Harbinger of the Storm - By Aliette De Bodard Page 0,10
other means of influencing it.
”And how do you plan to find such a sorcerer?” Ceyaxochitl asked, shaking her head.
As usual, she called my competences into question. “I am not without resources. Magic, especially magic that powerful, will leave a trail.”
”Yes, yes,” Ceyaxochitl said, shaking her head as if I were still a wayward child. “You need help, Acatl.”
”I have my order.”
The corner of her lips curled up in a smile. “You do. But I was thinking of more massive resources.”
Over the course of the night, I had faced two High Priests and a vice-emperor, our most powerful god, and His imprisoned sister – not to mention that my last hour of sleep had been in the evening. I didn’t have the patience to play along with her games of dominance any more. “Are you offering your help?”
”Of course. In recognition for past wrongs.” She turned, and glanced through the entrance-curtain. The grey light was subtly changing colour, sunrise was not far away.
”Past wrongs?” A year ago, Ceyaxochitl had embroiled me in yet another set of intrigues, involving one of my brothers. She had not seen fit, though, to provide me with all the information at her disposal, or with more than a token assistance. The resulting conflagration had almost levelled Tenochtitlan; it had cost the life of my sister-in-law, and had tarred my family’s reputation so thoroughly we were going to require years to even start our rehabilitation. “You’ll excuse me if I’m not entirely ready to believe you’re offering only out of remorse.”
Her lips curled up again. “As I said before, you may not think it, but I always do things for your own good, Acatl.”
And that was the problem. “Of course,” I said. But I could ill afford to refuse her. “What did you have in mind?”
Ceyaxochitl had the grace not to look triumphant. “We’ll keep a watch on the situation at the Imperial Court.”
”You have information?”
”A little,” Ceyaxochitl said. “I can tell you of the factions I know at court. Tizoc-tzin, the She-Snake, several of the princes, and the other rulers of the Triple Alliance, of course.”
”Of course.” Our brothers, our co-rulers in the Mexica Empire, dreaming, no doubt, of the day when they headed the Triple Alliance instead of being subservient to it. “They’ll have sent runners to them.”
Teomitl looked up from his bowl of cocoa. “It was done before you arrived, Acatl-tzin.”
A blare of conch-shells and wooden drums cut us off. The Fifth Sun had risen outside. There was a pause, during which we all scratched our earlobes and spilled blood to honour His return, to pray for His continued existence and protection, even though Axayacatl-tzin’s death had severed him from the Fifth World.
“In the place of light
You give life, You hide Yourself
Mirror which illuminates things
Follower of the Heaven’s Path
Mirror which illuminates things…”
When it was over, Ceyaxochitl came back to the original discussion as if nothing in particular had happened – and, for her, perhaps it was the case. The Duality had no favourites. “The other two Revered Speakers of the Triple Alliance will be here in one, two days. The other rulers might take slightly longer, but then they don’t have a vote in who wears the Turquoiseand-Gold Crown.”
”But they still might be behind this, or give it their support.”
”It’s still only one isolated incident,” Ceyaxochitl said carefully.
”Yes,” I said. “It might be personal. It might be isolated. But the odds are that it won’t remain so for long. Other people will emulate it. The usual barriers against summonings are weak, and everyone will know that.” The emptiness in the fabric of the Fifth World was still there, an itch at the back of our minds – a hole that would only be filled by a new Revered Speaker.
Teomitl spoke in the silence with the voice of one used to command. “We must show our strength. And fast.”
I thought of She of the Silver Bells, of Her hunger, of Her rage that we still dared to be alive, to imprison Her anew with every sacrifice, every drop of blood we shed in honour of Her brother Huitzilpochtli.
We had to show our strength, or we would be broken without recourse.
THREE
The Threat From Within
We walked out of the Duality House into a beautiful morning, the sun overhead already warming our limbs. It was the dry season, a time when we should have been preparing for war, but the death of the Revered Speaker had slightly postponed the preparations. The next war we launched would be the