There are higher powers than I, the Wind of Knives had said. It must have taken quick thinking on Huei's part to see that here, under the gaze of the goddess, was a place the Wind couldn't enter, and to reach it in time.
The priestess of Chalchiutlicue raised the torch when I approached. Her severe gaze swept up and down, taking in the whole of who I was. For the second time that night, I found myself wishing I had dressed better. Neutemoc's slaves and Mihmatini had done their best, but maguey-soaked bandages were nothing like the full regalia of a High Priest.
'Yes?' the priestess asked.
'I'm looking for my brother's wife,' I said.
Her face shut, as if a veil had been drawn across it. 'At this time of the night, the temple is closed to visitors.'
'I don't think you understand,' I said, slowly, although I suspected she did. 'She isn't a student. She came here, about half an hour ago at most.'
Her eyes didn't move. 'No one came.'
A lie. But I wouldn't disconcert her that easily.
'I am Acatl, High Priest for the Dead, and I speak for my temple and my clergy. Do you think it wise to stand against me?' I closed my good hand on the strongest obsidian knife, letting the emptiness of Mictlan well up to fill me.
Her face remained expressionless, though she had to see the power coursing to me. 'I will talk to the Fire Priest. Wait here.'
I did so. A breeze had risen over the lake, cold on my exposed skin. The mist would not dissipate. Was it just my fancy, or was something swimming in the water, near the bottom of the rise?
Two lights surfaced, briefly: yellow eyes, I realised with a shock. They were watching me with undisguised malice. The ahuizotl. It hadn't been there while Teomitl and I were on the lake, although Teomitl's warding magic might have kept it away. But it was the first time a water-beast had ever swum after me. Why wouldn't it go away?
I was wounded, smelling of blood, and reeking of the underworld magic I had been consorting with all night. To any magical creature, I would be a beacon.
But there was still something about it that made me uneasy. The ahuizotls belonged to Chalchiutlicue, and surely it was more than a coincidence that Huei had summoned them, and then found refuge in a temple to the goddess?
'Acatl-tzin,' someone said.
Startled, I turned around. The priestess had come back with a man: a priest of far higher rank, judging by his diadem of heron feathers and the drops of melted rubber that darkened his face.
'I am Eliztac, Fire Priest of this modest temple. I'm told that you seek someone.' He exuded the same coiled power as the walls of his temple: a rippling light that seemed to be an extension of the starlight over the lake.
'My brother's wife, Huei,' I said, giving him a brief description. Although, by the gleam in his eyes, he had no need of it.
'I see,' Eliztac said, but ventured no comment.
'Understand this,' I said, exasperated by yet another delay – by the knowledge that Huei was alive, so close to me – and yet out of my reach. 'I know she came here, and I know she hasn't left. We can talk all night, or you can save some time and admit to having seen her.'
Eliztac pursed his lips, thoughtfully.
'She has transgressed against Mictlan,' I added, for good measure.
His gaze was disturbingly shrewd. 'But is no longer, I think, your rightful prey.'
'Why would you prevent me from entering?' I asked. I tightened my grip on the obsidian knife. The emptiness rising in my chest was almost comforting, a shield against all I couldn't face.
He sighed. 'You're right. It's late. Let's not dance around each other like warriors on the gladiator stone. The person you want did come here – but you cannot see her.'
'I still don't see–'
Eliztac raised a hand. 'She has given herself to the goddess.'
There could only be one meaning for this. But I still had to ask, to be sure. I might have misunderstood. 'As a sacrifice?'
Eliztac nodded. 'She is Chalchiutlicue's now. She's removed herself from the Fifth World. Neither you nor anyone else has a claim on her.'
'When?' I asked plainly.
'When the proper stars are aligned and the proper omens have happened,' Eliztac said. 'It will take time. One, two years? Only the goddess knows.'
One, two years. Huei still had time. But, as she learnt the dance, and the proper rituals for the sacrifice, she would never forget what was to come: the knowledge of her death would mingle with every moment she spent in the temple.
The Southern Hummingbird cut her down! How could she…? But, of course, once she had summoned the beast of shadows, she wouldn't have had a choice, not any more.
'I have to speak to her,' I said.
Eliztac shook his head, forcefully. The heron feathers swayed to and fro, like white flags in the darkness. 'She no longer belongs in this world.'
'There are some things I need to know…'
'She fled from you,' Eliztac said. 'What makes you think she would talk to you?'
I said, 'She's still family.' In spite of everything, she was still the gangly girl my brother had brought home, all those years ago: the one who'd smile and shake her head whenever Neutemoc and I tried to make her take sides. The one who would die, drowned by the priests in order to bring the Jade Skirt's favour to the Empire.
Eliztac looked away from me, for a moment. 'If you were her husband, it would be a different matter. But as it is, I can't allow it.'
'Please,' I said.
