“A long time ago, my father and his warriors encountered a new kind of Aztec brujos (male-witches) capable of turning into jackals.
“They call themselves ‘Brujos del Diablo’ (Devils Witches). My father and our medicine man learned that every time they bit someone, the victim had horrible hallucinations.
“According to my father, sometimes what they saw was so real that they killed themselves with their own spears.
Chapter 1
SLAVE SACRIFICES
In twenty minutes my eighteen-year-old twin sister Quetzali is going to be sacrificed to our bloodthirsty gods that need to be pleased.
Quetzali and I are Aztec slaves that were chosen by a group of ‘brujos’ (male witches) from Tenochtitlan.
One of the reasons why we were chosen was because we were born with green eyes, and because Aztecs have dark eyes it was interpreted as a bad omen.
I looked outside the window and saw neighbors and strangers waiting for us while singing traditional sacrifice songs.
My mother and grandmother placed a crown of wild flowers on Quetzali’s head while kissing her face.
Two brujos came inside our home and held my sister’s hands. They started guiding her toward the sacrifice temple.
Quetzali and I were supposed to be sacrificed at the same time. However, the brujos decided to offer her to the gods first and sacrifice me three days later.
We all walked behind my sister and her executioners. My mother’s face was covered with tears. She tried to change the brujos’ minds many times, but since she was a slave they ignored her.
As soon as Quetzali reached the temple, she was taken to the sacrifice bed made of stone. She laid down while looking at me with a serene face. The temple was surrounded by eight tall columns and had no ceiling.
One of the brujos handed a stone knife to another. He held it with both hands and raised his arms in the air, getting ready to stab my sister’s heart.
| Language | Status |
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French
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Unavailable for translation.
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Italian
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Unavailable for translation.
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Portuguese
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Already translated.
Translated by Patrícia Gonçalves
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Claudia Caballero Pérez
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