Original subtitles

Sometimes even now in my sleep I hear her say my name in that soft, incredible voice

that was so like a drift of music.

And then I see her looking down at me again, through a mist of moonlight, and an old longing

stirs within me and an old wound burns.

Leah, Leah, how cold and empty the night when the warm dream vanishes, and there is no comfort,

only ruthless loyalty.

When Major Adams told me what he wanted me to do, it didn't seem like much of an assignment.

Three men to guide to an old campsite about four days up the mountain.

The passengers had planned to hire Indian guides, but the Indians in the area wouldn't

go.

They said that the mountain was haunted.

Mike Kelly.

We were going up the mountain to look for his father, Gerald Kelly.

He'd gone up the mountain about two years before, and he hadn't been seen since.

It's hard to explain about my father.

He disappeared once into the prairie.

He was gone for three years.

Another time it was a desert.

He never had a very satisfactory explanation for his wanderings.

Always said he was looking for another way of life.

He'd come back for a while, then he'd disappear again.

John Miller was a professor at an eastern university, scholar of ancient history.

He had an entirely different reason for being interested in the haunted mountain.

My brother was found dead at the foot of Haunted Mountain, and this knife was in his hand.

It's Aztec, probably made around the year 1500.

Cortez destroyed the Aztecs in 1521.

There are all sorts of legends about a group that fled north.

This is the first physical evidence that's ever turned up.

My university has given me a year's leave of absence to investigate.

Carl Anders.

His friends call him Dutch.

Available for almost any job, for almost any money.

I'm sorry I took this job.

I'll swear I felt eyes on the back of my neck all afternoon.

These were my companions, and this was the mountain.

The strange haunted mountain where I first saw Leah, princess of the Aztecs,

in the full bloom of midsummer.

Are you a god?

Are you a ghost?

Our runners brought word that the gods had come to our land.

I had never seen a god before.

I came to see for myself.

I don't like to disappoint you, but I'm no god.

They call me Flint McCullough.

Then how did you come to our mountain?

On a horse.

The gods protect our mountain from strangers.

I do not know how you can be here if you are not a god.

I don't know how you can be here if you're not a ghost.

I live here, or near here.

I am Leah, daughter to Montezuma the Ninth.

I come from Tenochtitlan.

Teno...

The Aztec capital was destroyed centuries ago.

That was the old city.

We are the new.

Our city is on a plateau beyond the mountain.

You mean there's a city up here?

I was born here.

And the ancestors of my father were born here.

Back to Montezuma the Fourth.

But you speak English.

All of our people speak English and Spanish.

Well, how did they learn?

Now and again the gods have sent us teachers.

I'm glad you are not Hernando Cortez.

It would then have been necessary for our warriors to kill you.

He was killed in the 16th century.

I think they'd be a little late.

Our priests have promised that he will come again.

And then vengeance will be ours.

If I didn't know better, I'd say I was dreaming.

I came up on this mountain looking for a man who was lost here about two years ago.

His name was Gerald Kelly. Would you know anything about him?

I will ask my father.

Then I'll see you again.

If it is permitted.

It is a privilege not often granted to come to the mountain.

Well, maybe I could go with you and talk to your father myself.

That my father will decide.

And what if he says no?

Then we will not meet again.

Well, what did the girl say when you asked about my father?

Did she know anything?

She was evasive. She said she'd see what she could find out.

The Aztecs made human sacrifices, didn't they?

They did in the 16th century.

Do you think she'll come back?

I don't know.

My experience with Aztec princesses is very limited.

I was sure I would see her again.

And at the same time, sure that I would find her.

I was sure I would see her again. And at the same time, sure that I wouldn't.

And I fell into uneasy dreams, wondering why it was so important.

Flint McCullough.

Her voice was like a drift of music calling me from dreams.

No woman was ever quite so beautiful before.

No woman would ever be as beautiful again as Leah,

princess of the Aztecs, in the full bloom of Midsommar.

My father says that if you are here on the mountain, it is the will of the gods.

And he sends you warm greetings.

And asks that you come to Tenochtitlan.

And he will speak with you of the man you are searching for.

Thank you, Leah.

What's the matter?

I like the sound of my name on your lips.

So do I.

How sad that it is summer.

Already summer.

Why is it sad?

Because summer is almost over.

Summer is just beginning.

No.

It is late.

It is late.

I don't understand.

You come from another world.

My father says the gods have sent you.

