Naamah's Blessing - By Jacqueline Carey Page 0,168
open a gateway between the worlds so that he might attempt to summon Focalor. Mayhap the Quechua ancestors would intervene before that final step. I could not imagine how such a thing might come to pass. But Raphael had mocked the Quechua for worshipping their dead—and yet he himself had claimed that worship fed power.
I made a note in my thoughts to ask Ocllo if she knew exactly how the ancestors would be called out of death into life to save their descendants.
Or mayhap, I thought reluctantly, it was simply what was destined, the further price that Bao had spoken of.
Once my diadh-anam was extinguished, the door would be closed forever. I would be powerless and estranged forever from the Maghuin Dhonn Herself, and Bao… my twice-born magpie would die a second death, returning to the Ch’in afterworld of Fengdu, where I prayed the Maiden of Gentle Aspect awaited him.
Raphael would still have his army of ants, but if the desiccated bodies of the ancestors rose to denounce him, the Quechua would turn against him. Raphael ruled in Vilcabamba with their consent, as he planned to rule in all of Tawantinsuyo, worshipped as a God-King. As terrible as the ants were, they wouldn’t suffice to keep an entire hostile empire at bay.
There might be a few casualties, awful, unthinkable casualties, but all it would take was one well-thrown spear to kill Raphael. If I could get my hands on my bow, I’d gladly kill him myself.
And then it would be over.
Ah, gods! With the revelation of Cusi’s intended sacrifice so fresh in my mind, it seemed terribly selfish to pray that matters would not come to pass thusly, but I couldn’t help it.
If she was right, at least she had the solace of eternity.
I wouldn’t.
So I prayed wordlessly to the Maghuin Dhonn Herself to guide me; and I prayed to Blessed Elua and his Companions, most especially to my patron gods Naamah and Anael, over and over.
“Did I not say you would have need of me before the end?” a light, familiar voice inquired. “Do not fret so, Moirin. I will be there.”
I startled awake, realizing belatedly that I’d fallen into a doze in the hot courtyard, worn out by lack of sleep and worry.
“Jehanne?” I said aloud.
“Lady?” Machasu gave me an odd look. “I am sorry. Do you wish to be alone? I will go.”
“No.” I rubbed my eyes. “Did you say something just now?”
“No,” she said. “I came to tell you that Prince Manco will see you in a short time. But Ocllo says it is not safe for Cusi to leave the temple now. It will only make for dangerous questions.”
I took a deep breath. “Well, then, I will have to bring Bao to the temple.”
Machasu’s eyes widened. “That is worse! He cannot leave the fields! One tried, once.” She pointed to the ants. “They ate him. Alive.”
“I know.” My stomach churned. “But the ants will not see him. No one will see him.” I held up my injured hand. “Do you trust me? Does Ocllo trust me?”
Slowly, Machasu nodded.
“Then tell her I will bring the twice-born to the Temple of the Sun when the moon is high tonight to meet with Cusi.” I fought a yawn. “Tell her I swear no one will know. It is a secret I have not told her yet, a gift I have not shown.”
“I will tell her.” She gave me a stern look. “And I will bring food. You must eat, lady. You must stay strong.”
“You are right,” I said. “Thank you.”
After I had bathed and eaten, I paid a visit to Prince Manco. As Machasu had predicted, it was a useless endeavor.
The deposed Quechua prince received me in his own garden courtyard where he was engaged in practicing his fighting skills, clad in a full set of D’Angeline armor. I was forced to wait and observe his dubious prowess as he stomped and clattered and slashed his way across the garden. At length he paused and beckoned for an attendant to hold up one of the small hand-mirrors that Eyahue had stolen to trade.
When at last he was done admiring himself, Prince Manco turned to me, unbuckling and removing his helmet. Without it, he was revealed to be a weak-chinned young fellow with close-set eyes.
“What is it you want?” he demanded of me.
Placing my hands together, I bowed to him. “I come to warn you, highness. Lord Pachacuti is not the god you take him to be.”