by Geoff Rodkey
My insides started to quiver. I shot Dad a panicky look.
He shook his head. “They ain’t gonna. I’ll make sure of it.”
“How?”
He didn’t answer. “We’ll go. See wot they want.”
He stayed close by me as we started toward the square. The four warriors took up positions on either side of us. They didn’t touch me, or glower at me, or point their rifles at me.
But I was terrified just the same.
When we reached the square, it was still emptying out. What was left of the crowd was walking away from the low, wide monument that faced the temple. There was movement at the top of its steps, but I tried not to look at it.
The soldiers led us over to the base of the Temple of the Sunset. Then they all stopped. So did Dad and I.
Two of the warriors sat down on the temple steps. Dad’s shadow did the same. Then the lot of them started a conversation, in a bored, passing-the-time sort of way.
The terror that had been building in me started to settle a bit. But only a bit.
“Why’d they take me here?” I asked Dad.
“Dunno. Venus wants ye, I guess.”
We waited there, under a sun that was getting so hot I had to keep pulling up my shirt to wipe sweat from my face. Once the last of the crowd had left, the square stood nearly as empty as it had been the night before.
There was still movement atop the steps of the monument on the opposite side of the plaza. For the first time, I looked closely at it.
Its big twin urns still held the blazing fires I’d seen during the night. In between them was an altar of some kind. Something bright and colorful was moving around on top of the altar, but the shimmer and ripple of heat distortion from the fires made it hard to figure out at first just what I was looking at.
It was a group of birds—massive ones, all bright red with streaks of blue and green. Their heads were crowned with plumes of feathers. There were three in all. They were eating.
My mind flashed back to the ruby-red firebird necklace, and the similar-looking hieroglyphs in the map and on the temple walls. I pointed the birds out to Dad.
“Are those firebirds?”
He shrugged. “Dunno wot they call ’em.”
I tried not to watch them, but I couldn’t help myself. They looked strangely familiar, and not just because of the map and the necklace.
Then I realized why. I’d seen one in the forest, staring down at me when I was sick with the Clutch. I’d been so feverish then that until now, I thought I might have just imagined such a strange and terrible-looking creature.
I was still watching the firebirds when one of the warriors spoke up, pointing in the direction of the avenue. We all turned to look.
Another small group of warriors was leading Kira, Guts, and Millicent into the square. I was glad to see they were walking under their own power, their hands free. Nobody looked too much the worse for wear.
As they came near, Millicent caught my eye and gave me a hopeful smile. I smiled back, wondering if she’d heard the ceremony and hoping she hadn’t.
When the group reached us, the warriors turned my friends up the steps and nudged me along with them. Dad started to follow. His shadow stopped him.
I turned my head to look at Dad, and he nodded to me.
“Be waitin’ here fer ye,” he said.
I nodded back and started up the steps with the others. It was a much easier climb after a meal and a good night’s sleep.
“Where are we going?” Millicent whispered to me.
“To see my sister.”
I wanted to warn them about what to expect from Venus, but one of the warriors barked something at me, and I figured it was better not to talk.
Kira was in front of me. When we reached the top of the steps and she saw all the clutter, I heard her give a little sigh. It occurred to me that she wasn’t going to appreciate Venus’s making a pigsty of the temple.
Kira’s tribe used to worship their god here, and my sister had turned the place into a trash heap.
Then I remembered what a hard time Kira had disguising her hatred when she spoke to the Moku, and I got worried enough to risk whispering, “Don’t make her angry!” as we entered the temple.
One of the warriors shot me a warning look, but no one said anything.
It was surprisingly bright inside—there were wide openings in the upper walls and ceiling, so sunlight was coming in from several angles. Unfortunately, the bright light didn’t do the place any favors—it was much more vast than it had seemed in the shadows the night before, but it also looked even filthier. For Kira’s sake, I wished the Moku would put some effort into cleaning up after my sister.
“FINALLY!” yelled Venus when we came into view at the end of the long, columned hall. She had on her six-foot headdress and a face full of fresh paint, although she’d shed most of the jewelry, so she managed to get to her feet without help.
Half a dozen Moku servants were still clustered around her pillow-smothered altar, but she wasn’t the only center of power in the temple.
Off to one side, about twenty feet toward us from Venus’s crew, was a slightly larger group surrounding the big ox of a chief. He was lounging in a thronelike wooden chair they must have dragged out special for him, because it hadn’t been there the night before.
The way everyone, even Venus’s servants, stood in relation to him made it clear—to probably everybody but my sister—that even though his seat was tucked between a pair of columns, sideways to the altar, he was the one calling the shots.
We crossed the long, garbage-strewn hall, and as we approached the spot where the chief was sitting, we all hesitated, not sure whether to turn toward him instead of continuing on to Venus.
That seemed to annoy her.
“Hurry up!”
The chief smirked, waving us along with a bored flick of one of his massive hands.
We continued on toward Venus.
“On your knees!”
We did as we were told, forming a straight line in front of her. Millicent was on the far end, and Venus tottered over to her, a servant following right behind in case the swaying headpiece toppled over again.
Venus held her hand out for Millicent to kiss. This time, the stack of rings only went as high as her middle knuckle.
