Lengua Bífida (Relato)

EN CONSTRUCCIÓN

The tongue flicked in and out, tasting the humid air. All skinks did this, but this one's tongue flicked even more rapidly when he was nervous. The skink stood alone in the centre of a largue auditorium. The Astromancers looked down upon him from their elevated positions. The Second of the Order stood by an empty palaquin, giving the skink in the centre a stern look with lidless eyes. The Second would be the Order's voice in the Chief Astromancer's absence.

"Yukannadoozat, you come here without the leave of your master", spoke the Second, his saurian dialect heavily inflected with the chirping characteristic of those that reside in Tlaxtlan. "You speak ill of the Great Warding".

"No, my intention is not to deride the Great Warding. I mean only that it is vulnerable to forthcoming events", said Yukannadoozat. His tongue rapidly flicked out once more.

"These events are stellar in nature, yet we are unaware of any omen", said the Second, gesturing to the audience, "...and we read the skies. That is what we have been tasked by our Lord since the second generation, and yet you presume to know more than we do? Your crest denotes you are of the translator caste". Derogatory hisses from around the chamber accompanied those last words. Yukannadoozat involuntarily shrank back.

"I am. That is how i came across this portent. By transcribing an ancient plaque displaying the Forked Tongue..."

"Silence now! It is your designated role to transcribe and relay such findings to your Lord, who then deigns to share with all the other revered masters through the Geomantic Web. Your circumvention is against the Great Plan. Then you dare invoke the Forked Tongue. This is discordance!"

"My master sleeps; he will not wake".

"Then wait until he stirs. That has always been our way", said the Second. The hisses of the others stated agreement.

"Time is a factor", pleaded Yukannadoozat.

"Irrelevant! Perhaps it is part of the Great Plan that this event should occur without intervention".

"If i could just look through the astral-scope?"

The hisses turned into chirps of protest at this request. The gathering became agitated, even hostile. The Second calmed them by opening his crest to its fullest extent.

"You are discordant! Your life is forfeit, but it is not ours to take; i shall inform our Lord Adohi-Tehga to demand your immediate sacrifice. He will commune with your master - i have no doubt that both revered Mage-Priests will agree with the sanction".

Yukannadoozat's tongue flicked out. "I will, of course, abide any demands from my Lord. But he sleeps. As you advise, i await his order when he awakes. Until then i shall continue with my duties".

The Astromancers hissed in impotent agitation, for Yukannadoozat's logic was sound.

The skink scuttled from the Temple of the Eclipse, if the Astromancers would not aid him, he was keen to be away. He would check in on his master, try and rouse him from his trance-slumber again. If, as he expected, his master remained dormant, the skink was unsure what his next move should be. He knew he had to share his findings with someone of import.

He made his way along the Plaza of the Constellations and then down a smaller avenue towards his master's temple within the Dome of Huanchi. The skink braves dropped from a ledge above, landing nimbly onto the stoneway. All were wearing war feathers and armed with blades of curved bronze.

"Discordance!" hissed one. "We bring clarity to the Great Plan", it chirped in gutter-saurian. Yukannadoozat backed away. He had foreseen many things in the plaques he studied, but not this.

Behind the cohort, from the shadows of a nearby ziggurat, a kroxigor emerged. Even for a kroxigor, it was massive: a living tower of scales and muscle. It issued a crocodilian growl - a deep rumble that Yukannadoozat felt in his crest.

"No, Tar-Grax, they mean me no harm", said Yuk.

"They are here to simply escort us back to our master's pyramid". The skinks flicked their tongues and looked to their brave for guidance. Tar-Grax growled once more. The brave signalled, and the cohort took a loose formation around Yuk and Tar-Grax. As one, they made their way along the avenue.

"As Yukannadoozat feared, his master remained latent. It had been a decade since he had last roused, but Yuk thought this was more than mere contemplation. The Mage Priest's eyes wept ooze.

"Grrrr", rumbled Tar-Grax.

"No, our revered Lord remains silent".

"Grrr..."

"What do you mean trapped? He is free to leave the temple as soon as he awakes".

"Grrr..."

"Imprisoned in the aether? What do you mean?"

"Grrr..."

"I know, we must leave him and seek aid elsewhere".

"Grrr..."

"There is one who may listen without an entreaty from our Lord. The Astromancers made the connection for me. They mentioned the Second Generation. I see now, the Great Plan aligns. We will travel from night to day from the City of the Moon to the City of the Sun. We shall seek audience with Lord Mazdamundi himself, the greatest Slann of the Second Generation".

Fuente

• Total War Warhammer