The Next Skywatcher: Prequel to The Last Skywatcher Triple Trilogy Series (The Last Skywatcher, Anasazi Historical Thrillers with a Hint of Romance Book 1) by Jeff Posey

back with his palms up.
    Tuwa staggered backward as if he’d taken another blow. Ihu had escaped. Again.

Rattlesnake On the Move

    Nuva stirred and blew a few remnant coals in a small cooking fire to redden them, then added piñon charcoal. Fragrant smoke filled the upper two-thirds of the room. She worked with her head low, knees on a cushion of cotton cloth wrapped around yucca leaves and hummed as she warmed food.
    Chumana came in, dressed in her Goddess of the Future costume, coughed with her head in the smoke, removed her heavy mask, peeled off her bluestone-studded gown, and fell onto her sleeping mat. She flung her arms above her head and stretched.
    “Difficult today?” asked Nuva. She felt bad for Chumana, being trapped inside the perpetual inner darkness of this enormous building, wearing that costume most of the day, surrounded by men with the morals of snakes. At her age, she should be in the sun, carrying water from the creek, raising the walls of a new house, laughing with her friends. Even caring for a baby by now.
    “The Builder wants to know more about children,” said Chumana. “Did that woman with the young runner tell you anything else?”
    “You know everything I know, dear.”
    “Maybe you should talk to her again. See if she remembers anything else. Surely she knows something more.”
    “It’s too dangerous. She already risked her life coming here once. I won’t let her come here again.”
    “But he keeps asking what the children who kill warriors are doing. Where they’re from. How they did it. How many there are. I need to tell him something.”
    “If there’s news in this canyon, our girls will hear it and find ways to let us know. They always do.” Nuva stirred a small pot of thin vegetable stew with her favorite stick. “Leftovers from the kitchen were pathetic today.”
    “I need a prediction or he’ll lose faith in me.”
    “I know. Let me think. That band of children in Black Stone Town killing warriors will make something happen. Things are stirring. I feel it. People will become more paranoid. They’ll start being suspicious of children. And any witchcraft they think makes children attack warriors.”
    The smoke began to clear. A whisper of breeze outside changed airflow even in the deep internal hallways of the High Priest’s palace, and clean air began to fill the room. Nuva gave a silent “thank you.”
    “Yesterday, Pók was late to the council because The Builder started early with Tókotsi and Ráana. I think he wanted to show up Pók in front of them,” said Chumana. “And I told you about The Builder agreeing to give Ráana command of Pók’s guard. So today, Pók came in before anyone else except me. He looked right at me and said, ‘Do I keep you?’ Made my skin crawl. It’s like he was thinking out loud what to do with me after The Builder is gone. Maybe he’s planning something.” She rubbed her arms as if scrubbing herself clean.
    “Interesting,” muttered Nuva. She poured soup into small bowls, guiding the bigger pieces of roots and corn dumplings with her stick into Chumana’s bowl. “Why would Pók want to take out The Builder? That’s who gives him his legitimate power. If The Builder is gone, Pók would have to bow to Tókotsi. Maybe even Ráana.”
    “Maybe he has a plan to remove Tókotsi and Ráana, too.”
    “Leaving him in charge of everything?” Nuva didn’t know if even Pók was crazy enough to try something that daring. If Pók took his guard and regulars against every warrior Tókotsi could stir up, Pók would probably win. Unless his own regulars or new recruits turned against him, which wouldn’t be likely.
    “He’s crazy enough,” said Chumana.
    “You think so?”
    “I think he’s looking for new ways to shock everyone. He’s afraid of fading like the Day Star.”
    “It might shock him if The Builder and Tókotsi won’t go down as easy as he hopes. Tókotsi supports The Builder because of his grand buildings. And