“Thank you, Johnny,” she managed to say.
They passed over a broad bed of magma, and just beyond it they found a large mound of stone and coral, crested by pale sea grass.
“We are here,” Jabalí announced.
Nalquiza and Cenaman had their captains arrange squads in defensive positions around the ancient temple. Captain Xicol and his team accompanied the command staff and civilians as they followed Jabalí through the broad entrance near the summit. Given what he knew about ancient architecture, Johnny figured the temple sat atop a now hidden ziggurat of some sort.
He was surprised to see that the temple’s interior was much better preserved than he would’ve guessed. Soft light emerged from shimmering mosaics on the floor and walls, which were relatively free of the layer of flora that covered so much of the city. Ornately carved columns supported the heavy stone ceiling of the large antechamber. Doorways on either side indicated other rooms, but Jabalí ignored them, swimming beyond, into the temple proper.
The inner sanctum was enormous, fifty meters broad and deep, with a high vaulted ceiling whose aquatic patterns were obscured by dark shadows above. The space was dominated by a platform upon which stood an enormous statue of Matlalcueyeh, her aquamarine headdress splaying wildly like Anamacani’s electric blue dreads. The skirt of the water goddess was hewn from emerald, flowing down the platform to pool into a wide, green mirror.
That’s got to be the entrance to the sacred tunnel, Carol suggested. It’s a lot like the chay abah we used to get into Mictlan.
Or the one Tezcatlipoca uses to travel between his home turf and the Underworld. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.
Maybe obsidian mirrors are for certain places and emerald for others.
Let’s hope so. Not too excited about heading back to the Land of the Dead.
“So,” Johnny said, turning to Jabalí and forcing his triton mouth to produce the gargling sounds of the man-fish language, “what do we do now?”
“I am unsure, Johnny.”
“Fantastic. I’ll guess we’ll figure something out.”
Shrugging in irritation, he reached out and touched the mirror. A tickle of energy flickered across his fingertips. Closing his eyes, he used savage magic to gently probe the crystal.
“Careful, boy,” he heard Xicol gasp.
Peeking at the smooth emerald surface, he saw that the water above it had begun to swirl and bubble. Retreating a bit, Johnny watched this movement grow into a frantic roil.
“Well,” Carol told him, “this one doesn’t stream smoke, but I’d say it’s getting ready for transport.”
A blinding flash of verdant light caused them all to turn away, but they felt the water around them shudder as something came through. Johnny jerked his head back and saw three massive tlaloqueh emerge from the mirror’s surface. Burning in their translucent chests were hunks of raw emerald. They clutched two-handed blades of water and verdant fire.
One of them thundered an angry query: “WHAT MORTAL IS FOOLISH ENOUGH TO DARE THE GATEWAY TO TLALOCAN? WE ARE THE APIXQUEH, GUARDIANS OF THE DIVINE WATERS OF PARADISE. NO LIVING BEING MAY CROSS THIS BOUNDARY!”
Castellan Nalquiza surged out in front of the twins, lifting her hands in supplication.
“Hold, puissant Lords of Water! Our need is great. The fate of our world depends on swift travel away from this place.”
“WE CARE NOT FOR THE FATE OF YOUR WORLD, SNIVELING SIREN.”
With a movement almost too fast for the eye, he thrust his blade through her chest. Immediately, the guards hurled spears and shot javelins at the elementals, but their attack was in vain. The projectiles passed through them harmlessly.
“Retreat!” called Marshal Cenaman, and Johnny felt Captain Xicol’s hands on him, dragging him forcibly away.
“No!” he shouted. “I’ve got to fight them!”
“How, boy? They almost killed you last time!”
Johnny, fuming, allowed himself to be guided in a rush out of the temple, the Apixqueh fast on his tail. Cenaman was already shouting orders at the squads surrounding the mound, and as the elementals burst forth, they were greeted by a flurry of attacks.
Carol, get Tenamic to help you with the whale song gambit. I’ll see if I can distract these bubble butts in the meantime.
Got it.
He looked up at the coral and sea grass, looked into them with his tonal, called to them with all the desperation in his heart, twisting his will into theirs using Green Magic.