I agree.

I will return when the god of morning has lifted the sun to the sky.

May the god of night be kind to you.

And light your dreams with stars.

Her touch burned like a kiss and lingered long after she was gone.

And I stared up at heaven and longed for daybreak.

The daybreak of the strangest, shortest summer of my life.

Leah, princess of the Aztecs.

Up the side of the mountain to the roof of the world.

And all at once, there was something different about the morning.

A spell upon the air.

Our way lies yonder, over the rim of the mountain.

Doesn't look like much of a trail.

My people first followed it 400 years ago.

Do not fear.

The same gods that kept them safe will watch over us.

Well, that's a big load off of my mind.

You see where we have to go?

None of us may come back alive.

Let's go and we'll find out.

We started on a narrow trail that twisted and turned along the very edge of infinity.

I've never ridden a more dangerous trail.

One misstep and uncertain death.

Now and then I look back at my companions and they were pale and tense.

No one spoke.

We all knew our lives depended on the sure-footedness of our horses

and the knowledge of a girl who believed herself protected by pagan symbols on paper flags.

All afternoon we journeyed deeper and deeper into the heart of the haunted mountain.

And at last we went into a tunnel hollowed out of solid rock and came out under a waterfall.

And there in the middle of the wilderness we looked down on something

that all our reason told us just couldn't be true.

There is my city, Tenochtitlan.

Incredible.

Why is it possible?

Looks like a toy down there.

How did it get here?

The unworthy handmaiden of Zaco Sontli and Tlaco Sontli

gives thanks to the noble gods for the protection of the journey just completed.

TENOCHTITLAN

TENOCHTITLAN

TENOCHTITLAN

TENOCHTITLAN

Mr. McCullough, you and your party enter the gates of Tenochtitlan favored by the gods.

We are honored by your presence.

And it is our heartfelt wish that happiness attends you each day you remain with us.

I'll assume it's most gracious.

TENOCHTITLAN

This is hardly the throne room of the emperor's palace in Tenochtitlan.

But as you see we have some of the treasures that were once in that room.

To us they have a meaning.

They represent the past and the past must be kept alive.

I'd say the past is more alive here than the present.

In our city we try to preserve what we believe should endure.

It's a rare privilege to see it.

We have lived in this valley for nearly four centuries.

But how did your people happen to be here?

In the days of blood and Spanish steel

the gods guided a group of our people to this place and hid them from the world.

We had few mementos of what we had been.

But we did have our greatest treasure, the small son of Montezuma.

Here we built our city of wilderness, rock and wood

with our own hands and the knowledge the gods gave us.

And no one's come here in all that time?

No one but those whom the gods sent to fill some special need.

Sent by the gods?

Yes, once they sent us an engineer to help us with some of our mechanical problems.

Once they sent us a man who showed us how to make the wilderness yield crops.

The goddess of music sent us one who opened our gates to a whole new world of beauty.

Instructors have come to teach us other tongues.

No one has come to us but those sent by the gods for some special purpose.

I'm afraid we're here in search of a man that was reported lost on your mountain.

His name is Gerald Kelly.

My friend, the gods rarely show their intent even to their own messengers.

We're not messengers of the gods.

We're a searching party. We're from a wagon train.

We're on our way to California.

Forgive our rudeness. You have come on a long journey

and we have given you no opportunity to rest or refresh yourselves.

Do you know anything about my father?

When the proper time comes, you may tell us how we may serve you.

Show our guests to the chambers that have been prepared for them.

We hope you will find everything for your comfort and satisfaction.

I'm sorry.

Someone washed my clothes while I was lolling in my marble bath.

I never took a marble bath in my life before.

Solid gold.

Take it from me, those jewels aren't glass.

There's a couple of pieces in my room, too.

You make nice souvenirs, don't you think?

What do you think? You haven't said a word.

You haven't given me much of a chance.

The old man sure talks a lot of mumbo-jumbo, doesn't he?

Yeah, but he also believes it. We mustn't lose sight of that.

They do things differently here, and seeing Montezuma's in charge,

we better do things his way. He made that very clear.

Anders.

Our marketplace is the heart of our city.

Here we carry on the commerce of our daily lives.

These are our merchant princes, borschtakers.

Highly respected.

Montezuma I named this beverage chocolate.

Chocolate? We still call it that.

Indeed.

Our merchants govern their own affairs,

just as our ancestors did in the old city.

