Naamah's Blessing - Jacqueline Carey [169]
She shook her head. “That is not true.”
“I have known him for many years,” I said. “Even before he was given a gift by the bad spirits. There is a streak of cruelty in him.”
“Not that,” Cusi said. “The other thing.”
With that, her face took on a shuttered look, and I did not press her. If I understood aright, she was denying that nothing I said mattered. All the more reason to choose my words with care.
Upon reaching the field where our captive men labored, I received a piece of unwelcome news.
“Your Nahuatl have deserted us,” Thierry informed me grimly. “They’ve entered Raphael’s service.”
“Both of them?” It didn’t surprise me that Eyahue would do such a thing; the old pochteca was nothing if not an opportunist. It was a part of what had brought him such success as a trader. But Temilotzin’s desertion stung. I’d thought our Jaguar Knight would prove more loyal.
“I’m afraid so, my lady,” Balthasar confirmed. He pointed toward a row of distant huts. “Along with that damned cinchona bark, we had a few sacks of trade goods, beads and mirrors, that de Mereliot didn’t bother to confiscate. That old rascal purloined everything but the bark. I daresay he means to use them for bribes.”
“Aye, and trade them for the sacred herb of emperors if he can,” I muttered. “But why Temilotzin?”
Bao dusted dirt from his hands. “He said such work was beneath a warrior’s honor, Moirin. That if there is fighting to do, that is where he belongs.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, I know you harbored a fondness for him. And I do believe he waited to see if Raphael would honor your request to allow his highness to leave. If he had, he would have accompanied your prince. But in truth, Temilotzin has no cause to care who wins the battle for Tawantinsuyo.”
I thought of my vision. “Temilotzin is mistaken,” I said. “If Raphael succeeds, he means to overthrow the Nahuatl Empire, too.”
I thought the revelation might draw some reaction from Cusi, but she was staring at Bao with morbid fascination, like a dove transfixed by a serpent. Her little bronze knife was clutched in trembling hands.
Bao eyed her in turn. “Moirin, why does your spy look at me as though I mean to eat her?” he asked in the Shuntian scholar’s tongue.
“I’ve no idea,” I replied in the same.
“It doesn’t appear you’re winning her trust,” he observed. “Should I disarm her? I don’t like the way she’s clinging to that knife.”
“Not unless necessary.” I shook my head. “And it’s not that she distrusts me. I don’t think that’s entirely true. There’s somewhat I don’t understand at work here. Give me time.”
“I don’t know how much you have.” Bao kept a watchful eye on the girl. “According to Eyahue, there’s talk that the army will march soon.”
My stomach sank. “I need to speak to Temilotzin. I need to tell him he’s making a mistake.”
Bao nodded. “Good luck.”
Once again, Cusi and I made the trek across the terraced fields back toward the palace, a stream of happy, well-fed ants chittering alongside us. Cusi’s brows were knit in thought, a narrow furrow etched between them. Trusting my instincts, I kept silent and waited for her to speak as we trudged beneath the hot sun.
At length, she did.
“The tongue you speak with him,” she asked in a tentative tone. “Is it the tongue of the dead?”
“No,” I said. “It is a tongue from the land of his birth. Do you think Bao is a ghost, Cusi?”
“I do not know this word.”
“Not alive?” I hazarded. “Living dead?”
She shook her head. “He died and lives. It is not the same.”
I nodded at the bronze knife she yet held. “You do not need to fear him. Bao does not mean to harm you.”
Cusi gave me a stricken look. “I know.”
Stone and sea! I could no more make sense of what was going through the child’s mind than I could fly. And so I gave up trying for the time being, and concentrated on ascertaining Temilotzin’s whereabouts. I was not worried about Eyahue—like as not the wily old fellow