Harbinger of the Storm - By Aliette De Bodard Page 0,134
for Four Water and Four Rain, the Third and Fourth Age, ruled by the Storm Lord and His wife.
“For he who was bequeathed the turquoise diadem
The earplug, the lip plug,
The necklace, the precious feather
He who was crowned Lord of Men…”
I came last with the owl, drawing the last symbol, that of the Second Age, Four Wind, ruled by the Feathered Serpent, the age of knowledge and wisdom, now passed into legend. The symbol pulsed under my hands, as if seeking to stretch itself into something else.
“Give him Your torch, Your light, Your mirror
The thick torch that illumines the world
Your heat, Your fragrance
We place our trust in You,
We the untrained, the ignorant…”
Next came the maize dough, which Acamapichtli fashioned into the life-sized shape of a man. His hands shook, and the limbs of the figure came out crooked, a fact which made Quenami’s face contort with anger, but he said nothing. I fully expected we’d pay for it later.
The face was two holes punched into the dough, and something that might have been a smile: an incongruous sight, given how seldom Tizoc-tzin had smiled when he was alive. It ought to have looked sad and pathetic, this child’s figure of a man, but it didn’t. Light fell over it, swathing it in the colour of stone and blood; and the face, wrapped in shadows, seemed almost alive, some monster come from the underworld to devour us all.
I’d expected Itzpapalotl to go away but She still leant against the wall furthest away from the stairs, out of the circle. If She’d been human, I’d have said She was curious, but I think it was something else that kept Her there – perhaps further orders from the Southern Hummingbird?
“I give my precious water, I give my blood
To the maize in the fields, to Grandmother Earth that was broken
I give my spirit, I give the sun…”
Acamapichtli sliced both his earlobes, and let the blood drip into the eyes and the mouth of the dough figure.
“Eyes to see the Fifth World, the five directions
A mouth to give thanks
A mouth to fashion the flowers, the songs…”
In the chest cavity, where the heart should have been, there was only a small hole, like that of a flute. Acamapichtli moved away to stand at the base of the body, and left the way wide open for me.
Quenami inclined his head. I walked through the circle to the dead soul and carried it back to the dough figure. Then, bending over, I carefully laid one atop the other. Tizoc-tzin sank into the dough like a man swallowed by quicksand, and the dough shifted, the manikin taking on his features, the bloodied mouth closed in a scowl, an eerie resemblance to the man’s favourite expression. It almost seemed as though he was going to speak up; to accuse us all of slighting him. But the only sound was that of our breaths, slow and regular, and Itzpapalotl’s claws raking the stone to the rhythm of some unheard hymn.
Quenami placed himself over the opening in the chest, Acamapichtli near the crotch, and I at the head, over the blood-filled mouth.
“We leave this earth
This world of jade and flowers
The quetzal feathers, the silver
Down into the darkness we must go…”
The words that came to me were the ones I had spoken to the She-Snake a lifetime ago, and they were out of my mouth before I could call them back.
“Let the Revered Speaker be no exception.”
I bit my lip, but it was too late. Quenami hissed, his gaze narrowing in my direction, but he couldn’t speak for fear of breaking the ritual.
I went on regardless, less assured. I hadn’t thought it was possible, but I was shaking as hard as if Itzpapalotl had been looking at me with the full force of Her gaze.
“But some return
With sunlight shining on them
With moonlight and starlight to show the way
Some return, some go back home
To the three-legged hearth, to Old Man Fire’s face
And the song of maidens, and the laughter of children…”
I knelt and pressed my lips against the dough. It was cool, like something that had rested in the shade for far too long, with the faint, acrid taste of rot. I was vaguely aware of Quenami and Acamapichtli getting ready for the rest of the ritual, for giving the body life, and tying the soul back to it, but even that faded away, as the dough breathed back into me, and harsh light flooded the chamber, until the underground room seemed but a memory.