108

"You then are the ruler here?" Meztli asked in the foreign tongue. The words felt strange as they left his mouth, as though he was cutting them short. He had studied the language as long as any other from the ancient texts but now he was speaking it.

"No." The man replied, his grey eyebrows arching as Meztli spoke.

"No. Them words spoken by me may be wrong. You are a member of the group that is known as the Electorate?" The words hung in the air. "I would not advise lies."

"Yes I am." The man's eyes looked straight at Meztli without blinking or looking away.

This one has been in power for a long time. Granted he doesn't know who I am, but I'm guessing he looked at everyone with those eyes.


"Good. This was known. Do you know who we are?"

"No. Invaders from across the sea." The man stepped away from the bars and, clasping his hands behind his back, slowly walked away from the front of the cell. After a few steps he turned to face Meztli and walked back towards him. "Invaders from the sea. There were rumours of a force that had taken a few remote outposts. A dispatch arrived the a few bells before you did."

"You had warning in advance?"

"Yes, a garbled dispatch carried by a senseless rider. We had no idea what was to come until we saw your ships in the bay. You riders from overland almost reached the gates before they were seen I'm sorry to say."

"I was not here when the battle was met. I was still travelling by the ship that brought me. This man," Meztli gestured with his right hand and Atl, who stood as still as a statue, "was here. He fought with courage."

"I find it hard to believe that there is much courage when one is a member of an invading force. I saw these men fight, they were little more then animals. You seem civil so I will warn you. The electorate will come." The man walked forward and gripped the metal bars with his hands. They will come and they will send you running back to your ships." The man tilted his head to the left, his grey hair falling to the side. "And I tell you this, when they learn what has happened here, they will bring the their ships and they will follow you back across the ocean into whatever midden heap you spilled from."