Grow. No need to wait. Grow as fast as you can. Take this shape. Do you see it? Yeah, you want to curl that way, don’t you? Come on. Grow.
The flora and fauna on the crest fairly exploded into movement, forming a tight cage of coral and sea grass around the elementals. Glancing over at his sister, Johnny saw Tenamic lift his staff. Captain Xicol floated below him, weapons at the ready.
Another blinding flash of green light reduced Johnny’s living cage to microscopic bits. The tlaloqueh began firing coruscating sheets of energy at the merfolk. Before Carol could transform into a humpback whale, one of these bolts ripped through the water right toward the Archmage, who tried to deflect it with his own white fire. The concussion ripped his staff from his hands and sent him spinning off toward a magma stream. Guards hurried to catch him.
Johnny rushed toward Xicol, who was floating unconscious and seriously wounded. Carol darted over, seizing Tenamic’s staff.
Johnny, help me! This thing can amplify magic. We need to channel xoxal into it and blast those damn things before they kill anyone else!
Nodding, he gripped the staff as well, his hands between Carol’s.
The ivory was ancient. Johnny could barely sense the beast it had belonged to, a terrifying leviathan that had plied the Deep millions of years ago. The arcane glyphs licked at his palms, hungry for magic.
Within him, his tonal snarled with feral joy. This tool it understood.
Calling to its sibling, the jaguar poured itself with eager abandon into the carefully carved staff. The wolf clawed its way along the petrified bone as well.
In that instant, Johnny and Carol were almost one being. There was no need for words or thought. They lifted the staff and aimed, releasing a torrent of white-hot savage magic.
The outer shell of the elementals boiled away in a fraction of a second, leaving their emerald cores exposed. The twins’ beam of power slammed into the crystals with such unremitting force that they cracked. Then, with a guttural howl that rattled Atlan from end to end, they shattered into a million glittering shards.
With a convulsive gasp, Johnny pulled his tonal back, releasing the staff.
Carol was left staring at the empty space where the tlaloqueh had floated seconds ago. Johnny saw her glance down at her hands and shudder.
Oh, my God. What did we just do?
He swallowed. For the moment, he couldn’t quite bring himself to reply telepathically.
“We saved them, Carol. The only way we could.”
All around them, guards were helping the many wounded as captains shouted commands. Ana and Mihuah swam to the twins, bearing a weakened Tenamic between them.
“Those children of Tlaloc,” he managed to say, “have existed since the Third Age of the world. Millions upon millions of years. And you obliterated them in seconds.”
Ignoring the nausea he felt, Johnny gave a dismissive smirk. “Yeah, well, them or us, Archmage. I don’t know what you want me to say.”
Wordlessly, Carol handed the sorcerer his staff. He accepted it with ginger care, running a light finger along the glyphs.
“Princess Anamacani,” he said, “have you ever read of a Blessed Creature killing a tlaloqueh?”
“No, Archmage. But our history is limited to this age and mostly to our own kind.”
Carol shook her head. “Killing’s not the right word.”
“No?” Tenamic ran a trembling hand through his beard. “Perhaps not. I have no knowledge of the constitution or fate of elementals, to
be frank. Yet your power worries me profoundly. It strikes me that you travel the same path as most other nahualtin of your type.”
“Soft, now, Archmage.” Ana’s tone was gentle, but firm. “There is much left to be done. Let us not worry them further.”
Carol bit her lip, a clear sign that she was upset. “Worry us with what?”
The princess said nothing, but her face grew grim.
Johnny swallowed heavily. “You’ve got to tell us, Ana.”
She turned away, staring out toward the temple as she spoke. “Very well. In the eighty centuries since Atlan fell, there have only been five sets of cocoah, of shapeshifting fraternal twins. Of those, three…”
Her voice hitched and she shook her head.
Tenamic spoke softly. “Johnny and Carol, three were bent to the will of Tezcatlipoca.”
“Not us,” Johnny snapped, suddenly angry. “No freaking way. He already threatened us with his little plan for us, and it’s not going to happen.”
For the first time, Mihuah spoke, her voice nearly inaudible. “How can you be sure, Johnny?”
“I know my own heart. I know Carol’s, too. We’ll die first.”
