Doctor Who: The Aztecs (8 page)

Proudly he returned to the bench where Cameca sat and handed her a goblet before sitting down beside her. ‘Happy days, my dear.’ He chinked his goblet against hers in a toast.

Cameca’s eyes were dewy. ‘The happiest of my life, dear heart,’ she replied and they sipped their cocoas. ‘Was ever such a potion brewed? In bliss is quenched my thirsty heart.’

‘Very prettily put, my dear,’ the Doctor muttered approvingly.

Cameca turned to him and kissed him on both cheeks. ‘Oh, sweet, favoured man, you have declared your love for me,’ she said, ‘and I acknowledge and accept your gentle proposal.’

The Doctor found the next sip of cocoa infinitely more difficult to swallow.

Ian went up the temple stairs two at a time. He wore his Chosen Warrior’s loincloth and embroidered cloak, as well as a plumed battle-mask in hammered silver which concealed the upper half of his face. The temple guards saluted him and one drew back the brocade curtain to let him pass.

Barbara was standing on the terrace looking down at the city. She was startled when Ian came towards her, not certain for a moment whether it was him or Ixta. Ian lifted his mask and Barbara sighed with relief before frowning. ‘You shouldn’t be up here. It’s too dangerous,’ she said anxiously.

Ian dismissed her fears with a downward wave of his hand and remarked lightly that, for all the guards knew, he could just as easily have been Ixta.

Barbara wasn’t convinced. ‘I still think it was reckless of you.’

Ian led her to the back of the temple behind the throne. ‘I came here to warn you,’ he confided. ‘About what?’

‘That’s the problem, I don’t know. But I’m convinced that Tlotoxl and Tonila are cooking up something against you’

Barbara was surprised. ‘Tonila? I didn’t realise he was on Tlotoxl’s side. Our High Priest of Sacrifice seems to have the knack of bringing people round to his way of thinking,’ she added ruefully.

‘That’s where you’re wrong, Barbara,’ Ian replied. ‘They’re all on Tlotoxl’s side.’

‘What about Autloc?’she asked.

‘What about him?’ Ian shrugged. ‘He’s reasonable, cultured, civilised in himself, but he goes along with Tlotoxl. You saved my life, Barbara, not Autloc. He would have let me die.’

‘I’m not so sure that he would now.’ She did her best to sound convincing as she told Ian about her last conversation with the High Priest of Knowledge.

Ian shook his head. ‘Cometh the crunch, Barbara, he’ll behave like an Aztec.’ Ian was adamant. ‘You can’t fight a whole way of life.’

Barbara turned away. ‘First from the Doctor, now from you,’ she laughed mirthlessly. ‘But there’s such nobility in them,’ she protested, ‘that I want to do something to save them from destruction.’

‘There’s only one thing to be done,’ Ian said quietly to her back, ‘get back into that tomb and leave them alone.’ Barbara heard faint footsteps on the stairs. Someone’s coming up,’ she whispered, ‘hide.’

Ian dashed to the curtain behind which he and Ixta had held the Rain God victim. He ducked into the alcove, holding one slit of the curtain open with a finger so that he could see Barbara, who had taken her place on the throne. He heard Tlotoxl’s shuffling gait as he limped over to the throne with Tonila at his side, holding a goblet.

‘We greet Yetaxa,’ Tlotoxl said ingratiatingly. ‘What do you want?’ Barbara asked coldly.

Tlotoxl gestured to Tonila and himself. ‘We come before the Great Spirit in all humility,’ and they both bowed.

‘Quiet words do you credit.’ Barbara’s eyes and mind were alert for any indication of danger.

Tlotoxl stretched out his arm in a gesture of despair. ‘Have we not both spoken harsh words and had dark thoughts?’ He went on to state that he was now convinced of her divinity and wished to make amends.

Tonila echoed Tlotoxl by begging Yetaxa not to punish the High Priest for his misgivings.

‘This draught is symbolic of the blood of Huitzilipochtli.’ Tlotoxl took the goblet from Tonila and held it up in front of Barbara. ‘Let us share it in reverence.’

Barbara took the goblet from him and raised it to her lips. Behind the curtain Ian held his breath and tensed his muscles, ready to dash out to knock the goblet from her hands before she drank. Tlotoxl and Tonila watched her intently.

Then, she hesitated, smiledand held out the goblet to the High Priest. ‘If you now acknowledge my divinity, then first both of you must drink in reverence to me,’ she shot a quick glance at Tonila who averted his eyes, ‘and then I shall drink in reverence to Huitzilipochtti for us all.’ She stood and thrust the goblet at him. ‘Drink,’ she commanded.

