Blood & Fur

Chapter Sixteen: The Plot

A vicious battle raged on a board of wood.

Two teams of six warriors faced one another along square-shaped tracks. Each of these six had been chosen among hundreds to represent a god in this sacred confrontation. Half of the contestants had already crossed the finish line. Two of the opposing runners were so close that they could see it. They jumped from square to square in an attempt to overcome their rival, for the glory of their patron deities.

A racer overcame the other through a burst of speed, jumping across six squares in a single leap… only for the ground to collapse beneath his feet and reveal a pit of pitch-black darkness.

Only the gods could save him now.

“Your token has landed on a black square,” Nenelt noted as a roll of the dice, putting my figurine in jeopardy. “You must send it back to the beginning.”

“I activate my protection tumi,” I said, dramatically raising an amulet representing a smiling totem. “It protects my token from harmful effects.”

“It would… if I didn’t have a cursed tumi!” Nenetl viciously flipped a skull-topped amulet she had won early in the game. “It negates your tumi’s effect and forces you to discard it!”

“You snake!” I cursed as my figurine went all the way back to square one. It hurt all the more since it had been about four spots away from the finish line. “Did you sit on that tumi for an hour while waiting for this exact opportunity?”

“I’m sorry,” Nenetl said with amusement as she cruelly rolled the dice. Her hand moved her fifth figurine past the finish line and crushed my hopes. “Better luck next time.”

The game was played on a cross-shaped board whose four arms were each divided into twelve squares, and two to four players could participate at once. To win, a player needed to move six pieces around the board. How movements were determined depended on the players’ wealth. I had only ever played it with Eztli by rolling marked beans, while I had seen rich merchants use wooden dice. As befitting an emperor’s consort, Nenetl used a silver die and ivory figurines on an exquisitely crafted wooden board. Specific squares possessed special effects, such as forcing a piece all the way back to the beginning, disrupting a player’s moves, or skipping squares.

As it turned out, the Sapa Empire played a variant of the game called ‘tumi.’ The rules were nearly the same, but with a major change: if a player’s pieces landed on specific squares, they could select one of the eponymous tumis from a set of ten. These small trinkets, which took the form of semicircular bronze blades topped by a totemic visage crafted from precious metals and stone, possessed unique powers that a player could call upon at will once per session.

It would take me more than luck to win this game. I had only managed to put two figurines past the finish line while Nenetl was one token away from victory. She had already won the previous two games as well.

To my astonishment, my consort’s behavior completely changed once at the gaming table. Her shyness and awkwardness were gone. Both had drowned to death in a flood of competitiveness that the girl had held back deep within her heart. Perhaps she wasn’t such a wallflower deep down.

“Here I go again,” I said while rolling the dice. I advanced my token by six steps and landed right on a tumi square. The true gods had smiled on me at last. “Perfect.”

“There are only three tumis left,” Nenelt said as she presented me with the various trinkets still available: a masked trickster; a jaguar, and an eyeless crone. “The trap tumi, the jaguar tumi, and the seer tumi.”

“I’ll take the mighty jaguar.” The jaguar tumi made it so that when one of my figurines caught up to one of Nenetl’s, it would send it back to square one once by ‘eating’ it and let me roll a second dice in a row. Considering the current state of the board, it would be more useful than the other options.

I admitted I preferred playing tumi over patolli. Patolli was mostly a game of luck; you had little control over the board besides rolling the beans and dice, so you either prayed to the gods fervently enough for them to listen or bit your tongue at your rotten luck. In a way, it fit the realm of the Nightlords quite well.

Tumi gave players many more options. Not only could they choose any of the amulets when they landed on the right square, they needed to play them at the right times to maximize their odds of victory. Nenetl had sat on her cursed tumi for many turns to better crush my hopes at the right time.

I suppose it’s appropriate, I thought as my third token chased after Nenetl’s last. The Nightlords think that my life's a game of patolli, when in truth I’m playing tumi.

I could only hope my spells could secure my future victory. As Nenetl very clearly stated from the beginning, no single tumi guaranteed victory. They only made it more likely.

In the end, my token managed to catch up to Nenetl’s piece and send it back to square one. It let me put a third figurine past the finish line, though that wasn’t enough to prevail.

“I win again,” Nenetl rejoiced as she moved her final token past the finish line after another twenty minutes of play. “Sorry.”

