Sky Knife by Marella Sands Read Free Book Online

Tabai seen?” asked Sky Knife.
    â€œHere,” hissed Turtle Nest. “Just outside, on our patio. Ix Chel protect us!”
    â€œThe man—what did you do with him?”
    Turtle Nest shrugged. “He is here for now. But tomorrow—I don’t know. We don’t take care of the insane here.” She frowned at Sky Knife. “He seemed to know you, though.”
    Sky Knife said nothing.
    â€œNow answer my question,” said the High Priestess. “What did Stone Jaguar mean?”
    Sky Knife hesitated. But she had answered his questions. “Cizin was seen,” he said at last, hoping he made the right choice. “Or rather, I saw Cizin. On the temple, just after the sacrifice.”
    Turtle Nest reacted as if Sky Knife had struck her. She stepped back and her hands flew to her face. “No,” she whispered. “Oh, Ix Chel, no.”
    â€œAnd now Blood House is dead,” continued Sky Knife. “And the chacs burn tobacco in the heavens.”
    Turtle Nest lowered her hands and clapped them once, loudly. Her attendants rushed back in and knelt behind her.
    â€œPrepare the inner sanctum,” said the High Priestess. The nuns rose and hurried out.
    The High Priestess stepped toward Sky Knife. “I do not have an answer for you, but if you need the assistance of the temple of Ix Chel, you have only to ask. We shall fast and meditate. Perhaps Ix Chel will have pity on us and send us an answer.”
    The High Priestess turned and left the room. Bone Splinter grunted. “So they will fast and pray. And the priests will fast and pray. Do you see, Sky Knife, why you must be the one to find the answer to the question?”
    Sky Knife almost protested, but inside, he felt the truth of Bone Splinter’s words. He stepped back outside, his mind already planning where he would go next.
    In the east, the glow of dawn brightened the sky over the Great Pyramid. It was the end of an unlucky night, and the dawn of what would likely be an unlucky day. Sky Knife’s stomach growled in hunger, and his eyelids felt heavy. But this was no time to sleep.
    Sky Knife was determined that, before the day was out, he would have part of his answer. For the gods. For the king.
    For himself.

5
    Sky Knife walked quickly to his quarters in the southern acropolis. Both Stone Jaguar and Turtle Nest had mentioned Uaxactun as a possible source of the bad luck. There ought to be merchants in the city who had recently been to Uaxactun. They might know something.
    They might even be responsible.
    Still, Sky Knife didn’t want to look disheveled when he went among the merchants. He left Bone Splinter in the street and ducked into a small side entrance to the acropolis and walked down the narrow hallway to his tiny room.
    The room was rectangular and not much longer than Sky Knife was tall. A single stone bench covered in a plain cotton blanket jutted out of the wall. Sky Knife reached under the bench and brought out a jar filled with water. He poured some of the water over his head and rubbed it through his hair. Then he dried his hair with the cotton blanket and brushed it back over his ears with his fingers.
    Sky Knife returned the bowl to its place under the bench and pulled out a small, flat bowl that was covered with a lid. The bowl had been painted in bold blue designs, and the handle of the lid was shaped like a frog.
    Sky Knife removed the lid and dipped his fingers into the blue paint inside the bowl. Since he was unmarried, he didn’t merit tattoos; he had to satisfy himself with paint. Sky Knife drew two blue lines across each forearm and thigh. Then he painted a line down each cheek.
    Sky Knife blotted the remaining paint from his fingers on the cotton blanket and replaced the lid on the bowl.
    Bone Splinter stood outside the acropolis, facing the street. He stood with his feet slightly apart, his arms crossed. Sky Knife bit his lip, conscious that his spindly limbs and