Chapter Thirty-Two: “WE HAVE KILLED MALINCHE!”

The Jade Steps
Chapter Thirty Two:  "We Have Killed Malinche!"

Cortez lay awake in his bedchambers at his headquarters in Tepeaca.  He and his forces had returned from Huaquechula in time to celebrate All Saints Day[1] and pray to those who had achieved the beatific vision in heaven that this "ultimate end of human existence" might possibly be granted to them when they die.

That was yesterday.  Today, they held the Feast of All Souls Day, to pray for those departed Christian souls being cleansed of their sins in purgatorium.  For some reason, he had felt an unusual uneasiness during the prayers at Mass, which he expressed to Doña Marina.  Now he was even more uneasy, for where was she?  Gone on one of her evening learning expeditions.  This one was taking too long.  He wished that she was next to him right now.

Suddenly she was.  She had burst wordlessly into the room, quickly removed her dress, and snuggled up to him in their bed.  A look into Cortez's eyes told her what he had been thinking.

And when he looked back into hers, he knew something was wrong.  He waited for her to tell him.

"My Captain, I have unfortunate news," Malinali said.  "Chief Maxixcatzin has died."

Cortez closed his eyes and sighed.  "So that's who was missing in my prayers today.  He was a good man and a good friend.  He lived a very long life and we must be grateful that he ended it as a Christian.  I shall pray for him at Mass tomorrow."  He looked at her.  "But you have more to tell me."

She caressed his face and looked at him with love.  "Yes, but nothing unfortunate.  Just the opposite."  She paused mischievously, while Cortez gave her a look that told her he was deciding whether to listen or ravish her without another word.  She gave him a smile that told him she wanted him to choose the latter.  He did.  For a wonderfully long time.

Afterwards, Malinali could not stop smiling and giggling.  Cortez tried to get her to talk but she tickled him unmercifully instead.  So he tickled her back, and soon they were laughing so much neither could speak.  Finally, she calmed down.  "Actually, there is much to enjoy in what I am going to tell you," she teased. 

"First," she continued, "the Aztecs have a new king.  Montezuma's brother who overthrew him, Cuitlahuac, is dead, replaced by their cousin Cuauhtemoc [coo-awe-tay-mok].  He is the son of the king who came before Montezuma, the brother of Montezuma's father, Ahuitzotl[2].  He is young, not much older than me[3].  He had all of Montezuma's sons killed, such as Axoacatzin, to have no rivals to the throne.  It is strange, though, for Aztec nobles and priests to let someone with such an unlucky name rule them.  Cuauhtémoc means "setting sun."

"Let us ensure then that his name is prophetic," commented Cortez, "and see that the sun sets on his evil empire.  But what, my love, is there to enjoy in this?"

"Ah!" she exclaimed with a smile.  "Cuauhtémoc has sent ambassadors to a number of other kingdoms to ask for an alliance to defeat you – and has met with disaster.  The one all the Tlaxcalans are talking about is Puhrepecha.  The Aztecs call it Michoacan, the place of fishermen, because of its big lake with many fish, and they have never been able to conquer it.  It is some distance…" she pointed west… "beyond Tenochtitlan.

"When Cuauhtemoc's ambassadors came to Tzintzuntzan, the Puhrepecha capital, they brought many presents to Zincicha, the Puhrepecha king – giant obsidian mirrors, much turquoise and rare feathers.  They said, ‘Let us fight together against the strangers in our land.'  Zincicha got very angry. ‘What do you mean "our" land?' he asked.  ‘The Mesheeka have been trying to steal the land of the Puhrepecha for themselves since my grandfather's time.  Now someone threatens your land and you dare ask for our help.  I have no desire to help the enemy of my people.'  So Zincicha ordered the Aztec ambassadors sacrificed."

"I am told," she concluded, "that Cuauhtemoc's ambassadors have met similar rejection from several other kingdoms as well.  The Tlaxcalans are overjoyed with this news, for it means their great Mesheeka enemy has no friends.  Are you not overjoyed yourself, My Captain?"

If Cortez was, he did not show it.  His eyes were staring at her, but she knew he was looking at the thoughts inside his head.  She said no more and let him think.

"We cannot stay here in Tepeaca any longer," he said finally.  Malinali's brow furrowed.  "But it is safe here," she objected.  Cortez grimaced in scorn.  "I have no intention of being safe.  We must carpe diem, as the Romans said, seize the day."  It was her turn to grimace.  "You have created your own kingdom here.  It may fall apart if you leave.  You cannot afford to let this land, so rich and valuable to the Mesheeka, fall back into their hands."

Cortez stroked his beard and looked at her intensely.  Wagging a finger at her, he said, "You are right about this."  He stroked his beard some more.  "Very well," he decided.  "I shall stay here for some more weeks until Tepeaca is governed and garrisoned properly.  Then we leave.  For Tlaxcala – and then for Texcoco."   

