The large burning orb of the midday sun beat down relentlessly on the agitated crowd milling around the square in front of the great temple. The inhabitants of the great Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan were excited by the news coming from the coast. An army had disembarked from a flotilla of great canoes, which had arrived from the east over the Great Sea. This force was now travelling steadily through the subject lands of their mighty ruler, Montezuma, with all indications that its intended destination was their holy city of the lake. All sorts of rumours were circulating about the nature of these men. The priests were saying that they were not men at all but gods, whose arrival had been foretold by the startling natural phenomena of recent times – the column of fire stretching from earth to sky, which had appeared every midnight for a year; the two temples destroyed by fire and lightning; the comet seen by day; the bird whose head had a mirror in it in which the approaching army had first revealed itself to the great Emperor. These men or gods were strange white creatures riding on four-legged monsters like deer. Their bodies were covered with thick dark material and their faces sported bushy red or black beards. In their caravan were new strange weapons of warfare capable of rivalling in noise and power the loudest thunderstorm. As the air hummed with this gossip, at the foot of the temple stairs, close by the rack holding the countless skulls of victims sacrificed to the great gods, a fight broke out between the supporters of rival interpretations of events; swords were drawn and blood was spilt.
High above the crowds, the great Emperor noticed this commotion and sighed. He fingered the ornate imperial amulet, which hung glittering around his neck, then stared up briefly at the burning sun. What should he do? Should he treat with these gods to protect his great kingdom from their wrath or should he listen to those of his advisers who insisted that these creatures would bleed if cut and should be attacked without delay? But then to attack was not so easy – the newcomers were travelling through lands subservient to his power, but not loyal to it. The Totonacs, for one, were rumoured to be keen to use the foreigners to assist their independence. The Tlaxcalans likewise.
Then again, what did these creatures want? He had heard they had a great hunger for gold and he and his people certainly had an abundance of that. He glanced to his right at the open door of the temple treasury. The sun’s rays were flooding through the doorway and a blinding glare of reflection bounced back from the multitude of golden statues, vases, ornaments and other artefacts kept there in honour of Huitzilopochtli, the Sun God of War, Quetzalcoatl and the other great gods of the cosmos.
Montezuma sighed again. He looked across the wide platform that lay just beneath the high apex of the temple. His priests were busy preparing the sacrifice to his left and he heard the whimpering of the victims. One of them looked up and dared to stare at her Emperor. She was a pretty young thing with long, flowing black hair, deep, dark eyes and a perfect figure. She was naked, as were the other three maidens who were to die to propitiate the gods and, Montezuma prayed, to secure guidance as to how best to resolve his current passing problem. Now the victims were brought forward by the guards to the great stone table in the middle of the platform. Their whimpering halted as they faced the truth of their fate. The pretty, dark girl kept her gaze on the Emperor and he fancied that he saw there a defiant glare. Montezuma looked down at his beautifully crafted, golden amulet, which took the form of two snakes entwined, their eyes flawless emeralds glittering in the burning sun. A thought occurred to him. He stood and raised a hand to the Chief Priest, who halted proceedings. Montezuma strode towards the girl and removed the amulet from his neck. He would place it around her shivering neck and after the knife had done its work and her heart had been plucked from her slender frame, the cremation of her body would blend her ashes with the molten metal to provide a majestic offering of sacrificed beauty to the gods – surely then he would be given the guidance he required? He held the amulet out. The girl stared beneath her briefly at the masterpiece of intricate workmanship and a tear dropped onto the flawless metal. As he lifted the amulet up to place it around her neck the silence was suddenly broken by a loud cawing noise and a large, black bird swooped down and plucked the amulet from Montezuma’s fingers. The bird rose high in the air before swooping down again and dropping the amulet in front of the treasury door. The Emperor looked hard at the girl before turning and walking back to his seat. A servant hurriedly retrieved the amulet and at a nod from the Emperor replaced it around the royal neck. His idea was clearly not pleasing to the gods. The girl could die without decoration. He shaded his eyes from the sun with his hand then nodded at the Chief Priest, who resumed chanting before proceeding with his grisly work.
*
Friday, September 13, 1940