“The vision is all we have,” Tizoc said. Turning to his sisters, he said, “Hueltiuhtli, sisters, you should return home with your mates. Be ready to defend our city in the months ahead.”
“What do we do?” Daniel asked Tizoc.
I gave Daniel’s hand a squeeze.
“We will do the same as I have told my sisters. Prepare,” Tizoc replied. “It means a great deal to me that you would stay and defend my home.” He reached out his left hand to Daniel.
“It will be an honor protecting Ezenoch and everything in it.” With a glance to me, Daniel took Tizoc’s hand and shook it firmly, sealing a pact of sorts. I placed my left hand onto their joined ones and knew this to be one of the most important promises ever made.
Chapter Twenty-six
April
Three months had passed since Captain Finley and the Rose sailed northward away from the Sunal shores in search of the captain’s son. Jonah had been overjoyed to take over my post in the crow’s nest. Daniel and I had bid them all safe passage on their journey while the captain reminded us in a voice thick with emotion that he would come back for us whenever we wanted.
We only hoped there would be a Sunal city for them to come back to.
****
I looked up from my sewing out on the patio, Ghost curled up at my feet, to see Daniel and Tochtli, one of Tizoc’s cousins, hauling a stout log across the courtyard. During our time living with Tizoc’s family, I had found work making garments, my skill in needlework coming in handy once again. Daniel was showing the Sunal how to build boats sturdier than the dugout canoes they currently used—ones that could hold more cargo, were more watertight, and cut through the water with less effort required of the rower. He was also building a small sloop of his own. Something we could continue our adventures on once we were done in Ezenoch.
As Daniel passed by he sent me a smile that warmed me more than the blazing morning sun shining down on the patio. We were enjoying our time with Tizoc’s family. Citlali and Yaoti treated us like their own children and having a whole family that noticed and listened to me was amazing. Tizoc’s sisters came around frequently and spending time with them came to be one of my favorite things to do, second only to my secret nights with Daniel.
He kept his own room, but as soon as the house fell dark and silent, Citlali and Yaoti asleep in their own chambers, Daniel crept into my room. He held me until just before dawn then was back in his quarters before sunrise and no one knew, except Tizoc who had promised to keep mum about it.
Only one thing marred our otherwise perfect stay in the lovely Ezenoch, and that was the impending bad times in Tizoc’s visions. In both of our visions. Each image that came was bloodier in its content than the one before it. I woke up some nights, covered in sweat, clutching Daniel. Each time he would calm me with his soothing touch and consoling words while Tizoc’s mind sought to comfort me as well. Because of these visions, Tizoc, Daniel, and I also spent some of our time each day preparing.
Yesterday, the three of us dug a chamber in the southeast corner of the courtyard that could be used to store supplies or as a hideout should it be needed. When we traipsed back into the house, full of dirt and muck, Citlali stared at us.
“What have you three been doing?” Her dark brown eyes were wide, her lips pursed as she held her breath, waiting for our reply.
“Nantli.” Tizoc took a step closer to Citlali. “Trust that we are doing what needs to be done.” A long moment of silence passed between mother and son, but they were speaking just the same.
Citlali hugged Tizoc, getting dirt on her dress. She stepped back from her son and brushed uselessly at the soiled spot. “Wash up, all of you. We’ll have dinner and think about such dreadful things later.”
We did as we were told, and this morning I found Citlali in the courtyard digging herself. She believed what Tizoc had said was true.
Trouble was coming.
****
After returning from building the chamber one evening and walking into the house, we heard an additional voice in the kitchen talking to Yaoti and Citlali. The words were in Tizoc’s native language. The speaker’s tone, however, was laced with fear.
Tizoc stopped us on the patio so he could listen. In the darkness creeping into the courtyard, his head shook and his shoulders lowered.
“Who is it?” Daniel whispered.
Tizoc held up a hand as he listened to the last of the speaker’s words before the kitchen fell silent. When he turned to face us, his expression made my hands grow clammy. My heart pounded in my ears.