For once, she said it with a proud smile rather than an awkward expression. Good. She was starting to grow more comfortable around me.

“Excellent game,” I congratulated her. “Seems like I have some training to do to catch up to you.”

“Don’t beat yourself over it, I’ve played it for years,” Nenetl reassured me. “You are learning quickly too, Iztac. Give it a couple more sessions and you’ll be the one beating me.”

I noticed that she no longer stammered when speaking my name. I supposed there was no better way for a girl to build up confidence than by defeating her husband at board games. So far we had played patolli, bul, the miniature ballgame, and multiple rounds of tumi. The last one held my attention the longest so far, beyond its use for my plan.

“What are these tumi supposed to represent?” I wondered out loud. “Foreign gods?”

“I think so,” Nenetl confirmed, though her smile appeared a little strained this time. “They have more than we do.”

“So the tumis represent the gods answering the Sapa people’s prayers,” I guessed. I stroked my chin to look halfway wise for my audience’s sake. I had seen old people do this to appear smarter than they actually were. “Interesting… very interesting.”

Realizing that we were taking a pause from the game, Nenetl set aside the board and game pieces. “Did… Did playing this game help you understand the Sapa more?”

“I think so,” I replied. “This might determine how we invade them.”

I immediately sensed an invisible presence’s attention coming from the tablet.

Though I had canceled the Gaze spell due to its harmful effects on my eyes if I used it too long, I kept the Veil up in a very subtle way by slightly altering one of my clothes' feathers’ color. This change barely required any mental effort on my part, but it allowed me to sense how many onlookers observed me… and how intensely.

You’ve been waiting days for this moment, haven't you? I thought while observing the tablet from the corner of my eye. Whatever wizard spied on me, I hoped his superiors treated him better than mine.

“See, Nenetl, if the Sapa people believe that their gods will answer their prayers in times of trouble, it means we could focus on destroying their temples first,” I explained. “If their deities fail to protect them in their hour of need, or worse, fold before our own, it would break their spirit.”

I sincerely hoped the Sapa’s deities would indeed shield them from Yohuachanca’s, but I didn’t expect much. Xolotl did warn me that all the true gods were dead and gone.

“I… I suppose it would.” Nenetl shifted on her cushion. Our current subject of conversation unsettled her. “Are we… I mean, are you…”

“Set on starting a war?” I sighed, somewhat sincerely. “What other choices do we have? The Nightlords spoke clearly to me. Either I shed foreign blood or my subjects would pay the price. Our citizens’ safety takes priority.”

“I understand, but…” Nenetl joined her hands, her fingers trembling. “Could we… I do not know, ask for volunteers?”

“All of those already perished on the Scarlet Moon’s eve.” It wasn’t even a lie. The rare zealots ready to die for their faith already surrendered their lives before I even sat on my throne. “Moreover, this war would benefit our country. The Sapa Empire is on the brink of collapse, its wealth ripe for the taking.”

The oppressive feeling coming from the Chaskarumi strengthened further. This confirmed that whoever spied on me from afar could both see and listen.

“I don’t think we’ll ever get a better chance to take them down,” I insisted, trying to make it sound like a regrettable necessity. “They are divided, their coast is undefended, and they think they can buy their way out of trouble.” I waved a hand at the Chaskarumi. “This tablet alone is proof enough of it. Gifts do not buy safety.”

I was giving away as much information on the coming campaign as I could without arousing suspicion. If they had any sense, the Sapa spies in charge of observing me would report everything to their superiors.

“I’m sorry, Lor—Iztac.” Nenetl’s moment of confidence had passed. Now she seemed unable to meet my gaze. “But… Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course, Nenetl.” The situation was eating away at her. “What is on your mind?”

“If… we do as you say and conquer the Sapa Empire…” Nenetl gulped. “Then its people will become our subjects, right?”

“Yes.” I frowned. “What of it?”

“If the goddesses ask the next emperor to bring new tributes… they will have to invade another country.” I nodded sharply. If I failed to take down the Nightlords, the Three-Rivers Federation would surely become their newest target. “The world isn’t limitless. If we continue down this path… Yohuachanca will eventually conquer all of it.”

She finally mustered enough bravery to meet my gaze.

“Once all the people in the world become citizens of the empire…” she whispered, her eyes heavy with fear and sorrow. “Who will the future emperors sacrifice then?”

