“He’s trading you cold mages in return for your support?” I repeated stupidly.
“Why do you think I came to Europa in the first place two years ago?” Haubey asked. “Your wars and rivalries do not interest us. I came at the behest of my uncle to learn about cold mages. Instead I saw people living in unpleasant squalor. Children suffer hunger while others throw away food they cannot eat and will not share. People die of diseases any decently trained behique could cure. The streets run with filth, and there is no decent night lighting. The food is awful. And it’s cold. But the music and drumming is good, and many of the women are beautiful.” His gaze lifted to capture Bee’s. He trembled as on the edge of a kiss.
She cut him with an angry frown. “Can it be that even to Caonabo I was nothing more than a tool to be used? Although I grant you that I was well handled and lovingly polished.”
Haubey closed his hands to fists, although I could not be sure if it was her accusations or her insinuation of the intimacies she had shared with Caonabo, ones he had been denied, that upset him. “You see only the shadows that churn the Great Smoke, dreamer. You do not know what thoughts trouble a man.”
Elsewhere a man groaned, begging for water. Rain began to fall with a steady drumming, and water dripped through the many scars in the burned roof to splash onto the wounded, who could not even cover themselves. In the stall next to us I heard Rory humming softly.
“Blessed Tanit!” Bee said. “How is it come to this, that I think only of my injured heart?”
I pulled the cacica’s skull out of the basket. Startled, Haubey took a step away.
“Your Highness, at the request of your uncle and your brother, I deliver your mother’s head to you. With this cemi, Prince Haubey, your kinsmen give you permission to return home. They want you back to lead the Taino army.”
He stared, looking first confounded and then pleased. “So I am answered!”
“Just one thing first.”
Digging into the satchel, I pulled out the sewing kit Vai had so thoughtfully given me. Of course it included a hand mirror, since I could not imagine that Vai could imagine existence without a mirror. I caught the skull in the reflection as I pulled the shadows around me. Haubey gasped gratifyingly when I vanished. Spun in my shadow, the skull shifted to the texture and weight of a living head and met my gaze in the mirror.
“Honored Cacica, my greetings,” I said.
“My greetings, Niece. You have returned me to my son.”
“So I have, honored one. As I promised.”
She blinked to show her approval. “Your debt is paid, even if I cannot approve how my brother went about getting his way. We maintain righteousness because we hold to the law.”
“The world changes,” muttered Haubey. “The old ways no longer protect us. My uncle understands that, even if you did not, honored mother.”
The cacica had not struck me as an impulsive, emotional woman, but judging by her glare, she and her impatient, headstrong son had more in common than I had thought. “Those who cast aside the law will wither like maize under drought. And so will the land!”
Haubey’s brooding expression was sharpened by lips pressed so tight I wondered he did not cut himself. “I have something to say about how you treated Caonabo all those years, favoring me and neglecting him! I always resented it! He will make a noble cacique, even if you never thought so!”
This was really too much! I broke in. “The cacica is a wise and perspicacious woman! Do not speak to her so disrespectfully.”
“How can Juba hear and speak to her when I cannot, except in the spirit world?” Bee asked.
The cacica turned her gaze from her son to me. “To the dreamer give my greetings, Niece. We who have ears can speak to our ancestors, that is why. A pity my brother connived with my sons to send her away. She was a proper influence. Yet what troubles you, Catherine Barahal? For I see a shadow in your heart.”
“I beg your pardon for my abrupt manner. James Drake has stolen my husband. Can you tell me in which direction they have gone?”
“When a rot grows within the crop, it must be cut out quickly before it spreads its taint. Let me see.” A thread spun away into the darkness of the mirror. She first whispered words that sounded like the drizzle of rain and the moan of wind, then spoke again in the language I could understand. “North they ride. Straight north.”
“My thanks to you, honored queen,” I said, even if my voice shook. “Have you any other words you wish to say before I release you to your son?”
“Let my dead son know that I understand the tide has already washed this shore. What is done cannot be undone.”
“As I am reminded when I look on you, honored one,” I said politely.
“May the Good Great Spirit walk with you, Niece.”
“
I lowered the mirror, tucked the skull into the basket, and offered it to Haubey. He took it gravely, but it was Bee he looked at.
“Come back with me, dreamer. You will live in a better place than this, honored among the Taino as a noblewoman. And if not for my sake, then for my brother’s. I happen to know he feels true affection for you although he is not a man to say so.”
“No.” Her hand clasped mine firmly, even if her voice trembled. “My home is with Cat.”
“We have to go,” I said. And so we did, gathering Rory as we left.
“Where are the cold mages being held prisoner?” I asked an orderly, who directed me to a sergeant, who informed me they were being held in custody at the rear hospital. It was too far away; we didn’t have time; we couldn’t save everyone.
We walked north along the Cena Road to Lutetia. Bee’s honey voice talked us through the barricade because they recognized her from her work with the radicals. How long ago it seemed that I had fled Two Gourds House and Vai had come to the inn looking for me. What if we had separated in anger, and had never spoken again?
“Cat, dearest, let me help you.” Bee steadied me as I stumbled.
“I’m so glad you’re here, Bee.”
“I’ll always be with you, dearest.”
We reached the forecourt gates of Two Gourds House at daybreak. The compound was surrounded by armed citizenry, not hostile but definitely vigilant. In the forecourt mage troops stood guard. Their captain made us wait on the entry steps in the morning sun. The mansa of Four Moons House himself appeared with his djeli at his side and his repugnant nephew dogging his heels as if hoping for a scrap of meat. The mansa had sustained a gash on his chin. His left arm was in a sling. Yet he looked imposing in a formal indigo robe whose sleeves swept the ground as he strode down the forecourt steps and grasped my hand, speaking to me with his own voice.
“Catherine! Explain yourself!”
“I told you the village boy meant all along to betray us,” broke in the nephew, in a sour tone. “He is probably dining with General Camjiata right now.”
“People do not sit down to dinner in the morning,” I snapped.
“Silence, boy!” said the mansa to his nephew before turning to me. “Catherine, please disabuse yourself of any belief that I am angry at Andevai. He saved many lives yesterday. If the tide of fire magic grew too strong for one of the others, Andevai would pull it into himself by the craft he learned from the Taino. He risked more than anyone else.”
The nephew hunkered down as if enduring a rancid smell, his mouth shut for once.
“Was it Andevai’s storm that quenched the fire that would have burned the city?” I asked.
The mansa’s voice was hard, his manner impatient and proud. How like Vai he seemed, although I could not tell what emotions surged beneath the garment of his arrogance. “Andevai is not the only powerful cold mage. That was my storm, in concert with Mansa Viridor. But I must ask, was it all a ruse? Did you plan this victory with General Camjiata? I regret I could not recognize Andevai’s worth until it was too late to bring him to trust me.”
“You still don’t understand him, Mansa. He respects you more than he will ever express to you. He was able to look past the scorn and contempt he endured and admire your strength and consistency in your rule over Four
