Flower Of War: The Path of the Knife

[aithne]

Jade looked down at the scrap of maguey paper she held in her hand. Upon your return, Jade, I would like an audience with you as soon as possible. Cinder. Cinder, Aziuhoatl's first wife, Smoke's mother? What could she possibly have to say to Jade? She looked up at Leaf, who stood waiting patiently before her. He had been waiting when she had returned to the Temple, with his message.

Outside, thunder cracked as the storm that had been threatening since noon finally broke. The wind that suddenly gusted through the Temple was refreshingly cool and damp. "I must ask you to wait a few minutes longer," she said to Leaf. "I need to talk to some of my senior priests. Then I will return to the palace."

"Of course, honored one," he said, and bowed.

On her way farther into the Temple, she snagged a serving-boy who was walking past. "Bring the warrior here something to drink," she told him. "Make sure he is comfortable. I will be back shortly."

The boy nodded and took off at high speed. Jade smiled briefly and went to find Shale and Gull. They discussed the preparations for tomorrow briefly, Jade making sure that there were no anticipated problems. "We're beginning to distribute the sacred drink now," Gull said. "By tomorrow morning, every one of them will be ready for the knife."

"Good. Double the guards on the sacrifices. We don't want any more--incidents--happening," Jade said. She turned her head to see Shale frown briefly, then the expression faded from his handsome features. "Is there a problem, Shale?" she asked.

"No, Jade," he said, shaking his head. "I was thinking about something else. I'm sorry."

He was lying. Jade would stake her life on it. She knew Shale well, had known him ever since she had been taken into the Temple. He had been dedicated as a small boy, the teachers at his House of Youth recognizing potential when they saw it. He was three or four years younger than she was, and unlike so many of her other friendships among the priests, their friendship had never wandered into the bedchamber. And he was lying to her, or trying to.

She ignored it. She could deal with him later. She wrapped up her business with them and went back to the Palace, Leaf falling in beside her.

"Cinder's quarters," she told him, and he guided her there. She was admitted by a stern guard into an airy room. The storm had passed, and the breeze coming in through the window was warm and damp, smelling of wet stone.

Cinder, Aziuhoatl's first wife, was about a decade older than Jade, and was wearing an outfit that would probably have been more suited to someone half her age. She managed to pull it off, though, the dress enhancing her curves and suggesting a youthful ripeness. Jade sat down across from her.

"You wanted to see me, my lady?" she asked.

Cinder nodded. "I did. What do you know of the plots in the advisors and the resistance movement, and of Aziuhoatl?"

Carefully, Jade replied, "Not that much. I know the resistance movement is headed by a man named Jaguar, who escaped along with Smoke when some of the sacrifices were freed. I know there are some advisors who appear to be plotting against Aziuhoatl, but rumor is running rampant at the moment and it's very difficult to separate truth from fiction."

"Spider tells me that you talked and she believes that you are a large part of this." She leaned forward, an avid expression on her face.

Jade sat up just a little straighter. "My lady. If I were, it would be my death to admit it. If I am not, there is likely nothing I can say to you that will convince you otherwise. Is there a reason you've called me here to accuse me?"

"I am accusing you of nothing, I need to know what side you are on." She was shaking her head. "I was hoping to convince you to join my side."

And here I thought my day was already as interesting as it was going to get. "And which side is that?"

"My own, really."

Jade considered this woman, who might be nothing more than a cunningly laid trap. Then again, she had heard, from Coral no less, that Cinder was decidedly on Smoke's side. "Let's just say that I follow my god's will in all things, not any mortal's," she said, choosing the safest path.

Cinder nodded, as if she was expecting nothing more. "Well then, hear me out and you can decide."

"I am listening," she said, inclining her head.

The other woman folded her hands together. "Aziuhoatl is out of control. And the resistance is moving too slowly to galvanize the people into a mass riot. Aziuhoatl's advisors are running amok. Killing everything that moves. Mantis, Ocelot and many others." Her eyes had narrowed, and her voice had more than a little anger in it. "I am looking for cooler heads. Aziuhoatl the younger is Ocelot's son, and Ocelot is going to remove Aziuhoatl and basically take the throne, using his son as a stepping stone. Ocelot will be far worse as a ruler."

She twisted her mouth. "So I've gathered."

"I am suggesting that we find a way to stop Ocelot before he does kill Aziuhoatl. Then eliminate Aziuhoatl, and replace him with the only candidate left. Smoke."

It was quite starling to hear her own thoughts so clearly articulated. If Cinder and I have both thought of this, how many others have come to he same conclusion? She said, probing, "Two problems here. One, Ocelot is no fool. He's bound to realize that half of the advisors are gunning for him, and he hasn't stayed in his position as long as he has by luck. Two, is a sixteen year old girl going to be the kind of ruler we need? Or are you planning to rule through her?"

"Ocelot is no fool and he will be a very hard man to bring down." Cinder shrugged. "Smoke will be the kind of ruler we will need. And no, I will not take her rule over. I will not live that long, I fear. Once this is set in motion, it will lead back to me, sooner or later. Ocelot or Aziuhoatl will have me killed." She brought her gaze up to meet Jade's eyes. "I propose that you or Spider guide her. Or both."

Jade blinked. "Spider? You consider her trustworthy?"

