{"id":6233,"date":"2012-04-01T09:22:13","date_gmt":"2012-04-01T09:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.audiovideo2k.com\/Debbie_Zapata\/?page_id=6233"},"modified":"2025-10-03T05:47:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T10:47:35","slug":"tlahuicole","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/avoriginal.org\/dzx\/tlahuicole\/","title":{"rendered":"TLAHUICOLE"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Hobson\u2019s choice. Six of one and half a dozen of the other. Between a rock and a hard<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">place. Between the sword and the wall. All of these phrases describe<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">situations in which no matter what action is taken,the outcome is not favorable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Tlahuicole (tla-whee-COE-lay) was a warrior in Tlaxcala before the Spaniards came to<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Mexico and he found himself in just such a dilemma. This is his story.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Imagine: you are a young man born in the year 1497 in the Otomi people\u2019s area of the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">territory of Tlaxcala. Your home state is the smallest in what will some day be<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Mexico, but it is in a strategic location\u2026.a natural crossroads from one side of<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">the country to the other. Aztecs control the lands all around you: their greedy eyes<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">coveting your fields,their thirsty weapons eager for your blood,their priests hungry<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">for your soul.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">You were sent as a child to an elite warrior school where you trained with other<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">young nobles from all regions of Tlaxcala. You have strict codes of behavior deeply<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">embedded in your heart,and you have sworn to protect your Tlaxcala and every single<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Tlaxcaltecan within its borders. You must make certain your people survive,even if<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">you do not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">The people you protect are merchants and farmers,struggling to maintain independence<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">from the Aztecs, who do not appreciate the first lesson you learned at your father\u2019s<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">knee: \u201cWe do not make slaves,nor will we be slaves.\u201d Think about how this must sound<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">to the Aztecs. It appears to be an innocent statement,but it is a boast,an insult,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">and a promise all rolled into one tidy package.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">You are a brave warrior,a good fighter and have proven yourself many times. But you<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">are not Tlahuicole. You are the same age,you spent your earliest days playing<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">together,and you trained with him in the warrior school. Yet as good as you are at<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">your job,he is better. He is faster,stronger,smarter in battle than you are. From<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">the beginning of his career Tlahuicole\u2019s favorite weapon was a heavy war club made of<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">hardened clay and wood. He was so ferocious with this club that he advanced quickly<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">through the warrior ranks,and the mere rumor of his presence in a certain area is<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">sometimes enough to keep the enemy away.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">You follow the warrior codes; you have felt them shape you into the man you are now.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">But those same codes seem to have formed Tlahuicole into something even<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">greater. Something you could never hope to be: a hero. This does not make you jealous,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">however. You respect him; you even love him for everything he represents. And you<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">would follow him to the depths of smoking Popocatapetl itself if that was what he<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">asked of you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">You participated in the battle that sealed Tlahuicole\u2019s destiny. Did he truly kill<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">the son of the Aztec Emperor? You were on the opposite side of the field and very<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">busy so you did not see this happen,but you have no reason not to believe what the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">other warriors were saying when the fighting was over.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Certainly the Emperor believed that Tlahuicole had killed his son. He had heard of<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Tlahuicole: he knew all about this famous warrior and the codes of honor that guided<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">his life. The Emperor waited for the right moment: a time when Tlahuicole was busy in<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">yet another battle near the border. Then the Emperor hired some men from the pueblo<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">of San Juan Huatzingo in the neighboring state of Puebla to go to Tlahuicole and tell<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">him that there was much trouble in the city of Tlaxcala: that people were being<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">slaughtered,that he himself was the only one capable of resolving the crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Knowing the reputation of Tlahuicole,the Emperor had arranged for a large group of<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">seasoned warriors to ambush him as he returned to Tlaxcala. But the Emperor wanted to<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">see this man who had killed his son,so the fighters were under strict orders to bring<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">him back alive. Many of them died trying to manage this,and many of Tlahuicole\u2019s men<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">died also.Tlahuicole fought like a devil,but when it became obvious that he had been<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">beaten by sheer numbers,he told the Aztec warriors to kill him. They refused. Instead<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">they escorted him to the palace of the Emperor as ordered. There he repeated his<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">demand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">You must kill me!