Ironhelm - Douglas Niles [34]
"Soon Ulatos!" he said, beaming, his wrinkled face growing even more creased from the strength of his smite. "You will like our city very much, I am sure!" He spoke in his own tongue, but Erix had little difficulty following him now.
"My temple is grand, you will see! And you will have quarters there fitting a princess of the Payit!"
She wanted to ask him about that temple, about his god. She wanted to know why she had been purchased so far away and brought here. But, as always before, she could not force the questions from her lips. Instead, she looked forward in skeptical curiosity as the city came into view. She wondered what it was that caused Ulatos to rate the title of city-perhaps a small stone building among the typical cluster of thatch huts?
The stream emerged from the winding jungle, entering a broad savannah of short grass and fields of tall mayz and lush cocoa. The forest pressed in from all sides, creating a tense balance between field and wood.
But her gaze passed quickly over all this, drawn hypnotically to the structures rising above the far side of the savannah- None of her speculation had prepared her for the sight of the Payit city-and it was indeed a city.
Ulatos! Grand city of the Payit! Never had she seen temples and pyramids of such grandeur! Long, flat-roofed buildings with walls of solid stone marked the periphery of the city. Beyond these, she could see the higher walls of great houses, and then the staggered steps of several grand pyramids. One building, in the center of the city and located on a slight rise in the ground, had a dome-shaped roof.
The entire city was dominated by a pyramid that towered over all the other buildings, far above the highest trees. Perhaps it was not as grand as the great pyramid in Nexal, but Erix did not care. The pyramid's stepped sides were covered with lush gardens. A profusion of brilliant blossoms dangled from each terrace, and somehow a fountain of clear water kept a steady spray emerging from the platform at the top. There, where usually would stand the blood-caked temples used for daily sacrifice, this temple had a lush garden.
Erix stood and looked and wondered. Truly the beauties of Ulatos surprised and overwhelmed her. The Payit were obviously a people of culture and substance, far greater than most Kultakans or Nexalans would have believed.
For the moment, she even forgot that she was not free.
The talonmagic casting again took form, the creature of hishna emerging from the circled figures of Hoxitl and the Ancient Ones. Generated from the magical caldron of the Ancient Ones, powered by the cleric's symbol, the Vi-perhand, the form gained substance. A black shape, catlike but with a smoky indistinctness, grew in the air before them, twisting to regard each with a snarling visage.
At an unspoken command, the sleek feline form sprang from the midst of the circled figures. It flew through the great cavern, emerging from the cave and startling Hoxitl's dozing apprentices. Before they could open their eyes, the smoky shape was racing down the slopes of Mount Zatal. It circled around the city below and then shot like an arrow across the desert toward the savannah, and ultimately the jungle.
The hishna messenger raced faster than any living creature, faster than the fastest wind, in its nightlong flight. It left the land of Nexal, circled around Kultaka, and skirted Pezelac, finally plunging through the midnight jungle of Payit. As dawn colored the eastern horizon, the shape entered the Payit city of Ulatos, finally settling to earth. It assumed an almost substantial form, like that of a great black jaguar, and crept inside a low building. The leering skull face of Zaltec, carved in relief around the building's walls, snarled a warning at any who would follow.
The talonmagic apparition awakened the cleric of Zaltec who dwelled here, for this was indeed a temple devoted to the god of night and war. Within a minute, the cleric had dressed.
Within five minutes, he had sent messengers to the