Flower of War: Disappearing Acts

[aithne]

Outside the chaos of the palace, the city and the swamp beyond it were peaceful. That won't last much longer, once word starts getting out, Jade thought to herself. She walked through the west gate, waved through by the guards, and headed into the swamp. She knew that Mantis had gone west of the city, but where?

She wandered through the marsh, zig-zagging to try to pick up a trail, any trail. She found nothing for an hour, and then saw a place where there were the clear impression of sandaled feet in the mud, bent and broken twigs marking the passage of a number of men. She followed the trail, catching a whiff of smoke from up ahead.

Mantis stepped out onto the path in front of her, and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She mastered herself an instant later. Without preamble, Mantis asked, "Is it time, Jade?"

"It's begun to be time, yes. Aziuhoatl is dead. As of this moment, you have no orders."

"Yes, killed by a raven and a cat."

Jade blinked. "How did you know?"

He made a strange half-gesture towards his eyes. "I see things, Jade. Not all are as easy to interpret as that."

That sounded like-- Make no assumptions. "You have--visions?"

Mantis twisted his mouth. "Always. Nightmares, daymares, visions in the heat of battle."

"What about, usually?" she asked, curious. "And I take it that's how you knew about Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli."

"Anything really. Yes, it took me a long time to decipher that one." There were shadows in his eyes; it seemed his talent had never made him happy. Jade had heard stories about the visionaries, men and occasionally women who saw things all the time that priests usually used certain plants to help them see. They were invariably described as mad.

"Have you always had visions?"

"Since I became a man."

It was like her own talent, then--it had shown up early in life. She wondered what the event had been that had triggered his. "Most people with that talent go into the priesthood. The Tlaloc priesthood, much as I hate to admit it," she said, watching him.

Mantis shrugged. "Didn't want to. The visions told me not to."

"I don't suppose you know an old mage named Walker?" she asked, wanting to confirm her suspicions.

"Walker, yes, he tried to teach me to control them." Mantis had a half-smile on his face. "He failed."

Walker had failed with Mantis? The old mage didn't have limitless power, then. "Perhaps your talent simply isn't able to be corralled like that."

"Perhaps not. You are searching for the raven?"

Jade nodded. "In part, yes. I'm also moving to set things up against Ocelot."

"The cat ordered the raven, and the raven got another cat."

"Yes. That much I know. Do you have any idea where the raven might be found now?" she asked.

Mantis's gaze was distant. "He travels with the sun darkening. But he emerges from the light alone. He goes to the trees and then to the desert."

"It sounds like he's heading north, then."

"Yes, more blood though, before he is done."

More blood? "Who is he planning to kill?" she asked.

Mantis returned his gaze to hers, and she stifled a shiver at the strange expression in them. He was looking at her, yet not seeing her. She wondered what it was that he saw when he looked at her. "The sun darkening and water. A small river of water."

A small river-- "Stream. Aziuhoatl's third wife."

He nodded. "Regent, now."

"Ah, that's right. I didn't see her in Aziuhoatl's rooms, I don't even know where she is."

"With the raven," he said, as if it ought to have been obvious.

"Ah. So if I find him, I find all three of them."

"Use the creature in the box," Mantis said, and something in his gaze changed. He suddenly seemed more present, more centered, as if he was suddenly seeing the real world rather than whatever his visions held. She looked back at him, thinking what danger this man held. He knew about the creature in the box. What he knew about it, she couldn't tell, but if she were to intercept Raven before Eclipse and Stream died, she would have to move quickly.

"That's what I was planning," she told him. "I need to go, Mantis. I may be back later. I've found the third path, I think."

The smile he gave her then held what was, as far as she could tell, genuine pleasure. "Good to see you again, Jade."

"Good to see you, as well," she told him, meaning it though, as usual, she felt unbalanced by his presence, looking for solid ground to stand on. She nodded and turned to go, almost expecting him to stop her with another strange proclamation.

He did not, and she quickly left him in the distance as she tried to work out the best way of reaching Walker's from her currently location. Fortunately, she was nearby, and she soon arrived at his door.

She knocked on the door, and he quickly answered. "It's me, Walker. Some things have happened in the city. I need to use that box I left here." He gestured her in, and she stepped past him, saying, "Aziuhoatl is dead. I need to see if I can locate Raven, he's about to get away clean, and I can't have that."

"The box is where you left it," he said, closing the door behind her.

"Thank you. Apologies for my rudeness and my rush, but--it's been a very busy morning."

"No trouble Jade, anything I can help with?" he asked, as she picked the box up from the low shelf it had been sitting on and sat down, settling it in her lap.

She looked up at him, giving him a wry smile. "That depends on whether you can tell from a pile of ash who it used to be. Or if you can think of a way to convince a sixteen-year-old girl with a love of her own to marry her worst enemy."

His mouth twitched. "The ash maybe, the girl no."

She held out the pot of ash that she had been carrying with her towards him, and he took it. "If you want to give it a try, that's it. The girl's more my problem, and I'm hoping to get Jaguar to help me on that one."

"It will take a bit but I can try," he said, glancing at the pot and the fine ash inside.

"Thank you, Walker." She turned her attention to the box, opening it. "Hello, again. I wish I had something to call you by, you know."

Words rose once more to the surface of the sand. The heat of it felt pleasant on her face. "Jade, good to hear you. I have no name. You may choose."

"I'll think about something to call you." She thought--Raven carried no talon, but Eclipse and Stream both did. "I need to know what Eclipse is doing."

"Eclipse is dead."

"How about Stream?" she asked.

"Alive and being pulled by a man through some tunnels."

Raven, definitely. "Does she know where she is, or what direction she's going?"

"Under darkside and heading north."

"Is she going willingly?"

"No."

Jade considered this briefly. She was on the west side of the city. She bet she knew where the tunnels would come out on that side. "All right." She paused briefly. "What is Spider doing?" she asked.

"Spider is changing clothes to her old woman form."

Interesting. Very, very interesting. "Thank you. I'll be back later." She closed the box and rose, replacing it on the shelf. "So, Walker. Have any interest in helping me kill a fellow advisor?"

