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Authors: Simon Levack
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court of appeal trying to work out which of two depositions amounts to the bigger pack of lies, or deciding which parishâs turn it is to muck out the zoo. But I should be happy with that, shouldnât I? Because Iâm the great Tlacaelelâs son, and that should be enough for anybody!â He sighed. âI suppose it will have to be enough for me, now.â
âMy LordâI donât understand. Even if Shining Lightâs offering was one of the sorcerers, what was he to you? Why does it involve your father?â
âCanât you see, Yaotl? Itâs because of my father that the Emperor is afraid of me! Montezuma acts as if the gods themselves installed him on the throne, but they didnâtâthe chiefs elected him, just as they elected every Emperor before him. But he knows his throne is rightfully mine!â
The almost wheedling note in the Chief Ministerâs voice did not fool me. He had no need to justify himself to his own slave: what he was saying now was addressed to the Emperorâs spy.
I listened resignedly to a story I knew very well. When the aged Tlacaelel had declined the throne in favor of Montezumaâs uncle, Emperor Tizoc, he had stipulated that his own sons should inherit it on Tizocâs death. By the end of Tizocâs short reign, however, Tlacaelel himself had died, and his wishes were no longer of any account. The throne was given to Montezumaâs surviving uncle, Ahuitzotl, and on Ahuitzotlâs death old Black Feathers was again passed overâthis time in favor of Montezuma himself.
âMaybe Montezuma thinks heâs going to be poisoned, like Tizoc,â my master grumbled. âMaybe he thinks I had his sorcerers spirited out of the prison, to weaken him, or to cast some sort of spell on him, to sicken his heart with magic. Or maybe he doesnâtâmaybe he told me to look for them because he knew they could not be found, to humiliate me.â
âMy Lordâhe told me to look for them. I have to go to the
Cuauhcalco Prison. What do I do if he asks about my progress? I canât tell him youâve told me not to obey himâheâll have us both strangled!â
âThen youâd better do as he says. Whatever my cousin may have told you, I donât have those men. No matter: the Emperor will get them backâbut through me, and in my own good time, so that he knows I canât be trifled with. And that young merchant is going to be made to regret what he has done!â
My master leaned toward me then, planting his trembling bony hands on his knees.
âYou will find the sorcerers, Yaotl, and bring them to meâto me personally, do you understand? To me and no one elseânot even the Emperor! And before you get any clever ideas about running to Montezuma the moment you set eyes on them, just listen to this.
âI know Montezuma will have told you that when you catch up with the sorcerers youâre to take them straight to him because heâll have you strangled if you donât. So hear me now, slave: if I learn youâve been anywhere near the Emperor before those men are safely in my hands, Iâll have you flayed alive!â
9
I spent much of the night prowling around my masterâs courtyard, listening to the sounds made by a city stirring in its sleep: the conch-shell trumpet wailing at midnight, a distant answering call from a priest patrolling the cityâs bounds, the cry of some creature disturbed on the lake. From time to time the lads from one of the Houses of Youth would break into song, so that the sound would carry across the water and convince our neighbors that we Aztecs never slept.
Then the stars started to disappear, one by one, and the first drops of the winter rain began to fall around me. I went indoors, treading
softly to avoid disturbing my roomâs other occupant, and huddled on my sleeping mat with my cloak wrapped around me.
My mind would not
âMy LordâI donât understand. Even if Shining Lightâs offering was one of the sorcerers, what was he to you? Why does it involve your father?â
âCanât you see, Yaotl? Itâs because of my father that the Emperor is afraid of me! Montezuma acts as if the gods themselves installed him on the throne, but they didnâtâthe chiefs elected him, just as they elected every Emperor before him. But he knows his throne is rightfully mine!â
The almost wheedling note in the Chief Ministerâs voice did not fool me. He had no need to justify himself to his own slave: what he was saying now was addressed to the Emperorâs spy.
I listened resignedly to a story I knew very well. When the aged Tlacaelel had declined the throne in favor of Montezumaâs uncle, Emperor Tizoc, he had stipulated that his own sons should inherit it on Tizocâs death. By the end of Tizocâs short reign, however, Tlacaelel himself had died, and his wishes were no longer of any account. The throne was given to Montezumaâs surviving uncle, Ahuitzotl, and on Ahuitzotlâs death old Black Feathers was again passed overâthis time in favor of Montezuma himself.
âMaybe Montezuma thinks heâs going to be poisoned, like Tizoc,â my master grumbled. âMaybe he thinks I had his sorcerers spirited out of the prison, to weaken him, or to cast some sort of spell on him, to sicken his heart with magic. Or maybe he doesnâtâmaybe he told me to look for them because he knew they could not be found, to humiliate me.â
âMy Lordâhe told me to look for them. I have to go to the
Cuauhcalco Prison. What do I do if he asks about my progress? I canât tell him youâve told me not to obey himâheâll have us both strangled!â
âThen youâd better do as he says. Whatever my cousin may have told you, I donât have those men. No matter: the Emperor will get them backâbut through me, and in my own good time, so that he knows I canât be trifled with. And that young merchant is going to be made to regret what he has done!â
My master leaned toward me then, planting his trembling bony hands on his knees.
âYou will find the sorcerers, Yaotl, and bring them to meâto me personally, do you understand? To me and no one elseânot even the Emperor! And before you get any clever ideas about running to Montezuma the moment you set eyes on them, just listen to this.
âI know Montezuma will have told you that when you catch up with the sorcerers youâre to take them straight to him because heâll have you strangled if you donât. So hear me now, slave: if I learn youâve been anywhere near the Emperor before those men are safely in my hands, Iâll have you flayed alive!â
9
I spent much of the night prowling around my masterâs courtyard, listening to the sounds made by a city stirring in its sleep: the conch-shell trumpet wailing at midnight, a distant answering call from a priest patrolling the cityâs bounds, the cry of some creature disturbed on the lake. From time to time the lads from one of the Houses of Youth would break into song, so that the sound would carry across the water and convince our neighbors that we Aztecs never slept.
Then the stars started to disappear, one by one, and the first drops of the winter rain began to fall around me. I went indoors, treading
softly to avoid disturbing my roomâs other occupant, and huddled on my sleeping mat with my cloak wrapped around me.
My mind would not
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