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Chapter 43

Chich¨¦n Itz¨¢ smelled like blood

You neverelse, not even if you&039;ve never smelled it before We&039;ve all tasted it - if nowhere else, e lose our baby teeth We all know the taste, and as a corollary, we all know the smell

The o there today - literally, "the castle" As alked up out of the gallery of pillars, it loomed above us, an enor as the European fortifications for which it was naurat-style pyramid, made all of square blocks Levels piled one on top of another as it rose up to the temple at its summit - and every level of the pyrauard

At the base of the pyrauar warriors we had already seen They were all , all layered with the lean, swift uar skins Many of them bore traditional weapons Many more wore swords, some of them of modern make, the best of which were superior in every physical sense to the weapons manufactured in the past Most of theain, the most modern versions of the weapons, made of steel and polymer, the finest of which were also readily superior to the weapons of earlier arbed in ritual clothing as Alauar warriors were They, too, had that sareater-than-mortal capability

Hell&039;s bells If the numbers were the same on every side of the pyramid, and I had no reason to believe that they were not, then I was looking at nearly a thousand of the jaguar warriors and priestesses I aerous I was abruptly glad that we hadn&039;t tried a rope-a-dope or a forward charge We&039;d have been swaardless of the plan

Numbers matter

That fact sucks, but that makes it no less true No matter how just your cause, if you&039;re outnuonna have to be real creative to pull out a victory Ask the Gerht on either front of World War II German tankers would often complain that they would take out ten Allied tanks for every tank they lost - but the Allies always seeo

I was looking at an ie, and I did not at all like the way it felt to realize that truth

And I was only on the second tier of the pyramid

Vampires occupied the next several levels None of them were in their monstrous for all out on their disguises, and the all-black coloration of their eyes proclaiender seenition Two uar warriors, male and female alike, and the next tith vampire priests and priestesses Above them came what I presumed to be the Red Court&039;s version of the nobility - individual vampires, male and female, who clearly stood with their own retinues They tended to wear her up the pyramid they went

Just before the top level were thirteen lone figures, and from what I could see they were taller than ht Each was dressed in a different fornature y was a bit rusty, but White Council intelligence reports said that the Lords of Outer Dark had posed as gods to the ancient Mayans, each with his own separate identity What they didn&039;t say was that either they had been a great dealworshipers had made them more than merely ancient vampires

I saw them and my knees shook I couldn&039;t stop it

And a light shone in the temple at the top of the pyramid

The smell of blood came from the temple

It wasn&039;t hard to puzzle out It ran down the steps that led up the pyra stream of red that had washed down the temple steps and onto the earth beyond - which was torn up as if soh the bloodied earth with a rototiller and torn it to shreds The blood slaves, I illing to bet My iination providedat the earth, sing bloody gob-bets of it, fighting with one another over the freshest mud - until yours truly showed up and kicked off the party

I looked left and right as alked across the open courtyard The cattle car Susan had told us about was still guarded, by a contingent ofkhakis and tactical vests - a private security company of some kind Mercenaries There were a load of security bozos around, several hundred at least, stationed here and there in soldierly blocks of fifty , Ala with deliberate, reverent strides I followed her, and everyone else present caot hostile stares all the way up, fronored them, as if they weren&039;t worthanyway

We reached the level below the temple and Alamaya turned to me "My lord will speak to only one, Wizard Dresden Please ask your retainers to wait here"

Here Right next to the Lords of Outer Night, the expired godlings If I o really bad, really fast The people who had been willing to risk everything to help me would be the first to suffer because of it For aa deal Send theh lives on my conscience already

But then I heard a soft, soft sound froie

It was far too sad and innocent a sound to be the death knell for ht be exactly what it was

"Stay here," I said quietly "I don&039;t think this is going to turn into a John Woo film for a couple of et back Sanya, back her"

She arched an eyebrow at me, but nodded Sanya shifted his position by a couple of feet, to stand slightly behind her and at her right hand

I moved slowly up the last few steps to the te: an al the size of a fairly standard doorway on each side Alamaya went in first, her eyes downcast The moment she was in the door, she took a step to one side and knelt, her eyes on the ground, as if she orthy to move no farther forward

I took a slow breath and stepped past her, to face the king of the Red Court

He was kinda little

He stood with his back toin what I presu He was five-two, five-three, wellHe was dressed in a kind of skirt-kilt thing, naked from the waist up and the kneecap down His hair was black and long, hanging to the top of his shoulder blades He gripped a bloodied knife in his hand, and lowered it slowly, delicately

It was only then that I noticed the woman on the altar, bound hand and foot, her eyes wide and hopeless, fixed on that black knife as if she could not look away

My hands clenched into fists I wasn&039;t here to fight, I reht

But I wasn&039;t here to stand around and let so like this happen, either And I&039;ve never had a clear head when it co women Murphy says it ht, but I didn&039;t seize a bone and juuy I just cleared my throat really, really obnoxiously, and said, "Hey"

The knife paused

Then the Red King lowered it and turned to face me And I was forcibly rees He lare

He didn&039;t need to

The pressure of his eyes was like nothing I had ever felt before - empty darkness that struck at me like a physical blow, that made me feel as if I had to physically lean away fro drawn forward into that vacuum and lost to the void I was suddenly reminded that I was alone, that I had none of my tools, that I was involved in matters way over my head, and that my outfit looked ridiculous