"If it's Raven?" The lines on Walker's face deepened as he grinned. "Any time. I even know where he likely is."

"Well, then, come with me!"

They moved quickly, faster than Jade had imagined was possible through the swamp. This was Walker's home ground, and he betrayed an energy that should have belonged to a man thirty years his junior. He ushered her into a tunnel entrance. "This way. There's a place where several tunnels meet, all of the ones that lead to this door. He'll have to come through it."

He showed her to a place where five tunnels met. They didn't have to wait more than a few minutes before they heard footsteps approaching. From one of the tunnels emerged Raven, his handsome face twisted in a snarl, dragging with him a girl. The girl was sobbing and fighting him, but he was just too strong. He pulled up, looking at Jade. "You."

"Me." She smiled as she released the spell she had been holding for this moment. A beam of light sprang from her hand and hit Raven, who staggered just slightly, shook his head, and then began casting a spell of his own.

Walker's hand touched Jade's elbow. "Let me deal with him," he said. Jade nodded and began to move.

Flame came from both mages as Raven and Walker started in on their spells. Stream had shrunk against the wall, holding onto it, sobbing. Jade grabbed her by the warm and told her, "Be calm, little one, we'll take care of you." She pulled the girl towards Walker, casting one spell and then another on both of them, protective spells. She'd been around a few mage battles before; they tended to get messy.

Raven, she quickly discovered, was a very good mage.

Walker, fortunately, was better. He took one spell then another from Raven, then cast something that shoved the other man back into one of the corridors. Jade spotted the danger right away--the tunnel's ceiling was held up with beams. The right amount of force would take them out.

She was not disappointed. Raven, unaware of his danger, started casting another spell as an unseen force rushed past him, whipping his long hair into his eyes. He looked baffled for just an instant.

The air filled with choking dust as the tunnel collapsed and Raven disappeared beneath the stone. After the roaring stopped, Walker said, coughing, "Want to check if he's alive?"

Carefully, she dug into the pile of rock, uncovering a hand, finally. There was no pulse at the wrist. "Dead," she said. "I'll leave him there, Mountain will want to fetch him."

Walker nodded. "I'll see you later, then."

Jade glanced at Stream, then turned back to Walker. "Would you tell--your guest--what's happened, and let him know I should be by later to talk to him?"

"I will. Goodbye, Jade." He retreated into the tunnel where they'd come from. Stream was fetched up against the wall, shivering and crying still. Jade sighed. "Up with you, girl."

"What--what are you going to do to me?" Stream asked. She shook as Jade pulled her to her feet, and she couldn't seem to take her eyes off of Raven's hand, sticking out of the pile of stone. "Are we going to--to--"

Jade sighed. "No, we're not going to the Temple. I'm taking you back to the palace, where you and your son will be placed under as much guard as I can manage." She paused, and bowed slightly. "Regent."

Stream burst into noisy tears once more, and Jade sighed as she led the girl towards the surface.

A little while later, Jade transferred Stream into Mountain's care, and let him know where Raven's body was. After Stream was hustled away, she was left alone in a room with Mountain. She said, "Stream needs to be well-guarded. I don't know who else in the palace means her harm."

Mountain nodded. "I can think of a few, myself. Anything else?"

She gave the big man a considering look. "You know, Mountain, I've gotten the impression that you're not fond of Ocelot. Is this true?"

"I would not grieve if he were gone." His face revealed nothing of what he was feeling. "But I have learned it's best not reveal your intentions to other advisors."

Carefully, she said, "True enough. He will rule here shortly, I think. I have to admit the idea isn't a very pleasant one. But I suppose it's inevitable."

"Things change rapidly. Yesterday I would have said that Aziuhoatl would be with us for a long time." He made a gesture that seemed to encompass the whole palace. "But today, as you see."

Jade nodded. "True enough. I surely wasn't expecting something like this to happen less than a week after I joined the advisors."

"No, but a lot has happened since then."

"Been an eventful several days. Anyway, I should be off. I'll see you later, Mountain." She nodded to him and left, heading out of the city once more. She needed to spend some more time with the creature in the box, and in training with Walker.

It was afternoon, the sun beginning to dip towards the horizon. Jade cast a worried glance at the lengthening shadows, and then shrugged. If she ended up needed to spend the night outside the walls, it wouldn't be the end of the world. She might be able to claim a blanket at Walker's, or impose on the ocelot clan's hospitality for the night. It wasn't like her own room in the palace was still intact, and she was probably safer spending the night either in the Temple or outside the walls.

When she reached the stone house, Walker appeared to anticipate her arrival, opening the door as she stepped up to the threshold. "Back for more training?" he asked.

She glanced behind him. Jaguar was not there, and she felt slightly disappointed. No matter. "Partially, and partially to spend some time with that box. I need to see if I can figure a few things out. But some more practice certainly wouldn't go amiss."

Walker nodded. "Well I will leave you alone with the creature, come find me outside when you are done. If you have time, we can continue." He stepped out the door and Jade went past him, into the house.

"I will, thank you," she said, and closed the door behind her. She retrieved the box from the shelf it had been stowed on, and say down with it in her lap once more. "Hello, again," she said as she opened the box. "Can you tell me what Teal is doing?"

"Teal is ranting to someone about Stream being alive," the words scribed in the sand said.

"Can you tell who she's ranting to?"

"The voice is lower, deeper, male of your species."

Jade frowned. "Hm. Maybe Thunder, maybe Ocelot. Why's she upset that Stream is alive?"

"She believes that Stream should have died and then the path to the throne was clear. "

Clear for Ocelot, to be sure. "Is she just angry about it, or is she proposing ideas for killing Stream?"

"Her tone indicates that she is ranting with no reasonable idea for removing her. So says the male voice."

Jade nodded. "Is the male voice saying anything else?" she asked.

"No it seems to be just listening mostly, and says the words calm down a lot."

"That's more than likely Thunder, then. All right, someone else. Bloom. Someone I've not met before. What is he doing?" Bloom was another advisor, she knew, though she knew very little about him.