The sorcerer looked at them serenely for a moment before nodding.
“And what happened to the…the bad twins?” Carol managed to ask. “Obviously they didn’t cause the end of the world. We’re still in the Fifth Age.”
Ana’s voice shook as she turned to face them again. “The magic beings of the world, my friends. They joined together to… to stop those twins.”
Johnny’s limbs went cold with dread. He suddenly understood the Queen’s reaction, the distant treatment of Tapachco’s elite. For them, he and his sister were unpredictable, possibly deadly forces.
Tenamic had floated free of Mihuah and Ana. Clutching his staff against his chest, he stared at the distant roof of the impossibly vast cavern.
Carol glanced at him, worry plain on her face, and then moved closer to Ana.
“But two sets of twins were fine, weren’t they? They managed their powers. Like Johnny said, so can we.”
“I believe you can as well, Carol. That is why I was reluctant to reveal any of this history to you. Consider this very important and mysterious fact—all shapeshifting twins share the same spirit animal, based upon the day of their birth. Why then, are you two different? Why are you a wolf and Johnny a jaguar?”
“Clear mockery of the First Divine Twins,” Tenamic muttered. “Quetzalcoatl and his canine form, Xolotl; Tezcatlipoca and his jaguar, Tepeyollotl. These two will doubtlessly clash as violently as those gods, and the universe will regret the very hour of their birth.”
“That’s freaking ridiculous,” Johnny spat. “Carol’s my best friend. I’d never hurt her. That can’t be why we have different animal souls!”
Ana nodded. “I agree. Though you should both be jaguars, Carol has been gifted with a wolf tonal for a reason we cannot perceive. As for me, I trust in the wisdom of the gods. In the meanwhile, do not lose heart. You have friends who will struggle at your side and draw you back from any darkness.”
Tenamic’s voice was almost a sob. “I am afraid we cannot afford the risk.”
With unexpected speed, he spun and blasted at the twins with energy from his staff. Carol shifted into a school of viperfish, scattering in a dozen directions to avoid the attack. Johnny, who had earlier run his hands through a stream of bioluminescent plankton to collect a sample, now transformed himself into a cloud of the blue fire plants. He opened gaps in his amorphous form to let the bolts pass harmlessly through as he drew closer and closer to the sorcerer, squeezing his form around the staff and wrenching it from Tenamic’s grasp.
“Jabalí!” he called as he shifted back. “Grab this old triton for me!”
The tlacamichin was upon them in seconds, wrapping his powerful scaly arms around Tenamic and holding him tight.
Dozens of guards rushed to surround them. Johnny wheeled about, brandishing the staff. The viperfish encircled him like a shield.
There was a moment of supreme tension. Then Marshal Cenaman re-emerged from the temple, bearing the corpse of her commanding officer.
“Enough!” she cried, her voice hitching with sorrow. “What is the meaning of this?”
Ana came to their defense. “The Archmage sought to kill the twins, Marshal. They have subdued him.”
“Is this what we are reduced to?” demanded Cenaman. “Our castellan dead, dozens more wounded, and at the first taste of victory, we tear one another apart? Thus will the enemy destroy us without raising a hand.”
She let the castellan’s body drift into the arms of her aids.
“Now, then. Johnny and Carol, instruct Jabalí to turn Archmage Tenamic over to my guards. We will keep him restrained, I assure you.”
Johnny looked at the man-fish. “Let him go, buddy. They’ve got him.”
Guards bound the sorcerer’s hands. Tenamic wept openly, but said nothing else. The guards surrounding Johnny withdrew, and Carol resumed siren form.
Cenaman looked at the staff in Johnny’s hands and gave a curt salute.
“Shall we attempt this divine passageway once more?”
“Yeah, definitely.”
Johnny noticed that the princess was swimming in circles, searching for something.
“What’s wrong?” he called.
“Mihuah is missing, Johnny. I cannot find her anywhere.”
Chapter Eighteen
Still reeling from their losses, from the unexpected betrayal of the Archmage, Carol found her stomach clenching up with dread. Mihuah, missing? Had Tenamic’s attacks harmed her? Killed her? Was she hiding somewhere?