Cinder smiled, and something about that smile made Jade uneasy. "She is one of mine. She could have gone to Aziuhoatl or Ocelot with her information. She came here along with Torch's guard that escaped you in the tunnels." Her voice was gentle as Jade's eyes widened. "She had the fortunate circumstance of him bumping into her."

"Ah," she answered. "I take it the man won't be talking, then?"

One of Cinder's hands crept up to toy with the heavy necklace she wore. "Well, Jade, this puts me and you in a position, really. If you answer no, you could run to Aziuhoatl and I'm dead. If you answer yes, well, he meets with an unfortunate accident."

She looked away. I hate dealing with women, she thought. All soft poison and soft threats. "I don't suppose Spider mentioned why I happened to be in the tunnels in the first place?" she asked.

"She thought you were meeting with Jaguar. And she said something about you being his old friend."

Dryly, she said, "That's one way of putting it." She thought for a moment, then made their decision. "So, Cinder, here is where I stand. I told you I follow my god's will, not any mortal's. Huitzilopochtli has told me that sacrifices do not make the sun turn; from that has followed any number of things. Including the fact that Aziuhoatl must be stopped."

Cinder nodded. "So you and I have the same goals."

"I believe they coincide, yes. You can understand my caution, I'm sure."

"And mine, but desperate measures in desperate times."

Jade might not have put it quite that way, but it was far enough. "True enough. So, do you have a plan for stopping both Aziuhoatl and Ocelot?"

"No, not really. I have been trying to gather people I can trust first."

Jade rubbed the palm of her hand, which was aching where she'd healed it after Mirror's death. "I do have a very large weapon at hand, but it's one that I am reluctant to use. The Temple of Huitzilopochtli. If I wanted to start an open civil war, I could. Declare that Huitzilopochtli has lost faith in Aziuhoatl--which is true, incidentally--and rally the people on our side. It is a large Temple, and my priests are--dedicated." Over five hundred priests in total, almost that many Temple guards, seemingly countless servants and runners. They were hers, and the god's. A word from her was all it would take to create chaos.

"That kills Aziuhoatl quickly enough, but then you end up with Ocelot on the throne," Cinder pointed out.

"Possibly. Perhaps not if the Temple puts its backing behind Smoke. She would be useful as someone to rally around," Jade replied.

"Unfortunately, the city and palace guards will back the male heir."

Jade smiled. "They might. They might not. Mountain may be convincible, and they would follow him."

Cinder was still playing with her necklace, the heavy pendant made largely of pale jade. "And this gets to the crux of the problem. Though very skillful at finding information, Spider lacks a certain charisma in handling people."

"I've....noticed," Jade replied. In other words, she makes everyone's skin crawl, not just me.

The other woman nodded, and said, "I am unsure as to which advisors could be turned to our side and which are already on Ocelot's or Aziuhoatl's. And there seems to be another player. A person called Spirit."

"I've just started hearing about him recently. As far as I can tell, he's probably on a side closer to ours than Aziuhoatl's, but Ocelot may be on his side. He is a nahual, though. And we're going to have a very large problem on our hands if he and the other nahuales decide that having entire clans slaughtered isn't to their liking."

Cinder nodded. "That then is another problem that we may need to take care of."

"I've had a warning that Mantis is in the process of starting something he can't finish with the nahuales. But this Spirit person is apparently as elusive as his name," Jade said.

"From what I hear, he comes and goes so quickly that even his name is just something that they call him and isn't his real name." Cinder glanced out the window as an errant breeze gusted in, stirring the cloth of her dress and the feathers that Jade wore. A shadow of worry crossed her face.

Jade asked, "He threatened Aziuhoatl, I hear. Do you know what the threat was?"

The smile that briefly graced Cinder's lips was small but genuine. "I don't, but I would have loved to hear that conversation. I assume it probably had something to do with what Mantis is doing."

"That would be my guess. I have had a divine--" What would be the right word? "--suggestion that Mantis needs to go down before something happens that none of us may live long enough to regret."

"Then that should be the first course of action," Cinder said.

"I'm still in the process of finding out what I need to know about Mantis. Speaking of--I don't suppose Spider is nearby, is she?"

She shook her head. "She is, I believe, still in her room."

You know, if I were meeting with someone I was trying to recruit for my side, I think I'd have my spy close at hand. Maybe under a table or something. I suppose we're all new to this, though. "I'll need to talk to her about Mantis, if you can let her know we're working on the same side. As for what I know about who is on who's side--Mountain, like I said, owes me a favor. He's Aziuhoatl's man now, but I think I could change that for a little while if I needed to. Coral is literally in bed with Aziuhoatl, but there's something strange going on with her." She paused, wondered if Cinder had known this little tidbit of her husband's intimate life. "Coal could be swayed, given enough incentive, I think. And you know about Mantis."

Cinder had not visibly reacted to what Jade had said about Coral. "That is the kind of information we need. Spider is able to find out things, but she is terrible at pulling fact from fiction."

"I will find out more as I go along. Aziuhoatl has given me direct permission to investigate my fellow advisors, and I've been using that freedom to do exactly that."

"Which is why I came to you," Cinder said.

"And there's a vacancy in the advisors that I'll be filling. I assume someone will replace Torch. I can continue, and let you know what I find. I'm slowly working my way upward."

