This part is a little bit shorter than previous parts, but I needed it to be. Now the real trick will be not expanding the "shit hitting the fan" parts until they are twice as long as the others. I think I may have to break them up into two parts. Oh well. We shall see.

Oh yeah, I should make this easy for you guys.

Part 1 | Part 2



The friendship between warrior Ilhuiti and the dragon Eztilinhuica was kept hidden from the other warriors of the Sun God. There was no intentional deceit on the part of Eztilinhuica. He did not talk with the warriors of the Sun God. Ilhuiti was the only exception.

Ilhuiti was never asked whether he spoke with the dragon and he never volunteered the information. In his heart, he suspected that he had somehow broken his oaths. It was his duty to keep the dragon from destroying the land. He was doing that, but not in the way the Sun God intended.

The more Ilhuiti talked - the more he listened - the more he realized that the dragon Eztilinhuica was alone. Not lonely, but alone. Without friends. Without family. Without even a companion. Alone.

A warrior did not ignore those in need. A warrior aided in any way he could, or if he could do nothing, asked for aid from others in the name of those who needed. Ilhuiti could not turn his back on the dragon Eztilinhuica.

It is not known whether the other warriors of the Sun God suspected. Perhaps they did. Perhaps they didn't. What is known is that they soon discovered undeniable proof that the warrior Ilhuit and the dragon Eztilinhuica had a relationship.

One night under the stars, the warrior Ilhuit and the dragon Eztilinhuica were talking. What was said is not known. What is known is that the warrior Ilhuiti laid his head against Eztilinhuica's. It was an intimate moment silhouetted against the full moon.

Another of the warriors of the Sun God saw this, and thought that Ilhuiti had betrayed them.

***

"What's wrong?" Ilhuiti for what seemed like the hundredth time. Eztil was currently pacing the edges of the plaza. He'd been doing so all day long. It was nerve wracking.

For the hundredth time that day, Eztil responded with a curt, "Nothing."

"Okay, they explain to my why you felt the need to break the flagstones?" Ilhuiti pointed to the stones in question. There were scorch marks and the stones themselves had been cracked by either claws or heat.

Eztil growled low in his throat, and looked away. "That has nothing to do with anything."

"Then you won't mind explaining then," Ilhuiti said a little too sweetly. Eztil regarded him for a long, long moment. Finally the dragon sighed.

"I dream," Eztil said as he sat down beside Ilhuiti. The dragon looked up towards the opposite rim. The sun hadn't quite set in the world, but in the mouth of the volcano, everything was already shadowed. The sky was dark blue and a few stars could already be seen.

"Of what?" Eztil was warm where he pressed against his side.

"Of heat. Of pain. Of the sudden turned red with blood. The stench of death and everything beneath me in flames," Eztil replied. "I haven't had dreams like that it many, many years. As the dragon of blood and fire, you'd think I'd be glad that they had returned."

"But you're not." It wasn't a question. Ilhuiti put an arm around Eztil, and the dragon leaned against him. "Do you think they are omens?"

"Yes," Eztil said without hesitation. "They're warnings that there is danger. I just don't know what from."

It was quite possibly the most forthcoming Eztil had ever been with him. Somehow, that just chilled Ilhuiti even more. "So what do we do to stop it?"

"The sun rises and sets by it's own hand. All we can do is watch it go by," Eztil quoted from one of the poems of the Sun God. Then he looked at Ilhuiti with golden eyes that seemed to gleam in the deepening darkness. "I've never been good at just watching and waiting. I will think of something."

***

"I need you to do me a favor."

Tlazi didn't jump this time, though it was a near thing. The dragon of blood and fire was sitting on the cracked flagstones. Eztilinhuica hadn't been there a moment ago, and now he was. He hated it when the dragon of blood and fire did that. "Why should I do you a favor? You tried to kill me last time."

Eztilinhuica waved his hand as if that was of no importance. "I didn't kill you. That should be good enough."

Good enough? "You are joking. You tried to kill me and I'm just supposed to be fine with the fact that you didn't succeed and do you a favor?"

"It involves Ilhuiti." Something about the way the dragon of blood and fire said it made Tlazi pause to listen. "I want you to watch him when I cannot. Be my eyes and ears inside the temple of the rim and tell me what you see."

"Why?" He always watched Ilhuit: from the shadows where the other warriors couldn't see. The others knew of the bad blood between them and didn't so much as suspect the real reason he looked. Only Eztilinhuica knew.

"I don't know." There was the faintest hint of a growl in Eztilinhuica's voice. "Something isn't right and I don't know what. I can protect him while he's in this temple as long as you idiots don't stop me. It was built for that purpose. But unless I leave here, my influence extends no farther."

Tlazi blinked. "Built for that purpose?"

Eztilinhuica gave him a look that stated louder than words that the dragon of blood and fire thought he was an idiot. "Do you really think this is the first lifetime I have met Ilhuiti in?"

"Oh." Tlazi had known that reincarnation was possible. He just hadn't realized that Ilhuiti was that Ilhuiti. The one that Eztilinhuica had met in the legend. "I see. Um. Why ask me?"

"Other than Ilhuiti, you are the only one of the warriors of the Sun God I've spoken to. None of the others bother to listen. Even the servants, when they are forced to come down here, do their best to ignore me." Eztilinhuica smiled, but it was not a pleasant thing. "You are my only option."

"How wonderful for me," Tlazi muttered.

"Will you do it?"

An excuse to watch Ilhuiti even more? Was there any doubt? "Yes."

"Good."