WINDWALKER (THE PROPHECY SERIES) (32 page)

“Even if you had the proper raw ore, you would have no way to-“

He smiled. “There are many men here who had held many different jobs. If we knew where to look, we could do much.”

Layla turned again to Cayetano, her eyes alight with excitement.

“Are there people from Naaki Chava willing to teach the New Ones where to find supplies they need?”

“I will think about the right people and tell them,” he said, then looked up at the sky. “It will rain soon. We go.”

“I’ll come back,” Layla said. “Spread the word. We’ll make things better. I promise.”

And he’d been right. They had barely reached the palace before the sky unloaded the near-daily downpour. They never lasted long, but were part of why the tropical aspect of this place existed. 

****

It was about a week after their arrival before Evan was allowed to move around. He had to be careful, but was happy to be upright and breathing without being in pain.

Layla’s morning sickness was with her daily, but she endured it without fuss, and simply waited for it to pass before she put food in her mouth. She had not had another conversation with her daughter, and accepted that it would happen on the baby’s time and not hers.

She began to spend a lot of time teaching the boys the language of Naaki Chava and they were learning quickly. But the day she caught the twins speaking in their own private language, she was intrigued.

When Adam realized she had walked into the room, he blushed, then stammered.

“I didn’t know you were there.”

Layla was intrigued. “What language is that? I don’t think I’ve ever heard it before.”

“It’s our language,” Evan said. “We only speak it among ourselves.”

“And Yuma. We’re teaching it to Yuma,” Adam added. “I might be useful one day if we could talk to each other without people knowing what we say.”

Layla sat down on a stool as the boys gathered around her.

“Do you mean that you two made up an entire language that only you know?”

The twins nodded.

“Twin-speak,” she said. “I’ve read about it when I was in college, but I’ve never met anyone who had done it.”

Evan shrugged. “We had to. We knew how we came to be born and were afraid of what Mr. Prince would make us do, so we made up our own language. If he couldn’t understand us, then he couldn’t control us.”

At that point, Yuma came into the room with Acat and slipped into Layla’s lap. Despite his assurance that he was a man, there were times when he still wanted to be little, and this was one of them.

“I go to the marketplace,” Acat said, explaining why she was leaving Yuma in her care.

“She’s bringing back some sugar cane for all three of us,” Yuma said. “I asked. Is that okay?”

Layla grinned. “Of course it’s okay. Bring one for me, too,” she added.

Acat giggled and scurried off.

“So, back to our conversation,” Layla said. “What did you mean when you said, ‘how we came to be born?”

Evan looked at Adam. “You tell,” he said softly.

Adam nodded and began the tale. “Our mother was a gypsy who read fortunes. She could see the future and into people’s hearts. Mr. Prince found out about her skills. He also knew a man who could feel no pain. People could cut him or burn him, and he never cried out. Mr. Prince paid my mother and this man to make a baby. He wanted to know how a child would be from two people like that. Our mother agreed, not knowing that he meant to keep us. After we were born, he wanted her to go away but she wouldn’t. So he had her killed.”

Layla was shocked by his lack of emotion.

“What about the man who was your father?”

“We don’t know, but he didn’t matter to us because we didn’t matter to him.”

“What did Prince think you two were going to do for him?”

Adam shrugged. “It was always about gaining power.”

Layla frowned. “This is bad, but you are here now. One day you will grow up and have a family of your own.”

Adam frowned and Evan shook his head.

“No, we won’t marry. We are able to feel a connection to people, and be bound by honor, like we are to you. But we can’t feel love as you are intending. We love each other and that is all, but only because we are one and the same.”

Layla frowned.

“You can’t know this yet. You haven’t matured enough to-“

Adam shook his head. “But we do know this. Our mother was psychic, and so are we. Our father could not feel pain. We feel pain, but we cannot feel love. This is how we were born.”