Cinder smiled. "If rumor is right, the task of filling Torch's place will be assigned again to you."

Jade sat up straight and furrowed her brow. "That's--odd. One, yes, I can see that, as a reward for finding Mirror out. But the next?"

"He may believe that you had nothing to do with Jaguar and Smoke's escape." Cinder shrugged gracefully. "All the rest of the advisors, he believes, are plotting against him."

The man's paranoid. I can use that. "I believe I'll continue to give him fuel for that particular fire. That means I need to come up with not one but two people who I can count on to be loyal to me. I have one in mind, but I'll have to think about a second one."

"Yes, be careful and make sure they can't be swayed, or you may be undercut by those below you."

Jade shook her head. Typical. Looking on the bright side of human nature. "Almost everyone has a price. I'll try to find people who set their prices very high indeed. I did have a question for you, though. Smoke escaped from the cells where we keep the sacrifices. Spider mentioned that she thinks Aziuhoatl wants her back now, not to be sacrificed, but to attempt to have a son or two by someone of his choosing. What changed his mind? Did he just recently find out Aziuhoatl the younger isn't his son?"

Cinder frowned briefly. "He has long suspected it. But it was the conversation with spirit that changed his mind. Whether Spirit told him the truth or threatened something else, I don't know."

"Interesting. This Spirit sounds like he'd be a fascinating person to talk to. Not, of course, that I have any idea what he looks like or what kind of were he is. He could be just about anyone."

"Yes, he has been very active as late and there are more temple guards around than ever before."

Jade raised an eyebrow. "I'll have to keep an eye on that. The temple guards are under my jurisdiction. I have a list of names. If I tell you the names, could you tell me if you recognize any of them?" Cinder nodded, and Jade cast back in her memory. "First three are Heat, Talon, and Spear--I do know Spear, he's one of the guards assigned to me, but I don't know what he'd be doing on this list."

Cinder nodded. "Heat is a local businessman. Talon is a player of bol, the best currently in the city."

"Do you know anything at all about Spear?"

The other woman shook her head. "You just told me everything I knew about him."

"Hm. Strange. Next four are Stream, Midnight, Boa, and Piranha."

"Stream is Aziuhoatl's third wife. Very young, very innocent. Midnight is a Dark side dealer. Boa is a dancer. Piranha is a food vendor in the market. Why do you ask? That is a very varied list of people."

"It's more so than you think. It's a list of people Coral is interested in, for some reason."

At Coral's name, Cinder sat up straighter. "I recognize a lot of them. They have some limited contact, some of them, with Aziuhoatl."

Jade nodded. "There were advisors on the list, as well. Coral's weaving some sort of web, and I don't understand it fully yet."

"Interesting. She is trying to turn these people, or maybe it's part of her contact list," Cinder said.

Jade, cautious, wasn't about to tell Cinder where she had gotten this list. "It's got both friends and enemies on the list, it looks like. Mirror was on the list, and those two weren't really friends. Aziuhoatl is on the list, but Ocelot is not."

"I am afraid I don't know then. People she was watching for some reason or another." Cinder shifted, looking uneasy.

Softly, Jade said, "Probably. Be careful, though. You were on her list, as well."

Cinder's smile suddenly turned very sharp. "I am sure she is watching me. We have had a few disagreements in the past."

"What sorts of disagreements?" Jade asked. "Or are we getting into palace gossip here?"

"Some palace gossip, but the real reason was that I opposed her as an advisor." She made a dismissive motion with her hand.

Possibly, I have underestimated this woman. "On what grounds?"

"Personal, really," Cinder said in a voice that made her dislike for the mage very clear. "I looked into her past and found a long list of dead lovers that she stepped on or over to get to where she is now."

Jade's head came up. "One of those," she said. Then her expression softened. "Though I probably shouldn't talk; I just didn't sleep with the ones I killed to get where I am. So I can see why she would want to keep an eye on you."

"Yes, she would have reason to watch out for me."

There was a silence between the two of them, then Jade said, "Well. Cinder, this has been most enlightening. I should be off, now. I'll stay in touch. I assume you'll tell Spider of our conversation?"

"I will. She is probably in her room currently. Her hours are--odd." Cinder's smile was almost fond, and Jade wondered if this woman actually liked the twitchy Spider.

She didn't ask, only said, "So I've heard. I may call on her in a bit." She rose and nodded to Cinder.

"Good to work with you, Jade." The other woman did not rise, only nodded in return and let her go.

She picked up Spear and Leaf on the other side of the door, and nodded to them as she started to walk towards the guard barracks on the lower levels of the palace. If she were lucky, she would find Mountain in.

She was lucky, and found him in a quiet moment, knapping a head for his atlatl. It was a point of pride among warriors that one made their own atlatl bolts; indeed, each bolt had to be perfectly balanced for use in one's own atlatl, no two spear throwers being exactly the same. Jade had no patience for the fine art of knapping the flint blades, and used spells to get the exact weight and edges she needed on hers. It was considered cheating by the warriors, but it got the job done. Mountain's big hands handled the stone surprisingly delicately, seeming to encourage the stone to flake rather than forcing it.

He put down the stone and the head. She closed the door behind her and said, "Mountain, pardon the interruption. I have some questions, if you have a few minutes to talk to me."

