Hungry Child sighed sadly. ‘Because they are both foolish, vain young men. You know how carefully Hare was to keep the nature of his message a secret — even the manner of its delivery. They both learned through their spies that he had information to sell, and they both wanted it — or, rather, I suppose each of them was determined to see that the other didn’t get it.’
So Lily, unknowingly acting as a go-between for the supposedly dead King of Tetzcoco, was to be sacrificed to a petty squabble between two of his sons over something that neither of them truly wanted. ‘We have to go,’ I said. ‘The trial is today, isn’t it? We have to get the girl to Obsidian Tongue. It may not be too late.’
Kindly, Nimble and I all began to rise. The King remained in his place, and when Little Hen showed signs of getting up as well, he motioned her to stay where she was.
‘My lord,’ I said, keeping my voice level, ‘the girl!’
‘You can’t take her,’ he said mildly.
‘We have to.’ I looked at my companions. Lily’s father looked grim but determined. Nimble silently produced his knife. ‘I’m sorry, but we need her. If it has to be by force…’ In one smooth movement Hungry Child stood up and cast his cloak aside. He flexed his muscles deliberately. For a man in his fifties he was in remarkable condition.
‘Look, we don’t want a fight,’ I said uncertainly, ‘but we are three against one.’
‘Two,’ said a voice behind me. I had forgotten about Mother of Light. I whirled to find her confronting me with a hefty flint knife. ‘Your son’s leg has obviously been hurt already, and I doubt that the old man amounts to much.’
‘You don’t need the girl,’ Hungry Child said. ‘She’s of no use to you.’
‘She’s our only witness!’ I cried desperately as I turned to face him. ‘Without her we can’t prove Lily’s innocence! If the judges don’t know what that message is really about, they’ll kill her!’
‘They’re not going to learn anything about the message from the girl,’ he snapped, his patience clearly running low. ‘For one thing, how are they going to understand what she’s saying?’
I gaped stupidly at him. ‘But… but they must have, I don’t know, interpreters?’ I stammered.
‘For her particular dialect of Mayan? I very much doubt it. I shouldn’t think there’s anyone in this city who can understand her at the moment, apart from me.’
‘We have to take the chance,’ I said. ‘It’s the only hope we have.’
‘Besides, what do you think will happen to the girl once the story of her and Hare comes out? She killed him, remember. A respectable merchant stabbed to death by a slave, and a half wild barbarian at that. She’ll be killed out of hand. I can’t let that happen — there’s too much I have to learn from her yet.’
‘Not really our concern,’ growled Kindly. ‘You and she will just have to take your chances.’
‘No!’ cried Nimble, horrified.
‘Look, this is my daughter we’re talking about!’
‘Quiet, both of you!’ I cried. My mind was suddenly in turmoil. To have come so close to fulfilling my plan, in spite of all the obstacles that had been put in the way of it, only to have it come apart now was unthinkable. Yet the King’s words had got through to me. I pictured Little Hen in one of the palace’s huge, echoing halls, staring blankly at the judges on their high-backed chairs as they tried to interrogate her in a language that must sound as much like a baby’s babbling to her as hers did to us. Then I imagined the same judges enquiring where this child had come from, and their indignation mounting to murderous wrath as they learned the truth.
‘He’s right, Kindly,’ I said softly. ‘We can’t take her. It wouldn’t do any good.’
He rounded on me. ‘What are you talking about? This was all your idea, remember? You brought us here so we could find out what the girl had to say. You said all along that finding Hare’s message was Lily’s only hope. Now we’ve got it. It may not be much, but it’s all we have. We’ve got to risk it, Yaotl-— there’s nothing else we can do!’
For a moment I could only look helplessly at the indignant old man while I tried to think of something to say. Finally I turned to Hungry Child. ‘What will happen to the girl now?’
‘She can stay here until I’ve learned what I can from her.’
‘But you said you wanted to go to the land of the Mayans,’ Nimble reminded the King. ‘Are you going to take her with you, or what?’
Hungry Child looked exasperated. ‘Of course not! You think I want to be responsible for a child on a journey like that? No, I expect I shall just let her go… Or something.’
‘You can’t leave her alone in this city! She wouldn’t last a morning!’
‘Maybe not, but that’s not my fault. It was Hare who brought her here, not me.’
Then Nimble rounded on me. ‘Look what you’ve done!’ he cried. ‘It’s bad enough if we can’t help Lily, but you had to bring the girl here, and now she’s going to be abandoned. Have you any idea what they were going to do with her, in the marketplace?’
‘All right, all right,’ I said wearily, hoping to head off yet another argument. I drew a hand over my eyes and took several deep breaths, forcing myself to think. Then I appealed to Mother of Light.
‘Are you just going to let this happen? Lily’s going to be executed because we can’t convince the court that the message she was trying to get to you was innocent. Even if we can’t change that, you might at least try to do something for the girl.’
‘But Hungry Child is right,’ the woman said slowly. ‘You said as much yourself.’ She
