June 20, 2011
By Al Osorio, RoundTree7
Broken spears lie in the roads;
we have torn our hair in our grief.
The houses are roofless now, and their walls
are red with blood.
1 Monkey 12 House
5 Wind Jade Ring lay on a quilted cotton mat, drowsy but not yet asleep. A breeze originating from nowhere briefly caresses her hair, and her eyes open to behold a vision:
Mountains move on top of the water while within the mountains, skeleton men move about. When the mountains stop the skeleton men use rafts to reach land.
Later there were many of the skeleton men, some atop deer. Seen at less distance, Jade Ring understood they were not skeletons at all but living men with skin the color of bone. She saw them point their peculiar spears at people. When the skeleton men pointed their spears thunder came down from the sky, and there was smoke and fire. Then people would run, and some would fall and not get up.
Later still she saw many of her people dead, dead with sores all over their bodies, so many dead they were not buried but were burned without ceremony.
She saw the City in flames, jaguar and eagle warriors battling house to house, battling the skeleton men and enemy warriors. Then only rubble and smoke were left, rubble and smoke and dead bodies, while starving survivors fled the City, carrying their children and what possessions remained to them.
Even the temple of the Revered Mother atop Mountain Nose was only piles of broken rock.
The vision recedes, becoming again the walls of her home . Shaken, Jade Ring threw a white cloak over her shoulders and ran from her home, crying for her children, for all the City’s children. She cried out to Giver of Life for protection. Hearing the terrified woman’s cries, Serpent Woman responds and for a short time becomes Jade Ring. The Crying Woman is then heard throughout the City, and fear weighs heavily on the hearts of its people.
Diego Rivera: Market in Tlatelolco
A fisherman was the first to sight the circling crane – or maybe the crane sighted him. It alit near the fisherman’s raft without causing a ripple in the water, turning to focus each eye upon him. The eyes of the crane shined, and something atop its head glittered. The creature turned to dive into the water, again causing no ripple.
Hauling up his net, 2 Rabbit Dog discovered the crane was tangled within. What had caused the glitter was a kind of crown atop its head.Gazing into the crown was like gazing into polished obsidian, only much clearer. 2 Rabbit Dog could see the pupils of his eyes dilate as he stared into it. He quickly rowed to the causeway, in his haste allowing the fish to drop back into the lake. The clan chief would tell him what to do.
Eying the bird apprehensively, Young Angry Lord hesitates before gesturing for the group to approach. Gazing into the crown atop the bird’s head, the Emperor’s reflection ripples as it becomes the night sky. A priest recognizes the constellation known as the Hunter. Relaying this knowledge to the assembled group, they observe the surface ripple again, this time solidifying into ranks of men carrying weapons, some riding atop deer. The creature then vanishes.
Los Angeles, January 2011
Maria de la Cruz experiences the same vision as Jade Ring. Ancestral memory made her aware of it’s significance – Spanish ships and the conquest of Mexico, the rubble of the Revered Mother’s temple – she even understood the plaintive Nahuatl wails of the woman as the dream dissolved. She wept for her children, as La Llorona wept, as the Crying Woman wept in the legends Maria had learned as a child growing up in East Los Angeles. She must check on her son!
Flames flicker at the edge of her vision as she enters the room, the stench of death assailing her nostrils. Stabbing at the light switch illuminates an empty bed in an otherwise empty room, its walls decorated with yellowed pictures of cartoon characters. Where is her son?
Clad in a white nightgown, Maria de la Cruz wanders along the old riverbed, crying for her son, unaware of a skull-faced old woman alongside her. Serpent Woman has joined the Crying Woman.
As sunrise begins to burn away the darkness, Maria de la Cruz spots a crane circling overhead – or maybe the crane spots her. Fascinated, she watches as the creature descends, eventually alighting upon a slender branch, the branch unmoving despite the birds size and weight. Something glitters atop its head.
Tenochtitlan,9 Snake 2 Flint Knife
Jade Ring crouched next to her son’s body in the Main Temple, sobbing, ankle deep in blood. 7 Water Owl had shown great aptitude and had attended a school for children of the nobility. He was recognizable only by his ring. Hesitating, she slowly reached out to touch his arm. Feeling the body still warm, Jade Ring’s body spasmed and she was overwhelmed by waves of grief.
A shadow spread over mother and son. Serpent Woman watched, offering gifts of strength and mystery.
The corn festival was to begin in the main temple, with the dancers prepared to honor the gods who were not Gods. Resplendent in their best feathered capes and masks of turquoise, dancers and musicians thrilled the crowd. The gods who were not Gods had entered the temple with weapons, their hosts too polite to disarm them. There was of course no danger, war was too serious a matter to be entered into without a formal declaration. All were perfectly safe.
Until the gods who were not Gods attacked. Blocking the exits, they waded into the unarmed multitude slashing and stabbing with their steel swords. Much of the military and political leadership of the Empire was extinguished in a few bloody moments.
White cloak swathed in blood, Jade Ring staggers from the temple crying for her child. Serpent Woman follows, for a brief period possesses the crying woman. Wails of mourning mix with tears of sorrow, the pain echoing throughout the City.