Poor girl. If only I could tell her I felt the same way. The Nightlords’ greed and bloodthirst would never be sated. They would outgrow even the world.

“I do not know,” I replied. “One way or another, we won’t be here to see it.”

It was a complete lie. If I failed to bring down Yohuachanca, I would witness everything from atop a pillar of skulls. I would weep in guilt and shoulder the bitter sting of failure for centuries.

“I understand, but…” Nenetl chewed her lip nervously. “I feel that we are only passing on the burden to another.”

“We are,” I replied bluntly, causing her to flinch. I immediately regretted it. “Nenetl, what other option do we have? Sacrificing our own population?”

“Is there… Maybe there is another way to feed the goddesses?” Nenetl suggested, though, from her doubtful tone, she didn’t believe in it herself. “Perhaps… Perhaps we could find an animal whose blood they can consume and… breed it?”

They are already doing that, I thought grimly. They are breeding humans. “You know as well as I do that the gods will not settle for turkeys, Nenetl. I wish there was another way too, but this has to be done.”

“I know…” Nenetl let out a sigh. “I’m… I’m sorry… I know you’re trying to do your best as emperor, but… this feels wrong.”

Because it was. “We must do as we must in this world. If another way presents itself, I will take it without a moment’s hesi–”

I stopped myself halfway through my speech. I straightened my back and clenched my fists, my heartbeat hastening.

The moment had come for me to unveil my ploy and failure was not an option.

Nenetl stared at me in confusion. “Iztac?”

“Do you feel that?” I asked her, glancing around aimlessly and feigning suspicion.

“Feel what?”

“Something’s watching us.” My eyes wandered across the room and settled on the tablet. “It’s coming from there.”

The pressure cast by the spying spell on my Veil intensified twofold. Whatever sorcerer observed me on the other side would have been wiser to simply drop it, but I remembered Huehuecoyotl’s lessons. The mind was easier to trick when it went into shock.

“There’s…” I rose from my seat and pretended to examine the Chaskarumi more closely. “There’s something wrong with this tablet.”

“Something wrong?” Nenetl asked, utterly confused. “It seems normal to me, Iztac. Pretty even.”

“I’m not sure… I’m not sure myself.” I moved my hand on the tablet’s smooth surface. “I feel as though… as though we’re being watched.”

If this tablet contained a trap, the moment was now or never to trigger it. Part of me hoped for it. It would spare me the trouble of injuring myself.

Unfortunately, though the foreign gaze observing me through the tablet did not lessen in intensity, no magical spell stuck me where I stood. I expected as much. A device with offensive applications might not have survived the red-eyed priests’ scrutiny. The Sapa Empire’s sorcerers chose subtlety over force.

But the Nightlords didn’t have to know that.

I’m sorry, I silently apologized to all of the Sapa people. Forgive me.

“Call the guards,” I said, my heart pounding in my chest. The moment of truth had come. “There’s something wrong about the tablet–”

Smoke poured out from the Chaskarumi’s eclipsed sun.

Or at least, that was how Nenetl and the spy in the walls perceived it. My Veil spell expanded beyond my body to cover the tablet and myself in its embrace. The strain on my mind grew stronger as I wove my illusion into the world. I shaped a cloud of purple mists from nothing, a swirling abyss of eldritch magic erupting from the tablet like a volcano.

Shining red eyes opened within the whirlpool and glared at me.

This is it, I thought, my heart pounding so hard in my chest I could hear the beat echoing in my skull. Better make it convincing.

Everything devolved into planned chaos.

I collapsed on my back, faking paralysis and helplessness. Nenetl shrieked in terror before I even hit the floor. The two guards outside flung the door open and barged into the gaming hall with their obsidian clubs. Perhaps they had expected to confront a human assassin who had managed to sneak into the apartments. Nothing could have prepared them for what I had conjured.

Huehuecoyotl warned me that the more shocking an illusion, the more it threw onlookers off their game. While they might eventually grow to disbelieve what their own eyes showed them, there would be a brief moment when their minds were so taken aback that it would suspend all logic and skepticism. A bird falling off a tree didn’t have time to consider whether or not the ground would kill them or not. Their instinct drove them to fly away.

For a brief second, all the weight that previously poured onto my Veil spell vanished. Disbelief, skepticism, confusion, all were washed away by a tide of terror as a terrible monster materialized in the comfortable room. The smoke coalesced into a twisted horror with two gaunt limbs ending in three razor-sharp claws.