"Bloom is running very hard and breathing very hard."

Her eyebrows shot up. "Where is he, can you describe?"

"Marsh area, tall trees. Lots of undergrowth but the ground seems drier than here."

North of town, I'd wager. "Is something chasing him?"

"Sounds of something large behind him. Several somethings. They growl, low."

"Nahuales, maybe. Jaguars, if anything. Are they catching up?"

"Difficult to tell, but I can see the gate to the city coming into his view. I believe he will make it. He is carrying something in a cloth."

Bloom, what have you gotten into? What have you stolen? "Is he thinking about what he's carrying? Can you tell what it is?"

"He is being very careful with it. Some sort of rock or crystal."

"Can you tell if he's taking it to someone?" she asked. She was almost forgetting that she was talking to a strange little creature, so caught up in the story was she.

"Too busy running to be able to tell where his destination is."

She pursed her lips. "Hm. Maybe I'll come back to him in a bit. What is Mantis doing?"

"Mantis is returning to the city with his troops," the words in the sand said.

"Not unexpected. How about Spider?"

"Spider has assumed her old woman form and is currently begging in Dark side."

"Does she have anything on her mind in particular, something she's looking for?" Jade asked.

"She is waiting and watching for a girl called Eclipse or Boa. She also is watching for Midnight."

Another person with a talon in them, she remembered. A darkside merchant. "All right, what is Midnight doing?"

"Midnight is anxiously awaiting the arrival of Bloom."

"Aha! Two questions--is Midnight male or female, and can you tell what Bloom is supposed to be bringing?"

"Female, she has large nursing glands." Jade choked with laughter at that description of Midnight. "She is thinking of magic."

"Is she worried that Bloom won't be able to get what she wants to her?"

"She seems worried that he has died trying to bring it to her."

"Is she worried that someone specific has killed him?" she asked, frowning.

"She fears that that which he has taken will bring the nahuales out to hunt him."

That fit together, then. "Is she thinking about what about what she wants would make him hunted by the nahuales?"

"Again, a rock or crystal. Blue in color."

That piece of the puzzle was assembled in her mind. It all hung together, but she didn't know if she was going to get anything more out of that line of questioning. She asked, "Next person--what is Stream doing?"

"Crying and shaking."

"Is anyone with her?" she asked.

"She is with a young one."

"Ah, her son. Is she afraid of something?"

"Dying, and Raven."

Jade frowned. "She saw Raven die. Does she fear he's still alive?"

"No, she is just reliving the experience."

She sighed. I suppose she's never had anyone try to kill her before. She tried to remember what that had been like. She had joined the warriors so early that she didn't quite remember a time when her life had not been in some amount of danger. "Poor thing," she commented to the box. "She's probably scared out of her mind. What's Boa doing?"

"Dancing in a show."

"Unlikely to be doing anything else interesting for the moment. How about Heat?" Heat was another merchant, reputedly less darkside than Midnight.

"Selling a potion to a cloaked man."

"Does he know the man he's selling to, or is it a stranger?"

"He seems to know them and is afraid of them."

"Can you tell what potion he's selling?"

"He states that it will destroy what magic it touches, or at least suspend the function of magic."

A form of one of her own spells, then. "He could be selling that to just about anyone. Though I can eliminate a few people right off the bat. Okay. What is Piranha doing?"

"Dealing in a powdered form of poppy."

Jade's eyebrows went up again. Piranha dealt in drugs? "Interesting. I've heard he usually sells food. Does he know the person he's selling to?"

"Yes he does. A person named Jasmine."

"All right, back to Bloom. Did he make it back to the city?"

"Bloom has returned and is moving through the crowds of darkside. He is passing the old woman named spider and heading into the tent of Midnight."

"This might get interesting," she said. "Do they speak to each other?"

"They are."

"What are they saying?"

"She is asking about the moon crystal. He responds that he got it. She seems excited."

"Does she say why she wanted it, who she's going to sell it to?" she asked.

"She says that it will bring a good price and then it will rid the city of nahuales."

Jade frowned, her hackles raising. "Moon crystal. Got it. She doesn't mention a name?"

"None that I can hear. But it seems to be Bloom's feeding time, so they have stopped talking."

She was unlikely to get anything else out of them, then. She thought about asking after Spear, but decided that he was unlikely to be doing anything other than lying flat on his back and hurting, if he was awake. "I see. All right, I may be back in a bit. Before I go--do you have a talon ready, now?"

"I do." Out of the sand came a claw, and out of the end slid a talon, pushed out slowly and, it seemed, painfully. She reached out and with a delicate snap, it fell into her hand. The claw withdrew into the sand.

"Will it die if it's not put into someone right away?" she asked, fumbling for a cloth.

"It has one week before the next one emerges."

"Thank you," she said, wrapping the talon in the cloth. "I will likely be back to talk to you later."

"Goodbye Jade," the lines in the sand wrote.

"Goodbye," she said as she closed the box. Then she rose and put the box away. She headed out the door, to find Walker sitting with his eyes closed, his face to the setting sun. He opened his eyes at her approach.

"Ready for training?" he asked her.

She nodded. "If you would."

In the next hour, Walker helped her add to her newfound ability, stretching it so that she was able to call one animal of every type she could sense around her to her hands. She summoned a creature as small as a mouse and as large as a big cat she felt pass nearby. She ran her hands over the feathers of an eagle, thinking that few had been so blessed as to touch such a magnificent bird while it was still alive. The snakes and lizards, too, were fascinating in their own way, their scaled and pebbled skin dry to the touch.

She touched the mottled fur of the jaguar she had called, the big cat spitting and fighting at her control but not offering her direct harm, and marveled. "Why was I chosen for this?" she asked the cat.

Neither the cat nor Walker offered an answer.

The sun was slipping towards the horizon when she released the hummingbird that she had called to her as her last practice, stood, and bowed to Walker. "Thank you, teacher," she said formally, as she had been taught to in the House of Youth years ago.

"You're welcome, Jade," he said, nodding to her.

"Before I go," she asked, "do you know anything about moon crystals?"