“I am so sorry,” she said. “But I’m glad the man who owned you died. Murdering your mother was a terrible crime, but what he did to the both of you was a crime against nature.”

The boys shrugged. “He was a collector and we were part of his collection. He had all kinds of things that were supposed to be good luck and maps to hidden treasures. It was his portal key that got us here.”

“Do you still have it?” Layla asked.

They nodded. “We stole it back from Bazat when we ran away.”

“It needs to be hidden away,” Layla muttered.

“It needs to be thrown away,” Evan said.

“It needs to be destroyed,” Adam said.

“We’ll talk to Cayetano about this tonight. For now, just leave it wherever you’ve hidden it. The fewer people who know about it, the better off you are.”

The twins looked at each other and smiled. She had not asked where it was hidden, or asked to see it. Even more proof that she was not only a good woman, but one who could be trusted.

****

That night, she told Cayetano what they’d said.

“Do you mean they will never feel for a woman what I feel for you?” he asked.

Layla nodded. “That is what they said.”

Cayetano shook his head in disbelief. “My heart hurts for them. The greatest thing about being a man is being with the woman of his heart.” He pulled her close, running his fingers through her hair. “You are my heart, Singing Bird. Without you, the best part of me would die.”

Layla’s hands trembled as she cupped his face. “One of the first things the Windwalker told me, was the same thing Niyol told me, and the same thing you told me.”

The surprise on his face was visible.

“This is true?”

“Yes. Do you know what it was?”

“No.”

“You all said… ‘You belong to me, and you will love me’.”

His nostrils flared. “And is this not so?”

“It is true. I do love you, with all my heart.”

He smirked. “Then it seems we were very wise to have predicted such a thing.”

As she laughed she remembered what she’d promised the boys.

“There is another thing. The boys have the portal key that brought them here. They want to hide it so no one can ever find it again. Can you help them?”

His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Yes. I will talk to them myself.”

“Thank you. Now my job for this day is done.”

He growled, as he swung her up into his arms.

“You have yet to make love to me this day.”

A shiver of what was to come shot through her.

“Today, I would ask that you make love to me,” she whispered.

He laid her down on the sleeping mat.

“It will be done,” he said softly, and slid between her legs.

Chapter Twenty

The City of the Sun belied its name. The moment Chak and the traders entered, he felt darkness. He thanked them for their company and parted ways, anxious to explore. Yet even as he was walking through the marketplace, he sensed an underlying fear that was reflected in the people’s faces. Their voices were subdued, raised only in arguments, and there was little laughter. It was nothing like Naaki Chava.

But, his belly was empty and he had nothing to trade but information. He didn’t even know how to get an audience with Bazat without getting himself into trouble. The traders said this chief used beheading as a means of solving his problems, so he had to be careful.

The temple was easy to see, rising above the houses in the middle of the city. He moved toward it instinctively, hoping he would find more of his kind. They would know him as a true shaman and hopefully get him an audience with the chief. But upon arrival, his hopes were dashed.

The temple was abandoned. Only vultures roosted on the uppermost corners, which told Chak it was a place to which they were accustomed to finding food. When a large rat slipped out from a lower doorway and scampered along the base of the temple before disappearing into the jungle behind it, he shuddered.

This city was smaller than Naaki Chava. The palace, just visible on the rise behind the temple appeared more ornate, while the dwellings of the residents were as unkempt as the people who lived in them.

He had a moment of hesitation, wondering if he wanted to insinuate himself here. If it had not been for Singing Bird, he would not be in this position. Hate grew as he saw the road leading up to the palace. If he took it, there was no going back.

As he stood, debating with himself about the wisdom of his intent, there was a rush of wind in his face, as if a spirit had passed by. He looked up and then gasped.

The sun! It was being eaten by the moon!

He threw up his hands and raced toward the palace to warn the chief, his heart pounding with every step.