I took inspiration from the creature I had encountered in the Underworld and built upon its monstrosity with all the details I had learned from the Sapa’s culture over the last few days. I gave this creature a ghoulish mask based on the tumis topped with a dozen red eyes shining like stars, a bent ugly shape, and a dozen screaming faces for skin.

I had long thought over what shape my illusionary creature should take. In the end, I settled on a monstrous ghost. After all, they worshiped their ancestors and feared their displeasure, while the Nightlords thought themselves above it. It felt… appropriate.

For all onlookers, a monster straight out of the Underworld’s darkest depths had materialized in half of its terrible glory. Its torso remained bound to the tablet, as if the horror was stuck through a doorway. I had the illusion lunge at me with a shriek.

To their credit, the guards immediately moved to protect me. They had trained for years to protect their emperor, and their predecessors’ fate at Yoloxochitl’s hungry fangs only impressed upon them the consequences of failure.

The Spiritual Manifestation and Veil spells were antithetical to the other in a way. The former required my Tonalli to take physical shape in the world; the latter required it to stay immaterial. Using both at once exhausted me quicker than carrying loads of stone during battle training at school, yet I persevered nonetheless.

My empowered Teyolia burned within my chest. The divine energies within it fueled my magic the same way a beating heart helped my lungs to gather air. Its flames let me materialize my Tonalli’s talons and cloak them in a veneer of illusion. To outsiders, my talons appeared like two of the monster’s clawed hands.

They tore out a guard’s throat with such strength that his head went rolling at poor Nenetl’s feet. His blood surged from his severed neck and painted my robes red.

I felt a little guilty upon hearing Nenetl’s screeching screams, but only a little. I felt little to no pressure on my Veil spell anymore. Now that it had claimed a victim, the monster appeared all too real. Even the mysterious sorcerer spying on me through the tablet felt utterly entranced by the gory spectacle.

The remaining guard froze upon seeing his comrade’s corpse collapse at his feet, and then attempted to behead my illusion with a swing of his weapon. His obsidian blade phased through my monster’s misty neck without inflicting damage.

The man’s disbelief lasted a second before my talons sank into his chest. My claws tore through his cotton armor and flesh alike. They ripped his ribs open in a waterfall of blood and organs, his guts spilling onto the floor.

Serves you right, I thought as I watched my second captor collapse onto the ground in a state of shock. Thankfully, the strain of maintaining my corporeal talons twisted what would have been a gleeful smirk into a pained expression. Now, if only more would come more swiftly. I can’t maintain this for long…

Warm hands grabbed my shoulders, drawing me out of my trance.

“Get up!” Nenetl shouted in panic. She vainly attempted to drag me across the floor and away from the creature. “Iztac, please, we need to go!”

Anyone else would have fled in fear in her stead. Instead, kind Nenetl instead chose to shelter me. I would have whispered words of admiration for her surprising bravery if it didn’t risk ruining my devious plan.

“Run,” I whispered for both of our sake. I no longer sensed the spy in the wall, which meant the Nightlords would send reinforcements any minute now. “Run.”

I needed her to flee. If the monster avoided harming her, it would raise suspicions I could have done without. Please Nenetl, leave me here…

She did not.

Nenetl’s hands gripped my shoulders with surprising strength. I had the monster glare at her and raise its arms threateningly in the hope it would break her resolve. Instead, she moved between the creature and I for a reason I could not fathom.

I couldn’t believe my own eyes. Nenetl was trembling and shaking like a tree, her clothes drenched in guard blood, her breathing so strong and intense it would have put a longneck to shame… yet here she stood in front of me, arms raised to protect the puppetmaster from his own creation. She was trembling and terrified, but she still attempted to protect me.

I never had anyone try to protect me in the past besides Eztli, so…I admit I was moved.

If only it didn’t risk ruining everything!

My monster couldn’t be seen sparing the emperor’s consort from harm after murdering two guards. I had my creature tower over her threateningly, to no avail. Nenetl had frozen in place in a mix of utter fright and determination.

Nenetl, please be a coward this time. I apologized in my heart as I had the monster raise a claw. With luck, she would flee. Otherwise… I would do my best to merely scratch her. Just jump out of the way!