"Moon crystal. Haven't heard that in years. It was used as a nahual detector. Shown to a nahual it would make them take human form if they were in animal form, or force the human form to change to animal."

Jade grimaced. "Evidently some clan had one, and it's now in the city. Someone, I'm not sure who, wants to use it to rid the city of nahuales. Which means I need to find the thing and either destroy it or get it back out to those who it belongs to."

Walker nodded. "That would be best. With so many in the city at the moment, it would be a blood bath for the nahuales to be exposed."

"I'm hoping that with Mantis no longer killing them, they'll be able to move out of the city if they want." She sighed. "Just when I thought they were relatively safe, someone else decides they all need to die."

"Might have been an order from Aziuhoatl to find it," Walker suggested.

"Might have been, but I doubt it. Bloom would have taken it to Aziuhoatl directly, if that were the case. He wouldn't have given it to a darkside dealer."

The old mage quirked his mouth. "Then it is for sale to the highest bidder. Be the highest bidder and you can cut this off without bloodshed."

Would be nice. "True enough. which means I probably ought to get back to the city. I wanted to talk to Jaguar, but I suppose I can catch up with him later. By the way--is the mage named Fox one of yours?" she asked."

"She is," he said, his face suddenly grave.

"Good to know," she said. "If I'm lucky, I'll never come face-to-face with her. She has a quite legitimate grievance against me."

"Unfortunately for you, you were good at your job. Therefore, a lot of people in the rebellion have a grievance with you. It took a long time for Jaguar to become what he has. A lot of forgiveness had to take place. It will be the same for you."

She looked away from Walker. "I know. Forgiveness is...not something I have a lot of experience with."

"Time is all you can give them," he said. "Off with you, now. I'll give Jaguar your message."

She nodded and headed off into the swamp, towards the city. Forgiveness. It was a soft concept, one that was not much loved among warriors. Is there any forgiveness, for someone who's done what I have?

If she were very lucky indeed, she might live to find out.

Within the city walls once again, she headed towards the palace. She found Spider in her quarters, and reviewed what she knew with the twitchy woman. Spider knew approximately what she did, though she'd gathered her information differently. "The moon crystal can be used to force nahuales to change from one form to another. Basically, someone's going to want to use it to rid the city of nahuales," she told Spider, who was drumming her fingers on the table before her.

"And we care why?" Spider asked.

Jade shrugged. "I care." She could not explain her true reasons to Spider, she doubted that the other woman would understand what she only barely understood herself. "I'm still hoping to get the nahuales on our side. Stopping this and returning the moon crystal to them would be an excellent way to do so," she offered.

Spider gave her a hard look, then shrugged. "Just wondering. So they will probably bid for it. The easiest way is to put down a large offer and make her sell it us. Or steal it."

"Not going to be easy to steal something so valuable from Midnight. Does she have a reputation for not saying who's bought things from her?"

"Yep, that's her specialty. No questions asked or answered."

"I do have some resources I can call up," Jade said, thinking. "The office I hold comes with a fortune amassed on the sly by my predecessors, meant for just such occasions. How much do you think we're talking here? I have no idea how much a weapon like this would go for."

"Nor I." Spider shrugged. "'Tis a game really. I would start at ten jade and go up from there. You might try to find out who wanted it in the first place. It was probably Aziuhoatl that wanted it."

"I might be able to ask Bloom, when I talk to him," Jade said. "I don't think Midnight would probably tell me."

"Probably not. But how are you going to explain how you know. By the way, how do you know? I didn't see you at darkside."

Jade shrugged. "I have a few spells of sight I can call on, when need be. I happened to be looking in the right direction."

Spider didn't looks as if she quite believed Jade. "That was lucky."

"It was. As for how to explain to Bloom how I knew...good question. I do have contacts among the city guards. Perhaps one of them noted Bloom running into the city with the nahuales on his heels, which is where I first saw him."

"It's possible Mountain would know that," Spider said.

"True enough. A question, though, before I go--why on earth is everyone so interested in Boa?"

Spider shrugged, and then smiled sharply. "She is Mantis's daughter. Aziuhoatl had me watch her for signs of Mantis's abilities."

"Does she have them? I've spoken to her, she seems saner than he."

"She might and not be telling anyone. I have seen her on the streets of Darkside walking at all hours," Spider replied. "Mantis does the same thing."

"Doesn't sleep much. Could just be insomnia, could be the same thing Mantis has," Jade speculated.

"Nightmares I would bet. That might be what she is seeing and currently dismisses them as insomnia."

Jade thought about the light she'd seen in Mantis's eyes and said, "I'd call it less an ability than a curse, really."

"True enough. It was for Mantis, but a saner Mantis would be a great asset."

Jade shrugged. "I'm not sure if anything can make him saner than he is at present. Though the last time I spoke to him, he made a remarkable amount of sense."

Spider drummed her fingers on the table again. "He is more lucid than others. I am not sure he is that insane really. Just creepy."

"Especially when he's being all intense at you," Jade said, remembering. Though I wouldn't exactly call it creepy. He stands on the border between two worlds. There is the temptation to try to ground him in this one a bit better. She shook her head. "Well, unless you have anything for me, I should probably go see if I can buy a bauble in the darkside before anyone else gets to it."

"No, nothing to report. See you, Jade."

Jade rose, stretched, and left the room. She was thinking about what she needed to do before she left for the darkside market, and nearly ran straight into Mountain and Coal. They both had grim looks on their faces, and Jade hoped they weren’t meant for her. "Gentlemen. What can I do for you?" she asked.

"Can you give us a hand Jade? We have a problem," Coal said.

"What kind of problem?"

"Bloom is dead."

Dead? Damnit. "Murdered?" she asked.

Coal shook his head. "Can't tell, hence why we need your help. Not a mark on him."

"I'll come look at him," she said. I hope this doesn't take too long. Opportunity could be slipping out of my hands as I dally, but...I think this is something I need to see.

"Thanks," Coal said, and the two men turned and led her to Bloom's room.

