powdery rock, crushing it into sand as if he would force water from the stones. He began to wonder, for the first time, if the desert had defeated him.
The eagle feathers, black and white… now covered with dust, they could spread into wings and carry him from this place of death and despair. He shook his head weakly.
No! he thought determinedly. I have set out on foot, and on foot I will complete this journey. The god, the Plumed Father himself, had spoken to Poshtli in a dream, commending him to this quest. Somehow he would find the silver wheel, the artifact that might explain the meaning of the strangers' coming. If they did not herald the return of Qotal, their arrival still was a thing of great significance to the True World.
It was Poshtli's mission to find that truth, to learn the nature of that significance. How he would learn it, and if he would even survive his quest, were just now points of some doubt. Then the rocks began to talk.
The longboat slipped through the darkness to nestle against the seaward side of the Falcon. A dark figure grabbed a line and quickly pulled himself onto the deck. He nodded curtly at the legionnaires guarding the ship and went to the door of the forward cabin.
Bishou Domincus opened the door in a wash of candlelight. He admitted the visitor and then quickly closed the portal, darkening the deck.
'So good of you to come, Captain' greeted the Bishou, pouring two glasses of brandy.
'I got your message. What do you want?' grunted Alvarro.
The Bishou frowned, his long face creasing unpleasantly. He narrowed his eyes as he handed Alvarro a glass. 'I fear that justice may not be served in a certain case of treason within the legion.'
Alvarro's gapped teeth split into a sly grin of understanding. 'Go on,' he urged.
'You are in a position to benefit from swift justice in the case in question, and I desire such justice to be done. Believe me when I tell you that you owe command of the lancers to my intervention and strong recommendation.'
Now Alvarro's red beard twisted into a frown. He did not like this turn in the conversation, and the Bishou immediately changed his tactics.
'If Halloran were to meet his end aboard ship, before his trial — while I am safely ashore, with Cordell — I can ensure that the investigation into the… execution would be minimal.'
Alvarro turned and paced two steps in the small cabin, then turned back. 'I want more than revenge. I want gold,' he hissed.
'I'm certain that we can agree upon a price,' replied the Bishou.
The featherbanners streamed in the air, lifted by pluma into a weightless colorful cloud over the army of Payit. The whole plain of Ulatos became a sea of shades and hues. Great fans swirled over the most important leaders, the chiefs of a thousand men. From all the lands of the Payit, from the depths of the jungles and the breadth of the wide coastal savannah, the warriors gathered on the field beside Ulatos Lagoon.
Gultec stood at the heart of the gathering with several other Jaguar Knights, on the flat roof of the large house they had claimed as their meeting place. The whistles and shell trumpets of different bands shrilled and honked in the growing twilight, and new arrivals often marched in under torchlight, advancing like slow, flaming serpents from the surrounding jungles.
It made the knight uneasy, this gathering of the entire army in the open, a mile from the camp of the strangers. Dense jungle and the mangaroo swamp of the delta surrounded them, and Gultec knew they could conceal ten thousand men or more close to the enemy route of advance. But Caxal, the Revered Counselor, flushed with his insulted pride, had ordered otherwise.
The enemy forces had quickly come ashore in their longboats, deploying into companies and advancing a hundred yards from shore. For some moments, it had seemed that they intended to attack at nightfall, a tactic unthinkable to Gultec and the other warriors of Maztica. But now it seemed as if the strangers, like normal men, would wait until sunrise to fight.
Fires marked the scope of his army's camp, and Gultec indeed felt a surge of pride as he saw the vast mass of warriors across the plain. Twenty-five thousandmen, each composed of ten companies of a hundred, had answered the alarm of invasion. They were all independent formations, each commanded by a highly ranked Jaguar or Eagle. Each hundredmen included an auxiliary force of perhaps a half-dozen Eagles or Jaguars, knights who had proven exceptional valor in many campaigns.
Some bands were armed with bows and arrows, others with slings. These they would position carefully to bombard the enemy. Then the many thousands with javelins or macas would close to complete the capture.
At least, that was the plan.
Erix walked quickly among the fields, passing the houses of farmers. She did not want to go to Ulatos, but neither did she want to sleep on the shore of some canal.
A plump woman patted mayzcakes before one of the residences she passed. It was a small house, adjacent to a narrow canal. But it was freshly whitewashed, and the green fronds of the roof shone with bright freshness. The woman waved cheerily, and Erix waved back and smiled. She hesitated, and the gray-haired matron called her over.
'I am Tzilla,' she explained, nodding politely as Erix introduced herself. 'Why is a pretty girl like you walking alone at such an hour?' Tzilla asked. Her tone was teasing, but Erix sensed real concern in her voice.
'I am alone here, and I seek a place to sleep.'
'My house is your house, my daughter,' said Tzilla formally. 'Will you share my table?'
'I would be honored, mother' Erix replied gladly. In moments, Tzilla put her to work stirring the beans bubbling in a clay pot among the coals of a fire. The woman sliced peppers and tomatoes, and soon the pair sat comfortably on reed mats and ate a delicious meal.
Erix was surprised that they were joined by neither Tzilla's husband nor anyone else. 'Forgive my impertinence, but you have a very large house. Are you here alone?'
Tzilla looked surprised. 'My husband and sons gather with their hundredmen on the plain before Ulatos. Have you not heard?'
'Of the strangers? To be sure. I have seen them.'
'But you do not know,' said Tzilla with a sly look, 'that the warriors of Payit have gathered on the plain, very near the strangers. Our army will destroy them tomorrow!'
Erix's face betrayed her shock even before she stammered a reply. 'So… soon? There will be battle tomorrow?' The thought of the battle at Twin Visages, multiplied a hundredfold, chilled her.
Tzilla nodded sagely, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. 'These strangers are great savages! They attacked a group of priests on the shore. They kidnap our women! They fight like demons, but they are men and can be killed.'
Erix sat stunned at the swift outburst of rumor. 'All of the men of Ulatos, and those within a day's march in all directions, have gathered here! Never has the Payit nation put together such a force!' Tzilla talked on, detailing the pageantry and colors.
But Erixitl had trouble listening. She remembered the metal armor that shattered spears, the silver weapons that cleaved shield and bone like grass. She saw the savage faces of the legionnaires, their tight discipline. She remembered a bare two dozen slaying hundreds of Payit.
Suddenly Tzilla's description faltered as she described the pluma banner depicting a green parrot, the symbol of a nearby village.
'I'm sorry,' Erix said, noticing the woman looking absently at the dough before her. Tzilla shook her head, and Erix saw tears in the woman's eyes.
'I babble like an old woman, and I'm far from an old woman yet!' Tzilla forced herself to laugh, but the sound was hollow and she quickly gave up. 'I am so terribly frightened!'
'I am, too,' Erix said. 'I was hoping there could be peace. I wanted to make peace!'
'It is too late,' sighed Tzilla. She looked at Erixitl with surprise as the younger woman climbed to her feet. 'Where are you going?'
'I must go to the army!' Erix cried, suddenly infused with an idea. Perhaps it was not too late! Perhaps tomorrow does not have to be a day of war!
