The startled look on the Keeper’s face told Seven Skull Shield that he’d struck a nerve.
“The Tortoise Bundle…” The Keeper’s words trailed off as Notched Cane cleared his throat suggestively from outside her doorway. She gave Seven Skull Shield a warning look and raised a hand to still any question before calling, “Come.”
Notched Cane entered her gloom-dark room, two bowls in his hands. “It’s like midnight in here. Let me get you a lamp, Keeper.”
“Thank you, we’d appreciate that. And then we’re going to need some privacy.”
“Yes, Keeper.”
With smooth efficiency, Notched Cane set the plates down. He returned a moment later with a small hickory-oil lamp, its floating wick flickering. He placed it on one of her storage boxes, touched his forehead, and left.
Seven Skull Shield winced as he reached for the bowl, his battered body protesting. Raising it to his lips, he sucked down the flavorful stew. One thing about eating at the Keeper’s: the food was always exceptional.
As he drank down the brothy mixture, thick with rabbit, ground nuts, and mashed black walnut, he kept a wary eye on the Keeper, reading the churning thoughts behind her eyes as she sipped at her bowl. In the light he could see the darkening bruise on her face, the pain she tried to hide.
Finally, she set her bowl down, dragged a forearm across her lips, and pinned him with a sidelong glance. “Where did you hear about the Tortoise Bundle?”
“From an ancient-looking woman who treated me after Slick Rock and his braggarts laid into me with clubs in that charnel house.” He gestured to the beast on the floor. Drool was leaking out of the corner of the dog’s mouth as it stared fixedly at the bowl. “She says the dog led me to her. For all I know, that was true. I was so skull-knocked I was seeing double and puking my guts out. Then nothing until I came to my wits in her temple.”
Blue Heron sighed. “Well, whatever she told you, the bundle’s gone. Burned up in a fire when I was a girl. That was in the aftermath of the wars. Petaga and Lichen. Blood and thunder, that was so long ago. We all lived in fear. When warfare flares out of control, it consumes entire peoples.”
She paused, eyes gleaming in the lamplight as she watched him. “The great priestess Lichen was Petaga’s strength, but the man just didn’t have the skills that make a man a great leader. Lichen’s Power came from the Tortoise Bundle. It was old, its origins going back … huh, perhaps to the Beginning Times. It was old Power, Underworld Power. Of all the great bundles, the Tortoise Bundle was one of the few that somehow survived when Petaga burned Tharon’s palace. No one knows how. It should have been consumed along with the rest. And it was said that Nightshade collected—”
“Who?”
“A great and Powerful witch. According to the stories, she called down mad Tharon’s destruction when she discovered he’d committed incest. Afterward she collected the bits of bundles that survived and took them off to the Land of the Palace Builders.”
Blue Heron paused. “All but the Tortoise Bundle. Along with a little carved stone wolf, it was said to be Lichen’s most treasured link to the Spirit World.”
“Then why have I never heard of it?”
“Because it’s supposed to have been destroyed, thief. After Petaga’s army was defeated, the Four Winds Clan sacrificed him and his female relatives and successfully resurrected the Morning Star in Black Tail’s body. People had been praying for an end to the wars. The miracle of the Morning Star’s resurrection brought all the clans under the Four Winds banner. The Morning Star’s decrees, being just, enticed the warring parties to symbolically and ceremonially bury their weapons.”
“What about Lichen? The story is that she didn’t submit.”
“Do you know that old abandoned mound north of Black Tail’s tomb? The one with the burned timbers sticking up?”
“I was just there.”
“Rather than pay homage to the Morning Star, when warriors were sent to escort her to the living god, she set fire to her temple, and burned alive inside it.”
“Along with her Tortoise Bundle?”
“That’s what we’ve always believed. Whoever this old woman is, and if what she says is true, she’s kept the secret of the Tortoise Bundle’s existence. And done it right under my nose. That takes some skill.”
Blue Heron pulled at the wattle under her chin as she studied him. “And now you pop into my room and tell me you’ve talked to the guardian of the Tortoise Bundle? After all these years?”
“She says the Power’s changed. That Lichen didn’t understand.”
“Power’s changed, all right. And her announcing herself to you? That wasn’t coincidence.” Her gleaming eyes betrayed the thoughts racing between her souls. “Why now? The Tortoise Bundle was said to be Lichen’s Spirit Helper, a link to First Woman. Is it because now the Itza comes, threatening to skew the whole world?”
Blue Heron’s eyes narrowed further in thought. “Does the guardian of the Tortoise Bundle know that you serve me?”
Seven Skull Shield crossed his arms. “I don’t serve you, Lady. We have an arrangement. Though everyone else in this rotted city seems to think I’ve become your creature. I suppose she does, too.”
“Curious,” Blue Heron said thoughtfully, “that she’d pick this moment to disclose her existence.”
“She didn’t tell me so that you’d know, Keeper. She told me—and these are her exact words—‘When the time is right, inform Lady Night Shadow Star that the Tortoise Bundle will aid her.’”
Understanding flashed in the Keeper’s face. “Of course! It’s Night Shadow Star. Underworld Power. A balance to the Morning Star’s Sky World Power. What else did she tell you?”
“Her words didn’t always make sense.”
“That’s the problem with priestesses and holy people. They always speak in riddles that no one sane can understand. The more vague the speech, the less likely their prophecy is to be proven wrong.”
Seven Skull Shield grinned at the acidic tone in her voice. “One of the things she said that made no sense was that the Red Wing’s souls were suffocating both stone and lance. And it was up to me to lead him to the teacher. What could that possibly be about? Fire Cat and me? We despise each other.”
Blue Heron was tugging harder at her wattle, a tell that she’d made a connection; her eyes thinned further.
“Want to tell me about it, Keeper?”
“The Natchez, the same one that hit me last night, beat Fire Cat at chunkey, humiliated him, and left him to walk home naked and broken.”
Seven Skull Shield caught himself pulling at his own chin as he considered. “Disgraced at chunkey? And she’s marrying the Itza lord tomorrow? As stiff-necked as he is, I could see him cutting his throat.”
“Stone and lance? His chunkey game has been the topic of some conversation.”
“Why would the guardian of the Tortoise Bundle care if Night Shadow Star’s bound servant is losing at chunkey?”
“Even more to the point, who’s this teacher you’re supposed to lead him to?”
“No idea.”
She shook her head slowly as she considered. “Is this old woman someone I should be wary of?”
“Keeper, my impression? That old woman has stared into the eye of the abyss; and when she saw what was staring back, she didn’t so much as blink.”
Keeper Blue Heron nodded to herself, lips pursed. “Then things are more convoluted and dangerous than we thought.”
“How’s that?”
“When even ancient enemies offer an alliance against a new threat, a wise man should tremble in his moccasins.”