Malinali was startled.  "Texcoco?!  That is the Mesheeka's second largest city.  For it, Lake Texcoco is named.  It is in alliance with Tenochtitlan!"

"Then we will test that alliance," Cortez responded.  He closed his fingers in the choking motion.  "For my plan to succeed in strangling the island of Tenochtitlan, we must control the lake in which it sits.  For that, we must have a base on the lake.  It must be on the Tlaxcalan side of the lake for the brigantines to be transported and launched.   We cannot have a large enemy city nearby.  So to make that city ours solves both problems."

He saw the worry in her eyes.  He kissed her cheek.  "You must not fear," he counseled.  "For we shall not go to Texcoco alone, but with several thousand Tlaxcalan warriors beside us."  

She smiled at him with love.  Then the smile turned into an invitation to resume their previous activity, an invitation Cortez was happy to accept.

*  *  *  *  *  *

Almost every day for the next several weeks, Cortez and his officers, with Malinali to counsel and interpret, met with King Chichitzin organizing and ensuring the security of Tepeaca.  He placed his commander of artillery, Francisco de Orozco in charge of a Spanish garrison of some sixty men.  Then, on what Cortez told Malinali was the 13^th day of December, he and his small army left for Tlaxcala.  King Chichitzin was happy to see all but a few of the thousands of Tlaxcalan warriors go with him.

It was a happy Christmas for everyone in Tlaxcala.  Cortez and King Xicotencatl had cried together over the passing of Chief Maxixcatzin, but they, along with Spaniards and Tlaxcalans alike, felt they had much to be grateful for, much to celebrate, and much to look forward to in the coming year.

Malinali had never been happier.  All the Spaniards treated her with such respect, the officers were always asking for her advice and suggestions and how best to get along with the Tlaxcalans – their Tlaxcalan ladyfriends in particular.  The Tlaxcalans revered her and treated her like nobility, like the princess she was.  Everyone acknowledged the value of her counsel to Cortez.  She only wished that he wasn't meeting with Martin Lopez all the time so he could spend more time with her.  She had to frequently remind herself how important was the proper building of the "brigantines."

King Xicotencatl offered Cortez an enormous number of warriors, tens of thousands, to accompany the Spaniards to Texcoco. "Every man in Tlaxcala wishes to go and fight the Aztecs," the king explained. 

"How can we feed that many?" Cortez asked Malinali during the conversation.  "Please thank the king, and tell him we require a smaller force for Texcoco, which we hope will welcome us not fight us.  Would the king assent to several of my officers staying here and training his warriors on how to best fight the Aztecs when we get to Tenochtitlan?"  The king nodded.

Two days after Christmas, 10,000 Tlaxcalan warriors arrayed in brilliant feathers and warpaint and led by Chief Chicimacatecle stood in the sunlit central square of Tlaxcala facing the city's main temple.  The Spaniards seemed so few next to them – 550 soldiers, 80 crossbowmen and musketmen, 40 cavalrymen on horseback.  Cortez stood on the lower steps of the temple to address them, with Malinali to translate for the Tlaxcalans.

"Today is a momentous day," began Cortez, "for it is on this day that the men of Spain and the men of Tlaxcala join together in a noble cause, to rid this land of a barbarian evil, the curse of the Aztec Mesheeka.  The people of Tlaxcala, like so many other peoples in this land, have suffered greatly under this curse.  Now, you men before me, are going to end this suffering. 

"We men of Spain also wish to offer the great blessing of faith in Jesus Christ to all people of this land.  So it is with pride and happiness that I announce to you that the great commander of the Tlaxcalan army, Chief Chichimacatecle, has, like King Xicotencatl before him, now embraced the Christian faith. 

"This noble mission of ending the Aztec Mesheeka curse and bringing the blessings of Christianity begins with our march on Texcoco, to which we will come in peace but are prepared to fight if we are not received in peace.  It is from Texcoco that we start our capture of the Mesheeka capital, Tenochtitlan.

"I wish you all to know the rules of conduct for this campaign.  There is to be no blasphemy by any soldier, no dueling, and no gambling.  No town is to be pillaged, no woman is to be violated, no one is to be robbed of his possessions.  We must gain the natives of this land as allies, not enemies, for it is by such alliances that we will defeat the Mesheeka.

"If we conduct ourselves thus, there will be great honor and riches earned by all of you, men of Spain and men of Tlaxcala.  Honor and riches are things which very rarely can be found in the same bag.  Let us now go forward and earn them both."

As the force set off from Tlaxcala, Bernal walked alongside Malinali.  "All of our men are in such high spirits," he told her.  "They wish to avenge themselves for the disaster of noche triste, yes, but it is much more than that.  They feel that they are about to accomplish something truly extraordinary, something that history will remember."