The High Priest took a step backwards. Barbara came down from the dais and turned to Tonila. ‘You’ll sip it in reverence to me, won’t you?’

The balding, pudgy little priest shook his head and edged his way towards the curtained entrance to the temple. Holding the goblet at arm’s length, Barbara went with him. As he reached the curtain Barbara looked at him icily. ‘You defile this temple. Get out of my sight.’ She threw down the goblet, which smashed at his feet, and Tonila fled.

Barbara turned back to face Tlotoxl who looked at her apprehensively. ‘Well?’ Her voice was expressionless. ‘We meant only to test you’

‘With poison’ Still she betrayed no emotion.

‘Yetaxa would have lived as true Gods are immortal’ ‘Well, I would have died.’

Tlotoxl’s eyes widened in triumph.

‘I am not Yetaxa.’

He pointed at her. ‘False! You are a false God. As I have known since first I saw you.’

‘And who will believe you?’ Barbara’s eyes hardened. ‘I warn you, Tlotoxl. Say one word against me to the people and I shall have them destroy you. Now, go.’ The High Priest of Sacrifice stared malevolently at her for a few seconds. Barbara met his eyes with a steady gaze, then he muttered the word 'false' again, and limped from the temple.

As soon as he was gone Barbara began to tremble. Ian came quickly from behind the curtain and put his arms around her. Barbara closed her eyes. ‘W-w-we m-mmust get away, Ian; she stammered, ‘I can’t p-pl-play this r-r-role much Ion-longer.’

‘We will, Barbara, we will,’ he reassured her, but he didn’t know how they would do it.

It was early afternoon. The two High Priests and Tonila had eaten their mid-day meal of roast pheasant, hot spicy pancakes, and fruit, all of which had been prepared by the women who served in the temple. The three of them sat on cushions around the table rinsing their hands in the finger bowls which had been placed in front of them.

‘What progress do our pupils make at the seminary, Tonila?’ Autloc dabbed his mouth with a dampened corner of his napkin.

‘All are diligent in their studies,’ Tonila replied. ‘And Yetaxa’s handmaiden?’ Autloc asked.

Tonila raised his arms. ‘Her intelligence far exceeds that of the others. And she has knowledge of things known only to the Priests,’ he added, clearly impressed.

‘But are you surprised? She also serves the Gods,’ Autloc reminded him.

‘Other Gods than ours,’ Tlotoxl growled.

Autloc sighed and asked when the High Priest of Sacrifice would cease to doubt Yetaxa’s divinity. ‘Never, for I know she is false,’ he snapped, and was on the point of telling Autloc about the poison but realised that they had tried to give it to her without his knowldge. ‘She has come amongst us, intent on destroying us.’ He slammed his fist onto the table. ‘Or saving us,’ Autloc replied quietly as he stood up and went to his cell to rest.

Tlotoxl flicked crumbs of food off the table. ‘Do you share Autloc’s conviction?’ he asked Tonila.

‘I do not know to whom I should listen.’ Tonila nervously remembered the goblet exploding, splashing the poisoned draught over his feet.

‘She is false, she told me so herself,’ Tlotoxl said but saw the doubt in Tonila’s eyes. ‘And when I have the proof you will hear only my voice which will be like thunder in the sky.’ He cleaned his fingernails with the tip of a knife. ‘But where is my proof, how shall I obtain it? She is very clever.’ He put down the knife and studied his nails, then looked at Tonila.’The handmaiden, alone in the seminary, tell me about her.’

Tonila shifted uncomfortably on his cushion. ‘She is, as I have said, very intelligent but self-willed’

‘In what way?’ Tlotoxl leaned across the table.

‘One day. In the presence of the High Priest of Knowledge and myself, she said she would only marry someone of her own choosing.’

‘She would not be wed by arrangement, nor for honour?’

Tonila shook his head. ‘On this she was firm. She would choose her husband.’ A plan had already formulated in Tlotoxl’s mind. ‘Then we must find a suitable one for her, Tonila,’ he said briskly and put a forefinger to his lips. ‘The false God’s weakness lies not in herself but in her servants,’ he observed as he picked up the knife and stuck it into the table.

A prospective husband was the last thought in Susan’s mind as she stood, bored almost to tears, at the entrance to her cell, looking out onto the cloister. Behind her was Autloc, the ever-present posy in his hand.

‘In the annals of Cuauhtitlan there is the myth of the five suns in the sky,’ he intoned. ‘Name them.’ Susan took a breath and reeled them off in a monotone.

‘The first was known as Four-Tiger, the second the sun of Air, the third the sun of Fire and Rain, the fourth the sun of Water and, finally, the present one, the sun of Man.’

