Their names had been Cuixtli and Ocelotepetl and Cozcatl, Tapachtli and Nextic and Miyahuatl. Dozens of others—no, hundreds—whose names were engraved forever on his heart. All dead. All dying in cages like animals choking on their own blood and raving with fever, because of his Emperor’s paranoia. They’d relied upon him, and he’d failed them. He won’t fail again.
“I will hold the way open for you,” Mihmatini had said.
“We never had this conversation,” Acatl had muttered.
Acamapichtli closes his eyes, remembers his clergy, and steps into the Emperor’s throne room. He doesn’t need to be a warrior or march at the head of an army. He just needs to kneel at Tizoc’s feet, draw his blade, and leave a single scratch before finding out whether Teomitl’s won all the guards over to his side or not.
Either way, the white-hilted knife of underworld obsidian will do its work.
Obsidian & Blood, Acamapichtli & Tizoc
Their names had been Cuixtli and Ocelotepetl and Cozcatl, Tapachtli and Nextic and Miyahuatl. Dozens of others—no, hundreds—whose names were engraved forever on his heart. All dead. All dying in cages like animals choking on their own blood and raving with fever, because of his Emperor’s paranoia. They’d relied upon him, and he’d failed them. He won’t fail again.
“I will hold the way open for you,” Mihmatini had said.
“We never had this conversation,” Acatl had muttered.
Acamapichtli closes his eyes, remembers his clergy, and steps into the Emperor’s throne room. He doesn’t need to be a warrior or march at the head of an army. He just needs to kneel at Tizoc’s feet, draw his blade, and leave a single scratch before finding out whether Teomitl’s won all the guards over to his side or not.
Either way, the white-hilted knife of underworld obsidian will do its work.