Drought has taken a terrible toll on the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, but worse is still to come. It is the final days of the sacred calendar and the New Fire must be lit, to appease the gods and keep an apocalypse at bay.
Meanwhile, war and dark politics are at work. The high priest hatches a devious plot to undermine Tlacaelel, the ruler’s brother, and break the stranglehold of the burgeoning secular state.
Tlacaelel has other worries on his mind. The empire needs to expand into the lush and fertile coastal lands to feed its starving people, but Chalco, the Mexica's rival state stands in the way. As the crucial battle looms, Tlacaelel must persuade his brother Moctezuma and the Great Council to sanction a new and bloody kind of war against Chalco, one that puts victory and the lives of his warriors above the relentless hunger of the gods.
One young warrior is caught up in the high priest’s conspiracy and has to stay alive long enough to rescue a friend and unmask the traitor.
Meanwhile, war and dark politics are at work. The high priest hatches a devious plot to undermine Tlacaelel, the ruler’s brother, and break the stranglehold of the burgeoning secular state.
Tlacaelel has other worries on his mind. The empire needs to expand into the lush and fertile coastal lands to feed its starving people, but Chalco, the Mexica's rival state stands in the way. As the crucial battle looms, Tlacaelel must persuade his brother Moctezuma and the Great Council to sanction a new and bloody kind of war against Chalco, one that puts victory and the lives of his warriors above the relentless hunger of the gods.
One young warrior is caught up in the high priest’s conspiracy and has to stay alive long enough to rescue a friend and unmask the traitor.