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">The Emperor took a long look at the man standing before him. He was not very tall:<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">the men of Tlaxcala are not known for height. But he was every inch a warrior,from<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">his strongly muscled stocky body to his very bearing. He did not cower before the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Emperor as most men did. He stood proudly,aware of his worth as a warrior and as a<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">man. Was this the point at which the Emperor devised his plan? Or was it already in<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">his mind? No one will ever know. But he asked a single question,relying on the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">answer to tell him his next step.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Why did you kill my son?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">I am a warrior.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">The Emperor understood the unspoken words behind this blunt statement. There had been<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">a battle and Tlahuicole had done his job. He would not have asked the name or lineage<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">of the man he was fighting against. So the Emperor spoke again,closely watching the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">face of the warrior before him as he did so.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Very well. I understand. You are free to return to Tlaxcala.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">What answer would you have given the Emperor? Would you have meekly walked out of the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">palace to return home as ordered? How strong is your proud warrior spirit? How much<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">time would it have taken for you to give a response? Tlahuicole barely allowed the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Emperor to finish speaking before he gave his reply.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">No. I cannot return. I have been defeated in a shameful manner. You must kill me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Looking into the fierce eyes of Tlahuicole,the Emperor knew he could not waste the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">life of this perhaps too proud warrior. He must find a way to use him! So he offered<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">another proposition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">No. I will not kill you. There are very few warriors of your quality. I want you to<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">join my army and fight for me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">What would have passed through your mind at this outrageous statement? Would you have<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">been tempted? And if so,why? Merely to have a chance to return to battle,fully<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">expecting and possibly even trying to die a true warrior\u2019s death after your shameful<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">capture? Would you have considered even for a moment this option of becoming a<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">glorified slave? Tlahuicole did not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">No. I will not fight for you. You must kill me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">By now the Emperor was losing patience with this stubborn man.Whatever his plan had<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">been at the beginning,he was determined at this point to have Tlahuicole in his<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">service. So he made one last proposal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">No. I will not kill you. But if you do not agree to fight for me,I will take my army<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">and destroy Tlaxcala. Instead of killing you,I will kill every man,woman and child<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">in your homeland. And you will be our prisoner,forced to watch helplessly while we<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">slaughter the people you are sworn to protect. But if you join my army and help me<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">conquer the lands to the west,your precious Tlaxcala will survive and live in peace.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Now\u2026..will you join my army and fight for me?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">You are a warrior. You do not have to imagine the torment these words caused<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Tlahuicole. You understand the dilemma he faced. \u201cWe do not make slaves,nor will we<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">be slaves.\u201d What should he do? Turn his back on a philosophy that had shaped his<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">entire life or turn his back on his people? Either way,he would be named a traitor<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">to his homeland forever after,never able to return. Would you have been capable of<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">giving the answer Tlahuicole gave?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">First you must swear by the blood of your son that my people will be safe from all<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">harm. Second,you must swear by the blood of your son that no one will know of this<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">arrangement. And third,you must swear by the blood of your son that you will kill me<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">when I return from your wars.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">I swear by the blood of my son that Tlaxcala will not be attacked. I swear by the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">blood of my son that our agreement will be kept secret. And I swear by the blood of<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">my son that IF you return from the western wars I will kill you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">The oaths were easy for the Emperor to make. And they would be just as easy to ignore<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">later. But he had his man. What would it cost to make a few promises and see that<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">they were kept? A snap of his fingers,nothing more. Meanwhile,with Tlahuicole in his<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">army the Emperor had a better chance to win the lands to the west,which had so far<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">escaped him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">And so it was over. Tlahuicole joined the Aztec army and prepared to leave for the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">fighting in the western regions of the country. He was considered a free prisoner,and<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">was treated with the respect his warrior status deserved.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">You had not been with the army during that last border fight. You were on easy duty<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">in peaceful Tlaxcala City. And you were in the market when the first news began to<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">arrive: Tlahuicole had suddenly left the battle,taking a small group of warriors<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">towards Tlaxcala,leaving orders for more to make their way there as soon as possible.