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Arrogant pride and an impassioned love of a woman bring to ruin the greatest of Aztec warrior-kings, Ahuitzotl. The fierce conqueror Ahuitzotl shapes the events that ultimately destroy him.

Covering a sixteen year period -the last year of the emperor Tizoc and the reign of his successor, Ahuitzotl (Water Dog)- this novel is a romantic tragedy about Aztec, Mexico. Ahuitzotl is conceived as a tragic hero in its true classical form.

As ruler, he embarks on a series of conquests that make him the undisputed master of his world. At the dedication ceremony of the Great Temple in his capital, he orders, as a climactic exposition of his pride, the largest mass sacrifice ever known, an orgy of excess seen by the priests as outraging the gods, and for which he will suffer their vengeance. He leads his people to their greatest heights only to then bring calamity upon them, giving credence to their belief that he is being punished for having offended the gods. He alienates his allied lords as he seeks to place their kingdoms under his domination. He manipulates the lives of his two most beloved women to serve his own selfish purposes, resulting in tragic consequences for one of them.

When matched in skill and prowess by the enemy lord of a rival power, he becomes obsessed with destroying his opponent, unable to tolerate this blow to his ego, and sets into motion forces that culminate in a cruel retribution against him. The world of the Aztec ruling elites, with its intrigues, politics, and bloody rituals comes to life for the reader in this epic work.