Aztec Century Read Online Free PDF

aroused by insults, I saw; but he bit back an immediate response.
    ‘All the preparations have been made for your arrival in London,’ he said. ‘The governor—’
    ‘Get out,’ I interrupted, intent on deflating him. ‘I have no intention of discussing any such arrangements with a common soldier. You Aztecs—’
    ‘I am Mexicatl! A son of Motecuhzoma and a lady of Tlaxcala!’
    I had guessed as much; his name was familiar to me. Of course, I knew he would bridle at the term ‘Aztec’, a catch-all description for the many peoples of the empire.
    ‘That may be so, but you have the manners of a
teochichimecatl
. You can see I am unwell, yet you burst in here without ceremony or courtesy.’
    Teochichimecatl
meant ‘barbarian’, and Maxixca looked suitably furious. I thought I glimpsed the merest hint of a smile on Chicomeztli’s lips.
    ‘You are our prisoners,’ Maxixca said with a barely controlled anger. ‘You will do as you are ordered.’
    He stalked out.
    Victoria looked appalled, and there was an awkward silence.
    ‘Is it true about my husband?’ I asked Chicomeztli.
    ‘It is true,’ he assured me. ‘He was not found among those who died in the house. I believe he has escaped.’
    ‘That’s wonderful news.’
    He acknowledged my small triumph with a wry smile.
    ‘You greatly angered our commander,’ he said gently.
    ‘That was my intention.’
    ‘He is a son of the
tlatoani
. You would be wise not to provoke him.’
    But there was amusement in his eyes.
    Of course I knew my show of bravado would do us no good, but it was my only means of striking back. Though I felt fragile and exhausted, I insisted on getting dressed. Chicomeztli wentaway and returned with a plain sweater and skirt like those Victoria was wearing.
    By now I had remembered the disk in my jacket.
    ‘I’d like my own clothes,’ I said.
    He shook his head. ‘That is not possible. They were soaked and filthy. We had them burned.’
    The craft was banking over London, and I glimpsed St James’s Park and the Mall through the porthole. I was still furious with myself for losing the disk. Fury seemed preferable to complete desolation.
    Victoria, Bevan and I sat together in the forward passenger section, our guards paying us little heed now we were securely in their hands. I remained suspicious of Bevan, even though he seemed as much a prisoner as Victoria and I.
    Our return to London prompted thoughts of my father and Richard. From intercepted radio transmissions we knew that both had been held at Hampton Court Palace since the invasion; but I had had no definite news of them for over a year.
    I strained to see across Victoria as the craft flew over the Thames. Some central areas of the city had been devastated during the invasion, and the area north of the abandoned Houses of Parliament had been landscaped into a park. On the opposite bank, where County Hall once stood, there rose an entirely new building, a quincunx of tiered pyramids in creamy marble and glass, the levels planted with shrubbery. At the top of the innermost pyramid was a landing pad.
    Bevan shuffled closer to me. I eyed him without approval, convinced he had contacted the Aztecs on the radio the night before, prompting them to launch the raid before we could escape to Russia.
    ‘You’ll be wanting this,’ he murmured, thrusting something into my lap.
    I looked down. It was the disk.
    Bevan’s eyes were on the unheeding guards.
    ‘Fell out of your pocket when you were climbing into the pipe, didn’t it? You ought to be more careful.’
    I quickly hid it away, then felt a nauseous tug on my stomach as the ship began to decelerate.
    Victoria, intent on the view through the porthole, noticed nothing. She gripped my hand, but I found myself holding on to her as much as she to me. Then the ship touched down with a shudder and a thud.
    We waited in silence for some time. Two soldiers came and led Bevan away. Then Maxixca marched in, with Chicomeztli