Doctor Who: The Aztecs (7 page)

‘As dies my servant, so dies your High Priest of Sacrifice.’

Everyone froze. It was no idle threat and they all knew it, Tlotoxl included. He looked at Ixta and shook his head slowly, carefully. Ixta lowered the cudgel. ‘Now, both of you, put them to one side,’ Barbara ordered, still keeping the knife at Tlotoxl’s throat.

Ian dropped his cudgel and Ixta laid his on the ground. Tonila waddled over and picked them up, then gave them to the Perfect Victim who struck them over his head. ‘Neither of the Chosen Warriors may claim a victory,’ he announced.

Barbara came from behind Tlotoxl to face him but she still had the knife in her hand.

‘I did as you commanded. Now you must obey me.’ Tlotoxl closed his eyes.

‘My servants shall not be punished’

‘So be it,’ Tlotoxl replied almost inaudibly, as Ian slid to the ground and slept.

Several minutes later the High Priest of Sacrifice stood with Ixta in his quarters. The Chosen Warrior was suffering from pins and needles in his hand as his blood circulation was restored and his arm came gradually back to life.

‘With my hare hands I cannot defeat him,’ he admitted ruefully, but added that he was determined to command their armies.

‘So you shall,’ Tlotoxl spoke soothingly and opened his right hand. Lying in the palm was the cactus thorn which Tlotoxl had picked up from the ground.’Why did the old man give you this to win a victory?’

‘It was a trick,’ Ixta smiled. ‘He did not know the contest was with Ian and he promised to help me if I told him the secrets of my father’s father’s work.’

‘What secrets?’ Tlotoxl was intrigued.

‘How the tomb of Yetaxa maybe entered,’ Ixta flexed his arm, opening and closing his hand.

‘I must question him about it.’ Tlotoxl placed the thorn on the table.

‘He was at my mercy.’ Ixta was suddenly tense with frustration.

‘And shall be again,’ the High Priest promised before he limped away.

Barbara sat on the throne in the temple and looked down at the worried High Priest of Knowledge who stood in front of her.

‘Tlotoxl was humiliated. He will not forget, nor will he forgive,’ he warned her.

Barbara shrugged. ‘I did as he commanded.’

‘But not as he expected.’

‘What did he want, a miracle?’ She smiled at Autloc. ‘We all awaited one,’ he confessed.

Barbara stood and stepped down to the temple floor. ‘Why should I use divine powers when human ability will suffice?’ she asked sweetly.

Autloc could not resist a twitch of a grin. ‘Yetaxa has spoken,’ he tried to keep his tone of voice solemn. Barbara walked towards the terrace and the sacrificial altar. A few paces short of it, she stopped and turned back to face the High Priest. ‘Have you thought about my prophesy?’

‘On little else. And it is true that if we defy the will of the Gods we shall be destroyed.’

‘When Quetzecoatl reigned supreme as the Sun God was there human sacrifice?’

‘No, only after his banishment was blood demanded.’

‘By Huitzilipochtli, the dark God of the Sun.’ Barbara put her hand around the bracelet on her wrist. ‘What sacrifice did Quetzecoatl demand?’

‘A bird, a fish, a serpent, none other.’

‘Why should that have been?’

‘He so dearly loved his people he wished no harm to anyone,’ Autloc explained.

‘Is not a return of Quetzecoatl possible?’

‘Only a God can banish a God. We mortals can do nothing.’

‘And were Quetzecoatl to send you a messenger?’ Barbara took her hand off the bracelet.

Autloc glanced at it and looked away. ‘I serve Huitzilipochtli,’ he said quietly, ‘this is his temple.’

‘Then where must Quetzecoatl seek his servants?’ Autloc remained silent and Barbara shifted tack ‘When is to be the next sacrifice?’ she asked.

‘Three days from this day,’ Autloc replied, ‘the moon will pass before the sun when it is at its zenith and all will he in darkness.’

‘So there’s to be an eclipse and Tlotoxl will offer a human heart.’

‘The Perfect Victim’s.’

‘And the sun will shine again!’ Barbara stamped her sandalled foot angrily. ‘As the High Priest of Knowledge, you must know that the moon will pass across the sun and continue on its celestial voyage’

‘Unless Huitzilipochtli, the Sun God, the Supreme God, withdraws his favour from us.’ Autloc was adamant.

‘Am I not a God?’ Barbara heard herself say with a shock. There was no turning back for her now.’Support me, Autloc; she pleaded, ‘the High Priest of Sacrifice won’t dare defy us both.’

Autloc bent his head and touched his lips with the posy he held. A full minute passed in silence, then he raised his head and looked at Barbara. If you come as Quetzecoatl’s messenger and I take your course, there is no way back for me. So in all humility I entreat you not to deceive me nor prove false to me’

Barbara’s appearance remained serene but her heart ached and she was in mental anguish.

