Viperhand - Douglas Niles [72]
"Where have you been?" demanded the Revered Counselor. "I have sent messengers to search for you over the last two days."
"Tb Palul," the warrior replied. "I have seen the devastation there myself. Now 1 come to offer my services in the defense of the city. I will fight wherever you want me, though as you know, I no longer carry the rank of Eagle Knight."
Naltecona brushed the explanation aside as if he had not heard. "You must remain by my side now," the counselor directed his nephew. "You, among all my court, have come to know something about these strangers. 1 will need you with me when they enter the city, which-according to the Eagles who watch their march-will be very soon!"
"Enter the city?" Poshtli stood, stunned. "Don't you mean to fight them?"
"What is the point?" asked Naltecona sadly. "They cannot be beaten, and perhaps they should not be. Perhaps they are destined to claim Nexal, to inherit the feathered throne of my ancestors."
Poshtli couldn't believe what he heard. "Uncle, I advise you to fight them before they reach the city! Pull up the bridges, meet them with a thousand canoes full of warriors! True, the invaders are mighty, but they can be killed! They bleed and die as men!"
Naltecona stared at Poshtli, a hint of the old command in his eyes. The younger man pressed his case. "We outnumber them a hundred to one! If we hold the causeways, they cannot reach us here!"
But Naltecona shook his head slowly, looking at Poshtli as a parent regards a child who simply doesnt grasp the subtleties of adult life. He patted his nephew's shoulder, and the young man's spirit cried silently when he saw the look of dejection and defeat lurking deep within his uncle's eyes.
"Please, Poshtli. You stay by my side," said Naltecona.
His heart breaking, the warrior could only nod and obey.
Shatil crept through the darkened streets of Nexal. He limped on raw and bleeding feet, still clutching his gored wrist to his chest. He had run for the full day following the massacre, but his steps had slowed to a walk by nightfall. Now, eight hours later, he shuffled toward the Great Pyramid in the hours between midnight and dawn.
Still holding the parchment, though the rust-colored stain of his blood marred one edge of it, Shatil thought of the message he carried. He had looked at it earlier in the day and was unable to suppress a gasp of astonishment when he unrolled it. The sheet was blank!
loo devoted a priest to question his patriarch's instructions, he had continued his mission. He knew that there were many mysteries of Zaltec he had yet to understand.
His robe and the ritually inflicted scars on his face and, arms distinguished him as a priest of Zaltec, so the Jaguar Knights guarding the gate to the sacred plaza allowed him to enter with no questions. He stumbled toward the pyramid, stopping at the small temple building below the looming massif.
This was a square, stone structure, sunk halfway into the ground. It had sleeping and eating quarters for the priests serving at the Great Pyramid, as well as holding cells for the victims of upcoming rituals.
Shatil passed through the low doorway and staggered down the short stairway into the dark main room. In the darkness, he heard a low growl, and he froze. For a moment, he remembered the great war creature of the strangers, wondering if the beast had somehow risen from the dead and found him here. At the same time, he recognized the delusion for what it was, realizing that his wound and journey were taking a terrible toll. Then the tall figure of a Jaguar Knight stepped into the semidarkness near the door.
"What do you want, priest?" he inquired.
"I must see Hoxitl. It is very urgent!" Shatil gasped, slumping backward to lean against the cool stone waU.
"Urgent enough to wake the patriarch from his sleep?" asked the warrior skeptically.
"Yes!" spat Shatil, pushing himself upward to stand straight. He was the equal of the Jaguar in height.
"What is it? Do you bring word from Palul?" The question came from the darkness within the temple, but Shatil recognized