Chapter 1\u00a0 \u00a0The couple<\/p>\n
War was in the air.
\nI could smell it even when my husband made love to me.\u00a0 He was a good lover and I loved him dearly.\u00a0 He hunted and helped to tend the field, for our numbers were not as great as my former people, the Aztecs, once an ally of my husband\u2019s tribe, now their arch enemies.\u00a0 Even when I came from the other side, he did not discard me, nor turn me over to the high priests of the tribe to be sacrificed or executed, as some of the other husbands with Aztec wives had done.\u00a0 Instead, he had taught me many things taught him by the elders drawing from the wisdom of his many generations of ancestors.\u00a0 He even taught me how to use a bow and to fight with clubs though I always lost when it came to hand-to-hand fighting.\u00a0 My strength was weak compared to his.
\nIf there would be war, he would have to fight as a warrior.\u00a0 And I would go with him.\u00a0 I could not imagine how I could slay my former people.\u00a0 What should I do if I found myself facing Quahtiatoa, my elder brother, or my beloved Tangaxoan, two years my junior?\u00a0 Could I kill them in cold blood even if I prevail?\u00a0 But I could not have prevailed, unless it was done with an arrow fitted with an obsidian tip.\u00a0 Then, I would fall at their hands, and allowed myself be skinned.\u00a0 I closed my eyes and was imagining my two brothers cutting me open and peeling my skin off, just as Cocijo-eza made another thrust with his loins.\u00a0 I moaned.
\n\u201cLook at me!\u00a0 Look at me! Xochiyohua!\u201d my husband demanded.
\nI opened my eyes and focused on his broad chest.\u00a0 Sweat was trickling down his skin and flowed all the way towards the point where our bodies joined.\u00a0 \u00a0His hard nipples moved closer and then drew back with his every up and down movement.\u00a0 I found it hypnotizing, very like the effect after chewing the dried leaves the medicine man frequently gave us. Cocijo-eza was close to his heavens now, I could see that.\u00a0 Both his hands were cupping my tits; my nipples had become hard.\u00a0 I wanted him to suck me so much but I did not say anything.\u00a0 To be told how to make love could be taken as humiliating to a man\u2019s pride. I wished he understood me better though I always wanted to copulate with him.\u00a0 I could still remember my first night with him.\u00a0 I was one of those given as presents after the alliance was sealed.\u00a0 I had come from a noble warrior family in Tenochtitlan, and hence was matched with a member of the royal house of the Zapotec people.\u00a0 Zapotec was a name we Aztecs called them.\u00a0 They called themselves Ben-Zoa, or the Cloud People.\u00a0 That was three years ago.<\/p>\n
Things had changed.\u00a0 From allies we had turned on each other towards war.\u00a0 To my former people, it was a flower-war for honor and sacrificial victims, so that the sun could continue its daily climb and to fight the war against the moon and stars.\u00a0 To the people I lived with now, it was survival.<\/p>\n
He was forcing my legs to open wider, to accept him and let him plant his seeds, not that we hoped to bear him his offspring.\u00a0 I had been pronounced as childless soon after I wed him by the medicine man.\u00a0 Instead, his concubines had borne him three sons and a daughter.\u00a0 That was the reason why he agreed for me to accompany him into battle, to die or be sacrificed along his side.\u00a0 I obliged and arched my back so that my breasts could be brought closer to his mouth.\u00a0 He took the hint now and sank his mouth onto the rosy nipples one by one.\u00a0 Again, I moaned, this time out of genuine pleasure.<\/p>\n
He was pleased and intensified his thrusts.\u00a0 I bent back and guided his hands to roam over my sweat-covered nakedness. And then it came, flooding over my entire body and every inch of it shuddered.\u00a0 Cocijo-eza gave a loud shout and grabbed my raven black hair and pulled me towards him.\u00a0 I groaned at the pain but was immediately liberated by the joy.<\/p>\n
He fell upon my body, both of us panting.\u00a0 It was the best love-making I had in my life.\u00a0 Now, I am ready to die.<\/p>\n
Chapter 2\u00a0 \u00a0The Battle<\/p>\n
We were drawn up in two lines of around a thousand men each.\u00a0 I should say a thousand men and women as some wives and daughters had swelled our ranks to make up for the inferior number.\u00a0 I was standing behind my husband, wearing a loin-cloth of sheer cotton and a vest made decorated with agate, lapis and topaz. covered my breasts.\u00a0 I had a headband of red pheasant feathers mixed with those from a fighting cock.\u00a0 Cocijo-eza had given me a belt studded with turquoise.\u00a0 A short obsidian dagger hanged at my left.\u00a0 This was more ceremonial than of practical use though.\u00a0 I knew I had to rely on my bow and arrows to protect the honor of my husband.<\/p>\n
Cocijo-eza and his brothers were dressed in their best.\u00a0 Tall pheasant feathers rose proudly among eagles\u2019 downs. There was gold lining on their belts and vests.\u00a0 The shields were magnificently painted with jaguars and eagles.\u00a0 The Zapotecs were of a proud breed.<\/p>\n
But once compared with the Aztec hordes, our men were outshone as if the moon by the glorious sun.\u00a0 Their warriors were covered with a close vest of quilted cotton. Although almost impenetrable the garment was very light. The wealthier chiefs often wore a thin layer of gold or silver instead of the vests. Covering this inner layer was a coat of extravagant feathers. Wooden helmets, made to look like the heads of animals, protected the skulls. The shields were made of woven reeds with feathers lining the rim. On the cover of some shields there were figures of some animals that represented different strengths. The exposed part of their bodies was painted in fiery colors.<\/p>\n
The medicine men from both sides began their chants.<\/p>\n
The aid of gods and goddesses were evoked to bring victory.\u00a0 The promises of spoils in the form of gold and captives were promised to excite warriors to brave deeds.
