Obsidian War

Tenochtitlan, 1521. The battle for a city is being fought one crossing at a time.

As Spanish brigantines tighten their grip on the lake, Cuauhtli carries food and wounded men through the waterways of his besieged city. He knows the work of a boatman. The burden of command will test him in ways he cannot prepare for.

His wife Xochitl faces a different reckoning: what can be traded, what can be carried, and what their children will eat tomorrow. Beyond the defending lines, Yaotl tries to secure shelter for his kin through a coalition divided by its own loyalties and obligations. Across the water, Spanish crossbowman Diego de Ledesma fights beside men he loves in pursuit of a victory he expects to reward him.

Their choices unfold through a campaign of broken crossings, overloaded canoes, dwindling stores, and orders that cannot be taken back. As the city's defenses contract, protecting the people closest to them becomes harder than any promise of courage.

Obsidian War is a historical military novel by Miguel Santos, following four intertwined lives through the siege of Tenochtitlan and its aftermath. A story of command, comradeship, divided loyalties, and the households that must survive what armies leave behind.

Book One: The Age of Conquest.