Each day, two are chosen to take charge over the square.

They regulate prices and measures, settle any disputes that arise,

and decide the punishment anyone shall receive

who attempts to overcharge

or slip in damaged merchandise with good.

Does everyone who live here have gold to buy?

Gold is rarely a medium of exchange.

One cannot eat gold, or wear it for warmth,

or use it as medicine.

However, if it is all a man has,

our merchants will do what they can to help him.

You mean a man is poor if he has gold?

If he has gold only.

You sure are out of touch with the world.

Not as far as you might think.

Those papers that all the people are wearing,

are those prayer papers?

Yes, they are worn in honor of Yakut Kutli,

the god of the merchant.

This is his profile.

The aquiline nose is the Aztec symbol

of mercantile cunning and skill.

Perhaps you might enjoy the life of a merchant prince.

I don't think I have the nose for it.

What you lack in a nose, you make up in humor.

Come.

She looks like a bride.

She is the best loved of all my children.

This is a private place of worship.

The voices of the royal pets below.

They sound like mountain lions.

There are some lions.

We have a fine pair of black leopards.

There are snake pits.

We have a few wild bulls, some bears.

The selection is unfortunately limited.

I'm afraid I can't help you.

I'm afraid I can't help you.

I'm afraid I can't help you.

There are some bears.

The selection is unfortunately limited.

You mean you keep them here in the palace?

You are at liberty to visit them anytime you wish.

Why are they here?

Because we have conquered them.

They are symbolic of our power, our strength.

They are savage.

We are more savage.

We have conquered them.

A goddess of wisdom who guides our decisions.

The god of strength who helps us to carry out our decisions.

Quetzalcoatl, the white god,

who in the ancient past helped us become a nation.

Quetzalcoatl, the wise, the tender, the gentle,

most loved of all our gods.

Quetzalcoatl, the wise, the tender, the gentle,

most loved of all our gods.

The time approaches when thy handmaiden will join thee in eternity.

What are the thoughts of an Aztec princess

as she stands so quietly in the summer darkness?

The Aztec princess

wonders why in the summer of her 18th year

the stars she has always known

have such a new and unfamiliar radiance.

Perhaps because it is the summer of her 18th year.

Even the wind seems to sing a new music.

The earth possesses a new tenderness.

It was never like this before.

Never so sweet.

It's good to be alive.

It's very good to be alive.

It's very good to be alive.

Look at this place.

Why, that's 15th century.

Father!

Father!

Let me through!

Father!

Father!

It was my father, I know it was, and now he's gone.

You might be assured it was your father.

I'm positive.

He was dressed in Aztec clothes, though,

but he was standing right here.

It's hard to be sure.

Maybe it was someone who just looked like your father.

Maybe.

But he was standing right there beside me in Aztec clothes.

But you're not sure it was your father.

And I'm not sure it wasn't either.

If it was, it means my father's being held as a prisoner here.

I tried to talk to Montezuma for three days.

Each time I bring up the subject...

Well, I'm not gonna wait any longer.

I'm gonna talk to him right now.

No, you're not. I'll go.

I want to go with you.

No.

I'm gonna go alone.

Our minds have crossed in flight.

I was on the point of asking you to join me

when I was told you were here.

Please sit down.

And let us see if there is not

an avenue of friendship between us.

Friendship?

There is trust between friends.

And none between us?

Where there is no honor, there can be no trust.

Be careful.

Lest you incur our anger.

You have already incurred mine.

We have blundered, then.

We have been seeking friendship.

Friendship?

You know that I came here looking for Gerald Kelly,

and each time I mentioned his name, you put me off.

Why?

Yes.

Yes, that is true.

I wanted time.

Time for what?

Time for you to know our city.

There is much offered here to a man

who looks about him with an open heart.

You want me to stay here?

A man has two kinds of sons in his lifetime.

There are the sons of his own loins,

and there is the son whom he meets

and recognizes as his own,

though he be of a different race,

even a different era.

You are my son.

Stand beside me, and you will be emperor of Tenochtitlan.

I can't stay here.

I can't live in the 16th century.

You were sent here by the gods for some purpose.

The gods?

I was sent here by Major Adams to find Gerald Kelly,

and I've got to get back to the wagon train.

Are you going to help me?

You will have word of Gerald Kelly

not later than tomorrow.

Why not today?

At least tell me, is he alive?

Tomorrow.

