Aztec Autumn

'Do the people know of Yeyac's treacherous pact with the Spanish governor?'

'Very few know of it. Not even the elders of the Speaking Council. It is known only to us of Yeyac's personal guard, and those loyal troops of whom I spoke. And his closest, best-trusted adviser, a certain person newcome to these parts. But the people have accepted Yeyac's rule, if only grudgingly, because he claimed that he, and he only, could prevent an invasion of the white men. That, he has done. No resident of Aztlan has yet seen a Spaniard. Or a horse,' the man added, glancing at mine.

'Meaning,' I mused, 'that Yeyac's keeping the Spanish free of molestation gives them time to increase their forces and weaponry unimpeded, until they are ready to come. Which they will. But wait—you spoke of a certain person giving advice to Yeyac. Who would that be?'

'Did I say a person, my lord? I should have said a woman.'

'A woman?! Your late companion just now made it plain that Yeyac had no use for women in any capacity, even as victims.'

'And this one has no use for men, I gather, though a man who favors women would probably find her most comely and personable. But she is truly sagacious in the arts of governing and strategy and expediency. That is why Yeyac willingly gave ear to her every counsel. It was at her urging that he originally made embassy to the Spanish governor. When we got word of your approach, I daresay she would have come with us to intercept you, except that she has charge of keeping your cousin Ameyatl in close confinement.'

'Let me hazard a conjecture,' I said grimly. 'This clever female's name is G'nda Ke.'

'It is,' said the man, surprised. 'You have heard of her, my lord? Is the lady's reputation for sagacity as well known abroad as it now is in Aztlan?'

I growled, 'She has a reputation, I will say that much.'

The storm was gone, and most of the clouds, so the day was lightened by Tonatiu's serenely settling into the west, and I recognized where we were. The first scattered habitations and tilled lands of Aztlan's outskirts would soon be in sight. I beckoned for Pakapeti to bring her horse alongside mine.

'Before dark, my dear, you will be in the last remaining bastion of what was once the Azteca dominion. A lesser but still proud and flourishing Tenochtitlan. I hope you will find it to your liking.'

Curiously, she said nothing, only looked not at all anticipatory. I asked, 'Why so downcast, dear Tiptoe?'

She said, sounding extremely peeved, 'You could have let me kill at least one of those three men.'

I sighed. It seemed that Pakapeti was becoming as unwomanly a woman as that terrible G'nda Ke. I turned again to the warrior at my right stirrup and asked, 'What is your name, man?'

'I am called Nocheztli, my lord.'

'Very well, Nocheztli. I want you to walk ahead of this train as we enter the city. I expect the populace will be coming out-of-doors to gaze upon us. You are to announce, loudly, over and over, that Yeyac has—deservedly— been struck dead by the gods who finally wearied of his treacheries. And that I, Tenamaxtzin, the legitimate successor, am arriving to take residence in the city palace as Aztlan's new Uey-Tecutli.'

'I will do that, Tenamaxtzin. I have a voice that can bawl almost as loudly as Tlaloc's.'

'Another thing, Nocheztli. As soon as I get to the palace, I shall doff this alien costume and don the proper regalia. While I am doing that, I want you to assemble Aztlan's entire army in the city's central square.'

'My lord, I am only a tequiua in rank. I have not enough authority to order—'

'I here and now endow you with that authority. In any case, your fellows will probably assemble simply out of curiosity. I want every warrior there in the square, Azteca and Mexica, not only those who are professional men at arms, but also every able-bodied male of every other trade and profession who has been trained for combat and is subject to conscription in time of war. See to it, Nocheztli!'

'Er... excuse me, Tenamaxtzin, but some of those warriors lately loyal to Yeyac may well take to the hills at the news of their master's demise.'

'We will hunt them down at our leisure. Just be sure you do not disappear, Nocheztli, or you will be the first hunted, and the manner of your execution will be a subject for legend forever after. I have learned things from the Spaniards that would horrify even the most vicious gods of punishment. I kiss the earth to that.'