My creature brought down its claws, aiming to strike me and only lightly graze Nenetl’s skin, only for a dreadful tension to fill the room.

I stopped my creature midswing as a raw sensation of danger wrapped its icy fingers around my heart. For a moment I thought the Nightlords had materialized somewhere in the room at the edge of my gaze. A low, bestial growl told me otherwise.

Nenetl was trembling, but not from fear.

Her pale blue eyes glowed with a vivid, eerie light while her mouth grew fangs in between her teeth. I watched on, astonished, as new muscles bulged from her flesh and stretched her petite frame enough to tear off her clothes. Wild silvery fur sprouted all over her pale skin and her nails protruded into sharp claws.

The beast Nenetl had become snarled at my illusion with a snout and a maw full of fangs. She towered over the false monster that previously overshadowed her.

What… Now it was my turn to learn terror, my breath slowing down and my blood turning cold. What is this?

Nenetl lunged at my creature with a savage roar.

My illusion dispelled on its own, as did my talons. Both dissipated into a cloud of smoke as Nenetl shattered the tablet with a single blow. Black stones flew across the hall, with some bouncing off my chest, alongside silver stars and the golden circle that used to represent the eclipsed sun. Nenetl snarled and raged, her mighty hands punching the leftover rocks into scraps and pebbles. The very ground trembled from her sheer strength.

Is that spiritual manifestation? I wondered. No, she did not manifest her Tonalli outside her body. She became it. Or it took her over because of the stress.

Thankfully, no one was left to notice my deception. The walled spy had long left to seek allies and I felt the Sapa sorcerer’s invisible presence disappear with the Chaskarumi’s destruction. As for Nenetl, she was too maddened to care.

In fact, I started fearing for my own life.

When she finally stopped smashing what remained of the Chaskrarumi, the wolf-human hybrid Nenetl had turned into faced me with cold, hungry eyes. She reached over eight feet tall in her current state, towering over me like how an adult would cast a child in its shadow. Her hands could hold and crush my skull in their palms. I doubted she would need to. Her fanged maw could tear me apart in an instant.

“Nenetl…” I whispered, raising a hand in an attempt to… I do not know, calm her? Reassure her I meant no harm? “Nenetl?”

My consort showed no hint that she recognized me. Her canine eyes betrayed no hint of intelligence beyond bestial savagery. She barred her fangs at me as if to intimidate me. Did she identify me as the monster’s source in her current state? Or had her bestial Tonalli taken her over so completely that it treated everything as a threat?

“Easy, Nenetl…” I whispered while crawling back. I prepared to use the Doll spell to defend myself if the worst came to be, though I had the feeling it wouldn’t help me much against a creature over thrice my weight. “It’s me, Iztac. We played tumi together.”

I would have loved to say that an evening spent playing board games had forged an unbreakable bond between Nenetl and me.

It didn’t. She opened her jaw and attempted to bite my head off so fast that her maw reached my throat before I could react. By the time activating the Doll spell crossed my mind, I already felt the tip of her fangs on my skin. She could have tore it out in a blink.

Nenetl stopped before delivering the killing blow. I looked into her wide eyes full of dread and fear. Her mouth remained wide open and yet frozen in place. Her extended hands would never reach my chest. She was floating in place, her feet a few inches above the ground, her body trapped midway through her attack as if the march of time had halted suddenly. An all-too familiar power had seized her utterly.

A terrifying presence loomed behind me, the very air turning colder than winter’s cruelest nights. My breath turned to mist, and my heart stopped beating within my chest.

“Good dog,” a dreadful, familiar voice whispered.

I dared to look over my shoulder.

Ocelocihuatl, the Jaguar Woman, smiled back at me.

I had never seen her without her mask. Perhaps she had no time to put it on, or she no longer felt the need to wear a ceremonial disguise within the palace. Her dreadful beauty more than matched that of her sister Yoloxochitl, albeit wilder and more savage. Her mane of hair was a paler shade of red than her eyes, almost orange, and topped by a golden diadem in the shape of a jaguar’s ears. Her skin-fitting robes were made of true spotted fur and blackened feathers, however. Occult symbols covered both her full cheeks and her strong, sleeveless arms, each of them pulsating with power.

“Your prayers have been answered, Iztac Ce Ehecatl.” While the Nightlord showed none of Nenetl’s previous fury, she radiated a different kind of savagery. The sophisticated cruelty of a great cat toying with its prey, the viciousness of a mountain lion preparing to pounce without a sound. “You are safe now.”