Order our litter at once,

and ask Mr. Kelly, Mr. Anders, and Mr. Miller to come to me.

Say nothing to Mr. McCullough,

and do not let him overhear you.

Delia, it would please me

if you took Mr. McCullough

out beyond the city walls this afternoon,

perhaps to the waterfall.

That would give me great pleasure, my father.

Go in peace, my daughter.

And you, my father.

Delia, the princess of the Aztecs

showed me a waterfall and spoke of love

during those last fleeting hours of her 18th summer.

We call the waterfall Miela's Tears.

Miela's Tears?

Mm-hmm.

There's a legend that an Aztec maiden met a god here

and fell in love

and threw herself over the falls to show her love.

Don't you people have any happy legends?

Miela was happy.

She died for love.

It was happiness to love.

Is it not so in your country?

In my country, we're not happy being unhappy,

particularly if we're unhappy in love.

In your country, how does a man tell a woman that he loves her?

In my country, a woman knows when she is loved.

And doesn't she want to be told?

Surely the sighs and whispers of the heart are inexpressible.

Then I don't need words to bridge the years.

Why do you speak of years?

They lie between us.

Observe the treachery of words.

Already they have made us strangers,

we who were not even strangers when we met.

Yes, but words have to be spoken.

Questions asked and answered.

There is no time for questions or for answers.

There are really only moments left.

A few shining moments,

flung out like stars to light the last hours of my 18th summer.

Leia, I don't understand you.

I don't expect you to understand.

Do you think you could leave your mountain

and come down into my country?

Do you think you could live there?

I would love to see your country.

Now and again I've been privileged to stand on the mountain

and watch it pass below like an enchanted caravan.

And I've wondered where the caravan was coming from

and where it was going

and what wonders it could tell me about.

I'm surprised some of the people haven't come down to investigate it.

None of my people may go to the mountain,

except my father and the Council of Lords.

I was permitted to go this summer

only as a special indulgence of my father.

You mean your people aren't allowed to leave the valley?

It is the law.

It was written by my ancestors when they first came here.

No one ever leaves Tenochtitlan.

Come.

My father wishes someone to be presented to you.

This is the home of my teacher of music.

Huh?

Would you tell your master we are here?

What are you planning to do, teach me some songs?

My father asked me to bring you here.

Leah?

Good afternoon, Mr. Kelly.

Leah, you have betrayed me.

Only at the command of my father.

May I present Mr. McCullough.

How do you do, sir?

How do you do? You are Mike's father?

Yes.

I've been sent here to find you.

Yes, Montezuma told me.

Then it was you that Mike saw yesterday in the marketplace.

Yes.

You don't act like a prisoner.

A prisoner? Oh, no, far from it.

Well, why has Montezuma kept me from seeing you?

Mr. McCullough,

the emperor has come here every day begging me to see you.

And I every day have begged him not to tell you I was alive.

That was a close call in the marketplace yesterday morning.

I'm sorry. I'm...

I'm afraid I don't understand.

How few people are privileged to find a hidden paradise?

The Aztecs found me more dead than alive.

They nursed me back to health,

provided for my needs,

made me an honored member of their community.

I have found here a whole new identity.

And at long last,

peace of mind.

Well, don't you at least want to see your son

and tell him how you feel?

No, my son would never understand.

He's far too much of a realist.

If he had to go off knowing he had left me here,

he'd always be very unhappy about it.

He's a grown man now with his own life to live.

I want him to be free of me,

and I want to be free of him.

I've found the life I want.

I'd like to think he was free to find the life that he wants.

Well, Mr. Kelly, that's not gonna be an easy thing for me to tell him.

Please.

Give this to my son.

Tell him it was found when the winter snow was melted

that I perished on the mountain.

It's the kindest thing you can do for both of us.

Very well. If that's the way you want it.

The Aztecs have a saying.

Go in peace.

Tell my son to go in peace.

Thank you.

Montezuma?

Yes, my son?

I've seen Mr. Kelly.

Yes, I know.

I've told Mike what his wishes were.

I thought perhaps you would.

Now it's time that I leave.

I keep hoping you will want to stay.

Are you giving me a choice?

Your daughter says no one has ever left Tenochtitlan.

No one ever has.

Now I see your city for what it really is.

A prison, not a paradise.

A prison. A sanctuary. A refuge.

When our fathers came to this place, they built a wall.

They built the wall first.

Then they built the temple, the palace, and the city.

And slowly they came back to life.

