words had an instant effect on everyone. They hit Molly the hardest. She was already pale. I saw her swallow nervously.
“Maybe you know the monsters, Martin,” Murphy said quietly. “But I know the guy who stops them. And if they don’t return the girl, we’ll make them regret it.” She nodded at me and said, “Let’s go. We can watch Dresden kill the bitch.”
I found myself smiling. Murphy was good people.
Once the last of the half-mortal jaguar warriors had departed, we fell into step behind them, and followed them toward what looked like another temple, on the north end of the ruins.
As we went beneath the temple doorway, though, we found ourselves passing through it into the open space beyond—a swath of green grass at least a hundred and fifty yards long and seventy or eighty yards wide. Stone walls about thirty feet high lined the long sides of the rectangle, while the far end boasted a temple like the one we’d just entered.
“It’s a stadium,” I murmured, looking around the place.
“Ugh,” Molly said. “There are some pretty horrific stories about the Mayans’ spectator sports, boss.”
“Indeed.” Lea sighed happily. “They knew well how to motivate their athletes.”
Alamaya turned to me and said, “Lord, your retainers may wait here. Please come with me.”
“Keep your eyes open, folks,” I said. Then I nodded to Alamaya and followed her onto the field. Even as I started out, a woman began walking toward me from the opposite end. As she approached, I saw that Arianna had the same facial features, more or less, but she had traded in her pale skin for red-brown, her icy eyes for vampire black, and she’d dropped six inches from her height. She wore a simple buckskin shift and more gold jewelry than a Mr. T look- alike convention. Her nose was a little sharper, a little longer, but as we stopped and faced each other from about ten feet away, I could see the hate boiling behind her eyes. I had no doubt that this was the duchess.
I smiled at her and said, “I gotcha now.”
“Yes,” Arianna replied. Her eyes flicked up and around us in a quick circle, taking in the thousands of members of the Red Court and their retainers. “I may faint with the terror.”
“Why?” I demanded of her. “Why bring the child into this? Why not just come straight to me?”
“Does it matter at this point?”
I shrugged. “Not really. I’m curious.”
She stared at me for a moment and then she smiled. “You don’t know.”
I eyed her warily. “Don’t know what?”
“Dear boy,” she said. “This was never about you.”
I scowled. “I don’t understand.”
“Obviously,” Arianna said, and gave me a stunning smile. “Die confused.”
A conch horn moaned and Alamaya turned to bow toward the temple I’d just come through. I could see the Red King seated upon a throne made of dark, richly polished wood, decorated with golden filigree and designs.
Alamaya rose and turned to us. “Lord and lady, these are the limits within which you must do battle. First . . .”
I scowled. “Hey. This is an Accords matter. We abide by the Code Duello.”
The Red King spoke, and though he was more than two hundred feet away, I heard him clearly. Alamaya listened and bowed. “My lord replies that this is a holy time and holy ground to our people, and has been from time immemorial. If you do not wish to respect the traditions of our people, he invites you to return tomorrow night. Unfortunately, he can make no promises about the fate of his newest chattel should you choose to do so.”
I eyed the Red King. Then I snorted. “Fine,” I said.
Alamaya nodded and continued. “First,” she said. “As you are both wielders of Power, you will duel with Power and Power alone. Physical contact of any kind is forbidden.”
Arianna’s eyes narrowed.
Mine did, too. I knew that the Red Court had dabblers in magic—hell, the first Red Court vampire I’d ever met had been a full-blown sorceress by the time she’d been elevated to the Red Court’s nobility. Judging by Arianna’s jewelry, her proper place had been on the eleventh tier of the pyramid—the one directly below the Lords of Outer Night themselves. It stood to reason that even a dabbler could have accrued way too much experience and skill over the course of millennia.
“Second,” the mortal priestess said, “your persons and whatsoever power you use must be contained within the walls of this court. Should either of you violate that proscription,