Malinali smiled at her friend.  "I believe that too, Bernal.  I believe that Lord Jesus and His Mother have answered my prayers, answered the prayers of my father, even though he didn't know to whom he was really praying.  So, yes, I am happy as are you.  Yet Captain Cortez says to keep a hand on my emotions like…" she made a pulling motion with her hands… "a horseman must hold his horse from not running too fast."

"Ah, holding the horse's reins, yes.  Why did the Captain say this, Doña Marina?"

"He said we must be patient.  He has talked much with his officers of ‘the wisdom of patience.'  Now that we are close to this great goal, he says, we must be careful, we must ‘go quickly slowly,' which I laughed at when I heard him say it and he frowned at me.  Now I understand.  It will take some time, months even, for the brigantines to be built and launched, then more time for his plan to blockade Tenochtitlan into surrender.  All this time must be used to gain more allies, bring more kingdoms now under Mesheeka rule to join us.  Captain Cortez wishes to capture Tenochtitlan, not destroy it, he wishes for the Mesheeka to surrender and not have to kill them.  ‘There are more riches in peace than destruction,' he says.  With time, with the blockade, with the other kingdoms our allies not theirs, the Mesheeka, he hopes, will finally choose surrender not war."

They walked for some time in silence as Bernal considered her words.  Then he voiced his thoughts. "What our Captain wishes for is what we all wish for, Doña Marina.  He is right to ask for our patience.  Yet I think, the more patience we have, the more allies we gain, the more determined the Mesheeka will become to make war to the death.  People who rule others never wish to give it up, and the more evil their rule, the harder they fight to keep it.  The Mesheeka know how much they are hated by those they rule.  Surrender to those they rule means to be at their mercy, and the people of this land are not merciful.  No, Doña Marina, Captain Cortez's wishes are those of a Christian, noble and good, but I think in the end, enough blood will be spilt to fill Lake Texcoco to end Mesheeka rule."

Malinali shivered in the warm sun at Bernal's words, for she was afraid he was right. 

*  *  *  *  *

It was midday.  The sun shone relentlessly hot and bright high in a cloudless sky, yet for Malinali it was the blackest of nights.  There was no light in her soul.  It was filled with fear and pain instead, and her mouth tasted of ashes.

How long had it been since they had left Tlaxcala for Texcoco so happily and optimistic?  Half a year.  The Spaniards said this black day was the 30^th of June[4].  She stared vacantly out upon the sparkling blue water of Lake Texcoco.  So much had happened, so many near disasters, so many triumphs until victory over the Aztecs seemed so certain… until now.

They had expected a fight when coming to Texcoco, but they were met on the way by the king's brother Ixtlilxochitl (iks-tleel-zo-cheetle) who offered to be Cortez's ally.  Then a group of nobles met them with golden banners of peace, saying "Malinche" was welcome.  Yet when they entered the city, the streets were empty and King Coanacochtzin (ko-ahn-a-kotch-in) was nowhere to be found.

Texcoco was such a beautiful city with many canals and palaces.  They stayed in the largest palace, that of an earlier king, Nezahualpilli, and Cortez sent Pedro de Alvarado and Cristobal de Olid to the top of the biggest temple to see what they could see.  They saw most of the city's people fleeing across the lake in canoes.  When the Tlaxcalans learned that King Coanacochtzin had fled as well, they became enraged and began to loot the city.  It took a while before Chief Chichimactecle and his sub-chiefs  could get them to stop.

Yet she and Cortez had celebrated what he called New Year's Eve with a night of bliss.  "This new year, my love, shall see your father's dream come true," he vowed to her.

Three days into this new year, the rulers of two cities within the Texococan kingdom, Huextola and Coatlinchan, arrived and pledged their support for Cortez.  They brought a gift of several Mesheeka messengers sent by Cuauhtemoc demanding they fight with him against the Spaniards.  "Do with them what you wish," they told Cortez.

Cortez had her reply that he welcomed the rulers' support but that he wished to end Mesheeka control over other kingdoms peacefully, that he wished to be a friend of the Mesheeka, that he did not want to be forced to destroy Tenochtitlan and kill its people.  He therefore instructed the Aztec messengers to return to Tenochtitlan and tell Lord Cuauhtemoc that as a new leader of his people he should put the past behind him, put the lives of his people foremost, and begin living in peace with all those who reside in this land.

That Cortez did not have the Aztec messengers killed, and instead sent them unharmed back to Tenochtitlan with a plea for peace and not war highly impressed the rulers.  It was not long before several other Texcocan towns asked for Cortez's protection against the Mesheeka and vowed their support – for they had soon learned that Cuauhtemoc, in a fury over Cortez's offer, ordered his messengers slaughtered on the sacrificial altars.

Ixtlilxochitl now became king of Texcoco, and sent word to all those who had fled that it was safe for them to return to the city.  He informed all the Texcocan nobles they must choose to either stay here in a free Texcoco, free of Mesheeka rule, and ally with the Spaniards, or flee to Tenochtitlan as had Coanacochtzin.  They stayed.

