets, more beasts of shadows taking people.' He swung to look at me, and the light of the Fifth Sun dispersed the shadows over his eyes, letting me see the anguish in them. 'You know this, Acatl-tzin. You know he'll kill us slowly, take us apart piece by piece. You know there's no other choice.'
'This will break us,' I said, finally. What did he want from me? My approval? I was no longer his teacher; that much had been made abundantly clear. 'You know it will.'
'I know.' His voice was an anguished cry. 'But there is no other way!'
The old woman said nothing; she merely stood, looking smug.
'I have to do this,' Teomitl said, slowly, carefully. His voice gained strength as he spoke – becoming once again the confident one of a man who moved in the highest circles of power. 'This is right.' He hefted his
But I knew he had doubts, that there was a crack. I could – no, I might find it, but I needed to find it fast.
'You have to step aside.'
'I can't.'
'You–' His face twisted. 'Why do you keep involving yourself in this, Acatl-tzin?'
