Gods of Jade and Shadow(27)

“Well, must I crush your every bone, you idiot?” he asked, looking ready to charge at her like an angry bull.

“How disrespectful you are,” Hun-Kamé said.

He was there all of a sudden, right by her side, like a fallen piece of the velvety sky, like a nocturnal plant that unfurled and greeted her, his hand touching her shoulder, shielding her from any threats with that quick gesture.

Juan, the Mam, smiled, his attention jumping from her to him. He laughed, riotous, sounding like a man in his cups.

“Hun-Kamé, my cousin. So it is you who has set such a soft trap for me. What a surprise,” he said, his toothy smile bright.

“Not too big a surprise, I’d think. Hasn’t my brother sent his owls to inform you of my escape and to warn you I’d come looking for my property?” Hun-Kamé replied, unsmiling.

“Maybe he has. I wouldn’t know. I move between the hills and the streams. I am difficult to find.”

“Not too difficult, treacherous cousin,” Hun-Kamé said.

“Treacherous? I? For guarding the property of the lord Vucub-Kamé?”

“For keeping my ear, you dog. As if you didn’t know who it belonged to.”

Hun-Kamé’s face was cold, but a sliver of anger colored his words, red hot, like the embers of a cigarette.

“I did know it was yours. Then again, I also know the Supreme Lord of Xibalba is now Vucub-Kamé. Can I be chided for doing the bidding of the ruler of nine shadow regions?”

Juan made a mocking gesture, bowing down low before Hun-Kamé and then jumping up to his feet.

“You can be chided for changing your allegiances in the blink of an eye,” Hun-Kamé said.

Juan shook his head. “I follow the direction of the wind, and I cannot be blamed if a new wind begins to blow. Vucub-Kamé gave me your ear, yes, and I bent my knee, not because I have love for your brother, but because one must follow the order of things. The order and the reign now belong to Vucub-Kamé.”

As he spoke, Juan circled Hun-Kamé and Casiopea, slowly, a smile gracing his lips. The smile grew wider.

“These bonds won’t hold me for too much longer,” he said, rubbing his hands together, testing the rope. “What do you intend to do then?”

“As if the bonds mattered. What I wanted was your attention,” Hun-Kamé replied.

“You have it.”

“Return to me the item Vucub-Kamé entrusted you.”

“And disobey the orders of the Supreme Lord of Xibalba? You are not to have it back,” Juan said, shaking his head.

“Disobey the orders of the false Supreme Lord and please the righteous one.”

The Mam shrugged. “Those are such confusing terms. False? Righteous? I am not a betting man, cousin. Today Vucub-Kamé has the throne. Tomorrow you may have it, maybe not. I wouldn’t want to face your brother when he is angry. Conflict between us is tiresome and unnecessary.”

Despite his words, the god opened his mouth wide, the corner of his lips distended. He unleashed another gust of wind, stronger than before, which might have indeed broken Casiopea’s bones as he’d previously promised, except that in the blink of an eye Hun-Kamé had raised a hand and the shadows on the floor rose like a wave, a cocoon, against which the wind crashed and shattered.

The Mam coughed and opened his mouth again, but Hun-Kamé spoke.

“Don’t try that with me or I’ll think you uncivil,” he said.

The god smiled and shook his head, his voice hoarse. “I thought we were playing! We have a rope to skip, and your friend can be Do?a Blanca and we’ll dance around her. I wouldn’t seriously—”

“Be quiet.”

Hun-Kamé’s face had the grimness of the grave. It rubbed the insolence off the other god’s smile, sobering him a tad.

“If you do not return what belongs to me, you will find yourself in a very unpleasant situation. The bonds, as you say, may not hold long, but they will hold long enough for me to ruin your merry week of feasting. And when I sit on my throne, I will make sure to sour your nights. No drumming down the river, no imbibing of spirits, no laughter for you and your brothers.”

“And what if you do not regain your throne?” Juan asked, with mock innocence.

“Would you like to chance it, cousin? Remember who I am, remember my magic and my might. Remember also that my brother has always been the weaker one,” Hun-Kamé said, speaking in a low voice.

Juan’s smile was eclipsed completely. Although the night had been warm, Casiopea felt a chill go down her spine and rubbed her arms. The coldness seeped up from the earth, as if the ground had frozen beneath their feet. In Xibalba it was said there was a House of Cold where it hailed, and the hail cut your hands as sharply as a blade, and she thought perhaps this was the cold they felt. Whatever its source, it was unnatural and had an immediate effect on the god.

“This…this chill. I like the nights warm, cousin,” Juan said, and his teeth chattered, a plume of smoke escaping from his lips.

“Oh? I feel nothing. Casiopea, do you feel anything?” Hun-Kamé asked smoothly.

She shook her head and the Mam chortled, but the tips of his fingers were turning white, a delicate frost lacing itself across them.

“I respect you, Hun-Kamé. You know as much,” Juan said.