"Any time, Jade." She sat down across the table from him.

She said, "I'm trying to find out a few things about Mantis. Since you and he seem to share a specialty, I thought you might know a few things about him. He is running the search for a nahual outside the city, I know. Can you tell me what you know about him?"

The big man's eyes narrowed. "Evil, is what he is. Pure and simple. No honor and insane."

"A few people have mentioned that. He seems to be of the 'kill them all and let the gods deal with it' sort."

"More than that, he likes the kill, the pain, the torture of it all."

You could say the same thing about me, Mountain, she thought. "And this was the man Aziuhoatl gave a sensitive task like finding one nahual among hundreds outside the city? No offense to our leader, but that strikes me as an...impulsive decision."

"Aziuhoatl doesn't care about the nahuales. If Mantis kills them all to find one, so much the better." Mountain's voice was like the roar of distant thunder.

It was Jade's turn to grimace. "Used to be, they were honored in our myths. Ah, well. Do you know if Mantis has any close relationships with anyone, at all?"

The big man shrugged. "Two years ago, he had a girl taken from the sacrifice chamber."

Jade frowned and thought back. Two years--yes, she remembered. A pretty girl almost on the altar, Aziuhoatl had come down himself to get her. It almost never happened, that someone was taken away so close to the killing stone. "I remember that. Aziuhoatl fetched her, I didn't know what he wanted her for and it seemed safer not to ask. Did they know each other before that, then?"

"I believe so. It was the first time I had seen him worried about anything."

"Does she live with him now?" Jade asked.

"No, she doesn't. Mantis lives alone."

Absently, she touched one of the feathers she wore at her wrist. "Hm. Wonder what happened to her? Might have been a daughter, or a young sister of some sort. Do you happen to know when he usually goes out on his hunts?"

"She is a dancer, I think." He shrugged again. "He is gone almost all the time, now. I haven't seen him in three days and he hasn't been at his house for more than two weeks. We have guards watching it for him."

Another one who kept a house away from the palace. "In other words, if I want to talk to him, I'm going to have to hunt him down."

There was a faint smile on Mountain's face. "Yes, but his path of destruction is easy to follow."

"Do you happen to know if he has any actual friends on the council, at all?" she asked.

"Friends no, he has alliances with Ocelot, Thunder and Teal. Or at least those are the people I see him in the most contact with," Mountain replied.

Jade nodded. "Ah. The sort of man who has allies, not friends. He should be interesting to talk to. Does he tend to work with those three on things they're doing?"

"Usually he keeps them informed." He had a very direct gaze, Jade noticed, unlike the two women she had been talking to just before. She felt infinitely more comfortable in the presence of this man than she did with either Cinder or Spider.

"Interesting," she said. "Do you know what Teal and Thunder are currently assigned to doing?"

Mountain shook his head. "No, I don't. They tend to be very secretive in the plans. I do see a lot of closed door meetings with the four of them."

"Anything to do with Ocelot seems to be that way," she said, her voice wry.

"It has always been so," he said, nodding slightly.

"Ocelot's the most senior of us. He must have been an advisor from the start. Thank you, Mountain, you've been very helpful."

He nodded again, and caught and held her gaze with his own. "If you have need of my help, Jade, let me know. Mantis not breathing anymore interests me."

She smiled. "I will certainly let you know. If he is guilty of what I suspect he has done, I may have need of some backup when I confront him."

"I will let you know when he returns to the city," he said.

"Thank you, that would be very helpful. I will not be available tomorrow, but I will be around at the palace after that." She rose, and Mountain nodded and picked up the stone and the bolt head once more. She left as the delicate sounds of the flint being knapped began once more.

Thinking, she walked towards Spider's quarters. She had some things to ask the twitchy woman, and then she needed to track down Boa. Spider was, as Cinder had thought she might be, still in her rooms. "Hello, again. I talked to Cinder. I assume she updated you?" she said to her.

The little ball had disappeared, having been replaced with a wooden stick that seemed to have weights in both ends. Spider flipped it between her fingers. "She has. Working for the same team now, I see."

Jade wasn't quite ready to go that far. "Well, working in the same direction, it seems."

Spider smiled and tapped the back of her hand with the stick. "That's good, what can I do for you, Jade?"

"I was wondering what interesting tidbits you know about Mantis. And if you know anything about what Teal and Thunder are working on."

Spider nodded. "Mantis has a daughter named Boa. He doesn't admit it but two years ago, he begged Aziuhoatl to save her life from the sacrificial chambers."

A daughter, then. Well, she'd guessed correctly. "I remember Aziuhoatl coming to get her. I assume Mantis promised something to Aziuhoatl in return."

"I would assume, but those details I don't have." Spider drummed the rod against her knee briefly, appearing to be thinking. "Teal and Thunder may or may not be lovers. they are together at all times of night. What they are doing is almost a big mystery as Spirit."

"I've heard that whatever they're working on, it has something to do with Ocelot."

Spider snorted. "Usually does."

Jade asked, "Does Mantis have any other personal quirks, other than being a killer who wades through amounts of blood that even I consider excessive?"

"His only weakness seems to be Boa. And his single-mindedness."

