Orson Card - THE CRYSTAL CITY

No one had an answer to that.

"But I'm the reason the poison didn't work on you, once I realized the water was drugged. So don't get pissed at me, let's plan how to get out of here."

"Better plan fast," said Bowie. "Since you're the one they plan to sacrifice this afternoon."

"I'm hurt," said Calvin. "I would have thought they'd save me for last."

"They're not stupid," said Bowie. "And just so you know, they also told us-using our own interpreters-that if you didn't go willingly to be sacrificed, they'd kill all of us without even sending us to the god."

"Won't happen," said Calvin.

"The way we figure it," said Bowie, "we'll make our break for it while they're cutting your heart out."

"Good plan," said Calvin. "Of course, without me you won't know where your weapons are stored. You won't know how to get out of this room without getting caught. I think a few of you might make it as much as a hundred yards from this place."

They were thinking about this when suddenly the ground shook under them. At once, from the city outside this building, they could hear screaming and shouting.

Calvin broke open his bonds and stood up. None of the others were tied, so they also stood. But the windows were too high in the walls to see through.

The ground shook again.

"I think we ought to lie down again," said Bowie. "In case they come in and see us."

"They aren't going to," said Calvin.

"How do you know?"

"Because the guards at the door just ran away."

The door opened.

Bowie was in the middle of a snide remark about how reliable Calvin was when they realized that the man who stood in the doorway was not a Mexica. It was a half-black young man dressed like an American.

"Get ready to go," said the young man. "We got about a day to get out of the city before Popocatepetl blows."

"Before what?" asked a man.

"Popocatepetl," said the young man. "The biggest volcano. All that screaming out there, the ground shaking, it's because we just caused it to start spewing smoke and ash. And tomorrow, anybody who didn't get out of the city will be killed when the thing erupts all the way."

"Who's 'we'?" asked Bowie.

"My guess is it's my brother Alvin doing all this," said Calvin. "Cause this is his brother-in-law, Arthur Stuart."

At once there were cries of protest.

"Your brother is married to a black woman?"

"Somebody named him for the King?"

"We're supposed to listen to a slave tell us what to do?"

But Arthur Stuart's voice cut through the noise. "It's not Alvin," he said. "It's Tenskwa-Tawa. He's making the volcano erupt to stop the Mexica from offering human sacrifices. It's between reds, Tenskwa-Tawa against the Mexica."

"So what are you doing here?" asked Calvin.

"Saving you," said Arthur Stuart. "And anybody else who wants to come with us."

"I don't need you to save me," said Calvin contemptuously.

"I know you don't need me to get you out of this old church," said Arthur Stuart. "But how are you going to get out of the city? I speak Spanish, which most of the folks here speak well enough, and I also picked up quite a bit of Nahuatl-that's the Mexica language. Any of you know how to ask for directions or food? And good luck finding your way out of this valley with all the panicky people filling the roads. Plus I reckon a lot of folks'll think you brought this down on their heads, and they won't be too glad to see you."

"But why should we leave at all?" said Calvin.

"So you don't get burnt to a crisp and covered over with lava," said Arthur Stuart. "This don't take no Aristotle to figure out, Calvin."

"Don't you talk to a white man that way!" shouted a man, and a couple of others got up to do him some kind of violence.

And Calvin was perfectly willing to let them get started. Arthur Stuart needed to learn who was in charge here, and how to show proper respect.

But the men never reached Arthur. Instead, they started sliding and tripping over themselves just as if the floor was suddenly smooth marble covered in butter, and after a minute it became clear that anybody as started after Arthur Stuart would end up on his butt.

The boy had really learned some makery-but not as much as he probably thought. Calvin toyed with the idea of having an all-out wizard's war with him right here on the spot, to show him just how far he had to go-but what would be the point? There was no time to waste.

"Forget him," said Calvin. "He came to save us, so great, anybody who wants to run away, go with him, right now. He's not much of a maker but he's got a knack with languages and maybe he can get you to safety. But me, I think we can turn this to our advantage. We came here to rule over Mexico, didn't we? So let's let the volcano kill the Mexica and then claim we did it and rule over the country in their place!"

"What does Steve say?" asked a man.

It was only then that they all realized that Austin was one of the ones who had been drugged.

"You know what he'd say," said Calvin. "He didn't come here to quit. He didn't come here so he could run away after a black boy who thinks he's hot stuff cause he can make a floor slippery. We came here to take over an empire and I aim to do it."

"Everybody already knows it's Tenskwa-Tawa's doing," said Arthur Stuart. "His people are already here, they said when the smoke would start coming, and it came when they said."

"But Tenskwa-Tawa ain't going to come down here and rule over Mexico, is he," said Calvin. "No, I didn't think so. Well, somebody's gonna do it, and it might as well be us. And after this is over, and we're telling folks that it was my brother Alvin who was telling Tenskwa-Tawa what to do, and they've left me here to see to it Steve Austin is made emperor of Mexico..."

"Anybody who wants to get out of this valley alive, come with me now," said Arthur Stuart.

"I'd rather die than trust a slave for anything!" shouted one of the men he had put on the floor.

"That's the choice," said Arthur Stuart.

The ground trembled again, and then again, and a third shock was so strong that several of the men fell down.

"You're not doing that, are you?" Bowie asked Calvin.

"I can do it whenever I want," said Calvin.

"You're such a humbug," said Arthur Stuart. "It took a council of shamans a year to get this volcano at the point of eruption. Even Alvin couldn't make a volcano erupt whenever he wants."

"Maybe there's things I can do that 'even Alvin' can't do," said Calvin.

Arthur Stuart turned to the rest of the men. "How fast can any of you run? How far do you think you'll get? When Popocatepetl blows up tomorrow, it won't matter where you are in this valley, you'll be dead. Do you understand? If we leave today, now, we'll make it out of here in time. If you have me to help you move fast enough and get far enough. As for him-do you think he cares whether you live or die? Do you think he has the power to save you from a volcano? He'll be lucky if he can save himself."

A few of the men were wavering. "We can't take over Mexico if we're dead."

"We can do it from outside this valley."

Calvin laughed. "You saw what I did back in True Cross, didn't you? Have you forgotten who and what I am? This boy is no wizard, he's nothing, my brother keeps him like a pet, to do tricks." And with those words, Calvin made the door behind Arthur Stuart fly from its hinges and burst outward onto the street. And then he made a wind that picked up Arthur Stuart and flung him through the door.

"Anybody who wants to," said Calvin, "is free to follow him. Seeing how he has so much power."

Arthur Stuart appeared in the door. "I never claimed to be more powerful than Calvin. But all his power doesn't give him a single word of Spanish or Nahuatl. And he knows nothing about the red man's way of running faster than a man can run. Come with me if you want to live. I can get you back to True Cross, and from there you can get safely home. Look at him! He doesn't care about you!"