Mountain stayed by the door, and Coal stepped into the room with her. Bloom was lying on his bed, his hands at his side, his open eyes staring at the ceiling. With her magical sight, she could see a faint residue of magic on him, fading quickly. "Looks like he was hit by something magical," she said, stepping forward and starting to go over the body with gentle hands. She was looking for residue, powders, anything that might account for the magic on him.

"The interesting bit is that all the furniture has been rearranged," Coal said.

She blinked. "Really? How was it arranged before?"

"Bloom didn't allow the maids into his room, so it was never dusted much. Look at the chairs now and where they used to be." He pointed to the floor, and she saw that the chairs that were now arranged in a circle had once been at the edges of the room.

"That's very strange. It looks like there were several people in here talking. Did his guards see anything? Who found him?"

"His guards did when he didn't answer the door for the dinner he sent out for," Coal replied. "The guards heard nothing and saw nothing. They say no one got past them. Bloom was working on the nahual problem from another angle. That's all he said."

Jade was struck by a thought. Bloom's room was on the third floor, but if someone had come in the window...she went to the window and looked at the outside sill. Nothing. No rope fibers, just bird droppings. More of those than usual, really. There were a few claw marks, as if from larger birds, and a few feathers. Some of those feathers had blown into the room, as Jade turned around and looked for them.

She stepped over to the body again. If she didn't miss her guess, he hadn't been killed where he lay. He'd been moved after death, she was almost sure of it. He might have been talking with the people in the circle, been killed, and then brought over and laid out carefully on the bed. The magic on him was after the manner of priests, not mages. It looked a lot like one particular spell that priests of Huitzilopochtli were more or less forbidden to use.

She turned to Coal and Mountain. "Well, what I can tell you is this. If I hadn't seen the magic on him I would have said that he died of a bad heart or a brain seizure. The magic was likely cast by a priest, or someone used a potion of a priest spell. I'd probably start by finding out what Bloom was working on and who he might have pissed off recently."

Coal frowned. "We were wondering if the nahuales may have done it. The bird droppings are consistent to a clan that Mountain found recently."

Bird nahuales? "Might have been. Then again, someone may be trying to frame them. And Spirit is still out there, somewhere. A priest of Huitzilopochtli wouldn't have used this particular spell, we consider it cheating, and the god frowns on it. But there are many other gods out there."

"There are. Thank you, Jade. Oh, one last thing." Coal offered her a bundle of cloth from a bag he was carrying. "We found this strapped to the rafter up there."

"Just this, strapped to the rafter?" she asked.

"Yes, but it was well hidden. But it's standard for me to search the rafters for clues as well. I wonder why they left it. You would think if they were nahuales, and bird ones at that, they would have found this."

"I'm guessing they would have." She shook out the cloak, looking at it with her magical sight. The magic rippled through it, not like anything she'd ever seen of this sort before. Usually, an enchanted item would glow steadily. "That's very odd. It's magical, but not enchanted like this sort of thing usually is."

"I would take it to Coral under Aziuhoatl's orders but... Anybody you trust to find out what that does?" Coal asked.

She gave him a sharp look. "I do. Not on the advisory council, however."

"That is probably preferable at this point."

She nodded and folded the cloak neatly once more. "I'll take it to my person and see what they can figure out about it."

"Thanks, Jade." Coal smiled, and Mountain inclined his head.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be more help, gentlemen. If you'll excuse me, I need to be going." She stepped out of the room and headed towards the Temple, where she picked up a small bag of jade from the supply secreted in the heart of the Temple, under a lock only the hand of the high priest could open. Then she headed out into the city, towards darkside.

She asked around and was quickly directed to Midnight's shop. It was, very oddly, deserted. Jade frowned as she looked around. "Is anyone here?" she called. There was no answer.

Jade caught a glimpse of a figure in the back, sitting down. She caught another glimpse, too--a glimmer of magic. Her stomach sank as she stepped forward, putting her head into the room.

The smell of death was present here, emanating from the woman who sat with her back to Jade in the small back room. She was dead, sitting still. Except for the magic on her, it looked almost as if she'd felt a little tired, sat down, and passed into the next life without a clue what was happening.

Jade looked around; the moon crystal was not in evidence. There were bird droppings on the threshold and a few feathers, the same as had been in Bloom's room. The bird nahuales, if they were the ones who had done this, had done the exact same thing to Midnight that they had to Bloom.

If they had, at least it wasn't in the hands of someone who would use it to expose the nahuales for what they were. Jade straightened and walked out of the shop, muttering to herself as if she'd merely walked in and found it untended. She cast a glance at the sky; the sun was getting ready to set, but if she hurried--

She set off towards the gate without another thought.

She walked to where she had met Cat's clan. She waited for a bit, then the same old man she had seen before transformed before her. "Greetings," she said to him, and bowed. "I was hoping I might speak to Cat. Or, perhaps, you might be able to answer my questions."

The old man gave her a canny look. "I can get Cat but it will take a while. But I can answer what I can."

"Someone from the city stole a moon crystal earlier today from one of the nahual clans. Have you heard about this? Was it returned?"

"We have heard about this. One of the advisors, a man named Bloom, stole it." He shook his head. "It has not been returned."

"Bloom is dead, as is the woman he gave it to. Evidence left at the scene points to the possibility of a clan of birds having taken it from her. But it has not been returned?" Jade asked.

He shook his head. "More will die. No one not a nahual can hold it."

Oh. Well, then. "So to find it, I'd need to follow the trail of bodies it will leave?"

"Yes, until a nahual holds it, it will keep killing."

"I'm going to have a problem, then, if I want to retrieve and return it," she said twisting her mouth. "I'd need to find a nahual to handle it for me."

"Is that why you needed Cat?" he asked.

She inclined her head. "I was thinking she might help me in tracking it and returning it, yes."

The old nahual eyed Jade for a moment. "Return here in an hour. I will bring her with me."

"I will, thank you." She watched as he disappeared into the undergrowth. An hour was enough time, if just barely, to get to Walker's and back. She glanced at the sky--it seemed like an eternity had passed since Aziuhoatl had died first thing this morning--and started walking.

