“It’s been three days,” Horn Lance said as he lounged in Wooden Doll’s bed. He’d awakened late that morning, surprised that she’d let him sleep. To his additional delight, she’d sat on the edge of the bed, a wrap around her magical hips, and spooned him a tasty broth rich in sturgeon, prairie onions, ground nuts, mulberries, and mushrooms.
Then she’d laid the horn spoon aside, pulled the wrap from her waist, and eased her long body onto his. Veils of her hair had draped around her shoulders and down to tickle his skin. She’d made slow and languid love to him, stopping, holding him inside, only to rekindle an ever-more-pounding anticipation.
When his body had finally exploded, he’d felt unusually lethargic. For whatever reason, he just couldn’t summon the energy to rise.
“Three days,” he repeated. “Perhaps tonight you should send that girl of yours to see if there’s a Trade canoe headed south. You said that most of the Natchez got away.”
He studied her as she walked over and picked up a long-toothed shell comb before he added, “You could come with me.”
She laughed, returning to settle at the foot of her bed. In long strokes she began working the tangles out of her glistening black mane. “And what would I do in Natchez?”
“Be my woman.”
“Why would I do that, Horn Lance?”
“I’m an honored and revered man among the Natchez. The Great Sun and the White Woman owe me. I was the one who disposed of their predecessors and handed them the Quigualtam alliance. In the meantime, I need to outfit and dispatch a canoe to the south, along the gulf. It will take a year or two, but I can get a message to the multepal. Tell them that Ahau Oxlajun Chul Balam has become ruler of Cahokia, and that they need to send a force posthaste to reinforce him.”
“But your lord is dead.”
“They won’t know that in Chichen Itza. When they finally arrive, it will be two or three years. I’ll tell them that in the meantime, my lord was assassinated and that his body was abused by the Cahokians. They’ll hear that in Natchez, where truth is whatever I declare it to be.” He smiled, feeling dreamy. “The important thing is to establish Chichen Itza’s northern base on the river. After that it’s just a matter of time before the whole…”
He frowned. “Odd. I’m so tired. It’s the empire. My empire. Built among the Natchez, and then we’ll come for the Morning Star and Cahokia.”
“Can you even sit up?” she asked, thoughtful eyes on his as she ran the comb down the length of her hair.
“Of course.” He tried, his muscles gone oddly flaccid. “Well … This is odd. Maybe…”
“How can a man who can’t sit up build an outpost for Chichen Itza?”
“I just have to get word to them.”
“Uh-huh,” she said with a smile. Then, rising, she walked to the door and set it aside, calling, “Newe, could you come in?”
Her slave girl obediently entered, going to sit where Wooden Doll pointed. Then Wooden Doll picked up a red cloth and waved it out the door. Letting it flutter down onto the firewood, she asked, “Newe, did you see the warriors out there?”
“Yes, many.”
Even as the girl said it, Five Fists ducked through the door followed by five additional warriors.
Cold terror, like a spear, seemed to cut through Horn Lance’s body. He should have been on his feet, panic-driven muscles ready to fight, but his body remained supine, unwilling to move.
Then Blue Heron stepped in, followed by, of all people, Seven Skull Shield.
“Hello, Horn Lance,” Blue Heron greeted with a smile. “I would have liked to have discussed things with you the night you tried to kill me yet again, but apparently you had other commitments.”
“How?” he whispered, surprised that his voice still worked.
Blue Heron glanced at Wooden Doll and shrugged. “You’re not the only one who can offer a fortune in Trade. Fortunately, Wooden Doll is a very pragmatic businesswoman—a Trader. She and I came to an agreement. Began negotiating clear back at the wedding, actually. We concluded our agreements a while back. I asked her to distract you, a task at which she was most effective.”
“How? Why?”
Wooden Doll shrugged. “She just Traded more for you than you offered. But I had an incentive. You really shouldn’t have used me, led me to betray Skull. Business is business, but that really soured my regard for you.”
Meanwhile, Newe had been staring up at Seven Skull Shield with frightened eyes, her arms crossed defensively over her chest.
Blue Heron followed the thief’s hard gaze to the girl. She asked Wooden Doll, “Is it all right to take her now?”
“Of course.”
“My pleasure,” Seven Skull Shield said, reaching down with a bruised arm to drag the girl to her feet. He shoved her back to one of the warriors. “Tie her up like a turtle for roasting.”
“Mistress!” Newe shrieked as one of the warriors dragged her toward the door.
“Your betrayal was even worse, Newe. I can’t abide that.”
Screaming, the girl was dragged from the room.
Wooden Doll glanced sadly at Horn Lance. “Two shell necklaces for Seven Skull Shield? That’s all you offered her? You cheap bit of two-legged trash. I would have demanded a cup full of that wonderful achiote spice for him.”
He saw her turn and wink saucily at Seven Skull Shield, who winked back and grinned.
Then the warriors were picking Horn Lance’s limp body from the bed, carrying him out into the morning sun, where a crowd was calling insults beyond a line of warriors. He glimpsed Newe, gagged and bound, being tied to a carry pole. A second, stouter pole awaited him.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Five Fists told him. “Rides-the-Lightning tells me the feeling will come back to your limbs in a couple of hands’ time. But by then you’ll be safely hanging from the Morning Star’s square.”
The ugly war leader grinned his lopsided grin, adding, “The Keeper says no one can torture you until the thief gives you one real good hard kick down in the tenders.”
“Waxaklahun Kan! Help me!” The plea sounded as if it had been torn from his throat.
But no War Serpent formed in the smoke-hazed blue sky.