\nDust was kicked up by stamping feet and the beating of clubs on shields.\u00a0 I could feel my heart-beats rose with eagerness, and silent fear.<\/p>\n
Then, it came.<\/p>\n
The Aztec mass charged towards our lines; a wall of blinding colors and swaying headdresses.\u00a0 I took aim and let go an arrow and saw a young warrior sink to his knees.\u00a0 I heard the cheers from those around me.\u00a0 More arrows sang and more men fell. And then the wave broke against our wall of shields.<\/p>\n
Our lines held firm.\u00a0 Aztec clubs fell onto the shields and despite causing a few casualties, failed to break our lines.\u00a0 Encouraged, our king raised his club and ordered a full counter-attack!<\/p>\n
\u201cNo!\u201d I shouted.\u00a0 I knew too well the Aztec warriors could not be so easily vanquished.\u00a0 \u201cA trap!\u201d<\/p>\n
But it was too late.\u00a0 Our young warriors, eager for victory and spoils, surged forward.\u00a0 The solid lines melted into streams of pursuing boys.\u00a0 I knew all were lost.\u00a0 But there was no choice.\u00a0 My husband had charged with the rest and I had to follow even now I knew the cost.<\/p>\n
They sprang their trap so fast that before anyone knew what had happened, the battle turned into a slaughter.\u00a0 Atzi, another childless Azti concubine beside me, screamed as an obsidian arrowhead found its way into her breast.\u00a0 She arched back and fell, her headdress tumbling from her head.\u00a0 More and more men and women fell.\u00a0 Our lines were in total confusion and some began to fell back, only to be cut off by the merciless enemy.\u00a0 I saw an Aztec petty-chief stood over Azti who was now twisting in agony on the ground. He ripped the vest from her, making her naked.\u00a0 When he saw that she was beyond being made a slave or a sacrificial victim, clubbed out her brain.\u00a0 I released arrow after arrow.\u00a0 Men fell.\u00a0 But my supply of arrows was also depleted.\u00a0 I wheeled with the crowd.\u00a0 There was no use for the bow now and I dropped it and pulled out the dagger, uncertain whether to fight or to kill myself with it.\u00a0 I saw our men being either clubbed to death, or captured and tied and hurled to one side: a fruit harvest for the pyramids later.\u00a0 I could no longer find Cocijo-eza.\u00a0 Was he dead?\u00a0 Had he fled to safety?\u00a0 Suddenly I found myself standing in front of a face I knew: Huixtochuat, my elder sister!\u00a0 She was magnificent in her battle dress.\u00a0 Obviously she had not joined the army because of its lack of number.\u00a0 Glory or death!<\/p>\n
She recognized me too and swallowed hard.\u00a0 Both of us knew what was expected of us.\u00a0 Amid all the slaughter and confusion, we approached each other for the kill.\u00a0 Hutztochuat fought well.\u00a0 I lost my small round shield and my vest, my chest was bare and there was sweat all over my naked skin.\u00a0 \u201cPlease, kill me now, sister\u2026\u201dI prayed.\u00a0 She charged but then the gods smiled on me.\u00a0 Her left foot stepped on the blood of Azti and slipped and I sank my blade into her side…<\/p>\n
\u201cArgh\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHutztochuat, I am sorry. I am sorry.\u201d I held her limp body.\u00a0 She was still breathing but only barely.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you, Xochiyohua.\u00a0 Thank you for giving me a warrior\u2019s death. \u201cShe was panting for air.\u00a0 \u201cNow I will not go to the underworld, not the darkness and oblivion, but to join the ranks of the Sun God and fight along his side\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHuixtochihuat\u2026\u201d I held her close, oblivious to the chance of being slain at any moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinish me off, sister. \u201c she pleaded.<\/p>\n
I looked into her eyes.\u00a0 Then, I cut open her vest and exposed her proud tits.\u00a0 I kissed them, one by one and she arched back to offer the opening to her heart.<\/p>\n
I plunged my dagger into her left breast.\u00a0 Her body stiffened as I drew the blade down, cutting across the ribs.\u00a0 Blood oozed out of her tender mouth, her eyes grew misty.\u00a0 I quickened my hands and finally reached her blobbing heart.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes!\u201d She murmured.<\/p>\n
