Viperhand - Douglas Niles [41]
Poshtli ignored Ihe feline attackers for a moment. Then slowly, deliberately, he lifted his Eagle helmet off his head and tossed it aside, shrugged his cloak of feathers from his shoulders, and let it settle to the ground around his feet.
Now he crouched into a fighting stance with his maca raised toward the cats. "Tell me when," hissed Hal, lifting the silver shaft of his longsword.
Poshtli nodded. "Now!"
Slashing downward with the wooden club, Poshtli leaned forward. The blade, studded with razor-sharp bils of obsidian, chopped into the back of one of the jaguars. The creature howled in agony, trying to twist away, but Poshtli circled with the creature's turn, using it to block him from the attack of the other enraged feline.
Meanwhile, Halloran darted at the third cat. The animal reared up, slashing toward the man's face, but Hal ducked under the attack and drove his blade into the beast's heart. Before it had stopped twitching, he leaped across its fallen body and drove his blade into the last of the jaguars.
For a few moments, they stood panting among the four bleeding bodies. The last three shifted back to human form as they died, feet and arms and legs and hands growing from the spotted feline limbs.
"Erixitl?" asked Poshtli, slowly and fearfully.
"She's… safe. She's gone," Hal answered.
"Gone?" The Eagle Knight didn't hide his surprise.
"Back to Palul, to her home." Hal explained Erix's sudden decision to the knight, omitting the details of their argument. He found it hard to rekindle his jealous anger, much of which had previously focused on Poshtli. While he missed Erixitl already, he was grateful that she had been gone on ihis night.
To Hal's surprise, Poshtli seemed pleased to hear of her departure. Indeed, Hal couldn't figure out why the warrior wasn't more distraught at Ihe sudden absence of his bride-lo-be.
"Thai could be the safest Ihing," he replied. "Who else knows where she's gone?"
"No one, so far as I know. Just you and me."
"Let's keep it that way. I think it is best for her if Erixitl of Palul disappears for a while."
From the chronicles of Colon:
Seeking the light among the deepening shadows…
The darkness haunts my dreams nightly, this same blackness of which Poshtti speaks. It is a vision of a wasteland, a place of death and decay, of monstrous deformity and perversion. It is a ruined expanse of ash and grime, and it is called Nexal.
I fear this vision more than I have feared any other thing in my life. It is a grim destiny that may be greater than any of the humans who hope to stand against it.
And if it prevails, I fear that we of Maztica-our city, our nation, our people-I fear that we will soon be but a memory, a distant vision that will vanish forever with the lives of our children.
PALUL
"That light-what is its source?" Poshtli gestured to the milky glow that still emanated from Halloran's room.
"It's… sorcery. Something like your pluma" Hal pointed to the glowing aperture. "Kirishone" he said, and instantly darkness cloaked the rooms.
"Kirisha!" He repowered the spell, enjoying the look of surprise on Poshtli's face.
"Can all of your people do this… sorcery?"
"No. I studied this craft when I was much younger, but I know very little of real power. I can illuminate a room, shoot a bolt of magic, maybe make someone fall asleep if I try hard-that's about all. But there are those who devote a lifetime to the practice of magic-they are to be feared greatly." The picture of the elfmage Darien came vividly to mind. It was a picture he hoped he would never have to face in the flesh.
The knowledge that he held her spellbook intruded itself once more, uneasily, into Hal's mind. Often he wished that he could simply return the tome to her, but that was impossible. Undoubtedly, however, she was very much interested in regaining it.
"You come from a wondrous and frightening people, Hal-loran. My only hope is that you are not to be the ruin of Maztica."
Poshtli fixed him with a level gaze, and Hal squirmed, finally looking