Jade was starting to build a picture in her head of this man. "Not noted for his religion, or lack thereof?"

"He attends and pays service to Huitzilopochtli but is not a fanatic." Spider shrugged.

"I'm going to have to find another angle to work on him, then. Perhaps his association with Ocelot." Jade sighed a bit, trying to see the path in her mind more clearly. It was strangely clouded, at the moment.

The rod went into the air, spinning end over end until Spider caught it gracefully. "Do you need to talk to him or just kill him?" she asked.

"I need to kill him, but I need to have something to tell Aziuhoatl about him. I'm trying to work up a conspiracy theory to tell him that will hold water--or will be about something he's so scared of that it doesn't matter if it holds water or not."

"Make it look like an accident, if you have to. He is doing a very dangerous job."

Jade nodded. "True. He could just disappear, as a matter of fact. I have bait if I need to lure him to a specific place, I think." She stared off into the distance. She could see it in her mind, all except for one large hole...and that hole could be dealt with.

"Yes, and if you can get a few nahuales on your side then so much the better, it will look like retaliation." She was drumming the stick against her knee now, the light impacts making small bony noises.

"True enough. How did you end up working with Cinder, by the way?" Jade asked.

Spider shrugged and flipped her rod into the air again. She caught it standing on end, balanced on one finger. "I didn't like either side, and I overheard her talking to Aziuhoatl and Ocelot on separate occasions. So we formed a third side."

"Ah, I see. So do Aziuhoatl and Ocelot know she's opposing them?"

"Not yet." She twirled the rod around her fingers. "I think that when they do, she will be very dead."

"Depending on if whether I have some warning, I may be able to shield her. But we'll see." Jade sent a silent prayer upwards as she said that. From my lips to your ear, Huitzilopochtli.

"Maybe, if you can get her out to Jaguar."

"Like I said, it depends on what happens. Anyway. I've some work to do, and I'd better get to it. Could you let me know if you hear anything more about what Ocelot and his cronies are up to?" Jade rose and nodded to Spider, who caught and held her rod, for a single moment entirely still.

Spider nodded. "I will be in contact."

Jade walked back to her chamber, mulling her options. Her plan to kill Mantis had a major hole in it, one that was more serious than she had first thought. To get him alone...that is a problem, when you're trying to kill a man who travels with an army.

She had been in her chambers only a moment when there was a knock at the door. When it opened, Mountain was standing in the doorway. Jade pulled herself upright. "Greetings, again."

"Hello, Jade. Mantis just came through the south gates about 10 minutes ago. I escorted him to his room, alone."

This is not the timing I would have preferred, Huitzilopochtli, she thought. "Ah. Do you think he'll be there long?"

Mountain gave her the merest suggestion of a shrug. "A few hours maybe. He will clean up some, report to Aziuhoatl and be out the gates again for a few days."

"Thank you for letting me know. There's nothing I can do right now, but possibly after he leaves again."

He nodded. "Just letting you know. He seemed angry about something, but that is not unusual."

"Possibly the fact that he can't find his quarry. Has to be frustrating," she said, with a wry smile. "I may take the opportunity to speak to him, however. Thank you."

Mountain nodded and left. Jade thought about it for a moment, then decided that she needed to take care of a thing or two before she went to speak with Mantis. First was the dagger she'd taken off of Torch.

She dug it out of the bag she'd hidden it in and inspected it. It was a standard obsidian dagger, with a very wicked edge to it. It was slightly magical, probably something to make it less brittle. It had Torch's mark on it, and Jade smiled. She would have to get rid of it, and soon, but it would be perfect for framing someone.

She found a hiding place for the dagger then called for some food. The sun was beginning to go down, and she spent a few minutes in prayer, inviting the god into her soul, to sit with her and soothe her spirit. She felt as though the ground beneath her feet were shifting and changing, and she could not help but wonder how she was going to survive tomorrow. I wish...I don't know what I wish. I wish I could know what the truth is. I wish I felt more certain of myself. I wish I could... The thought trailed off, leaving Jade wordless.

She bowed her head, submitting herself to the will of her god. Then she rose and went to ask her guards to take her to Mantis.

He was taller than her, but not by much, and he was well-muscled though without Mountain's sheer bulk. He had a face perfectly pleasant but not in any way distinguished, either for good or for ill. "Hello, Mantis," she said. "My name is Jade Reed, and I'm the new high priest of Huitzilopochtli. I was wondering if I could talk to you for a few minutes."

He nodded and gestured her inside. "Jade, yes. I have been expecting you."

Expecting me? "I'm making a point of meeting all of the other advisors, yes."

He did not sit, instead turning to face her. The room they stood in was painfully bare, almost devoid of anything that would tell her about the man who dwelled here. "So I have heard. You want to know why I do it, don't you?"

Startled, Jade pulled back a half-step. "...I wouldn't have put it in so many words, but yes, in part. Among other things."

Mantis's voice was deep and calm, but there were ugly undertones to it. "Many reasons, but the one you hear the most is not why I do it. They think I enjoy it. Not the case." He crossed his arms and looked straight at her, catching her gaze, almost challenging. "Those that I kill go to what they perceive as the afterlife. If they have been good and moral, their mind makes their time there enjoyable. Those of us that have killed for no reason or for Aziuhoatl's reasons will find ourselves dark and evil. And that is what our afterlife will be like."

