Viperhand - Douglas Niles [84]
As he pulled the corpse around, the jaguar-skin armor peeled off its chest. "What's this?" he asked, feeling a dull horror.
The man bore a brand on his chest. Scarlet red, angular in shape, it resembled the head of a deadly viper.
Cordell stood and looked at the men around him. "This kind of thing cannot be tolerated. We must teach Naltecona that we are truly a force to be reckoned with." He clapped his fist into his palm, lowering his voice to a whisper.
"It is time for stronger measures!" he growled.
From the chronicles of Colon:
Amid visions of enclosing darkness…
The couatl returns to haunt my dreams. The feathered serpent wings about my world, hut only where no one else can see. Perhaps the harbinger of hope is a mere delusion, teasing me with anticipation promised, fulfillment denied.
But I must seize that hope, for otherwise all is despair around me. The growing image of the spider goddess, Lolth, draws near. Zaltec, in his arrogance, pays no heed. Indeed, he grows mightier each day.
His priests, spreading the cult of the Viperhand, now provide a mountainous feast of hearts each night as more and more initiates are branded. Zaltec slakes his hunger, while his faithful plot the release of his power against the strangers.
And these men of the Golden Legion-now they dwell within the walls of the sacred plaza itself. Somehow the priests have held the cult away, but the seething hatred of the branded ones builds in pressure, and soon it will burst.
The power of that eruption, coupled with the might of the invaders-as they have shown against Kultaka and Palul-will lead to an explosion from which the city cannot survive.
EMPIRE IN CHAINS
Naltecona awakened suddenly, blinking in the alien light of a brightly glowing oil lamp. "What is the meaning of this intrusion?" he demanded loudly, sitting up in outrage and surprise.
Squinting into the hot glare, he saw Cordell, Darien, the Bishou, and a half-dozen legionnaires. The men-at-arms brandished longswords, several of the blades bloody. In the room beyond his sleeping chamber, Naltecona saw the still, bleeding figures of his personal slaves.
"We have been attacked in the rooms you gave us!" accused Cordell. "By one of your Jaguar Warriors."
"He acted in disobedience of my orders," objected Naltecona, rising to confront the captain-general.
"That may be, and it may not be. In any event, we must take steps to insure our security. This type of occurrence cannot be tolerated!"
"tour presence in our city is difficult for some of my people to tolerate!"
"We are here as your guests, and our safety is your responsibility. Since you have failed to provide that safety, we shall takes steps of our own!"
"Wait!" The Revered Counselor held up his hand. He was more puzzled than frightened; he even forgot his outrage against this intrusion in his efforts to analyze the problem. "This warrior… did you happen to note if he bore the brand of the Viperhand on his chest?"
"So that's what that red… Yes, he did," Cordell replied. "What does that mean?"
"They are a legion of priests and warriors," explained the counselor. "They have all taken a vow to defend the name of Zaltec to the last. They seem to interpret that as resisting your forces. I have forbidden this resistance, but there must still be uncontrolled fanatics. I apologize for the breach of faith."
"This will take more than an apology," said Cordell softly, almost with regret.
"What do you mean?" Naltecona drew himself to his full height, showing no trace of fear. "Have you decided to slay me?"
"No," said Cordell. "That would do neither of us any good. Instead, you will gather your personal belongings and move in with us, into the palace of Axalt." Cordell kept his voice level, staring Naltecona in the eyes, as he concluded. "There you will remain as our prisoner."
"What's going on?" demanded Poshtli, trotting through