She stopped by Walker's and gave him the cloak. He told her he would do the spell to identify it for her, and she could come get it from him tomorrow, as well as do some more training, if she had time. Then she went back to her meeting place with the ocelots. Cat was waiting for her, dressed in a rough shirt and trousers.

"Miss me or something?" the girl asked.

Jade grinned. "Terribly." Then her expression sobered. "I've got a problem, one that you might be uniquely qualified to help me solve."

Cat bounced on the soles of her feet. "That's fun, what do you want me to steal?"

"A moon crystal. Unfortunately, I don't know who has it or where in the city it might be at the moment. I do know that I shouldn't touch the thing, though."

"Oh, moon crystals. Fun things. I can find it," she said, absolute confidence in her voice.

Jade considered the girl, her thin face full of barely suppressed excitement. "Do you need any help from me?" she asked. "I don't have a lot of information, but if, say, money would make things easier, I can provide that. And I can tell you where it was last seen, and through whose hands I know it's passed so far."

"All that is useful. I can probably get it alone. Or at least tell you who has it now."

"Either would be very useful. If I know who has it now, I might be able to get it if you can't."

Cat nodded. "Might take a day or two. I will need money for food and a place to sleep."

If it keeps you from getting caught for pinching food from street vendors, wonderful, she thought. "I can provide both of those things. I'll even throw in some extra for you. Also--there was evidence at the scenes of the deaths of both people who have possessed it so far of bird nahuales. What do you know about them?"

The girl chewed at the inside of her cheek. "Ravens mostly, a few other exotics. Services for hire mostly. Spies and the like."

"It's a long shot, but do you happen to know if the advisor Raven was one of them?" Jade asked.

She snorted. "Rumor has it he was their leader. We could never prove it, but a moon crystal would have."

How did I know? "He's dead now, so it doesn't really matter. But it makes something a bit more clear."

"What was is that, may I ask?" Cat raised an eyebrow.

Jade shrugged slightly. "I think he was either working with or spying on Bloom, in his bird form. That would account for the evidence left behind on the windowsill. If he knew that Bloom was out to get a moon crystal, he probably would have told his people to watch for Bloom's return. It doesn't explain the feathers left behind when he exploded my room, unless he had a twin brother."

"Calling card from him, so you know who did it," the girl suggested.

"As much good at it did him, considering I caught up with him later." Jade smiled sharply. At least she had done one good thing today, even if it was someone else's demise.

"He was taunting you. He assumed he would live, I would bet."

"He did. He wasn't particularly happy to see me when I caught up with him."

"Ah well he is better off dead, then." Cat made a dismissive gesture with her hand. "If they did it, Heat will have it."

"Heat is one of them?" This was new information.

Cat grinned, apparently happy that she knew something that Jade didn't. "He would be the next leader after Raven, if he was the head."

"Very interesting. Can you get close enough to him to find out, do you think?"

"Sure, I have worked for him before. Borrowing things."

"Good." Jade nodded, satisfied. "If you give me an hour or so, I can arrange a safe place to sleep for you. And I have some money with me. Can you get a message to me at the palace, if you need to? If I'm not reachable, contact the advisor Shale. I'll tell him to keep an eye out for messages from you. "

Cat nodded, and smirked. "Yep, I can probably get into the palace pretty easily, but I will send a message."

Jade gave her a warning look. "Try not to get caught, all right? Getting you out of prison probably won't be quite so easy the second time as the first."

The girl made a pfft noise, wrinkling her nose. "One mistake and that's all they remember. I will be fine. How's Jaguar anyway? You pining as bad as he is?"

She blinked, looking at the girl who was affecting a sudden innocence. "Pining? No, wait, I don't want to know. He's fine, or at least he was the last time I saw him."

Cat grinned suddenly. "Ah, she is pining too. Blushing and denial are the first signs." She danced back suddenly, getting out of hitting distance, a wide grin on her thin face.

Jade fixed the girl with a hot glare. "My personal life is my own business, little sister. And Jaguar's is his."

She warded off the glance with upraised hands. "All right, touchy!" she said in a wounded voice.

You're overreacting, she told herself. She's just trying to tweak your nose. With a conscious effort, she relaxed. "I didn't know you knew Jaguar."

"Just recently. He's been hanging around." Cat smiled. "So I have been sitting around the fires with him, listening. He's got that sound to his voice when talks about you."

To her embarrassment, Jade's first thought was, He talks about me? Then she moved to quash that thought. What was between him and I is over and dead, and I'm too old to be fluttering over him like a maiden. She clenched her jaw and said, "I didn't want to know that, Cat. Anyway. I'll go find someplace for you. Meet me in the east market in about an hour."

Cat bounced on the balls of her feet again. "Love is supposed to be great. It seems to scare you. See you in an hour." She skipped off, Jade glaring at her back as she went.

Then the priest sighed and turned towards Tenochtitlan. She put Cat's last words as far out of her mind as possible. She has no idea what a sore spot she hit. Leave it at that.

Near the east market, she found a rooming-house with a spare room that was let on a nightly basis, and paid the grumpy-looking man in charge. She met Cat in the market, showed her to the house, and endured the speculative looks on the part of the innkeeper, who seemed to be wondering just what sort of perversions a female priest might get up to. Then she returned to the Temple to talk with Cinder, leaving Cat to her work.

She knocked on the door of the room she had stashed Cinder in, then let herself in. "Hello. I come bearing news."

Cinder had been restlessly pacing the room, but at Jade's entrance she sat down, suddenly all elegance. "Good or bad?" she asked.

"Most bad, some possibly good. The possibly-good, and this is only because I don't know who he was working for, is that Bloom is dead. And something else good--Raven is dead. Stream is alive. This seems to have upset Teal."

"That's all pretty good news." Cinder's face was intent as she digested this knowledge. "Raven hated Bloom for some reason, but never moved against him."

"Unfortunately, the bad news is how he died. He was bringing a moon crystal into the city. This can be used to force nahuales to shapechange--essentially making them betray themselves. The crystal can't be held by anyone not a nahual, supposedly. It kills them. There were suspicious circumstances around Bloom's death, and there's no telling where the moon crystal is now. I have someone looking for it, though."