“That’s Aochmin.” Tizoc leaned on the railing to the patio. “He’s a steward of Dimazuno. He says he has been sent by our emperor to greet guests arriving from the east. He’s been instructed to feed and supply the guests as well as offer them gifts. There’s talk that the leader of these guests might be a god come back to claim his kingdom. My father warned Aochmin of the danger, but Dimazuno wishes to appease this leader, this god.”
“We have to stop him,” Daniel said, trying to keep his voice low.
“This is the beginning.” I searched Tizoc’s face. His eyes were boiling liquid gold. I reached out my hand and touched his upper arm. His gaze shifted to mine as if he had forgotten Daniel and I stood with him on the patio.
“Come on.” He brushed past us.
Daniel and I followed him as he stepped off the patio and jogged around to the front of the house. In the darkened street, he stood for a moment looking up to the tall central temple pyramid. The prayer he uttered rang in my own mind.
My people have served you well. Protect them now in their time of need.
I tossed my own prayer out there as well, hoping it would help somehow.
“Dimazuno has not heeded my father’s warnings. He said such warnings from my family to keep guests away were ridiculous because we have two outsiders living in our home,” Tizoc said.
I hung my head. Yaoti’s kindness toward us was getting in the way of protecting the Sunal.
“Maybe we should leave your house.” It pained me to have uttered such a suggestion, but the thought of something happening to Citlali, Yaoti, or Tizoc’s sisters was too much to bear. They were my family at this point. And Tizoc… nothing could happen to him. The best way to battle these outsiders was not to battle them at all. If we could keep them out of Ezenoch in the first place…
“No,” Tizoc said firmly. “I should very much like for you to stay.” He looked at Daniel. “Both of you. Unless you wish to leave for your own safety.”
I immediately shook my head. “We said we were with you, Tizoc.”
“We meant it,” Daniel said.
Tizoc gave us each a quick squeeze on the forearm. “You two wait here then.” Before we could reply, he slinked away in the nighttime shadows that stretched across the empty street. Within a few moments, Tizoc, his cousins—Zolin, Tochtli, and Coatl—were beside us, looking huge and fierce. I had not been afraid of any of the warriors since arriving at Ezenoch, but the way they were poised, like ready hunters, made me step closer to Daniel.
“Here comes Aochmin.” Tizoc motioned his head to the front door of his house. A distinguished looking Sunal in a parrot-feathered cloak emerged. He stumbled back a bit when he saw all of us waiting in the darkness.
“Aochmin,” Tizoc said in his calm, deep voice.
“Tizoc?” the man asked, then added something in his native tongue. They spoke quickly in hushed tones. Tizoc conveyed the conversation to me.
“What are you doing out here like this?” Aochmin said, casting a wary eye over the rest of us skulking in the shadows.
“Has the emperor sent you to greet newcomers?” Tizoc asked, though he knew that to be true already.
“He has. I am to go at first light with a small party to feed and supply the guests. They may be gods!” Aochmin’s voice held a note of excitement.
“You mustn’t go,” Tizoc said.
Aochmin’s eyes grew wide, the whites surrounding his bla
ck irises practically glowing.
“I have to follow orders, Tizoc. I am a steward to the emperor. I do what he commands.”
“If you go, you bring about our downfall.”
“What are you talking about? I am merely extending the hospitality our people have shown to all our guests.” Aochmin shot a look at me. “You yourself have taken in outsiders. Befriended them. Made them part of your family in fact.”
“Daniel and Charlie are different. They would never do us harm. These outsiders from the east are lustful men willing to wipe us out to get what they want. Captain Finley and his crew from England were merely curious about our culture. They were here to learn and enjoy as Daniel and Charlie still are. These new guests wish to take from us. Our gold, our city, our lives. They are not gods, Aochmin.”
Tizoc rested his hands on Aochmin’s shoulders. I was surprised at how much smaller the steward was than Tizoc.
“You have to trust me.”
Aochmin shook his head. “I will carry out my orders. I will not anger the emperor or the gods that have come to see us.”
