Master of the House of Darts Read Online Free PDF Page A

said: it's fast and frantic, and all the warriors have painted faces and similar feather-suits. Who's to tell the difference between them, unless they have standards of their own? Which," he added, "neither Eptli nor the other possessed."
    "And how do you resolve this, if there are no witnesses?" I asked.
    "As you said: you ask the prisoner." Coatl didn't look happy. "Ask other warriors of the unit to see if you can trace the troop movements and see who is more likely to have been there at the crucial point." He didn't sound altogether pleased.
    "You don't like doing this?"
    He grimaced. "Discipline I can deal with. Warriors should set a higher example than commoners, and if they go so far as to forget themselves, and steal or betray, or retreat in battle, they only deserve what happens to them. This…? The stakes are high, we're not sure, and everything depends on our decision."
    "When you say 'we'?"
    "The war-council handles all criminal matters connected to warriors while we're out on a campaign." I caught the implication: whoever the guilty party was, they would likely be tried by the tribunal in the palace, thus relieving him of his responsibilities.
    I could have asked him if he thought he'd taken the right decision, but there would have been no point. What we needed wasn't the truth of what had happened on this battlefield, but evidence of someone being a strong enough grudge to cast a curse on Eptli. "The other warrior who claimed the prisoner–" I started.
    "Chipahua? He wasn't happy. Not at all." Coatl seemed to realise the import of what he'd said. "Not that he'd do anything. I'd be very much surprised. Chipahua has always abided by the rules."
    Clearly, he'd defend his warriors to the death, and I wasn't sure I blamed him. Were our situations reversed, I'd have done the same for my priests. "What kind of a warrior was he?"
    "What do you want to know?"
    "Young or old?" I asked.
    "Middle-aged." Chipahua grimaced again.
    "But he'd already taken a captive before."
    "Four."
    "Like Eptli." And, like Eptli, he'd have stood on the verge of admittance into the Jaguar or Eagle Knights. Two warriors, vying for further status and prestige, and only one prisoner. It could definitely get ugly fast.
    "Look," Coatl said, "as I said, I don't like doing this. Accusing people without proof."
    I drew myself to my full height, letting him see my oak-embroidered cloak, the polished skull-mask on my face: the paraphernalia of a High Priest for the Dead, one who patrolled the invisible boundaries, one who defended against magical incursions. "It's a serious matter. Magical spells are one thing; spells cast under the Revered Speaker's nose, so to speak…" I had no doubt Tizoc-tzin was going to hold Acamapichtli and I accountable for all of it. The Southern Hummingbird knew he needed little excuse, those days.
    Still, I stood by what I'd said a year ago. Our Revered Speaker might be a poor warrior with too much ambition, and didn't have the stature to wear the Turquoise and Gold Crown. But when the alternative was star-demons loose in the palace – as we'd had during the drawn-out change of Revered Speaker – I knew where I stood. I would preserve the balance and learn to live with my rancour.
    Coatl's face was expressionless. "As I said, you'll want to talk to the commander of his unit."
    "I don't think so," I said, slowly. "There is something more you're not telling me, isn't there?" I knew the signs, had seen them too often. Coatl was far from the first uncooperative witness I had questioned. In fact, for a member of the war-council, one of the highest authorities in the army, he was surprisingly amiable. Then again… then again, he wasn't a nobleman by birth – from his build and numerous scars, he had risen through the ranks to attain his current position. His parents, just like mine, would have been peasants.
    Coatl's face twisted, becoming distant, expressionless, as if he were being careful not to display a strong emotion –