I had some solid information—and a number of guesses. The whirlpool of blood that had coalesced into human form had to have been another example of the blood magic for which Aztlan was starting to gain a whispered reputation. There was no doubt in my mind that the man leading the ritual had been an Azzie priest—his black-painted face and the shieldlike obsidian "mirror" on his forearm were symbols of Tezcatlipoca, god of the smoking mirror. More and more, it was looking as if the cultists had the official sanction of the Aztlan state religion.