AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“However, the Nucio, the Ute people, were fierce, and they didn’t die as easily as the others had. They killed more of the Sun People than anyone had before, and the invaders were forced to call forth their sorcerer.”
Bingo, Matt thought; the two stories were beginning to mesh.
“This sorcerer could become a wolf, and he could make others into wolves, too.”
Matt straightened as if he’d been jabbed in the butt with a stick. That wasn’t how the story went. The Aztecs’ sorcerer was a superwarrior—stronger, better, faster. He mowed through the opposition like a ravenous wol
f.
Of course that was a translation, which was subject to interpretation. What if, instead, the sorcerer was a ravenous wolf?
Matt couldn’t believe he was thinking this. He, who had broken his mother’s heart, contributed to her death by sneering at her irrational belief in a sorcerer, was now considering a werewolf sorcerer.
Of course with all that had happened lately—howling black smoke, dead bodies getting up and walking away, wolves with the eyes of people he knew …
“Go on,” Matt said.
“He replenished the Army of the Sun with the Tangwaci Cin-au’-ao, beings that couldn’t be killed with anything other than pure silver.”
“How’d the Ute know this?” Matt blurted. “Did they just poke the creatures with every substance they had until one of them died?”
“Maybe.” Isaac shrugged. “How they knew isn’t part of the story.”
“Okay,” Matt said, though for him the how and the why and the what were the story.
“No matter how many of the Tangwaci Cin-au’-ao were killed,” Isaac continued, “the sorcerer made more. He created an army, and the People had no choice but to call forth their own maker of magic.”
“We had a sorcerer?” McCord murmured. “Cool.”
“Shaman,” Isaac corrected.
“Whatever.” McCord ignored the narrow-eyed stare his grandfather shot his way. “What did he do?”
“He confined the Tangwaci Cin-au’-ao beneath,” Isaac said, as if that explained everything.
“How?” Matt asked.
“A spell, which imprisoned the creature beyond the door. Then the Ute filled in the cavern and told everyone the area was cursed. It didn’t take long before death made their lies the truth.”
“What does that mean?” Gina asked.
“People died there.”
“Voilà,” Matt murmured. “It is cursed.”
“But why did people die there?” Gina’s voice wavered.
Matt laid his hand on hers. Outside, one of the wolves—he thought it might have been Ashleigh—yipped. He ignored them, along with McCord, who glared hard enough to put a hole in Matt’s forehead.
“The Tangwaci Cin-au’-ao was buried, but his voice was never silenced. His calls are heard on the wind and in the mountains.”
Beneath Matt’s hand, Gina’s jerked. He cast her a concerned glance, but she peered intently at Isaac.
“You’re saying the howls of the unwolves were made by the Tangwaci Cin-au’-ao?” Matt asked.
“He called people to him. Because he was Nahua, every death made him stronger, keeping alive the whisper of his voice on the wind.” Isaac shook his head. “That kind of power is damn hard to contain.”
“So you spread the rumor that the place was cursed.”
