Atop the Puebla:
"Come, Dolores, look!" waved Siniestro, "Look out there! Now, there is nothing but brush and shrub, but think what it would be with irrigation and a new city! We could have a culture equal to or greater that Mexico City!"
"Who could have possibly have filled your head with such nonsense?" cried Dolores.
"All it needs is money, the filthy money you so despise. And I almost have it in my grasp! All the money you could ever dream about! More! I am talking about the ancient hoards of the Aztecs!"
And Beneath:
"Come, Lucha, look!" waved Kaliche. He snapped his fingers and the solid walls of the cavern became as clear as glass, so they could gaze out upon the moonlit valley. "Look out there! Now, there is nothing but brush and shrub, but think of how it could be! There at the bend of the river, I will place my palace, behind it the pyramid and the courts for the conduct of everyday life. And on this side, the ball fields where youths of all countries will vie for the greatest honors of the world! You have a tremendous part to play in this dream!"
"Hey, this wall disappeared!" cried Gordo, rubbing his nose, "There ain't nothing holding up the ceiling!"
"You just ran into the wall," sneered Wolf Walker, "This is an illusion."
"Oh, yeah? I'll bet you didn't know that until I hit the wall. I proved the wall was still there!"
Machita cried, "But I'm not a girl! I'm a guy! You've made a mistake!"
"Not at all. Oh, I can see your curse, a nimbus which floats about you. Curious. But you change sex easily enough. It is a simple spell to counter." He snapped his fingers, and Machita felt a gust of cold air against her cheek.
After a brief inspection of her more salient features, she asked, "What is supposed to happen?"
"Only a simple condition," repeated Kaliche, and he snapped his fingers more loudly. Again the gust of air, and again the brief inspection.
"Nothing," she said.
Kaliche shrugged and grabbed a bowl of cold water. This time the results were positive. "As long as you are a girl when the ceremony starts," he said, "who cares?"
"And I came here for my mother! I don't know anything about your dreams!" cried Ramón.
"You haven't felt a pull to this place? You haven't awakened with memories of former times? Odd. The link should have prepared you."
"What link?"
Wolf Walker and Gordo were face to face, snarling insults, too preoccupied to notice the change, when Gordo glanced over at their `host'. "Awww man!" cried Gordo, "He's got Ramón, too! This is lookin' bad, man!"
"You don't have the turquoise pendant?" the stout bald man cried in anguish, "But you must have it! Centuries ago, I set into motion the events which brought you here today! Nothing could change them - they were blood spells, the most powerful known!"
"What!!?"
"I said, `Centuries ago, I set...'"
"I heard that part! Just how old are you?" demanded Ramón, "Are you actually an Aztec priest? You can't be that old!"
"Those children? I am older than that! Oh, I am older than them, you can be sure! A thousand, at least! I studied in Bablylon! I have travelled with the Phonecians!" The light fell across his face and Machita could see the cold deadness in the eyes. No, not a priest. Definitely not like any priest Ramón had ever known.
"Any way, I'm somebody else. Doña de Muerte called me Lucha, but that isn't my name. I'm..." Ramón drew back as the dead eyes seemed to leap toward him.
"You must have the pendant! You must have it!"
"Well, I don't! Now let me go!"
"What do you mean you do not have the link? You are useless to me without it! You have to have the link! It was designed to stay with the bloodline!" Kaliche's shoulders slumped.
"Very well, then," he said, "there is nothing we can do now, it must be later. I will have to wait until next cycle to activate my cult of Huitzilopochtli. You may go free."
The boys had just released an explosive breath when the bald sorcerer waved his hand at the rest of them.
"Release him. Kill the others." He never looked back as he entered the portal.
The youths looked about in alarm as gray-clad acolytes swarmed into the room past the two warriors.
The Adventures of Macho Caballo Page 15
