Feathered Dragon - Douglas Niles [95]
His objection died on his lips, for she was right. He really “id understand.
Don Vaez entered Ulatos, with full martial pomp, at the head of a marching column of more than fifteen hundred men. Nearly a hundred of these rode prancing chargers and they led the way. The citizens of the city, the greatest metropolis in the lands of the Payit, turned out to stare at the spectacle.
Ulatos stood out proudly from a flat, coastal savannah The wide grassland supported many fields of mayz, as well as small villages near the fringes of the city. But the city itself was the dominant feature of the land.
Tall, colorful pyramids rose throughout. Wide streets, some even paved with stone, separated its buildings. Many of the buildings themselves were made of stone, and even the adobe structures were meticulously whitewashed. Green gardens filled the gaps between many of the structures, and the city was lined with cool bathing pools. Flowers burst in chaotic abundance from bushes that grew at every street corner.
Now all the people from this mighty city gathered along the widest street, an avenue that led directly to the central plaza, where stood the tallest pyramids and the biggest houses. They stood in silence and awe, standing well back from the path of the approaching marchers.
Never had they seen such an awe-inspiring sight! Cordell, at full strength, had brought a mere forty horses and five hundred men.
Now they saw that many crossbowmen alone, followed by several hundred harquebusiers. The latter demonstrated their weapons in the center of the city square, stopping sharply and wheeling left at their captain’s command…
They raised the heavy weapons, each loaded with a full charge of powder-though no shot-and fired a thunderous volley. The report fell like a crash of thunder across the crowd, and the accompanying clouds of smoke instantly concealed the soldiers from view. They smartly faced right and resumed their march, emerging from the cloud with their weapons again braced over their right shoulders. J
Many of the Payits fell back in terror from the explosion more impressive than anything Cordell had shown them.
Then they slowly crept back to watch the grand spectacle.
Don Vaez himself, in a blaze of silken color and long,
silver-blond curls, rode a white stallion. The creature reared and trotted, lunging this way and that, as the proud rider led his army through the city’s grand square.
Beside him rode Pryat Devane, and the cleric’s mode of transport impressed the Payits even more than did his commander’s. The cleric of Helm sat cross-legged upon a thin, floating piece of cloth, like a litter of pluma, only much smaller. As the flying carpet darted about, the Mazticans saw that the flight of this foreigner was far faster and more controlled titan any gentle floating of feathermagic.
The priest of Helm looked disdainfully at the savages around him, for he had inherited his mentor’s revulsion toward things Maztican. Indeed, the hatred Bishou Domincus had held for these barbarians and their bloodthirsty gods was one of the primary drives in Devane’s determination to follow in the Bishou’s footsteps. Now he enjoyed the sensation of his own superiority, and he darted the carpet back and forth to terrify and awe the onlooking Mazticans.
All around them were the pyramids, clean structures, many brightly painted, that had once been dedicated to the glory of Maztican gods. Since the city’s fall to Cordell, worship of those gods had been banned from public ceremony, though many citizens doubtlessly continued to worship them in private. Instead of the old temples, statues, and altars that once had honored their heights, the banner displaying the All-Seeing Eye of Helm fluttered from each pyramid.
Caxal, once proud Revered Counselor of Ulatos, had been reduced to a spokesman for the conquered after the battle with the Golden Legion. Now he stepped hesitantly forward to meet this new general, wondering if the nightmare his life had become now grew even darker.
Greetings, Silver One,” he said in common-speech.