****

Bazat was on his back, while the woman astraddle his body was methodically pumping herself upon his erection. A large blue bird swung on a nearby perch in perfect rhythm. She had been at it for a while and he was nearing release when he became aware of commotion outside his window and then the sound of running feet inside the palace. He tried to push her off but she was so high on the dry mushroom she had smoked, she was oblivious.

“Get off!” he shouted, but she kept on humping and suddenly it was too late to stop.

Evan as he was shoving her off his legs, light was bursting behind his eyes; his seed spewing from his body.

“Bazat! Bazat! Come quick!” a servant said, as he ran into the room.

He took one look at the moaning woman and the condition the chief was in and started to retreat when they began hearing screams down in the city.

At that point, Bazat was already on his feet.

“What is happening?” he shouted, and ran to the window.

“There is a shaman who asks to speak with you. He says to tell you that the moon is eating the sun,” the servant cried.

A knot of fear tightened Bazat’s bowels. “That is not possible!”

“It is so! Look up into the sky. The shaman was right! It is beginning!”

Bazat looked. The knot of fear grew tighter. “Send him to the great room.”

The servant dashed away as Bazat put on his breechclout, stepped into his sandals, jammed his feathered headdress onto his head and began fastening the feathered cape around his neck as he strode to the throne room.

He wasn’t accustomed to doing these tasks for himself, but there was no time for ritual. And after losing the twins, he did not want to anger another spirit by appearing before a shaman as anything other than the great chief Bazat.

He entered the throne room to find all the servants face down on the floor, praying to the Gods to spare them. This was the City of the Sun and the Sun was disappearing before their eyes. Would they be next?

“Go away!” he yelled.

They scrambled to their feet and ran; terrified they would become a sacrifice to the dying Sun.

A lone man in dusty clothing was standing in the middle of the room with his hands clasped in front of him and his head down, showing his respect.

Bazat climbed up the steps to the throne and then sat. Because he was a small man, he chose to address those beneath him from a higher level.

“Look at me!” Bazat yelled, and the man looked up.

Chak was taken aback. The stocky little man with a beak of a nose and bowed legs was nothing like Cayetano in looks or demeanor.

Bazat pointed his finger. “You have brought danger to my city. Tell the moon to give back the sun or I will spill your blood to appease their anger.”

Chak stifled a moan. “I did not bring this danger. I came to warn you of it,” he said quickly.

“Then you came too late because it is already here,” Bazat said.

“Yes, but I know why it happened,” Chak said.

Bazat’s frown deepened. “Tell me now.”

“Did the twins of Sun and Mother Earth not flee from your city? Did a shaman not die here on the steps of the temple the same day?”

Bazat stared, his face expressionless. “I sacrificed to the twins. It is over.”

“No. They are hiding in Naaki Chava in the palace of Cayetano. They laugh that they have deceived you. Cayetano’s woman, Singing Bird is plotting to take away your place in this city so that the New Ones she brought into Naaki Chava will have even more places to live.”

Bazat leaped to his feet. “How do you know this?”

“I was a shaman in Naaki Chava. Cayetano banned me from the city because I saw into his heart. I saw his desire to take everything around him as his own, including the City of the Sun.”

“This is so?”

Chak happily lied, thinking of the doom it would create.

“This is so.”

Bazat stormed down from the throne, waving his arms and spitting his words in short, venomous bursts.

“I will kill them. I will kill them all.”

Chak pointed to the window. “It is getting darker. But I believe it will get light again soon. I believe that this was only a warning to you. You must rid this jungle of the evil in Naaki Chava, or next time the moon will swallow the sun and take it to the far side of the earth, never to return.”

Bazat began to pace. “What should I do?”

“Go out to the people! Tell them you will protect them, and that it will get light again. Don’t let them know about the twins. That must be done in secrecy. You should not go to war with Naaki Chava, for there are three times more people there than you have here. You would be defeated.”

Bazat stormed out of the room. Chak followed along behind, hoping this was enough to insinuate himself into the crazy chief’s life.