“Kiss it if you love your queen!”
Millicent kissed Venus’s rings, doing an outstanding job of looking meek.
Venus waddled sideways, over to me.
“Now you!”
When I looked up at her as I kissed one of her rings, I saw she was wearing just a single necklace.
It was the firebird pendant.
Venus moved on to Kira, waggling her fingers as she held them out. I prayed Kira wouldn’t notice the pendant around my sister’s neck.
To my surprise, Kira managed to kiss the hand without a protest or a dirty look.
Guts was last. He managed a halfhearted peck. His face was twitching worse than usual.
As Venus drew her hand back, her lip curled under the makeup. “Why do you blink like that?”
“Just do.”
“Stop it! It’s creepy.”
I held my breath. This could go bad in a hurry.
But to my relief, Venus turned away from him and tottered back to sink into her pillows. Her headdress wobbled, but a little nudge from Venus’s servant steadied it.
“So I’m your queen,” Venus announced, pursing her lips in what I imagine she figured was a very queenly expression. “And everybody loves me. And Egbert’s writing a book about it.”
She pointed to the chief. “Over there’s your king. We’re going to be married. There’s going to be a huge party. If you’re very, very good, and you serve me well, you can come to it. Otherwise, you can’t. And you’ll have to stay in the pit while everybody else goes to the party. And also you might get dead.”
She gave a happy little sigh. “Now. Who likes my headdress?”
“I was just thi
nking about how gorgeous it is,” said Millicent. “It frames your face perfectly. And it really sets off your eyes—you’re quite beautiful!”
Venus beamed. “I know! Right?”
Then she looked at the rest of us. It took a second for us to realize we were supposed to chime in, too.
“Yeah! Beautiful! I love it, I really do.”
“It’s wonderful. You are a beautiful queen.”
“Nice, yeh. Like it!”
Her smile faded a little. She didn’t seem to think our answers were quite up to snuff. “So. You’re living in a hole in the ground. Right?”
“Yes. Thank you!” said Millicent.
We all nodded. Venus looked a little confused. I think she wasn’t sure if the “thank you” was sarcastic or not.
Then she frowned. “If I take you out of the hole. And I make you my servants. How will you serve your queen? Egbert wants you to help with the book, but I think he’s just being lazy.”
There was a pause as everybody thought about the question.
“How would you like us to serve you?” Millicent finally asked in a sweet voice.
That seemed to stump Venus. She scrunched her eyebrows together, making the thick smears of orange and blue makeup above her eyes bend in on themselves.
Finally, the orange and blue smears sprang up. She’d thought of something.
“I want my pony,” she demanded.
“Perhaps we could find one for you,” suggested Millicent. “Of course, we’d have to travel out of the city to—”
“No, no, no,” said Venus impatiently. “They’re supposed to get me one, and they haven’t.” She pointed behind us, in the direction of the chief. “I want that one. The one they promised.”
I heard the deep, gruff voice of the chief, his voice rising in a question. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kira turn her head in his direction. She answered him in what must have been Moku.
“Don’t you go talking to my king!” Venus shrieked. She started to lurch to her feet, but the sudden movement sent her headpiece careening wildly to one side, and while Venus and her servants were trying to keep her from choking on the strap, the chief answered Kira.
I risked looking over my shoulder. He was leaning forward in his chair, his eyes wide with interest. By the time Venus freed herself from the headdress and got to her feet, Kira and the chief were well into a conversation.
Dumb as she was, it must have dawned on Venus that this could work to her advantage.
“You actually understand him? You talk that gobbledygook, too?” she asked Kira.
Kira turned back to look at her. “Yes.”
“Don’t just sit there nodding! Ask him where my pony is!”
As Kira turned back to the chief, something caught Venus’s eye, and she suddenly screamed in horror.
“AAAAAAH! WHERE IS THAT BOY’S HAND?”
She pointed a shaking finger at Guts, whose stump was up near his face, where he must have raised it to scratch his nose. He quickly lowered it, his lip curling in a snarl.
“He lost it,” I said quickly. “Trying to serve you!”
Venus turned to glower at me.
“It’s disgusting! Get him out of here, Egbert! Right this minute! Don’t go bringing me one-handed subjects! Eeew!”
I scrambled to my feet and practically dragged Guts toward the exit.
“Gimme hook back, won’t have to see it,” he growled.
Venus didn’t hear him. She was too busy yelling, “Eeew! Eeew! Eeew!”
The chief watched us pass, his eyes crinkling with amusement.
The warriors who escorted us into the room were coming forward to intercept me and Guts.
“MAKE EGBERT COME BACK ONCE THAT FREAK’S GONE!” I heard Venus yell, followed by a slightly quieter “Tell them that!”
The last line must have been directed at Kira, because I heard her call out in Moku. When she did, the warriors heading toward us looked at each other, unsure of themselves.
Then the chief said something, and all but two of them stepped back.
As the two warriors escorted Guts and me to the exit, I could hear the chief and Kira start talking again.
“Some family ye got,” he muttered.
“Tell me about it.”
I went with him as far as the corridor that led outside. “Don’t worry,” I said. “We’re going to get out of this.”