Being eaten by a wolf suddenly became halfway appealing.

The Jaguar Woman waved her hand and threw Nenetl across the room. My transformed friend crashed through her kitchen wall and finished her course against the stone oven, which cracked under the pressure.

I had to admit it was an impressive display of magic. The ease at which the Jaguar Woman’s version of the Doll spell—cloaked in the Veil to hide the strings—disarmed Nenetl and tossed her aside like a ragdoll reminded me of how Queen Mictecacihuatl caught me the first time we met. Either the Nightlord’s skill in magic matched that of a goddess or my untrained eyes couldn’t tell the difference yet.

I sincerely hoped for the latter. The possibility of a false goddess’ power rivaling that of a real one terrified me, especially since I would have to confront her in battle in less than a year. Had five hundred of those bloodthirsty rituals imbued the Nightlords with a sliver of divine magic?

This only made it more imperative for me to strengthen my Teyolia with godly embers. I would stand no chance otherwise.

How did she even sneak up on me? I thanked the gods below that I failed to activate my Doll spell in time, or else the Jaguar Woman would have caught me in the act. Can she jump out of shadows or phase through walls?

“Stay down, dog,” the Jaguar Woman ordered without raising her voice.

The beast who used to be Nenetl whined and crawled in submission, her snout against the ground, her eyes pleading for mercy.

The Jaguar Woman allowed herself an arrogant smile that made me want to puke. “Good girl.”

I spent the rest of the evening being interrogated.

Nenetl was still trapped in the skin of a wolf when the red-eyed priests chained and dragged her away like a mad dog in need of a beating. I felt tremendously sorry for her. She had transformed trying to protect me from danger.

“Worry not, Iztac Ce Ehecatl.” By now, I was convinced that the Jaguar Woman always called me by my full name as a way to demean me. To remind me that I was neither an emperor nor a ruler worthy of respect, but a mere man. “The first change is violent, but not permanent. My servants will beat the wolf out of her.”

Her phrasing caused me to gulp. “Beat it?”

The Jaguar Woman’s smile showcased her sharp, terrible fangs. “How do you think men tamed wolves into dogs?”

I will see to it that this wolf bites your hand one day, oh cruel queen of the night, I swore in my heart. You will tame neither of us.

If I had the power to turn back the march of time, I would have done my best to spare Nenetl whatever torment the priests had planned for her. But what was done was done. I would have to live with the guilt and consequences, which promised to be heavy.

After the Jaguar Woman studied the tablet’s remains, I was brought to the Abode of Darkness below the palace to meet with the Nightlords. While the White Snake and the Bird of War manifested through the statues in their likeness, Yoloxochitl came in person to ‘support’ me.

“My poor child, you are safe…” Yoloxochitl hugged me the same way I hugged Necahual after she threatened her with rape. She stroked my hair and whispered kind words into my ear. “No one will harm you now. I swear it.”

No one but you? “Worry not, Mother,” I replied while returning the hug. “I was unharmed.”

I buried my head into Yoloxochitl’s black hair to hide my disgust. From the glare the Jaguar Woman sent us, I wasn’t the only one feeling that way. Either she found her sister’s display of affection humiliating, or she didn’t buy my poor boy act in the slightest.

“I will decimate your guards for their incompetence, and our warlocks too,” Yoloxochitl swore angrily after letting me go. “They swore to us that the tablet presented no danger. No danger at all!”

Sugey’s voice came out of her statue. “Our thralls have been negligent lately, but I would hear what happened from our emperor’s own mouth.”

“Yes, of course.” Yoloxochitl put a hand on my shoulder. “Iztac, tell us everything.”

“As you wish, Mother,” I replied, my heart pounding in my chest. Come on, Iztac, you’ve rehearsed this in your head many times.

I proceeded to recount the evening’s events to the Nightlords. I did not lie, mostly because I feared they might sense the deceit in my voice. Instead, I simply omitted key details. I confessed how I had been considering waging war on the Sapa to obtain the required tribute—an admission which drew a laugh from the Bird of War’s statue—and gathered cultural artifacts as a way to understand their culture.

“You felt you were being watched?” The Jaguar Woman squinted at me. “How?”

