Long had Tezmec served the great gods of his people, for when he had been a youth his father had bound him over to the priests. There were two deities that held the interest of Tezmec. One was Tlaloc, for it was Tlaloc who gave the rains, and thus all prosperity from the land came from him, for without his blessings the land would wither and die and so would the people. Tlaloc was a god of life.
And then there was the Quetza, the strange one who seemed to fill every niche not already occupied in the heavens. He was the Stranger, the one whose Coming would change all, for it was said that one day the Quetza would come to them from the sea riding a giant feathered serpent, which was his symbol. The Quetza represented an enigma, a question mark. No one knew much about him. The other deities were readily understandable in their likes and dislikes; custom had long established their positions in the hierarchy of the Teotec panoply of gods; but there was little knowledge of what the Quetza was like or where his position was. To some extent, all gods were mysteries, but the Quetza was the mystery of the mysteries. It was all very intriguing to Tezmec.
Great was Tezmec's love for both his people and his gods. He felt that his nation had been favored above all others. Teotah was the city of the gods; the Teotecs the people of the gods and he, Tezmec, was the servant of both.
He was always patient with the messengers. He would explain to them that they had been honored and were not to fear, for they had been blessed. Even when the messengers would refuse to be enlightened by his words he was still gentle. He would cluck his tongue sympathetically at their ignorance of the honor being shown them. There were times when the messengers threatened to disturb the dignity of the proceedings. Even then Tezmec was kind. He would make use of a compound brought to his people from the far south, a leaf called "coca" that relieved exhaustion and eased pain. Tezmec would mix a blending of these leaves with certain other plants and with the sacred mushroom that grew in the mountains. Once a messenger ate this potion all fear left him and he felt closer to the gods and the promise of paradise that went with them.
This day, Tezmec moved to the side of his modest home, thinking of his conversation with the stranger shortly before. Tezmec's home was no more pretentious than the poorest of his people. He lived like them, for his reward came from his service to them and to the gods. There were no jails or prisons in Teotah, only houses and palaces where the messengers were housed until it was time for them to perform their act of devotion. Those who broke the laws of the Teotec were not imprisoned or made slaves; they were allowed to redeem themselves by becoming messengers, and all their sins were forgiven them by the sacred knife flashing in the sun. Even common citizens and many of the elderly and infirm would voluntarily ask to become messengers, especially when the crops were poor or other disaster threatened. Devotion was taught to all in Teotah from their earliest days. It was too bad that so many of the barbarians did not understand the honors given them when their hearts were cut out, for it was well known that the heart was where the soul was, and when it was burned in the incense the soul rose with the smoke to heaven.
And soon a special soul, a great soul would rise in the smoke of the incense to the gods. Tezmec recalled his conversation that day with Casca.
A period of three months had passed. Now Casca stood before the old priest and asked: "O priest, o tlopan… when do you send me to the gods?"
The old man's eyes had sparkled like chips of blackest obsidian, burning in his wrinkled and weathered face.
"Soon," he had answered. "Soon. When the day is at the longest will be the time for you to go to the heavens with the prayers and messages of my people. It is a great honor. It is a very great honor…"
Now Tezmec sighed as he moved to a sunnier spot in his own house. His back was aching a little. His years were long, and his bones were old. A naked child crawled up to him. The boy's skin was dirty, but the child was healthy. The mother was filling a jug at the communal fountain. She smiled as she saw her baby crawl into the old man's lap, curl up, and go to sleep as only children can do when they feel safe and loved. Tezmec stroked the hair of the sleeping child and was content.
He chuckled to himself, his face a wreath of happy wrinkles, as he thought of the stranger and how he, Tezmec, had sent the slave girl. A woman sof-tened a man and made him reasonable. Soon he would be able to speak to the stranger from the sea. When the day was at its longest, four months hence, he would have the great honor of sending the Serpent God's own messenger back to him. The problem was that he might not be able to understand all the stranger would say beforehand, that it might not be interpreted properly. After all, the gods did move in strange and mysterious ways. Mortals were not always able to understand the actions of the gods. It was also not outside the realm of possibility that the gods sometimes amused themselves by playing tricks on their subjects. Logically the stranger from the sea should have a message from the Serpent god, and he, Tezmec, should be able to receive this message before that day four months hence. But, one never knew… Well, enough. He would do the best he could and leave the rest to divine providence.
A sudden feeling of warmth ran down his leg, momentarily startling him. Then he laughed gentry as did the child's mother when she came to get her sleeping baby. The child had wet not only on himself, but also on the Most Sacred High Priest of the Teotec Nation.
Tezmec handed the baby to its mother, careful not to wake the child. Sighing, he grunted as he rose. It was time to visit the palace of the king. The king was only a child, but already he showed a surprising degree of precocity. He would be an honor to his people. Making use of the same fountain as the young mother, Tezmec rinsed his legs off and then made his way to the palace where the future of his people lived in the person of the young priest-king, Cuz-mecli. There he would teach and instruct the boy in his duties. The afternoon sun on his back felt good, and he would rather have dozed in his courtyard as old men do, but duty was duty, and none could claim that Tezmec, High Priest of Teotah, was negligent in his…
Tezmec met with his student and king. Cuz-mecli was twelve years old and bright, his face alert and intelligent. He listened to the words of the aged priest as they explored the problems of the nation. What to do about the Olmecs? Of late they had been making inroads into the lands of the Teotec and setting up their own idols as an insult to the Teotec. Their monstrous idols all bore the same face, that of the Olmec's greatest king, a throwback and a monster of a man who delighted in snapping spines with his bare hands. He was hugely overweight. The Olmec people emulated him; to them obesity was a form of beauty. The Olmecs were dangerous. They were the brains; the subject peoples of their nation provided the muscle and the warriors when needed. Their power was growing. They were a threat to the Teotec and must be watched…
And that brought up another problem. The boundary disputes with the Toltec kings must be worked out and a confrontation avoided until the Olmec question was settled. Besides, the Toltec were a vital and dynamic people, almost as advanced as the Teotec. They had a fair amount of commerce between them and that could be of more value than subjugation. The Toltec could serve as a buffer zone between the Teotec and other hostile barbarian tribes to the north. Far to the south the Maya lands were of no consequence. Only a trickle of information about them passed to the holy city.
So, for the moment, little action was required. The Olmec question would have to be answered later after the astrologers made their sightings and read the stars for the proper portents and signs.
Then Tezmec brought up the subject of the man from the sea, he who had come on a serpent ship, the man who called himself Casca. The young king was very excited about his city's captive and plied the old priest with question after question concerning the foreigner. How big was he? Were his muscles really as large as the soldiers said? Was his skin really so pale? And how brave had he been in battle?
Old Tezmec smiled at the young king's eagerness. Boys would be boys… even when they were kings.
"Yes, my lord," he said, "the stranger is very strong. There is probably none in our nation to match his strength." And probably the only one from the other nations who could even come close would be Teypetel, he thought to himself. Teypetel was the monster king of the Olmecs who had taken for himself the name, of the Jaguar god the Olmecs worshipped. He had inherited his forebears' ugliness flat nose and lips, rounded head and obese body but underneath the layers of fat were muscles that could rip the arms off most men like a child tearing the wings off a butterfly. Teypetel fancied himself the strongest man on earth.
Tezmec wondered how the one called Casca would fare in a wrestling match with that monster…