Red City on the Ocean

A Moment from the Past - Escape from Axayacatl

"The priests warned our old man Moctezuma, but how did he behave? He didn't listen to them. That's why our land was cursed. The teteo have punished us," said Axayacatl, weyitlatoani of Tenochtitlan. Tizok and Ahuitzotl, Axayacatl's brothers, whom he had invited to his palace today, listened attentively to him. "Remember how many people died from lack of food in the fields!" Axayacatl continued to raise his voice. "How many animals died first from drought and then from the cold? Texcoco waters first flooded Tenochtitlan and fish swam near Huey Teocalli, and then the water retreated very far, and the plantings in the chinampas dried up. All he had to do was to obey the priests and bring the people of the Mexihkah as a gift to the teteo, and not just simple slaves."

From the windows of the hall, one could see the tops of the pyramids of the great city. Tizok and Ahuitzotl, sitting on the skins spread out on the floor, did not move and, fixing their eyes on Axayacatl's face, listened attentively to him. They knew that it was better not to contradict their younger brother. Maybe he wasn't the cleverest, but the tlatoque of other cities loved him, and the priests talked about his proximity to the teteo. He did no wrong to his brothers; on the contrary, he often consulted with them, as he was now. His brothers just had to listen carefully and do what he said, for woe to him who incurred the wrath of Axayacatl! He was in a rage right now. He was about to grab his favorite translucent, blue obsidian dagger hanging from his belt and pounce. Even possibly on one of his brothers.

"So that's what I'm telling you. The curse of Tlaltecuitli, the teotl of the earth, may touch even me. The priests warned my grandfather that he should not keep this girl alive. She's cursed! She will spread her curse on all of our altepetl! She will bring new disasters to Tenochtitlan!"

"In that case, get rid of her," Tizok suggested. "Atotoztli has long been transformed into a bird flying across the sky and into the sun. No one can stop you."

"I thought the girl was living with Atotoztli," Axayacatl shouted, "but it has turned out that she hid her somewhere else. When Atotoztli went under the fifth earth, I forced her maid to answer my questions, and she told me where the girl was hidden. My jaguars have already rushed there. Believe me, I will give her to the teotl Tlaltecuitli myself when I find her!" With these words, Axayacatl grabbed his knife.

Chimalli had learned he would no longer receive funds for taking care of the girl from a maid from the weyitlatoani's palace. This maid regularly visited their small but cozy house in the city of Tlacopan, which was part of the Triple Alliance. Atotoztli had settled Anacaona and Chimalli in this city, connected to the island of Tenochtitlan by a bridge, in order to keep the girl closer to herself but, at the same time, away from Axayacatl. Anacaona wasn't to know she had a mother; that's what Atotoztli had decided.

The maid showed great courage when she ran to Chimalli and told him about Atotoztli's death. After all, mention of the death of a cihuatlatoani was forbidden outside the palace. The secret was kept in order to prepare for the transition of power from Moctezuma and Atotoztli to the new weyitlatoani. To do this, it was necessary to eliminate a lot of high-ranking officials, judges, and generally unnecessary witnesses who may prevent a smooth transition of power to the new supreme ruler. If they found out about the cihuatlatoani's death, they could escape before they were detained.

The next day, Chimalli and six-year-old Anacaona went to the forest as usual. There they collected fruits for the girl and medicinal herbs for the father's needs. As the little girl helped her father collect the medicinal herbs, she sniffed them and carefully put them in special rag pockets, but Chimalli could not stop thinking about Anacaona's future, whom he loved very much. Of course, he thought, now she would be taken to the palace and after that, would disappear from his life. A girl with the blood of weyitlatoani in her veins should never have lived the hard life of macehualtin.