No sooner had the city returned to normal than Cortez and Ixtlilxochitl set off to explore the south of the lake from Texcoco to the finger of land that led to the main causeways to Tenochtitlan, and the city that controlled it, Iztapalapa.[5]  They took 200 Spaniards and several thousand Tlaxcalans.  The Mesheeka broke a dike to flood the city and drown Cortez, but everyone escaped.  Upon the return to Texcoco, all the talk was of a duel between Ixtlilxochitl and a chief of Iztapalapa who had been ordered by Cuauhtémoc to capture and bring him to Tenochtitlan for sacrifice.  Ixtlilxochitl killed him.

In the following weeks, city after city sent their nobles to Texcoco pledging their alliance with Cortez and against the hated Mesheeka, such as Ozumba, Tepecoculuco, and Mixquic.  The largest and most important were Chalco and Tlamanalco, who begged for help in getting rid of the Mesheeka army garrisons in their midst.  Cortez sent Gonzalez de Sandoval with 200 Spaniards and many Tlaxcalans.  They destroyed the Mesheeka garrisons. 

Sandoval returned with the rulers of Chalco and Tlamanalco who wished to personally thank Cortez.  They wept in both bitterness and relief as they told of how Mesheeka commanders had a habit of seizing the most beautiful women and violating them in front of their fathers, mothers, or husbands – and that now this would happen no more.

During all of this, a canal many feet deep and wide was being dug for the brigantines – as Cortez insisted they be built safe from attack by Aztec canoes – from Texcoco to the lake about a half-league away.[6]   Ixtlilxochitl had put many thousands of workers constructing it, and now it was near completion.  So once Sandoval returned from Chalco, Cortez sent him off to Tlaxcala to bring the logs and planks now cut for the brigantines safely to Texcoco.

It was such a thrilling sight, one which Malinali told herself she would never forget, as thousands and thousands of Tlaxcalans arrived, marching in a line at least two leagues long bearing the cut timbers and materials for the brigantines they had carried for twenty leagues[7] over the mountains and now all dressed in their best cloaks and feathers.  As they entered the city, they chanted  España! España! (Spain! Spain!) Tlaxcala! Tlaxcala!

Cortez had told her it was the middle of February.  She told him that for the Aztecs, the month of Atlcahualo was beginning, during which many young children would be sacrificed to the rain god Tlaloc.[8]  He then informed her it would take another month or more to construct the brigantines, during which he would make another exploration around the north of the lake.

"Before you return," she warned him, "it will be the Aztec month Tlacaxipehualiztli (tlah-coxee-pay-wah-lisht-lee), which means ‘The Flaying of Men.'  Any of your men the Aztecs capture will be skinned alive and their skins worn by the priests."

Cortez's departure was delayed by the almost daily arrival of emissaries and nobles from one city after another coming to pledge allegiance to him and ask for his protection from vengeful Aztecs.  To them, Cortez had her give the same reply.  He was grateful and thankful to have them as allies, and would protect them under one condition:  that they pledge allegiance to one another.  Only by abandoning age-old hatreds between them and uniting together to fight the common enemy of them all could they hope to defeat the Aztecs.

"You must embrace each other.  If you wish to ally with me, you must ally between yourselves.  Then, together, we shall be victorious and all shall gain their freedom."  That was his message and demand.  It amused Malinali to see how such a demand shocked these emissaries, as they were so riven with rivalries of war and hate between them.  Yet such was their greater hatred of the Mesheeka, and such was the hope Cortez was offering, that none refused Cortez's demand.  All agreed.  Malinali was seeing her father's dream becoming real before her eyes.

By the time Cortez left with 350 of his men and many thousands of Tlaxcalan and Texcocan warriors, the month of Tlacaxipehualiztli had begun.[9]  When he returned two weeks later, all he could talk to her about was liberating Azcapotzalco, once an independent kingdom and now the great salve-market of the Aztecs, where he set "so many thousands" of slaves free, and of ambushing a great horde of Aztecs attacking them during their return.  "It was a beautiful victory," he said with a happy smile.

Yet Bernal told a different story.  "We fought all the way to Tacuba, Doña Marina, and all the way back.  Thankfully we lost almost no men of ours and our allies killed amazing numbers of Aztecs.  We learned, however, that the Aztecs seem to have endless supply of warriors determined to fight to the death.  In Tacuba, Captain Cortez made a mistake and almost got us trapped to our doom on the La Noche Triste causeway.  We were surrounded by innumerable canoes from which came a thunderstorm of arrows, spears, and stones.  One of our men, named Volante, was carried away.  As he is a man of huge muscles and very strong, he broke free from his captors and swam back to safety with us.  ‘They shall not skin me today!' he shouted.  Every hour of every day returning here, we had to fight attacking Aztecs.  Captain Cortez said to wanted to see how strong the Aztecs still are on the other side of the lake.  He has found out."