And I pulled her heart out!<\/p>\n
Her body jerked one more time and then she was still.<\/p>\n
I looked at the heart in my hand, the heart of my sister who had rocked me to sleep when I was small.\u00a0 I wept and did not finch when strong hands grabbed the end of my black hair.\u00a0 I knew someone was to club out my brain.\u00a0 I no longer cared.\u00a0 I let go and arched back so that he could see my face when he was to kill me.\u00a0 Then our eyes locked.\u00a0 It was Tangaxoan, my brother!<\/p>\n
Chapter 3\u00a0 \u00a0 The Sacrifice<\/p>\n
We were kept in captivity for three days.\u00a0 More than a quarter of our men had been slain or captured.\u00a0 There were altogether five female prisoners.\u00a0 While our fates were being decided, the Aztec warriors who had fought most bravely used our bodies to drain their lust.\u00a0 I was taken by five men in turn, one of them being Tangaxoan.\u00a0 To him, I was more a captured woman than a sister.\u00a0 Besides, he had seen me kill Huixtochihuat and was set on vengeance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is Quahtiatoa?\u201d I asked him after he was finished with me.<\/p>\n
\u201cNegotiating.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNegotiating?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes. Negotiating for your surrender, with your husband.\u201d He hissed.<\/p>\n
My eyes went wide open.\u00a0 So, Cocijo-eza was alive!<\/p>\n
I could not decide if it was tiding of joy or sorrow for me.\u00a0 So, I wrapped the blanket given to me to cover my shameful body and hid my face.<\/p>\n
After three days, peace was concluded.\u00a0 The Zapotecs would send two of their most beautiful princesses to become concubines to the Aztec emperor.\u00a0 Cocijo-eza, my husband, was to marry an Aztec princess as a symbol of friendship between the two peoples.<\/p>\n
Half of the men would be released.\u00a0 The other half would be sacrificed, befitting fate for warriors.<\/p>\n
All the women, including me, were to die.<\/p>\n
I accepted my fate without a murmur.<\/p>\n
Only I and one other young girl were to be sacrificed on the top of the pyramid at dawn.\u00a0 Only the best would be offered there.\u00a0 The others would be sent to the back of the smaller temples where a ritual dance would be performed by them.\u00a0 When they reached the zenith of ecstasy, their heads would be cut off.<\/p>\n
They bathed us and rubbed oil onto our skins.\u00a0 The other girl was a Mayan princess but since I could not speak her tongue, I did not know her name.\u00a0 Nor did it matter.<\/p>\n
After the cleansing, we were dressed up for the long climb to the top.\u00a0 I was robed in vest of sheer gold threads and a white loin cloth that was nearly translucent so that my long tapered legs could be seen; a headgear of long white feathers graced my head. A ceremonial shield was attached to my left arm while my hands were perfumed.\u00a0 The Mayan girl was similarly decorated with the exception that her headgear was of yellow and black feathers.<\/p>\n
From the windows of our cells, we could see the long line of sentenced warriors lining up the long flight of stairs to the top.\u00a0 The bright red feathers of the High Priests could be seen even from this long distance.\u00a0 And now and then a mighty roar would rise as another heart was plucked, followed by a naked body rolling down the carved way down to the bottom where Aztec women made ready with stone knives to cut off limbs to serve on their dinner plates.<\/p>\n
We would soon share the same fate.<\/p>\n
The Mayan girl was trembling.\u00a0 I held her close and kissed her tenderly on the neck.<\/p>\n
\u201cFear not.\u00a0 I will be behind you.\u201d\u00a0 I whispered.<\/p>\n
I was not certain she understood.\u00a0 But soon, she turned towards me and our lips sealed.\u00a0 When we parted, she was no longer trembling.<\/p>\n
Tangaxoan and one other warrior walked in and pointed at the entrance.\u00a0 It was time to go.<\/p>\n
We went out, and were marched up for slaughter.<\/p>\n