“I… I am not sure how to explain it,” I replied with a trembling hand. It wasn’t a lie. I still didn’t understand how the Sapa’s spying device managed to avoid detection until my Gaze spell identified its true nature. “I sensed an… an invisible pressure coming from the tablet, if that makes sense?”

“Your Nahualli powers must have manifested,” Yoloxochitl said with a proud nod. “They let you cast away this web of deceit.”

My heart skipped a beat. “Nahualli?”

“A child blessed and cursed by the stars,” the Jaguar Woman explained calmly. Unlike her sister, her expression remained utterly unreadable. “Much like the consort I chose for you embodies the wolf, an owl sleeps within your soul.”

“The owl?” I feigned surprise. Damn that witch, she knows. “Forgive me, but I struggle to understand.”

“Your totem is the owl,” the Jaguar Woman answered with a hint of annoyance. A patient teacher she was not. “A wise and knowledgeable spirit.”

But one you don’t understand everything about, I thought while faking confusion. Or else you would prevent me from sleeping. The true dead keep a tlacatecolotl’s secrets.

“We are getting off-track,” Sugey’s voice complained. “Carry on with your tale, Emperor Iztac.”

I remained on edge from start to finish, though I wasn’t half as frightened as that time Yoloxochitl took me away to the park. If the Nightlords had learned my true nature, I would already be done for. Nenetl’s unexpected transformation had helped muddle already troubled waters and obscured the so-called goddesses’ sight.

From time to time I glanced at Yoloxochitl, as if to seek her support, which she returned with warm smiles and small nods of encouragement. I did not need them, nor did they bring me any joy. But they helped sell the image of a cowed emperor who had learned whose approval he ought to seek.

“A creature of smoke?” Sugey’s statue marked a short pause. “Our priests detected no such thing. They have grown weak and lax in their old age.”

Iztacoatl’s voice surged from her own representation. “You are too harsh with them, sister. They did find the spying spell, did they not?”

“A spying spell?” I repeated in genuine surprise. “W-why? If you knew the tablet held a trap, why let it trigger?”

The Jaguar Woman squinted at me with a cold gaze for daring to speak up uninvited. I immediately faked submission by lowering my head.

“Our reasons are not for you to know, child,” she rasped.

Sugey, the Bird of War, appeared to disagree. “We intended to turn the spell against the Sapa at an appropriate time. To feed them false information and deceive them.”

“Who could have expected them to be foolish enough to hide an assassin within a slab of stone?” Iztacoatl’s statue let out a dark, chilling laugh. “How brazen. I did not know the Sapa’s lords could summon such a creature, let alone shield it from our gaze.”

As I suspected, the Nightlords remained unsure of the Sapa Empire’s true capabilities. Their sorcerers zealously guarded their magical secrets. The assassination attempt, while unlikely, appeared plausible to the Nightlords. After all, they might possess similar spells hidden from the rest of the world.

“Perhaps our current emperor is wise to seek battle with the Sapa Empire,” Sugey mused. “It has been too many decades since I enjoyed a true war. If these foreigners are brave enough to fight us back rather than cower, then they might prove a challenge.”

“This bravery reeks of madness to me,” Iztacoatl replied. “I fail to see what the Sapa Empire hoped to accomplish by attacking our Godspeaker. Success wouldn’t have prevented a war. The mere attempt all but secured our hostility.”

“I agree,” the Jaguar Woman said. Her suspicious gaze settled on me. “This fiasco seems a little too… convenient.”

It took all my willpower not to show weakness. My mind remained strong, but I could already feel invisible, icy fingers touching my throat.

Yoloxochitl scowled at the Jaguar Woman in displeasure. Apparently, she noticed too. “Convenient for whom, my sister?”

“Therein lies the question.” The Jaguar Woman met my gaze, unblinking. “What are you hiding from us, Iztac Ce Ehecatl?”

She is the most dangerous of them, I thought while trying to come up with a good distraction. The most cunning and perceptive.

“I…” I gulped as if afraid of speaking too much. “I am not sure I should bring this up…”

“Speak,” the Jaguar Woman ordered. The invisible noose around my neck tightened a little further.

Yoloxochitl’s scowl deepened, but she did not intervene. Some mother she was when confronted with resistance.

“I…” I did not fake the terror in my voice. If I failed to convince the Nightlords now, I would not see the light of day again. “I remember the night Mother Yoloxochitl took me under her wing. She… she sensed an evil spirit lurking in the shadows.”

