Read Online Dai-San - 03 by Eric Van Lustbader - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Eric Van Lustbader
Ads: Link
Moichi.
‘Well, then,’ she said in farewell.
They listened to the slap of her sandals against the hard floor diminishing as she went away from them.
Ronin signed to the big man and silently they followed her out of the building.
They watched her within the shadows of the doorway as she headed across the adamantine acropolis.
‘Just as well we left the rooms,’ whispered Moichi. ‘I could hardly breathe in there.’
‘Too much dust in there to believe that anyone has slept there for a long time,’ said Ronin.
Kin Coba went swiftly down the steps and across the wide white causeway toward the pillared building atop the pyramid to the west.
‘Who are these people?’ Moichi asked himself as much as Ronin.
‘Whoever they are, they seem singularly uncurious about who we are or how we came here.’
Moichi nodded.
‘As if it makes no difference.’
‘What was it Cabal Xiu said—?’
Kin Coba had reached the foot of the pyramid. She began to climb the stone stairway along its near face.
‘“We have been waiting”?’
‘For what? Us?’
‘Let us find out,’ said Ronin.
And they stepped from the dark shadows, following in Kin Coba’s footsteps, across the acropolis, toward the bulk of the waiting pyramid.
‘There can be only one answer,’ Uxmal Chac said in his deep voice. ‘Surely you need no reminder, o my “brother”.’ He could not keep the scorn from his voice.
‘I do not believe that it is so clear-cut,’ said Cabal Xiu. ‘There must be no error. We—’
‘Can you have already forgotten that though I am commander of the Majapan, I was once, many katun ago, a priest like you?’
‘How can one forget what has been seared into one’s brain, Uxmal Chac? Even though the military is something with which I can have no sympathy, still I understand your position.’
‘I abhor your condescension,’ growled Uxmal Chac, turning his back on the other. Kin Coba stood between them, arms folded across her breasts, watching them both as a lizard would a pair of fighting cocks, with a mesmeric but rather detached fascination.
‘Ah, at last it comes out.’ Cabal Xiu took a step forward, away from the brazier of fire, the sloping wall of hieroglyphs in high relief. Beyond, to either side, shadowed archways rose to low vaulted ceilings, blackened with the caked charcoal residue of many burning torches.
Uxmal Chac whirled around and his hands lifted menacingly. The short stone weapon which was neither a sword nor an ax, slapped heavily against his thigh.
‘You will not lecture to me. I have studied the Book of Balam; I know it as well as do you.’ He pointed to the glyph wall behind the burning brazier. ‘The wording is quite precise; it cannot be twisted—by you or anyone else—’
‘You forget, my “brother”,’ Cabal Xiu said calmly, ‘that there are no others but us. Yet.’
‘Oh yes. Not since the Sundering. Not since the ending of the fourth age. Yes, my “brother”, you, the devout one. With every beat of my heart there is pain for the Majapan who worshiped us, for without them the rebirth—’
‘Enough blasphemy from you!’ Cabal Xiu was trembling and stiff-legged he took another step forward. Uxmal Chac’s left hand went to his right hip. His fingers closed over the cold stone of his weapon. Flesh jumped as his muscles tensed.
‘Is there not something you must attend to?’ Kin Coba said softly.
They were as still as statues for a moment.
Orange light licked and flickered across dark cool flesh and tawny fur.
Then Uxmal Chac turned his back on them and strode from the building. The clatter of his leather sandals down the stone steps echoed into the humid night.
Cabal Xiu sighed, his body relaxing.
‘He may be right, you know,’ he said.
‘Would that it were so.’
He turned to the glyph wall and spoke, sounding, at times, as if he were reading:
‘So many katun since the destruction of the Majapan, our beloved race, so many barren katun, with only the
‘Well, then,’ she said in farewell.
They listened to the slap of her sandals against the hard floor diminishing as she went away from them.
Ronin signed to the big man and silently they followed her out of the building.
They watched her within the shadows of the doorway as she headed across the adamantine acropolis.
‘Just as well we left the rooms,’ whispered Moichi. ‘I could hardly breathe in there.’
‘Too much dust in there to believe that anyone has slept there for a long time,’ said Ronin.
Kin Coba went swiftly down the steps and across the wide white causeway toward the pillared building atop the pyramid to the west.
‘Who are these people?’ Moichi asked himself as much as Ronin.
‘Whoever they are, they seem singularly uncurious about who we are or how we came here.’
Moichi nodded.
‘As if it makes no difference.’
‘What was it Cabal Xiu said—?’
Kin Coba had reached the foot of the pyramid. She began to climb the stone stairway along its near face.
‘“We have been waiting”?’
‘For what? Us?’
‘Let us find out,’ said Ronin.
And they stepped from the dark shadows, following in Kin Coba’s footsteps, across the acropolis, toward the bulk of the waiting pyramid.
‘There can be only one answer,’ Uxmal Chac said in his deep voice. ‘Surely you need no reminder, o my “brother”.’ He could not keep the scorn from his voice.
‘I do not believe that it is so clear-cut,’ said Cabal Xiu. ‘There must be no error. We—’
‘Can you have already forgotten that though I am commander of the Majapan, I was once, many katun ago, a priest like you?’
‘How can one forget what has been seared into one’s brain, Uxmal Chac? Even though the military is something with which I can have no sympathy, still I understand your position.’
‘I abhor your condescension,’ growled Uxmal Chac, turning his back on the other. Kin Coba stood between them, arms folded across her breasts, watching them both as a lizard would a pair of fighting cocks, with a mesmeric but rather detached fascination.
‘Ah, at last it comes out.’ Cabal Xiu took a step forward, away from the brazier of fire, the sloping wall of hieroglyphs in high relief. Beyond, to either side, shadowed archways rose to low vaulted ceilings, blackened with the caked charcoal residue of many burning torches.
Uxmal Chac whirled around and his hands lifted menacingly. The short stone weapon which was neither a sword nor an ax, slapped heavily against his thigh.
‘You will not lecture to me. I have studied the Book of Balam; I know it as well as do you.’ He pointed to the glyph wall behind the burning brazier. ‘The wording is quite precise; it cannot be twisted—by you or anyone else—’
‘You forget, my “brother”,’ Cabal Xiu said calmly, ‘that there are no others but us. Yet.’
‘Oh yes. Not since the Sundering. Not since the ending of the fourth age. Yes, my “brother”, you, the devout one. With every beat of my heart there is pain for the Majapan who worshiped us, for without them the rebirth—’
‘Enough blasphemy from you!’ Cabal Xiu was trembling and stiff-legged he took another step forward. Uxmal Chac’s left hand went to his right hip. His fingers closed over the cold stone of his weapon. Flesh jumped as his muscles tensed.
‘Is there not something you must attend to?’ Kin Coba said softly.
They were as still as statues for a moment.
Orange light licked and flickered across dark cool flesh and tawny fur.
Then Uxmal Chac turned his back on them and strode from the building. The clatter of his leather sandals down the stone steps echoed into the humid night.
Cabal Xiu sighed, his body relaxing.
‘He may be right, you know,’ he said.
‘Would that it were so.’
He turned to the glyph wall and spoke, sounding, at times, as if he were reading:
‘So many katun since the destruction of the Majapan, our beloved race, so many barren katun, with only the
Similar Books
