‘I forgot my notes.’
‘Notes?’
‘The paper I was writing on while I was talking to my client.’ I made a gesture like someone drawing a glyph, hoping he had forgotten that I had not been carrying anything when he led me into the prison. ‘I left it next to her cell. I’d better go back and get it.’
‘You must be joking! You want to go all the way back in there, just to pick up a scrap of paper?’
‘I’m sorry, but it’s really important.’
‘Can’t you just remember what your client said?’
‘I need the glyphs to jog my memory.’
‘It’s all very well for you, but I’ve only got short legs, see? And I’m thirsty. It comes of holding my nose and breathing through my mouth all morning…’
‘Look, I said I was sorry. I really need these notes. I can go on my own, if you like.’
He looked dubious. ‘Don’t think I can let you do that. You’re not allowed to go wandering around here on your own. And what if you get lost? How would I explain that?’
‘I won’t be wandering. I’ll go straight there and straight back. And I know the way now — I’ve been there before.’
‘I don’t know…’
‘Why don’t you go and get yourself a drink of water,’ I suggested, taking a step backwards and making as if to turn away. ‘I’ll be back here before you are, I promise!’
He licked his lips thirstily. ‘Well…’
I started walking. He did not call me back.
So far, so good, I told myself, but what was I going to do now?
I retraced my steps to the prison as far as the first turning, which brought me back into the courtyard with the pool and the statue.
There was a stone bench by the pool. I sat on it and stared up at the brooding basalt figure. ‘You were supposed to be wise,’ I said. ‘What would you have done?’ Not surprisingly, the dead King had nothing to say for himself. Probably, I thought, he had never found himself in this sort of predicament.
I had very little time in which to look for Mother of Light, assuming she was in the palace complex and had not gone out for any reason. It would not take the dwarf long to get himself a drink, and he would raise a hue and cry the moment he returned and found I was still missing. The best I could hope for was that he would put off sounding the alarm until he had gone back to the prison and found out that I had lied about the paper. Either way, a whole palace full of guards would soon be out looking for a missing lawyer. What was more, if they caught me they would treat me as a spy. I was not sure what would happen to a spy in Tetzcoco. In Mexico, once every useful piece of information had been wrung from them, they were dismembered and the pieces left outside the city for the vultures and coyotes. I began to wonder whether I would have been better off taking my chances with the Otomies. Then I thought about what I would have done if I had really been a lawyer. The answer was obvious: I would have disguised myself as something else.
‘Wonder what old Obsidian Tongue would charge for this?’ I muttered, still speaking to the statue, as I stuffed my cloak behind it. ‘Here, look after this, will you? May be a while before I come back for it.’ I glanced quickly at my reflection in the pool. I had not been a very convincing lawyer, I thought; it was a relief to revert to slavery again.
I set off at a brisk trot, picking a direction at random. My plan was simple: I wanted to stop the first person I saw, tell him I had been sent to find Mother of Light and ask him if he knew where she was.
This proved not to be altogether straightforward. To begin with, there seemed to be no one about: I found myself padding through one long corridor after another without seeing a soul. The moment I rounded a corner and at last set eyes on another human being — a man dressed, like me, in nothing but a breechcloth, and therefore probably a slave — I greeted him as joyfully as if he had been an old friend.
‘You look lost,’ he said, cordially enough.
‘I’m a stranger here.’
‘Aztec,’ he noted.
‘That’s right. I’m from Mexico. My master’s, um… Lord Feathered in Black. Sent me here with a message for someone. But I took a wrong turning somewhere and got completely confused… I’m looking for one of the King’s concubines.
He laughed. ‘You won’t find her here! Not at the moment, anyway. You’re near the King’s apartments, but he’s away at the lodge at Tetzcotzinco. That’s why there aren’t many people in this part of the palace. I expect he’s taken a few girls with him — sure she’s not one of those?’
‘Sorry, I mean the late King — Hungry Child.’
He stared. ‘Oh, I see. What’s her name?’
‘Mother of Light.’
‘Never heard of her. You sure she’s still alive? Some of the prettier ones would have been sacrificed at his funeral, to keep him company in the Land of the Dead.’
‘Positive.’
‘Well, I don’t know where you’d look for her. If she’s a noble or was one of his particular favourites or bore him children, she’d probably have her own apartment somewhere, her own house, even. Otherwise, you could try the slaves’ quarters.’ He looked at me through narrowed eyes. ‘Your master’s the Aztec Chief Minister, isn’t he? Why is he interested in an ex-concubine?’
‘Um… I think they’re related.’
‘Oh, well, there’s your answer. She’s a noble, she’ll have her own place.’ He turned to go.
That told me nothing, since I had been lying. In truth I had no idea whether the woman was a noble or not. I thought about asking the stranger where the slaves’ quarters
