Sky Knife (32 page)

The squawking of the jungle animals was his only answer. Sky Knife descended until he was just above the roofs of the city's buildings. He flew over the plaza, past the Temple of Ix Chel. Kan Flower and several other warriors stood outside.

Where would Stone Jaguar take the king? Sky Knife skimmed over the jungle canopy, searching for any sign. In the east, the grayness grew brighter.

Sky Knife stopped his flight. Stone Jaguar believed himself to be the true priest of Itzamna. He believed he acted for the gods. He would want to make a sacrifice of the king. Not a
p'a chi,
not a willing sacrifice, but the sacrifice of an enemy. Stone Jaguar would want everything to be just right.

An enemy could be sacrificed in any number of ways, usually with a knife in the chest or a slit throat. But Stone Jaguar had used his blade most recently on farmers. He would need to resanctify it for more holy use if he wanted to use it to kill the king. Sky Knife doubted Stone Jaguar wanted to take the time that would require.

The cardinal directions were important, too, of course. Stone Jaguar would want to do this somewhere to the east, the most prestigious direction; or north, where the rain gods lived.

Water—water was another way to make sacrifice. It could symbolize the rain gods no matter in which direction it lay.

The
cenote!
Sky Knife flew over the treetops toward the east. The hidden
cenote
would be perfect. Not only did it have water to honor the rain gods, it was in the east to honor Itzamna.

Sky Knife broke through the canopy and hovered over the
cenote.
The black cloud jaguar hovered there, too, Storm Cloud still in its grip.

“It didn't take you long to find me.” To Sky Knife, Stone Jaguar sounded disappointed. “Well, now that you're here, save the king,
priest,
” hissed the jaguar. It stretched out its paw and dropped Storm Cloud. The small figure of the king plummeted toward the water.

“No!” screamed Sky Knife. He dove for the king and reached him just before Storm Cloud hit the water. But the king passed through Sky Knife's insubstantial body and struck the blue water of the
cenote.

Sky Knife followed the king into the water and wrapped his arms around the other man. But his arms continued to pass through Storm Cloud's flesh.

Panic nibbled at Sky Knife's thoughts. If he could not drag the king out of the water, Storm Cloud would drown, and Sky Knife would have failed Bone Splinter's trust.

Storm Cloud struggled, but bonds of blue light held his wrists behind his back and strapped his ankles together. Sky Knife grabbed at the sorcerous bonds. They stung his hands, but he could hold onto them. He flew upwards toward the air, toward life, dragging the king behind him.

He was not strong enough to pull the king into the air with him, but he pressed down with his hands and felt the bonds weaken. Sky Knife reached out with the power of Bone Splinter's love and snapped the sorcery that bound the king.

Storm Cloud's head broke the surface and he took a deep breath of air. Sky Knife hovered over him, tremendously relieved.

A boulder struck the water near Storm Cloud's head. The splash sent the man under again, but he bobbed up after a moment. Sky Knife glanced up. The cloud jaguar was gone. In its place hovered Stone Jaguar himself, his arms spread wide.

“I will crush you both!” Stone Jaguar shook a fist toward Sky Knife. Suddenly, Sky Knife felt his body returning to him. He fell several feet into the cool water and came up, choking. The feeling of weight and a solid body seemed cumbersome to him now.

Another rock smashed into the water. Sky Knife tread water and closed his mouth against the spray. The king was not so lucky. Sky Knife heard the other man choking on a mouthful of water.

Stone Jaguar's plan was clear—he would pull down the walls of the
cenote
and crush Sky Knife and the king under them. Anger warmed Sky Knife's blood and power throbbed in his bones. He reached out with the power, down to the bottom of the
cenote,
and pulled it toward him.

The water became choppy and a deep rumble filled the air. Stone Jaguar threw more stones, but Sky Knife pushed them away with the strength that flowed through him. He concentrated on the rocks beneath them, pulling them closer and closer.…

The bottom came up to meet Sky Knife and the king, pushing them out of the water, granting them a small island in the midst of the pool. Storm Cloud lay on the wet stones, panting and coughing, but otherwise all right.

Sky Knife threw back his head and screamed out to the man he had held so high in respect and awe. “Itzamna sees the evil you do!” he cried. “He has given me the power to defeat you.”

“Never!” shouted Stone Jaguar, though his voice held a note of doubt it had not before.

“You broke all your vows,” said Sky Knife. “You are no longer a priest.”

“Who are you to say that?” said Stone Jaguar. “You are just an ignorant boy.”

Sky Knife reached into the calm, deep quiet in the center of his soul where Bone Splinter's power waited. Sky Knife tapped the power and let more flow through his veins. He rose from the water, leaving the king behind on the island. He floated in the air just before Stone Jaguar.

“Am I?” asked Sky Knife. “You showed me the way, and Bone Splinter gave me the power of a perfect sacrifice.”

“That idiot? He was never the perfect anything,” said Stone Jaguar. “Just a strong hand for the king to use.”

Anger threatened to flood over Sky Knife, but he held it in check. “He is my friend,” he said. “He died for Itzamna, and for the king. And for me.”

Sky Knife gathered power in his mind and shoved the floating figure of Stone Jaguar into the wall of the
cenote.
Stone Jaguar screamed and clapped his hands together. A jaguar of fire burst into life in front of Sky Knife and leaped at him, fiery claws extended.

Sky Knife pushed against the jaguar but it was too strong for him. The flames of its paws came closer to his throat. Sky Knife reached down and pulled the water of the
cenote
to him and encircled the jaguar with it.

The jaguar dissolved in a puff of smoke and ash. The water, released from Sky Knife's control, rained back down to the
cenote.

