I was about to leave the house when I saw a familiar figure ahead of me: Yaotl, Ceyaxochitl's messenger. He was striding ahead, not looking at me; but he did turn back when I called his name.

"Acatl," he said. "What a surprise. How goes your investigation?"

"As well as I can be," I said, tartly. "Where are you off to so fast?"

Yaotl shook his head, wryly amused. "To an interesting place, no doubt."

Huitzilpochtli blind him. He was as unhelpful as ever. "Let me guess," I said, more angrily than I'd intended. "The Imperial Palace."

He grew thoughtful. "I might. But it doesn't concern you, does it?"

"It might," I said. "I'm planning to attend an Imperial Audience tomorrow."

"For your investigation?" Yaotl looked at me for a moment. Finally, he laid a hand on my shoulder, in a mock-brotherly gesture that made me uncomfortable. "I don't think there will be one."

My heart sank. "The Emperor is that ill?"

"I can't tell you more. But don't expect the Audience."

"What happens to the cases he was reviewing?" I asked, my heart sinking.

Yaotl shrugged. "Justice still has to move forward, doesn't it? I assume the High Priests will take care of them."

The High Priests. The twin powers at the head of the Empire's religious structure. The High Priest of Huitzilpochtli was theoretically the most important one; but Ocelocueitl was an old man, tired by decades of overseeing the worship of the God of War.

Which left the other one: Acamapichtli, High Priest of Tlaloc: the same man who had been in such a hurry to have Neutemoc convicted.

TWELVE.

The Imperial Audience I returned to my house, lay down on my reed-mat, and fell asleep almost immediately.

My sleep was short, and disturbed: in my dreams, I stood in the boat of reeds with deep cuts in my arms and chest. Behind me was the dark shape of the ahuizotl a and I rowed and rowed, despite the pain that every gesture aroused in me. I had only to reach the end of the canal; to reach the temple of Chalchiutlicue, where Huei was waiting for me, and everything would be made right.

But, no matter how hard I rowed, the boat never moved; and the yellow eyes of the ahuizotl broke the surface of the water; and it spoke, and its voice was that of the Wind of Knives.

There are higher powers, Acatl. Fool.

I woke up with a start. Outside, the sun had just reached its zenith. It hung, swollen, just over my courtyard. I felt as if I hadn't slept at all. Not the best state of mind to enter an Imperial Audience.

I covered myself in a clean cloak, trying to ignore the insistent pain from my wounds, and went into my courtyard. It was a modest affair, a patch of marigolds, a pine tree and a small, covered well: nothing like Xochiquetzal's house, or even Neutemoc's. I sat cross-legged in the dirt before the well, thinking of what Yaotl had told me.

No Imperial Audience. That must mean that the Revered Speaker must be hovering at Mictlan's gates. The political infighting would now start in earnest. That was my only chance: that the High Priest of Tlaloc would be too busy plotting against his peers to worry over much about Neutemoc's fate.

I doubted it would be that easy.

I went back to my temple. In the courtyard, two priests were busy sweeping the ground, preparing for the afternoon's offerings; a further group were in one of the worship-rooms, in vigil for a dead woman.

I went into the shrine, where I dressed in my full regalia: the ivory skull-mask askew on my forehead, and the cloak of rich cotton, embroidered with owls, carefully tied around my shoulders.

Then I went down again, and settled into one of the furthest rooms: the same one where I'd given life to the jade heart, an eternity ago. I sat on the ground with maguey paper spread across my knees, dangling Eleuia's blackened jade pendant in front of my face.

What did I have?

Evidence that underworld magic had been behind all of this, and that someone as yet unidentified had summoned the nahual magic to cover Huei's tracks.

Mihmatini's testimony, as well as those of the slaves, would establish that the Wind of Knives had come for Huei, marking her as the summoner of the beast. If I was lucky, Mihmatini would also have a description of the two men who had come to see Huei in the afternoon.

Best not to rely on luck. Seven Serpent hadn't seemed to be on my side lately.

"Acatl-tzin?" Ichtaca's voice asked.

Startled, I raised my eyes. Ichtaca was standing in the doorway, lit by the midday sun. "Yes?" I asked. "I'm busy."

His gaze held mine, inscrutable. "So I see."

As usual, he made me feel like a child caught sneaking out of the house. "Yes," I said, testily. "Now if you don't mind, I have an audience to prepare for."

I'd expected him to go away; but he didn't move. "The Imperial Audience?"

"How did you know?"

He shrugged. "Rumours. Your brother was under question yesterday and the day before."