Malinali asked him to tell her about the "ambush." 

Bernal smiled.  "Ah, yes, the Captain was tired of these attacks, so he had two detachments of cavalry  and infantry hide in thick bushes while the rest of our army continued on. I was with one of them. When the force of attacking Aztecs, several thousand of them, followed unsuspectingly, we burst out of the bushes to put them to the sword and lance.  Then our allies turned and fell upon them so that no Aztec left the battle alive. Yes, it was a beautiful victory, for it was sweet recompense and the attacks upon us ceased."

When Malinali queried Cortez about Aztec determination and strength, all he would say was "Watch" and "Patience."  He was far more interested in making love to her, an interest with which Malinali joyously complied.

Indeed, they now made love with more joy, passion, and frequency than ever, as if they could not get enough of each other.  For this, she needed no "patience" as Cortez advised.  Martin Lopez could take all the time in the world to complete the brigantines, she thought, while this bliss continued.

But she did watch, as emissaries from cities and kingdoms were arriving to swear fealty to Cortez not just several a week, but two or three every day now.  Of course, she did more than watch, for she had to interpret for them all, and carefully, for they spoke Nahuatl with different accents and dialects.

With them, Cortez made a new demand.  Not only must they pledge allegiance to him and that mysterious king he now called "Emperador Carlos el Cinco"[10] and to not fight each other.  They now must pledge to fight for each other.

"You all ask for my protection from the Mesheeka, which I shall give to the best of my power," he would tell them.  "But as there are so many of you, I and my men cannot do this for all.  What you now must do is form protective alliances between yourselves.  In the past, you fought among yourselves.  Now you must join together so that the Mesheeka cannot defeat you.  Each of you must come to the assistance of the other when attacked by the Mesheeka.  Do you agree?"

They always did.

Part of the reason they agreed so easily was Texcoco's new King Ixtlilxochitl, who showed every visiting emissary, noble, chief, and king every hospitality, and talked to them about how much more peaceful and prosperous Texcoco was now, freed from Mesheeka subjection.   
And he showed them, for with the increased trade with many kingdoms, some very distant, the prosperity was obvious.  So was the peace, for here were thousands of Tlaxcalans, their former enemies, working together with them constructing the canal and engaging in trade.

Another part of the reason was the arrival in Texcoco of a man from an island in the East Ocean Cortez called Hispaniola.[11]  Rodrigo de Bastidas was an old friend of Cortez, and very wealthy.  "All the men in the islands[12] have heard of your triumphs," he told Cortez, "and wish to join you, but they are prevented by your enemy Diego Velasquez.  I decided to ignore that fat man, so here I am, at your service."

De Bastidas did not come alone.  He brought three ships, hundreds of muskets, crossbows, and swords, a huge supply of gunpowder, two hundred fighting men, and sixty horses.  Cortez was very pleased to see him.

So much so Cortez decided to write another long letter to his king and emperor in Spain, describing his achievements on the king's behalf and requesting support for the governance of "New Spain."  He sent Diego de Ordaz and Alonso de Avila to personally carry the letter in one of Bastidas' ships, which was laden with Aztec riches – featherwork, jewels, and gold artifacts – as gifts for the king.

Malinali knew her bliss could not last for long.  Cortez announced he would be leaving on a third exploration completely around the lake after the Mass of Easter Sunday.[13]  At least she would be going with him to interpret. But she knew she would see little of him.  It also upset her that he ignored her advice not to venture into the wild mountains far to the south of the lake as he was insisting.  An emissary from the Tlahuica kingdom had come appealing for Cortez's help.  The Tlahuicas wished to ally with Cortez but could not do so because of a very large Mesheeka garrison in their capital of Quauhnahuac (koo-wan-a-wok).  She made the mistake of telling Cortez that Quauhnahuac was a place of legendary beauty.[14]

Even though they had thousands of Tlaxcalan and Texcocan warriors, and were joined by thousands more from Chalco – Bernal said they must have numbered some 20,000 – they were molested by Aztec attacks all the way through the mountains, and when they came to Quauhnahuac, it was surrounded by deep ravines with the bridges across them broken.

The most astonishing thing then happened.  Ixtlilxochitl, the Texcocan king, spotted two huge trees on either side of a steep narrow ravine that so leaned towards each other that their tops intertwined.  He ordered one his warriors to climb across this "tree bridge" high in the sky. When he did so, several hundred Tlaxcalans along with about twenty Spaniards followed, with the wind swaying the tree tops back and forth, the men negotiating all the waving branches, and a number of them slipping and falling to their deaths.  Once across, this force was able to surprise the Mesheeka garrison from behind.  With the Mesheeka distracted, Cortez had one of the broken bridges quickly repaired to get his forces across, and soon every Aztec warrior was killed.