He broke eye contact then, and Jade saw his entire body sag slightly, as if a heavy weight had just landed on his shoulders. "I kill them and send them to their good afterlife, knowing full well that I am condemned to suffer forever. Just like you, Jade. There is no redemption for people like us."

Jade felt as if this man had just knocked the breath out of her with nothing more than words. Condemned to suffer forever? Evil? No! Not me. She reached for her priestly calm and found it, and replied, "There is, Mantis. But it exists at the whims of the gods. And, like it or not, we are alive now. We have the living world to deal with."

Looking at him, she thought, This is one man who could surely use much spiritual counseling. But I don't think he'd hear what I had to say to him.

Mantis shook his head. "Maybe your god will redeem you, but if I don't do this, someone else will. I can't let them."

And this is how he justifies it to himself? "Are you so sure about that? That someone else would do what you are doing?"

"Aziuhoatl would find someone. Or the next person he asked would wind up on your altars. And then you can take his life and be damned as I am."

"I know he ordered your goal, but did he order the methods, as well?" she asked, her voice quiet and calm.

"All nahuales dead, are my orders." He smiled then, as he saw the shadow of consternation cross her face. "Ah, but you thought this was just a quest for the one called Spirit. No. It's about genocide."

"Why? Do you know? Or are you just...following orders?" On that last she allowed just a tiny bit of scorn to enter her voice.

Mantis shrugged, spreading his hands. He looked away from her. "Why? Does Aziuhoatl need a reason? Not really. But he fears the nahuales, Ocelot has turned him against them. They used to be honored but now that he fears he is one, he wants them all to pay."

"And so you take the burden of it from him," Jade said, still allowing disdain to color her voice. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was cursing this man who had taken control of the conversation so completely. But he was saying such fascinating things...she hated to try to steer him away from them.

"Not from Aziuhoatl, I take it so no one else has to do it." He returned his gaze to her eyes, taking a step towards her and lowering his voice. "This is nothing more than a power struggle. You think it's about Aziuhoatl and Ocelot and possibly someone else. It's really about Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli."

Jade's blood went to ice as she stared at Mantis, almost uncomprehending. But-- She heard herself say, her voice hard and cold, "Really. Do tell, Mantis."

"Ocelot is Tlaloc's most powerful cleric. There are very few in this world that can rival him. Aziuhoatl pays homage to Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc hates that more than anything. Ocelot is to claim the throne and install Tlaloc as the main god. All in the city and the empire will pray to and revere Tlaloc, and Tlaloc gains in power." A small smile touched Mantis's lips. "Huitzilopochtli loses that many followers and he will become less than a god. Huitzilopochtli can't let that stand so he will get someone to do battle with Ocelot. He tried with Jaguar, but he was too slow. Who's next?" He stepped forward again, his eyes intent. "You?"

She stood her ground, though he was close enough to her to make the hairs on her arm stand up with his nearness. "If that is his plan, he hasn't revealed it to me. So why bring the nahuales into this? They have their own god. They are on neither side."

Mantis shrugged slightly, and his lips twitched with a smile. "Ah, Ocelot convinced Aziuhoatl that Spirit is the embodiment of Tlaloc. Kill them all, and Tlaloc will be gone. He believes the rebellion is Tlaloc's doing, so the rebellion will be gone too. To appease Huitzilopochtli, he kills more and more people to get his attention."

Careful, here. Do not reveal too much. "I do not know. He could be correct. The gods are fickle. But I can tell you that the sacrifices have done their work. He certainly does have Huitzilopochtli's attention."

He grimaced. "I can't believe that Huitzilopochtli wants that many worshippers dying each day. His power has to be waning faster and faster."

Jade's voice was gentle. "Note, Mantis, that I did not say that Huitzilopochtli is pleased with Aziuhoatl. Simply that he has his attention. I do not presume to say whether that is good, or bad."

Mantis abruptly turned away from her, breaking eye contact, taking the disturbing electricity of his presence with him. He stalked over to the window, and said without turning around, "One hopes that he hates the sacrifices. Otherwise, he is an unjust god." He glanced over his shoulder at Jade. "And probably a very stupid one."

She gave him a hard look that said, I'm going to pretend that you did not just say that. "The world is not a just place. An instant can change our fortunes utterly. That is one of the lessons of the killing stone. Who am I to say if a god is just or unjust?"

He turned and came back towards her. "Your very title proves that you think him just. Would you serve an unjust god? If you would, then Ocelot will like to talk to you."

It took Jade a few seconds to come up with a reply, and when she did her voice was less certain than she would have liked. "Even if I thought him unjust, I would still serve. That is simply who I am. But, no, I think him a just god. Capricious, as all gods are, but just."

Mantis leaned in again, and again Jade refused to give ground. The hairs on the back of her neck rose as he spoke. "Ah, so it is you, then, who will be wielding the blade at my death. The rise and fall of my chest on your altar, my still beating heart, pumping one last time in your hand. All the while knowing that where I go, I will suffer for eternity. You can't believe that I won't see you there. You have to know that you are just committing murder, not freeing these people to watch the sun race across the sky."

