Ixtlilchoatl was again placed where he could exercise his wonderful genius as a leader of armies, by being put in command of the combined forces of Mexico and Tezcuco, leaving the kings to lead their respective warriors. The great aggregation, with the hermit chief at its head, was soon on the move, and the fight began. The campaign was a vigorous one, which, after a series of hard-fought battles, ended in Maxtla being forced back behind the walls of his capital, where he was encompassed and a close siege of the royal city entered upon. In his confidence of being able to repel the invaders of his imperial domain the Tepanec monarch had neglected to provide against such an emergency as a siege, and was, therefore, wholly unprepared for it. Under such conditions it became, in due time, a question of surrender, or marching out and giving the beleaguerants battle. The result was a mass sally, and the ensuance of a desperate and bloody struggle, which terminated in the complete rout and dispersion of the beleaguered army, and Maxtla's undiscovered flight for personal safety. The proud city of Azcapozalco was totally destroyed, and those of its inhabitants who were not killed, or did not get away, were doomed to a life of slavery, or death by sacrifice, while the territory of the once dominant empire was converted into a great slave mart--which, in after years, became the central market for that nefarious traffic for the whole of Anahuac. Maxtla was hunted down, captured and turned over to the mercies of the Aztec king, who condemned him to death at the hands of the priests--a victim of sacrifice to the Mexican gods. Thus perished the most cruel and despotic of all the named princes of Anahuac, and was avenged one who proved himself to be the peer of the noblest. In the destruction of the Tepanec domination was removed the only cause of apprehension to the new king of Tezcuco. He returned to his capital in the confidence of a perfect security, and engaged in his kingly duties with a mind free from the fear of invasion or opposition, and with the determination to make his reign a successful and brilliant one, which he did, as history records; in fact, it excelled in wisdom and grandeur that of any known prince of Anahuac, not excepting the Montezumas. The king was again brought into daily intercourse with his household, a member of which Itlza continued to be. She had kept her own counsel, so far as her affairs with the prince and Cacami were concerned, leaving her family in ignorance of what had transpired. There had come a settled purpose in the expression of her face, which was careworn and deeply thoughtful.