"Yes," I said, irritated. "And I intend to make sure he doesn't endure another day of this." Although the High Priest would want to do the exact opposite.

Ichtaca shrugged again, but said nothing.

"Acatl-tzin?" the offering priest, Palli, asked from behind Ichtaca. "Your sister is here."

I got up, wrapping the string of Eleuia's jade pendant around my wrist, and went out, bypassing Ichtaca without a word.

In the courtyard, Mihmatini was waiting for me, along with the burly slave who had stood guard at the gate when I'd arrived last night.

"This is Quechomitl," Mihmatini said.

He and I looked at each other, warily. This time, I was welldressed. But from his stiff stance, Quechomitl hadn't forgotten the drunkard he'd almost thrown out on the previous evening.

"He saw the men you wanted," Mihmatini said. "But they covered their heads with the hood of their cloaks."

"Hooded cloaks?" I asked. Those were rare; but, as Mihmatini had said, it made sense that the men would cover their tracks. I asked Quechomitl, "What did they look like?"

Ichtaca was still in the courtyard, his rotund face thoughtful a battling with some decision, I could tell, but I didn't know which one.

The slave, Quechomitl, shrugged. "Men in their prime," he said. "Strong ones."

"You're sure they were men?" That eliminated Priestess Zollin, but not the Jaguar Knight, Mahuizoh.

Quechomitl nodded, obviously annoyed at my lack of trust. Well, it was mutual.

"There are complications," I said to Mihmatini, as we walked towards the temple exit, Ichtaca still trailing behind us. "The Emperor won't attend the audience."

"Then who will?"

"The High Priests," I said, grimly. "One of whom will be busy trying to condemn Neutemoc."

"Great," Mihmatini said. "Neutemoc always did have a talent for making enemies. So what do you plan on doing?"

"I think you're mistaken," a voice said, behind me. Ichtaca.

Surprised, I turned to face him. "What are you talking about?"

"The Imperial Audience," Ichtaca said, shaking his head. He was angry, I realised, though I didn't know why. "If the Emperor is unable to take his responsibilities, it's not the High Priests who will replace him."

"I was tolda"

"Whoever told you was either lying or misinformed," Ichtaca said.

I didn't judge it pertinent to mention Yaotl's name. The two of them had long been locked in a battle of wills a possibly because Yaotl was a foreigner, and because Ichtaca was unwilling to admit that anything good could come from outside the Mexica Empire.

"Someone has to take charge of the hearings," I said.

Ichtaca nodded. "Someone will. The Master of the House of Darts, Tizoc-tzin."

The Revered Speaker's brother, and also the heir-apparent: the one who had the strongest chance of being elected to head the Mexica Empire, if the Revered Speaker died.

"Tizoc-tzin has his moods," Ichtaca went on. "But he doesn't like the clergy, and I don't think he'll want to favour any of the High Priests."

"How do you know?" I asked. I didn't want to point out the corollary to his portrayal of Tizoc-tzin: a man who didn't like the clergy would have no reason to favour any High Priest over any other a not even the High Priest for the Dead over the High Priest of Tlaloc. Our arguments would have to be very compelling.

Ichtaca smiled, grimly amused. "I attend court, most days."

"Why?"

"Because this temple couldn't survive without Imperial patronage."

The reproach in his tone was audible. "Because I don't attend, you mean?"

He shrugged. "Someone has to," he said. "If you won't, then I will."

But he was still reproaching me. "You're a better politician than me," I said, finally, knowing it was true. I couldn't manoeuvre through the maze of the Imperial Court. I neither had the capacities nor the heart to do so. If I did go to court, the Imperial patronage for our temple would soon wither. Ichtaca said nothing.

"We'll discuss this later," I said.

"As you wish." He bowed, though his anger was still palpable. "But I thought you might want the warning."

It was a welcome one, and I couldn't resent him for it, though I had the feeling some old grievance had just been laid out in the open. I would have to deal with Ichtaca at some point. "Yes," I said. "Thank you."

He bowed, low. "Pleased to have been of service."

"What was that all about?" Mihmatini asked, as we exited the temple.

"I don't know," I said, truthfully. "Come on. Let's go."

The crowd in the Sacred Precinct was dense: we had to fight our way past pilgrims and priests. The slave Quechomitl opened a path through the crowd for my sister with his arms, but let it close before I could follow. Clearly, he did not like me.

In the Imperial Palace, I headed straight for the military court, and asked for Magistrate Pinahui-tzin.

The clerk snorted in amusement. "He's taking a pause in the garden."