Aztec Rage

AZTEC RAGE

Forge Books by Gary Jennings

Aztec
Aztec Autumn
Aztec Blood
Aztec Rage
Spangle

Visit Gary Jennings at
www.garyjennings.net
.

GARY JENNINGS'

ROBERT GLEASON
AND
JUNIUS PODRUG

 

 

 

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.

AZTEC RAGE

Copyright © 2006 by Eugene Winick, Executor, Estate of Gary Jennings

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010

www.tor.com

Forge
^®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jennings, Gary.
        Aztec rage / Gary Jennings, Robert Gleason, and Junius Podrug.—1st ed.
             p. cm.
        “A Tom Doherty Associates book.”
        ISBN-13: 978-0-765-31014-9
        ISBN-10: 0-765-31014-7
        1. Aztecs—Fiction. 2. Mexico—History—Spanish colony, 1540–1810—Fiction.
  I. Title.

PS3560.E518 A997   2006
813′.54—dc22

                                                                          2006040187

First Edition: May 2006

Printed in the United States of America

0  9  8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1

For Joyce Servis

Many people helped bring this book to fruition. We particularly want to thank Maribel Baltazar-Gutierrez, Eric Raab, Brenda Goldberg, Elizabeth Winick, and Hildegarde Krische.

Information about historical places and events was generously provided by curators in museums and sites of antiquity in Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende, Dolores Hidalgo, Teotihuacán, Chichen Itza, and other places in Mexico.

We are also grateful for the assistance of José Luis Rodriguez, Dr. Arturo Barrera, Charles and Susan Easter, and Julio Hernandez.

The most memorable aspect of any battle—and, having now experienced many of them, I can say this with authority—is its dizzying commotion and confusion. But of this one, my first major engagement with the enemy, I do retain a few memories more distinct.

—From the War Narrative of Tenamáxti,

leader of the Aztec rebellion in 1541

(as related in
Aztec Autumn
by Gary Jennings)

AZTEC RAGE

ONE

Mountains Where the Cougars Lurk, 1541

I
WATCHED MYSELF
die
.

My nightmare took life as invaders emerged from the fog like
fantasmas
, ghosts in the mist, dark figures on great beasts, menacing as shadow gods risen from Mictlán, the Dark Place. I lay in the brush and trembled, my heart pounding, my throat aching for water, the ground shaking under me as powerful hooves pounded in advance of a thousand human feet. My spear was tipped with an obsidian point, but it would fare poorly against the charge of a warhorse wearing the thick leather guard called a Cortés shield.

We set up the ambush in the rocky, mountainous terrain of Nochistian, waiting for the Spaniards and their traitorous
indio
allies to fall into the trap. As the fog settled, the enemy had come forth. Now I had a choice: to stay hidden and let my
compañeros
fight and die without me or to gather my courage and rise and fight an armored Spaniard riding a powerful warhorse.

As I pondered the decision, the dark vision came to me again:
fight and die
. I saw a violent clash, my life blood escaping, my sin-blackened soul being pulled down to hell by clawed hands.