Now we number several thousand,

but no one has come to destroy us because no one knows we are here.

Are you telling me I'm a prisoner?

You are as free as I myself.

You are free to go to the mountain, am I?

If you give your word to return.

And if I don't?

No one in this place will attempt to stop you if you decide to leave.

Will someone lead me down over the mountain?

No.

Then the mountain is your executioner.

If it must be.

Leah, forgive me.

I know there are formalities involved,

but I haven't got time for them.

I'm going to leave this place, and I want you to come with me.

And I want you to marry me.

Flint, you have given me a happiness so deep it is almost pain.

I thank you most humbly for the great honor you offer me.

Does that mean you won't come with me?

I cannot.

I am pledged to another life.

And I will.

Will you come with me?

I cannot.

I am pledged to another.

Well, why didn't you tell me?

At birth, my truth was promised for my 18th summer.

I wed to God.

Kiyetsu Kawato.

You're going to...

You're going to marry that?

Only once in a sheaf of years does a god marry.

It is the greatest honor that can come to an Aztec woman.

Tomorrow, I enter the walls of the temple

to prepare for my bridal ceremony.

And when the lord of the sky signals

that the lord of the night has turned his face to the dawn,

I join my betrothed beyond the stars.

You mean your life is to be sacrificed?

Death is but a momentary shadow

between sunlight and sunlight.

Leah, this isn't a god.

This is a piece of rock

carved in the shape of some witch doctor's

fantastic nightmare.

Flint, you are in his presence.

Forgive him. He does not understand.

If I could only make you understand.

The blood of the innocent stay in every page of Aztec history.

You're not dying for these gods.

You're dying to satisfy an ancient lust of your people.

It's senseless.

Those who die for the gods

join them in eternity.

Those who die a natural death

must work as slaves in the hereafter

until they are proven worthy.

To die on the altar is the purest, holiest of deaths.

You're too young. Your whole life is ahead of you.

You were born to live a full life,

to know the love of a man and to bear his sons.

Your gods are myths.

Forgive him.

In your kindness and mercy, forgive him.

In mighty Quetzalcoatl.

Mata Zuma.

I've come to ask that you save your daughter.

Save my daughter?

That's what I said.

Don't let her die for nothing.

Nothing?

My daughter is to die according to her religion.

It is her privilege and her honor.

Human sacrifice on pagan altars is a thing of the past.

The dark ages are over.

If the world has forsaken the gods, the world will perish.

Here we are sustained and protected by our faith.

Faith? Faith in a stone idol?

The stone is only an image of the god.

We hold that there is a god in the sun, the stars,

a blade of grass, even a drop of water.

We believe in one god.

And that god is in a blade of grass?

He's everywhere.

Even in a blade of grass?

Even in a blade of grass.

We hold that death is the door to everlasting life.

What do you believe happens after death?

We believe there's a life in the hereafter.

I do not find much difference between us.

Not much difference? You believe in many gods. We believe in one.

Does it matter whether a man worships many gods

or whether he worships the many in the one?

It matters that he believe in God, not a stone idol.

How can you be so sure that your god is true and mine false?

Because yours demands sacrifice.

Lives ripped from the best of your sons and daughters.

And what is it that your god demands?

He asks that life be lived.

A soft and easy way to worship.

The doctrine of Christianity is brotherly love.

Yes. So we were told by Hernando Cortes

as he murdered his way across our land.

That was 400 years ago. The world has changed.

But you haven't. The mighty Aztec is again a tribe

trembling in superstition.

No. Here we have created what we were.

Here we have regained our dignity.

Here there is yesterday's dust,

shrouding today and tomorrow.

Only you can save your daughter.

Don't let her be murdered.

Murdered?

Can you call her by any other name?

You accuse me of murdering my daughter.

My daughter is the favorite of all my children.

That you marked her for slaughter on the day she was born.

Slaughter? No. Glory.

How can I make you understand?

How can I make you see what you're doing?

My daughter is what she is, and I am what I am.

If you wish to destroy what we are, you must kill us.

No. Death is no answer. It's only an end.

If what you say is right,

there must be an end, an end of what we are.

Do you believe that you can destroy the gods

and that we will still live?

Even in your advanced time,

do you believe that you can destroy a man's faith

and not destroy him?

I believe that a man can and must change.

I can't change your faith, nor can I destroy your gods.

Only you can do that.

Destroy a god?

You're the emperor.

