the sun.
IN THE HANDS OF THE GODS
Erixitl gasped in sympathetic pain. She watched the strange girl die, slain in her own place on the altar of Zaltec. Suppressing a moan, she rolled back into the concealment of her leafy shelter.
She had followed Mixtal and his prisoners toward the pyramid, to the very scene of her escape. Now sunset found her at the edge of the clearing surrounding the pyramid, with a clear view of the priests and the altar at the edge of the structure's upper platform.
She sneaked another look and saw the girl's body removed from the altar, thrown unceremoniously beside it. Mixtal placed the heart, now still and lifeless, into the mouth of Zaltec on the statue beside the altar.
Erix heard a rustle beside her and was not surprised when Chitikas slithered around the trunk of a low bush. The serpent glided to her side, remaining concealed from the pyramid.
'You caused her to die!' she accused. The downy snake gazed at her, his yellow eyes unblinking. 'Why did you do that?'
'The man,' whispered Chitikas in his soft voice. 'You must go to him, save him.'
'I told you, no!' Erix shook her head angrily, wondering again why she had followed the priests and prisoners to the pyramid when all she wanted was escape. 'How could I help him, when he is in the hands of the Bloody One?'
'Pluma — feathermagic,' suggested Chitikas, with the barest flicker of his tongue. 'He is held by the priest. You can break the spell.'
'No!' She turned away from the snake, and her eye involuntarily sought the spotted snakeskin thong that restrained Halloran's arms. She touched the feathered ring at her neck, remembering, when Mixtal tried to capture her in the temple courtyard, how its burst of magic had sent that same snakeskin bond tumbling to her feet.
Twilight began to settle in the clearing. Erix saw Mixtal regarding the silver-chested man. The priest started toward the stranger and then stopped, indecisive. A Jaguar Knight stepped in before the priest, and she saw the pair gesture angrily at each other.
'Why are you doing this?' Erix turned toward Chitikas again, accusing him with her voice. 'Why did you save me? Why did you cost that girl her life?'
'You should understand,' replied the serpent, his own tone vaguely accusing. 'You have been sheltered and protected by the benign power of the Plumed One for all of your life. It is time you began repaying the debt!'
'Sheltered? Protected?' Erix's voice came out a low hiss. 'I was captured as a small girl, sold into slavery! I was attacked by my owner's son, sold again, kidnapped, and very nearly sacrificed! What kind of shelter and protection are you talking about?'
'You are alive, are you not?'
'How do I owe that life to Qotal? Explain that if you can.' She tempered her anger slightly, wondering what Chitikas was trying to tell her.
'I saw you once before, protected you then. Perhaps you will recall?' The snake flickered his tail slightly across her vision, a familiar gesture. Suddenly she made the connection.
'My last day in Palul… I was tending my father's snares! On the far side of the ridge, I saw something, and I followed it. That was you!'
Chitikas nodded smugly, then ducked as she tried to strike the snake in the face.
'You lured me away from the trail… right into the arms of that Jaguar Knight! I might still be free, might have grown up in my own home, if it hadn't been for you!' Her muscles tensed as she prepared to flee. Something in his eyes, a faint appeal perhaps, held her in place.
'Lured you I did,' admitted the serpent, without a trace of remorse. 'But you would not have grown up there. Indeed, you would not have been alive for many more days.'
'What — what do you mean?' For some reason, Erix did not doubt the truth of Chitikas's words.
'You are a child of destiny, Erixitl, though you may be the last to know it. The priests of Zaltec and their masters, the Ancient Ones, fear you. They planned to claim you from your father's home for sacrifice, and it was only your disappearance that saved you.'
Erix sagged backward, staring at the serpent in shock. Chitikas nodded. 'Your ten years in Kultaka were relatively safe, until the Ancient Ones learned of your presence there. Once again they tried to kill you, but you proved stronger than they anticipated. If that attempt had succeeded, we would have been helpless to save you.
'But it failed, and the attempt — the talonmagic of the sending — warned your owner of the threat to your life. He decided that you would be safest among a people who exalted Qotal over Zaltec, and thus he arranged for you to come to Payit.'
Erix shook her head slowly, not so much in disbelief as in wonder. Huakal, acting to save her by selling her to Kachin? Yet she knew in her heart that this was the truth.
'Why am I so important? Why do the Ancient Ones fear me?'
Chitikas waved his head impatiently. 'I do not know.'
But Erix wasn't listening. Another question had been nagging at her mind, and now she put it into words. 'Why do you want to thwart the will of Zaltec? Who are you?'
The feathered serpent bowed his head humbly. 'I am Chitikas, and I serve the Plumed God, the one true god of Maztica. I have aided you because in thwarting the will of Zaltec, he of the Bloody Hand, I further the will of Qotal.'
'Qotal! Qotal!' The harsh words came from a tree above them, and Erix looked upward, into the glittering eyes of the bright macaw that had accompanied Chitikas before. The bird's voice was loud, and Erix suddenly felt very vulnerable in her scant concealment near the pyramid.
'Qotal, the true god!' squawked the bird. 'Zaltec the pretender, the buffoon!'
Erix cringed, noticing the priests and warriors atop the pyramid looking in their direction. Several warriors stepped off the platform, starting down the steep stairway on the structure's side.
'Perhaps I can deter them,' whispered the serpent conspiratorially. 'But remember, you must rescue the man!'
Erix didn't take the time to object, though to her, the issue remained far from settled. Chitikas disappeared suddenly, too quickly for physical movement. With a startled gasp, Erix reached out and felt the creature's downy tail slipping away, even though she could see nothing. The snake had become invisible!
She wanted to flee, but she feared that the noise of flight would only give her position away. Instead, she watched the warriors descend the temple. The priests, the Jaguar Knight, and many other warriors, together with the prisoner, remained atop the pyramid.
'False god! Zaltec is the god of gutter snakes and filth!' squawked the bird, not very helpfully.
Suddenly one of the warriors tripped on an unseen object. He tumbled down the side of the steep pyramid, cracking his skull on a step far below the top. His limp form continued to bounce and tumble to the bottom, where it lay still.
The other warriors reacted immediately, leaping and tumbling down the steep sides of the pyramid. They reached the lifeless body of their comrade and then looked around suspiciously. They showed no inclination to move away from the pyramid.
The stranger remained carefully guarded by several strong warriors, still at the top. A minute passed, and Chitikas did not return. Darkness had settled further, though the sky still glowed with the fading sunset.
Swiftly and silently, Erix turned and melted into the jungle, intending to be very far away by morning. Pushing quickly through the fronds, she turned back toward the trail.
She parted the huge leaves and stepped through. Before she could scream or react, two powerful arms reached forward and seized her.
Halloran stood numbly, looking from the savage warriors to the fanatical priests. He could not bear to look at Martine's lifeless, bloodless body. Nor could he stand the sight of the bestial statue, with its gaping mouth. The last