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Now here were the extra warriors, but they had seen no sign of either Tlahuicole or<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">the men who had been with him,except for marks of vicious fighting<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">in one area. It seemed obvious that Tlahuicole and his men had been captured.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Tlahuicole captured? You were so stunned at the idea that you did not notice the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">woman who turned pale at the news and rushed to speak quietly with one of the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">local traders,the only Tlaxcaltecans who were allowed beyond the borders into Aztec<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">territory. They left together not long afterwards. Would you have had her courage?<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">She knew the consequences for unauthorized people attempting to cross the borders. But<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">she did not care. She had to try. She wore no disguise. She was very proud of her<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">identity,and she was relying on that identity to help her arrive at her destination:<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">the Emperor\u2019s palace.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">At the first checkpoint the woman was detained. The Aztecs were preparing to kill her<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">when she told them who she was and why she was travelling. This information caused a<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">great deal of confusion.The guards knew she should have been killed instantly,but if<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">she was who she said she was,it might be better to wait. So they sent a runner with<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">the question: What are they supposed to do with a woman who says she is the wife of<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Tlahuicole?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">She was the daughter of a Tlaxcaltecan nobleman who had given her to Tlahuicole in<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">gratitude after a battle,according to custom. He had been surprised and delighted to<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">discover in her the same bold spirit he had. So when she was delivered under guard<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">to the house he had been given,Tlahuicole accepted her arrival with pride, for he<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">knew that she herself had made the choice to share his fate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">The army soon left on their mission. Tlahuicole spent the next three years fighting<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">alongside his lifelong enemies. This alone was torture,but he also had to deal with<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">the fact that he was helping to steal treasure from innocent people and was sending<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">these same people into slavery. The only thing that brought joy to his heart during<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">this time were reports he received about the peace in Tlaxcala. There had been no<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">attacks against his homeland since the day he met with the Emperor. He let that fact<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">comfort him: at least he had saved his people for the time being,even if he felt his<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">own spirit dying a little more each day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">And what did you know at this point? There were rumors about Tlahuicole. You had<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">heard he was now fighting for the Aztecs. Did you brand him a traitor as did nearly<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">every citizen of Tlaxcala? After all,he had simply disappeared after one battle and<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">reappeared later with the enemy. How else to explain the fact that he was still alive<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">after his capture? Did you ever think beyond what everyone was saying? And even if<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">you had connected the two ideas,a peaceful Tlaxcala and a Tlahuicole fighting for the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Emperor,would that have changed your mind? No,of course not. For whatever reason,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Tlahuicole had made himself a slave,defying the ruling philosophy of Tlaxcala. To you<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">this made him a pariah. If he had dared show his face in Tlaxcala again you would<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">have been the first to attack your former hero.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Finally the Aztec army arrived at the principal city in the western region. In the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">early stages of battle one of the main leaders of the Aztecs was seriously wounded.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">This so demoralized the entire army that the other captains made the decision<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">to call off the war and return home.The moment he arrived Tlahuicole went to see the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Emperor,standing before him as boldly as he had the first time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">I have kept my side of the bargain. Now you must keep yours. You must kill me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">As he had years before,the Emperor took a long look at Tlahuicole before answering.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Nothing had changed in the warrior\u2019s outward appearance,but the Emperor noticed a new<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">suffering in the dark eyes glaring at him. Once he had thought this warrior was<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">perhaps too proud. Now the pain in those fierce eyes revealed the inner demons<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Tlahuicole had lived with in order to protect his homeland;but the pride was still<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">there. The Emperor aimed for that pride when he spoke.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">You have served me well,Tlahuicole. I could not have asked for a better slave.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Any other man might have fallen to the floor under the weight of those words. You<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">certainly would not have been able to endure that bald fact being thrown in your<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">face. But I remind you\u2026.you are not Tlahuicole.