Sunrise found sorrow coalescing into rage as the army prepared for war. Eagle and Jaguar warriors armed with obsidian-edged swords take a heavy toll on the invaders, powerful swings cutting the heads from the deer the gods who were not Gods sit atop. Warriors in boats rain arrows and darts upon the survivors fleeing along the causeway. Finally the City is free from the invaders – but not the seeds of death carried by the gods who were not Gods. During the 13th moon and remaining after the 15th moon the great rash struck the City, and tens of thousands perished. Their bodies were ravaged by sores, and they were too weak to care for themselves. Among the dead is Jade Ring.
Point of crossing the river into first paradise
The Lord and Lady of the Underworld look with favor upon 5 Wind Jade Ring and 7 Water Owl. The souls of mother and son intertwine, performing a celestial dance of joy as they transform into hummingbirds journeying to higher levels of paradise.
Kunduz province, Afghanistan, January 2011
Lance corporal Diego de la Cruz lay in the wreckage of his Humvee, victim of a roadside bomb. As the dying soldier calls out for his mother, she appears at his side. Seeing for the first time the woman who died giving birth to him, he smiles and lifts his arm up to touch her. Maria de la Cruz clasps his hand and begins kissing it, her eyes shining with happiness as she sees her son for the first time. As both depart for the afterlife, their souls intertwine. As befits those who die honorably, both begin their transformation into hummingbirds in preparation to follow the setting sun.
Tenochtitlan, 13 Death 1 Jaguar 3 House
The great rash having killed the emperor after a reign of a mere sixty days, the Council of Lords selected Descending Eagle from the remaining nobles to succeed him. He was to be the last emperor.
The young emperor had led eagle warriors against the gods who were not Gods after the temple massacre, and had studied war in the House of Nobles. When they returned with many enemy allies his army engaged them outside the city. He had learned the answer to the charging deer was to stand firm and cut the limbs from their riders as they passed, but this presented another problem – enemy arrows fired at his massed warriors.
A decision is made to withdraw into the City to fight at close quarters, eagle and jaguar warriors defending every house. Each night the warriors reclaim any lost ground, continuing the house to house fight the next day. The gods who were not Gods and their allies block all entrances to the City; its people are reduced to eating grass and hides and even dirt. Unable to flee, the people choke on the stench of rotting corpses.
After eighty sunrises Descending Eagle surrenders his obsidian dagger to the chief of the gods who were not Gods. His warriors lay down their weapons. It is 1 Snake 1 Snake 3 House. The Empire is no more.
East Los Angeles, 1968
Staring into the mirror, Delfina Gonzales is unsurprised to see the image blur, then redefine itself into the reflection of an old woman with a skull for a face. She had known of Roberto’s death even before Serpent Woman knew. Her son lay face down in a dirt road in a place called Hue. Delfina and Serpent Woman wander into the night, weeping for their children.
Acalan, 9 Flower 1 Grass 7 House
My mother Redbird said the day and year of my birth signified courage, my father Water Dog said the eagle ascends in courage and descends in conquest. They chose to call me Descending Eagle. Some say all those more worthy to lead than I died in the temple massacre. To them I say I have fought my best and killed many who threatened my people. I fought alongside Water Mask, I fought and bled to protect my City from the gods who were not Gods. If my people were not starving I would still be fighting today.
I begged their chief to kill me. When I surrendered I touched his sword and told him he had killed my city and my people and he should kill me too.
Do you know they smell bad, the gods who were not Gods? They do not bathe as we do. Their skin is like lime. And they weep like little children when they face death. We captured seventy of them, and some of their deer. The deer drool all the time, it leaves white puddles in the dirt.
They wept and cried out from the moment they were led to the altar until the priests ripped their hearts from their chests. The words of their strange language always the same. I spoke with Talking Grass, she explained they are saying God, calling out to God to save them and forgive them. They believe in one God as we do!
Most of the people never understood there is only one God with many names. Giver of Life, He who Creates Himself, Lord and Lady of Duality, Lord and Lady of the Underworld. Why would there be many gods? It makes no sense. God is God.
As my time grows short I think more often of these things. We had to sacrifice to keep the sun from dying, Learned Teacher advised for our empire to grow we needed many more sacrifices. But since the year 3 House there have been no sacrifices, and the sun continues to rise each dawn and cross the sky, and it does it again the next day. And the next, and the day after that.
We sacrificed to please God. Could it be the gods who were not Gods kill to please God too? I will say to Talking Grass she must ask them about this.
I did the best I could for my people. It’s a good day to die.
The old woman listening to his final words begins to weep, for him and for all her children. Serpent Woman vanishes, only her tears remaining behind. Her cries echo throughout the rubble and dust and memories of the City, where they too will be all that remains behind. Forever.
Four years after his surrender, Cuauhtemoc is hung by the Spanish. The last Aztec emperor was 23 years of age at the time.
AL OSORIO is a contributing editor to The Greanville Post. He is also a member of the radical writers’ group, RoundTree7.
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Nice polish! Enjoyed and inspired! Congrats on your editor status Oso!
Thanks Gwen!