The responsibility of change rests with you.

It's your choice.

Either you lead your people into the light,

or you leave them here in darkness.

But you must make them understand

that it's wrong to kill in the name of any god.

In your faith, my daughter would not die.

That is right.

Is it possible that we are wrong?

Can it be that what we have believed and followed is wrong?

Is there truth in your accusations?

Have you been sent by the gods to test me or to guide me?

How am I to know?

Who is to tell me?

The same voice would speak to any father.

My blood beats to ancient drums.

Your words are bitter gall.

Montezuma, it is the life of your daughter.

Let's go.

My heart will always hold the memory of Leah,

princess of the Aztecs,

walking toward me from the mists of the past.

No woman was ever more beautifully alive than Leah

on the last day of her 18th summer.

My daughter, it is our wish that you marry Flint McCullough.

I will be your husband.

My daughter, it is our wish that you marry Flint McCullough.

You wish me to sin against the gods?

Perhaps it is not a sin.

Embrace him. Follow him.

Put aside your beliefs for his.

Is that possible, my father?

I think perhaps if you open your heart,

you will find a man of flesh and blood

a more satisfactory husband than a god of stone.

Be kind to her.

There are few like her in any civilization.

I agree.

We have walked the watches of the night, wrestling with demons.

We do not like bloodshed, contrary to what you think.

But at last, towards morning, we have come to believe

that if there is a kinder way of worship,

our people should be given the chance to know it.

They will find it hard to accept,

but the gates shall be kept open,

and perhaps in time, light will come to the darkness.

Teach your children the ways of the new world.

I wish... I wish I could see them.

There is a sound of farewell in your voice.

My sheaf of years is bound and ready for the harvest.

The sun has almost set upon my day.

And who will be emperor after you? Have you chosen?

I have decided not to choose a successor.

In these waning hours, I think it is wrong

for the past to intrude upon the future,

for the old to govern from the grave.

Send runners through the city.

Announce that I shall address the people.

Tell your friends to be ready to leave at sundown.

My daughter will guide you over the mountain.

Go in peace, my daughter.

And you, my father.

My people, today we would tell you

that we must open our hearts and our gates to the world.

We have lived here for a thousand years.

We have lived here for a thousand years.

We have lived here for a thousand years.

Open our gates to the world.

We have lived here for centuries

behind walls we built ourselves.

We were wrong, for we have stood still

while the world progressed.

Why is your daughter not in the temple?

Why do you risk the anger of the gods?

It is our wish that our people

should open our gates and rejoin the world.

It is our wish that our young men

guide our people back from the past

and help them to rejoin the future.

Why is your daughter not in the temple?

It is our wish that our people learn of this new god

who does not desire human lives.

He betrays us. He betrays the gods.

Traitor! Traitor!

Traitor!

The sun has set upon my day.

My hour is ended.

Go.

My daughter is in great danger.

Take her from this valley.

Go in peace, my son.

My father! My father!

He was the best that we could be.

Now the best is gone.

Your father was a great man.

He died bravely and with honor.

Those are the temple drums of a high priest.

They are coming for me.

Your father's last words were for you to leave the valley.

I have drawn a map of the trail down the mountain.

You'll be able to follow it to your wagon train.

You mean leave you here?

If the high priests are opposed,

you and your friends will be the first to die.

I can't leave you.

And after you, hundreds of my people will perish.

And once again, the blood of the innocent will stain our history.

Then my father died for nothing, and his people are doomed.

The old madness will return, and it will all end as it ended before.

And you think your dying is going to control that?

A pattern sustained is in itself a control.

The people are shocked by the words and death of my father.

They may in time find a new future, but they will not find it tonight.

And first they must survive this night.

They are waiting for me.

Everything that I am, everything that I feel and believe

demands that I stay here and fight for you.

You are in Montezuma's land now,

and for this hour I beg you do as he would do.

If he were here, he would say that we must do what is for the greatest good.

And I am his daughter.

I know so well what he would do.

Just as I know what I must do.

He would say, go in peace, my daughter.

Farewell.

Thank you for the happiness of my 18th summer.

Go in peace, my darling.

And so I rode back to reality.

And yet sometimes in dreams I hunt again for the haunted mountain.

But I wake to loneliness,

for never in this world will I find again

Ria, princess of the Aztecs in the full bloom of midsummer.

THE END

© BF-WATCH TV 2021

© BF-WATCH TV 2021