Stone Jaguar rushed toward Sky Knife and locked his hands around the younger man's throat. Pain lanced through Sky Knife's mind. Stone Jaguar's strong fingers dug into his flesh, closing off his throat.

Fear bubbled through Sky Knife, fear that threatened to become panic. But deep inside his heart was a wellspring of calm. Not the soul-crushing calm of Death Smoke's spell, but a gentle tranquility full of love and trust. Sky Knife drove his mind into the calm and made it a part of himself. The legacy of Bone Splinter eased into every nerve, every pore.

Sky Knife pushed his awareness of his pain aside and opened his mind to the other man, encircling Stone Jaguar with the power Bone Splinter had provided him. Stone Jaguar screamed and dropped his hold on Sky Knife. Frantically, Stone Jaguar jerked his limbs, trying to escape, but Sky Knife's power was everywhere the other man turned.

The power continued to pour through him, so that Sky Knife couldn't tell if he held it or it held him. But it didn't matter. They were part of each other.

Now that he had accepted the power into himself, Sky Knife saw that Stone Jaguar sat in the center of a sorcerous net like some obscene spider. One strand of the net branched outwards toward Tikal, toward the
nagual.
Sky Knife reached out and pulled the strand free.

Stone Jaguar screamed. Sky Knife felt Stone Jaguar's spell dissolve in his hands. The
nagual
faded with the spell, returned to their proper place in the corral of the Totilme'iletik.

Sky Knife yanked another strand from Stone Jaguar. On the other end, he sensed the smell of rot and putrefaction. Cizin. So he had not managed to banish the death god entirely. With a flick of his mind, Sky Knife sent Cizin spinning through the nebulous wall that surrounded the underworlds. The death god screamed as the spell was broken and he was banished from the waking world of men once again.

Other strands came loose from Stone Jaguar now of their own volition. Golden, ropy cords dangled briefly in midair, then dissolved into nothing. Stone Jaguar stopped screaming. He hung limp and unresisting in the center of Sky Knife's power.

“Your power is broken,” said Sky Knife. “You are rejected by the gods.”

“Think again,” said the other man. He reached out to Sky Knife, obsidian blade in his hands. He moved so quickly, Sky Knife reacted without thinking. With his own blade still in his left hand, he stabbed the other man in the neck.

Bright blood, as red as the jungle flowers in the garden at the House of the Warriors, sprayed the trees, coated Sky Knife, gushed out of the gaping slit in Stone Jaguar's throat to the ground below.

Instead of collapsing, Stone Jaguar grew in size as if still bloated with power. “You'll never defeat me!” he screamed. Flames burst into the air around Sky Knife's head. He screamed and shielded his eyes from their glare. Rocks whizzed by his head. Sky Knife curled up in a ball to protect himself.

A rock hit him solidly in his wounded shoulder. Sky Knife cried out. Above him, Stone Jaguar laughed. “You're dead!”

Sky Knife uncurled himself. He had come too far and lost too much to give in now. He pushed himself through the air toward the other sorcerer. “No!” he shouted. “You're the one who's dead!” Sky Knife shoved his hand into the gaping hole in Stone Jaguar's neck, reached back until he found the hard solid bones of Stone Jaguar's spine. Stone Jaguar's eyes widened in fear.

Sky Knife let the power of Bone Splinter's sacrifice flow through him, down his arm, into his hand. He squeezed the other man's spine until it snapped with a loud crack.

Sky Knife let Stone Jaguar drop. Stone Jaguar reached out at the last moment and grabbed Sky Knife's ankle, sending him plummeting after Stone Jaguar into the blue waters of the
cenote.

Sky Knife screamed at the pain that lanced through him when he hit the water. Then all screams were taken from him as cold water rushed down his throat.

36

Sky Knife used the last trickle of energy in him to push himself to the surface. He came up, spluttering and coughing. A strong hand grabbed him by the shoulder and hauled him halfway out of the water onto a rock.

Sky Knife gasped for air. “Stone Jaguar,” he said. “Where…”

“He is gone,” said a heavily accented voice. The king. “He fell into the water and has not come up.”

Sky Knife relaxed a moment. The power that had coursed through him before had left him, but a trace of the love that had touched him remained. Bone Splinter—and the
chic-chac
—had not left him. He hoped they never would. “Thank you,” he whispered to them both.

“It is I who should thank you,” said Storm Cloud. “But don't you think we should leave now?”

Sky Knife raised his head. “The
cenote
…”

“Is no more,” said the king. He slapped Sky Knife on the shoulder. Sky Knife's heart leaped in surprise at the familiarity. He blinked and scanned the area. He saw what the king meant. Instead of a
cenote,
there was now a pile of rubble. Small deep pockets of water remained, but the vertical walls no longer existed.

Sky Knife laid his head back down on the rock as the morning sun broke over the trees. Blackness threatened to overwhelm him, but it was a comforting sort of blackness that promised rest.

The king shook Sky Knife back to wakefulness. “I owe you my life,” he said. “My kingdom. Anything that is mine you may have. You have only to name it. Wealth, status, power—they are all yours to take.”

Sky Knife could no longer hold the darkness back, but he smiled. The king had promised he could have anything he wished. Well, there was something he wished very badly indeed—provided Jade Flute agreed.

He would go to the love-gift vendor and buy that rabbit. And if Jade Flute spit on his gift, he'd try something else. But Sky Knife had a strange feeling she'd accept.

The comforting tingle at his throat seemed to chime in agreement and an echo of Bone Splinter's laughter rang in his ears. Sky Knife sighed as darkness overtook him. He let himself slide into well-earned and much-needed pleasant dreams.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.

SKY KNIFE

Copyright © 1997 by Marella Sands

All rights reserved.

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