"So did Bloom die from the crystal or something else?" Cinder asked.

Jade spread her hands. "That's what I don't know. I don't think he was alone when he died, but whether the people he was with killed him or the crystal did, I don't know. If someone was with him, it was likely several of the bird nahuales. Of which Raven was rumored to be one."

"Which means that Bloom was either killed by them because they think he killed Raven, or he was trying to sell the crystal to them and they killed him for some other reason."

She nodded. "The other interesting thing is that Raven was rumored to lead the bird nahuales, and Heat is rumored to be next in line for leadership. I've sent my person looking into that. I'll see what they find."

Cinder raised an eyebrow, obviously wondering who Jade's person was but knowing better than to ask. "So do you think it's a deal gone bad or something else?"

"It could be a deal gone bad. If he was supposed to bring it to the bird nahuales, maybe even Raven, and decided to give it to Midnight to sell to the highest bidder, they'd have decided to kill him. I have a feeling that might not be it, though. At least, not entirely. Because why would the bird nahuales have wanted to get the moon crystal in the first place? It affects them as much as anyone else."

cinder said, contemplatively, "I have heard different rumors about moon crystals. Some say that in the hands of nahual, you can assume a different form for a night."

"Hm. I can see how that would be something they'd want to get their hands on. Especially the bird nahuales."

"It's all speculation really. Hopefully your person can find out."

Jade thought briefly about the girl thief who was in many ways nothing like a child, and in other ways very, very young. She hoped she would be able to protect her. She replied to Cinder, "I hope so. So, we need to think about the next move. Like I said, Stream is back, but she's scared out of her mind. Mountain has his best people guarding her, so for the moment she's probably safe. But she needs someone to guide her, or Ocelot's definitely going to get to her."

Cinder nodded, and gave Jade a canny look. "I can try, but you once worried that I would take the throne."

Jade smiled, and inclined her head, acknowledging the true question behind those words. "At this point, I trust you quite a bit more than I trust Ocelot," she said in reply.

"That's at least good to know." Cinder folded her hands. "Do you have an advisor you can trust implicitly?" she asked.

Without even having to think about it, Jade replied, "Shale, the one I appointed. I've known him for years, and we share a number of secrets."

"You will need someone to help Stream that has her best interests in mind, for later. After me. Ocelot will try again to kill me, I am sure."

"I'm still hoping to protect you," Jade said. She liked this woman, she realized. She was doing her best with a nearly impossible situation, one that was endangering her only child. It was very odd, to almost feel as if a woman was her friend. She'd never had any female friends, not even as a child.

Cinder shook her head. "I hope so too, but that last one was close."

"Far too close. I'm just glad I got to you in time."

"Me, too."

"By the way, do you have any messages you'd like to pass to Smoke? I'm hoping to talk to Jaguar soon," Jade said. She would have to take to Jaguar soon; there were plans that needed to be made. Aziuhoatl's death changed everything.

Cinder nodded. "Just tell her that I love her."

"I will. All right, we probably ought to get you back to the palace. Keep your ears open--if there's someone who's unhappy about the possibility of Ocelot taking the throne, they might be an ally for us." She rose, as did Cinder.

"I will, try to stay safe," Cinder said as Jade opened the door.

"You, too," Jade said, and then turned to the guards on the door. "One of you, go get Gull and Risen. The four of you will escort the lady to wherever the regent Stream is, and make sure that Mountain knows that she is back in the palace." They nodded and moved to carry out her command. Once Cinder was off, Jade headed outside once more.

She was exhausted to her bones, but she knew she had to keep moving. She was heading out to the darkside market once more when Cat caught up with her, falling in beside her as she walked. "Me again," she said, pitching her voice low.

"That was quick. What's going on?"

"Heat's got it. He is passing it off to somebody tonight."

Tension quickened Jade's step and made her forget her fatigue. "Do you know who?"

Cat shook her head. "Somebody he is scared of. He was talking to a guy and saying that it's a no charge kind of a thing. Not a lot of people scare him. But the advisors do."

It always comes back to us, doesn't it? "Any chance you can get it before he hands it off?" she asked.

"Maybe, risky." Cat shrugged.

Thinking aloud, Jade said, "And, yes, it's likely an advisor. Which one, though, is the question." She stepped into the narrow alley between two buildings, and Cat followed her.

The girl crouched, sitting back on her heels. "Any suspected nahuales in there?" she asked.

Jade chuckled. "Which ones aren't? I think Coral is, for one, but I don't think it's her."

"Might be. She needs leverage. Aziuhoatl is gone." Cat shrugged as Jade gave her a sharp look. The girl must have seen the same thing Jade had the night she had broken into Coral's house. "Anybody else?"

"I suspect Ocelot, but I don't have anything to back it up, just a feeling. Other than that--I know for certain that Mountain is not, I don't think Thunder is. And I know for damn sure Shale, the new one, isn't."

Cat made a sour face. "Well, Coral or Ocelot. Neither is a fun prospect. You want me to try to get it?"

"Depends. What's the hard part, getting the crystal or getting away afterward?"

The girl thought about it for a moment. "The crystal might be trapped. I can get around that, but it will take time and that's the time I could get caught. And there is a possibility that a chance to get it may not present itself between now and whenever the drop is."

"If there was a distraction, would that make things easier?"

Cat gave her an odd smile. "Yep, sure would."

Jade reviewed her mental list of her magic, of the spells she was currently carrying. "I can summon a creature that will get a lot of people's attention. I can also enhance your abilities to some extent, if you want."

"That could be nice."

"The problem is coordinating. I'd need to know when you were planning to make your move, so I could summon the distraction," Jade said, thinking.

"If we go now, I can wait until you do the summoning, then I can get in and out while they deal with it," Cat suggested.

It would work, and it was simple enough that not too much could go wrong with it. "All right, I can do that. If I summon somewhere quiet and then tell it to go out and cause havoc, I can just walk away."

Cat nodded. She was all business now, not even a hint of teasing in her voice. "I can catch up with you later. If I don't come back in one hour, come looking."