Tlotoxl sidled up to the Doctor, who was sitting disconsolately in the garden.

‘What manner of servant are you?’ the High Priest asked.

‘Oh, go away,’ the Doctor snapped, but Tlotoxl sat down beside him.

‘I am curious about you,’ he said. ‘First you try to secure a victory for Ixta.’

‘He cheated me,’ the Doctor replied hotly.

Tlotoxl looked sideways at the Doctor.

‘I am faithful to my friends,’ the Doctor insisted. ‘Yet you deceive Yetaxa.’

‘Not at all,’ the Doctor was indignant.

‘You are trying to enter the tomb without Yetaxa’s knowledge,’ the High Priest studied the edge of his obsidian knife. ‘What is it you want from there?’

‘What is it you want from me?’ the Doctor countered. ‘But one thing,’ Tlotoxl held up the knife, ‘proof that she is a false God.’

‘Then open the tomb.’

‘That cannot be achieved.’

‘Can’t it?’ the Doctor raised an eyebrow. ‘Talk to your Chosen Warrior. He has a drawing.’

Tlotoxl stared with glinting black eyes at the Doctor. ‘In whose service are you?’ he asked.

The Doctor took the knife from Tlotoxl and touched both edges with his thumb, then handed the weapon back to him. ‘In the service of truth; the Doctor replied, a touch pompously, ‘and if you help me, you’ll also find it.’

When Ian awoke he was lying on the straw mattress in the bedroom of his quarters, but he was not alone. Standing over him was a smiling Ixta with a short sword in his hand. Ian struggled to sit up so that he could, at least, try to defend himself.

‘Do not be afraid of me, Ian,’ Ixta laughed. ‘Now that I can defeat you openly, I have no need to destroy you in secret.’

‘Whatever it was you scratched me with, beat me,’ Ian mumbled and rubbed his temples with his fingers trying to clear the cobwebs from his brain.

‘Did you not say "use stealth, surprise your enemy"?’ Ixta was enjoying himself.

‘True,’ Ian admitted.

‘And did I not do those things?’ Ixta laughed again. Ian agreed that he had.

‘A thorn, the sap of a plant and Yetaxa’s aged servant,’ Ixta added.

Ian looked up sharply.‘The Doctor helped you?’ Ixta nodded and remarked that Ian’s friends made strange allies.

Ian stood up gingerly. ‘Did the Doctor know you were to fight me?’ he asked.

Ixta shook his head and admitted that he didn’t.

lan felt dizzy. ‘I need some fresh air.’ He staggered towards the living area and the door of his quarters. ‘Let me help you.’ Ixta took his arm.‘Now that I have proved I will be the victor, we can be friends. For the little time that is left to you to live,’ he added almost as an afterthought.

‘Oh, I’m going to die, am I?’ Ian’s voice expressed no surprise.

‘Yes, Ian’ Ixta sounded enthusiastic at the prospect. ‘Next time we fight, I shall not fail to kill you.’

‘It’s always worth knowing in advance,’ Ian remarked as he went into the courtyard and leaned against the wall beside the open door. He shut his eyes and breathed deeply several times. When he opened them, Tlotoxl and Tonila were crossing the courtyard.

‘I see your strength has been restored to you,’ Tlotoxl sneered.

‘Don’t tell me you’ve become my friend as well,’ Ian joked, and saw the flash of hatred in the High Priest’s eyes before Tlotoxl turned abruptly to Ixta.

‘I have need of the drawing,’ he said.

‘The one I promised to the aged servant?’ Ixta roared with laughter when Tlotoxl nodded. ‘It doesn’t exist. The secret of the tomb disappeared with my father.’ ‘But your father’s father must have set it down,’ Tlotoxl sounded anxious.

Ian listened to the conversation with great interest. ‘No. He told it to my father, who thought to do so. But one evening he went for a walk in the garden and was never seen again;

‘I recall his disappearance.’ Tlotoxl was brusque.

So that’s why the Doctor helped you, lan thought, he hoped to have a design plan of the tomb. Then another thought occurred to Ian’ neither Ixta nor Tlotoxl had used the word ‘died’ when they talked about his father. They had used the word ‘disappeared’, and Ixta had referred to the garden. This set Ian speculating.

Ignoring Ian, the High Priest of Sacrifice and Tonila took their leave of Ixta and limped and waddled towards the gate way to the courtyard.

Tlotoxl began to speak. ‘You are well versed in these matters, Tonila,’ Ian overheard him say, ‘so you shall help me to defeat the false..’ Then they were out of earshot, but Ian was convinced the sentence had ended ‘God Yetaxa’.

He was right and Tonila was outraged at Tlotoxl’s suggestion. ‘No, I cannot obey your bidding, I will not.’ He gesticulated wildly. ‘Destroy a God and we destroy ourselves.’