The man gulped audibly and said, 'I am and will be yours to command, Tenamaxtzin.'

'Good. Remain so, and you may yet live to die of old age. Once the army is assembled, you will go among the men and mark for me every one, of highest rank or lowest, who joined Yeyac in his groveling to the Spaniards. Later, we shall do the same with the rest of Aztlan's citizenry. You will mark for me every man and woman— respected elder or priest or meanest slave—who has ever in the least collaborated with Yeyac or been the beneficiary of his patronage.'

'Excuse me again, my lord, but chief among those would be the woman G'nda Ke, who is right now in residence at the palace you intend to occupy. She guards the chamber allotted to the captive Lady Ameyatl.'

'I know well enough how to deal with that creature,' I said. 'You find the others for me. But now—here are the first huts of outer Aztlan, and the people are emerging to get a look at us. Move to the fore, Nocheztli, and do as I bade you.'

Somewhat to my surprise—he being a cuilontli and presumably effeminate in nature—Nocheztli could bellow like the male animal the Spanish call a toro. And he bellowed what I had told him to say, and he did so again and again, and the eyes and mouths of the watching people gaped wide. Many of those folk fell in behind our little train, so Nocheztli and I and Pakapeti were leading quite a procession by the time we got to the paved streets of the city proper at nightfall—and we had a veritable throng behind us as we crossed the torch-lit central square to the wall-enclosed palace.

At either side of the wall's broad, open portal stood a warrior guardsman, wearing full quilted armor and the fanged fur helmet of the knightly Jaguar order, each man armed with maquahuitl sword, belt knife and long spear. According to custom, they should have crossed those spears to bar our entry until our business was made known. But these two men merely gawked at us curiously garbed strangers, our strange animals and the hordes of people filling the square. They were understandably uncertain what to do in these circumstances.

I leaned around my horse's neck to inquire of Nocheztli, 'These two, were they Yeyac's men?'

'Yes, my lord.'

'Kill them.'

The two knights stood unresisting, but bravely unflinching, as Nocheztli wielded his own obsidian sword— slashing left, then right—and felled them like so much peskily obstructive underbrush. The crowd behind us gave a concerted gasp, and moved back a step or two.

'Now, Nocheztli,' I said, 'summon a few strong men from this mob and dispose of these carrion.' I indicated the fallen guards and Yeyac's body, still draped across one of the packhorses. 'Next, bid the crowd disperse, on pain of my displeasure. Then do as I commanded—assemble the army in this square to await my inspection, as soon as I am formally attired in gold and gems and plumage as their chief commander.'

When the cadavers had been removed, I beckoned for Pakapeti to follow, and without dismounting—our other two horses at trail—we rode like conquerors, arrogantly, into the courtyard of the splendid palace of the Revered Governor of Aztlan, henceforward the palace of the Uey-Tecutli Teotl-Tenamaxtzin. Myself.

XVIII

Under torches bracketed around the courtyard wall's interior, a number of field slaves were still at work at that late hour, tending the many flowering shrubs set in immense stone urns all about. As Pakapeti and I dismounted, we gave the reins of our four horses to a couple of those men. Their eyes bulging, the slaves accepted the reins gingerly and fearfully, and held them at arm's length.

'Be not afraid,' I told the men. 'The beasts are gentle. Only bring them ample water and shelled maize, then stay with them until I give you further instructions in their care.'

Tiptoe and I went to the palace building's main door, but it opened before we got there. The Yaki woman G'nda Ke flung it wide and gestured for us to enter, as brazenly as if she had been the palace's official mistress or hostess, welcoming guests who had come at her invitation. She no longer wore rough garments suited to the outdoors and her wandering way of life, but was splendidly arrayed. She had also lavished cosmetics on her face, possibly to conceal the freckles that marred her complexion. Anyway, she was handsome to behold. Even the