"I will. Thank you for doing this, Cat," she said, genuinely grateful. It was an ugly task, and she was happy to have help with it.

"No trouble," Cat replied, and Jade saw the ghost of a grin on her face.

"We should probably go now, then. Once I give you the spells I will, you'll have...hm." She did a mental inventory. "About a ten hundreds of heartbeats before the spells run out."

"Can do. Just let me know when you are done. I will meet you back at the place you rented for me."

"All right. Come here a moment." Cat rose and stepped over to her, and Jade closed her eyes and concentrated. Spells to enhance her strength and grace, and to blunt some of the damage she might take if it came down to a fight. Then she closed her eyes, nodded, and said, "Give me fifty heartbeats, then wait for the screaming.

Without further comment, Cat took off. Checking to make sure her escape route was clear, Jade raised her hands again. She wanted something dangerous, but not too dangerous, and that might pass for an ordinary animal on first glance. She settled for a pair of demon hounds, calling them to her, slicing open a hole in the air that they passed through. Unlike a sorcerer doing this, these hounds were bound by her god's will as well as her own, so there was no danger of them breaking free of control.

She gave them directions to where she knew Heat's establishment was. "Round up the people, the males only. Keep them pressed together in the middle of the street. Do not harm, simply threaten."

The two hounds coughed acknowledgement and were off, trailing acrid sulfur in their wake. Jade straightened and walked away, circling around to a place where she could keep an eye on what was going on.

The hounds were very good indeed at creative havoc. Howling and slavering, they methodically collected all of the males in the street. Jade saw a number of people leaving Heat's business, but nobody matching the man himself.

Soon enough, Mountain and a contingent of guards arrived to slaughter the hounds. Jade found a pressing need to be elsewhere, and walked away. She spent an hour wandering the market as the sun set; usually, this time of day, entertainers would be setting up in the market squares. That they were not tonight said much about how quickly the news of Aziuhoatl's death had spread. About an hour had passed when she went to the room that she had rented for Cat.

The girl was there, and grinned when she saw her. "Did it work?" Jade asked.

"Yep, catch!" She feinted a toss of the crystal she held at Jade.

She flinched back, then snorted. "Not funny, Cat." The girl's grin told her that she did indeed think it was funny, but Jade decided to let it go. "So now we have to get it out of the city and to the people it belongs to. Or destroy it."

"You can't touch it, so I need to carry it out. You going to bodyguard me?"

Jade nodded. "That's what I was thinking. The gate guards are going to get tired of seeing me, at this rate."

"Probably." Cat blew a noisy breath out her nose. "Shame about the room though."

Jade chuckled. Cat liked her comforts, that was certain. Typical feline. "Let me know next time you come back into town and I'll rent another one for you. I have a feeling that you and the crystal need to get out of here before whoever Heat was supposed to give it to comes looking for it."

"Yep, probably. Where we taking this thing?"

"North," she said. "That's where it came from--a place drier than where your clan is, a lot of underbrush and tall trees. Bloom was being followed by nahuales I think, possibly jaguars."

"We going to give it to someone or destroy it or just leave it on the ground somewhere?"

Jade shook her head. "I was hoping to locate the people it belongs to and return it to them. Of course, that has its own dangers. But I think it's the only way to make sure it gets back into the hands of people who can protect it."

Cat wrinkled her nose. "They didn't do so good the last time."

"I'm hoping they'll learn from their mistakes. Or decide to destroy it." She smiled. "I'd also like them to know who they owe for its return."

"All right." Cat stowed the crystal in a bag that she tied to her belt. "Well, better go."

They traveled through the city, descending to one of the secret exits under the walls and heading north. Cat led her through the darkened swamp, her eyes much sharper than Jade's in the dim light.

After a while, shapes flickered in the darkness around them. Cat's eyes got wide as big cats circled them, and she stepped back next to Jade biting her lip. Jade stood tall. "I am returning something that I believe belongs to you. I would speak to one of you."

A jaguar stepped in front of her, spots rippling as it began the change. A few moments later, a tall man stood in front of her, entirely naked. Jade ignored the nudity, since it didn't seem to bother any of the nahuales she had met. "And what is that?"

"A moon crystal. Cat, if you would?" She heard the girl take a deep breath, then she stepped forward, taking the crystal out of the bag she carried it in and offering it to the man before them. He took it from her, wordlessly grave.

He looked at the crystal, and then at Jade. "I am called Macaw," he told her. "You are?"

"Jade Reed," she told him. "Called Jade."

He thanked her, and told her that she could call on them in the future, if they had a need. They would keep the crystal, since they found it useful in teach cubs to think like prey, but Macaw solemnly promised her that they would guard it more closely in the future.

"How did Bloom come to steal it?" she asked.

"Was that his name? Pity." Macaw's voice was a lazy growl. "He had a cloak that disguised him, and he came in wearing the skin of one we thought was one of us. We later found her dead. He took the crystal, and then one of the cubs noticed that the scent was wrong. We gave chase, but he reached the city before we caught him, and we did not dare enter."

"Ah, that's what the cloak does. Well, if it's any consolation, the man who took it is dead," Jade told him. At her side, Cat shifted, obviously uncomfortable. "Either the crystal or someone else killed him. I'm not sure yet."

Macaw shrugged. "Good. If he was not a nahual, he would have died in hours. We weren't that concerned about his punishment. Just that we got it back."

Jade nodded. "I may call on you some day, Macaw. Until we meet again, then." He nodded, then turned and walked away into the underbrush. Around them, the clan melted away, great paws padding in the brush.

Cat and Jade stood for a moment after the trees around them were silent. Then Cat shook herself. "I'm going back," she said. In the darkness, it was hard to tell, but Jade thought the girl was flashing a grin. "Want me to tell Jaguar you send your greetings?"

Jade snorted. "I'll hopefully see him tomorrow. I can tell him that myself. You leave your nose out of this, little sister."

The girl didn't reply, just took to her heels. Jade sighed and began to make her way back to the city. If she were very lucky, the evening would hold no more excitement than a bit of prayer and a meal shared with her fellow priests...