The Mountain Temple, The Capital's Priest

Mount Estella was only four or five hundred meters tall, and not especially marvelous, sheer, or perilous, but its peaks and ridges were massive, its presence majestic, like a stone seat of the gods, bearing witness to myths and legends.

Xolotl stepped through the faint light of dawn, holding Alisa's fair hand, and climbed steadily upward along the winding path. Dozens of warriors carried weapons on their backs, wore leather armor, and spread out front and rear on guard.

After several quarters of an hour on the mountain trail, everything they saw along the way was scenery that lifted the heart and cleared the mind. When they lowered their heads, they saw the mountain's wild, ancient sweep and jagged boulders; at eye level were elegant woods and blooming flowers; when they looked up, clouds and mist steamed upward, and a simple, ancient bluestone temple appeared amid the vapor and trees, already within a hundred meters.

"The ancient Temple of the Sun God, the sacred flame passed down through the ages..."

Xolotl murmured softly, and Alisa smiled as she answered.

"The peak where the primordial sun set, the stairway where the supreme Main God ascended, the turning point of the fifty-two-year cycle."

The two looked at each other and smiled, then tightened their joined hands at the same time and chanted the final passage of the prayer together.

"Mount Estella, witness the immortal miracle, and grant the eternal vow!"

Their clear chanting drifted into the wind and spread far away. Several breaths later, a hearty laugh came from within the Temple of the Sun God.

"Haha! The Divine Eagle flies from the sky, the white egret descends from the clouds—what an auspicious day!"

A lean middle-aged priest, wearing plain priestly robes and a tall crown of eagle feathers, strode out of