“Get my hook back!” he yelled as he left with the two warriors.
By the time I returned to the group, both Kira and the chief were on their feet. He was halfway to Venus, words tumbling out of him as Kira stood between them, listening intently. He finished, and Kira turned to Venus and offered a translation in a voice too low for me to hear.
Whatever Kira said, it made Venus screech with fury.
“LIAR! LIAR!”
I quickened my pace as Kira answered her. The response seemed to just make things worse.
“PUNISH! PUNISH! PUNISH!” Venus screamed, pointing a shaking finger at Kira.
The warriors ran past me toward Kira and Millicent, who were already retreating toward us in the face of Venus’s fury.
The chief was laughing. The blind rage of his bride-to-be, or whatever she was, was hilarious to him.
By the time the girls and I reached each other, the warriors had formed a wedge in front of them, and I had to quickly step aside or the men would’ve flattened me as they passed.
Kira and Millicent both looked frightened.
“What happened?” I called out.
“Rovians are coming! Any minute!” said Kira.
“There’s no time!” Millicent yelled over her shoulder at me as the warriors hustled them out of the temple.
“EGBERRRRRT!”
I turned away from the girls and back toward my sister. Her servants were flocking around her, trying helplessly to soothe her fury.
As I started toward Venus, the chief turned in my direction and headed for the exit, his stone-faced attendants following in his wake.
He was still laughing. As we passed each other, he said something to me that sounded like it was Moku for “good luck with that.”
When I got to Venus, I hit my knees without even being asked. She fixed me with a venomous look.
“You’re not to speak to those people anymore or I’ll kill you,” she hissed. “That savage girl especially. She told the most disgusting lies.”
“What kind of lies?” I asked, trying to sound meek.
“Not even repeating them, they’re so horrid. Ugh!”
Venus plopped down on her pillows.
“Drink!”
One of the servants took off like she’d been shot from a cannon.
“Are some…men coming…?” I asked.
“Yes!” She brightened a little. “That’s the only true thing that witch said. They’re bringing my pony!”
“And it’s…Rovians bringing it?”
“Yes! Tons of them. All on horses. Maybe they can translate all this babble without lying like filthy pigs.”
“Venus…”
“Queen!”
“My queen…”
“What is it? Don’t be a prat. Spit it out.”
“Those Rovians are very bad men—”
“Don’t you start, too!” she hissed.
“I know you want a pony. And I want you to have one. But the men who are coming aren’t friends of ours. They make slaves of the Natives. And—”
“Don’t!”
“—they’re the same ones who tried to kill you! All of—”
“AAAAAAAAH!” She pressed her hands to her ears and screamed, just like she used to back at home whenever someone told her something she didn’t want to hear.
“GET OUT!”
I got out of there so fast the warrior escorts had to trot to keep up with me. Time was precious, and the help I needed wasn’t going to come from my sister.
ESCAPE
Dad was waiting at the bottom of the temple steps.
; “Wot’s she on about? I heard the yellin’.”
“I’ve got to talk to the others.” I started off in the direction of the pit.
“Can’t,” he said. “Only let ye near it if yer bringin’ food.”
I glanced back at the two warriors who’d followed me out of the temple. They stared back at me with blank faces.
I figured Dad was right. I went back to the temple steps, where I could sit and think. Dad followed me.
“We’ve got to get them out. We’ve got to leave here. Right away.”
“Wot fer?”
“Rovians are coming.”
“That’s great! Ticket out.”
“No. It couldn’t be worse.”
“How ye figger?”
There was no telling him what the problem was without coming clean about the map. So I did. I didn’t know if Millicent would have approved, but she was in a hole in the ground, and I had to trust my own judgment.
It came as a real shock to Dad that the balloon accident was no accident, but he didn’t have trouble believing it the way Adonis did.
“Figgered it was a map,” Dad said. “Sumpin’ to do with that legend.” He shook his head. “Never shoulda trusted that weasel lawyer.”
I suddenly remembered I wasn’t the only person with a copy of the writing on the wall of the Fire King’s tomb.
“Do you still have the map?” I asked him.
He nodded, patting the pocket of his trousers. “Good thing, too—cut us a break with the savages.”
“What do you mean?”
“First we landed, seemed like as not they was gonna kill us. Then I showed ’em the parchment, and all a sudden we was honored guests.”
“They could read it?”
“Course. Same marks as wot’s on their walls.” He pointed to the temple.
I shook my head. “They’re from a different tribe.” I nodded at the warriors, lounging around with Dad’s shadow a short distance away from us. “These men are Moku. But they captured this city from the Okalu—the Fire King’s people. They’re blood enemies.”
“Huh.” He mulled that over. “Now ye mention it…dunno they read it or not. Passed it around a good bit. Looked confused, lot of ’em. But I put it to just havin’ part of it.”
“Part of what?”
“The map. Only copied the beginnin’. Get a flavor of it so’s I could take the measure of whoever was gonna read it fer me. Didn’t want to write down all of it, case ’ey’d steal it fer themselves. Frightful long to copy, anyhow. Ye really fit the whole thing in yer brain?”