After a difficult trek out of the mountains, the expedition reached the southern shore of Lake Texcoco, where Malinali made another mistake.  A little distance offshore was a large island city called Xochimilco, the Field of Flowers.  The Xochimilca people had been conquered by the Aztecs recently, only a few winters before she had been born, and were all made Mesheeka slaves.  So she had told Cortez she expected the Xochimilca not to join the Mesheeka in fighting them, just as the Tlahuicas had not in Quauhnahuac.

She was wrong.  They had to fight their way across the short causeway to the island city, which they quickly captured.  Once inside the city, innumerable Mesheeka appeared in canoes to surround and trap them.  Cortez led a charge against them at the entrance to the causeway, was surrounded and thrown from his horse.  As the exultant Aztecs seized him, a Tlaxcalan warrior and a Spaniard, Cristobal de Olea, sprang with such ferocity upon his captors that Cortez was able to break free. 

For two more days, they had to fend off unending attacks by swarms of Mesheeka.  Finally Cortez lost his patience and agreed to the demands of the Tlaxcalans and other allies that they destroy much of the city and put it to the torch.  With the rubble from the destroyed houses, he had the breaks in the causeway made by the Mesheeka filled in and ordered departure, leaving Xochimilco a smoking ruin.

Thankfully, they made their way all the way around to Texcoco, through Coyoacan, past Tacuba, and along the northern lake shore, without major incident.  Cortez was pleased with his expedition.  Malinali was not.  "We have circled the entire lake now, and with this knowledge from our reconnaissance, I am confidant of beginning the estrangulamiento, strangulation of Tenochtitlan," he told her. 

"You were almost killed.  This expedition was not worth the risks you took," came her reply.  He embraced her and held her tightly. "Ah, my Doña Marina, you must not worry for me.  Our Lord in Heaven has a purpose for me here, and I shall be safe until I complete it."  She felt his strength around her and hoped it was true.

At first it certainly seemed to be.  After their return to Texcoco at the end of March, the flood of requests and offers from cities and kingdoms for alliance increased.  The Aztec Empire was falling apart, more quickly than Malinali had ever hoped.  The peace between all these places, many of which had been blood enemies for generations, was also more than she could imagine.  As was the amount of work being done in Texcoco.

Bernal was as astonished as she.  "The Captain is taking no chances," he told her.  "He sent a pattern for our arrowheads to all the towns of this region, which have now supplied us with fifty thousand copper arrowheads.  The same with the kind of wood we want for arrows.  He placed Pedro Barba in command of our crossbowmen who has made sure we have all the spare bowstrings and glue for repairing arrows we need.  All our armor must be polished and padded, lances and swords sharpened, the horses shod.  Cavalry and footmen are training now harder than ever.  We are ready for war, Doña Marina."

The finally the brigantines were ready.  There were thirteen in all, and Malinali was surprised how big they were.[15]  Each could carry some 30 soldiers plus 12 rowers for the oars (6 on each side), had one or two masts for canvas sails, and a small bronze cannon in the front, while Cortez's had two large iron cannons from Spain.  Their bottoms were flat for the shallow lake.

They were launched in a ceremony at the end of April, with thousands of Texcocans and Tlaxcalans dressed in their feathered and painted best, cheering, whistling, blowing whistles and conch shells as the ships fired their cannons and unfurled their sails.  Malinali had never seen Cortez prouder.  "I have a navy of Roman galleys," he boasted to her.  "Except that the Romans had no cannons and gunpowder!"

The next day, Cortez assembled his force in another grand ceremony:  Bernal counted 84 mounted horsemen, 650 soldiers with a sword, shield, and lance, and 194 crossbowmen and musketmen, all with well-quilted armor, leggings, thick sandals, plus a steel helmet and gorget[16]. 

He appointed Pedro de Alvarado in command of 150 soldiers, 30 horsemen and 18 crossbowmen and musketeers, who, together with 8,000 Tlaxcalans, were to set up an attacking position in Tacuba, and block its causeway to Tenochtitlan.

He appointed Cristobal de Olid in command of 175 soldiers, 30 horsemen, and 20 crossbowmen and musketmen, who, with another 8,000 Tlaxcalans, were to establish a camp at Coyoacan, blocking causeway access to the Aztec capital from there.

And he placed Gonzalo de Sandoval at the head of another 150 soldiers, 24 horsemen, and 14 crossbowmen and musketmen, who were to march to Iztapalapa with some 10,000 warriors from Chalco and other allied cities, blocking the third causeway.

The remainder of the force would be with Cortez on the brigantines.

When Malinali reminded Cortez there was a fourth causeway out of the island, north of Tenochtitlan to Tepeyac, he smiled and said, "Ah, that is to be our ‘puente de plata.'  It is always good to leave your enemy a ‘silver bridge' of escape.  I want to starve the Mesheeka to retreat, not to death, my Lady."

