Red City on the Ocean

Chapter 1. Arrival

It was the earliest hours of the morning, and a full moon shone over the calm, almost motionless sea. If someone had looked out to sea from the shore, he would have seen two boats approaching the shore along the luminescent path. It was so bright that even from afar you could see men aboard them. The silhouettes of these people were complemented by feathered headdresses adorning their heads.

The first boat came to the shore and a half-naked man jumped out of it. He wore a scarlet loincloth, and a huge headdress towered on his head. A necklace of many strands of precious stones and gold covered his shoulders and chest with a wide stripe.

Other half-naked people began to disembark behind him. The first man was Coatl, the leader of the foreigners. His clothes and jewelry were far more exquisite and rich, distinguishing him from the others. His companion, who jumped ashore after him, was Ocotlan. He was a man of enormous stature with imposing muscles.

Tupac landed third – the commander of the ten warriors who followed him ashore. Moonlight glittered on bracelets, chains, and precious stones set in gold, which adorned the figures of these people, who otherwise wore only loincloths and capes made of squares of painted leather that covered and protected their shoulders. The chest of each was decorated with tattoos and a necklace of gleaming gems and sharp fangs. All the warriors wore fancy helmets that resembled the heads of jaguars or eagles except Tupac. Their faces were painted half blue, and half red or yellow.

Coatl fell to his knees and touched the ground. Under his hand was a smooth flat stone that still retained the warmth of the day. Ocotlan did the same, "This land is made of stone!" he said, looking at Coatl.

Coatl did not answer. Feeling the ground, he raised his head. Where the shore ended the smooth ascent, there was a high sheer cliff of black stone about four times the height of a man. "The coast here is not at all like ours," Ocotlan continued, "This is an inhospitable land."

"The land of Huitzilopochtli must be hidden behind this wall," Coatl said. "The wall guards his world."

Meanwhile, the stars, whose solid carpet stretched over the heads of the wanderers, began to disappear. The sky above the wall was brightening, and the moon – Coatl looked around – was also beginning to lose its dazzling brilliance. "Huitzilopochtli is coming out now," Coatl whispered reverently, "Maybe we can get around this wall somewhere." He looked around. In the distance, the wall began to descend. "Follow me!" Coatl commanded and began to walk along the stone bank wall; the other foreigners followed.

Coatl was accompanied by an elite group of people from Aztlan, their homeland. They were the finest, bravest, most invincible warriors. They walked with a springy gait that may appear odd to others. The rubber used in the thick soles of their shoes was virtually unknown to the rest of the world. The rubber was made from extracts that were expertly worked by the masters of Tenochtitlan. These rubber soles not only protected their feet and made their gait noiseless, but also allowed them to make huge jumps. As they reached the end of the descending wall, Coatl climbed up and found himself on the edge of a cliff, under which a black expanse of cooled lava stretched out to the sea. Coatl's twelve companions jumped up before they reached the end of the wall so that all were standing on the edge of the cliff.

The first rays of the sun were already bursting over the horizon. An unknown land stretched out before their eyes. Even from afar, it was clear that intelligent beings were cultivating this land. Here and there it was covered with rectangular plots of different colors, just like in their homeland, where different crops were grown next to one another. In areas where the land was not cultivated, it was lined with winding paths. However, the smells of this land, its crops, and its forest, darkening in the distance, were completely different from the aroma of their native shores.