And all of it was sie for the little body it cae to be contained by the stone of this tee that only a fool would not be instantly aware of how generally insignificant he was in the greater sche eroded, even as I stood there, and I clenchedchuckled He said so Alamaya answered hi me

The slave on the altar re quietly

I could hear another, s from behind the altar Holy crap I couldn&039;t have cut this one hter&039;s voice for a moment, small and sweet - and suddenly I didn&039;t feel nearly so s spoke

Alaue of the ages, wizard, soexists between us"

"Radical," I said "Wicked cool"

Ala to the Red King, apparently conveying the fact that I had obnoxiously used phrasing that was difficult to translate

He narrowed his eyes

I ot it, but he sure didn&039;t like it

He said so in a short, curt tone

"My lord demands to knohy you are here," the priestess said

"Tell hi well knohy I&039;m here," I said

She stared at me in shock She stammered several times as she translated for me I don&039;t know if Ancient Mayan has a word for bleep or if she used it

The Red King listened, his expression slipping from displeasure into careful neutrality He stared at ain

" &039;I was given a gift by she you know as Duchess Arianna,&039; " the girl translated " &039;Are you saying that the gift rongfully obtained?&039; "

"Yes," I said, not looking away from him "And you know it" I shookTell hihter with me, and leave in peace Tell hi personal Otherwise, I&039;irl translated, her face once hing He leaned back against the altar, hisHe spoke a few terse sentences

"My lord says that he will throw one of your liainst him"

I snorted "Yes But I won&039;t even try to kill hiirl, and showing him my teeth "I&039;ll try to cripple him Wound him Weaken him Ask him if he thinks the death curse of a wizard of the White Council can deal him a wound Ask him hoell he trusts the people on the nearest couple of levels of the pyraifts when they realize he&039;s been hurt"

Ala a sharp word of reproof and a couessed at the subject matter: "I don&039;t want to tell you this, my lord" "Stupid slave, translate the way I damned well told you to do or I&039;ll break my foot off in your ass"

Okay Maybe not that last part

Alaot on with her unpleasant job, and the words pushed the Red King into a rage He gritted his teeth, andthingsshould have existed that could shift and roll

I stared at him with one eyebrow lifted and that sa for his reaction He hadn&039;t been talked to like this in a long tito die really horribly

He did He ht it was close - and it cost the woman on the altar her life

He spun and slaht eye with such force that the blade broke off She arched her body up as much as her restraints allowed and let out a short, choked screaht - and then she sort of slowly relaxed into death One leg kept twitching and h the blood that was seeping froers into his mouth and shuddered Then he turned to face ain

I&039;d seen behavior like that before It was thea fix and full of contents or whatever, and therefore the illusion that he could handle emotional issues more capably

Thatexplained a lot about how the Red Court had behaved during the war Hell&039;s bells, their king was a junkie No wonder they had perforressive oneinsane and idiotic mistakes the next It also explained why there was strife within the Court If the ing it only when and where one chose, and not with every rando&039;s condition would know that he eak, inconsistent, and irrational

Hell&039;s bells This guy wasn&039;t just a monster He was also paranoid He had to be, because he knew that his bloodlust would be seen as a sign that he should be overthrown If it had been happening for very long, it would have driven him insane Even for one of the Red Court, I mean

And that must be what had happened Arianna had so&039;s weakness, and was building a power base ai her oer, personal, political, and social, inasmuch as the va version of a society Dealing appropriately with one&039;s ene in any society - and for the Red Court, the only two enemies were those who had been dealt with appropriately and those ere still alive She literally had no choice but to take me down if she was to succeed And a Pearl Harbor for the White Council wouldn&039;t hurt her any either, if she pulled it off

Oh, I had toas he was, the Council would never face a co spoke a ers in Alamaya&039;s hair as he did

"My lord accepts your petition to challenge the duchess This slave will be sent to fetch her while you wait"

"Not so fast," I said, as Alairl"

She froze between us, wide-eyed

The king esture She spoke quietly to him

His lip twitched up away froestured at the altar Then he stepped to one side and watched me

I kept track of him out of the corner oflittle h, been made to fit children, huddled on the far side of the altar Blood had spilled out from the altar, and she had retreated fro to keep her little shoes and dress, both filthy already, out of the blood Her hair was a tangledIt wasn&039;t terribly cold out tonight - but it was cold enough to torment a child dressed in only a little cotton dress

I wanted to go to her Take those restraints off Wrap her up in et her some food and some hot chocolate and a bath and a comb and a brush and a teddy bear and a bed and

She saw me and flinched aith a whi her there, frightened and miserable and alone I kno to handle pain when I&039;hthere in front of my eyes - it went to a whole new level, and I had no idea how to deal with it

But I thought it would probably start with tearing some more vampires to bloody shreds

I took that pain and fed it to the stor for endless hours and that flared up white-hot again I waited until h to dry the tears inand nodded

"Deal," I said "Go get the duchess I&039;ll take out the garbage for you"

Chapter 44

Alamaya departed the temple in silence Within a- a full, kneeling bow, at that - and said so narrowed his eyes He irl and walked out Conch horns blew and the druain as he appeared to those outside

Alahtly to be heard "My lord wishes you to know that this place is watched and warded Should you attempt to leave with the child, you will be destroyed, and she with you"

"Understood," I said calave

When she was gone, I took two steps over to the altar and the dead woht Tellat"

Fro tied to iant pair of cartoon lips"

I muttered a curse and fu orange eye sockets was visible

"A big goofy rowled at him and aimed his eye at the altar