“My dear Iztac speaks the truth.” Yoloxochitl nodded to herself. “I smelled a foul invader a few nights ago.”

“Ah yes, I remember you mentioned an incident the night you claimed that peasant,” the White Snake said. That the Nightlords considered forcing a child to kill her own father a mere ‘incident’ filled me with disdain. “The Sapa ambassadors already delivered the tablet to the palace at that point.”

“You believe that could have been the same creature?” Sugey pondered out loud.

I nodded slowly. “If I may be so bold… Maybe I was not the creature’s target.”

The Jaguar Woman scoffed in disdain. “You insinuate this monster intended to target us?”

One day, it will. “In my village, we are taught that dogs hunt by smell,” I recounted, trying to weave half-truths into a plausible explanation. “Sometimes, they mistake a beast for another because they trust their nose over their own eyes. I… I dare not presume anything, but… I was present with Mother Yoloxochitl when the spirit first appeared.”

Yoloxochitl’s eyes burned with anger. “This trap was set for me, but the beast could not tell us apart.”

The Jaguar Woman remained unconvinced. “Why not send the tablet as a gift to us then, instead of our prophet?”

“To avoid suspicion?” Iztacoatl suggested. “The strings would have been too obvious otherwise.”

Sugey grumbled in frustration. “Does it matter why the snake bit?” she asked. “No. What matters is that it did.”

“There must be consequences for this brazen attack, my sisters,” Yoloxochilt declared. “A reckoning.”

“I have read Chikal’s plans,” Sugey said with a hint of bloodthirst. “They appear credible to me. The Sapa Empire left its flank exposed to us.”

I noted that the Nightlords appeared to keep an eye on their chosen consorts’ activities and observed them bicker among themselves. As my predecessors guessed, Sugey was a warmonger. As befitting her title of the Bird of War, the opportunity of fighting a foe daring enough to challenge their puppet emperor appealed to her. Meanwhile, Yoloxochitl’s madness and paranoia served me well. She truly believed my tale that an invisible enemy sought to harm her through me, her prized possession, and as usual she intended to react to this offense with overwhelming violence.

The two other Nigthlords would prove harder to convince.

“We cannot let this go unpunished, that is true,” Iztacoatl replied. “However, I am not too fond of sustained wars. The Sapa Empire will not fall in a year and we have other means to retaliate. Let us simply execute their ambassadors and call it a night.”

“The moment to conquer the Sapa Empire has not come yet,” the Jaguar Woman added. “Victory will neither be quick nor certain.”

I was about to open my mouth and argue my case when Yoloxochitl beat me to it. “Not if we use the weapon, sisters.”

A terrible silence followed.

The Jaguar Woman’s icy grip on my throat lessened to almost nothing as she turned her attention to her sister. The otherworldly presence of the White Snake and the Bird of War weakened, and their connection to their statues was briefly disrupted. I took it as an ill-omen. Goddesses did not fall speechless easily, even fake ones.

“It is complete,” Yoloxochitl stated with confidence. “We only need to test it.”

“That will spoil the food,” Iztacoatl warned. Was that uneasiness I detected in her tone?

The ‘weapon’? I frowned. What weapon could possibly unsettle a Nightlord? Did my predecessors fail to inform me?

The Jaguar Woman glanced at me with a baleful glare. The same one she sent me on the night of my coronation before strangling me into unconsciousness. She was considering doing the same here and now, only holding back because it was already too late to shut her sister up.

I shouldn’t be hearing this, I realized. The cattle shouldn’t learn the means of its demise.

“Not all of it,” Yoloxochitl replied before glancing at Sugey. “It shall cull the weak and spare the strong. You will still have your war, my sister. Short and sweet.”

Sugey marked a short pause, before referring to her elder sister. “What do you say, Ocelocihuatl?”

The Jaguar Woman, first among equals, pondered her answer. I could tell I had failed to convince her. She remained unconvinced by my tale. However, the truth mattered little to one who had built an empire on lies. Justice mattered less than appearance and opportunity.

When she released her grip on my throat, I knew my foes had chosen the path of greed.

“Rejoice, Iztac Ce Ehacatl. The gods assent to your request.” The Jaguar Woman smiled at me. “The Sapa Empire will learn fear.”

I returned her smile with one of my own.

The true battle had begun.