The setting sun dropped beyond the horizon, and the battlefield shone blood-red. Corpses lay piled over one another, blood soaking the ground into pools. The slaughter was already over, and victory and defeat had been decided. Very soon, more than a thousand Kingdom Warriors escorted several times their number of Totonac captives out from the riverside Adobe Stockade.
The captives were filthy and disheveled, their faces fearful, submissive, and numb. As they passed through the stockade gate and saw the Copper Cannon in the kingdom's battle formation, they all revealed a terror they could not hide, as if they had seen some dreadful ghost-god. From time to time, captive warriors knelt down and prayed to the golden "Copper Beast," begging the deity for forgiveness.
Black Wolf Toltec's expression was cold as he stood before the collapsed stockade wall, studying the head in his hands. A horizontal strip of jade was inlaid through the nostrils of the head, red and blue facial tattoos were carved across its face, and its eyes were tightly shut and bleeding. It was none other than the leader of the eastern Totonac allied army, the great chief of the Hidden Snake Holy City, Kuashe!
"What a fine head!"
Black Wolf looked at it for a moment, nodded slightly, and spoke in praise. Then he handed the head to the personal guard beside him and gave a flat order.
"Uta, have this head processed and put it among my spoils!"
"Yes, chief!"
"Blessed by the Main God! Men, have you counted the number of surrendered troops?"
"Chief Black Wolf, the five thousand defenders in the main stockade were all warriors and fighting men from Hidden Snake City. A thousand of them were badly wounded or killed in battle, more than six hundred rowed away and escaped, and