‘You are going to the lands of the Mayans, aren’t you? Take her with you, then. Take her home.’
19
Lily shrieked, and then she swore. Her language had always been more colourful than was quite seemly in a respectable Aztec woman.
‘You’re supposed to be a fucking doctor! I’ve seen the bodies of sacrificial victims treated better than this!’
Watching her have the dressings on her fingers changed was, I had learned, a hazardous pastime. She was apt to lash out at anyone nearby, including me, so I had left her and the doctor in a courtyard while I came out to sit at the front of the secluded little villa Maize Ear had installed us in.
There was a small pond, little more really than a large basin fined with pink porphyry, in front of it, and I watched a pair of ducks descend to take a drink before flapping clumsily into the air again.
‘A bit early for them to be courting, isn’t it?’ I said.
‘Is that another thing you shouldn’t do in the Useless Days?’ Nimble asked.
I grinned. ‘Besides arguing, you mean?’ I replied as another tirade came from within the house.
‘Lily’s not arguing,’ Kindly said knowingly. ‘She’s complaining. A very different thing, especially for women!’ His expression changed abruptly as the doctor appeared. He had the look of a man who had a narrow escape from death. His cloak and the black pitch that covered his face were spotted with blood, as though he had been in a fight with a wild animal.
‘How’s the patient?’ I asked.
‘She’ll live,’ the man grunted.
‘Will the nails grow back?’ Kindly demanded anxiously.
The doctor sighed. ‘You asked me that yesterday and the day before. It’s too early to be sure. All I can say is that there’s no reason why not — the flesh isn’t too inflamed, which is more than can be said for the lady’s temper!’
I looked up at him as he left, the hem of his black cloak billowing at his heels, and caught sight of another person coming along the path towards us.
I stood up. ‘Who’s this?’ I asked, suddenly feeling nervous. If the newcomer was who I thought she was then it was time to say something I had been putting off ever since the evening at the summit of the hill, a few days before, when the King and his son had made their pact: Lily’s and my life, in return for Hungry Child’s promise to leave the realm the moment the Useless Days were over, and never return.
‘Mother of Light,’ said Kindly.
I took it upon myself to greet her as I thought fitting for a royal concubine. ‘Lady,’ I said formally, ‘you have expended breath to come here. You are weary; you are hungry. Please, rest and have something…’ I suddenly found myself lost for words as I caught sight of her hand.
A great greenstone in the shape of a skull adorned it.
‘Thank you,’ she said, clearly amused. ‘It’s all right — I’ve eaten.’
‘You off, then?’ enquired Kindly casually.
‘Tomorrow,’ she confirmed, ‘before sunrise. Maize Ear is very anxious to have his kingdom back again!’
I drew breath to speak and let it out again. Then I tried once more, this time managing to get as far as saying the lady’s name She looked at me curiously. ‘What is it?’
Forcing the words out one by one, I said: ‘Take my son with you.’
Nimble almost fell into the pond. ‘What?’ he spluttered. ‘Father, have you gone mad? I’m not going…’
Mother of Light looked at him and then at me. ‘Why?’ she asked.
‘He could be useful on your long journey. He’s tough and resourceful, and Little Hen trusts him. He and Hungry Child could…’
‘Bugger useful!’ my son cried. He was almost in tears. ‘What are you talking about? I’m staying here! I can’t leave you!’
I sighed. ‘You’re not staying here,’ I said patiently. ‘For one thing, Maize Ear isn’t going to let us be his guests for ever. He gave us this place until Lily was better, remember? But he doesn’t want us in his kingdom any longer than we have to be. And that’s my point — as long as you and I and Kindly and Lily are here, Lord Feathered in Black is going to keep coming after us. Not to mention the captain!’
‘So let’s all go!’
Mother of Light frowned. ‘The boy, yes,’ she said. ‘Hungry Child may well agree, especially if he can help look after the girl. But…’
Clearly she balked at the prospect of dragging the four of us along with her and Hungry Child, but Kindly set her mind at rest. ‘Can’t,’ he said. ‘I’m too old to uproot myself now and go trekking over mountains and through jungles, and Lily’s simply not up to it yet.’
‘But you, Father…’
I groaned. I had agonized over this choice for days, tossing and turning on my sleeping mat every night, and staring at my reflection in the little pond for half a day as if I expected it to speak to me and tell me what to do. Even now, I could not convince myself that the decision I had made was the right one.
‘Nimble, I’m an Aztec. For good or ill, I belong down there, in that anthill in the middle of the lake. My family’s there. I may have to face old Black Feathers one day, for their sake. Your uncle Lion can protect them for now, but that could change — he could get himself killed in battle, or the Chief Minister could find some way of having him turned out of office. If that happens. I’ve got to be there. Can’t you see that?’
‘I’m an Aztec too,’ the lad said sullenly.
‘Only by birth. You were brought up Tarascan. You’ve got no reason to be here, or in Tenochtitlan, apart from me.