“As I pulled Castellan Nalquiza’s corpse from the inner sanctum,” the marshal said, “I saw Lady Mihuah enter the temple, seeking refuge, no doubt. We will find her inside.”
Oh, thank God. I don’t think I could handle another freaking tragedy today.
Me neither. Come on. Let’s get out of this dump.
She and Johnny were accompanied by Jabalí, Cenaman, Ana and a squad of guards.
Mihuah wasn’t in the main chamber.
“She’s probably in one of the other rooms we passed,” Carol said, heading back. “Pair up. Find her, quick.”
Ana, Johnny and Jabalí followed her as she swam through the first doorway on her right. It was a small room with a hole set in the floor.
“Guess there used to be a ladder or stairs,” she mused aloud. “Rotted away ages ago. Let’s check below.”
Diving down the stairwell, she entered a much larger chamber, lit by a strange purple glow.
It came from a large obsidian mirror fixed to one wall.
Floating in front of it was Mihuah. She turned, startled.
There was a young triton in the mirror, head and shoulders above the surface of a lake. The sun shone between tall trees behind him.
“I know that place,” Jabalí muttered, raising webbed fingers and gripping his head as if in pain.
“Maxaltic?” Ana gasped.
“Oh, hello there, dear sister. I was not expecting to see you quite yet, but this encounter is nonetheless delicious. How does it feel to be so distant, so powerless? Horrible, would you say? Now you understand what it was like for me, watching you, barely an adolescent, revered and adored by the entire simpering kingdom.”
Carol stared at the siren she had believed to be her friend. “Oh, Mihuah, what have you done?”
“She has helped her beloved, human girl. Helped her people, her kingdom, her species. It was not so difficult, though. You are all rather foolish and gullible. Easily beguiled and deceived. And now you cannot stop what has begun.”
Johnny rushed at the mirror as if he could dash through it.
“I wouldn’t count us out yet, you freaking jerk.”
Maxaltic laughed, gesturing at someone beyond the edges of the image. A hand appeared, passing a small rectangle to the rogue prince.
“Your bravado is meaningless. I sh
all do what I please. Take what I want. And you will simply despair. Do you recognize this, orphans?”
Maxaltic held the object up to the mirror.
It was their father’s passport card.
Carol felt herself die inside.
“No!” raged Johnny, slamming his fist against the wall.
“Yes,” Maxaltic answered smugly. Then he reached toward them, and the mirror went blank.
Carol, though broken, found the strength to whirl on Mihuah.
“You betrayed us! The jellyfish, the explosion, the sharks—that was all you. And you made sure we came here, didn’t you? You piece of…Are my parents dead? Does he have the Shadow Stone?”
Mihuah set her jaw tightly and said nothing.
“Answer her, damn it!” Johnny shouted, lifting the staff.
Ana thrust herself between them. “No, Johnny, not like this! She is my cousin. Let me talk to her. I can reach her.”
Carol could almost hear Tezcatlipoca laughing. You are a wolf at heart, and when the time comes, you will rip what you require from your enemies.
Pulling Ana out of the way, she muttered, “There’s not enough time for that.”
She reached out, yanked away a curl of Mihuah’s short, rusty hair.
Then she assumed the siren’s shape and dove deep into her memories.
~~~
Maxaltic had found her in her mother’s office that day, less than a ceremonial year ago. Mihuah had been reviewing different politicians’ positions, preparing to brief the minister for her talk to the Assembly. A smile had crossed her face as the prince entered.
“Ah, my love. Are you not concerned that an aid will see you and start some nasty rumor? I was promised to you from birth, but you know how the traditionalists will react.”
Maxaltic had cupped her head with his hand for a moment. Then shadows had seemed to creep across his eyes.
“Indeed. Sadly, my mother the Queen will soon make an announcement that will quash any such speculation, Mihuah.”
“What? Your expression concerns me, sweet. Why do you hesitate?”
His jaw had twisted with barely bridled rage. “She has been working to deepen our alliance with Qucha Llaqta. The idea is that I shall marry the eldest princess, uniting the two realms and solidifying the Queen’s hegemony in Eastern Apan.”
A Kingdom Beneath the Waves Page 15
