Alexander C. Irvine - A Scattering of Jades.pdf - Alexander C. Irvine - widez2

A Scattering of Jades 1

2 Alexander C. Irvine

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Beth , for deciding that we should go south instead of north on

her birthday camping trip; to the rangers at Mammoth Cave National Park, espe-

cially Jim Norris and Chuck (whose last name I wrote down but can't find); to

Drew Frady, for the Battleaxe Notebook; to Sean Stewart for encouragement and

careful reading; to Tim Powers and Karen Joy Fowler for examples; to Anna Gen-

oese, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, and especially John Klima at Tor; to Jenna Felice,

gone much too soon; and to Thorn Davidsohn, for beers and conversation.

And many thanks to Wes and Donna at Dom Bakeries in Ypsilanti, Michigan;

Pam and Chad at Pat's Pizza in Orono, Mai and Josh, Casey, and the rest of the

baristas at Stella's Coffee Haus in Denver, Colorado.

A Scattering of Jades 3

And when a great wise man had spoken well, and taught the people wis-

dom, they would say on tetepeoac, on chachayaoac; there has been a sow-

ing, there has been a scattering of jades.

—Fray Bernardino de Sahagun,

Historia General de las Casas de Nueva España

4 Alexander C. Irvine

Prologue

It was midnight. And the gods all took their places around the tsotexcal-

li , the divine hearth. At this place the fire burned for four days . . . then the

gods spoke; they said to Tecuciztecatl, "Now, Tecuciztecatl, enter the fire!"

Then he prepared to throw himself into the enormous fire. He felt the great

heat and he was afraid. Being afraid, he dared not hurl himself in, but

turned back instead. . . . Four times he tried, four times he failed. After

these failures, the gods then spoke to Nanahuatzin, the Scabby One, and

they said to him: "You, Nanahuatzin, you try!" And as the gods had spoken,

he braced himself, closed his eyes, stepped forward, and hurled himself into

the fire. The sound of roasting was heard, his body crackled noisily. Seeing

him burn thus in the blazing fire, Tecuciztecatl also leaped into the fire.

When both of them had been consumed by this great fire, the gods sat down

to await the reappearance of Nanahuatzin; where, they wondered, would he

appear? Their waiting was long. Suddenly the sky turned red; everywhere

the light of dawn appeared. It is said that the gods then knelt to await the

rising of Nanahuatzin as the Sun. All about them they looked, but they were

unable to guess where he would appear.

—Fray Bernardino de Sahagun,

"The Creation of the Fifth Sun"

A Scattering of Jades 5

Izcalli, 11-serpent—December 15, 1835

A bitter wind gusted through the courtyard that separated the sis-

ter buildings of the crumbling tenement, animating strips of newspaper and

swirls of powdery snow. Lupita shivered, clutching her woolen serape

around her as she squatted on her bony haunches and peered into a cracked

basement window.

Through the soles of her shoes Lupita felt the earth trembling, as if in

anticipation, and shapes rose up in the snow around the courtyard. The

ground she stood on had been a swampy pond not so very long ago, and she

wondered what the ghosts of that water felt about the magic she'd laid in

the earthen floor of the tenement's cellar. Ghosts hated nahualli like Lupita,

even though sorcery was the only way the dead could ever experience the

world of the living; their irrationality was their power and Lupita's danger.

"Shush, Rabbit," Lupita hissed. The Tochtli, the Rabbit in the Moon,

was angry tonight, and jealous, agitated because Xiuhtecuhtli had roused

himself to keep watch over Lupita's magic. Whenever the Old God stirred,

rhe Rabbit chattered. Lupita looked up at the moon, then away again. She

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