Another cheer!\u00a0 The body of a slain warrior without his heart rolled past us to its ultimate end.\u00a0 I felt sweat all over my body.\u00a0 I knew I was frightened.\u00a0 But I also felt an immense joy!<\/p>\n
We were closer now.\u00a0 The people at the bottom of the structure seemed so minute.\u00a0 It would be a long, steep roll.<\/p>\n
The High Priest was waiting.\u00a0 I knew him: Quahtiatoa!<\/p>\n
I never knew my own brother had climbed so high up the social ladder.<\/p>\n
It did not matter anyway.<\/p>\n
The Mayan girl would go first.\u00a0 ,Her headdress was removed and then her vest was taken off.\u00a0 Her breasts sprang free.\u00a0 They stretched out her limbs and placed her on the altar stone, dyed red from previous blood-letting.<\/p>\n
Somebody offered a cup with green fluid inside.\u00a0 I knew it was a kind of drug to lessen her pain.\u00a0 She swallowed some and gulped.\u00a0 Then, her limbs were held firmly.\u00a0 Quahtiatoa raised his obsidian dagger high into the air with one hand and chanted.\u00a0 The Mayan girl was moving her head left and right, her black hair sweeping the end of the altar with little gasps.<\/p>\n
Then, the blade plunged down into her chest and made an ugly cut.\u00a0 She screamed once and then with wide open eyes, watched my brother sliced open her tits and carved out her heart!<\/p>\n
\u201cGlory!\u201d Quahtiatoa shouted as his assistants turned the body of the dead girl over and rolled it down the sliding way to the bottom.<\/p>\n
I could see the trail of the crimson blood.<\/p>\n
Once it reached the bottom, a priest cut off her head first.\u00a0 It was then raced to another smaller temple where it would join the rack of skulls later, to be displayed at festivals and major sacrifices.\u00a0 Mine would join hers later, at its side.<\/p>\n
Now, it was my turn.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, I saw Quahtiatoa taking a step back and someone took over.\u00a0 It was Tangaxoan.\u00a0 My heart leapt with joy.<\/p>\n
I embraced the last few seconds of my freedom.\u00a0 Tangaxoan personally snatched away my vest and exposed my breasts while another young warrior removed my headgear.\u00a0 I voluntarily stretched out my arms so that they could grab my limbs and carry me over their shoulders horizontally and place me onto the sticky sacrificial slab.<\/p>\n
He then jerked away my loincloth.\u00a0 I was now totally naked.\u00a0 I could see the rise and fall of my own tits, the nipples dancing in the glittering sunlight.\u00a0 My long hair was arranged to hang over the end of the altar and a light mountain wind was carrying it along.<\/p>\n
I was so glad it was to be him, instead of Quahtiatoa, or others.\u00a0 Now, I could see him as my final lover.<\/p>\n
The rest happened quickly.<\/p>\n
Tangaxoan used one hand to explore my breasts to find the right spot and then I felt the coldness of the blade as it sank into my chest.<\/p>\n
Pain!\u00a0 Oh, what pain!<\/p>\n
I moaned and raised my chest to meet it, to let the blade cut deeper, to be cut open, to be destroyed\u2026.I could feel the blade gliding down towards my abdomen, I could hear my rib cage being cracked, I could taste the sticky warmth of my blood over my skin and out of my mouth\u2026I could feel my heart, still pounding, being held and pulled\u2026.<\/p>\n
Then it was off me\u2026.strange\u2026.why could I still see\u2026or feel\u2026..was it possible to remain conscious after one lost her heart?\u00a0 I wanted to see it in my brother\u2019s hands as he raised it towards the sky to the Sun God<\/p>\n
There it was…my heart\u2026.my life\u2026.and I am so happy\u2026..<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmighty Sun accepts your sacrifice\u2026.Xochiyohua! Daughter of the Aztecs.\u201d My brother chanted\u2026<\/p>\n
I felt my body being lifted, turned over and then the long roll all the way down to the bottom\u2026.I could see the waiting faces, the ready stone knives\u2026.<\/p>\n
Good\u2026..cut\u2014me\u2014up!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
She knew when she came over from the Aztecs she might have to fight her own people. But what would she do if she faced a former sister or brother in battle? And what would happen to her if she was captured? Continue reading