Feathered Serpent by Colin Falconer Read Free Book Online

Person’s; his chest and belly and thighs are covered in curly golden hairs, finer than his beard. I am relieved that Rain Flower’s most macabre predictions are incorrect; his maquauhuitl does not have claws. But it is very large when it is swollen like this; perhaps because the Spaniards themselves are so big ...
    There is a smell about him I do not like, but then the gods and their consorts are not known for the beauty of their aromas. I try to ignore it, as I do when I am in the temple.
    My violet-eyed god takes his time, something Tiger Lip Plug had never done. He couples with me face to face, and not from behind, as I am accustomed to. After the first moments of stretching there is no real physical sensation. I am too frightened and overwhelmed by his presence to feel anything.
    Very soon I feel him shudder and spill his seed inside me. From this moment I know my existence on this earth has changed irrevocably; the river of my life has ceased its gentle meandering and is now crashing headlong over cliffs towards the ocean, the ocean that brought Feathered Serpent.
     
     
Chapter Nine
     
    Tenochtitlán
     
    The three men crawled across the room on their hands and knees. They were barefoot and wore simple white loincloths.
    “Lord, my Lord, my Great Lord,” one of them murmured in a shrill voice.
    Motecuhzoma received them in his full splendour. His carmine cloak was made of coyote fur and quetzal feathers and had been embroidered with a border pattern of geometric eyes. A gold lip ornament in the shape of an eagle glinted on his lower lip, and earrings of turquoise glittered in his ears.
    He regarded the men in front of him with distaste, then turned and whispered something to his prime minister, Woman Snake.
    “Revered Speaker wishes to know what it is that brings you here to his palace.”
    There was a moment as the three fishermen waited, each hoping that one of his comrades would be the first to speak. Finally the eldest of them said: “We come from the village of Coatzacoalcos in Tehuantepec. Just four days ago, gigantic canoes without paddles appeared in our bay. They carried the wind with them, wrapped in cloth bundles, and bore great banners emblazoned with crosses of scarlet! The next day we saw creatures with thick beards and helmets of gold that gleamed in the sun. They came ashore and asked for fresh water and food. We gave them all we had, some turkeys and some maize. They stayed for two sunsets then sailed away again on their canoes towards the lands of the east.”
    Motecuhzoma’s expression would doubtless have terrified the three fishermen if they had dared look up at his face, but they were forbidden under pain of death to do. And so they waited there on their knees unaware of the effect their words had had on their emperor.
    Motecuhzoma composed himself and whispered another question to Woman Snake.
    “Did they leave you anything in return?” Woman Snake asked the fishermen.
    One of the men crawled forward clutching a piece of hardtack. He left it on the marble at the foot of Motecuhzoma’s throne. “They told us it was their food,” he said.
    At a nod from Motecuhzoma, Woman Snake retrieved the piece of bread and handed it to him. Motecuhzoma weighed it in his palm. The food of the gods was the weight and consistency of a piece of volcanic rock. He tentatively bit at the edge with his teeth but could not break it.
    He again turned and whispered to his Prime Minister.
    “Revered Speaker wishes to know if these creatures said anything else to you.”
    “They told us that we must cease making human sacrifices to the gods, or else they would return and punish us.”
    Motecuhzoma gasped. In the great vault of the audience chamber it sounded like the hissing of a snake. There could be no mistake. Feathered Serpent had returned, as prophesied.
    His fist closed around the piece of hardtack. He murmured his instructions in Woman Snake’s ear.
    “You are to wait in the courtyard for Revered