'I–' Sanity returned to her face, for a brief moment. 'They'll kill me if I tell. They said they would. They never lie, you see.'
Teomitl's hands tightened around hers. 'I never lie, either,' he said. 'I'll protect you.' He surprised me; I would have expected him to dismiss the old woman, as he'd dismissed the peasants on our last hunt together. But Chalchiutlicue's gift had moulded him into someone else entirely.
'From what is coming?' Her voice was fearful.
'As best as I can. But you have to tell me.'
The old woman didn't speak for a while. 'You'll remember me,' she said. 'Ahuizotl. You'll remember me.'
'Yes,' Teomitl said. And although he spoke in a low voice, the whole hut vibrated with his power, and for a moment the wrongness coiled within the walls abated. 'I'll remember you. Where did Mazatl go?'
'It's the day,' the old woman said. 'The day he leaves his childhood name behind. The day to enter the House of Youth, you see.'
I didn't think there would be a House of Youth. What Mazatl needed to learn about war and his place in the world, he'd be told by his father.
'Yes,' Teomitl said. 'The day he takes his true name.'
'Yes, yes,' the old woman said.
Neutemoc, although he hadn't said anything, was clearly growing impatient. I was growing worried. Mazatl and his foster parents had obviously been gone for some time. Whatever preparations they needed to make would be near completion.
'Where did they go?' Teomitl asked.
'You'll protect me?'
'I'll protect you,' Teomitl repeated. 'Look.' He blew into her face, gently: his breath became a shimmering cloud that wrapped itself around her, making Tlaloc's magic recede. 'That way.'
'You're strong,' the old woman whispered. 'You'll keep your word, won't you?' She shook her head. 'They went to the heart of the lake. To the place where they plant the tree of the Star Hill, the place where Spring is reborn.'
Neutemoc and I looked at each other. 'The Great Vigil,' we both whispered.
One month after the start of the rainy season, a tree was brought from the Star Hill, where our first Emperor had built a temple to his father, Mixcoatl, the Cloud Serpent. Scores of warriors hoisted the tree upwards, and planted it into the mud at the centre of Lake Texcoco. A girl was sacrificed and her blood poured on the trunk, and into the water; and thus the Storm Lord would grant us His favours for another year of growing maize.
There would be no tree: by now, it would have rotted down to nothing. But something of that yearly sacrifice would remain, some power that could be tapped into.
'I see,' Teomitl said, gravely. He blew again on her, gently. The shimmering cloud of his breath expanded to cover her from head to toe. It sank into her bones, one magic to replace another. And as it did so, the old woman faded slightly, as if she stood at a remove from the Fifth World.
'Such strength,' she whispered. 'Such unthinking strength. Thank you.'
Teomitl clasped her hands, and did not answer.
'Let's go,' Neutemoc said.
Outside, it was easier to breathe, although the rain hadn't abated. If anything, it was stronger: a veil, gradually falling across the land; the endless tears of the Heavens, filling the lakes and canals to over-flowing.
'It's transformed you,' I said to Teomitl. 'Her gift. Once, you wouldn't have looked twice at that woman.'
'It–' Teomitl shook his head, unable to describe what had happened to him. 'It – changes you. To the bone.'
'So much?' I asked. I couldn't help wondering if Chalchiutlicue had had some other motive in making Teomitl Her agent, if Her gift had had some thorns we hadn't seen.
Teomitl was looking at the lake. 'No,' he said. 'But that woman in the hut… she felt so wrong, yet it wasn't her fault.'
'No,' I said, finally. When this was all over, we'd have to see that old woman, to make sure she would survive after Teomitl's protection had cut her off from her family.
The ahuizotls were waiting for us near the boat, their heads half out of the water. They appeared more curious than hungry. But The Duality curse me if I trusted those beasts to do anything more than obey Teomitl.
'It's not so far,' Neutemoc said.
I snorted. 'Not so far. It's at least one hour from here. And I don't think we're doing the right thing.'
'What do you propose we do, then?' Neutemoc asked, sarcastically.
'I think we'll arrive too late,' I said.
'I don't agree,' Neutemoc said.
'Then you can go ahead with Teomitl, and scout. But I'm going back to get reinforcements.'
'We don't need–'
'Oh? You can defeat a powerful god's agent, and his creatures, all by yourself? Last time I saw, you were busy being wounded.'
'Don't toy with me,' Neutemoc said.
'I'm not toying,' I snapped. 'I'm telling you to be careful for once. Or is that not a warlike virtue?'
'You know nothing of war,' Neutemoc said, softly. 'Don't presume to judge.'
'What other choice is left to me?' I asked, angrily. 'You won't judge yourself.'
'I don't think it's quite the right time for this,' Teomitl said. He was sitting in the boat, lounging in the back
