Viperhand - Douglas Niles [45]
Hal was about to point out that the Jaguars must have received their orders from somewhere, but he caught Poshtli's warning glance. Instead, he nodded and sensed Naltecona's relief as the counselor led them farther along the walkway.
The beast in the next cage caused Hal's pulse to race. The largest creature in the menagerie, it sprang at the bars as the humans passed. Its lionlike face contorted into a mask of hatred as it slashed with huge paws. A pair of great, leathery wings flapped fruitlessly from the creature's shoulders. Barely visible beneath the creature's flowing mane was a ring of brilliant feathers encircling the beast's neck. It opened its mouth wide, and Hal clapped his hands over his ears.
"You know of the hakuna',' said Naltecona, noting Hal's protective gesture. The soldier was embarassed when the creature spouted an incongruously mild squeak. "This one has been altered. Its roar has been muffled by that collar of pluma"
"Good idea," grunted Halloran sheepishly. "The one time I met one of those things, it knocked me flat on my back with its roar."
"Rare is the man who gets up to tell that tale" observed Poshtli as they reached the next cage.
This one was empty, but also unique in that its cage was a screen of thin saplings, not the heavier but wider-spaced poles that enclosed most of the other cages. On the wail at the back of the cage, outlined in brilliant mosaics of turquoise, jade, and obsidian, was the figure of a long snake. It was unusual, both for the pair of wings that sprouted from its body and for the feathers that appeared to cover it in lieu of scales.
"The couatl." Hal identified the creature before the others could speak.
"You are also familiar with the feathered snake?" inquired Naltecona, surprised.
"Indeed. It was a couatl that brought Erix and I together. It gave her the gift of tongues. That's how she learned to speak the language of Faerun."
He noticed Poshtli looking at him in shock, Naltecona with frank disbelief.
"You never mentioned this!" accused the warrior.
"I'm sorry!" Hal was taken aback. "Should I have?"
"The couatl is the harbinger of Qotal" Naltecona explained. "It has not been seen in these lands since the Butterfly God departed for the east, long centuries ago. You have been granted an experience that the patriarchs of Qotal would give their lives for!"
"We encountered the creature in Payit. In fact, it saved me from certain death. It talked a lot, and it didn't seem to like me very much."
Poshtli and his uncle exchanged looks of amazement. The ruler turned back to Hal and stared into his eyes with a look of penetrating scrutiny.
"I must ask you some questions. This man, Cordell… he is indeed a man?"
"Of course. A great man, but-as I have said before-nothing more than a man."
"Tell me, have you seen him wounded?"
"Many times," replied Halloran, wondering at the ruler's line of questioning. "During a battle, years ago, with the Northmen of Moonshae, Cordell was almost killed. One of the raiders cut him from his horse with a blow of his axe. The edge of the weapon split his breastplate and laid open his chest from here to here." Halloran gestured from his collarbone to his navel.
"And he lived?"
"Only because the Bishou-that's our priest-used every power at his command. It was the mercy of Helm that saved his life." Or something, Hal thought, still ambiguous about the role of the gods in all this.
"And Cordell… he, too, worships this god?"
"As I've said, yes. I don't understand what you're getting at."
Naltecona stepped away and then turned suddenly back, his pluma cloak circling around him. "Is it possible that Cordell is a god? Can he be Qotal, returning to the True World to claim his rightful throne?"
Hal's jaw dropped. "Cordell, a god? No. He's a man like you and me-a man who breathes like us, who loves women and food and drink. He's a leader of men, but he's unquestionably a man himself!"
Halloran didn't see Naltecona's face, for the ruler once again turned away. Perhaps the soldier wouldn't have understood