He shrugged free of Tizoc’s grasp and stepped around him. Zolin and Coatl moved like shadows to block his path out of the front yard, but Tizoc shook his head, indicating they should let Aochmin pass. The two warriors hesitated for a second before stepping out of the way. The steward left Tizoc’s house and headed in the direction of the palace. The blackness of night swallowed him as the sound of his retreating footsteps grew fainter.
“What did he say?” Daniel asked, not having the advantage I had of being linked to Tizoc.
“He’s going anyway,” I whispered, my throat tight.
“We could have held him,” Zolin said to Tizoc.
“No,” Tizoc said. “He is doing what he thinks is right. Besides, Dimazuno would only send someone else if we stopped Aochmin.” Tizoc brought a hand up to his face, brushed it along his forehead, but the worry creases remained. “We will have to accompany him.”
“We are ready,” Coatl said. The other warriors voiced their agreement.
I didn’t like the idea of Tizoc and some of the best warriors leaving Ezenoch, but it made sense. If they could stop the outsiders from coming into the heart of the city perhaps Tizoc’s people could be saved.
“Go to the armory. Get what we’ll need. We’ll leave at first light, same as Aochmin,” Tizoc ordered.
The warriors left the yard to do what had been asked of them.
Tizoc turned to Daniel. “I know this doesn’t have to be said, but I’m going to say it anyway. Don’t let Charlie out of your sight while I’m gone. The gods have bound me to protect her, and I think stopping these outsiders before they get here is a way to do that. I don’t like leaving, but if I know you’ll guard her I can focus on the outsiders.”
“I wouldn’t let anything happen to Charlie,” Daniel said, more sincerity in his voice than offense.
Tizoc nodded, obviously satisfied with Daniel’s pledge. The exchange, done as if I wasn’t standing right among them, made me feel like a child, incapable of managing my own safety.
“Well,” I finally said, “if you two are done passing the burden of protecting me between one another.”
Tizoc let out a sigh as he turned his amber eyes toward me.
“I’ve protected myself on several occasions,” I began. “Quite successfully, I might add. Before my brothers ran off to be sailors, they taught me a few things to defend myself. I’m not helpless, you know.”
Daniel rested his hand on my upper arm. “We didn’t mean to say you couldn’t take care of yourself. Of course you can, but we need to be extra cautious. Think about it. You’re a beautiful, young English woman.” He paused to trace my jaw with his index finger. “A crew, the size of which we don’t even know, are on their way to take, to kill, to do whatever they want with what they find in this city. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you.”
“Nor I,” Tizoc added.
I narrowed my eyes at them both. “Fine,” I said. “But don’t think your flattery or your poetic words have made me any less irritated at either of you.”
“Perhaps it’s our handsome faces that have lessened your annoyance.” Tizoc shot a charming but quick smile in my direction before he turned to go into the house. “I have to speak to my father.”
After he left, I looked at Daniel whose gaze was intense. “What?” I said.
“You do realize I would give my last breath to make sure you were safe, don’t you?” he said. “And it doesn’t have anything to do with trying to be a man or anything. It has to do with the fact that I love you, Charlotte. More than anything in this world.”
Stepping closer to him, I took his face in my hands. “I love you,” I whispered. “We’ll protect each other then.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
“What do you mean, we can’t go?” Tizoc’s voice boomed throughout the house the next morning.
“Aochmin told the emperor of your attempts to stop him from going to the eastern shores to greet the guests,” Yaoti explained. “Dimazuno has forbidden you to interfere, Tizoc. We’re lucky that is all he’s done.” Yaoti sat at the table, a weary look on his face.
“By keeping me here the emperor has forbidden me to protect this city and our people!” Tizoc shouted. “What about the legend? What about my destiny? Or do these strange eyes of mine and our mental links mean nothing?”
I had never seen him so frustrated. He paced the kitchen in long strides, looking fierce and on edge. Back and forth. Back and forth. Citlali was seated beside me, her hands clasped in her lap despite Ghost’s efforts to nudge them aside so he could take up residence there.
“I must talk to the emperor.” Tizoc stopped his pacing for a second.
