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    Five Jaguar
    Five Jaguar
    Five Jaguar
    Ebook72 pages56 minutes

    Five Jaguar

    By Richard C. Rogers

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    About this ebook

    The Aztec Empire is built on conquest. Not only does war bring tribute from the conquered, but it is also the source of prisoners for the temples--those unfortunates who must be sacrificed to the Aztec gods to maintain order in the universe. In a culture defined by blood and battle, it is only in war that a man can truly distinguish himself.

    Huemac is ready to fight. He is desperate to be a successful warrior--driven to earn the esteem of the city's veteran warriors and the respect of his clan and community. But as a student at the clan school, Huemac has little opportunity to prove himself

    His brother, Five Jaguar, has already returned from battle, bringing captives with him for the glory of the city and its gods. He is praised and celebrated by the other warriors and the people of their clan. And when an ancient matchmaker arranges a marriage between Five Jaguar and the young woman Huemac adores, he realizes that his older brother has everything he wants.

    Huemac's chance comes at last when Motehcuzoma, the Aztec king, must send an army out to conquer a city-state which resists his will. Huemac is one of those chosen to fight with the army for the first time.

    When he marches out of the city with the army, a gift is pressed into his hand. Who is it from? What does it signify? And once he sees for himself the truth--about war, about the empire, and about his life as an Aztec--will he be the same person?

    Will he return to the same world?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRichard C. Rogers
    Release dateJul 30, 2011
    ISBN9781466048058
    Five Jaguar
    Author

    Richard C. Rogers

    Richard C. Rogers lives in Arizona with his wife and two children.

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      Book preview

      Five Jaguar - Richard C. Rogers

      Five Jaguar

      Published by Richard C. Rogers at Smashwords

      Copyright 2011 Richard C. Rogers

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Discover other titles by Richard C. Rogers at Smashwords.com.

      Poems 33 and 48, translated by Edward Kissam, are taken from Flower and Song: Poems of the Aztec Peoples translated by Edward Kissam and Michael Schmidt. Second edition published by Anvil Press Poetry in 2009.

      Cover image copyright Sergey Gelman | Dreamstime.com.

      Chapter 1

      In the Clan School

      Willows growing at the water's edge were dark in the early morning light as Huemac propelled the wide, flat-bottomed boat through the canal. Each time he took the pole out of the sticky mud at the bottom of the canal it dripped, splashing quietly, the only sound besides the singing of birds in the trees. His friends Cipactli and Uetzcayotl sat below him in the boat, resting on blocks of stone. The boys said nothing, their faces betraying no emotion, as patient and calm as the water beneath them.

      The morning sun rose over Mount Tlaloc east of Tenochtitlan, illuminating the holy shrines at the top of the Great Temple. The priests blew the conch shells before sunrise, and already the city was awake. In the homes of the commoners, women were grinding corn using mano and metate--Huemac could hear the familiar scrape scrape scrape sound coming from every open door. In the fields beside the canal men worked with digging sticks and hoes, tending the corn plants, tomatoes, beans, amaranth and maguey that fed and clothed the people. In other parts of the city, nobles--as committed to the ethic of hard work as any laborer--began their duties as administrators, judges, priests and scribes. And in many places in and around the city, students like Huemac, Cipactli and Uetzcayotl were working for their clans.

      Every clan in the city had its own school--the telpochcalli--where all the young men lived from the time they turned fifteen until they married. Huemac enjoyed his life there. He was not as successful as his older brother or some other students, but he was good at a few things and believed that he did not embarrass himself. He knew the importance of the education he received there, and enjoyed many of the activities. In the telpochcalli, alongside his closest friends, he learned the history of the Mexica, and the history of all the Nahuatl-speaking people in Anahuac, the Valley of Mexico; he learned the geography of Anahuac and its many lakes, rivers and cities; he learned the secrets of the festivals and sacrifices; he learned the craft of rope-making, for which their clan was famous; he learned the stories of Tezcatlipoca, Huitzilopochtli, and Tlaloc, along with many other gods; and he memorized the sacred songs, the hymns, the histories and the poems for the gods' celebrations.

      But most of all, he learned the skills of war: how to throw a dart with an atlatl; how to shoot a bow; how to carry a heavy spear; how to swing the warclub with its razor-sharp obsidian blades. Just as importantly, he learned how the Mexica conducted themselves as warriors, and as men.

      All these things he learned, but like the other students he also had to work every day. In the fields, they tended plots of land that belonged to the school, growing much of their own food. They helped build the chinampas, or repaired canals, as they were doing that morning. Sometimes they worked in the city alongside young men from other clans, adding to the King's palace or enlarging one of the shrines in the Temple District. They swept and cleaned their school, maintained the buildings, and tended the flower gardens that added their charm and beauty to the school grounds.

      Because they were taught to think of work as service to the gods, and necessary to keep order in the universe, they treated work as a sacrament. Hard work and dedication was righteous, and demanded from every citizen. Huemac remembered being punished for idleness when he was very small. Now, as a young man, hard work was

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