Tlotoxl pointed out that true Gods were immortal and that mere flesh and blood, as they both were, could not destroy them. Tonila looked at him warily and asked in what way Tlotoxl required his services.

‘Your knowledge of poisons.’

Tonila was horrified.

‘Such a test, a poisoned draught, would prove her divinity. If she dies, she is false; if she lives, then she is indeed the spirit of Yetaxa returned.’

Tonila’s throat dried as Tlotoxl looked at him slyly. ‘Would you deny yourself the honour — more, the glory — of witnessing a God proven before your eyes?’

Tonila ran his tongue around his mouth seeking saliva to ease his throat. He swallowed.‘I shall prepare a mixture,’ he said, ‘then you and I and Autloc shall test Yetaxa.’ ‘Autloc? I think not,’ Tlotoxl snapped.

‘Why not?’

Tlotoxl despised Tonila’s naivety, but his voice was quiet and reasonable as he argued that Autloc’s mind was set that Yetaxa was a true God and he would forbid the test. ‘No, you and I shall do this thing and for once the High Priest of Knowledge shall be in ignorance.’ He glanced at Tonila and almost managed a thin smile.

At the same time, the High Priest of Knowledge was basking in Cameca’s radiant smile as they walked along a path in the garden.

‘Such happiness, Cameca, outshines the sun,’ he remarked.

‘And with good fortune may outlast it,’ Cameea replied softly.

‘What brings you such joy?’

Cameca looked around the garden and saw the Doctor studying a carved coiled snake on one of the stones of the back wall of the garden. Cameca raised her hand and pointed to him. A small leather bag hung from a cord around her wrist. Autloc smiled.

‘I am grateful to Yetaxa’s aged servant,’ he said, and noticing the bag, asked if Cameca was carrying cocoa beans to barter with.

She shook her head. ‘I have already been to the market and bought food,’ she replied.

Autloc touched the bag. ‘Then these are to prepare a drink’

Cameca lowered her eyes. ‘Only the Gods may know,’ she replied coyly.

‘Ah,’ Autloc murmured, and observed that all mortals lived in hope.

‘He is a gentle companion and most dear to me,’ Cameca admitted.

‘Are these then for a love potion?’ Autloc asked in mock surprise.

‘That would be too bold,’ Cameca blushed, ‘rather should he show his love for me.’

‘You wish him to prepare it.’

‘Yes.’

Autloc looked from her to the Doctor and back to Cameca again. ‘May the Gods favour your desires,’ he said gently and walked away.

Cameca went over to the Doctor and greeted him. The Doctor half-replaced the bougainvillea over the carved stone and turned to face her. ‘My dear Cameca, how nice it is to see you again.’ He took her hand. ‘The garden is a lonely place without you.’

She glanced at the wall. ‘When one’s interest is held, loneliness does not exist’

The Doctor followed her eye-line to the carving partly hidden behind the flowered trellis. ‘I was looking at it — hadn’t noticed it before,’ he explained.

‘The coiled serpent of Yetaxa. In almost every building homage is paid to the High Priest with that symbol.’ Cameca drew aside the bougainvillea and snagged her bag on the trellis. As she pulled it free some of the cocoa beans fell onto the ground.

The Doctor began picking them up. ‘Cocoa beans,’ he exclaimed.

‘We use them for barter for our daily needs,’ Cameca replied.

‘What an excellent idea, a currency you can drink,’ the Doctor proclaimed. Delicious!’

‘Do you know our customs?’ Cameca asked timidly as the Doctor dropped the beans one by one back into her bag.

‘Why, yes, my dear, of course,’ the Doctor replied, looking about him to make sure he hadn’t overlooked a bean.

‘The drinking of cocoa has its own very special meaning,’ Cameca ventured and the Doctor wholeheartedly agreed with her.

‘It’s a rare delight and we shall take a cup together.’ ‘Are you certain?’

The Doctor missed her shyness. ‘Yes, yes, quite,’ he replied, ‘now give me the beans and I’ll go to the kitchen and brew some up.’

‘You insist?’ Cameca was hesitant.

‘I do. I insist as a token of my esteem.’

Cameca’s face lit up as she gave the Doctor the bag of beans. ‘The Gods are smiling favour through your eyes, may it always be so,’ she said. ‘My dear Doctor, I accept with all my heart’

‘Now, don’t go away, my dear,’ the Doctor cautioned her, ‘I’ll be back.’

Clutching the bag of cocoa beans, he marched off to the small kitchen in one corner of the garden where the old people could take a drink of cool fresh water, or prepare a corn pancake with honey, or a goblet of hot cocoa, over the wood fire. The Doctor found the mortar and pestle, and ground sufficient beans for two goblets. He sang quietly to himself. It had been a long time since he had drunk cocoa and he was looking forward to it. He put the powder equally into the two goblets, added hot water, and sweetened them both with honey.