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">He did not even flinch. His empty right hand curled slowly into a fist,as if taking a<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">firmer grip on his favorite war club,confiscated when he entered the palace.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">He seemed suddenly to be dangerously close to the Emperor,even though he had not<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">taken a single step. His eyes never left the Emperor\u2019s face,and now the warrior<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">allowed the intense hatred for his enemy to show clearly.If there had been knives in<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Tlahuicole\u2019s eyes,the Emperor would have died on the spot.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">The very air around Tlahuicole became charged with energy,and for the first<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">time the Emperor understood that here was a true warrior. He had not actually believed<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">all the reports about Tlahuicole. And he had seen nothing in their last meeting to<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">convince him that the man was anything more than a well-trained,extremely stubborn,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">overly proud Tlaxcaltecan fighter. But now he was witnessing what few men saw and<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">lived to tell about: Tlahuicole in full battle readiness,poised like a jaguar about<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">to leap on his prey,surrounded by a power that pinned the Emperor to his throne,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">unable to look away from those stabbing eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Tlahuicole knew he could easily reach the throne and kill the Emperor before the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">guards could react. He saw that the Emperor was aware of this also. Both men<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">knew he would not attempt such a thing,however. Not only would the consequences for<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Tlaxcala be brutal,no honorable warrior would behave in such a manner.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Tlahuicole allowed himself to relax. He had made his point without saying a word:<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">he had held the Emperor\u2019s life in his hands, had found it not worth taking,and had<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">tossed it back to him in contempt. He waited calmly for whatever response his enemy<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">would make to this grave insult.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">The Emperor knew he had to say or do something to gain control of the situation.But<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">what? Obviously his taunt had not had the desired effect. How else could he prove<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">that he had more power than this irritating Tlaxcaltecan? He needed to think clearly,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">but this was not easy to do with Tlahuicole constantly staring at him like an eagle<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">about to capture a snake in its talons. The Emperor had noticed the subtle relaxing of<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Tlahuicole\u2019s body,and he no longer felt trapped by the warrior\u2019s energy,so he took<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">a few moments to gather his thoughts before he spoke.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">You have been such a good slave that you have earned your freedom. You may go. I give<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">you your life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Tlahuicole\u2019s answer came quickly,using what you would recognize as his war voice: a<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">deep growl designed to be heard over the noise of battle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">MY LIFE IS NOT YOURS TO GIVE. YOU MUST KILL ME.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Time stood as still as Tlahuicole while his challenge echoed through the room. If<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">you had been there,you would have been both proud and ashamed. Proud of this<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Tlaxcaltecan warrior who was not only bold enough to maintain his principals with<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">such spirit,but to demand that the Aztec Emperor honor their agreement. And ashamed<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">that you had ever considered Tlahuicole anything less than a hero.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">The Emperor realized he could push no further. He had to admit that the warrior had<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">more power than he himself did. He had never expected to discover such strength of<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">character in this man from Tlaxcala,even though he understood the training that would<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">have helped develop the trait. His own warriors underwent similar training,but none<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">of them had this warrior\u2019s intensity of spirit. The Emperor decided that Tlahuicole<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">deserved to be honored with a glorious death. Once again he watched Tlahuicole\u2019s face<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">as he spoke.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Very well. I will kill you. On the stone.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Did the Emperor expect a reaction to his statement? There was none. All warriors were<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">familiar with the use of the stone,a round platform with a small pillar at one edge.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">A captive enemy was fastened to this pillar by a thick cord around the waist,and was<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">killed quickly. Tlahuicole would have been surprised only if there had been no<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">mention of the stone. But the Emperor had more to say.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">You are a excellent warrior,Tlahuicole. You deserve to die in battle. So when you are<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">fastened to the stone,you will have your war club and a small shield. Then you<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">will fight against thirty of my most elite warriors. This will happen eight days from<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">now. Prepare yourself!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">The Emperor saw a reaction this time,and it sent a cold shiver down his spine. Because<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Tlahuicole smiled.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">You were on patrol in Tlaxcala late the next day when the first travelling merchants<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">arrived with the news: Tlahuicole to fight thirty Aztecs on the stone! How did the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">people react? You and everyone else had branded the man a traitor years ago. Some<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">might wonder how many of the hated Aztecs he would be able to kill before he died.