This time, it was Jade who broke, stepping back, averting her eyes. At the words committing murder, a chill had washed over her. Memories rushed to the surface of her mind and she fought them back. Had anyone ever said anything so audacious to her before? When she could speak again, she reached for the only truth she had at the moment. "My god is still fond of me. I obey his voice. I do not believe he would allow me to suffer for eternity. If you do come to the altar stone, Mantis, I will say an extra prayer for you. My knife is where warriors end their lives; we are told that from the day we are born. I am a necessary part of life. And, like you--if not me, then who?"

"So you, too, are stuck." His voice had suddenly gone gentle. "And what are you going to do about it?"

Jade shrugged. "That depends on what Huitzilopochtli chooses to share with me. If I am ordered to change things, I will change them. Otherwise--I am necessary. We priests of Huitzilopochtli are the fate of warriors. Would they fight so brilliantly if they did not know that we are waiting for them?"

"Maybe. But why are we the judges of who lives and dies?" he asked, something unreadable in his voice.

"I don't know about you, Mantis. But I was chosen by my god, specifically for my task. But you..." She gave him a weighing look, trying to take the measure of this profoundly surprising madman. "I do not know. Why do you think it was you who was given this task?" She moved forward just a touch.

Mantis spread his hands. "There is only one reason. I am good at what I do. There is not a fighter alive that can take me in a fight. To kill me, you will have to overwhelm me, or cheat somehow. And once on a trail I can track it to the owner. That is why I was chosen."

She inclined her head. "Ah, there's an irony," she said, and felt a smile on her lips. "You say that you do this to take the burden from someone else who would have to take it on; but a lesser man might fail entirely, fall to the nahuales." She caught his eyes with hers and dropped her voice. "You will succeed, but at what cost? To you--and to the rest of us?"

He did not flinch from her gaze. "I wait for Huitzilopochtli to show himself, for the woman that will kill me to appear. She will stop me, and I will be free."

Jade suddenly felt as though she had taken a step forward and discovered that she had just blithely walked off a cliff. Did he just say-- "Huitzilopochtli has promised you this?"

"I have seen this. My downfall will be a woman. She will take my pain and set me free. I can only assume that she will kill me. Though I suppose its possible that there is another answer."

"It is possible that freedom may not equal death, yes. And you--are you planning to lie down when this mysterious woman shows up? Or will you fight it to the last?" she asked, watching him carefully.

Mantis shrugged, and again Jade had the impression of a grave weight on his shoulders. "I assume that I will never see it coming."

"If you do? What do you do then?"

"I will listen to what she has to say, if she talks. If she fights, I will defend myself to the last." He finally dropped his gaze from hers, turning his face away. "For if she cannot kill me, then she was not the one."

"For your sake, then, I hope she talks," Jade said. "And that you hear her when she does."

Mantis turned his face back to hers, and there was a look in his eyes that Jade could not read. "I have heard you, Jade."

Jade just looked at him, the moment stretching almost to breaking. Finally, she said, "We are much the same, you and I, are we not? And we dare not trust each other."

"Probably not until we each know what side we are on," Mantis replied.

It was Jade's turn to spread her hands. "I have already told you. I am on my god's side. And you--I have heard you work with Ocelot."

He snorted gently. "Laughable. Ocelot spreads that rumor so people are scared of me, and it makes him look more powerful to have the crazy Mantis on his side."

"Whose side are you on, then?"

He shook his head. "I don't know."

Am I even capable of understanding this man? Ever? "Your own?" she asked.

"I don't think I have a side. I am waiting for her."

All right, Huitzilopochtli, if I am this mysterious woman he's waiting for, I've got no idea what to say to him here. There was no reply from the god, and Jade knew she was on her own on this one. "I do not know who this woman is you are waiting for. But there is almost always a way out that is not the path of the knife. It is not something we priests are taught much about, but it is something I believe anyway."

He let out a breath, long and slow. "If you find it, Jade, then show me where and what it is."

Jade looked away, a truth pressing down on her, begging to be spoken. Tell him. Tell him the consequences. She did not know if it was her own inner voice demanding this, or if it was the god urging her on. "I will tell you something, Mantis, that my god has told me. Not even you can kill all the nahuales, and they are very close to the breaking point. We have always lived in a fragile peace with them, and now they are coming among us. Give them reason to strike from within, and the blood that flows from the Temple tomorrow will be nothing compared with what they do to us. The path of the knife will lead nowhere, in this case."

"I cannot stop, Jade." Mantis's voice was strained. "If I do, Aziuhoatl will have me killed, which may be a blessing. But I have to see her, touch her just once before I die. To know that she is real. I can be less observant, though."

"At least--delay. If you can. I am trying to find the path, but I do not have all the answers, and I do not have enough time." So little time. Slipping away from me like water. Following an impulse, she reached out and briefly, lightly, laid her hand on his shoulder. "If you can."

He nodded. "I will delay some, but I have to make progress."

"I know. Any delay gives us more time to find a solution," she said.

"Then I will try to give you some time," Mantis said, and she felt a brief surprise. This was not where she'd expected this conversation to go.

She smiled then, inclining her head in gratitude. "Thank you, Mantis. It is appreciated. I know that Aziuhoatl is doing what he thinks right, but I fear where it will take us."

Mantis shook his head slowly. "It will lead to Tlaloc winning and Ocelot on the throne. But Aziuhoatl is no better."

