Naamah's Blessing - Jacqueline Carey [99]
Reminding myself that this fellow who had seemed so charming had the power to thwart our mission, I swallowed hard and said nothing.
“I know it seems ruthless, but believe me when I tell you that you’ll find little to love in the Nahuatl,” Porfirio said gently. “If you’d seen the steps of their temples running red with blood, you’d understand. They have no regard for human life, and they’re capable of immense cruelty. They believe their god Tlaloc requires the sacrifice of young children to bring the rain, and they torment the little ones before death so that their tears dampen the earth; and that is but one of the gods they worship.” He shook his head. “No, no. You’ll find nothing to love about them. They’re a barbaric folk, in some ways scarce better than animals.”
Clearing his throat, Balthasar changed the subject. “If I may return to the matter at hand, we’re most grateful for your counsel, my lord mayor. But if the Emperor did not see fit to appoint the Dauphin a guide, what makes you think he’ll grant our request?”
The mayor laced his hands over his belly. “Because thanks to me, you know to ask for it. And you’re not here to upset the balance of order, are you?”
“No,” I murmured. “Only to attempt to find Prince Thierry and the others, I swear it.”
“Listen, my lords, my lady.” There was sympathy in Porfirio’s drooping gaze. “I spoke truly when I said it was a sad tale. No one wanted your Dauphin and his men to meet a foul end. We hoped only that the rigors of the jungle would dissuade them, that they would accept defeat, turn back, and abandon the notion of encroaching on Aragonia’s claim here. If I’d known what would happen, I would have turned him away here.”
Bao stirred. “Why didn’t you?”
He smiled wryly. “I didn’t want to provoke a diplomatic incident; and quite frankly, our garrison here wasn’t yet fully staffed. If the Dauphin had refused my order, I doubt I could have enforced it.”
“Pity,” Balthasar said. “It would have saved a lot of trouble.”
“Indeed.” Porfirio Reyes lifted his brandy glass and drank the last of its contents, then rose and patted his belly before giving us a sweeping bow. “And now I shall bid you good evening, my lady, my lords, and retire.”
All of us took his cue. In the room Bao and I shared, both of us gazed at the wide-seeming bed with its comfortable pallet and clean linens.
“Do you…?” Bao asked uncertainly.
I shook my head. “I’m sorry. I’ve lost my appetite for lovemaking tonight.”
“Oh, good,” he said with relief, taking a seat on the bed and prying off his boots. “Never thought I’d say that.”
I sat beside him. “It’s a lot to stomach.”
“It is.” Bao put his arm around my shoulders and kissed my temple with uncommon tenderness. “Let’s just get some sleep, huh? We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”
It was sound advice, but sleep evaded me. Bao… Bao could sleep anywhere, no matter what the circumstances. I lay on the bed in the sheltering curve of his arm, trying to take comfort in his deep, even breathing, trying to dispel the images of bloodstained temples and crying children that haunted me.
A stone face and a stone heart.
You’ll find little to love in the Nahuatl…
Mayhap it would prove true, but I’d found little to love in the Aragonians in Terra Nova thus far, too.
The killing pox…
I remembered summoning the fallen spirit Marbas with the Circle of Shalomon. While they had bartered in vain with a spirit who had appeared in the form of a lion, under no obligation to answer as a human, I had spoken to him in the twilight.
Among the many gifts Marbas could bestow was the cure for any disease. I had begged him to relent and give one to Raphael de Mereliot.
The lion’s eyes had glowed. It’s not so simple, he had told me. To learn the charm to cure, you must