“Tlahuicole…what…what is happening?” I asked gripping tightly onto his wrist.
“Acalan poisoned you in rage. The only cure is with his people, the Tarascans. I went to fight to find it, but there isn’t enough to save you. I merely wanted to say hello and goodbye,” he whispered as he placed my palm over his chest. He’d chosen to die since I would die. As a prisoner of war, death meant being sacrificed, and for warriors it meant a fight to the death.
I now knew why we were at the temple.
Why my heart burned.
Why this was hello and goodbye again.
I knew the answers to all my questions.
“Tlahuicole.” The high priest came to take him away from me, and I did not dare look at him.
And because I knew all the answers to my questions, I had nothing left to say. I feared that if I opened my mouth screams would be released instead of words.
So I took his hand and placed it over my heart as well.
“Tlahuicole.” They called again.
“We shall meet again,” he said to me as he removed his hand from my chest and rose from his place before me.
“And that life shall be our last,” I said into the darkness as they took him away.
I coughed and blood flew from my lips. Wiping the blood from my mouth I laid back and said, “Our next life shall be our last.”
I did not care how many times I had to say it. I’d say it for all eternity because it gave me hope. I needed hope.
Hhmmmm…
Hhmmmm…
Hhmmmm…
Pushing myself off the ground I walked towards the sunlight, shielding my eyes against the brightness of the glare. It was only then that I saw the blur of the wings as its body darted side to side. It moved so quickly that all I could hear was the sound, it was the sound only a hummingbird could make and I laughed until I couldn’t anymore. I laughed until the light and the pain all went away and all that was left was the sound.
20. GIRLFRIEND
ESTHER
I sat in the hotel’s white bathrobe looking down at my own reflection in the glossy shine of the dining table. My hair was still wet from the shower. I wanted to speak but I had no words. And so, I sat silently even as Malachi set the coffee mug in front of me. Looking up, I watched as he, still shirtless, sat down to my right. He didn’t look at me, instead he drank his own coffee and looked out at the view of the city. I held the mug and felt the heat radiating into my hands. I enjoyed that heat for a moment before I lifted it to my lips to drink as well. The more I drank, the better I felt and all of sudden I had the words again.
“Tlahuicole,” I said as I licked the coffee off my lips and he stopped moving for just a second before his blue eyes shifted on to me. “History remembers him as a badass who died a warrior’s death as punishment for being captured, even though the Emperor was willing to give him anything he wanted.”
“The one thing he wanted was dying and he could not save her,” he frowned, as he held the coffee cup to his lips.
“Yeah. There was never any mention of Citlali, which obviously proves that history was written by men,” I smirked.
“In man’s defense, it’s not like you were…”
His voice trailed off as I glared at him. He looked at me for a good second before he nodded to himself and drank once more.
“Not like I was what? A warrior? Anyone important?”
“This coffee is good, isn’t it?” he asked completely avoiding my question and I couldn’t help but laugh as I shook my head him. He smiled and reached for my hand.
“How are you feeling?”
“Better.” It wasn’t a lie. I did feel better just…