Chapter 18 #3
What sort of fuckery was this? He hadn’t said a single word about any cardinal rules. Not a single warning came with my wings. Had he lied to me about everything? My feathers, so light a moment ago, threatened to close around me, to suffocate me.
“Crimes are committed by men, when breaking the laws of men. I have broken no laws, have committed no crimes. You don’t have any proof that I have been spotted in this form, or you would have shown it.
We all know you can’t convict me based only on rumors.
You cannot possibly think I will go along with whatever punishment you dreamed up for me.
” Camazotz’s voice sounded far away, as if he had moved out of the room, or the blood rushing past my ears made it hard to hear.
He walked across the room, his footsteps echoing in the large space. His feet stopped close to one of the people sitting in the front. “Nothing to say for yourself, Christian? You, who has supported how many dictators?”
A deep voice chuckled. “Too many to count I’m afraid.”
“Are you amused? How many thousands lost their lives because of the corrupt men you backed?” My Monster practically roared. Nobody answered him. I wished I had the nerve to be closer, to see the faces of the people in the room.
“What about you? How many people have died by your hand? Any of your hands? Who are you to judge me?”
Chaac’s voice cut through his tirade, which was picking up steam.
“We are not here to listen to your judgments against us. You cannot compare the lives of men, who are capable of their own atrocities against one another, who kill, rape, and steal from the poor so their rich may have more. Our existence shouldn’t be discussed in the same breath and with the same disdain we have always reserved for humanity.
They have learned and innovated, true, but they haven’t come that far, still living lives that are gone in a blink.
“You are the one who has endangered our race. Is that what you have been doing up there on your mountaintop? Planning the demise of gods all in the name of saving the cattle?” His voice had gone from calm to dripping with poison. I squatted down, terrified to hear what came next.
“We’ve had enough of your nonsense. It is clear you have no intention of coming back to your senses. Better to lose one of us than the whole group.”
The blood in my veins ran to ice, then Ixtab spoke, her voice clear and unmistakable.
“Yes, husband dearest, for once, you get to listen to me. Do your best not to interrupt since I will be the one delivering justice.”
Husband? Justice? Good thing my tiny feet put me barely an inch off the ground, because I felt sick.
“By all means, dear wife, proceed,” said my lying Monster.
“We all know how fond you are of being submerged…”
I sunk down to the floor, my legs no longer supporting my body. Or perhaps my brain was no longer able to tell them what to do. Whichever, my mind churned. Had I eaten anything in the past few hours, it would’ve come up, but the fruit we had shared as parrots had long been digested.
I tried to listen, catching words like liaison, treaty, broken, confounded, and killed, but nothing made any sense.
I couldn’t see past the previous bombshell they had dropped so casually.
It was as if a fog settled over me, making me doubt everything Camazotz had said and done, especially the last few days.
Had there been a woman before me? Of course, I knew that. I’d been sleeping in her bed, hanging my clothes next to hers. He had built the house for her.
My Monster’s voice broke through my haze, just enough for the words to sink in.
“Ixtab again lies. My interference only prevented an almost certain nuclear war. While you are capable of withstanding total annihilation of the earth, I am not capable of standing by and watching you kill scores of innocents. What good is all your accumulated gold and wealth if there is no longer a human population to rule over?”
“He is trying to distract you from the truth,” said his wife.
Chaac cleared his throat, but it was a new voice that spoke, a rich, deep one that made my feathers rise in discomfort. “This trial is a farce. None of us agree with Camazotz’ interference, and we never have.”
“And you, Rune? You are a liar too, then? All those times you told me you agreed with some of my core beliefs.”
“I don’t remember telling you that. In fact, Micheline and I have always considered you to be the weak link among our pantheon. We should have sent you down to the caves centuries ago. Isn’t that where you’re supposed to rule over anyway, Camazotz, the underworld?” Poison dripped from his words.
“I think we’ve talked enough. My husband has proven his disdain toward our race.
He prefers to sit on his mountain and judge us.
He is a disgrace, so old and locked into small-mindedness, he has become a threat to our continued existence.
If even one being could come forward and speak on his behalf, then perhaps there would be a point to saving him. ”
Oh god, oh god, oh god.
I hopped forward, chair by chair, until I was surrounded by feet. Should I speak out? Would the word of a human, even an altered one, mean anything?
The room went quiet, and I shifted back and forth, craning my head to try to see something other than pant legs and shoes. Were they wearing their human forms? Was he the only one with horns? How could he possibly wear that form if it went against all their rules?
Chaac’s voice broke through the silence. “Then it is decided. Camazotz, in light of your crimes, we, your peers, completely united, sentence you to death.”
The sound of his big body hitting the floor reverberated in the tiles and wooden chairs around me. I hunkered down in fear.
What had they done? Had they killed my Monster? How was that possible? Why didn’t he fight?
Chairs scraped the floor around me, and I backed up to keep from revealing my hiding spot.
I caught a glimpse of his horned face staring blindly forward before hands reached down and heaved him out of sight.
The caravan moved slowly through the room.
I waited, tamping down my reaction until I was safe again, eager to escape back through the chimney before anyone spotted me. Only then could I fall apart.
Because who was I kidding? He knew I could never save him.
That I was no match for his enemies. But still, he believed he could convince them.
Had he even tried? He had lied to me about his wife—a lie by omission and a big one—and for the main reason they were upset with him.
What else had he lied about? But he had given up so easily.
I hadn’t seen it from my perch, but something didn’t seem right.
The sound of receding footsteps faded. I let out another deep breath. Hopefully, no one had closed the door, or I’d have to turn human long enough to open the door and fly the fuck out of this place, this hellhole.
I flew toward the doors, which had been left wide open, and cleared the doorway when a giant net fell from the heavens and caught me in its threads.
I struggled to break free, seeing a person looming to my left, attached to the handle of the net, but I was too panicked to register much else.
The more I flapped, the more I tangled the strong strands around my wings and feet until I could barely move.
Giant hands grabbed me, holding me firmly until I couldn’t do anything except pant through my open beak.
“Got you,” said a woman’s voice, a loud, harsh whisper. “I thought something wasn’t right about your behavior in that room. Because it wasn’t you, was it, husband?”
I wasn’t exactly in a position to respond, short of transforming, which was hardly a safe option at the moment.
So, I remained frozen as Ixtab carried me up a grand stairway and down a short corridor.
She stepped into a small, dark room, slamming the door shut behind her.
She deftly untangled me from her net and then tossed me into a cage.
I rolled, scrambling to get my feet under me, but crashed into the metal bars. I hopped back toward the middle, eager to escape, but she had already closed the door.
“Let me go make sure they don’t actually kill that poor man, but don’t worry, darling. I’ll be right back.”
Well, fuck me.