Duplicity Read Online Free Page B

all, this Montezuma.’
    ‘He is good in all other things. It is only his religion that is cruel. Father says the king lives in fear of the god Quetzalcoatl - the feathered serpent - who was driven out of the kingdom by the other gods hundreds of years ago. The sacred books foretell that he will come back to claim the city in the year of One Reed.’
    Turning pale, Marilia grabbed his arm. ‘But this is the year of One Reed. I heard my father say so.’
    Monte nodded. ‘That is why the king is so afraid. The traders and the men at the market have told my father that there is news of a great army coming to capture Tenochtitlan.’
    She looked at him with pride. He knew everything that went on in the world, but she did hope that what his father had heard was not true.
    They were alarmed at that moment by the sound of someone shouting, although it was difficult to judge how far off the person was because of the echoes from the surrounding mountains. To their relief, a moment later a man came running round the bend in the path.
    ‘Father!’ cried the boy, but the terror in the man’s eyes made him add, ‘What is wrong?’
    It was some time before his father could find enough breath to tell them, and Marilia felt herself starting to shake in fear at the thought of what he might be going to say.
    ‘The great army is coming,’ he managed to gasp at last. ‘I was finishing my work in the main field when I saw clouds of dust in the distance. I waited until I could see what was causing this - sometimes the llamas stampede if they are frightened by a rattlesnake or a puma - then I saw them. Many, many men are on their way with banners and flags. The god Quetzalcoatl must have sent them to destroy Montezuma’s kingdom.’
    ‘But what are we to do, Father?’ The boy asked as the man started to run again.
    ‘I do not know, my son, but we must go home at once.’
     
    The grandmother was not so easily alarmed. ‘The army will not harm us if we do not put up a fight,’ she said when her son had breathlessly given her the news. ‘If Quetzalcoatl sent them, they will want only to capture Montezuma’s city. He must be warned.’
    ‘I will go,’ offered Monte. ‘I will take the mule and ride over the mountain. The great city lies at the foot of the other side, does it not?’ He knew that from his grandmother’s stories.
    She spent no time in arguing, but cut some tortilla, laid out some fruit and a flask of goat’s milk on one of her shawls, tied them up and handed over the bundle. ‘Take this to eat. It is a long, long journey to Tenochtitlan.’
    As he passed other mud huts like his own, Monte pointed back and shouted, ‘The army is coming! They have come to destroy the king’s city.’
    It took some hours for the boy and the mule to clamber up the rocky mountain, and when they reached the top, Monte halted the sturdy little animal and stared down in surprise. He had always known that the city of Tenochtitlan was beautiful, but even from his grandmother’s descriptions of it he had never imagined anything as large as the panorama spread out in the valley below.
    It was not until he was much nearer that he could see the white buildings and giant temples reflected in the waters of the lake - the fabulous Halls of Montezuma. As he tore his eyes away from the glorious sight and looked around him, he saw smoke rising from another mountain not very far off. The Mountain of Fire. He had heard his grandmother speak of it, and she had said its real name was Popocatepetl.
    Gaining renewed strength, Monte urged the mule onwards. He could not bear the thought of the beautiful city being invaded by enemies. His father had told him that the Sacred Book foretold this, and that the invaders were to be led by a tall, white-skinned, black-bearded man, whose followers would unleash thunder and lightning on Tenochtitlan.
    After another hour or so, he heard what sounded like the hooves of many mules, but coming much faster than mules