As the three detachments made their way around the lake and established themselves, Malinali was able to enjoy another period of bliss with Cortez.  Their lovemaking was more intense – and long-lasting – than ever.  She felt like the two of them were gods making love in heaven.  She knew it had to end, and it did the day after the Mass of Corpus Christi.[17]

But it did end gloriously, for it was the day Cortez "set sail" with the brigantines across the lake.  It was a sight she would never forget, the shimmering blue sky dotted with clouds, the shimmering blue lake dotted with hundreds of Texcocan warrior-filled canoes behind them, the rowers and the wind making the brigantines race across the water, feeling the wind and sun in her face, feeling Cortez's love for her and pride in what he had achieved as he stood next to her in his capitana, his flagship.

She glanced at Martin Lopez who had "worked like a slave" to build these ships, and King Ixtlilxochitl, whose support had made this possible, standing on the other side of Cortez, and saw the pride and wonder in their faces.  She thought back to that terrible day when she was seized by the slave traders on orders from her mother and changed from a princess to a slave.  But if that had never happened, she would not be here now.  She clutched the crucifix hanging on her neck and thanked the Virgin Mary for the blessing of her life.  Her heart shouted with joy, "Tahtli! Tahtli!  Father, Father, I made you proud of me, haven't I?"  She looked up at Cortez with a smile, which he broadly returned.

Then their eyes focused on a steep pile of rocks jutting out of the center of the lake, the island of Tepepolco.  Smoke was coming from the top of it, signals from the Mesheeka garrison there to Tenochtitlan telling of Cortez's movements.  Reaching it, Cortez leapt out, led some 100 men up the rocks to the top, and after some fighting the garrison was eliminated.

When hundreds of Mesheeka canoes full of warriors arrived, too late to protect the garrison, Cortez had the brigantines sail straight into them, crushing and sinking many, the crossbowmen and musketmen shooting down upon them, so that the water was full of dead and drowned Aztecs, and the few canoes left retreated to Tenochtitlan.  Cortez ordered his fleet to Iztapalapa and the camp of Sandoval.

On the way, he asked Malinali, "Doña Marina, with our victory just concluded on the lake, let me ask of you:  the causeways of Coyoacan and Iztapalapa join to form the main causeway to Tenochtitlan – tell me of the place where they join."

"It is called Acachinanco, where there is a strong fortress with two towers and a thick wall all of stone called Xoloc" she answered.  "The Aztecs will have a garrison there.  We passed by it on our first entrance to Tenochtitlan and you met Montezuma on the causeway."

"Yes, that is what I am thinking of, the fortress, that we should establish our encampment there instead of Iztapalapa.  We can control the causeway much better from there."  Cortez redirected the fleet to Xoloc.  When all brigantines landed, the Mesheeka garrison quickly fled up the causeway.  Xoloc was theirs.  It would not be easy to keep it.

For the next several days, the Mesheeka would pour down the causeway and surround Xoloc with canoes, all firing arrows and stones, the brigantines would smash the canoes, the Tlaxcalans would battle them, day after day.  Then Cortez learned that his "silver bridge" was working in reverse, the Aztecs using it to bring food and supplies into their city.  He decided to send Gonzalo de Sandoval and his men to Tepeyac and block its causeway.  And he decided to send Malinali with him.

"You will go with Gonzalo to Tacuba to be with Señor de Alvarado and Doña Luisa[18]," Cortez explained to her.  "It is there where you are needed, I am told, for negotiating with the Mesheeka – and there you will be safer than here.  This is where the fighting will be most severe, and I want you where there will be less danger than this small fortress."

She began to protest, but one look from Cortez told her he had made his decision.  "The danger will be getting worse," he continued.  "I cannot hold our vast multitude of allies to just defending us from Aztec attacks much longer.  They came to fight and rid their world of Aztec enslavement.  Soon we must carry the battle into the city itself from here."  He caressed her face.  "I must have you safe.  Please go with Señor de Sandoval, my Love."

So, reluctantly and fearfully, she went to Tacuba.  Cortez was right, of course.  Pedro de Alvarado and his brothers had built a very strong position, and had so many allies that the Mesheeka could not really attack them, although there was much fighting on the Tacuba causeway every day.  And she did enjoy being with Doña Luisa, whose husband provided them both with every comfort he could.  Yet she found herself afraid – not for herself, but for her beloved Cortez.  She felt a doom approaching that she could not make go away.  Every night she prayed in tears to the Virgin Mary, but the fear remained.

And then the fear came true.

Every day the fighting had been getting more vicious, more violent.  The Mesheeka fought like wild animals.  She would go out onto the causeway during breaks in the fighting with Pedro de Alvarado and a strong guard to call out to the Aztec commanders, asking to speak with Lord Cuauhtémoc.  "Malinche does not want you all to die – please let us end this in peace," she would plead.  All she ever got back was shouted insults.