"There may--may--be a third path. It remains to be seen," she told him.

"Hurry, Jade. I close on Spirit with every passing day."

Jade nodded, and let out a breath. "I am hurrying. And I may call on you again, before this is over."

"It would be good to see you again. Good day, Jade." He turned away from her, and she back up and left the stark room, closing the door behind her.

She was nearly blind with her swirling emotions, and almost stumbled several times on the way back to her own room. Once safely ensconced within the walls on her room, she sank to her knees, pressing herself to the ground as if it alone was the only thing that was not shifting.

Nobody--nobody--challenged priests of Huitzilopochtli like that. He had questioned the very core of her life, the god she served, her place in the world. Mantis had called her, among other things, a cold-blooded murderer.

The terrible part was that she was starting to believe that he might be correct.

I enjoy the kill, she thought. I love the blood, the spectacle, the way I can feel the last of the life beat out of a heart as I hold it in my hand. It was not what her god wanted, and still in some way she craved it, craved it like a drunkard his pulque.

She shivered violently. I am a murderer. I have killed thousands of innocent people, one of them the only person I ever fell in love with, and I killed them when they were helpless. Men, women, sometimes children. Every one of them has come to my knife, and been dispatched.

Mantis believed he was evil, irredeemably so. If she were as well...

No. I cannot be irredeemable. Huitzilopochtli would not favor me if I were.

But how do I begin to make amends?

She was shivering as if she might fly apart. She had been mistaken. Misguided. But in darkness so deep there was no light?

Would she even know if she were?

She waited until the storm of emotion passed, until her shivering subsided. Once she was feeling less shaky, she extended her will and took hold of her power, shaping and directing a question at Huitzilopochtli. Is it true that this battle is, at its root, between you and Tlaloc?

He answered her, voice audible but no image. "Well, if I have to. Yes, yes it is."

"You might have told me, you know." Faint irritation colored her voice, but in truth it was an enormous relief that her moment of doubt had not caused her god to abandon her.

He sounded slightly sulky. "I suppose, but it makes it seem more noble if it's about all the dying people."

Jade chuckled. "Am I the woman Mantis is waiting for?" she asked.

"He doesn't know, and neither do I. I think so, but he is crazy. Could be anyone."

"Interestingly crazy, though," she remarked dryly.

The god's voice laughed. "Well, and not wrong either." She looked up and realized that his image had faded in, though he remained a bit transparent.

"That, as well. So you're putting me against Ocelot in the battle of the high priests? I'd be honored if the thought didn't chill me," she told her god.

"Someone has to do it. Thought you had the best chance."

Jade looked sharply at him; there had been echoes of Mantis in that statement. "Well, I'll give it my best shot," she said. "While I have your attention--are there any other priests currently in the Temple who've had the same chat with you that I have?"

Huitzilopochtli snorted gently. "That would be telling, but I suppose. The one you are about to put on the advisory board. That's it, I swear."

"I was thinking Shale, since I know him well and we work well together. I will have to speak with him." And it would explain the uneasy feeling she'd had about him earlier today, when she was talking to him.

He gave a noisy sigh. "That it? Can I go now?"

Jade laughed, unexpectedly. "Like you need my permission. I'll talk to you later, I'm sure."

Huitzilopochtli winked at her and waved, and then faded out entirely. Jade felt her heart lifted by her god's visit, though not entirely; she would wager that she was not going to sleep very much tonight, if at all.

Mantis was a problem to which there was little answer. He might be an ally, but a problematic one if he was. He might also be a deadly enemy, and he knew too much already. How far did his madness extend, and why had he lied about how close he was with Ocelot? Mountain had said quite clearly that he often saw Mantis in Ocelot's presence, when he was here. She would trust Mountain's word over Mantis's any day.

And for that matter, how had Mantis known what he had about Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli? How had he managed to see into the abyss that had evidently driven him mad?

She would find no answers here, and so she rose from her knees, ran a hand over her tightly bound hair, and took a deep breath. With any luck, Spider would still be in her rooms.

The last of the light was fading from the sky outside as she left her room once more, doubts heavy on her shoulders.

Comments

[fensef.livejournal.com]

I apologize for the obvious misplacement of this comment and for the fact that I, a stranger, am commenting on your sacred log, but I thought that this insight might be interesting enough to be worth your attention. The insight of which I speak regards your kinaesthetic balloon metaphor for algebra.

You stated in your entry that when solving problems you feel the need to feel the balloons to try to see whether the equations are getting smaller... In fact, this seems in a vague way to suggest a potential algorithm for solving mathematical problems computationally! Work by G. Chaitin (http://www.cs.umaine.edu/~chaitin) and others allows definition of the "complexity" or what you call "balloon size" of a mathematical problem in terms of the smallest computer program that can describe it. Additionally, there is an important algorithm in bioinformatics called the Monte Carlo algorithm (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Carlo_method) that allows one to try to minimize a value by trying to move parameters in different directions usually in ways that decrease the value but sometimes in ways that increase it...

Anyway, I think maybe the synergy of these two ideas could lead to some good new algorithms. Good luck with your writing!

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Whoa. The plot certainly does thicken!

[silenceleigh.livejournal.com]

That was approximately my response to the conversation with Mantis. :)