The peyotl, the teonanacatl. The copal incense. The bloody paper burning in the brazier. Cacao and herbs and sour, scorching pulque. Quenami sat in a room that had never known sunlight and took it all in. He knew no pain, no want, no time.
The pounding of drums.
The rolling of thunder, close enough that he felt it in his kidneys.
The staccato beat of hooves—a herd of deer? But strange, giant deer without antlers.
Ships larger than any he’d ever seen before, with snow-white cotton stretched above them.
Sallow, pale-faced men in strange clothing, speaking a tongue he didn’t recognize.
A Tlaxcallan nobleman smiling coldly.
Blood. Blood. So much blood. The roofs of the houses were caving in, and the bed of Lake Texcoco was cracked and dry, and a single shattered spear lay forgotten in the dust, and—
There was a horrible retching noise. It took him a moment to realize he was the one making it, but fortunately his underlings were quicker and less...impaired than he was, so there was a basin in front of him before he ruined the arrays drawn onto the floor.
“What did you see, Quenami-tzin?”
He grimaced, wiping his mouth. “I must speak with the Emperor.”
Obsidian & Blood, Quenami
The peyotl, the teonanacatl. The copal incense. The bloody paper burning in the brazier. Cacao and herbs and sour, scorching pulque. Quenami sat in a room that had never known sunlight and took it all in. He knew no pain, no want, no time. The pounding of drums.
The rolling of thunder, close enough that he felt it in his kidneys.
The staccato beat of hooves—a herd of deer? But strange, giant deer without antlers.
Ships larger than any he’d ever seen before, with snow-white cotton stretched above them.
Sallow, pale-faced men in strange clothing, speaking a tongue he didn’t recognize.
A Tlaxcallan nobleman smiling coldly.
Blood. Blood. So much blood. The roofs of the houses were caving in, and the bed of Lake Texcoco was cracked and dry, and a single shattered spear lay forgotten in the dust, and—
There was a horrible retching noise. It took him a moment to realize he was the one making it, but fortunately his underlings were quicker and less...impaired than he was, so there was a basin in front of him before he ruined the arrays drawn onto the floor.
“What did you see, Quenami-tzin?”
He grimaced, wiping his mouth. “I must speak with the Emperor.”
Tizoc wouldn’t be happy.