Every day more of the great city, the magnificent Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan was being destroyed.  Cortez had penetrated into the city square and the Palace of Axayacatl burned to the ground by the Tlaxcalans.  Since a principal Mesheeka method of fighting was to assault the attackers with a hail of stones and arrows from rooftops, the Tlaxcalans and other allies would level more and more of the city into rubble each day.  The allies did so happily, so great was their hatred for the Mesheeka.

By the end of June more than half the city was a ruin and the end for the Mesheeka seemed near.  In fact, Cuauhtémoc had moved his forces and most of the population out of the city proper and into the northern section known as Tlatelolco.  The allies sensed victory.  All the cities around the lake had joined Cortez.  So many warriors from so many kingdoms swarmed over the Spanish camps it was an "embarrassment," joked Pedro de Alvarado.

When Cortez arrived by brigantine to Tacuba, Malinali was filled with excitement and relief.  He held a meeting with all his officers to decide on the "final action," as he called it.  To a man, the officers argued for assaulting Tlatelolco from all sides – Alvarado and Sandoval coming from the Tacuba causeway, Sandoval from that of Tepeyac, and Cortez and Olid coming through the main city.  "We will trap them between us and crush them for good," Gonzalo de Sandoval said.

Cortez shook his head.  "It is we who could be trapped," he responded.  "The Aztecs still have an endless number of men – how I don't know, but they do.  There are many canals that have to be crossed.  If the enemy manages to cut them, it is we who would be surrounded with no escape."

Every one of the officers disagreed and loudly, so impatient they were to "finish it."  After being assured the allies would be with them to prevent any breaks over the canals and repair any that were made, Cortez assented.  "If that is your wish, gentlemen, then we attack tomorrow," he announced.  Then he left, sailing back to Xoloc, leaving Malinali with only a quick caress.  Her fears were now more than ever.

The morning of June 30 had no sunrise.  Dark clouds on the horizon obscured it.  Yet the men were in high spirits, anxious for Pedro de Alvarado's command to move forward.  They were crowded on the Tacuba causeway, waiting to rush into the city and on to Tlatelolco.  Thousands of allies were behind them, painted and feathered, howling war cries, for this was to be the day of triumph.  Masses of Mesheeka warriors were to be seen in the city, silent and waiting.

De Alvarado had been told to give Cortez time to complete his way through the main city, as well as Sandoval to reach the northern outskirt of Tlatelolco, before his attack, so the assault would come together jointly.  As they waited, they heard the sounds of fighting in the city, cries, shouts, the shots of musketmen.  Soon the sounds would be close enough, Cortez would be close enough, for de Alvarado to sound the charge.

Then the sounds changed.  No more shots.  A great din, a great roar arose, coming towards them.  Drums, trumpets, horns, crowds of men exulting.  The masses of Mesheeka warriors awaiting them were suddenly no longer silent.  They were dancing and yelling and preparing not for defense but for attack.

Five Mesheeka wearing gaudy feather headdresses burst out in front of their compatriots.  Each was holding and waving a bloody severed head – heads of Spaniards.  They were shouting, screaming, "Malinche!  Malinche!  We have killed Malinche!"

They tossed the severed heads onto the dirt of the causeway.  Malinali, watching from campside, fell to her knees in horror.  One of the heads was that of Cortez.  The Mesheeka attacked in fury.  The allies behind Alvarado broke and fled in panic.  Alvarado and his men braced for the enraged Mesheeka racing towards them on the causeway.  Everything went black before Malinali's eyes as she slumped unconscious to the ground.

---

[1]  November 1, 1520.

[2]  See Ch. 18, The Tale of Taclaelel, n. 11.

[3]  Malinali would turn 21 in December 1520.

[4]  1521.

[5]  For the location of cities around the lake, see these maps:

 

[6]   The hand-dug canal was some 12 feet deep, 12 feet wide, and 1½ miles long, as there are roughly 3 miles to the league.

[7]  60 miles!

[8]   See Chapter 18, The Tale of Taclaelel.

[9]   March 5.

[10]  King Don Carlos of Spain, now Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

[11]  The largest island in the Caribbean, now comprising the countries of Haiti and Dominican Republic.

[12]  Cuba, Jamaica, and Hispaniola, by now thoroughly colonized by the Spanish.

[13]  Easter fell on March 31 in 1521.

[14]  The Spaniards changed the pronunciation to Cuernavaca, "cow's horn."

[15]   Cortez's flagship was the largest, over 60 feet long, the others over 50.

[16]   Collar to protect the neck.

[17]   The Feast of Corpus Christi fell on May 31 in 1521.

[18]   Princess Teculehuatzin, daughter of Tlaxcala King Xicotencatl, whom Pedro de Alvarado married in Chapter 19.