Aztec (1980)

Aztec is a 1980 historical fiction novel by American author Gary Jennings. It is the first of two novels Jennings wrote in the Aztec series, followed by Aztec Autumn, 1997. The remaining four novels (Aztec Blood, 2002; Aztec Rage, 2006; Aztec Fire, 2008; Aztec Revenge, 2012) were written by other authors after Jennings died in 1999.

Plot

In 1529, the Bishop of the See of New Spain, Juan de Zumárraga, receives a request from King Carlos of Spain to collect information regarding the indigenous population and their culture. The Bishop reluctantly employs Chicóme-Xochitl Tliléctic Mixtli ("Seven-Flower Dark Cloud"), an elderly Mexica man, for the task of narrating his biography to be transcribed by the monks of Mexico City and sent to Spain.

Born to ordinary parents on the island of Xaltocan in 1466, Mixtli describes the traditions, politics, and practices of the Triple Alliance. At the age of four, he accompanies his father, a stonemason, to Tenochtítlan to transport a sunstone for the central plaza. In his youth, Mixtli also engages in an incestuous sexual relationship with his sister Tzitzilíni. In school, Mixtli befriends Chimáli and Tlatli, who begin a sexual relationship of their own. At these schools, the boys are taught to fight and read, but Mixtli's eyesight hinders his progress. Upon the completion of his education, Mixtli receives an invitation from their governor Lord Red Heron to work in the palace of Nezahualpíli, the Uey-Tlatoáni of Texcóco as a scribe. There, he befriends his own slave Cozcatl. During his time there, he uncovers a conspiracy that leads to Tlatli's death, enraging Chimáli. Ahuítzotl completes the construction of the Great Pyramid and hopes to engage in a Flowery War with Texcóco to celebrate with human sacrifices.

Mixtli participates in this Flowery War, collecting enough prisoners of war to sacrifice to the sunstone. While Mixtli visits a menagerie and a collection of people with deformities, Chimáli emasculates Cozcatl as revenge. Mixtli earns from Ahuítzotl a career as a pochtécatl, travels through multiple regions, and returns with valuable goods to sell. At a celebration of the merchants' return, Mixtli learns from a "cocoa-bean man" (who had visited him long before, implied to be an old Aztec god) that Tzitzilíni was tortured and mutilated in his absence. In mourning, he flees Tenochtítlan to the village of the Cloud People who speak Zapotec. Mixtli invites Zyanya to a Huave village of cannibals to steal their stash of valuable purple dye. Zyanya and Mixtli fall in love and marry in Tenochtítlan, though present at the ceremony is Chimáli, now a member of Ahuítzotl's court. Enraged, Mixtli challenges him to a duel, which ends in Cozcatl removing Chimáli's eyes and tongue. Zyanya gives birth to their daughter Cocóton. During this time, Ahuítzotl unveils a new aqueduct in Tenochtítlan, but a flood levels the island and destroys people's homes. Though Mixtli's home is undamaged, Zyanya vanishes in the water, never seen again. In mourning, Mixtli leaves his daughter to Cozcatl and his wife while he wanders north, where he encounters a Rarámuri village under attack by Yaki bandits.

He returns to Tenochtítlan to find Ahuítzotl dead and the vainglorious Motecuzóma newly crowned, who assigns Mixtli to develop a town in Michihuácan territory with several settlers and priests. After they arrive, the priests brutally sacrifice Cocotón to Xipe Totec, and Mixtli orders his soldiers to rape and kill the settlers. Upon their return to Tenochtítlan, Mixtli marries Béu Ribé, Zyanya's estranged sister, only to immediately depart for the northern deserts to find the legendary Aztlan. He encounters Chichimeca nomads, who direct him to the area of Sinalobóla, where he finds a wasteland swamp inhabited by the Aztéca people. Mixtli teaches the tribal leader (tlatocapíli) about Tenochtítlan and negotiates a potential alliance with their own sunstone. Tired of his journeys, Mixtli heads home and stops at Teotihuácan, where he encounters Motecuzóma, who informs him of some mysterious omens from the southern Maya countries. There, Mixtli meets with a Xiu lord hosting two shipwrecked Spaniards who refuse to leave their chambers. After much prying, the Spaniards (Gonzalo Guerrero and Jerónimo de Aguilar) agree to explain their presence, having arrived from a Spanish colony in Cuba. At this time, Nezahualpíli dies, but his heir Black Flower is usurped when Nezahualpíli's other son and Motecuzóma's ally Cacáma assumes the throne in Texcóco.