Autloc was delighted. ‘Excellent, Susan, excellent.’ Susan resigned herself to the next question but it was never posed. Suddenly Tonila and the Perfect Victim were standing beside the doorway.

‘I greet you, Autloc,’ Tonila said.

The High Priest’s face fell when he saw the Perfect Victim.

‘As I do also,’ the young man said, smiling at Susan. ‘You honour us with your visit,’ Autloc replied, ‘how may we serve you?’

‘It is my wish to look at her.’

Susan was puzzled, Autloc troubled and Tonila amused.

‘Do you know who she is?’ Autloc asked.

The Perfect Victim smiled. ‘Does she know who I am?’

‘Then tell her.’

‘In two days, when the sun is at its zenith, darkness will descend upon the land,’ Autloc said.

‘All great Huitzilipochtli’s light hidden from our eyes,’ Tonila added mystically.

‘You mean it’ll be a total eclipse.’ Susan was enthusiastic and remarked that, although she had seen several partial eclipses, she had never seen one where the sun was completely hidden by the moon. ‘It’ll be interesting to watch.’

Autloc shifted uneasily. ‘At the moment when all is in darkness, a human sacrifice will be offered to the Sun God and this young man..’

Susan’s hands flew to her face.’... is to be the victim!’ she blurted out in horror. ‘But that’s revolting.’ The young man looked at her uncomprehendingly. ‘What greater honour is there for me than to be chosen as the Perfect Victim and to join the Gods?’ His voice rang with pride. Then he announced he would take Susan as his bride.

She gaped at him in utter incredulity before giving vent to her feelings. ‘Bride!’ She pointed at him. ‘He thinks I’ll marry him? Well, if he’s mad enough to let himself be sacrificed because of a stupid eclipse I suppose he’s mad enough to believe anything.’

Tonila protested that since the young man had been chosen as the Perfect Victim, all his desires were granted. ‘That does not include me!’ Susan was furious. ‘Let him die if he wants to, but don’t expect me to marry him.’

‘It is the Aztec law, Susan,’ Autloc chided her.

‘Then your law is barbaric and I won’t obey it. I won’t!’ Susan shouted. ‘You’re monsters, all of you are monsters!’ She ran from the cell onto the cloister.

Tonila looked at Autloc. ‘She has broken the law,’ he said, ‘it must be reported to Tlotoxl.’

‘Let her be severely punished for denying me,’ the Perfect Victim added.

Autloc looked from one to the other. ‘So be it,’ he murmured.

With tears streaming down her cheeks, Susan ran half-way around the cloister before collapsing against a pillar.

‘Grandfather, grandfather,’ she sobbed, ‘please, help’

It was evening and the air in the garden was heavily scented as the Doctor, lost in his thoughts, walked along a path, his hands clutched behind his back. There had to be another way into the tomb, he reasoned, for how else could the counterbalanced wall have been set in place? It would have required builders both in the tomb and outside in the temple. He presumed that the temple, and consequently the tomb, had been built before Yetaxa’s death as the pyramid must have taken a decade to construct and that, the Doctor considered, was a long time to keep a corpse hanging around waiting to be laid to rest. So, when Yetaxa died someone, Ixta’s grandfather perhaps, had to open up the wall from inside the tomb. Ergo, there had to be a secret entrance to steps leading up to a trapdoor, most likely, and now possibly sealed, in the floor of the tomb.

The Doctor sighed and sniffed the perfumed air without appreciating it. How would the trapdoor be sealed? he asked himself. Closed, it would be seated on a flange which, once Yetaxa’s body was placed in the tomb, could have been lined with terracotta, a mixture of sand and clay, that would harden like a brick when heated. Yes, that must be the answer, the Doctor decided and then wondered how much force would be required to break the seal. A hammer, a chisel and Chesterton’s biceps would suffice, he concluded. All that now remained was to locate the secret entrance to the steps and that, he realised dejectedly, could be almost anywhere. But where would be the likeliest place?

‘Doctor,’ Cameca’s voice broke his train of thought. Irritated, he saw her coming along the path towards him. ‘My dear, I am glad to find you alone as I have a gift for you’

‘How very kind,’ the Doctor mumbled, wondering if it were more cocoa beans. Instead, she gave him a beautiful jade brooch with an eagle and, separately, a coiled snake carved on it.

He was taken aback. ‘Dear lady, I cannot possibly accept such a..’ he began but stopped when Cameca said the gift signified her love for him. The Doctor swallowed. ‘I shall treasure it always.’

‘I am pleased, though it is yours by right.’