Meztli rose from his throne again. “Follow me, I’ll show you something. It is probably time, and it will no longer be possible to hide it anyway.”
Inocoyotl obeyed. He trotted after the king, who strode out through the door behind his throne, down the aisle that was hiding there. Here lay the expansive rooms of the king, which normally no one was allowed to enter except the king himself, his family, and his closest servants. Inocoyotl occasionally saw a face peering out of one of the rooms and quickly disappearing. He found that the king led him downstairs, deeper and deeper into the foundations of the palace. No one was to be seen or heard here. He had no idea that the structure reached so deep below the surface of the earth. Soon they needed torches to find their way around, and the stairs looked unused, with dust in the air, whirled up by the surprising visitors.
They reached a chamber. Sunlight fell through a long shaft, a clearly delineated cone of light. The air was a little better too. The chamber was full of boxes, all made of material unknown to Inocoyotl. It wasn’t wood, that much was certain. The surface was so smooth and seamless that he had never encountered a handicraft like this before. He touched it. Cool. A strange feeling. His fingers slid over it, and he didn’t know what to do with the sensation.
Meztli stood in front of one of the boxes and opened it. He did so with a certain solemnity that Inocoyotl only considered appropriate. He looked past Meztli into the container. Inside was a black filling, as if cut from a single piece, and of an unknown nature. And there was an object that lay gray and dark in the sunlight and remotely reminded Meztli’s servant of the miracle weapons of the Mutalese messengers.
It was really worrying now. Inocoyotl took a step back.
Meztli lifted the thing out with an almost devout motion.
“What do you think of it, my friend?”
Inocoyotl looked at the slender form, the function and origin of which was completely foreign to him and of which he only almost instinctively recognized that no hand in Teotihuacán or in Maya country could have built it. It was the weapon of a god … whatever it was for.
“Lord, I don’t know what to say.”
Meztli nodded.
“Is that so?”
“Lord, if you allow me to be so cheeky, but it bears a very distant resemblance to one of the smaller miracle weapons of the messengers of the gods.”
His ruler gave him an appreciative smile.
“I chose you for your job because of your keen observation skills, and you prove to me that my choice was right. What I have in my hands, dear friend, is an HK XM 29. This is the ballistic computer with the grenade launcher. The lower part is the kinetic weapon, a conventional gas pressure loader. A beautiful weapon, of a certain elegance and very effective and unerring. Do you want to touch it? Don’t worry, the ammunition is in another box.”
Inocoyotl raised both hands.
“Lord, I didn’t understand a word.”
“I believe you. It took my father a lot to teach me, and it took me a long time to understand everything correctly. I have a dozen weapons here with ammunition. I will choose eleven men to hold these miracles in my hands, and I will be the twelfth. Together we will defeat the messengers of God, subjugate the Maya, and then take a look at the world as my father predicted.”
Meztli paused, looked at Inocoyotl, who was both confused and fascinated, and smiled at him. The ruler looked almost relaxed and did not seem to notice that he had plunged his wise and educated, experienced, and very clever servant into complete confusion.
Even though one could definitely see that.
“Be happy, my friend. You will witness the rise of a special epoch.”
And with these words, the Divine Ruler put the weapon back in the crate’s lining before gently closing it.
Inocoyotl was absolutely certain that Meztli was right. A special epoch, without a doubt. He did not understand anything and yet suspected so much – and no part of his hunch filled him with special joy.
But happy, he could already say that, he was certainly not.
List of characters
Achak: General of Chitam
Aedilius: Roman doctor
Agun: Agent of Mutal
Yo’nal Ahk: King of Zama
Aktul: Warrior from Mutal
Andochos: Roman scholar
Angelicus: Centurion
Aritomo Hara: First Officer of Submarine No. 8
K’uk’ Bahlam: King of B’aakal
Une Balam: Chitam’s sister, daughter of Siyaj, princess of Mutal
Balkun: Warrior from Yaxchilan and governor
Bulu: Wife of Balkun
K’an Chitam: Prince and King of Mutal
Nachi Cocom: King of Yaxchilan
Daa’k: Priest on Cozumel
Titus Devinicus: Head of a radio station
Domenicus: Geologist
Hetza’k: Mason
Ichik: Boy from Mutal
Ik’Naah: High Priestess on Cozumel
Inocoyotl: Envoy from Teotihuacán
Tako Inugami: Captain of Submarine No. 8
Isamu: Prince of Japan
Itzunami: Priest in Mutal
Ixchel: Daughter of Tzutz and Chitam, sister of Nicte
K’abel: Queen of B’aakal
Helmut Köhler: Trierarch of the Roman fleet
Langenhagen: Navarch of the Roman fleet
Robert Lengsley: British engineer
Marcus Levius: Radio specialist
Meztli: King of Teotihuacán
Nicte: Daughter of Tzutz and Chitam, sister of Ixchel
Phoebus: Cartographer
Queca: Soldier and officer from Teotihuacán
Yuto Sarukazaki: Mechanic of Submarine No. 8
Daiki Sawada: Tutor of Prince Isamu
Augusta Clara Terzia: Scholar
Yatzak: Warehouse manager on Cozumel
The Emperor's Men 8 Page 28
