“I is having given him fake Helix,” explained Quetzalxochitl, quickly returning the genuine article to her pouch. “We are long knowing what it looks like, from old scrolls and carvings. I had silversmith make copy. Thought it might be coming to this, so needed to be prepared.”
“Very astute of you, I’m sure, but you still let him cart our friends off,” I said, indignantly, “and I don’t suppose they’ll fare too well when he discovers he’s been conned out of the real Helix. Did you even consider that he might suspect them of making the switch, and torture them to find out where the real one is?”
“Maybe,” she answered, with appalling dispassion, “but I could not be challenging his authority with soldiers all around. Him get suspicious, unless I be careful. Have me expelled from priesthood, o