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Others would say that death on the stone was what he deserved. As a Tlaxcaltecan you<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">agreed with them,but as a warrior you were proud that Tlahuicole would die fighting<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">instead of merely being sacrificed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">The day you heard about them,the festivities surrounding Tlahuicole\u2019s death fight had<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">already begun. There would be six more days of games,demonstrations of skill by<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Aztec warriors,and sacrifices. The spectacle was supposed to prove the power of the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Emperor and his people,and Tlahuicole would be in attendance each day. By now the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Emperor knew better than to think that the Tlaxcaltecan warrior would be moved by<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">what he would see,but he did watch Tlahuicole closely during the sacrificial<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">ceremonies on the seventh day,for that was when Tlahuicole\u2019s wife was to be among the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">victims.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">From the day she had left Tlaxcala,Tlahuicole\u2019s wife had prepared herself for the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">moment when her heart would be taken and fed to her husband. She knew that<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">she must maintain her bold spirit to the very end,so that her courage would be passed<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">on to him. She would not allow the enemy to see any weakness. Perhaps the Aztecs<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">thought that by taking in her female spirit he would be less brave in his fight.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">But she knew they were wrong: he would be even stronger.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">They could see each other across the plaza. She filled her eyes and heart with his<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">image and the love she had for him. When she saw his empty right hand begin to curl<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">slowly into a fist,she braced herself and sent all her energy to him. She did not<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">even feel the blow when it came.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Tlahuicole watched one of the priests take his wife\u2019s heart and give it to another,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">who took it to the cook fires. He never took his eyes from the heart,and when it was<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">brought to him,he ate slowly,feeling the power of her spirit filling his body. Then<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Tlahuicole looked towards the Emperor. And once again he smiled.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">The eighth day arrived. The thirty chosen Aztec warriors were ready for their moment<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">of glory,the priests were ready for more of their rituals,the Emperor and the people<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">were ready for their entertainment. And Tlahuicole was ready to fight.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">You heard about it a few days later. How Tlahuicole had been escorted to the stone,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">fastened securely,given his war club and a small shield. You knew the fearful<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">image he would make as he swung the club a time or two,then took his battle stance,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">prepared for the first of the Aztecs to approach. The traders told you it began<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">slowly,one or two warriors attacking first. But apparantly after eight of his most<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">elite warriors had been killed,the Emperor lost his patience and made a signal that<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">allowed the rest to charge in a group,overpowering Tlahuicole,who still managed to<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">wound twenty before his club was wrestled out of his hand and tossed away.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Were you surprised at what the trader told you next? You expected to hear that<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Tlahuicole had actually died on the stone during his death battle. But the man said<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">that the Aztecs had picked him up and carried him to the altar of their god<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">Huitzilopchtli,where the priests cut out his living heart and divided it between<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">the bleeding survivors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">And so it was over. The year was 1519. Tlahuicole had been twenty-two years old,the<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">same age as you. He was the greatest warrior to ever live in the state of Tlaxcala,<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">and even though outwardly you would still agree with those who insisted he was a<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">traitor to his homeland,on the inside you began once again to love and respect him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">copyright Debbie Zapata April 2012<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hobson\u2019s choice. Six of one and half a dozen of the other. Between a rock and a hard place. Between the sword and the wall.Tour Details<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8180,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[54,60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6233","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-enthusiasm-inspiration","category-oath-of-love"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/avoriginal.org\/dzx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/avoriginal.org\/dzx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/avoriginal.org\/dzx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avoriginal.org\/dzx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avoriginal.org\/dzx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6233"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/avoriginal.org\/dzx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8181,"href":"https:\/\/avoriginal.org\/dzx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6233\/revisions\/8181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avoriginal.org\/dzx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/avoriginal.org\/dzx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avoriginal.org\/dzx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avoriginal.org\/dzx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}