“Pilli,” Citlali began, “you cannot go against the orders of the emperor. You know that. He could have you imprisoned, regardless of the legend.”
“Which he has never really believed,” Yaoti added. “Dimazuno sees you as a skilled warrior, Tizoc. Nothing more.”
Tizoc actually growled in response. He looked less like a young man and more like the tiger his eyes suggested. Every exposed inch of him screamed out, “Beware!”
“The emperor didn’t say anything about fortifying Ezenoch, did he?” Daniel leaned against the threshold between the kitchen and the patio, looking calm in comparison to Tizoc.
A warm breeze filtered in from outside every once in a while. It carried the mixed scent of a dozen different flowers that grew, so beautifully, in the courtyard. The thought that all the exquisite magnificence of this city could be wiped out sent a cold shiver through my body.
“I like the idea of fortifying the city,” Tizoc finally said, looking at Daniel.
“If we can’t stop them before they get here, maybe we can at least keep them from getting inside.” Daniel shrugged his left shoulder.
Tizoc chewed on his bottom lip as he soaked in what Daniel had said. “If the emperor grants the outsiders passage into the city, however, we will have no choice but to let them in.”
“You can give them accommodations in a location that can be monitored closely,” Daniel offered. “As you did with us.” He was beginning to sound more like a soldier than a sailor. After all this time I had spent with him, he could still surprise me.
“One of the palaces?” Yaoti suggested. “That way they’d be close to where most of the warriors gather.”
“Yes, Tahtli,” Tizoc agreed. “A good idea. I must talk to Zolin and the others. See what they think as well, for we will be asking them to put their lives in jeopardy.”
“As all warriors must do.” Citlali’s eyes lingered on her son.
Tizoc turned his gaze to his mother and offered her a solemn look.
“I know, pilli,” she continued. “But it is not easy for a mother to send her only son into danger.”
Citlali stood and crossed the room to Tizoc. He bent low to embrace her, kissing the top of her head.
“Wherever
I go, Nantli,” he began, “you are with me. I go to danger only to protect what I love most.” He looked around the room at everyone, including Daniel and me.
A single tear rolled down Citlali’s smooth cheek. Tizoc brushed it away with the pad of his thumb and gave his mother’s hand a final squeeze. Turning to Daniel he said, “Will you come with me to speak with the warriors?”
Daniel pushed off the threshold and walked toward Tizoc. It warmed me some to know they were on the same side now.
Yaoti followed Tizoc and Daniel out of the kitchen leaving Citlali and me alone in the house.
“I see why you love Daniel,” she said. “He is a fine man, like my pilli.”
“For two men from different cultures, they have a great deal in common,” I said.
“That’s probably why they didn’t get along well at first,” Citlali said. “Although, I think it had more to do with you than them.” She winked at me and patted my hand. “Come, Cihuapilli. Let’s retire to our rooms and get some rest.” She walked past me, a swish of flowing fabrics billowing out around her.
Scooping up Ghost, I stood and followed her to the stairs. With a kiss on my forehead, Citlali left me to go to her chambers. I walked toward my own room but stopped in the middle of the hallway.
Why was I staying behind and resting of all things? I had managed to do a boy’s load of work aboard the Rose. Maybe a man’s load. Couldn’t I do a man’s load of work protecting a city that was becoming more my home every day? Hadn’t I been bold enough, strong enough, to leave the comforts of a wealthy house in Southampton to ride across the ocean in search of the Americas? I could not sit and wait for the outsiders to come.
I had to do something.
Quickly making up my mind, I continued to my room, dropped Ghost on the bed, and rummaged around in the pile of women’s clothing Tizoc’s sisters had given me. At the back of the collection, I found what I sought. A pair of breeches I had made a few weeks ago. I hadn’t known exactly why I was making them at the time. Probably to sell along with the women’s garments and warrior cloaks I had fashioned. Most of the men did not wear actual trousers in Ezenoch, but perhaps some of them might like them. Maybe I was making them for Daniel who had maintained his English style of dress except for trading his boots for sandals.
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